Simple Things

My cousin took this picture one morning as he walked out the front door. The sun shining through the trees is just beautiful.

May we stop each day to take in the glory of God through His Creation.

The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; (Numbers 6:25)

Baby Shower Blessings

My family and friends have showered us as we anticipate the arrival of Baby Trey. The first shower had a camping theme as I was crowned "Den Mother" for the day.

 

My cousin and sister-n-law did a beautiful job with all the decorations, the food, the games, etc. 

 

 

 

 

They even had an area setup to make smorses and sent everyone home with lots of sweets to remember the day.



 

 

 

My friends from my past job threw us a shower as well and spoiled us with so many of things that we needed to prepare for Trey's arrival. These special ladies have been a blessing in my life since starting my career after college and we have celebrated so many special milestones together. 

 

 

 

Its a blessing to have people in your life that care enough to wish you well....  

 

 

Gotta love a field trip

We ventured out on our first field trip to the Marine Museum in Newport News. For History, the girls are studying the Age of Exploration as we study the lives of varying explorers. When I thought back to what I remembered about explorers, Christopher Columbus is the most prominent one that comes to mind. But, it was interesting to study about those that came before Columbus.



Mariner's Museum - Leif the Lucky

Leif Ericson (a.k.a. Leif the Lucky) was the first to land in North America approximately 500 years before Columbus. Who knew? He settled in Vinland on the northern tip of Newfoundland (which is modern-day Canada)

Leif was the first explorer that the girls started to read about in our first few weeks of history. What was so exciting about this museum was as soon as we pulled up to the entrance, guess who was there to greet us? None other than Leif himself! (in statue form that is). It was definitely a God-ordained moment to intertwine our curriculum with this moment for our field trip.

 

I had searched and searched for a museum that showcased explorers and had a difficult time finding something other than the Colonial Period-type places in the MD/VA/DC area. To happen upon this museum in my internet searching efforts was a real treat. They had an entire permanent exhibit dedicated to the age of exploration.

After reading several books about many of the early explorers, it was neat to see the statues, the tools for navigation, replicas of the ships, and artifacts from the days of exploration. We also appreciated taking our time and being able to read and take in what we wanted to look at (just another homeschool perk! No lines, crowds, buses, chaperoning, rushing through exhibits, etc.)

Columbus Ship - Santa Maria Model

After we took in what we wanted to see for the explorers, we decided to go through the rest of the museum. They have a wonderful international small boat exhibit, an exhibit of August Crabtree’s boat models (he carved several of Columbus’ boats), and a special showcase of the USS Monitor which was partially salvaged and is being held under conservation at the museum. The actual gun turret that was pulled from the water after being wrecked in 1862 (later found in 1973) is at the museum. We thought that was pretty cool.

We thought the whole day was pretty cool… for a field trip.  

Replica of one of the Titanic Rescue Boats

 

 

 

 

Recipe to share

My girlfriends used to always share recipes when they found one that they/their family enjoyed.  Its been a while since I've had the opportunity to search out and try a new recipe that I could share.

I had several pork chops sitting in the freezer that I had been wondering what I could do to jazz them up. Grilling them would be a bore, so I found this Oven Fried Pork Chop recipe.

I've made oven fried recipes before and the crust would always fall off. This time the crust stayed on and the chops were tasty!

Ingredients:
4 pork chops trimmed
2 tablespoons butter melted
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup herb-seasoned dry bread stuffing mix

(I used italian bread crumbs for the stuffing mix and dipped the chops in flour before dipping in the eggs)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Pour butter into a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Stir together egg, milk and pepper.

Dip pork chops in egg mixture, coat with stuffing mix and place in pan.Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Turn chops and bake for another 10 minutes, or until no pink remains in the meat and juices run clear

...should work for chicken as well =)

Our Co-Op Experience

The girls attended their first “co-op” (cooperative) class on Friday last week.

A homeschool co-op is a collective group of homeschoolers that working together for a common purpose. All members of the co-op must contribute in some way toward the end goal; usually this contribution is in the form of effort, not money.

I learned about the “Guarding Hearts” co-op through a co-worker right before I left my job. Ten years ago several parents came together in the King George community to join together to form the Guarding Hearts co-op where they teach varying subjects to their children. I signed the girls up for the “World Passport” course. This course is designed to educate the students on various countries and cultures from around the Globe.

For their first class they learned about India. 

The co-op started out with a talk from a young lady that will be heading to India in October as a missionary. As a homeschooled child growing up she explained how she was led to seek the Lord on what He desired of her as she graduated and finished her high school years. She received a call from some friends of her family that were missionaries in India and they asked her if she would join them to do the Lord’s work there, establishing Churches and spreading the gospel. She will be leaving in October and staying for 8 months. She talked about the Indian culture and how she is preparing herself for her missionary work.

 

 

As the girls were dismissed to their classes they took part in creating their own passport that will be stamped each month as they “visit” the varying countries that they’ll learn about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lea made a flag in her class with colors of India and was able to listen to the music of India and try out some of their foods (the buttered chicken was the best!).  The food sort of just runs all together on the plate, but it is actually very tasty. I was surprised that Lea was courageous enough to try the food because she’s our picky eater. She loved the chicken and bread. I couldn’t get Love to try much of anything!

Perks

As we enter into yet another week of homeschooling, I can't help but ponder over all the "perks" I'm learning about that are out there for homeschoolers!

