The Crew

Since I just got some really nice portraits of the boys done, and since I simply cannot help but brag, I thought I'd share their school pictures for the year.

A comment, though, regarding homeschooling and school pictures.

The whole idea of the "school picture" hit me hard and unexpectedly when my oldest son was in kindergarten.  I remember the picture days (ugh!) of my own elementary years.  But I also remember having the wallet pictures to exchange afterwards, and how important it seemed.  The person who managed to get the most pictures, or had the most people requesting her picture, was the most popular.  And, in that setting, popularity was everything.  I remember the year I had to get mine re-done and then did not have them to exchange when everyone else did.  When I finally got mine, weeks later, the frenzy was over, and no one had any left to exchange. 

So, on one hand, this whole idea of popularity was one of the things I really wanted to avoid by homeschooling.  On the other....maybe they will need them?  Maybe they will feel LEFT OUT if they don't have pictures to take to Sunday School?

I have shown my complete lack of understanding of boys over and over - and especially of boys who live in the country, don't participate in lots of "peer group" activities, and are really a little too masculine to worry about trading pictures of themeselves. 

But yet....when autumn rolls around, I start thinking about school pictures, getting the boys' pictures taken, Christmas cards and pictures for the grandparents.  And it becomes a bit of a frenzy for me (you try to get 4 boys to all stay clean, smile and look in the same direction at the same time - I challenge you!) to get some good pictures, purchase the appropriate number to distribute, etc.

So, I am a little nuts.  I can live with that. 

This year I got some good ones done with others in our group at a local park, but I also wanted some studio  portraits - and I just got them back yesterday, so look at how handsome these guys are getting:

And, for good measure, let us not forget the handsome fellow, from whom they inherited their good looks!

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man

whol fills his quiver with them!

He shall not be put to shame

when he speaks with his enemies

in the gate.

Psalm 127:4-5 ESV

Cleaning out the basement

How about I have my very first giveaway - like my friend Anita does!

For starters - I found several sets of "vintage" (think 1970s) wine glasses/goblets in a box in the basement.  I am assuming they were my dad's.  I don't drink, and am not really planning to start, nor do I serve fabulous parfait desserts - so somebody let me know you want them and they are YOURS! 

I also have several copper tins - like jello molds that you hang on your wall.  Some are about 15 years old, but a few others my mother-in-law picked up at a jumble sale in Iowa, and they look pretty old.  I used to have them hanging up in our old house, but haven't had them out of the box since we moved here (8 years ago!).  So, if you like that sort of thing......!

I also have a beautiful, great big hardback Mother Goose book, illustrated by Rosemary Wells (Max and Ruby), that I don't think has ever been opened - it is too heavy to post on paperbackswap, so if anyone has a little child they'd like to give it to, I think it is even in new-gift condition.

That's a start.  I also found a lot of knick-knack type things belonging to my dad and grandma, that I am not going to part with.  Someday I'd like to display them, but for now, space is at a premium.

But just touching that stuff does bring back some memories!

Life in the Country

For those who don't know, we live in the country and have a few animals.  We are not farmers - not even hobby farmers.  Just like to keep some chickens.  There is nothing like a couple of fresh eggs, with some veggies and a bit of cheese for a filling lunch!

These are some of my new girls, who will be leaving their home in our garage and heading out to the freshly-shoveled henhouse soon:

These little ladies are Hardy Concords, and were born on 10/13/10, and arrived via Priority Mail on the 15th.  In a few weeks, they have gone from darling balls of fluff to 6-7" tall birds with some strong opinions! 

 

Next, off to feed the current egg-laying ladies - in this house are some White Leghorns and Black Astralorps:

 

These girls are in their second year, and egg production has slowed way down - at their peak, they lay an egg a day.  The White Leghorns can be expected to lay 360 eggs in their first full year of laying.

And, who else is waiting for their breakfast but the "barn cats" - Claire and her son, Calvin

And last, but never least, Nugget the Guinea Pig, whose eyes are not really red, but that is how they photograph and I couldn't fix it!

So, time to get off this machine and go fix myself some of those tasty eggs!

School days, school days.....

I have tried being very sctructured.  I have tried being very relaxed.  I think we are finally finding our balance and what works for our family at this stage.

Just make them all go outside.

Okay, that is my first instinct, but it is probably not a real workable plan.

What seems to be working in terms of them actually learning anything, and us enjoying the time together, is to just go with the flow.  For example, this week Tony and Ben looked up King Xerxes and wrote about him.  Today we looked up Ancient Persia and Babylon on maps in the encyclopedia.  Then we read about Esther, up to the point where Mordecai is in mourning over the new law.  So, there you have language arts (looking up and writing) and social studies (geography and history).  I could count it as Bible instead, but we get lots of Bible hours and I always need more "core" (social studies, science, math, language arts) for my logs.

Then we moved onto Thomas Edison.  We have been studying U.S. history chronologically for the last two years.  We are at the Age of Invention.  Last week they read a short bio of Edison.  Today we watched an animated video about him inventing the lightbulb.  Then we looked at a diagram of a light bulb in "How It Works" and compared it to a real light bulb from our home.  More social studies, and science, too.

Then we moved onto Bible (Teaching Hearts, Training Minds, a devotional based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism), grammar, math, handwriting, and our favorite subject - lunch.

See, kids are all the same, no matter where they go to school.  Ask them their favorite subject and the answer you get is "lunch" followed closely by "recess".  I bet teachers like lunch best, too.  I know I sure do!

After lunch...everyone just finishes up their reading and we do chores, and they go play in the yard and I finish up my housework, and I will sit down and record what we did today, and hopefully get everything caught up for the week. Tomorrow I will look at "where we are" in history and plan out some reading for the week - I believe we are in the 1870s-80s, and we will focus on the Plains Indians next week and the conflicts between them and the settlers' westward expansion.


