Our little buddy

That has been our affectionate title for Ryan for a while now that and "our friendly monster". Everyone always says that nobody had more pictures in their baby book than the first child. In Ryan's case, I know that's probably the case because he's our first baby with a digital camera and well the "digital images" are on the memory stick not in the album. So I thought I should put together a little scrapbook for him.

I am not sure that the book I'm currently reading, "Managers of the Home" would approve of the last hour I've spent playing with Smilebox and my pictures. Maybe this should qualify as a "hobby".

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Catching up on the past

Thanks to some great detective work by Circuit City and the persevering spirit of my wonderful husband, I am now officially back in business and better than ever! They were able to figure out the problem with Philip's laptop/my adapter and I can post all the pictures I want now. Even better than fixing Philip's computer, is the new church computer that Philip has installed. A good friend of mine introduced me a while back to "smilebox". This is my first time using it as I thought a slide show of the pictures unseen was appropriate. Smilebox was really cool and if I really figure it out you might see more links to come. Enjoy and get ready for some more pictures!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Wiener Works

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to my fellas from
pilgrimage. This was one of the places that we hung
out at a lot. And we really liked the color scheme.
Please notice the muscles from those strapping young
bucks --- all thanks to wiener works!

This post is written by Philip --- but DeAnne was
the one that took this picture.

A busy Saturday

I think I have discussed this before but in case I haven't, Saturdays are a little hard for me to get my head around. You see Philip has to work all day Saturday in order to prepare for the service on Sunday. It is hard to know that it's a Saturday but also know that I won't be lounging in my PJ, having eggs and grits cooked by Philip and having some time to run errands unaccompained by children. I have pretty much abandoned the idea of having school on Saturdays for now.

So this morning, I decided that we will try our hardest to get the house back in order after the time away. After looking at the sleeping bags, I realized that there was truly no other way to clean them up than to take them to the laundry mat. They were soaking wet and muddy. So I threw them into the van along with our comforter and headed to the laundry mat. There weren't many people there and my children immediately noticed the TV so we parked ourselves near it! The cartoons playing weren't not what I wanted the kids to see. Since mine were the only children, I decided to change the channel which meant squeezing myself between the coke machine and the vending machine and reaching on my tippie toes. I turned it to PBS but there were NO cartoons....I couldn't believe it. Why wouldn't cartoons be on PBS. I left it there in fear of getting stuck between the machines and we made the best of it.
I promised the kids a snack after I made sure I had enough change left over!
After the hour and half at the laundry mat we headed home for lunch, a nap for everyone and 3 more loads of laundry. I think I might have at least one more load tomorrow then the campfire smell should be gone from the house!

Grades are in...

Congrats to Philip on this semester's grades:

Exegesis of Luke: B
Christian Theology: A-
Making Disciples in the Wesleyan Tradition: A-

We're home!

For those of you who are following our recent trip away, we are home. The kid campers are now warm, clean, dry and asleep and Philip is here as well but he's a little sore from sleeping on the gravel! I have the first load of laundry complete with more to come tomorrow. I might even venture out to the laundry-mat to have the sleeping bags cleaned. There was a "flood" that occurred last night when they discovered that their tent wasn't as waterproof as they thought. Maybe next year Uncle Pete will bring the camouflage- waterproof mats for everyone.

So far the stories that I've heard sound like they had a blast. We'll get some pictures posted as soon I get them from Uncle Pete. I can tell that after 2 and a half days in the woods and lots of fun with their father and uncle, Peter and Emma will need to have a little bit of "refining"!

Pictures from Gram and Puppas

I found some pictures that Gram and Puppa had that needed to be added to the blog!
This is the kids with their cousin Caleb, Puppa and Gram over Thanksgiving.










Here's Emma in the tree but I think this were taken over the summer.










Here's Ryan "loving" on Peter.

Camping and Charlotte!

It's Thursday afternoon and the campers have been gone for over a day now. I received a call from Philip yesterday morning letting me know that there was a slit change of plans. Due to the State wide burning ban (including camp fires), they found a private campground open in Boone. They are not really roughing it though because there are hot showers and bathroom facilities available but they can have a campfire. I received another call Wednesday night from Emma who was missing her mommy! By the time I realized I missed her call and returned it, she was feeling better and enjoying roasted marshmallows.

