Beach Pics

Okay folks, so I took 345 pictures, not counting the lousy ones I deleted.

Here are some favorites.

Check out those glasses -
it's the last time you'll see them -
good thing we had a very nice spare pair. :^)

Rosie's Beach Cake

Ethan was thrilled to find this rope at the pier.

The "pirate ship"

We think it was hunting the hippopotamus

Rosie saw in the waterway.

Rosie's Ocean Dance

Do you see the crab?

the candy shop

crab legs, baby!

Bella loved watching the tide -

it was so hard to get her picture!

A stop at the fishing pier before heading home

We're back

Booty?!

A couple of weeks ago, the children's Bible study included a story that ended with the Assyrians gathering booty, to which Ethan responded with a shocked look and a "What!!??"

Yesterday, I took him for his first visit to the eye doctor. He was a little on the spastic side. They seemed to enjoy it. Turns out the doctor was home schooled until college and the nurse outdid him by having seven sisters. At one point during the nurse's initial exam she said to Ethan, "I just have one more thing." Ethan wryly replied, "Where I come from there's always 'one more thing.' " It cracked her up. :^)

A Fun Day

We got to study constellations today - fun! The children seemed to all be in good moods and enjoyed their worksheets, the book we read, and the DVD we watched. The man in the DVD on space was standing with a moving outer space background behind him (you couldn't see the ground or his feet). Rose wanted to know if he was on his porch or if he really was in outer space.

Brian got off early like he's supposed to on Fridays, but doesn't as early or as often as he used to these days - so that was a big plus for the day and allowed us to carry out our Family Night plan - a paddle boat rental at the nearby state park (they close at 5PM). It seated four, so the three older kids went with Brian. He and Ethan pedalled while the girls sat on the backseats and dangled their feet in the lake. Bella and I hung out and watched.

The children very much wanted to go swimming in the lake, but we instead hit the trail to a spot on the mountain creek that has a trail to it and some benches and is a nice ankle - knee length depth area. They had fun wading and crossing a fallen log, although, they kept trying to get me to cave in to their idea of swimming back at the lake beach. Rose brought me the prettiest rocks from the creek to look at while I held Bella, I wish I had taken a picture of them. Ethan was sure every unusual rock was a meteorite.

Back at the ranch(house), we cleaned up, got Ethan's earache back under control (swimming in the lake would have been a bad idea), and had some buckwheat pancakes with last years vanilla pear sauce from the freezer. We even got to read a really cool glow in the dark book of the constellations. (And, wow! I just went to find the link for that on Amazon and ended up with a good condition hardcover used copy being shipped to me for a total of $5.03!!)

Last tidbit for the day. Brian charges Anna Kate and Ethan's mp3 players at the desktop CPU. He'd returned Anna's recharged player to her and she immediately immersed herself in her favorite Hannah Montana song - it's very catchy.



A bit later, Brian called to Ethan to let him know that his player was syncing and Anna called back through the house, "yeah, mine's already sunk. "

Well, I can't get the computor to acknowledge my SD card, so I'm giving up for now and can hopefully add pics to this post later.

News and a Great Find

Sorry for the scarcity, it seems that we are trying out any and all available illnesses of the non-life-threatening variety. Still very capable of rendering everything in the household behind schedule. So we've started a bit of school. We're going to the beach in a few weeks, so I'm doing a few multi-subject units until we get back and settle into our regular schedule. This week is comets, asteroids, and constellations in honor of the Perseides, which, incidentally, we won't be seeing this year due to cloud cover. Next week will be insects and the next water and the ocean.

So science being the name of the game, I was once again searching for some really good Creation science stuff that is available on line, kid-friendly, not fifty years old, and not cheesy. Tall task.
Yield: a couple good finds.

Watch this:



This is the stuff that makes me cry. You know, when you do those quizzes and it asks, "last time you cried?", I'm sitting there trying to remember the last time I saw something like this. Or a Hallmark commercial.

Now the best part is, you can order the DVD, or watch it right on their website here. Beautiful.

Another find was the KidsAnswers page at AnswersinGenesis. They've got some great articles and cute videos there. You can order issue reprints of the kids magazine (which is an insert in Answers magazine). I'm thinking of doing that. Wish someone would publish a full size creation science magazine for younger kids, but this is something.

So off I go to try to get some rest. I'm running a fever for the third day in a row, but only have moderate cold symptoms (so what's with the endless fever !?). Ethan has an outer ear infection, I believe, that hasn't gone full-blown yet and I'm trying to home-remedy it unless it should take a turn for the worse. And Rose has had a cold that keeps almost getting better for about three weeks now. I'm calling the doctor tomorrow unless she wakes up snot-free. Anna Kate and Bella are the only two to not have been sick in the past few weeks, and Brian is also well at the time that this post went to press.

So there you have it. It wasn't too shabby of a post after all. I should do this more often. In all my spare time. Yeah.