Our local YMCA holds 2 fitness sessions each week for homeschoolers for one hour. One session is held in the gymnasium on Mondays where kids play games that exercise their bodies (we haven't checked this session out yet), and a second session on Thursdays in the pool. In the past few years my girls have become so fond of the water. Every chance they get, especially in the summer months, they are asking to get in the pool. The fitness program on Thursdays is right up their alley. The more proficient swimmers are allowed to take a "swim test" that requires them to swim the entire length of the pool and then wade in the water for 2 minutes. Once they pass this swim test they are paired with a life guard that helps them refine their swimming skills. Those not as comfortable swimming on their own in deep water and not ready for the swim test are paired with a life guard that helps them refine the basics.

In the sessions that the girls have attended the life guard has urged them to take the test, but they just don't have the courage just yet to take the jump into the deep end for the swim. Maybe in time...

Another cool perk that I just love are the library services available. I haven't investigated services available in our local library with the new library building just opening up, but the services available in the Fredericksburg Central Rappahannock Regional Library are wonderful. There are many services available to all library members like online book holds, renewals, and searching the card catalog. As a homeschooling parent you also have the advantage of checking books out over and over as long as no one else places a hold on the book. You can also submit a request(s) for the librarian to pull together a collection of books centered on a specific topic/for a particular age group and once the book collection has been put together they'll notify you for pick up.

The library has always been one of my favorite places to just spend hour after hour in. I love the smell of libraries, seeing all the books on the shelves, and just the quiet environment.

The last perk that I'll make note of is ... pj day, any day you like! I know that something as simple as pjs may seem silly, but seriously its nice to just one day out of the week spend the homeschool day in your pjs! Our typical daily routine is to get up and dressed each morning, but lounging in our pjs has a way of making arithmetic a little more easier to stomach when you're all comfy!

Maternity Photo Shoot (cont.)

Here are a few more of my favorite shots.... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maternity Photo Shoot

 

We did a little photo shoot this week at the George Washington Birthplace. Leon's Aunt has taken up photography as a hobby and we just had a ball all over the park posing, laughing, and snickering as she came up with all sorts of ideas for us to try out for the pictures.

 

She did a beautiful job... I'll post a few snapshots....  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



All about Lea

As I was parsing through some pictures I realized that I hadn’t blogged about my Lea when her birthday passed in August. So, the subject of this blog entry is all about my Lea. My sweet, smiling Lea. She turned 7 this August.

 

We keep birthday celebrations pretty simple in our family and the girls seem to embrace the idea. We’re not one for big parties. We typically ask the girls where they’d like to eat out and let them pick out a special gift of their choice. This year Lea picked Red Robin and wanted to shop for shoes. When Lea was about 2 or 3 years old she used to have this thing about shoes. She just loved shoes so much that she would actually sleep in them!

 

We would try and convince her that shoes were not designed to be worn to bed, but she couldn’t be convinced. And so, we just let her sleep in them and when she got out of bed in the morning, she stepped out with shoes on!

It’s so funny the things that kids get in to. As we enter our 3^rd week of homeschooling I bask in the joy of having so much time with my girls. As I anticipated what sort of “students” my girls would be, I assumed right with Lea as she has turned out to be my “buddy” student. She loves to have Mommy at her side as we school throughout the day. Before starting homeschooling I was curious how I was going to manage doing individual time with each child when necessary and keep the other child occupied long enough so that they got something productive done.

Lea is my child that loves when it’s her turn for Mommy one-on-one time (Love does too, but Lea just wants me sitting next to her even if I’m not working with her). Lea has always been the cuddle kid and I love it cause I love to snuggle. She still loves to crawl up in our laps. She’s the kid that gives those neck-breaking hugs and wants about a gazillion kisses throughout the day and especially before bedtime.

I’m thankful that as a Mom you never run out of an inventory of hugs and kisses cause my Lea sure wants her share everyday!

 

 

 

Overrated

Sleep was so over rated in my past life.

Its 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning and I’m up blogging about sleep. In my past life this would never be. Sleep in all honestly used to my most favorite part of the day. I remember the moments of counting down until it was time to put the kids to bed so that I could tuck my ownself in and fall off to sleep. I’ve come to the conclusion that I was just an exhausted woman back then.

What a gift it is now to nap and sleep when I need to and I’ve seen the blessing this gift has been in my kid’s life as well. It still seems weird to be at the park past sunset and not feel the pressure of having to rush home for baths, doing hair, and story time so that they could be somewhat rested for a 6 a.m. dash out of bed to get ready for school. Nowadays I don’t even need to stir them in the mornings before school, they actually wake up on their own. I know this may seem awfully weird to some, an appreciation of what the gift of sleep can do, but it still boggles me.

As my pregnancy draws to its end in the 3^rd trimester, I have to get up multiple times in the night to relief myself as the baby dances on my bladder. This break in my sleep through the night sometimes causes me to be a bit groggy in the mornings for school and there are days that my body yearns for more sleep as we do school in the day. What a sweet, lovely, gift it is to be able to finish school up by 1 or so and then crawl into bed for a nap. A nap in the middle of the day. How divine!

I retreated from our homeschool room on Friday last week to crawl into bed while the kids cranked up their tunes from VBS (vacation bible school) to have a dance party (this is their daily end of the school day ritual). They invited me to join them, but as the baby proceeded to have a dance party in my belly as I’m standing (I really don’t the recall my girls moving so much even when standing…..geesh), I asked for a rain check and headed for an hour or so of sweet slumber. I woke up to find them nestled up around me when I woke up as they watched cartoons.

I shared all that to say, now that sleep is no longer one of the biggest highlights of my day I’ll have to find another.