Last day ~ again!?!

Here it is the end of the month, again. How did that happen?!? {figuratively, folks! I do understand the passage of time!}  Yikes!!!!

Wrap up or high lights of the month:

• advanced green belt earned by Thing Two
• weekend camping trip for oldest
• survived Hurricane Sandy
• 15 hours without power
• 16 therapy sessions
• 4 baseball games
• several baseball practices
• 11 sessions of Tae Kwon Do (multiple classes per session)
• funeral in another state
• field trip to Cox Farm
• 4 Sunday services
• 2 times to play bass
• 4 Wednesday Night Services
• 1 doctors appointment
• major vehicle repair on one car (cheaper than buying a new and should give 3 or more years of life to the vehicle)
• 2 week days with all extra activities canceled (thank you Sandy)
• 4 Scout meetings
• 1 Court of Honor for 3 Eagle Scouts from Troop 2215
• folks birthdays (my parents were born 362 days apart)
• trip to Skyline Drive

Some how this doesn't sound as hectic as the last time I did a month wrap up, but still busy!  All that is left for today is school, some cleaning, and figuring out what to do tonight!

Cute Fall Picture

Saw this and thought it was a cute, clean, fall picture. 

Cowboy Charlie

Thing Two and I have been working through Volume 4 of Five in a Row this school year.  Vol. 4 is a bit different than 1 - 3, in that the lessons are a bit more detailed and more lessons to choose from.  Because of this, you plan a book for two weeks.

This year, I have been trying something different, in that I am not planning to far in advance for each title.  I do have a general idea of when I'd like to hit the titles, but other than that, I let Thing Two pick a title on the first Monday and we roll with it. 

His selection of the next book was "Cowboy Charlie" by Jeanette Winter.  The following is from the inside of the dust cover, about the book:

Charlie was a boy with a dream. But not just any dream. Charlie's dream was to go west, to be a cowboy. Charlie's mind couldn't be changed. He held on to his dream as tight as can be. Tha's how it is with dreams - the real ones just don't go away.

Sure enough, pretty soon charlie was on a train heading to Montana - the land of open sky. And the moment that Charlie first saw the frontier, his heart opened as big as the sky above. At last, Charlie was home.

Jeanette Winter's sparkling illustrations and down-to-earth, carefully research story tell the tale of a boy who had a courage to follow his heart - a boy who became the great American painter of the Wild West, Charlie Russell.

Yesterday, he proudly said, "I am going to read the book, because I want to see all the pictures!"  I was impressed with his word attack on unfamiliar words (and not that many at that).  He did well with trying to figure those few out.  I do enjoy listening to him read!

Well, colds have been hitting our house and I wasn't sure what all I would get done.  Fortunately, most of their work is independent and they got to what they could.  Thing Two begged for FIAR today.  So we snuggled up, under blankets, and I got a turn to read the book.  Afterward we listened to a couple different versions of "Home on the Range" and "Buffalo Dusk" by Carl Sandburg.  Having a good internet connection makes quick work of research and some good laughs while listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks sing "Home on the Range"!
 

Stocking Stuffers {Part 2}

More random ideas for stuffing those stockings ~ and not the little stockings either!!  Made the mistake of buying big stockings, but don't plan to buy new, smaller ones.

When buying, think of the person you are buying for, what do they like.  Below is a take on stocking, from A ~ Z.

• A:  Angry birds anything, art supplies
• B:  Band-aids, book mark, baseball hat, bottle opener, baseball cards, back scratcher, batteries
• C:  chips, chocolate, cell phone cover, cereal (small box), candy cane, coins, candles, calendar
• D: duct tape, deck of cards (plain or themed), dice
• E:  earrings, ear plugs, ear muffs
• F:  finger lights, folding fan, flattening iron or cover, flashlight
• G:  gadgets for favorite activity, glow in the dark stickers, guitar accessories, glow sticks
• H:  hair gel, hair brush, hot chocolate mix or pouches, hat
• I:  I-tune gift card, Ipod or IPhone accessories
• J:  juice box, jewelry
• K:  kool-aid mix (small pouch), key chain, kitchen gadgets
• L: lotion, Lime Juice (Kevin's favorite), lip gloss, Lego's, lava lamp (any size), lottery ticket
• M: marbles, magnets, mad libs, movies, maps, match box cars
• N: nectarine, night light, nail polish, neck pillow, notebook
• O:  Orange Chocolate, oatmeal bars
• P:  Pandora Gift Card, popcorn, puzzles, pencils
• Q:  quarters, queen finger puppet (& her friends??),
• R:  restaurant gift card
• S:  slinky, snacks not usually bought, socks (matched or mismatched), sports accessories, seeds for fruits/veggies/flowers,
• T:  tissue (individual package in cute wrap), trial sizes of stuff, tooth brush, tea
• U:  umbrella, USB flash drive (all sorts of cute designs)
• V:  vanilla (beans or liquid), video games
• W:  water bottle, windshield scrapper
• X:  xbox games
• Y:  yarn, yo-yo
• Z:  Zhu Zhu pets (if stocking is big enough)