Dreams Interrupted, Destiny Altered

When I woke up Sleeping Beauty this morning (a.k.a. Anna Kate), she told me that she'd had lots of dreams. I said,"Okay, number 1."

She began, "First I dreamed that I peed my pants, second I dreamed that I ran away from you, and third I dreamed I was a princess."

"That's better", I said, relieved. "Did you find a handsome prince?"

"No, the noise kept waking me up," she replied, "and I think the handsome prince was probably in one of those parts."

Fantastic Documentary

Follows the story of two Amish men who come to a true faith in Jesus Christ and are ultimately excommunicated from their Amish churches and families.

If you loved the "Thriller" wedding YouTube video...

then you need to see this:

Gluten Free Desserts Made Easy

Okay, so you already know that Betty Crocker has mainstreamed a brownie, cookie, yellow cake, and chocolate cake mix, right? Cheaper and more accesible mixes make my day - they were carrying them at my nearest grocery store which typically does not have any gluten-free products.

And today I found a whole stash of recipes at Betty Crocker using their gluten-free mixes - woohoo!

And a search for gluten-free adds in even more snack recipes.

P.S. Did you know that almost all Chex cereals are gluten free now too and they've got loads of recipes??

Testimony

A YouTube user named bondservant007 posted this video and writes:

Just since August 2005, the Lord has seen us through Hurricane Katrina, cancer,
and the death of a child.

In the morning I lay my requests before you, Dear God, and I wait, in EXPECTATION. Be merciful, Lord, have compassion, though I have done nothing to earn Your grace. Intercede for me Lord Jesus. Fill my heart and soul Holy Spirit. Only in You do I hope, My Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty. You alone are Holy. Jesus, Bring the Rain.

Home Depot Kids Workshops

If you haven't been to one of these, or haven't been lately, check them out! The project for August 1 is a very nice-looking message center that would make a great Christmas gift from a child to their grandparents. The best part - apron, workshop, and materials - all FREE.

While you're at it check out Lowe's version too. Woohoo!

Oooo, I just love this blog

And if you have kids and like to read to them, you probably will too. Go and see if I'm right. :^)

Toddlers in the Homeschool

Ran across this great list of ideas for incorporating the young family members into learning.

And here's my list from my own archives.

Rosie's Fourth Birthday Letter

Sweet Rosebud,

I love you so much!! You had a Flower Pool Party today, but you were still such a princess in your fancy pink dress and your graceful poses.

Your year as a three? It slipped by so quickly. I want to slow you down and keep you little!

You love to draw and write. Getting to have your own desk her at home was a great thing for you. You're often there creating with your markers. You also really want to know how to read. I'd planned on teaching you a lot more this year - then I got sick for most of it. Still you figured out how to get the letters of you name in order. No more EROS, or ORES, you are officially ROSE. We made up a song:

This is just the name for me, R-O-S-E
I can write it, you can see, R-O-S-E
R-O-S-E, R-O-S-E
I'm as smart as I can be, R-O-S-E

You had me write out your entire name a few weeks ago- first, middle and last so that you could copy it. You really enjoy writing letters - you even wrote some on my van hood with part of your rock collection...

You are so loving and still such a good cuddler. So sweet and affectionate, my Rose.

You enjoyed your first year of ballet with Miss Louise and your little friends Kriya, Rachel, and Aeryn. You all were so cute! You have to dance to any music that's available. You even run to hide when friends or family come to the door and want me to put on music so that you can dance into the room to welcome them. And you've got some moves, girl. It amazes me how you seem to know creative steps for all different types of music that suits it perfectly.

You are still a picky eater. You would prefer to live on PBJ and chocolate milk. I think you've gotten a little sick of bananas. You do like a few other things like egg rolls, and Tostinos cheese pizza (no toppings for you - and most other brands are declared "too spicy"), but mostly you just "love sugar". What am I going to do with you?! Hopefully your love for cooking will be our ticket to a better diet.

But of course your favorite cook is Paula Deen. Not the healthiest choice, but she sure is great. You often beg to watch Paula Deen videos on the computer. And you'll sit and watch the same clips over and over you love her so much. And whenever I cook, you immediately start dragging a chair towards my location so that you can help. :^)

You cook outside a lot too. I sent your old play kitchen out beside the playhouse, so now you have yet another cooking venue. Lots of mud pies and grass soup.

You also love your dolls. Barbies, Polly Pockets, and your dollhouse have gotten lots of playtime. Two or three years ago, when we got the dollhouse, the pieces were always everywhere. I put the furniture away and when I got it out again this year it was amazing how much you'd changed. I would ask you to clean up the dollhouse, get your cheery, "yes ma'am", and walk in a few minutes later to find a dollhouse that looked like a picture from a catalogue - every piece of furniture precisely placed and dolls in chairs and beds. :^)

You love to get up early, even when you get to bed late, even when your room is dark, even when you didn't get enough sleep...

Oh, and did I mention that you then climb up on my bed and (due to your picky eating and hardly having eaten any supper the night previous) start telling me how you need food and a drink.

