A Struggle

This year like no other, we have been struggling with the upcoming school year.  I've prepped, gotten my book list together, but just can't make the call to order the books.  We talk about it and decide to continue homeschooling, then we talk about it again, decide for homeschooling...and it goes on.  

This evaluating process has been going on since Spring when we had to decide on whether to continue Jae in the public school where she attended Kindergarten.  I cried that last day, normal maybe, but an uneasiness had settled in.  Recently I wrote two emails on homeschooling...looking for any encouragement that would boost me from the state of being unsure to a stage of perfect clarity.  Talk about an unrealistic expectation.

We think we have a decision.  Of course just a couple of days ago I was sure we had a decision, now it's sinking in and I'm beginning to examine the options once again right before we commit.  Kind of like an early buyers remorse.  

The decision is..............Catholic school.  Our parish school has a waiting list, so the girls will attend another parish school on the other side of town near Rod's work.  One class per grade. We have taken the tour, talked to parents who send their children there and are filling in the registration material.  Friday they have a uniform sale so the decision will be final then.  More on the reasons another time.  I'm just about exhausted with the review of them right now.

Family Reunion

We had Rod's annual family reunion this weekend.  There is always lots of fun and games.  In fact all the attendees (around 75) are split into two teams and asked to wear their team colors.  There's the Jocks in green and yellow (farming colors) and the Angels in blue and white (for the Blessed Mother).  We receive a fun 5 page newsletter a couple weeks before the reunion with team assignments, memorable events, induction into the 5 for 5 club (attending 5 reunions in a row), pictures, reunion stats, and past 'door' prize winners (the actual screen door from the house of Rod's Great Grandparents - the reason we're all together).  

The arrival of the newsletter stirs a lot of excitement in our house.  First they fight over who gets to see it first, discuss who's on which team, what will be worn, how long until the reunion...  I don't know, but this doesn't seem to be the normal reaction to an upcoming family reunion - this is real excitement and anticipation.  As we were down to the last days before the reunion the taunting between the two teams (we were split 3 on Angels and 2 on Jocks) became heightened and almost escalated into tears.  We overheard one of them saying the other had to go to Confession for lying because they said they were going to win!  

I'm sad to announce the Jocks took it this year.  You can probably decipher who was on which team by the picture above (during a rice blowing competition).  Thanks to the hard work and creativity of the reunion planners, we had another great day!  

Egg-In-A-Nest

Yesterday Pioneer Woman talked about "egg-in-a-nest" or "egg-in-a-hole," whatever it's properly called.  It looked so good, wholesome and easy that I surprised Rod this morning.  He had a long night working after we got home from a little date, so it was a welcome sight.  Even I, who is squeamish about runny eggs, loved it.  I remember having this at a Bed and Breakfast near London and thinking it was strange.  I had experienced the runny egg thing at home but hadn't remembered seeing this combination (my memory is bad though and I wasn't in the kitchen much).   Rod remembered his Mom making this for his Dad.

Kaye decided to try making some scrabbled eggs this morning.  Cee the Baker wanted nothing to do with it since she was preoccupied with her Yogo Rollers.  They weren't pillow-y and fluffy, but she ate them.  The important thing is she did it.  So after all that we needed to assign someone to the dishes.

Nutmeg enthusiastically volunteered.  She worked very hard! 

post note:  Suddenly I remembered having an egg sunny side up on a piece of toast while growing up.  I never liked the site of the runny yellow yoke dripping from the sides.  I suppose this is a similar version but contains everything in the 'nest.'

My New Look

Over the past week or so I've been working with Danielle on a new blog design.  Here is the end result.  What do you think?  I love it!  

No, I can't pick just one design kit, I have to pick two.  Not just two but two very unrelated kits.  ...and I have to go for something different.  This sums up my particular nature very well.  Oh the line of people who have been subjected to this.  Maybe it started back when I'd cry every Sunday going to Church not having exactly what I wanted to wear ...or thinking of nothing else in Church but me sitting there in the perfect outfit.  Then there's my Mom trying to safety pin my waistline so I can get exactly the right feel.  My husband when we negotiated buying the car.  The salesman at one point told me "I don't think I want to sell a car to you."  Then my poor tired sisters when I went to find my wedding dress.

The thing is it's a very rewarding process in the end because I get exactly what I want.  Is it very kind to the people I'm working with?  No.  So I thank all of you who have been subjected to my relentless particular pickiness.  Danielle's the most recent in this long line.

Danielle, thank you for coming up with this beautiful design in a heap of different elements - you are amazing.  Thank you for  your patience and for not telling me you didn't want to design a blog for me (even if you felt like it).  

Take a peek at her beautiful designs at Blogs by Danielle.  She has a Summer special until the end of July.