 

School Pictures

Pictures came in today, at co-op. Well, technically, the cd with pictures came in.   Can't get over how rapidly oldest is getting older.  He seems to mature/age noticeably every night.  Seems at least once a week someone comments on how tall he has gotten.  Youngest is still ALL BOY, ALL NOISE! 

 7th Grade

almost 5 ft 5 & 3/4 inches

loves tae kwon doe, Boy Scouts, and Lego's

4th grade

still the right size to cuddle

loves to move, sing, & can't wait for Boy Scouts

Rough Starts

{Part Two of Running the Race}

We're all running a race of sorts.  Race to get kids to school, a race to get them to sports, race to get them in the shower, race to the grocery store, race to church, race to something.

My first attempts at "running the race" have been getting up early and being productive.  Quiet time, exercise, quick map of the day, coffee, get kids up at a "good" time.  (shameful home school plug, so glad I don't have to get kid to bus stop at 6:45 or 7:15 ~ that is early and cold).  This has been rough going over the last couple weeks.  Lots of little things have interfered ~ colds and to much coffee to name a couple.  Beauty of this is that, I haven't been stressed over it.  It's been just a mild source of frustration and realize tomorrow is a new day.  On the bright side of my failed attempts of regular morning routines, I have managed to still loose 4 pounds.  Nothing to write home about, but with situations that as they have been, that is progress.  Felt renewed this morning as I had lost the one pound I'd gained back and got to my exercising even though it was later in the morning than I wanted.  Flexibility, right?  Bend with the breeze or storm that life throws you, but stay firm on the solid ground of God.

Off to monitor school and life!  Have a blessed day friends!
 

running the race

What races are you running? What end goal are you looking for? What bench marks are along the coarse that are most important in the race? The real bench marks, not the ones others think you need! How does your race fit in with others racing around you? Are the races toward the same goal or to multiple destinations?  Does the race change, either a little or a lot, during the coarse?  How do you handle this?  If you start a certain coarse, does it absolutely have to stay the on the same path to reach the same end goal?  What if there are multiple, positive, Christ honoring routes, do I HAVE to stay on the one I started out on?

So many questions spinning this morning!  So many things to sort through, to weed out, flesh out and figure out answers.  Questions that need answering and pondering in a timely fashion.  So many that things, that although not directly "my race", but effects my race, my feelings, my well being, my sights for the day.

At beginning of post had thoughts of keeping this as a draft and reworking and reworking till more presentable.  Honestly, after typing things out, seems like a multiple post topic.  While typing I am thinking of my marathon running friends, my multiple children with multiple activities friends, my friends with children younger than mine, my ahead in the race but not quite finished friends.

I hope to get back to these questions and flesh them out more! Some more in depth than others, share some thoughts, ideas, strategies! 

Please feel welcome to share your thoughts or links to your own blog posts on similar topics in the comment section.  I know this post to face book as well, but comments there will be "lost", so to speak, in time.  Posting here, keeps things together for easier referencing.

If you care to check back in the future, I plan to use the label "running the race" for these posts if you want to check in.

Thanks for reading,
 

Chapter Books, Reading List, and An end

Back in June or so, I complied a list of classical books that we just had not gotten to with the boys. Some were geared toward our youngest age bracket, some our oldest, some were to just finish a series we'd started years ago.

I've never been an avid reader! I probably had vision issues and some of my dyslexic problems played into not picking up books, for fun, often.  As a result, reading with our two was difficult. As our oldest struggles with reading, I'd decided that I needed to make a better effort to show him how to love reading, by reading.