You really love everybody, and your new sister is no exception. You like to talk to her, greeting her with, "Bella, sweetheart. "

I love to listen to you talk. You still can't say y's sound. So lou (you) say a lot of really cute words like "les" (yes). You use a lot of w's for r's still too. It's especially cute because you're so smart. So hearing those little letter substitutions today while you recited "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, just was too much. I've got to record that soon!

Here's the list you gave me of things you wanted for your birthday.

1. a flower cake (Check. Actually they were cupcakes, but you liked that better)
2. balloon flowers (We'd seen these on the Martha Stewart website. Gran tried. They weren't as easy as they looked.)
3. a flower flag (Don't know where that came from, but Gran found one to hang off her deck)
4. a rose flower present (Hmm, didn't know where to go with that one, but I think the giant tissue paper flowers must have worked for you instead)
5. a nice pink deck (You said this while looking out our deck doors, then explained that our deck was ugly and that I should tear it down and make you a nice new pink one)
6. more teddy bears than you have ever had (You have quite a few. Your favorites are three matching bears - a red one named "Jella", your first favorite bear - you give unique names like Lanalawala, a green one I named "Jello" ,and a purple one named Blueberry. Now you have a similar pink one, as yet unnamed.)
7. more clothes than we have ever had (You do love clothes, girl. Gramma got you covered - two new dresses and a two-piece outfit. And Aunt Barbara sent a pretty fairy shirt - all were met with approval.)
8. a little real bear that's nice that doesn't eat anybody (We'll save that for another year. :^)

But most importantly, Rose, you love Jesus. Near the beginning of your third year, you asked lots of questions about Jesus and heaven and when you were told that you must believe on Jesus to go to heaven, you said, "I believe". And you do. And you like to tell other people about Him. Even people in the grocery store. :^) You also love your Sunday School teacher Miss Melanie. Now you'll be heading off to the four year old class.

You're leaving the baby years behind, Miss Rose. I'm not allowed to call you "sweet baby" anymore. "Bella is lou baby, and I am a big girl." Yes you are, sweet girl, but you'll always be my baby. I love, love, love (said like Eloise of the Plaza Hotel) you, Rosie!

Love,

Mommy

Alternatives to Socialized Medicine

It's Not About Facts, I'ts About Agenda

***

The debate is over? 30,000 scientists/ 9,000 PhD's disagree

Happy Birthday, America

I Thought It Would Be Easy-Peasy

I like simple. So when I got the most recent Betty Crocker e-mail and saw their Red, White and Blue Candy-Topped Brownies, I knew I'd found my Fourth of July dessert. It was cute, it was chocolate and it was easy.

Why is nothing ever easy?

How could they be hard, you ask?

Well, after looking at Walmart, Walgreens, and Rite Aid it became apparent that they had not made red, white, and blue m&ms this year. Yes, my "easy" recipe had me running in and out of stores to find the second of two little ingredients - and it was not to be found.

How does this always happen to me?

picture from bettycrocker.com

My Quote of the Day

"I'm thinking of at least one job for which I may be the least qualified person in the world. If we could give an aptitude test for this skill, I believe I would fall in dead last. Everyone else on the entire planet, I believe, is better equipped than I am to raise a servant of the state. I'm not the guy to do that job. I am, however, equipped to raise servants of the King."

~ R.C. Sproul, Jr., When You Rise Up: A Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling

A Primer on Global Warming: Dispelling CO2 Myths

The Primer


http://www.globalwarmingheartland.org/

Summer Mini-Lesson; Statue of Liberty

Watch this video at HowStuffWorks. (New York Up Close: The Statue of Liberty)

And these at History.com. (various video clips about Ellis Island)

And maybe this one too for fun. (Statue of Liberty laser show)

Choose a crayola coloring page for little ones - here, here, or here.

And have bigger kids do some Time for Kids worksheets here, here, here, here, and here.

Follow the instructions in Draw Write Now Book 5 to draw the Statue of Liberty.

Read The Copper Lady and "The New Colossus".





"Thanks for the free clip-art to the Just A Touch Art Studio of Jonesboro, Georgia; www.justatouch.com"

Pics for Father's Day gifts

Summer Mini-Lesson: Pollinators

It started with my e-mail from the NWF. While, I strongly disagree with their position on global warming, I appreciate their children's magazines (Ranger Rick, Your Big Backyard, and Animal Baby), love the Green Hour website and blog, and enjoy all of the information on local wildlife and children's and family activities to help them.

So this e-mail informed me that this week is National Pollinators Week and listed five ways to help pollinators in my neighborhood:

1. Use Native Plants



2. Hang Hummingbird Feeders



3. Build a Bee House



4. Plant a Butterfly Garden



5. Certify Your Yard With National Wildlife Federation

We'd just read books about bumble bees and honeybees last week. So today we read "Bad News for Bees" at Time for Kids. Brian's bringing home "A Honeybees Job" worksheet (our printer isn't working). The corresponding teacher guide has an additional worksheet as well.