Ryan and I have enjoyed our time in Charlotte. Yesterday we baked lots of Christmas cookies. Ryan was very cooperative once I laid him down for an early nap! He spent the evening with Puppa while the ladies went out to dinner. He loves his Puppa and calls for him and Peter throughout the day! We visited with a good friend and her children this morning. Becky and I grew up across the street from each since we were about 5 years old. It was great to see her and her beautiful children! This afternoon Ryan will get to meet his Great Gram who just moved from Arizona to an assisted living center in Charlotte.

camping time

We leave tomorrow to head to Charlotte for the first leg of the camping trip! I just checked the weather. It's definitely going to be cold but thankfully not rain in the forecast. So everyone PRAY for them as often as you think of it!!!

Have I mentioned yet what Ryan and I will be doing during this time?
While the campers will be toasting marsh mellows and making smores, we will be baking Christmas cookies.
While the campers will be eating MREs (meals ready to eat that Uncle Pete will provide courtesy his military connections), I will be dining with the ladies of the Chryst family at PF Cheng and Ryan will be bonding with his Puppa.
While the campers will be roughing it in the wilderness and exploring the sites of the Appalachian trail, Ryan and I will be visiting friends, shopping and being spoiled.

I'm not sure who's in for more of a treat the campers or the city folk.

Beaver Dams

In preparation for Philip, his brother (Uncle Peter), Emma and Peter's camping trip coming up on Wednesday of this week Philip took the kids on a really long hike. They started off in the woods behind the church and followed a creek along to a road that I eventually picked them up on when I received their call. They were out for about 2 hours hiking and exploring. They found 3 beaver dams and about an acre of woods that had been demolished by beavers. It's still hard for us to believe that we are living in a place where their is so much wildlife surrounding us.

The campers will be leaving from Charlotte Wednesday morning and heading to Boone for three days and two nights. While talking to Philip recently about the trip he said, "What's the worst that can happen? We end up having to get a hotel room." I am truly married to an optimist. I am thankful that Uncle Peter is an army man with extensive training for this kid of adventure. Uncle Peter doesn't have kids so that also makes him a bit more "sensitive" to what they are can handle.

Time with the laptop!

It's been a while since I've posted a good summary of the week so I thought I would take advantage of the time I had with Philip's laptop. Sometime last week, I messed up the churches desktop (my computer!) and lost Internet connection so I was void my link to the outside world for a bit. Now, it's Sunday afternoon, Philip's out visiting someone in the hospital, Ryan is napping, Peter and Emma are busy! They usually take naps right after lunch on Sunday afternoon but the time indoors the last few days is starting to show. Even though it's a blustery 30 degree day, they are enjoying the fresh air and I am enjoying some time with a keyboard!

My goal of teaching the Christmas symbols has been going well, not quite as great as I envisioned but it's always good to have high expectations. We've enjoyed learning about the Poinsettia, the Star, Advent wreaths and the color purple. I have a stack of Christmas books that I picked up from the library for some more "learning opportunities". I am very thankful that so far, they have continued to focus of the birth of Christ as the reason for Christmas and not the gifts.

We celebrated Philip's completion of the semester Friday night with another Student Pastor and his family whom we live near. We had a great visit with the Hunter's. I was able to talk to Anna-Lisa quite a bit about homeschooling as she has upper elementary students of her own. I have been questioning myself lately as to if Peter is getting enough of an education in the sciences, math and so forth. Anna-Lisa reminded me of that a lot of education at this age (apart from reading and writing) is "guided exploration". We certainly to our fair share of "guided exploration" around here and it was a welcomed reassurance that I'm on the right track.

3/8 done

In honor of Philip's completion of his 3 semester at Duke, I thought it was fitting to post this picture took of him in DC. During our trip this summer, as we were walking (a long ways) from the metro to the Lincoln monument to begin our day, we happened upon the Albert Einstein monument! Thus the picture you have here.
So far the only grade that has been reported to me is a "B" in his Exegesis of Luke class. I know I spelled that wrong so it's a good thing he's taking the class and not me!
More grades to come as are revealed!

Gone are the days

As I was deboning the chicken I had cooked for dinner, I began thinking back to when Peter was 1. At that time when I would cook a chicken for dinner I would be able to make at least 2 full meals- one night Chicken and Dumplings and the next Chicken Pot Pie and perhaps something else. It actually wasn't even just the three of us eating but our friend Mandy was living with us at the time so that's 3.5 people eating for 2days. Well as I was deboning today, I was preparing this chicken for only one meal....chicken and pastry. It was now 6 people that I would feed; our family of 5 plus our friend Branden. I was actually surprised to find that we had some left over but gone are the days of 2-3 meals out of one chicken. I wonder what it will be like when the kids actually have adult size appetites!

