Week 39

This week was not well documented in the picture department, but it's all about the memories.  My favorite memories from this week are as follows...

Monday September 26th
The kids had their first home school class of the school year at Mystic Aquarium.  Kaleigh and Parker are in the 4th- 7th grades class and LOVE IT!  Blake is in the 1st-3rd class and he thinks it is okay.  After class we walked around the aquarium.  We spent the most time with one of the Beluga Whales.  He likes to scare little children and get a reaction from them.   He comes up to the glass, opens his mouth and goes toward them.  It is hysterical to watch and even more hysterical that he does not bother with the adults.  Here are a few pics of the kids with him.

Tuesday September 27
No picture today, the kids are taking a Native Americans and Geography class at the home of a fellow homeschooler.  I pick the boys up after an hour and forty-five minutes and Kaleigh stays for the Law class.  She is really enjoying it and it has started some really interesting conversations.

Wednesday September 28th
We now know first hand the term 'Mangy Mutt'.  Our poor pooch is dealing with mites.  He is now confined to the mudroom and his room is vacuumed and washed daily.  He is on a borax and peroxide bath 2x a week and apple cider vinegar bath 2x a week.  Let's hope and pray this all natural approach will work and I can avoid the vet bills and the harsh medicines.

Thursday September 29th
In the morning, the kids did a great job decorating while I vacuumed and washed ALL the floors in the house, stripped the beds.  Everything is now getting washed in HOT water and dried in the dryer till the dog is better.    The thought of mites in my house is really creeping me out!!!! 

Friday September 30th
After school was done, we went to the farm and worked.  Kaleigh began getting ready for her show on Saturday.

Camp Berea

Every year the women's retreat at Camp Berea is a blessing, and this year was no exception.  It amazes me how God works out all the details to speak truths to our soul when we need it.  To understand what I mean, I must give you a little background.   I have been homeschooling for eight years now.  The past two years, I have not been finding joy in it.  I began to pray and wonder if homeschooling was still something God wanted for our family.  There was no clear sign from him, so I remained still and kept on keeping on.  

Fast forward to Camp Berea.....I registered the day before and ended up being placed in a cabin with three other seasoned ladies.  The first thing I learned about one of them was that she had homeschooled all four of her children up through high school.  Two of them had already graduated college and were out in the work force.  One was  in college still, and the other was a senior in high school.  Sharing late night talks with her and my other bunk mates, I could see that my feelings were not unusual and got some concrete advice as how to 'fix' things.  Because I was a public school teacher, I have a very difficult time with putting that type of schooling under the rug.  My day at home looks very much like their day would if they went to school.  She reminded me that it was ok to drop the regimented schedule and just have fun and play learning games and talk,  talk, talk and read, read and talk some more. 

The other bunk mate and I had something in common as well.  We are both mothers to girls with a chromosome deficiency.  Her and I cried together and laughed together as we shared stories of the joys and struggles of having a child with special needs.  Her daughter is now in her twenties, holds a job and has made it very clear to those around her that she was formed in the image of God with the soul purpose to glorify him....and that they do.  When a doctor stands in a room and tells you that they are shocked at the things your child is doing because they shouldn't be able to do them, all I can say is PRAISE GOD!!!!!  My daughter is a miracle from the Lord and I need to keep that in the front of my mind on those hard days when she is struggling and when I am at a loss as to what to do.

My goal for raising and teaching my children is not to have doctors and lawyers.  It is to raise children who love and serve the Lord.  And for that, he will provide me with what I need.

Week 38

Saturday September 17th
We had my grandmother over for dinner so she could watch Blake open his gift she got him.  I'll let you watch the video to see what she got.....

It was perfect timing because his drum instructor feels that after 8 months of learning notes, rudiments, and other drum related words I don't know how to spell,  he is ready for the full set!  And he is thrilled!

Sunday September 18th
After church we decided to go check out a car show at Dodd Stadium.  It was okay, something different to do as a family, but I don't think I would go to it again.

We went back to church that evening for a very special reason :)


Kaleigh and Dean

After church we took her to Friendly's for ice cream to celebrate her accomplishment.

Monday September 19th
Happy Birthday Blake!  His day started out with a toaster strudel.  These are only bought around here on special occassions.  He figured he would make it even more special by putting his name on his toaster strudel. 

His day didn't go as he would have liked.  We ended up needing to take my grandmother to the eye doctor.  What I thought was going to be a couple hour process, ended up taking five hours.  He learned some valuable lessons that day about putting others first.  He handled it graciously and after we got my grandmother home and settled, he went shopping for his birthday gift and got favorite pizza..Dominoes!

Tuesday September 20th
This silly kid sat in the hamper to wait for me to finish my make-up this morning and got stuck!



