Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to School We Go!

That's right! We're officially back! Today was the first day formally for our homeschool. Of course, we're always learning and have recently been studying about hurricanes with Irene's coming and earthquakes since we just lived through one.

This year we're of course doing reading, writing, and 'rithmetic along with a book called "History for Little Pilgrims." It was recommended to me by a friend of ours and I love how it makes history relevant to little ones but mostly because it tells how history is actually "His Story" since God created it.

We started on the first chapter today (we're spending about one week on each chapter, maybe two if needed) and learned what history is. The kids got to learn that they, too, have a history as well as our family. We made a family tree and they got a kick out of seeing how their names are almost all family names as well as some of the interesting middle names in said family! ;) Coloring away on the tree!
I thought I'd showcase each of our students...

Here would be our big 6 year old who's starting her "first grade year." She wasn't exactly excited about the start of the "official" school year. Drew says she gets that from him. However, what she doesn't realize is that she LOVES learning and has quite the curiosity. When we were talking about the approaching hurricane last week, she was mesmerized at the book Drew was reading and then the pictures I was pulling up on the Internet. Her reading is taking off like the space shuttle and she continues to have a more math and science mind. She is growing so in both wisdom and stature and we couldn't be more proud of her!

This would be our fearless kindergartener, Mary Frances. As opposed to Evie, she couldn't WAIT to start school. She is quite the reader and very visual. Having said that she was also excited about starting her new math workbook today. We use a program called Math-U-See which caters to all the different learning types. She has been watching the video portion of Evie's lessons with us since last school year and was ready to start in on her own! Mary Fran is responsible for pretty much all the sweeping in our home. She is an expert sweeper. She, too, is growing in wisdom and stature and we are, again, so proud!

And here would be our oldest son, Ward. Don't tell him he's not school age yet because he knows he can do anything anyone else can! This rascal will be 3 at the end of September, so I guess you could say he's in 3 year-old preschool. He is counting and learning to recognize numbers. This boy seems to be very spatially oriented as he can put together complicated puzzles and has been since he turned 2. Do we have an engineer on our hands? Only time will tell but right now he's a great big brother who runs "really fast" and can definitely handle a tricycle. He is also "big" and is responsible for emptying all the trash cans into the big kitchen one with his "big muscles." Ward does an excellent job protecting us when Daddy is at work!






I can't tell you how privileged I feel to teach my children at home. It can be a daunting and sometimes overwhelming task but I wouldn't have it any other way. Our children get to learn primarily from the ones (Drew and I) who know and love them best. We are so excited about this school year and all that it has in store!

A Party at Price Park

Sorry for the over two week hiatus. To say it's been busy is an understatement and I just haven't taken the time to post so I'm backtracking. You don't want to miss this post, though!

Ten days ago on a beautiful Saturday morning we converged on Price Park on the Parkway for Mary Fran (Sept. 7), Ward (Sept. 29), and Cade's (Aug. 7) birthday party. To our shame we had gone the whole summer without making it to Price Park so we took advantage of this opportunity! The big one year old with his Mamaw

There was a great little access to the creek at our site and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Kudos to Me Me for bringing the "creek toys!" After a scrumptous hot dog lunch with pot luck fixin's we opened the gifts. Yes, I had to separate them into three different piles. We opened Mary Fran's and Ward's but waited to open Cade's until we got home due to the threat of rain and needing to eat some cake. Why else to you have a birthday party?!? :)

Ward got an App State polo from G'mama and G'daddy which he was pretty pumped about. Go Apps! Aunt Molly sewed him an awesome cape with a big ol' "P" in the middle.As you can see he really appreciated that one.A gaggle of kids and presents Mommy and MF Still opening! Finally it was cake time! Mary Fran told me she wanted a cat cake. A pink cat cake. Ward asked for "cows and sheep." Not being able to draw either one of those I opted for some figures we had at the house. Had to keep thim on with the fence, you know. Cade got a big "1" Blowing out candles with the almost 5 and almost 3 year old... ...then Cade's turn. He wasn't quite sure so I got to. :) Me Me held Cade's plate while he dove in. Literally. Watch the progression.

Just starting (above)

Going, going,

Gone. And thoroughly enjoyed.

We had a wonderful time and were so glad our family could be with us. Happy Birthday Party, little ones! We love you!

A Birthday Weekend

Last weekend Dad and Brenda came up to celebrate Dad's birthday (Friday). They stayed in a cabin just down the road from us and it was really nice. We had such a great time visiting, eating, and relaxing together.

We had dinner at our house Thursday night and then Friday morning went to go visit with Pa Pa and B. The cabin has a hot tub on the back deck and the children were thoroughly enthralled. We didn't have our bathing suits so I let them put their hands in with the promise we would get in it Saturday night when we grilled out there.

