Lions and Tigers, Oh My!

Lindsay, our resident artist, needed a practice run before painting tiger faces for our co-op. Now I have never seen a pink and purple tiger, but these are Kelsey's favorite colors.

Painted faces

Cougar eats the deer experiment

Cake - decorated by Lindsay

Jonathan's Pitching Debut

Jonathan pitched in his first real game a couple of weeks ago.

And, yes, we won.

The New Guitar

The other weekend while the little kids and I were at Goose Creek learning about da bears, the teenagers and Ken were in Raleigh spending Alex's birthday money on this:


You can see more at the photo blog of our resident photographer.

Hope

"The sun never goes down without a fight, that's why it streaks the sky with red and purple, and when the Darkness smothers it at last, it leaves a glimmer of Hope, hidden in the stars. To remind us that the sun rises again with the morning." - Lindsay Cortright

I think that about says it.

A First for Lindsay

Today my firstborn began her first real job. It is official - she has entered the world of background checks and IRS forms. In fact, she entered her social security number on forms so many times yesterday that she now has it memorized.

And since she is not yet driving, it was I who rose early to drive her to her first real job. And yes, it was also I who picked her up when I received a text message alerting me that it was time. Hmmmm, I wonder if I can charge her for travel?

Don't get me wrong, I am truly glad that she has a part-time job.

I am thankful for the experience filling out forms that ask the same questions over and over.

I am thankful she will be earning enough money to pay for her car insurance.

I am thankful that she is in a good environment working with children.

And I am especially thankful she is learning the value of work, even if it's just part-time.

Guess the next step will be opening a checking account.

A is for Acorn

So what do you do with all those acorn the three year old collected from the yard this weekend?

Eggs, Grits, and Ketchup

When I was a kid, I remember my momma cooking fried eggs (a little runny) and grits. We would eat them together with ketchup. I know it sounds horrible, but when you mix the eggs, grits and ketchup together and add some black pepper, it's actually very yummy.

Now my husband and kids will not eat this no matter how I try to convince them that it really tastes better than it looks, so I don't make it just for myself very often. Yesterday Kelsey asked for grits for lunch, so guess what I had? I tried to get her to have fried eggs too, but that wasn't happening.

As I sat down to eat my lunch, my mind was flooded with memories of home - my momma cooking eggs and grits, and my daddy eating them with ketchup and black pepper.

A Good Day

Baseball and geometry kept us up late last night so this morning was for sleeping in, at least for the little kids, giving the rest of us time for coffee and quiet before the day began.

It began with a movie, believe it or not, The Alamo, meant to supplement some high school history reading. So yes, this morning we were watching a movie. The kids were drawn in and so was I. Billy Bob Thorton made a great Davey Crockett and Dennis Quaid, a wonderful Sam Houston. We were so into the events that we kept pausing the movie to check the history book for facts and Lindsay was ready with her iPod to 'Wiki' the things we didn't find in the book. We even discovered that this movie was the most historically accurate. We talked about the west, Texas, the definition of a courier, how General Santa Anna's army didn't fight fair, and how Opie (Ron Howard) went on to produce and direct some great films. It was a good morning.

The day continued with math and science, reading and foreign language, but we found our rhythm, at least for this day. For this day, we didn't feel the rush of a schedule, or the pressure of the world's standard.

On this day, we read about animals until we tired of it.

On this day, we worked through the math until we understood it.

On this day, we read poetry for the joy of it.

On this day, we laughed and played with friends.

On this day, we played music because we love it.

Yep, it was a good day.

Jumpin' Break

Yes, we took a break in the middle of our morning for some jumpin' time with the cousins. The forecast called for rain that day and we have to have some way to get all those wiggles out.

Da Bears

This past weekend, Goose Creek State Park had a program on bears and we just happened to be studying bears this week in science, so what a great opportunity for a field trip.

Our friends, Helen and Burton, joined Kelsey, Jonathan, and me for this outing. As we were driving into the park, Burton spotted this deer (there were actually three) out the window. Of course we all acted as if we had never before seen wildlife. We stopped in the middle of the road, fetched the camera from the trunk, switched lenses, and took pictures. We were so distracted by and excited about this deer that we drove right past the visitors center (directly across from where we saw the deer) and ended up touring the entire park before we found our way back.


Park Ranger Chris did a great job talking to us about bears in North Carolina and he was entertaining as well. He even led us on a short hike.

Hiking a trail, looking for a bear.


The park ranger had set this up for us to find.



We may have a comedian here.





It was a great way to spend a Saturday. The teenagers did not come with us as they were in Raleigh with their dad looking for a new guitar (more about that later).

Around the World

This year the little kids and I are taking a look at world geography with Trail Guide to World Geography. To make things interesting, we get together with a few friends periodically to play games and eat food associated with what we are studying.

Here's Kelsey making Rice Krispie treats that look like the earth.

They were a little sticky and I still have blue food coloring under my fingernail.

Kim spray painted these ball ornaments blue and the kids painted the continents on the 'earth' balls.

The kids' cousins from the west coast gave them this Map Tangle Game several years ago. It came in handy for reinforcing where the continents are located on a map.



Time for a snack.

A Week of Firsts

This has been a week of firsts for Kelsey. She is the baby and likes to have mama close by, but this week she cut those strings just a little.

Community Bible Study began this week and Kelsey was a little nervous. She cried, but not for long. Her teachers were patient with her and she straightened up quickly. When I picked her up, she was having fun and wants to go back next week. She says she won't cry next time.

Gymnastics also started this week and I must admit that I was afraid I would be out on the floor with her. After all, I was out on the gymnastics floor with Lindsay at this age. But Kelsey did not flinch and she did not cry. She got dressed for gymnastics, in a pink leotard of course, and walked right in. She looked a little nervous, but when the teacher called the class, Kelsey went without hesitation. I do think it helped that her cousin was there. Everything about gymnastics was her favorite.

I didn't take pictures during the class this time, but here's one of her just before class.

6th Day - Land Animals

Boys and animals seem to go together.

Jonathan and three friends, boys only, are participating in a co-op. We are using the book Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day.

The Collages

The Experiment - extracting DNA strand from peas

DNA Model - Gummy Bears and Twizzlers

Not a fan of having his picture taken, but he did have fun.