Then we went to CBS and watched the video "Mystery of Disappearing Bees". We also checked out Haagan Daz's Help the Honeybees website. We then discussed the ways we could help, including the e-mail that started it all. We're planning to hang two hummingbird feeders tonight and soon buy some native plants to add to the butterfly garden.

We ended our mini-lesson with a fingerprint bumblebee craft. We stamped our bees on card stock, drew flower stems along the bottom, and added foam sticker flowers. Another option would be this cute Egg Carton Bumble Bee.

Five Things To Do This Weekend - Welcoming Summer Edition

1. Ice down a watermelon
2. Make fresh-squeezed lemonade
3. Break out the popsicle molds and freeze a treat
4. Try some new wading pool games
5. Teach your kids "In the Good Old Summertime"

New Pet Peeve

Okay, this is not a normal pet peeve like slow drivers in the fast lane or people that yell at their whining kids that they have at the store at 10 PM. This is a new one and I'm wondering if it is unique to me.

Does it drive anyone else crazy that it is all the rage to put the care tags for clothes at the bottom of the inside side seam? It makes me nuts! I am always checking care tags when I do the laundry to remember if I can tumble dry or need to hang to dry, wash on delicate, or hand wash cycle. And now I have to go fishing around the inside of skirts and dresses to find the answer to a simple question! Is it really that impossible to just put that on the tag that's already on the top of the dress??

I'm done ranting now.

So am I the only one?

Flavored Milk

Rose sent a small cookie that she'd made home from Gran's on Tuesday. She had a note with it that said that it was for Bella and that I was supposed to eat it so that she could have it in her milk. :^)

The "Almost" Perfect Weekend

You'd think I'd have pictures - but I keep forgetting the camera in the nearly-forgotten mass of baby things that must be packed when going places.

Friday night we went to a carnival. I like this one because it is a good size. It's a school carnival, and it has a few rides and a bunch of inflatables, and carnival games, and the best part - $6 wristbands for the kids to do everything. They even have free cake and ice cream. So it was a fun family night. Rosie loves to swing, so the amusement park-style swing ride is a favorite of hers, she rode it twice. She loved the circus train too. Ethan's favorite was an inflatable ring that housed a king of the mountain type game. Two kids. Two air filled platforms. Two body pillow sized sacks that they wacked each other with.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Communtiy Appreciation Day at our local library - free hot dogs, and we ran into a family from church that we'd not visited with in a long while and got to catch up. From there we decided to head to the park, and I got the bright idea (I hoped) to head to the nearest, and relatively new, elementary school to try out their playground. It was huge and the kids loved it. After they'd played, we finished off our delicious summer day with milkshakes from Burger King. And let me tell you, their Oreo sundae shakes are amazing.

Then came Sunday. The day I woke up with what I thought were really bad gas pains and turned out to be a stomach virus. By Sunday night I'd shipped my kids off to Gran's. Monday Brian stayed home with Bella and I and I felt mostly better (as long as I didn't do too much). Monday night I felt over it and the kids came home. Tuesday morning it returned with a vengeance. The kids went back to Gran's and Brian came back home after lunch to babysit Bella. I finally managed to eat some saltines and drink some water that night.

The upside? I am officially back to my pre-pregnancy weight. So I only have to lose the same 20 lbs I've needed to lose since Rose was born.

And can I tell you that I have the sweetest kids. Anna Kate made me a rainbow beaded bracelet on Sunday that I'm still wearing. All of the kids spent their own money to buy me get well gifts that they brought home Monday. Ethan brought candles, Anna Kate some solk flowers with butterflies, and Rose a flower wind twirler that she posted in the front yard inder the magnolia. Tuesday evening, Pa brought me a note from Anna Kate along with a bottle of Mountain Dew that she was sure would make me feel better. :^)

I think it worked.

Five Things To Do This Weekend

1. Enjoy a festival or carnival.
2. Cut a magnolia blossom and float it in a bowl of water.
3. Catch lightning bugs.
4. Cook lunch on the grill and eat outside together.
5. Order Father's Day gifts before it's too late to get them shipped and you have to shop at WalMart. Again. Make plans for a magical day, while your at it.

Silly Questions

I did this by e-mail for a friend and thought I'd share here. Play along, if you like. :^)

1. What is your occupation right now? Wife, Mother, Home educator, Piano teacher

2.What color are your socks right now? barefoot

3. What are you listening to right now? my husband kissing my baby

4. What was the last thing that you ate? grilled key west chicken, cantaloupe, spinach artichoke dip, and tortilla chips

5. Can you drive a stick shift? no

6. Last person you talked on phone with? my mother-in-law

7.Do you like the person who sent this to you? of course! I've liked her forever

8. How old are you today? 33

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? pro football, unless ice skating is on

10. What is your favorite drink? really chocolaty hot chocolate

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? yep, and it's about that time

