We had a fabulous weekend! We travelled to my sister’s to witness the baptism of her new daughter. My other sister, her family, and my parents came too. Here are some great pictures of my family.
Here is The Dancer with her cousin in the hotel pool.
Here’s the whole gang after the baptism.
My parents (I think my dad is holding a baseball bat just in case any of the grandkids get lippy!)
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It was a wonderful weekend! I’m not sure what was my favorite part:
1. All the cousins playing together and having fun.
2. Getting to chat and spend time with my family.
3. Meeting my sister’s neighbor, who asked me if I was the baby of the family! Ha, ha sisters! I’m the oldest, but I look the youngest! Eat your heart out!
We are so lucky to have a good Catholic homeschooling support group. Our support group offers many great activities for the kids. This past Friday, we had a Saints Fair (to correspond with All Saints Day). We prepared for the event by learning about a special saint (The Naturalist picked St. Francis of Assisi and The Dancer chose St. Therese of Lisieux). The kids learned all about their saint, then prepared a presentation and a posterboard.
The Saints Fair was a lot of fun! Besides the presentations, there were trivia games, a saint walk (a cake walk), a halo toss (ring toss), and lots of other fun crafts and activities. I was so proud of my kids’ presentations! They walked up to the front of a room packed with moms and kids, and did a fabulous job reading their reports. I’m so pleased my kids had fun, learned about some of God’s friends (and our role models) and got some great public speaking practice. Take a look!
Here is the Naturalist after his third beekeeping class with his friend Joseph. The Naturalist loved learning about bees. We loved hanging out on the farm during class. In the spring class, we saw baby pigs only a couple hours old. They still had their umbilical cords!
Isn’t this photo adorable? Here we are inside the Santa Maria, listening to a presentation about early maritime medicine. This man gave explicit details about amputation and other gory facts, and he had plenty of tools and implements to help us visualize his descriptions. The Naturalist and The Dancer were a little disturbed by this presentation. They often hold hands when one or both of them need comfort.
Our friend Jocelyn just moved to a farm only a couple of miles from our house. My kids love nothing better than to visit her farm, gather eggs, and observe the animals. In fact, The Naturalist has fallen in love with her chickens. He picks them up and begs me to buy chickens for our backyard.
Here they are, right before we began trick or treating. We had such amazing weather! We haven’t seen trick or treating weather this nice since we left Houston.
The Naturalist joined Cub Scouts this year, and he absolutely loves it. He loves the meetings, the events, the uniform, the whole thing. Doesn’t he look adorable in his uniform?
Here are a couple of pictures of him during the rain gutter regatta. He won first prize for his den.
In November, he will get his first badge: The bobcat badge. He is so excited!
Catholic Vote is such a great organization. I loved their first video about Obama, which came out last fall (but most of the major media outlets refused to air it). It was so positive and so beautifully done.
Now, they have a new video, all about health care reform. It is called “Big Government Health Care PSA.” It is hilarious. Check it out at:
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 (HealthDay News) — Unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and other types of toxins have been found in drinking water at thousands of schools across the United States over the last decade, according to an analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data by the Associated Press.
Toxic contamination of drinking water is most common in schools with wells, which account for up to 11 percent of the 132,500 schools in the country. About 20 percent of schools with their own water supply violated the Safe Drinking Water Act in the past decade.
The number of violations increased over that time because of stricter standards for such contaminants as arsenic and some disinfectants, the EPA told the AP. The EPA doesn’t have the power to require drinking water testing for all schools.
“It’s an outrage,” Marc Edwards, an engineer at Virginia Tech who has been honored for his work on water quality, told the AP. “If a landlord doesn’t tell a tenant about lead paint in an apartment, he can go to jail. But we have no system to make people follow the rules to keep school children safe?” – HealthDay News
She’s adorable, and she knows it! In fact, recently I was reading her a book, and the book contained the word “adorable”. When she heard the word, Smiles got all excited and shouted, “Adorable! I’m adorable!”
Here are a few pictures of Smiles on her birthday.
Where do you take a horse lover on her birthday? To Heritage Days at Malabar Farm, of course! This is our second year in a row attending the event, and it is fabulous. Pony rides and horse-drawn wagon rides are the big favorites for Smiles.
Of course, Dad’s favorite are the Civil War demonstrations and historical reenactors.
My sister had a baby! Here’s a picture of her. She was born on Friday, September 18th. I wish I could post the hospital photo. It is the best hospital photo I’ve ever seen!
Here are a few cute pictures of our first days in the new house.
First, a picture of Smiles eating – or sleeping - through her second dinner at the new house. Moving can sure make a toddler tired!
Also, another picture from Day 2: I caught The Dancer alone reading on the back porch. One of the things we loved about the new house was the huge, screened-in back porch that runs the entire length of the house. What a great place to read a book!
Another plus: we have a huge, wooded backyard. Our lot is 1.1 acres, and it is filled with nature! This is our first glimpse of deer, discovered standing where our driveway meets the road. There are five of them, but unfortunately I don’t have a zoom on my cheap camera, so they look far away (but they actually aren’t).
Last but not least, my hero: My cousin Greg. He and my Aunt Sue drove all the way out here to do three days of hard labor. Aunt Sue helped me remove some ugly wallpaper in the living room, and Greg mostly removed overgrown bushes and hauled trash to the curb. Here is Greg with an overgrown shrub that died. He removed the roots manually (he had no choice, they were right by the water line), and the roots/stump was about 250 lbs! Greg, you are my hero!
Welcome! We are a Catholic family embarking upon our third year of homeschooling.
We have three children: The Naturalist, a seven year old boy who loves nature; The Dancer, a bubbly five year old girl; and Smiles, a three year old who never stops smiling.
While public schools can attempt to have "No Child Left Behind", homeschooling allows our children's souls to be educated as well. We live in one of the best school districts in our state, but yet we homeschool.
Thanks for visiting our blog! We hope you enjoy it!
The Naturalist joined Cub Scouts this year, and he absolutely loves it. He loves the meetings, the events, the uniform, the whole thing. Doesn’t he look adorable in his uniform?
