West Virginia excursion

The kids and I took a quick fall trip to WV to spend some time with my sister and her kids. This time with my sister is so enjoyable. The kids play together wonderfully, for the most part!
Nathan and I got to babysit baby Calvin while my sister took the other 6 to a homeschool class.
Somehow, I think I got the better end of that deal. Even if it meant trying for over an hour to convince Calvin that drinking from a bottle wasn't really that bad. Unfortunately, I lost that battle and called my sister so she could come home a bit early.

That was the smiling Calvin before he figured out that I only had a bottle to offer him.

Two outtakes from my attempts at getting 8 kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time! You'll have to wait for my parents Christmas card to see the best attempt!
It's always hard to be the one who has to bring the kids back to reality, pack the suitcases and drive away. I am so thankful that they are only 5 hours and not 15 hours away.

Halloween

I announced to the kiddos that we were off to the library and the Person Co. offices to do some afternoon trick or treating. In about 10 minutes, the kids were dressed in costume. Halloween has never been a holiday that I'm really fond of. With 4 kids, I frankly can't afford to buy them all costumes so they are left to their own creativity and hand-me downs.
Confession: I neglected to even buy a pumpkin this year...
Even without store bought costumes or a pumpkin on our front porch, we enjoyed a few hours of afternoon entertainment. Thanks Person County offices for having us; it sure beat trick or treating when it was dark, cold and crowded!

Ponies

We got the call yesterday morning. The ponies have arrived! This summer the boys Sunday school teacher left corporate America, IBM, to become a miniature pony owner. Needless to say, Nathan has been asking weekly about the ponies. These pintos are precious.Nathan was a bit disappointed that Mr. Ernie didn't get an Appaloosa. However, he seemed pretty smitten with the ponies.

There were two 6 month old ponies who were determined to stay together. Although they aren't siblings, they were raised together and wanted to stay that way.

Walking a dog on a leash is only slightly different than leading ponies!

Alamace Battleground

In my meager attempts so far this fall to teach history, we have studied the American Revolution. We breezed quickly through the Native Americans and explorers as Peter was eager to get to the battles. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for us to attend the Colonial week celebration at Alamance Battleground. The kids and I made the 1 hour drive Monday. We all had a wonderful time and learned a tremendous amount.You can tell by the look on Emma's face that she was enthralled with this process. However, I'm not so sure they appreciated the lesson these ladies gave on what each of the children would have been doing throughout the day to help their parents. Nor was Ryan too impressed that he would have been wearing a white dress!
We came to the cooking station soon before lunch. I have to say I'm so thankful for sliced bread, peanut butter and jelly.
I'm glad we have this practical example to refer back too when the kids ask for their own room. Twelve children and 2 adults, in the family of John Allen, lived in this tiny log cabin. I'm guessing nobody had their own space or even their own chair at the dinner table.Amongst everyone, the favorite station was the cannon firing!Following closely behind, in second place, was the musket shooting.As cheesy as the saying is it was really great to see "history come alive". The Regulators were stationed near this rock and Govenor Tyron's militia was stationed by the red flags.

Buzz cut

It again was time to oil the clippers and this time Nathan was on the docket. I have delayed his hair cut as long as possible. I even had a friend cut it when I knew he was close to getting sheared by his daddy.As we expected, he smiled all the way through the buzz and I was close to tears as my baby boys blonde hairs fell softly to the ground.

I'm not quite sure if I'll be able to endure this again. I might just weasel out the cost of taking Nathan with me when I get my hair cut so I can still rub my fingers through that baby blonde.

I must say with all three boys having just had a hair cut it is more than obvious that they are related! Can you see any resemblance in these two blondes?

Ryan at 2 years and 2 months.

Behind again....

I have done it yet again and allowed a few weeks worth of memories to store up on my disc. Forgive me as I unload - I really wish I understood how to make photo collages...oh well!

My husband, whom I love dearly, thought my kids would enjoy a birds eye view of well, I don't know what of....They loved it, of course! Thankfully, Nathan moderately understood that he wasn't "big enough" yet to get on the roof!

Philip had a birthday last Sunday. We celebrated in style and tradition. Two Angel pie's; one for him and one for everybody else to share. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and cabbage were on the menu for his birthday lunch.

Cookies

I can't even remember when we made these but I do remember how good they were!
Emma did the majority of the work and even helped clean up!

a break...