12. Favorite food? cake?

13. What is the last movie you watched? 13 Going on 30

14. Favorite day of the year? a day at the beach, or maybe Thanksgiving Sunday (our church's anniversary service) or Easter or Christmas Eve

15. How do you vent anger? well, I try not to yell or bite someone's head off and call a friend instead

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? barbies

17. What is your favorite season? fall

18. Cherries or Blueberries? blueberries

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? N/A, but let me know if you post this

20. Who is the most likely to respond? don't know - Hannah?

21. Who is least likely to respond? no idea

22. Living arrangements? ranch house

23. When was the last time you cried? no idea - last time I watched the end of Emma?

24. What is on the floor of your closet? boxes of scrap booking supplies, boxes of candles, my sewing box

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending? My cousin Jess if she's reading, or Terri and Lisa if she's not

26. What did you do last night? hung out with my husband and Bella, had a Six Dollar Burger, watched a movie, and finished the ice cream pie

27. What are you most afraid of? of my kids growing up in a country that is hostile to people of faith - things can change so quickly

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? cheese

29. Favorite dog breed? my mom's Jack Russell is pretty cute, but his breath stinks

30. Favorite day of the week? Thursday (date night)

31. How many states have you lived in? 2

32. Diamonds or pearls? pearls - not a big fan of diamonds

33. What is your favorite flower? Roses!

Free Summer Movies

If you have a Regal Cinemas near you, you should check out their Free Family Film Festival. It's air-conditioned fun and a rainy day life-saver,not to mention a really fun way to catch the family movies you missed. I often avoid renting kids movies in hopes that they will play them during the summer movies and we can see it for the first time on the big screen.

Love Stories

Okay, girls. Are you still out there? I want to start blogging more - sometimes it seems like almost everyone that reads my blog is on Facebook, so it gets hard to be motivated...



I need some good romance novels - nothing trashy, but it doesn't have to be Christian fiction either. I spent last summer loving the Twilight books, but I'm sick of rereading them - there's got to be other great love stories that I haven't already read. What are your favorites? I usually get my books at the library, but I'm almost desperate enough for a fantastic (note I didn't just say "good") love story that I could be persuaded to pay good money for it. :^)



Some favorites of mine:



The Savannah Quartet by Euguenia Price

The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer

The English Garden Series and The Princess by Lori Wick

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

The Wedding Dress and With This Ring by Marian Wells

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

The Stonewycke Trilogy my Michael Phillipis and Judith Pella



I'm looking for the kind of book that you can't put down, have to cry over, can't stop thinking about when you've finished it, and are inclined to reread it frequently. Help!

Bella Grace

less than 24 hours old

Bella Grace was born on May 11 after bein strongly persuaded by my doctor :^). I had a very smooth and easy delivery despite her reluctance to make an appearance. When she did get here, though, she was so alert and wanted to take everything in. The kids are thrilled with her.

*

My parents, grandma, and some of my siblings arrived on the 16th for a couple of weeks and they overhauled my house and yard. Everything is very clean - it's so nice.

*

We were planning on choosing between Maria Grace and Grace Isabel (which I was leaning toward and had even started calling her "Gracie" a little to try it out - that and Brian stunned me with a fantastic performance of "Miss Grace", and you know that I'm a sucker for names that have songs), but told people to not be surprised by a curveball name.

*

It turns out that my best friend delivered her fourth baby four weeks early the Saturday before Bella was born on Monday, so she was at the hospital with us. Dara, Brian, and I talked baby names Sunday night and she kept telling me that I should name her whatever I really loved. I have a big complusion to avoid overly popular names, especially any name in the top ten baby names list. I've had Isabella on name lists for years, but had pretty much just deleted it from serious consideration because it is around #1 on some name lists and because the popularity of the Twilight books (which it's no secret that I love) would probably keep it there for a while. But I really liked the name Bella, so did Dara, and Brian did too - and we haven't agreed on much. We like a lot of the same names, but weren't loving the same ones this time around. So Bella was suddenly in the running, and we decided that if we went with it it would be just Bella, not Isabella.

*

When she was born, everyone in the delivery room just kept saying that she was so beautiful, and that seemed to be the sign I'd been asking for. So Bella, which means "beautiful", became her name after all.

Due Date

Well, this is technically supposed to be D-Day.

It's also our church picnic. I really hate missing the church picnic- it's usually scheduled Memorial Day weekend and we're usually out of town. I was happy to know we'd be in town this year.

We have a big open-air service - our church usually has to have three identical services, so this is the only time that everyone actually gets to worship together.

Then I saw the first announcement for it - scheduled on my due date. So I kept thinking, Hurry up baby and we can go to the picnic - you'll be two weeks old...one week old...five days old???

Never mind, I'll apparently (unless something happens in the next several hours) still be pregnant.

But she could always come tonight, right?

Oh, and did I mention there's a 50% chance of rain? I think the rain date is in two weeks...good grief. Please be sunny.

I love this kid!