Pictures...hopefully

My dad was preparing one of his famous cherry pies when Emma found him in the kitchen. She loves to bake and she loves to help! She loved helping Poppop bake his pie!



The first day we were at my parents, Ryan screamed in terror when either of the cats came near him. The fear quickly faded and he became midly obsessed with them. He wsa constantly wanting to "play" with them, watch them, chase them, find them and of course Roar at them. I think if he didn't roar so much the cats would have warmed up to him a bit more. This is Ryan and Mickey!

This was our outing at the beach. I really took this picture for Philip because I thought he'd be proud that they were wearing their boots at the beach. I didn't realize that Emma's eyes were shut until just now. With all the technical difficulties I've been having....I'm thankful to have the picture!
The boots were actually great. They were able to stay pretty dry while still being able to jump in the puddles.

Overcoming challenges

We are only a week away from the completion of Philip's semester which means a variety of things for me. One is that hopefully, he'll get his computer fixed so I can get back to using more pictures on my blog. However, I'm spending a few days at my parents so I am going to try to catch up a bit on the pictorial story of our lives....Remember when we made an apple pie?
Here is is....

I spoke too soon....I was so close but I can't seem to get it to work.
So here's the unpictorial story of our time at the beach.
We made homemade sugar cookies with Granny while Ryan was napping. You know the kind where you use cookie cutters! It was fun. Then after dinner we iced the cookies. Just a little more sugar can't hurt too much.
I went to Wilmington and did a little shopping. I feel blessed to have happened upon two bag sales. One was at a children's thrift shop that I frequented when we lived in Wilmington. They are going out of business and had a bag sale. I scored on that one. The other was in Hampstead- I got Emma a shirt and winter coat for $5.00!
I took Peter and Emma to the beach today. It was a beautiful day. I was smart enough to have them wear their rubber boots but not quite smart enough to bring myself a beach chair and a book.
Peter has enjoyed riding his bike through the neighborhood. My parents are one of 2 families that live here so the streets are very quiet!
We're heading back to Roxboro after church at Faith Harbor tomorrow. It's been great to be here but there's no place like home.

How to make an Apple Pie

As I mentioned earlier, we studied with the book, How to Make an Apple Pie and see the World this week. It was a delightful book about a girl who travels the world in search of ingredients for an apple pie because her local market was closed!
We had a fun week learning about the different types of apples and lots of things. We finished the week off with going to a local produce stand and purchasing all the different type of apples available and enough to make an apple pie. We came home, had a taste test and spent the afternoon making a homemade apple pie...pictures to come...it was great!

We went meatless...

for a total of 5 days!!! It kinda happened by accident but then it turned into a personal challenge so I have to report it!
On Sunday, I began assembling my meal plan and grocery list for the week. After consulting the grocery ads to see what "meat sales" they had or better put what they didn't have, I decided that I would just go with out and see how it worked. So I planned for a week of vegetarian meals.
Monday- Black beans and Rice
Tuesday - Minestrone and homemade bread (bread machine...but it almost caught on fire.. so the bread didn't come out just right)
Wednesday - Chile potato enchiladas, yellow rice and chips and salsa
Thursday - Vegetable stew with homemade dumplings
Friday - well, another potential post...I was prepared to make homemade pizza but I didn't allow enough time for my dough to rise so we went out for pizza instead. So this may not officially count b/c Ryan and Peter had pepperoni on their cheese-less pizza....close enough for me.
So tonight we will enter back into the meat world (hamburger was on sale at Food Lion) with sloppy joes!
I guess I should confess that there were two nights that Philip brought out the "beef stick" for a post dinner treat!
It was fun and great on the food budget....we'll have to do this again

Looking towards December

Since my aspirations of Thanksgiving were a bit too high, I've been regrouping this week and looking towards December and Christmas. We have always gingerly approached the coming of Christmas. Again, as we approach it, I feel a bit of nervous anticipation. We want them to know that this is the time of year that the Church recognizes the birth of Christ but we will not be participating in the traditions of Santa Clause and the like. So back to my regrouping for the month, I have found quite a few ideas on line for Christmas books and activities to teach the meanings of Christmas symbols. I hope that the kids and I will come through the holiday learning more about the amazing gift that God has given to us through the birth of His Son and less about the desire to always have more. I hope we will grow to appreciate the blessing of giving to those around them and the love that God has for us.