Cabin Weekend

We had a great weekend at my Dad's cabin.  Lots of quality family time.  No computers, tv or restaurants to pull anyone away.  We had a small bump in the road on the way up when we had to pull over on the dirt road to let Kaye sit in the front seat because of car sickness.  Within minutes our dog Nutmeg, who also needed to be in the front, threw up on Kaye's leg.  (I dodged that one :)  Seeing and feeling the ickiness that is dog throw up is definitely not a remedy for car sickness.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.  We hiked up to 1st and 3rd Falls on Sunday.  We had another dog mishap on our way out the door (neighbor dog on our deck was bothering Nutmeg) so I forgot to grab the camera.  It was beautiful at 3rd Falls.  It started to rain on our hike back.  As we heard the thunder overhead it was both awesome and alarming being so far off the road.

We're back to computers, tv and restaurants (athough trying to restrain ourselves).  Tomorrow I'll be getting a new blog design.  Come back and see.

Lemon Tea Cookies - Check

Packing up today for a trip to Papa's cabin this weekend.  Looking forward to a relaxing weekend without too much technology.  (There is a vcr up there - we're not crazy!)  Since there are no stores around we make sure we have the required snack categories; salty, sweet, sour, chocolaty.  Had to do a taste test this morning to make sure these passed the sweet category.  They did.  

Cee is looking forward to a birthday party this afternoon so we'll leave after we pick her up.  Now I must find the mosquito repellent and marshmellows.  Enjoy your weekend.

Homeschooling on the Brain

I'm sitting down today and going through our curriculum so I can order books for the coming school year.  We are actually enrolled in a Catholic school - a distance learning program.  We have a Consultant who oversees our education and who documents our testing, and semester grades.  We use a classical curriculum which divides education into stages called the Trivium.  The goal to teach your children to think - "the art of learning."  It organizes learning according to the maturity of the child's mind into three phases; Grammatical, Logical, Rhetorical.  For more on classical approach go here.

What I like about our distance learning program is that our lesson plans are clear and concise.  This year we worked from a teacher planner which organized everything into specific assignments on the numbered days of our week which saved a lot of work.  It was nice especially for Kaye who is becoming very independent and has a natural affinity for organization.  For Cee it was nice for those little checkmarks she loves and which bring her much pride.  

The girls are very interested in the books that will be their school life for the next year.  They get very excited when the boxes arrive.  This is also the expensive part of homeschooling but at least it comes in one big (expected) chunk.  Looking forward to the time it is all organized and ready.  After I order I need to box up and file their books and notebooks from last year.  I can't bear to do it when Summer starts.  I'm much more motivated now.  I'm slowly getting excited about a whole new year with three.  Did I just say excited?  

Summer

It's a good feeling, waiting for my summer sleepyheads to wake up.  We're planning to go to the kid's movies this morning at 10:00 so I need to wake them soon.  They have an especially sound sleep after a late swim.   Trying to take this all in.  Summer has been great and I want to remember the nice rest we've had.  

Soon enough the seriousness of school and the busy-ness of Fall will be upon us and we may forget how easy we had it this Summer.  Homeschooling preparations for 08/09 have begun.  It's both exciting and difficult.  Each year's decision might not be as easy as some think.  The options are seriously evaluated (so much that a three page 'pros and cons' spread-sheet exists).  Still feel the call strongly, still feel it's the best choice for our children right now.  

I remember Pioneer Woman mentioning that for relatives and friends homeschooling can be a hard pill to swallow.  Sometimes I have to remind myself of that.  On the other end of things sometimes it's easy to understand that and proceed on and at times it's tough.  Feeling a certain underlying scrutiny, feeling like the 'weird ones', sensing your kids are being examined.  It goes with the territory I know...going against the grain can be a lonely place.  It's still worth it.  We still choose this and everything that comes with it.  

...so I'm not saying go hug a homeschooler today, just know the decision comes after much consideration, prayer, and examination of details you may not know.  As for now, it's still Summer and we're going to enjoy it today.

Come On Over

Today was Kaye and Cee's piano recital.  They have one every Summer and Winter.  We have invited family before but more often we have kept it small, sometimes just the 5 of us.  This year Kaye liked her recital piece so she wanted a personal audience.  It worked out according to her plan although we didn't exactly construct the plans ourselves.  You see we are timid hosts.   We leave a trail of disgruntled people behind us.  Those who could rightly complain we don't ever call, invite them over, come visit...and this has been going on since the beginning of us.  Don't get me wrong we love our family and friends it just happens this way.  We love it when we do finally get together it's just all the planning and prep involved leaving behind all the undone things of our regular life.  It's nice when people are patient with us and then take the initiative themselves when it has been too long.  Thank you to all you patient loved ones!