Ethan said to Brian this morning, "Dad, you know, I don't think it's really love that makes the babies. I'm thinking it might be that DNA stuff." :^)

Then at dinner he shared, " I think I know why God gave me all sisters - He wants me to be content with what I have."

Isn't he sweet?

All the colors of the world

Rosie loves to cook and Rosie loves to sing. She recently got a new-to-her play kitchen that came with a new play phone.

So she was walking around chatting on the phone the other day. To her husband. On his birthday. So she was singing him his favorite song.

Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Yellow, green, and black, and white
They are precious in his sight...

And she sang on, adding all sorts of colors, "all the colors of the world."

Did I mention she likes to improvise new lyrics when she sings?

Tax Day Tea Party

Find one near you! http://taxdayteaparty.com/ Tomorrow!

Happy Easter!

Can you see Anna's toothless smile?

She lost her second front tooth on Saturday. :^)

A Rainbow Birthday Party

Anna Kate spied a rainbow cupcake cake at Walmart

a couple of months ago, and decided that she wanted

a rainbow party.

After watching Noah's Ark the kids came up to eat cupcakes

and tie-dye ice cream

" Pin the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow"

The boys high-tailed it to Ethan's bedroom while the

girls headed to the playroom to enjoy Anna Kate's new

I Want to be a Hula Dancer and Wear a Flower Lei! DVD

Painting watercolor rainbows - they then added foam

flower and animal stickers, several painted arks as well

After opening presents, they all got a pack of glow

necklaces in rainbow colors.

Some friends slept over and the Lucky Charms and

simple version virgin Tequila Sunrise (make your own

by adding some grenadine to your glass of orange juice)
completed the rainbow theme.

Dinner tonight

was yummy. Brian's been watching food network shows and clips on hulu lately and Paula Dean hooked him with this recipe. The red onion mayo was so much better (and milder) than I anticipated.

Anna Kate's Birthday Letter

I've been not getting these done, so it's fifteen minutes to midnight on her birthday, and here it goes:

April 1, 2009

Little Anna bird,

I really can't believe that you're already six! (I bet I say that every year, just with a different number). As usual there have been so many new things and great events and accomplishments. Most recently, you've just finished kindergarten and lost your first tooth, and the second one is loose! So now you're a reader. And you've become a pretty good independent learner too, thanks to my being sick the whole school year.

You had your first meal at KFC and probably your first taste of real fried chicken this year (courtesy of growing up in a gluten-free home), and were spastic about the whole thing. Said it was the best food ever and that you could never get too full there, and that you wished there was no such thing as money so that you could eat there every day. Your a real foodie, and your enthusiasm and brightness infuses our lives with so much joy.

You're still a grits girl, from your love for the actual thing, to your cute Southern pronunciations. You think you're a tomboy, but I think you're just a Southern belle - all girly on the outside and steel on the inside.

You and Ethan and Rose love each other so much. Of course, sometimes you try to kill each other, but usually it's just so fun watching you all troop around together. And I get a kick out of you girls taking turns being Ethan's wife or daughter to play a family. And that you always want to sleep in the same room so that none of you has to be alone.

Barbies have been a staple toy again this year, and your dolls and animals are frequent company, but as usual, your interests are the hardest to peg, because you remain the social butterfly flitting from person to person and eager to just join in on whatever is happening.

The exception to that would be dancing - you love it. You may not always want to be a Miss Louise's, but your theme song could definitely be, "Gotta Dance" because any strain of music sets you in motion. You love hula, tap, ballet, waltzing with Ethan, doing contra dancing at a festival, calypsoeing on a boat at Chingoteague, and just plain jammin'.

And both of you girls love Paula Dean. This cracks me up too, but you are just as thrilled to watch an episode of her show as you are to watch a princess movie (probably more). The lady is funny, though, and you're right, she loves butter. You like Jon and Kate Plus 8 too - you watch it with Gran, but I have to say that here we diverge. Kate really irritates me.

You are kind and stubborn, sassy and sweet, beautiful and bold.

You love to do Bible studies with Daddy, and he loves having you snuggled up next to him. You have such a quick mind and retain information so very well. You are a joy to teach.

Board games have been a hit this year too. Trouble and Monopoly Jr. are at the top of the list right now. Daddy and I have so much fun playing games with you guys, and you're never a sore loser.

And all three of you are artists like your dad. You're a creative soul, and I was so impressed with your school drawings this year.

You're on the brink of more great events. You've been itching to be baptized for at least a couple of years now, and finally it's happening in just a few weeks. The tooth fairy is going to be handing out lots of new charms for that bracelet she gave you. The pink princess room is almost a reality. And I believe that I'm going to watch an independent reader emerge. Just don't grow up too fast.

I bet I'll think of lots more to add, and so will Daddy, but if this is truly the end of the letter, know sweet girl that we love you so much, and more and more every year. You are the spark plug of my life, crazy baby.

Love,

Mommy

Happy Birthday, Anna Kate!