My parents and their dog arrived late yesterday afternoon and will be leaving first thing tomorrow morning. There stay will be less than 48 hours but it is amazing how helpful it is to have two extra sets of hands for that short of time. Not long after they arrived, we sent them off to take Emma to gymnastics and they actually stayed and watched. Something Philip and I don't usually have the luxury of doing. Then they came back home and stayed with the 3 youngest so Philip could take Peter to Cub Scouts. Philip had the luxury of staying with Peter for the entire cub scouts and I was able to sneak away to the UMW mtg which conveniently and deliciously happened to be at a restaurant! That was just in their first 4 hours of being in Roxboro.So today, we took time to buy Pansies. We went to Lowes and bought a much needed new toilet seat that my Dad installed. We went shoe shopping and bought Peter a new pair of sneakers that he's needed for about a month.I took pictures and am actually posting them in real time! The days only a little half over.....It's been like a breath of fresh air.
Thanks Mom and Dad!

The Bullfrogs

Ryan has entered into a new stage of life. We enrolled him with Parks and Rec soccer. He has become a Bullfrog!
I'm quite positive that Peter didn't start playing soccer until he was 6. Ryan is most certainly that 5 year old player who is mostly excited about seeing his friends on the field and getting to use his "mad face" when he's going after the ball. He's had a good time and feels quite proud of his uniform. He's had his time on the field chasing balls, kicking them toward the wrong goal, falling down on the field when somebody else gets tripped and getting some great exercise.
I think I remember now why we waited until Peter turned 6 to start organized sports!

A hard goodbye; a cherished friendship

I have put off writing this for two days. My eyes have been brimming with tears for those days so I tried to not think about it. Denial. The tears are emerging as I remember our goodbye hug. Neither she nor I could hardly speak but in my silence I hope she heard me tell her that it has been an amazing 5 years. Heather was my first friend in this new land - this new life - this new place.I met Heather at story time about 3 months after moving to Roxboro. I was lonely, homesick and ready to make new friends. I prayed that morning for God to give me a sign and the boldness to initiate a friendship. The sign was a common paci and the friendship came easily.
Heather and her family also just moved to Roxboro a few months before from Colorado. She had a son Peter's age, a daughter Emma's age and a baby Ryan's age. The kids are all just weeks apart in their birthdays even Heather and I are ten days apart in age.
Over the last five years, we have spent countless hours together, shared birthday parties, play dates at the park, trashed each others houses, been on field trips together, drank lots of coffee, had meals together, cried and laughed together, had a fourth child and watched as Roxboro became each others home.
The kids can hardly remember any other time in their lives other than their time in Roxboro. They can't remember any friends from before the Weigands. They have grown up together. They've been like family to each other. They know each others likes and dislikes.
The time has come for the Weigands to move back to Colorado. It's the right thing for their family to do but it's hard to say goodbye. It was hard to see their van drive away. It was hard to look at my kids and explain how very far away Colorado is from here. It was hard to answer the enevidable question honestly and say, " I have no idea when we'll see them again.". I'm thankful that I didn't hide my tears from them because we have all been touched by their friendship. I want my kids to know that I need friends just like they do. I want them to remember the Weigands and remember that God gave us a tangible gift by placing us together 5 years ago in a little library in a little town with a little green paci.

a new approach

So our family has already logged oh about 20 or so days of school in for this year. Somehow, it still feels like I haven't gotten into my grove yet. We are trying things a little differently this year. It still blows my mind that I've been at this home educating thing for 5 years now. Before my very eyes Peter has become a 4th grader, Emma a 2nd grader, Ryan a kindergartener and Nathan an adorable 2 year old. Needless to say on days that we have fulfilling, productive learning days, the house is a whirlwind of books, toys, learning tools and stuff by the end of it. By Thursday, the end of school week, it's really bad! This year Peter is doing a lot of independent work. I am capitalizing on his love for reading and trying to put before him as many books as I can find. He's enthralled with the American Revolution right now. So there lies the topic for the majority of his reading.
Emma has chosen to study sea animals. So we are discovering and learning about some very amazing and breath taking animals that God has created for us that unfortunately we will only experience through the written work. Have you ever seen a picture of a blue-ringed octopus? It's my new favorite sea creature. It's beautiful, small, and deadly.
In the midst of all this, we have Ryan who is emerging as a kinetic learner. He is happy when he has something to "play" with. I have come to realize and am fine admitting that his alphabet recognition skills are a little behind the others. With five years of experience, I have finally learned that before I know it, he will be reading up a storm like his older siblings and all things will be OK.

I have yet to pull out my well thought out schedule from last year. The planning notebooks books of last year are empty. My lesson planning notebook of this year, is loosely detailed. We are on to yet another season of life. It's not where I'm comfortable; it's not well planned out in the long term. But I think it might work for now or at least until there's another shift in seasons!

Fresh Air

It was Saturday morning and I felt the need to get out of Roxboro, get a little bit of fresh air and exercise. So the kids and I headed across state line into Danville, VA. We have been to the Dan Daniel State park a few times before so I knew this was just where we needed to go. The kids brought their new scooters and Nathan brought his bike. I knew enough to know that Nathan and his bike would only last but so long so I brought the stroller as well!