Today was such a day and we really enjoyed ourselves.  After the recital instead of going out to lunch we had our family over for a bbq and swim.  Everyone contributed and best of all no one was in a hurry.  It was a relaxing Sunday spent with family, just as Sundays should be.  ...and Kaye and Cee did great.  They're so cute, just love watching their nervous excitement.  Here are some pictures of the day.  Someday, just someday we may surprise everyone and throw a big bash - just because.  (You might not want to hold your breath though)

Elephants Smell When It's 112

We bought pre-tickets for the circus back in Spring...back in Spring when we couldn't have known we picked the hottest day of the year.  I mean we knew it was going to be hot, it's July, but we picked the winner of a day.  To top it off we have had hazy skies because of the fires, so it was just about unbearable.  We waited for a half hour before they opened the doors (we figured the doors would've already been open).  It was a little alarming to see the two stretchers outside the doors prepared for any health issues.  We were all trying to think cool thoughts.  When we entered the building was cooler but not cooled.  

So that's the bad news, the performance was nice, better than we had seen two years ago when we were disappointed.  I think that was the year ownership changed.  This year was much better.  We love the motorcycles, the dogs, tigers and horses.  The elephants were neat but as soon as they entered the arena you could smell them.  I thought of the poor animals in the intense heat - I'm sure they were wishing they were back in 'cool' Africa.

We've had a nice full week.  We had a fun sleepover Tuesday night and the free movie the next day, night-time swimming in 94 degree water.  It felt like bathwater.  Today's much better at 104 - we can definitely handle that.  Over the weekend it should drop to a cool 100 degrees.  I'm so thankful for air conditioning

Regarding Dinner

Taking into consideration our carefree vacation, my guilty purchase, rising price of everything, driving the Boss Hog of gas guzzlers, and trying to live the way we're meant to, we have set a weekly spending limit.  It still allows for some eating out (strategically planned), but we have been writing down all expenses big and small.  On paper we have seen a lot of waste.  This has been happening... "what the heck, I spent $16.00 at Panda Express for lunch when I could've boughten a book?  Should I really spend this $3.99 to download a scrapbook swirl?  Dear, did you really need to purchase the 'Mercedes' of balancing cartridge assemblies?  Hmmm, that Starbucks really adds up over a week's time.  Do we really need this prescription?"  (just kidding on the last one)

So I'm getting dinner ready last night when DH comes home from work.  He watches me open the can of Anderson split pea soup, cook the spinach ravioli from Costco that he really doesn't like, open a can of green beans, defrost the loaf of french bread we've had in the freezer for 4 months and says, "mmmmm."  I told him "well our taste buds are used to restaurant quality but this ain't no restaurant."  We sit down for dinner and he tries his pea soup (again, not his favorite), and he says, "is this like a person in a job he hates and he intentionally messes up so he can be fired?"  He said it with his usual humor and I literally laughed so hard I almost pee'd my pants.  ...and in that moment I reminded myself of my Mother.

A Moment in Time

I took these pictures while the girls swam yesterday.  I love how the pictures allow time to stop so we can catch those brief, usually unnoticed moments.  I read at Creating Keepsakes (video section) about shutter speed.  The higher the number the less blurry action shots you get.  I took these with our new camera (Canon Rebel xti) we bought just before our vacation.  My sister did catch that the pictures looked different.  I have been feeling very guilty about the camera.  So much that I have kept the box, all tags and every piece of plastic each part came in, just in case.  Bye, bye to the idea of a digital video camera.  I guess it's back to our "retro" VHS video camera model and the video capabilities of our free camera.  Actual live video is so overrated :)  You can read about the steps that led to the camera here and here.  

I have so much to learn.  It was fun trying just one function.  Here's the pictures from yesterday:  

A captured moment of time with my camera bag.  I'm sure eventually the guilt will pass too and I'll take off all the tags and throw away the plastic bags.  I hope this was the right decision.

God Bless America

Have a great 4th of July celebrating the freedom for which men have died.

(...and Happy Anniversary to two firecrackers)

Typing

65 words

Speed test

Try this just for fun.  I remember my first typing test, although I don't remember my score, I panicked and didn't do so well.  It's funny how I chose to forget the score but can visualize the office building, the setting, the feeling, the number of people...  Oh the pressure!  Happy it's just for fun now.

Home - Good to be Here

It's good to be home!  We had a great vacation.  For me I appreciated the vacation from worry.  Even if I'm not tackling a to-do list at home I'm worried about the to-do list.  The kids loved the beach, riding bikes, walking on the pier, fun places to eat, and just having new things to do every day.  I think DH enjoyed the break from "work-work," the weather and sleeping-in.  By the 6th day though I was starting to feel the walls closing in a bit.  Starting to think of home and the space there.  Although we were a little sad to be leaving we looked forward to home.  Here's a few pictures from our fun trip to the Coast.