She had her requested cherry poptarts for breakfast, spent the morning playing, then picked out her birthday cake. She's having cupcakes at her Friday night party, so she chose a cheesecake assortment. On to KFC to pick up lunch, then her first visit to Monkey Joe's. They had a blast, but those inflatable play places are SO LOUD! Back at home we had a baked ziti supper with Gran and Pa, gift opening, and the cheesecake finale. Not a bad birthday.

making a wish

Maternity clothes

I have been very blessed in my maternity clothes shopping. Most of the pieces I'm wearing this time around are new for this pregnancy. My maternity clothes from Anna and Ethan were mostly too small :^( and I borrowed most of my clothes for Rose's pregnancy from two friends. One has since gotten rid of all of her maternity clothes and the other is due a month after me.

So I needed to by some new stuff. I found some really nice dresses at a consignment sale for a fraction of their original prices. Most of the rest I found at my favorite thrift store and other consignment stores, usually for $1-5 a piece.

I prefer the underbelly waistlines - so much more comfortable and fewer lines showing - plus they fit sooner and can be worn postpartum, provided one can find long enough tops, however right now fashion is working in my favor. I actually found a number of cute spring skirts and dresses, as well as lots of capri/flood pants.

Also I've tried a new thing - the maternity belly band. I should have bought a stack - it's so handy, especially right now, when my belly keeps wanting to show. But at $20 a pop they rattle by budget sensibilities. I have a black one right now, though, and I'm really considering ordering a lighter color fast because I really think they're going to be very handy for nursing too - that and to hide the fact that I'll probably be wearing maternity pants way longer postpartum than is respectable. :^)

See I've entered the problem weeks. You know, the last several weeks where the tops that were previously unwearable tents are suddenly the only tops that cover your waistband. And all of those really cute tops are way too short. Half the pants no longer go over the belly at all (even the little bit they're supposed too). Then compound that by the fact that all of this much needed rain is making the temperatures much too cool to wear the capris and dresses that were bought to be larger.

So lately I've been frequently begging the dryer to hurry and dry the one pair of pants that are clean and fit so that I can get to my appointments on time.

Hurry warm weather - I want to wear all of those cute spring clothes a few times - but then, if that doesn't work out, maybe no one will notice that they're pregnancy clothes when I'm still wearing them in July!

Weekend Getaway

We've been planning this trip for a while (it was our Christmas/my birthday gift). We'd planned to go in January, but then my grandmother died and we went to PA again, and I was still feeling so lousy that we postponed it. This weekend we finally got away while the getting was good. At nearly 34 weeks I was running out of time. The predicted weather in the area was cooler than ideal and we finally decided on Gatlinburg, TN and made reservations the morning of the day we left. So it was a little crazy.

I don't sleep at night anymore. Reflux/heartburn pretty much makes that a fruitless endeavor until about 4 AM. By then, I've either attempted sleep and thrown up enough to sleep, or my dinner has completely digested. So Friday was a typical day, in that I was exhausted and unintentionally fell back to sleep for a couple of hours around lunch, which puts all the homeschooling behind... Brian was so sweet. He got home by 4PM and was just so happy to be going that he didn't mind that I'd finally gotten the kids packed and off to their Gran's and cheerfully helped me pack. So we left after six, much later than I'd planned.

But the whole drive there is lovely. We stopped about an hour away from our destination at a local seafood place and enjoyed our meal (even if mine did have an incredibly short life span), then wound through the last wooded leg in the dark behind a slow SUV, undoubtedly driven by a woman, as she was very hesitant and spent most of the time straddling the yellow line as she rounded mountain curves. It was only on the trip back that we partially forgave her after seeing the 200 foot drops on the sides of some of those curves that had no guardrails. :^)

We finally arrived at our perfect and lovely motel. We checked in, built a fire in the fireplace, and relaxed.

the buildings to the right are our motel,

our building is the one hidden in the trees

wish I'd gotten a real fire shot - we really enjoyed it -

except the night that it got wayyyy too hot, and we had

to turn on the air conditioner and open the balcony door and

wait an hour until I could stand to be in the room again. :^)

Each morning they delivered delicious homemade donuts to

our door. Breakfast in bed - heaven!


View from the aerial tram we rode up, then back down the mountain
Yep, we're suspended on those cables




balcony view

and view from the balcony

We spent the next day wandering the strip, napping (well, I napped, as my nights were unfortunately following their usual pattern), and generally enjoying each other's company. The weather, felt much warmer than it should have and was really quite perfect for this overheated mama. And we were both so happy to return to our nice crackling fire.

The ride home was beautiful! We followed this stream through

national park for the first leg.

When we left the stream behind, the mountain views were gorgeous.

