A visit with my niece

We went over to my Mom's Thursday to see my sweet niece. She is 10 months old already. I can't believe it. She was lots of fun with smiles and giggles for everyone (though we got none of those for the pics).

Seeing my kids with her really makes me aware of how fast they are growing ..... all three of them. Just yesterday, I swear mine were babies. ugh.

Have a great week !!

Boys Will Be Boys

While I changed out a load of laundry this morning, I had Fancy read the chapter about Martin Luther from Hero Tales to her brother. When I came back, I was pleased to see that she was reading as directed, and he was listening, but here is what I saw.

Too Funny

A Surprise Visit

My Father-In-Law surprised us with a visit Monday night. We had a nice dinner out on the patio at a great waterfront restaraunt near us. Afterwards, we walked around a bit so the kids could look at the lake. We had a cold front moving in Monday night, so the wind and dropping temperature eventually got us back to the car and home to bed.

Here are some pictures:

"Granddaddy" and the kiddos:

"The Husband" (far right), his Dad and his brother:

There is a cute little lighthouse behind the kids but it was just dark enough that you can't see it:

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

We have been listening to and studying this hymn written by Martin Luther in the 1520s. It is just amazing. I printed out the words for each of the kids and we have been singing along with it a few times a day this week.

We have looked up the words they we didn't know (ie. bulwark) and have written the definitions on our copy of the lyrics. It's been a great time. Between this hymn and the classical music this week, it had been an interesting change to the normal stuff we listen to. The christian music we usually listen to is the type we would normally hear at our church .... more modern praise and worship.... a lot of Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Paul Baloche, etc. Having not been raised in church, I don't know a lot of old hymns, so I am enjoying learning too. We listen to a lot of other types of music too (my poor kids are well versed in MANY types of music .... 70s, 80s, 90s. haha). My iPod is a funny thing. Fancy especially likes to put it on shuffle and have a good laugh .... You can go from Journey to Chris Tomlin to Allison Krauss to Barlow Girl to Willie Nelson to Audio Adrenaline to Prince to Van Morrison to Marc Broussard to Brenton Brown to David Gray to Watermark to (Oh ... and don't forget all the sermons in there too) ... well, you get the point. Nonetheless, it has been nice to branch out a bit this week.

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

Edited to add:
Sorry for how it lines up ... I am apparently not smart enough to fix it =)

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

What a glorious morning

It is cool here this morning. Our thermometer on the back porch reads 52 degrees. Brrrr. We have the schoolroom window open a bit and are enjoying reading with the sounds of some German composers we are learning about this week in the background.

Here is some of what is tickling our ears:

Johann Sebastian Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
George Frideric Handel - Hallelujah Chorus
Richard Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries
Ludwig van Beethoven - 5th Symphony, Fur Elise

It's funny ..... even though we are NOT big classical music people, Bubby quickly recognized Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. I was impressed for a moment .... right up unitl he told me where he had heard it ..... Bugs Bunny movies. Oh well, education can come from anywhere, right?

Enjoy your day!!

Wrapping up October

Last week we completed our study of France. We got off to a strong start as we knew we had plans later in the week that would keep us from "schoolwork". We completed almost all the week's work on Monday and Tuesday. The kids were very cooperative and diligent. I was proud of their stamina.

Wednesday, we had a fun Halloween. For the first time (not proud to admit), I decided to talk about it also being Reformation Day. We read about Martin Luther and then watched Luther (Fabulous by the way). Bubby found the movie a bit slow, but we endured until the end and it was a good learning opportunity. Plus .... what kid could complain about watching a movie, in our jammies no less, counting as school?

Funny thing .... Bubby stated after the movie was over that he thought he remembered previously learning about Martin Luther, but was apparently mistaken, because his memory from public school was that he was a "black guy". We had to straighten out the confusion of the whole ...... not KING JR. Cute.

The afternoon was spent wrapping up the week's lessons. It was a nice, calm, but productive day. The kind we all wish everyday was like in our homes.

