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....