Bright and Beautiful

Upon which Harry turns two, admissions are made, and smelly things are dissected on my grandmother's dinner plates.


I am not making stuff up.

Harry is now two. My smallest, blue eyed, sweet as candy boy, growing up and becoming terrible. And I mean that in the most cordial way ever. Terrible twos are a right of passage.


He now spends every waking moment prying open front door locks and sneaking out to drive his new car.


Admission #2 (#1 here): Homeschooling can deplete you of yourself.

Wondering where I've been? Me, too. This is my sixth year homeschooling. #5 was rough. #6 has been rough. Every veteran homeschool mom to whom I have spoken has told me it happens. It happens to the best of the best. And it takes its toll. The definition of "rough" is completely relative to the persons involved in their own respective environments. For me, it's defined by depression, resentment, and laziness. I yell(ed) at my kids, took too many naps, and forgot to hug and laugh and say nice things. Also, I consider myself a control freak and the fact that I have lost control of the household happiness threshold means failure in my eyes.
Here's the point: It's either cave-in or dig out. I am currently holding shovel and gazing above, unsure which route will cause a collapse or rescue us all from suffocation and misery.

Onto smelly things.

Our co-op has been doing dissections every other week. You can now thank me for not posting pictures of the cow's head (definition: entire furry head with eyeballs and eyelashes and bullet hole). You're welcome. Also, I do not involve myself in the dissections (too many years of being a vegetarian), but instead ship my daughter off to the respective classroom as she desires to one day rescue animals from sickness and fertility; ie: become a veterinarian. But, last week, time ran away from us and I was sent home with a baggie of squid bodies.
We made do with nail scissors, exacto knife, tweezers, and printable instructions.

I only got sick twice. Score.

It was actually pretty neat-o. "Neat-o" is not to be confused with "let's do it again".

And now, as coldness sets in, all I want to do is read and burrito myself in a fluffy blanket.
And also make stuff like this:

And this:

Cooking blogs sometime in the future.

Our Summer

To play a bit of catch up, here is a pictorial view of our very hot summer.

My father grew blackberries the size of small children (who readily consumed abnormal amounts on every visit).

(here Cohen shows off one of the BOOS -blackberries of obese size)

The children graduated from their respective grades.

( here they show off their favorite subjects from the year. Ashton- 4th grade graduate, favorite subject: Grammar; Keaton- 2nd grade graduate, favorite subject: Math; Cohen- 1st year PreK graduate, favorite subject: Numbers)

Ashton turned double digits.

(happy with her new ipod)

(10 years old!)

My awesome kids. My, how they grew this summer....

(Pictured from left to right: Ashton, Keaton, Harry, and Cohen)

Lots of suffocating, heat-filled days meant many trips to the creek and surrounding lakes.

(my little water bugs)

We got a puppy! But, hey, you already knew that!

(Layla, 4 month old bundle of cuteness.)

And lastly, beautiful amounts of cuddles, dancing, singing, playing, running, bike riding, puppet shows, and the like.

(here Cohen puts on a Pooh theater show for us)

At every moment-- every cry, laugh, scream-- I found within an incomparable peace. It makes those miserable days of putrid heat so worth it. I hope you all, also, were able to find enjoyment with the little things.

May God bless and keep you safe!

This, and nothing else

Sticky kisses. Tangled arm hugs. Squeals and giggles and puppy howls. Mommy, watch me. I love yous.

Seriously...who needs blogger. (there is no question mark because i dont need an answer). I might be back. Or not.

Meet Layla

or....Layla Virginia to be exact. She's a bluetick beagle. And, yes. She is as awesome as she looks.

We are keeping her, for what appears to be forever.

God help me....it's just like having an infant. *wiping eyes in tired-like strokes*

As the World Turns

Life has been so dull around here, what with homeschooling, co-op planning and current co-op year finishing, oldest daughter birthday planning, weekend retreat camp, tornadoes, yard sales, spring cleaning, mother's day weekend extravaganzas, kitten care, field trips, play dates...
So dull, in fact, that I have been able to laze around and take pictures of little else but kittens. Oh my...so dern cute.
This one is Jenny. Who was referred to as Jimmy until one week ago. Somehow I think I kept looking at the same gray kitten twice and never noticed that this one was a girl!
I plan on more homeschool style posts in the weeks to come...and maybe a few delicious food posts to appease my food readers.
Peace and Blessings!

Gabby has her kittens

We have 3 gray tabbies and 1 charcoal tabby. Mommy did splendidly. Although I suspect the names will change daily (perhaps minute by minute), for now they are called: Jimmy, Buddy, Sissy, and Cosmo.
We watched the last one, Cosmo, being born. It was a beautiful thing. Gabby moaned faintly and his siblings mewed the little guy into being.
The children all watched. It was most distracting to complete our Spelling, but worked out well that our day turned into an impromptu biology lesson. There is no covering up all the nasty bits, like Gabby eating the afterbirth and chewing off the umbilicals. But also, what a beautiful exhibition of Gods design and creation.
I consider this a school day well spent.

Oh, and...who wants a kitten?!?!?!

Interviews with Children: Ashton

Name: Ashton Ellison

Age: 9. Well, almost 10. 9 and 1/2

What is your favorite color? dark pink or almost white pink

What do you want to be when you grow up? a vet


If you could be an animal, what would you be? a horse or a wolf

Why is the sky blue? I don't know. That's how God made it..?