Scripture and Education

I just got back from a lovely weekend away with my Brian. But I've had a serious shake-up in my world this past week. I've tried to be open-minded concerning educational choices that I consider to be less than ideal, but after hearing a family's testimony that really struck me as wholly wrong, I have been contemplating and researching his even more and I'm just not feeling as open minded. I have no desire to be judgmental, but I am becoming very concerned with what seems to be a lack of biblical dialogue on what Scripture truly does have to say about educational choices. And if those choices are really so open to private opinion. I have a lot that I have sorted through, and I'm not sure how much I want to throw out here, but I'm just going to start with some scripture. I'd love to hear your opinions on how they do or do not apply to the type of education Christian parents can consider for their children. At the very least, they are food for serious thought.

Deuteronomy 11:18 “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up (NKJV)

What is the best way to do this?
I recommend this article for some interesting insights and statistics. There are lots of rather consistent statistics out there on varying educational results, but verifying original sources has proven to be obnoxiously difficult.

Luke 6:39 He also told them a parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Can a parent reasonably expect to have more influence than another teacher the child listens to for the majority of his day?


2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.

I've most often heard this applied to marriage, and then to business partnerships. Only this past week did I see someone apply this to education. Do you think that this is valid? Can you work together with an unbelieving, Christ-denying teacher/institution/system to educate you children? When is this unbiblical?

I have lots of questions, and not as many answers.

Give me some feedback.

St. Patrick's Day Food

Today we're having:

for breakfast: Lucky Charms with the milk the leprechauns turned green

for lunch; something with honeydew

for dinner: corned beef and cabbage - might have to throw it in the slow cooker and lime kool-aid mixed with ginger ale

for dessert: mint chocolate chip ice cream sundaes with St. Patrick's Day sprinkles

I'm keepin' it simple this year.

Here are some good Irish recipes from Betty Crocker:

Peanutty Good Luck Snack

Reuben Casserole

Slow Cooker Old-World Corned Beef and Vegetables

Saint Patrick's Day Activites

1. Draw a face on the leprechaun at Crayola.
2. Try the mazes from beginner to complex at Kid's Domain.
3. Cute printable preschool workbook from Giggly Games.
4. Read about who Patrick really was as well as his actual writings at A Joyful Heart.
5. Make some pot of gold jello and clover cupcakes from Family Fun.
6. Make and hang the shamrock shimmers at Nestle's Very Best Baking.
7. Find a dancing fairy and other lovely paper crafts at the Toymaker.
8. Choose a celtic cross coloring page at Apples4theTeacher.
9. Try pepper painting shamrocks.
10. Print sweet bookmarks at Jen Brett's website.
11. Do your copywork on St. Patty's handwriting paper from BillyBear4Kids.
12. Make a leprechaun friend at Making Friends.
13. Complete the wordsearch from The Family Corner.

Originally published March 11, 2007

John Stossel on the Bailout

ht to Jim Demint

Hello, again

My sister wanted to know where I've been. I've actually been pretty sick. Just a really miserable combo of nausea and heartburn and fatigue. But I had a good weekend and am hoping for a better week. We had snow, now we have beautiful weather - 80 today! We only have a couple weeks of school left - and lots to do to finish that up and get ready for baby. All of which would be much simpler if I felt better more often. This has not been an easy school year and we didn't accomplish a lot of things that I had wanted to, but we have a long spring and summer to do art and read books and catch up some things painlessly.

The girls' room is slowly transforming into a princess room. I still don't know if I'm going to use the real crib or a porta crib or if I'll just put the porta crib in my room. The kids bedrooms are 10x10 - not really made for three kids in one room. My room isn't much bigger at 10x12. So we've got a lot to sort through and rearrange - which is once again difficult to do when this pregnancy will apparently not even leave me one good month to do it in.

I am, however, at 32 weeks now, and am just so glad to see an end in sight. The warmer weather and having out spring and summer maternity clothes makes it seem even closer. We're still working on that name thing too. I'm afraid to even tell people what we're considering anymore, because just about the time I think it's the keeper, it changes again...

And I am so hot! Not in the way I wish either. This girl is like my own personal furnace. I've never been this hot during a pregnancy - even with Rose, who was born in July! I feel like I'm constantly having hot flashes.

The kids are finally over all the colds, I think, and I'm slightly ashamed to admit that we completely skipped out on church yesterday because the flu is going around there like crazy, and that is just not a good idea right now.

Well, enjoy all the pics to catch you up on life around here, and I'll try not to be a stranger.

St. Patrick's Day Festival

We love this annual downtown festival. The kids enjoyed crafts, lots of free bling, and the balloon man, and we all enjoyed the Irish music and dancing. The food smelled wonderful, but we ate before we went.

March Snow

We had a late snowfall last Sunday. A March snowfall after the daffodils and Bradford pears were in bloom. The only other snowfall we had this year was about an inch that lasted about half an hour before melting. The kids were thrilled and Daddy got to stay home from work and play too. The snow wasn't much good for snowballs, snowmen, or snow angels, but they enjoyed sledding at the park right down the street and all of the icicles and ice sheets, and we finally got to make sugar on snow (sorry, I forgot to take pictures of that).

Cub Scouts

Ethan started Cub Scouts a few weeks ago and loves it. He earned his first badge after about two weeks.