Hopefully, I will get in some time to read before it is time to start dinner.  I have started a self-guided study on baptism that I am enjoying, as well as a new murder mystery that is calling to me.
 
After dinner tonight we are all watching part 10 in a dvd series entitled "The Sovereignty of God".  I will count that as Bible. 

But for now...it sounds like they are done fixing their lunch and getting ready to eat, so now I can get in the kitchen and make my lunch.  I love having kids old enough to make a basic lunch on their own!

Life after Facebook....

So, I am now on my 8th day of my Facebook fast.  Not that I am counting or anything.  So far, so good.  Actually, so much better!

Why did I deactivate my account, so many have asked over the last week.  Okay, people asked because I sent out an email saying that I was going to deactivate my account, otherwise no one would have noticed!  I have noted (to myself) that I have given different answers to different people.  But after a week of not having it, and thinking it over, it has become much clearer to me why I don't want to do Facebook anymore. 

It was a time-sucker supreme.  Every time I walked past the computer I was checking it.  While sitting at stoplights I was checking it on my phone.  That is wierd, even for me. 

Maybe even especially wierd for me, because I don't particularily like being around a lot of people all the time.  I love my friends, I love to get together with big groups of people, especially my church family and homeschool sisters and their families.  But - after it is over I desperately need some time to be quiet and alone in order to decompress.  And with Facebook, I didn't seem to have that.  It was like there were over 100 people with me all the time.  I would check in and sometimes I'd read a particularily sweet, thoughtful or inspiring post, and that was a great thing to carry with me all day.  Frequently I'd print them out to re-read again after lunch.  But sometimes I'd read posts that were negative and complaining, or critical of others, and then I'd carry that in my head all day, too.  Not too good at letting go, I guess!  I'd squander my quiet time doing housework when I could be meditating on the Word I'd read that morning with thinking over something that had been posted that stuck in my craw. 

And then too, when you reach the point where you are posting your every.single.thought on Facebook, well....just how important ARE you, anyway?  I think Facebook can really bring out the hidden narcissist in some of us.  Okay, maybe some of us don't hide that narcissist as well as we should to start with!  But my gosh, is what I am eating for lunch REALLY that important?  Okay, what I am fixing for dinner is - I stand by that!  But when you find yourself posting pictures of your food at Chik-Fil-A, it begs the question......

One last item - when I have all of you at my fingertips all day - when I know little details (440 characters or less) of your life - why should I bother to take the time to reach out and get the REALLY know you?  That is a rhetorical question.  I think sometimes it can give a surface veneer to getting to really know people, getting to really be involved in their lives, to be able to love and serve them.  At least in my experience it has. 

I have a dear friend, Jennifer, who lives in Tennessee.  We have never met in real life, but I consider her one of my closest friends.  For the last several years we have written each other long emails every few days, talking about kids and family, debating doctrine, discussing theology, books, our churches - you name it!  I feel like I have gotten to be right there with her when her mom has had illnesses, when her husband was out of work, when her son gets to perform in his choir, when her daughter was saved.  But, in the year or so I've been on Facebook, those letters dwindled to a handful.  She knew what I was doing.  She knew what I was having for lunch, but she no longer knew what was going on in my heart as we left our church of ten years.  That somehow seems wrong.  But I was on Facebook all the time, who has time to write letters!  This is changing.

Since getting off Facebook I have been out to lunch twice with girlfriends, had one friend and her daughter drop in for a cup of tea, been on two homeschool field trips, and had emails, texts and phone calls from other friends and family. 

And none of them asked what I had for lunch. 

So, them's my reasons, in a nutshell.  For others, these reasons are not at all valid (that is why I call them MY reasons).  I am not saying I will never be back - I think I can pretty much assume I will, someday, because that is just how the world operates now.  But I need to learn some discipline before I do!  So, someday if you see me venturing a toe in the Facebook water, don't be surprised. 

But don't expect it to be soon!

Taco Casserole and Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Here are a couple very easy recipes, that kids like and are filling.  Add some veggies on the side and you've got a filling dinner!

TACO CASSEROLE


1 pound ground beef
1 cup salsa
½ cup mayonnaise (or salad dressing)
2 tsp. Chili powder
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Colby
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Monterey Jack
1 medium tomato
2 cups shredded lettuce.

Brown beef in skillet, drain. Add salsa, mayo and chili powder; mix well. In an ungreased 2 qt. Baking dish layer half the meat mixture, chip and cheeses. Repeat layers. Bake uncovered at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Just before serving top with tomato and lettuce. I also serve it with sour cream for topping and refried beans on the side. Makes 6 servings.



BACON CHEESEBURGER PASTA

This is one of my familys’ very favorites.

8 oz uncooked tube (penne) pasta
1 pound ground beef
6 slices of bacon, diced
1 can (10 ¾ oz) condensed tomato soup, undiluted
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese.

Cook pasta according to directions, to al dente. Meanwhile, in skillet brown the meat; drain and set aside. In the same skillet, cook the bacon until crisp (note – don’t cook burger and bacon together to save time – the bacon will not get crispy, I’ve tried it) – drain bacon on paper towels. Discard drippings. Drain pasta, add to skillet. Add the beef, bacon and soup (straight from the can, it will not look like enough but it is). Heat through. Sprinkle cheese over top (I am sure I use more cheese than the recipe calls for); cover and heat on low until cheese is melted. 4-6 servings.

Seen at the Fall Festival.....

Okay, I just couldn't help it.  Have you EVER seen such a cool-looking Indiana Jones in your life?

He came up with the whole costume on his own - Dad made the whip and I did the 5 o'clock shadow, but the rest was all by himself.