If you could be any movie character, what/who would you be? Spirit

Favorite word: manipulate. I like to say it. ma-nip-u-late.

Favorite book: I have three. Moonlight Shadow, Spring of the Poacher's Moon, and When Someone Leaves


If you could have any super power, what would it be? being invisible and having a force field

Favorite food: french toast


If you were to land on Neptune, and discover something AMAZING, what would it be? A unicorn

Favorite school subject: Science and History

What talent would you love to have? being a famous trick rider or a singer

If you were conducting this interview? What question would you ask yourself?
If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?
A dragon. Or, a unicorn. No, a horse.

the husband purchases a dehydrator for his wife

Dehydrator's first use:


If I had known that homemade raisins were this delicious, I would not have been wasting my money on the nasty, gummy imitators that you can get at the store. And, they are HUGE compared to their mass produced brothers. The flavor is deep and intense, and almost sun-dried tomato like. I am in love.

a new member to the household

meet Jesse,

our newest rat acquisition.

he is timid, lovable, and already likes to snuggle up and nap atop ones shoulder.

rainy game day

yesterday was a rainy sunday for us. we decided since labor day was going to be a busy one that we would play hooky from church and spend a drizzly morning playing games.


this jewel is called Fellowship. i L-O-V-E it. it is a family game that we had when i was young.

it is a spin on monopoly except it carries a biblical point of view. i love the scripture verses, cows and sheep as opposed to houses and hotels, and true biblical pieces of land that you "purchase" with points. our 5 year old gave us a wallop! he made wise purchases, then kept his points and made us all pay splendidly when we landed on his property.

we capped off the day by picking up burgers and fries and eating them at our local walking track park. an after dinner stroll was the highlight of the evening. the kids chases squirrels, marveled at cranes and loons, picked wildflowers.....

one could die of such contentment.

i wish you all a happy and blessed labor day!

mornings with abel

mornings with abel.

rat kisses must be the best.

saturday

a perfect summer saturday.

early morning baking and barefooted walks to gather flowers.

an easy fruit tart. the ideal way to use the bounty of seasonal fruit you have on hand.

use this easy basic pie crust. slice thinly your fruit of choice. sprinkle with a bit of flour, sugar, and accompanying spice (for the plums i choose nutmeg, for a pear i would use cloves). squeeze a slice of lemon liberally to cover all. dab with bits of butter, and a pinch of salt. i make a jelly and butter glaze to spread over the edges, so they gleam with sweetness. pick jellies that pair well with your fruit. for this one i picked an orange marmalade, the little bits of orange peel dribbled beautifully along the edge. bake about 20 minutes at 400. i also sprinkle a bit of raw sugar once out of the oven to give it extra homeyness.

a cheery welcome to all that enter.
a quick, barefoot trip outside provided me with armfuls of white hydrangea and butterfly bush, which i planted together two summers ago. they are a dazzling couple to see against the house, especially when wind danced with lazy bumble bees and butterflies.

a summer cut

keaton, my middle son, was in serious need of a hair cutting. i think we all loved and adored his glorious waves of golden hair, but a massive heat rash around the base of his hairline was enough to designate today shearing day. so, off to our designated hair cutting porch we did go!

before:

after:

amazing how much older he looks. even his limbs look longer.

i think i might have cried as i cut...just a little....

stolen moments

little moments stolen before bed.

must enjoy these before my wee one becomes the big brother....

muffin

meet the newest family member:

muffin. i think this name will bring much hilarity when he is a five pound blob on a log that does nothing but moan and croak.

likes: moonlit serenading, skinny dipping, and eating other smaller froggy tankmates for dinner.

lucky, our other frog, had to be rescued from the tank last night because dear old muffin tried to ingest him.

good thing his name is lucky. or,was lucky. HE is back in nature now.

how to turn oranges into lemons

the following is a true and accurate story.


my feet did tread to the store, to purchase some yummy vittles for the fam and myself. my first stop was the fruit, and i had my eye on a bag of navel oranges. tranquil, sweet...delicious.

the first bag i did grab, i took a moment to assess the quality. then, while extending the bag over the floor to place into my cart, the entire bottom split open and consequently showered out the entire contents of the bag onto the floor. those beautiful orange spheres, rolling about in mad drunkenness around my splayed feet, under the cart, and into the aisles.

looking about, with my legs slightly askew, the girth of my belly shadowing about them on the floor, it looked as though i had just birthed these oranges. i stood there betwixt the mangoes and limes, a bewildered looked on my face and a veritable orange grove of thudding and rolling obstacles round about.

i picked them all up, as any good shopper would do. heaved a sigh and grabbed the next bag of oranges.

i inspected these, of course, prolonging their flight from bin to cart (and in hindsight i should have taken heed of what had just happened seconds before--and really, what WERE the chances). then, just as before, as i was about to place them in my cart, the bottom of this bag, too, so gladly spilled its contents onto the floor.

had i not already created a display before, i was sure to have audience now.

i suppose it could have been worse. grapefruits perhaps. those would have produced a much louder thud and drawn more attention.

one bag of oranges remained. i looked at it for a few seconds. dare i tempt the gods again....?

i bought lemons instead.