Later that evening, the kids dressed up (Bubby was a skeleton and Fancy was a cavegirl) and Bubby and a Friend "Trick-or-Treated" for a bit. Unfortunately I have NO pictures because my camera batteries were D-E-A-D!! Fancy stayed home to hand out candy while The Husband and I had friends over for Pizza and a movie. We also made caramel apples with the kids. Funny thing .... the kids couldn't have cared less about making or eating them, but my friend and I enjoyed ourselves.... both in the making and eating process. Yummy.

Thursday morning, with new batteries in the camera, we headed out for a "field trip" with our homeschool group to see the play The Jungle Book put on by kids at an area Civic Theatre. Here is a picture of the cast afterwards in the lobby. I couldn't get my two to go over to have their picture made with them. Party Poopers !!

After the play, we all headed to lunch at a local McDonalds (Note ..... food -> ick BUT playplace for more than 20 kids under age 10 -> yippee!). We got lucky .... on a random Thursday morning, Ronald McDonald was there for no apparent reason. That was pretty fun for the littler kids. Bubby and his good friend "W" got their picture taken with him and even got his autograph. Fancy is NOWHERE to be seen in this picture as she has ALWAYS found clowns "creepy". She kept one eye on good ol' Ronald the whole time we were there. She had a nice time though, there were a lot of girls her age and they had a nice time chatting over burgers and fries.

Thursday evening was Bubby's last soccer game of the season. In the car in the parking lot, out came the front tooth. I snapped this picture right before we ran onto the field:

I got no pictures of the game, the team, or any other soccer type stuff. I had my camera with me (as proven above) but it stayed safely in my purse. OOPS.

Anyway, we are off to a good start this week with our study of Germany. I will post more later to bring you up to speed on that.

Have a great week !!

Has it really been SIX WEEKS ?!?!?!?

Well, I would have never guessed it had been this long since I had updated my blog. Time has really gotten away from me.

School has been clicking along really well. We are studying Europe and have covered Norway and France in depth. Monday we start 2 weeks on Germany and then we are DONE for this semester. I am looking forward to the L-O-N-G break I have allowed for. I decided early on that with the freedom to choose my own school dates, I would shorten our Summer and give us equal breaks in the Summer and Winter. We will be off SEVEN weeks .... from Thanksgiving to January 6th. WOO-HOO !! We are right on target as far as the goals I set in all their different subjects. I am amazed at how well this has been going. It really feels like the best decision we've ever made.

I am really looking forward to the Germany section of our studies as I lived there for several years as a child/pre-teen. My parents were both in the Air Force so we lived in a lot of places. Sadly, the age I was when we lived there was not conducive to really appreciating the culture and such, but I am looking forward to reflecting back on those times. I am hoping my Mom can find some pictures of us there for me to show the kids. I am pretty sure my parents DRUG us to everything there was to see in the entire country. hehe. I think it will make it that much more interesting to the kids to learn about a particular place if they can see a picture of 13 year old Mommy standing in front of said place with B-A-D 80s hair. haha

We went to the State Fair a couple of weeks ago and had a nice time. It was one of those great days here in Texas when it FINALLY isn't 100 degrees anymore. It was downright cool ... I think the high was something like 85 degrees that day. Our nephew "C" and Chad's brother went with us. "C" is such a doll. All 3 kids had fun and it was nice to have the freedom to go in the middle of the week when there was almost NOBODY there. Here are some pictures:

The standard BIG TEX picture:

They had this great exhibit called "Little Hands on the Farm" where the kids were able to put on aprons and go through stations where they "worked" the farm. They fed chickens, milked cows, planted seeds and at each station received the "fruits of their labor". In the chicken coop they got an egg, in the barn they got a milk carton, after planting their seeds they picked veggies ....etc. At the end, they went to the market and sold their goods. The market owner gave them money which they got to spend in the General Store. It was a really neat set-up. Bubby and "C" went through it. They wouldn't let Fancy in because she was too old. She wasn't too upset as I believe she was enjoying a lemonade with her Daddy at that point.

Feeding the Chickens:

Milking the Cow:

Planting Onion Seeds:

Being Silly Boys:

Well, there is plenty more to tell, but I better get my day started. I will try to update again soon.

Thanks for checking in !!