Wednesday September 21st
I don't know why, but I find watching Blake hula-hoop is hilarious!

Thursday September 22nd
Took the kids to the farm so Kaleigh could ride her horse.  The little girl I babysit loved all the animals EXCEPT the big horses.  When they got too close to her she would start to cry and tighted her grip on me. I guess she won't grow up to be a horse lover like Kaleigh.

Friday September 23rd
Deb and I made it safe and sound at the Women's Retreat at Camp Berea in NH.

Week 37

Saturday September 10th
 A litttle friendly game of wii before bed.

Sunday September 11th
Looking back on this picture and seeing the date that it was taken, I'm thinking perhaps the discussions of 9/11 we had during school this week made Blake a bit uneasy.  It is very cute that he looks to his big brother for comfort.  They look to each other, really.  They are the best of friends!

Monday September 12th
Our dear friends came over for a visit.  Kaleigh taught the girls how to make bracelets.

Tuesday September 13th
How can you NOT love that face?  The boys have SO much fun with this ferret!

Wednesday September 14th
Kaleigh learned a new game at Bright Lights and was eager to teach the boys how to play it.  I say any game where you get to eat a cookie is a good game!

Thursday September 15th
The kids took their final dip in the pool as the weather is forcasted to dip into a high of 64 for the next few days, and their grandmother is closing it.

Friday September 16th
As part of our Earth Science studies, the kids have been studying cave formations.  We did an experiment trying to grow our own slagmites and stalactities.  After three days we have a stalactite growing!!!  Exciting!  It just goes to show it does NOT take millions of years like the scientists say.  Only the right conditions.

Punk Parker

Parker was EXTREMELY overdue for a haircut. We were going to RI to visit my aunt. The kids were getting ready and Parker came into the bathroom to show me his mohawk. I informed him that it wan't going to stay without gel, so we put some in and did it up nice and high. It was fun for him for the day, but I didn't want this style to become a habit so I was sure to cut his hair nice and short that very night. :)

Week 36

Saturday September 3rd
We went to RI to visit my aunt.

Sunday September 4th
Kaleigh went to a friend's house after church so the boys asked if they could have a playdate too. We had Joe and Logan over for an afternoon of, wii, swimming and of course some lightsaber action.

Monday September 5th
Busy day of taking a friend home from the hospital, working at the apartment, and a mean game of backyard baseball.

Tuesday September 6th
It was the first day of school and we packed up and went over to my in-laws to stay with my FIL so my MIL could go back to work. We teased him asking him if we were babysitting or elderlysitting.

Wednesday September 7th
I had a goal to finish this book before school started with the kids. I missed that goal by two days, but am happy to announce that I finished all 1,594 pages of Ted Dekker's Circle series!!!

Thursday September 8th
Pride was due for new shoes so we met the farrier at the farm in the a.m. Bye Bye $100 :(

Friday September 9th
It was a work day at the apartment. Parker was eager to help out by painting. Kaleigh helped take all the spacers out of the tile and Blake helped me rip out carpeting. That's what I call teamwork!

Week 35

Saturday August 27th
In preparation for hurricane Irene, we went to the store to pick up a few last minute items. Blake brought along his Wal-mart gift card he got for his birthday. Most kids would probably buy toys, this is what he bought. He is obviously not thrilled with what I buy for groceries.

Sunday August 28th
Hurricane Irene struck and we lost power around at 4:53am. We made the most of our wet and windy day playing board games. It is nice to finally have kids old enough to break out my old monoply game from when I was young. No more Monoply Jr. for us!

Monday August 29th
Still no power, but I planned ahead and bought four bags of ice. So this is our refridgerator for the time being.

Tuesday August 30th
Still no power. But friend's of ours gave us their generator so we could salvage the food in our freezer!! Thank the Lord for such giving friends!

Wednesday August 31st
Power has been restored...Praise the Lord. The first thing I did once we had running water again was clean the toilets and the fridge. The fridge was easy because we had lost what couldn't fit in the cooler. The toilets smelled like a bad porta-potty. They only got flushed when someone went number two. I had been prepared and filled the tub up with water for flushing. It was a good thing we got power back, because I was just about out of water.
I spared you a picture of my dirty toilets... you can thank me later :)

Thursday September 1st
Kaleigh cut some of her flowers she planted in the garden this year and made this beautiful centerpiece for the dining room table.

Friday September 2nd
We had a family night out and went to a Connecticut Tigers game.

The kids brought their own money and indulged on souvenirs and treats.

We enjoyed some very cool fireworks after the game!

It was a lot of fun, affordable, ($7 a ticket) and the kids LOVED it!