bike trails

It's been 8 days since Peter mastered his bike and he has his own bike trail. Our friend Austin and Branden created some mountain bike trails in the woods behind our church and Peter has been anxiously awaiting his turn on the trails. It's not going to happen anytime soon for the little guy! However, he somehow talked Austin into helping (or should I say creating) a bike trail in the natural area between our houses. He is so excited about it. Peter said, "we're still working on it. Austin has to build some jumps....". It's really great. The best part is that it's going to really give the boy a work out!!!

Thanksgiving review

Well, I can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone. I had many hopes and vision of Thanksgiving and fall crafts but in all honesty we only completed one. Indian corn! We did do lots of leave collecting, a few leaf art pictures and spent as much time outdoors as possible. During the Children's sermon at church the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Philip asked what Thanksgiving was all about. Peter raised his hand and began talking about Squanto and how he taught the Pilgrims to use dead fish to fertilize their corn. I guess we learned a lot even if all my visions of Turkeys and cornucopia's didn't come to pass.

School is back in session though this week and we will be working with the book, "How to make an Apple Pie and see the world". The climax of course will be making and apple pie at the end of the week! I wish there was an apple orchard near us- oh well.

another bike video

Bike Machine

Peter has had quite a week- First his tooth feel out and then today pretty much out of no where he rides his bike without training wheels! This summer "teaching Peter to ride his bike" was on Philip's list of things to do. However, Peter was just not interested and frequently discouraged when they tried. So we put the training wheels back on and let the issue rest. Well, our great neighbors, Tyler and Austin (15 yr old twins) are major bike kids. Tyler is a road biker and Austin is a mountain biker. Austin has been spending quite a few afternoons a week hanging out with us avoiding starting his homework. Peter started to get more interested in his bike because Austin always has his with him. So one afternoon a week ago, Austin and Tyler came over and gave Peter a bike lesson. The training wheels came off again. They had much better success with him than either Philip or I had. A few days passed and Peter and I practiced for a few minutes in the driveway. Then this afternoon I come outside to find Peter with his helmet on and he's about to mount his bike. He asks me "to just keep him steady while I gets on and then let go". So I think why not! Amazingly, he actually rode his bike. We tried 3 more times and then Philip came outside and Peter was getting on and starting on his own. We run to Tyler and Austin's house to show them. We meet up with Austin at the church and here are the videos I took with my phone. The quality isn't that great but you can see that yellow jacket whizzing through the field.....
My baby isn't a baby anymore!

6 guys and me

That was how I spent most of my time at Pilgrimage!!! Somehow our mini-van became loaded with guys and stayed that way the entire weekend. I was a bit nervous as I noticed the make up of my passengers. I would be driving from the church to Duke to pick up Philip then on to Fayetville. I declared myself driver and not DJ so the shot gunner got to be DJ until of course we picked up Philip and then I got to be DJ...The weekend was great. I learned new words, new songs, new artists and new things about the world of teenagers. Our hotel was right next to Starbucks so I was treated with a cup of coffee a few times. I brought a book with me in hopes of some reading time but I didn't even get it cracked although we were up until 1 and 2am each night. The kids did great and my roommates were awesome.

I had a blast and was thankful to have the time away from my regular routine and to spend with other people's kids.

Our first tooth

Peter has had a loose tooth for over a month now. We went to the dentist on Monday and I happened to notice that morning that his tooth seemed a lot looser than it had been. We discussed the possibility of the dentist "helping it to come out". Peter was not interested in that idea at all. I think the apple slices at lunch time loosened it even more. The hygienist ( a friend from church) didn't even clean it because she said it would come out. The Dentist offered to take it out for Peter and he said "No". So then the dentist offered to "paint some numbing medicine on it so it wouldn't hurt" and then Peter could wiggle it out. Peter was still hesitant but I said, sure we'll try it! So out came Peter's first tooth with just a little wiggle. I still can't get over seeing his smile with a missing tooth.....My little baby is growing up!

Pilgrimage!

