The Ant Hill

My Punkin loves to draw. So, one of the things that I want to incorporate into our homeschool is a nature journal. (If you want to know more about nature journaling, there is a great post about it here.)

Our first nature walk was a success. We have a path that goes behind our home, and we walk it frequently. We took her journal, the kids hopped on their bikes, and away we went. Punkin found an anthill right away that she liked.

Here is a picture of the anthill:
And here is her drawing:

I love the little ants she included!

Tornado sighting excitement

The kids and I were on a bike ride around the trail that goes behind our home, when one of my neighbors yells, "Hey, WeaverMom, see the tornado?!"

See the what?? It wasn't even stormy!

But, there it was:
We were far enough way that we were able to watch it for awhile. It was fascinating! I wasn't sure if we should be outside watching it to see if it came toward us, or if we should be inside hiding. The kids and I did come inside and go to the basement for about 10 minutes when it passed the closest to us. But, it went another direction, and no one was injured there, thankfully.

I never thought I would see a tornado!

Neighborhood Sign

On a sign in our neighborhood:

In July:
"The intersection of Main and Cross Street will be closed until the end of July. Please use alternate route."

In August:
"The intersection of Main and Cross Street will be closed until the end of August. Please use alternate route."

Today:
"The intersection of Main and Cross Street will be closed until further notice. Please use alternate route."

For some reason, this cracked me up. I appreciate the honesty - somehow to me it says, "you know, we have no idea when we will be able to finish working on this road. Stop asking."

The Height of Vanity... or I Got a Haircut

But, hey, I resolved every other day for a month, and this is what is on my mind. *grin*

Before:

(I guess I could have at least brushed it.)

After:

Not all my grays are covered, but I think it's a great improvement! Don't you love it when you love your haircut??

More Summer Fun!

The neighborhood bike posse:

Back to School

Punkin working hard on her math:While Little Man makes our snacks (with a little taste test, of course):Aren't they cute?

It was a good day!

Small Town Joys

At the top of the list of small town joys are county parades. Punkin and Little Man wanted to march in this year's parade with their gymnastics class. Aren't they having fun?

(Please forgive my poor editing - I didn't want to post the name of their gymnastics place, and I still have a lot to learn about Phot*osh*op.)


I wasn't comfortable with Little Man walking without me (he is the youngest in his class by over a year), so I walked with them.
It was a beautiful summer day. The kids had a wonderful time!

I feel pretty, oh, so pretty

For those of you viewing in a reader, hop on over and check out my new look. I'm so happy to have found something I like!

Notice what's missing?

Do you see what's missing?

Here's another hint: Daddy had to help.

Yep. You guessed it! No more training wheels! WeaverDad took the training wheels off and away he went. On his 10th day without the training wheels, he was doing little wheelies. Every day, it takes him less than 10 minutes upon waking to say, "Can we go outside and ride bikes?"

So proud of himself!

Now if he could get up to 40 pounds so he can be out of the 5 point car seat and into a booster, he would feel that his big boy transition is complete. He's got 4 pounds to go, and weighs himself almost daily. Gotta love that sweet, crazy kid! :)

Going to the chaaa- pel...

'Cause my brother's getting maaarr-ied.

And the kiddos get to be in the ceremony. Here's a picture from our "make sure it all fits and we have everything we need" time today.
She's only 7, ya'll!! Doesn't she look like such a big girl??

A new goal & getting back in the rhythm of school

I've been neglecting my blog lately. As many of you have stated on your blog, time feels scarce, and it is easy for priorities to get out of whack.

However, part of the joy of the blog for me is the journaling aspect of it. I love going back and seeing what we were up to a year ago, a month ago. And since scrapbooking is totally out of the question for me at this stage of life, blogging works for me.

SO, I have made a personal resolution to do the best I can to post every other day for the next month - even if it is only one sentence. Gotta get back in the habit - Hold me to it, ladies. (smile)

We started back to school on August 4th. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. I've been doing a lot of deep thinking (amazing, I know!) over the summer months about whether I should continue homeschooling Punkin, whether Weaver is still the best fit for our family, what is God calling me to, how to carve out some healthy time for my soul to be renewed and refreshed. I've been doing a lot of reading about simplicity and simple living - but that is a post for another day.

It's good to be back to school. I love seeing the kids' faces as they get things. Punkin's progress over the summer in reading has been amazing, and her love for learning is more obvious than it has ever been. For example, today school consisted of a quick summary and some reading from Exodus 21-23. That's the laws God gave Moses after the 10 Commandments. The point of today's lesson was that there were a lot of laws, God cares about the choices we make, and the Israelites said they would obey. Then we did a little U.S. History and talked about the geography of the U.S. a little bit. I thought it was pretty boring day, actually. No experiments or activities - just us talking. A lot.

I was pleasantly surprised when during our nightly "high-low" game, she said school today was her favorite thing. And she had friends over this afternoon, so it wasn't that the rest of the day was even more boring. :)

We started back volunteering today. (We set the tables at the Senior Center for their noon meal. We did this one day a week last year, but this year we will be doing that once a month.) We took the month of July off, so it has been awhile since we were there. It was good to see friends, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it. I enjoy being around older people. One of the men has especially captured my heart. He lost his wife in January - she had severe dementia and had not been able to remember him for awhile. He is almost completely blind. But, he has a very warm personality, and despite his vision, he can play the piano beautifully. I haven't asked him yet, but he plays well enough that I imagine it was how he made his living at one time. One of the ladies is especially fond of Little Man, and as a mom, I really enjoy her gushing over him. Punkin is a huge help, and is doing more and more without having to be asked. I love seeing that, and I think it makes her feel like such a big girl.

I still can't believe I have a 2nd grader.

Tiny Talk

We have a tree in our backyard that has a broken branch on it, and the leaves on that branch are dead. I was looking out the window during supper the other night, and we had this conversation.

Me: That tree branch is starting to bother me.
WeaverDad: So, why don't you do something about it?

Little Man: (very excitedly) I know what you can do! Just don't look at it!


For more funny things kids say, check out Mary's site at Not Before 7.