Summer 2010

North Carolina Family Economics Conference

In March our family traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina for a Family Economics Conference.
Here we are in Pheonix, Arizona. We flew 'stand by' which makes for a very exciting trip. You never know when or *if* you will reach your destination. We spent about 6 hours in the Pheonix Airport because the plane going to Raleigh was full. There was no other flight leaving that day to NC, so we had to think creatively. We found a flight going to Baltimore Maryland that had enough seats to accomodate our family. We began looking up maps online to see if we could just get to the east coast and then drive down to NC.



On the flight from Arizona to Maryland. Fia reading Little House on the Prairie. Big brother taking pictures from the coveted window seat. This was a treat as we 3 were able to sit together. We had some MAJOR turbulance as we neared Baltimore.


Finally on solid ground (after turbulant flight) and in a new and unknown city at 11:30pm. Papa began his plan with his blackberry.


Off to leave the airport and find the car rental building.






The boys were getting a rental car while us girls rested. This was about midnight. We ended up renting a car with GPS (Praise the Lord for GPS). We drove through the night, passed many landmarks that tortured us because we couldn't stop. We saw the White House, the Washington Monument, crossed the Pottomac River, passed NASA, NSA and numerous Civil War historical sites and battlefields. We arrived at our hotel at 6am, had some yummy continental breakfast, went up to our room and went to bed for a few hours.


I had plenty of good knitting time during our day of travel, almost finished here with a sweater for Fia.


We met up with a wonderful friend from high school who lives in North Carolina. He brought his guitar so the boys could play.




Still reading...




Walking him out...


Family Economics conference, day one, session two. See Papa coming down the hall?


Some interesting trees.



Sunday morning going to church on the campus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
A beautiful North Carolina morning.



Gorgeous architecture.




The inside was impressive and massive to say the least. It was amazing to go to church in such a beautiful building.






Scott Brown, Kevin Swansen and Doug Phillips were among the congregation that day.





Hurry back to the airport.


We must get the necessary equipment before boarding the plane.


Back home about 11pm Sunday.


A short but life-changing few days.

Another slow, sweet morning

This morning it was Katy-No-Pocket. Yesterday I think it was Stone Soup. I might have dozed off.

It's funny how no one thinks it's odd to have a Kangaroo walking down the sidewalk. They all are casually strolling next to Katy the Kangaroo. The man with the apron full of pockets is smoking a pipe! Can you imagine someone today making a kids book with smokers in it?




This is what happens most mornings. My kids crawl into bed with me and read books while I try to wake up. My oldest is a great reader. He uses different voices for different people with passion and enthusiasm.

I do feel guilty about still being in bed. In my mind and probably yours, I should be the first one up, fully dressed cheerily waking them with a smile...but it just doesn't happen that way. Or at least, it hasn't happened that way yet.

I am really enjoying this routine of ours. How much longer will it last? Probably not much, soon they will be too big or busy to crawl into my bed and cuddle. So for now I'll try to savor and enjoy it.

But this is one of the many beauties of homeschooling. We live life...together. If we choose to stay home (and we do make an effort to stay home), we can avoid much of the hustle and bustle and plain insanity of modern-day life.

Why stay home? Well, mostly it's cheaper. We seem to be happier when we stay home and do our usual routine. When we go out, there is food to pack, or food to buy. You and the kids see stuff that you think you want but never knew existed 5 minutes before you saw it. We all end up coming home cranky and behind!

Sometimes I try to imagine how much more time people had to just think their own thoughts back a hundred or two hundred years ago. Without phones, tvs, radios, advertising, junk mail, cell phones, emails, BLOGS, etc.

Wouldn't life be more peaceful?




Possibly more boring but there would be TIME to sit outside on the fence rail and just feel the wind blow on your face as you think deeply about the latest novel you had hours to read.



Or time to stare at the cows with your brother.

But then again, I just don't think I'd want to live without toilet paper.

What to give an eleven year old

Our oldest son turned eleven.

Eleven!

It's a sad thing for Mama. He is growing into a young man. Less toys, more tools.

{sniff sniff.}

We decided to go in with some of the family and get him his own garden wagon. It can be pulled by our lawn mower. This, could be a very handy tool when it comes to taking feed and water to the chickens, we thought.

*He* had other plans.

He spent part of the day giving rides to his younger siblings. It reminded me of the rides on the train at the zoo.

Here they even picked up some brush and took it to the burn pile.

Handy and fun.

Here you can see how he pulls the chicken schooner (as we call it) to a new patch of grass. The chickens are so cute. They LOVE moving. They go crazy with the fresh greens.

Look at what they did to that patch of grass in 3 days! They don't usually stay in one place that long, but we had some problems that prevented it from being moved. Usually they are moved everyday.

Here sits the king of the chicken coop. Watching over his flock.

And we noticed the fertile trail left behind by the cornish cross chickens. Can you see the extra green strip of grass? That was the track that their mobile pen was moved along every day.

Go chicken poop!

Birthday tea for T3

Our Treasure #3

The day began with the usual "one present opened on Papa and Mama's bed while still in pajamas". Unfortunately, Papa usually misses this tradition because he is at work. Sorry Papa. She had fun with her tea set. We all pretended to have tea on the bed.

My oldest son actually had the idea to have a tea party for her birthday while we were having tea on the bed. I thought it was a great idea.

Later she and I went to get the mail. It's a short walk to the mailbox and was chilly enough to need a jacket. She is good at throwing on her pink coat and trusty yellow boots. They (the boots) have served her well. Easy to put on, will go through puddles and they look super cute with anything, even striped pants under a dress!

She examines the mail as she walks leisurely back to the house. Is she three or thirty?

I have put the mail key on a long braid of red yarn so that in case any little (or big) people drop it on the way to or from the mailbox, we have some chance of finding it.

She helped Grandma make shortbread cookies for her Tea Party. It was the sweetest thing. She loved it so much. She said things like, "I love making cookies with you Grandma. This is fun." She would grab a blob of leftover dough and say, "I'm going to pop this into the oven." and then she would pop it into her mouth and eat it.

Who needs to spend money on plastic gifts that will clutter up the house. Spending an afternoon making cookies is a great present any child would love.

While they rolled out cookies at one end of the table, I sat at the other end and worked on the annual birthday crown.

My sister brought this perfect tea set to the party. My parents brought their electric ice cream maker. We used fresh strawberries and made homemade strawberry ice cream. Can you imagine?

Tea sets ready for action.

In the opening ceremony, Papa put her very special birthday crown on.

Last year I had her wear a very fluffy dress I found at the thrift store. It was fun to have her in something extraordinary for her birthday. This year she wore the very dress her cousin (my niece) wore as the flower girl in our wedding.

After the presents were opened the guests moved to the dining area for cake, homemade strawberry ice cream, shortbread cookies, tea and coffee. And I am happy to report that nothing upset the dignity and repose of the tea party.