Watch out Fayetville; here comes 6500 youth and adults to party hard this weekend. I am 30 minutes away from my first ever youth chaperone trip. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. My parents arrived last night and are geared up to watch the kids for the weekend. We have chili in the crock pot, special projects have been started, a hike in the woods, school time with granny and a special hour of cartoon time this morning all that in just half a day. I hope my parents are up for a non-stop weekend.

So please pray- for Philip and I....for the kids on the trip. It is in all seriousness a wonderful opportunity for the kids to make decisions about their relationship with Christ. A great time for me to start relationships with the kids and other chaperones!
Pray for my parents and the kids....enough said!

Details will follow.

Peter swallowed....

A Penny!!!!

Yes, that's right. I was in the kitchen preparing my Jewish Apple cake for the Wednesday night dinner when Peter sheepishly emerged from his room. He said, "mommy, I think I swallowed a penny". So I remained calm (which really wasn't a challenge since he was obviously not choking) and proceeded to ask him what he meant by what he just said. After I was confident that he wasn't in any emergent danger I continued with a nice spiritual application of "your body is a temple of God"....I wonder if that counts as a Bible lesson for the day?

I told him to return to his room to finish his quiet time and I finished making my cake. Then I googled "swallowed a penny" and found to several links and confirming information that we'll just wait for it to "come out". Next I emailed my friend who is an ER doc for his opinion then I checked on Peter- still fine and did what every good blogger would do....I recorded this entry!!!

I'll be sure to let you know how things go!

Valued Readers

Well, I wouldn't want my fan club to go very long with out knowing what's new here...It's just not quite as exciting to post without the photos to go along. However, I did get some advice to purchase a USB cable and download my pictures that way. So I will check that out tomorrow at Walmart when I go pick up some groceries.

It was story time at the library today and we are regulars! We took up our usually seats and listened to stories by Ms. Christy. She has kept our family busy this last month with great library activities. This Thursday she is having an Indian Chief come and speak. We checked out a few library books about Indians in my hopes to prepare them for Thursday as well as beginning our discussions on Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to spending the month of November focusing on Thanksgiving and being thankful. It seems like kids are wired to be selfish and self centered so I hope to inspire them in the art of being thankful!

I tried a new recipe for dinner tonight - Split Pea soup. Emma actually had 2 bowls and I felt sorry for the Peter and Ryan so I did break out the PB and Honey! Our friend Branden was joining us for dinner so I was a bit nervous about this entree. I realized (through a divine inspiration- I'm sure) that I should make some bread with my bread machine as a go along. So I whipped out some homemade French bread. That was probably much better than the soup! Branden did have seconds and asked for some to take home with him. Philip did manage to have seconds as well. I asked Philip if I should add this to my list of recipes and he politely said, NO!

Let me know if you want my recipe!!!

Halloween!

Well, we made it through another Halloween. We still haven't figured out exactly what our game plan has been for this holiday so I have tried to avoid it as much as possible. We had plans to go to our MOPS church's Fall Festival this evening. Thirty minutes before it was time to leave, I find Peter and Emma happily digging in the dirt. I let them know that if they want to wear their dress-up clothes to the festival they need to come inside and change. Neither one of them wanted to leave their dirt digging to change clothes. I was fine with that so we went with out costumes. Peter did end up changing his clothes because his had gotten dirty so he put on his camouflage pants and brown shirt and called himself an "army man". We had a good time at the Festival: hot dogs, pony rides, games, a cake walk, kettle corn, spicy water (sprite) and of course candy. Pictures will come when the computer gets fixed....

After the Festival we drove to friends' house hoping to score on some "good" candy. Having found none there and the sugar high becoming out of control, we went to her neighbors house but again we found no "good stuff". Philip was quite upset that we didn't "score" any candy bars this year. Finally, we came home and ventured next door to our neighbors. We were their 3rd and 4th trick or treators for the evening. Again, to Philip's disappointment only Smartees at this house.
All in all it was a fun evening to spend with the family!

Technical Difficulties

Well, it appears my blog may become a bit boring over the next little while. Philip's laptop has malfunctioned and it won't read my memory card...we thought the problem might have been the adapter so we took it to Walmart in hopes of getting a new adapter. My memory card and adapter worked perfectly in their photo machines leading us to the unfortante discovery that it has to be Philip's laptop. We are hoping that it is still covered under his "hardwared" warranty. It may take some time for Philip to call the company and work it out. He of course has other priorities right now - silly him!
So I will have to make my posts without pictures - sorry....but when it's fixed I promise to have a grand "reopening"!