What has transpired was the compilation of my reading list and theirs.  Since then, we have listened to or read 16 books off their list since the first part of July.  For myself, I read about 4 books over the summer.  That is huge for me.  Lately, I've been picking up books I started awhile ago and never finished.  FWIW ~ I've picked up Ann Voskamp's "1,000 Gifts" again, so I am making a conscience effort to work on my 1,000 gift's list (check out my tab and come back often, hope to add 2 or 3 a day).

Anyhoot,  few days ago, I download a free copy of "Island of the Blue Dolphins" (a book I'd wanted to read in elementary school but never did; not sure why) and yesterday I picked up book 58 in the Hardy Boy Series. Feeling almost giddy about both. One because I've wanted to read it, but never had. The other because the series is almost finished. Never would have thought we'd finish this series and we might just be finished by beginning of November!
 

A Family Day

Every once in awhile you need a day off, a day to hang out without other responsibilities.

Our schedules have been full, by our choice, and then life throws a few extra things in there as well.  A lesson in being flexible!  A learning opportunity of how to juggle life's demands with grace and a smile.

We took today to hang out and do stuff together.  I made a quick trip to Wally World for normal life stuff and fun road trip food.  Boys wondered why I'd gotten Goldfish Pretzels, Milanos, and Pringles.   Kevin and I let them know we were going to see the mountains.  Got a "Going to see the mountains, that sounds boring!"  We headed out west for Sky Line Drive despite the rain.  Took a chance that it would still be worth it.  An opportunity to show Thing Two why a Sunday Drive can be a good thing.

 Periodically, when passing Markham, Virginia, I feel

obligated to take a picture of the sign.  Not sure if the Markham's

I come from are related to the ones that started this town.

 Small church with a pretty tree out front.

 Not sure if this was the first over look we stopped at.  Immediately

getting out of the car, could smell that someone had a fire going.  Lovely

smell!  Almost expected to hear a train too!

Thing Two exclaimed that it was an awesome view and said he was

glad we made the trip!

 Low hanging clouds everywhere we went.

 Some chilled boys where thankful for wearing blue jeans

and sweatshirts.  Fun to look over the edge of the mountains,

but was chilly as well.

 Lots of low clouds.  Lots of questions about what is in clouds!

At least I could ask the question back, "What does it feel like!"

Wonder how long Thing Two will remember that science lesson.

 Layers and layers of clouds today.

 So, I don't normally join in on the pictures.  I just don't like

pictures of myself, at all.  Read this article in Huffington Post

that made me realize I should be in more!

Yes, Charlotte was originally in photo too, but not her pretty end.

Got most cropped out but the tip of her tail that is white!

 Here is Charlotte, patrolling the wall.

 

The higher we got into the mountains, the more clouds we drove

through.  Neat experience.

On the way home, Thing Two need a pit stop.  We found a Shell Station that just happened to be next door to The Apple House.  If you are a part of Boy Scout Troop 2215, you'll understand why we stopped there instead.  Just about every time the Troop goes west to camp, they stop by the place for donuts.  Kevin even liked the donuts and he's not to keen on apple products.

White Vinegar ~ Another awesome use!!!!

In my search to find a home made fruit and vegetable rinse/wash, one of my favorite cleaning items showed up AGAIN!!  Hurrah!

The first site I went to, check it out here, calls for a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water.  You can spritz and wipe done hard skinned fruits and vegetables.  Softer skinned ones can be soaked.  Both should be rinsed.  This combination works, according to the sight, because the vinegar is naturally acid and helps to break down the pesticides and wax used on the fruits and veggies we eat.

I will be trying this out and checking a few other sites.  In the mean time, I will be using this to make our fruits and vegetables a bit better for us.

Happy October 1st!

Happy first of the month and happy Monday everyone. Hope the beginning is going well for you!

Is there anything special you are looking forward to this month?  Any traditions for the month? Celebrations?

Traditional things for us here is a Cox Farm field trip and Harvest Festival at our church.  Both of which are enjoyable events!  Think last year, it rained so much we never made it to Cox Farm; we'll have to make a greater effort this year.

We'll still have our crazy schedule, similar to what I posted as a wrap up of September.  Hope that with the end of October, life will slow down.  We'll only have one sport, Tae Kwon Do, and it tends to not interfere with meals or therapy!  Baseball seems to be all over the board, on the day of the week, the time of day (which gets more crazy with loss of evening day light), and whether game or practice.  Guess my "home body" ways are showing them self here.  I like predictable and routine.  Yes, I understand life is not always like that.  Life has a way of shaking things up, changing the order up, sifting things out ~ a test in flexibility!