This Week At Home, Number 37

*Got the camera back and it was not fixed. *grumble, grumble*  So, I will once again get creative. 

Image source:  Grapicsfairy

And I thought we were busy last week!  (Ha!)  Adding two new ministries, one we were not really looking to add, although are very glad to take on, has increased our busyness a bit more. 

Saturday:  Took a day trip to a favorite state park. Had a picnic in the rain.  Although, the rest of the time was just lovely.  Unfortunately I lost all of the pictures that I took.  They all had errors!!! 

Image source:  Wikitravel

Sunday:  I must include Sunday details because it is quite essential to this tale of busyness.  Trevor was called to be at church at 6:45AM as his children's choir (a new activity this year) was to sing for the first time in our new sanctuary.  At 7:30, I arrived with a fresh from the oven egg casserole and helped to serve breakfast to 88 little dear children in between the first and second service.  We left church at 11:45.  

Image source:  aspengroup.com

Monday:  After gym class and lessons, we attended the funeral of a dear friend's father.  Then Jeff and I met with a leader from our church and accepted the call to take over leadership of our small group.  *gulp*  From there, we escorted Grace to dance.  What a busy and emotionally charged day! 

Tuesday:  More lessons in the morning and then we went to visit new friends whom we met via the children's choir.  We discovered that these dear people only live only .5 miles away and they are homeschoolers!  *happy dance time* 


Wednesday:  Lessons in the morning and early afternoon.  Went to another invigorating night of AWANA, which is such an opportunity for me to grow in love for others. 

Thursday:  Finished up most of our week's lessons.  Then our new friends came by for more fun.  I am hoping we can get the kids together often. They seem agreeable.  Thursday evening we dropped the kids at martial arts and then ran to two stores.  We also started to load the pop-up camper for this weekend's trip. 

Friday:  Today, I'll make a quick morning trip to Target after walking with my friend, the kids will finish their writing assignments, and we will make a quick trip to drop off books at the library to avoid fines.  Then this afternoon we are off to the lake for a cool weekend of camping.  By cool, I mean lows in the 30's and highs in the upper 50's.  *Brr*  I hope the sun comes out!  We'll just have to keep warm walking up and down sand dunes. 

Killer on the legs! 

As for lessons...

We continue to study ancient history.  We got up to the rise of the Roman Empire this week.  The kids wrote essays with the emphasis being on using transitional phrases.  Science did not get my full attention this week. I wanted to do an experiment that is a week overdue.  I will have to get to it next week.  Older son kept up with his lessons, mostly on his own.  I have been writing a lesson plan for him and he is keeping track of it by himself, mostly.  I do have to "inspect what I expect" for sometimes he takes short cuts.  He is very much enjoying Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  I need to find more books like this. 

That is the  summary of our week.  Next week won't be much better as it ends in our anniversary trip and I will also be trying to visit my grandma, too.  I may just have to call a fall break on school. 

I hope to be around to visit you all soon!  Have a great weekend. 
Jenn

Short and Sweet

This week is full.  

My time is short.

I feel the pull,

Of this little port.

I don't know when

this rush will end.

It can't last long...

(nor can this silly song.)

This Week At Home, No.36

First of all, today is a very special day!  Happy birthday to my dear daddy!  I love you and will be calling you today...  

Another very full week around here...still no camera.  These are from my cell. 

Abbey Cat

We have had a very active social calendar this week. Normally that wears me out, but perhaps because I am getting stronger, I am not so tired.  Here are some highlights...

Monday evening we enjoyed dinner with new friends. That's very cool. It's been a long time since we've made new friends. 

Tuesday we made a quick trip to the library after lunch.  We needed some new science books.  In the evening, I went to my bunco group. I am starting to wonder if I will continue next year.  It's only one night a month, but I'd really rather just be home. 

Flowers from a friend. 

Wednesday afternoon we had lunch with dear family members who were in town for the funeral last week.  They took us to Red Robin.  I love their turkey burgers! 


In the evening was AWANA for most of the family. (Our oldest went to youth group.)  In AWANA, we got to have our large group time in the new chapel room at church, which was exciting.  One of my girls brought a visitor.  I love sharing the Good News with new children!  Everyone said lots of sections.  The sixth grade girls got to play a basket ball elimination game outside! 

Thursday, Trevor had choir rehearsal at 6PM, as his group sings on Sunday, first time in the new sanctuary. Grace and Ryan went to judo. Jeff and I went grocery shopping.

Just a pretty day. 

Friday, the kids and I will go to the mall in the morning.  I so dislike shopping at a mall, so this was a very rare trip.  I only made the trip because Sears has husky sizes. And my boy needs a new white shirt to wear when he sings.  I could not find one at Good Will last week. 

In the evening, we were to meet with our flock group, but that just got cancelled, so we will probably relax while watching some of this....

Do you see who is sitting in the captain's chair? 

This weekend we are going to Prophetstown State Park to visit their historic living history farm and walk a trail through the restored prairie.  It's an Indiana History field trip!  Just hope it doesn't rain.  I hope to buy some produce at their farm store.  We will also enjoy some much needed quiet time at home this weekend.  