Dinner?

It's that time of month when we are cleaning out the pantry, freezer, and fridge in preparation for payday!!! So I found myself asking Peter, "What do you think I should fix for supper". I was hoping he could give me something creative to make with our final 1lb of ground turkey, potatoes....or if he would suggest going out to eat! Without much thought he said, "You know those wonderful peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you make? How about those for dinner". I responded, "you mean like what we have for lunch (everyday)". He confidently said, "Yes"!

What a sweetheart!

I found a can of Sloppy Joe mix in the pantry and I happen to have an over abundance of hamburger rolls so that might be what's on tap!

Firemen!

We arranged for a fire crew and truck to come to our MOPS meeting this week. It was a big success. The fireman did a fire safety lesson in the classroom and then allowed the children to come outside, look at the truck and get inside. The first time Peter was this close to a fire truck was when he was at a 3 yr. old birthday party. He hid under the table when "Sparky- the fire dog" came out. So I requested that Sparky not join the firemen today.

When we got home from MOPS. Peter was very vigilant in telling me to "check the batteries of our smoke detectors", "never leave the stove unattended", "children shouldn't play around the oven...it's very hot" and others. It was great to hear him talk about it. Of course there were several safety things that we had discussed but apparently coming from a fireman they are much more memorable.

Now Peter wants to be a fire man when he grows up or at least for Halloween. I haven't really had the heart to explain that we really aren't celebrating "Halloween". We'll probably go to a local church's fall festival so he can dress up for that!

sweet moments

You may want to read our "Unforgetable Fair" entry first. Sorry, I got a bit out of order....

I was able to capture this truly precious moment between Ryan and Emma. We were sitting at a picinic table eatting our lunch. I am not sure what brought it on but Emma put her arm around Ryan and started rubbing his back. So like every good mom- I quietly got out my camera to capture the moment!

By this time they see my camera and start "cheesing" it up. Although not quite as spontaneous, this picture captures Ryan putting his hand on Emma's leg- again- just precious!

The unforgetable Fair!

We took off first thing this morning for our 2nd annual Chryst family fair day. We've been talking about this with the kids for a while so the anticipation was quite hight. Since I grew up a few miles from the fair grounds, going to the State fair was an annual event for me. Being able to go as a family now is quite special for me!


Peter was able to try out the first ever working model of a ship crane. Some men who work at the ports in Wilmington created the model!







We had a hard time deciding which rides to go on. We got them tickets for 2 rides each. So this was their second choice. It's a bit hard to see but Peter and Emma are both holding little stuffed cows. They won them at the fishing pond. Unfortunately, Peter's made it all the way to the van and then I somehow lost it at that point. I'm not quite sure yet how I will reconcile this because he is very upset that his cow is gone....

Emma in the National Guard tank!

New Videos!!!

I just figured out that I can upload my videos from my cell phone to the blog...
I was trying to capture Ryan saying his newest word " Peeder" (Peter). I'l l have to keep trying



This is Peter reciting John 3:16 and the Pledge of Alliegance.


Emma of course wanted to be on video. Unfortunately she doesn't talk fast enough to get the entire Pledge out within the 15 second time frame

Pumpkin carving

To round out our Saturday, we dug into some of the pumpkins we got from our friend's pumpkin farm. Peter has been anxiously awaiting roasting pumpkin seeds and cooking the pumpkin.
This is our friend Branden who was over for dinner and got recruited to help us with the project!

Relay for Life - Kid's Walk

Relay for Life is a very important event in Person County and this year we attended the kids walk on Saturday morning! It isn't often that all 3 kids have the same shirt at the same time!

After we did our two laps around the track, the organizers of the event had moonwalks, fire trucks, face painting, bubbles...all kinds of kids stuff for us to enjoy!

When things slowed down, I finally decided to let Ryan get in the Moonwalk thing with Peter, Emma and Carson (a friend from church).

In a tree

Many times on Fridays, the kids and I will head to Duke after naptime to hang out on campus with Philip. This last Friday we carried on our tradition. I took the opportunity to head to the library and print of some papers for our school for the next few weeks. When I was through I head out to find the crew. This is where I find them...don't worry- Emma is quick to assure me that she is holding on to Ryan (by his shirt)!

Room time....