They were OK with that.

Cade loved it!
Pa Pa and B have a new dog that they got at the end of May. Her name is "Pepper" and she is of the Havanese breed. She's quite cute and playful and loves playing with empty plastic bottles. Cade was celebrating getting this one from her.

Friday night we celebrated Dad's birthday with a great summer meal and coconut pie for dessert (his favorite). The kids enjoyed "helping" him blow out the candles.

Saturday we ate brunch together and then went down to the cabin to grill out hamburgers after naps. Of course, we got in the hot tub and I didn't get any pictures of that because Drew had a show to play that night and it was busy with 3 in the hot tub and Dad letting Cade dip his feet in. We topped that dinner off by roasting S'mores...oh the memories!

Upon getting PJ's on and loading the car, this was the scene I saw at one point.

Two peas in a pod

Our Biggest Littlest

He is our biggest littlest one and he's about to turn one on Sunday. Blows. my. mind. Unfortunately, he hasn't gotten as much camera time as his brothers and sisters so I thought I'd take advantage of the older ones playing outside one night after dinner and get a little video of him.

Eat him with a spoon.

What the Men Do

This was the scene outside our house Tuesday night.

Dinner Treat

Evie really enjoys helping in the kitchen. She is a great helper, too, and I appreciate her willingness to create. She has quite a creative mind and is always coming up with "new recipes," some sounding edible and some not. We had done our grocery shopping one morning a couple of weeks ago and she decided she wanted to make a fruit salad for dinner that night. Here she is doing her own "cooking show..."

After watching this again, I feel like I need to tell you that I don't always fix my family frozen pizza. As I said, we had done our shopping that morning which consists of getting groceries and supplies from Wal-Mart and the grocery store (and possibly other stops) with our four children. On those days, I plan for really easy, simple dinners. :)

Coolin' It in Columbia

About three weekends ago Drew and the three other fellows in his band, "Standing Ground," went camping and fishing. They haven't played that much together as a band in the last several years due to marriage/children/working but were really tight for several years and have an unmistakable sound. But I digress...

Kevin, the banjo player, and his family are getting ready to move to Virginia for him to get his PhD and the guys wanted one last "hoorah," if you will. It had been a month since we'd seen my parents so the kids and I packed up and headed down to Cola town for the weekend. Most thankfully a cool front swept the entire region and the highest it registered in Columbia during our visit was 91 degrees. In July. That never happens. We mountain folk were most appreciative to say the least! We arrived on Friday afternoon and on Saturday Me Me set up the inflatable pool she had bought for the kids. I don't think I even need to tell you how much fun they had.

After naps on Saturday we headed over to Papa and B's for a great time as well. Another reason we went down on this particular weekend was that the Grayson Family Reunion (my dad's mom's side) was on Sunday. We didn't get to go last year and really missed seeing all of our extended extended family (I'm talking 5th and 6th cousins and some "once removed's" thrown in there for good measure).

Sunday morning we headed down to Ravenel, SC which is right outside of Hollywood, SC. Just look on a map. We had a wonderful time and got to see a lot of family which is always refreshing. The weather was beautiful and there was a nice, shaded playground for all the young kids to play on. As I watched my children with their many cousins it brought back such great memories of playing with my 2nd and 3rd cousins growing up. Oh, the days...As awful as if sounds, the only picture I have from the reunion is the one above. Cade is catching a ride on B's walker. He told me it was great.

After a nice visit we headed home Monday morning to see Daddy and get back to normal life. I was reminded once again how blessed I am to have the family I have.

Puttin' Up the Beans...

Yes, I know it's been 3 weeks since I last posted. The only reason I can offer is that it's been busy and I just haven't taken the time. Please forgive me. Moving on...

Last week we had some beans come in from a friend and off we went to canning them. Tuesday night Drew brought the beans home and Evie and Mary Fran set to stringing and breaking them after dinner. Drew and I picked up where they left off at bedtime and by the time we went to bed we had 3/4 of a bushel done. Wednesday morning after filling our tanks at breakfast, Evie went back to stringin' and breakin' while Ward and MF filled the jars with beans and I filled the jars with water and put the lids and rings on. The canning then commenced!

Once Evie got tired of stringing/breaking beans, she took over MF's job because...
...MF wanted to play restaurant.
She had definitely earned some playing time.

Never to miss a party, Cade was there for comic relief...and music.

By the end of the day we had 27 beautiful quarts of beans to put in the basement along with some for dinner that night.

We still have 2 raised beds of beans staged to come in at different times from our own garden. Some will be for eating and some for canning. However, I didn't can any last year because of Cade's imminent arrival and it has killed me to buy beans from the store. That will not be the case this year and any other year if I can help it! :)