Boys on laptops. 

As far as school goes, the week has gone pretty well.  It was a challenge to get everything that I wanted to get done, but once again, we kept up with our curriculum, managing to get 5 days of reading done in 4.

It was also fun to "show off" our work to visiting grandparents.  The notebooking journals make it easy to convey what we are learning to others. And they are a good record for ourselves as well.  Wish we'd done these long ago! 

The kids wrote comparison and contrast essays.  It is getting easier for them to write.  Grace is even less timid about using the computer in the process. 

On our way to dance class, last week. 

We are enjoying our study of Ancient Greece. Grace has been making paper dolls and Trevor is designing paper battle fields.  Boys love all the war.  *shaking my head* 

We began our study of aquatic herps (sea turtles and the like.) I really like sea turtles!  I need to find a good DVD at the library about them.

So, there you have our week.  Yes, it is very full.  And, I do crave down time at  home as a family, which is so important. However, I feel as if we are doing OK.  If my children were not home with me all day long, every day, I would certainly NOT allow so much into our evenings.

How's your week gone?

~Jenn

Suprise Blessings

This past Saturday, we had the pleasure of visiting my father and step-mother in their new home.  Some may remember that they moved back to IN this past spring after being gone for 7 long years.  *smile*

Well, now they've moved into their permanent location, a lovely 2 acre homestead 2 hours SW of us.  What fun it was to walk about the place listening to my father's plans for bees, apple trees and garden boxes.  Truly, it is a lovely place.  I wish I had my camera back!  *sigh* 

Here comes the blessing part of this post.  While we were there, my father GAVE Ryan his old laptop!  Ryan promptly installed Ubuntu and it is working quite well as a netbook!  Yippee!  Thank you, dear Dad!  We are so excited to have another computer.  I did not know that our other computers were so outdated. This new one is more powerful than our best desktop and that's saying a lot because this laptop is no spring chicken!

From my cell phone camera. 

This Week At Home, Number 35

As my camera is going to be in the shop for the next three weeks, I thought I'd dip into the archives to "decorate" my posts.

Boy, do I feel old! Just a mere 4.5 years ago... They were little. Now, they are BIG!!! *sigh*

Trevor, age 5

But let's talk about this week, the here and now. What else do we have? 

The weather went from a high of 90 to a low of 43 in one day. Since then, the weather has been very fallish, a welcome change for sure.Although, I realized that I forgot to spend some time on my hammock, so I will be looking forward to that soon.

9 years old!

We got 4 solid days of school work done, despite some of life's interruptions.  I must be growing because interruptions did not send me into a fit of muttering.  I did have to bite my tongue, quite a few times.  However, that is nothing unusual, unfortunately! 

7 years old. 

With the change of weather came the discovery that most of us need "new" warmer clothes. Plus shoes.  Our clothing budget took a huge hit this week, even with shopping at Good Will, using a 20% off at Kohl's, and free shipping at Lands End for those items we were not able to find otherwise, namely husky sized pants.  Thankfully, no one needs a new winter coat.  That is a miracle.  Now as for winter boots, that is another story.  I will have to start looking soon.  All 3 of the kids are in adults shoe sizes, so they are not cheap. Take it all to Him in prayer, comes to my mind... 

Here are some of the highlights from our week:

• Friends visited us on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday! 
• Got hugs from our favorite AZ Grands who are in town for a family funeral.  The funeral was a beautiful celebration of homegoing. 
• Found gold at the library.  
• Jeff got through a difficult tax deadline, working extra hours on top of teaching highschoolers at AWANA.
• Grace finally passed her challenge in AWANA!  

A rare one of me! 

This weekend we are visiting with more family.  And our church family is moving into our new building. As always, I thank you for taking time to read. 

Jenn

Late Summer Musings

All of a sudden it is late summer.  The weather is playing its fickle dance between summer and fall.  Today, summer is winning.  It will be 90.  Tomorrow, fall will win with temperatures in the 60's. 

This is a busy time of the year for us.  We've been "meeting-ed" to death.  Every ministry, every activity is back into full gear.  I know this is all good, but wow, sometimes I really miss the freedom of summer. 

One thing I adore about late summer is apple time.  I've been to one orchard.  I am planning my next.  I can't wait!  I think I am an apple addict.  Do you have a favorite apple? 

This Week At Home, Number 34

Four out of Five

What a glorious week we've had! I'll let the pictures do most of the "talking".
I will never tire of Indiana Dunes State Park. It has to be the most lovely place in Indiana.

Beach House Blowout

Always stairs! 

Sand sculpting

Magnificent!

Happy campers

Rip current warnings! (No swimming) 

Blue sky

Visit to a local museum

Orchard time

Where was the oldest in our family? Well, he got the honor of spending Labor Day Weekend working! He was at grandparent work camp.

Work camp

And as for our school week, well we got three good days in this week.  Today is going to be a half day because there is a birthday to celebrate.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!