Well, I had begun to realize that my schedule for HS (homeschooling) wasn't working. We were doing the bulk of our learning while Ryan napped which is usually 12-2pm. The problem was that all of us were a bit groggy during this time so getting lessons done (with positive attitudes) was becoming a struggle. Having heard of the infamous "room time", I thought I'd give it a try. Peter and Emma's room and Ryan's room are connected by a small hallway with a large opening. I wanted them to have access to both rooms during this time so I jerry-rigged a gate! I used our coffee table to block the opening.
Day 1: The first attempt was made with Ryan and Emma sequester. Ryan stood at the coffee table and cried for a good 15- 20 minutes. Peter and I finished our lesson rather quickly and let the gates open! I quickly went to my HS forums and posted a plea for help...how do you room train a toddler. Now armed with reassurance and the confirmation that "Yes" Ryan will cry but that will diminish, we tried again.
Day 2: Amazing- Ryan cried for maybe 3 minutes then he and Emma happily played (together, might I add) for 25 minutes. I was even able to swap Peter for Emma and bring Emma to the table for another 15 minutes of schooling for her! I was excited but not fully sure it would last. So today- Day 3- again a success. We were able to school for about an hour this morning! I feel like a new person and school feels like a refreshing time. It was so successful that I'm going to start to look for more things to do during this time with both Peter and Emma!
We stilled use Ryan's nap time to do our FIAR books and that works great! Who can resist a good story before naptime anyway.
Now I need to see if I can try the room time with all 3 while I fix dinner.....maybe next weeks project.

Pumpkin Patch

Friends from church have a pumpkin far and thus a pumpkin patch! We had a great time looking at all the pumpkins. In all my time looking at pumpkins I have never seen ones with such character! I picked out the bumpiest one I could find!
After picking out the pumpkins, we of course had to go next door to the farm where they are grown. Peter and Emma had fun picking out ones that were left in the field. We offered their services for next year's harvest!
This counts for a field trip, right? We did do this on the first day of Fall.

Time with Cousins...

A picture is truly worth a thousand words....and these are just a few from our short but great time with my sister and her 3 kids. It had been since March that we were all together but it only takes minutes for the kids to pick up where they left off!
Charlotte is 6 1/2 yrs.
John is 4 1/2 yrs.
Peter 5 yrs.
Emma 3 yrs.



Here are our two train buddies! They look so much alike especially when they are playing Thomas!

Ryan 1 1/2 yrs.
Sam 2 1/2 yrs.
Here's everybody; almost smiling - that one is saved for the Christmas card!

Watching....

Well, tonight is Peter's first night being able to attend "Spring". Philip started a K-5 Wednesday night program last year. Believe me, we had lots of tears last year when we weren't able to stay after children's choir for Spring. So tonight was Peter's big night. I am actually watching out our front window ( a great view of the happenings of the church) as they play kickball. Peter looks like he's having a blast. Emma was of course sad when she wasn't able to go over with daddy and Peter but that quickly was relieved when I said, "How about you pick out a movie!" I am looking forward to Peter having this opportunity to be with the bigger kids and to be with his dad!
As for homeschooling...well, we've had two great weekends with grandparents. We are all struggling to get back into the routine of school. How can a school compete with the excitement of having grandparents around. I will admit- the kids aren't the only ones dragging their feet. Tomorrow is a new day and I anticipate a better one at that! We're off to Japan this week. Thanks to last weeks trip to US, Peter has the Pledge of Allegiance memorized! Emma's actually not to far off herself.

Riding Goats....

Our friends have a family farm so we piled in for a field trip this morning. We had a blast! I had no idea that you could ride a goat but Peter and Emma gave it a try. Although they weren't quite the cowboys their teachers were, they held on for a ride! After the goat riding, it was on to the chicken coop. Peter enjoyed "roaring" at the chickens, mostly. It wasn't long before Ryan took up his own roaring/ screaming. We terrorized the chickens for a bit and then moved to visiting the neighbors horses. This was a much quieter visit. After the chickens recovered from the little monsters that interrupted their morning, Peter and Emma were able to gather some eggs from the coop. Breakfast for tomorrow!
That was certainly enough excitement and experiential learning for one day!

Nothing says summer like watermelon

The Story about Ping

This is Peter and Emma showing off their Lapbooks
A lapbook is a summary of all the work they did for the week.

Peter was proud of his writing and wanted me to take his picture!

Ryan with his first fish!