Cuteness

Nothing really to say about this photo. I just think it is cute.

Potato Farm Field Trip

We took a field trip to a local (as in a few miles from our house) potato farm today. Our kids are no strangers to planting, growing and harvesting potatoes but this trip gave them a little more perspective into what it takes to get those bags of potatoes into the local grocery stores. We did a short walk through the warehouse and got to see the process in which the potatoes are washed, sorted, boxed up, and ready to ship.



Isn't that a whole lot of spuds? In case you didn't know, Big Lake's version of a local fair and parade each summer is called the Spud Fest.

This pile of taters goes back another 120 feet. Smelled so great and earthy.

The kids got to have some of the rejected potatoes. Glory and Ellie each got a big heart. Glory's friend had a cute little butterfly. A little boy in our group had a potato in the shape of a ducky. It was promptly turned into a gun to shoot at his sister's butterfly in 3 minutes or less.

I just recently realized that I neglected to post pictures from our first day of school. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't take any pictures! And here we are, well into October. Oh well. Life goes on.

I did, however, snap some shots of a great little family outing that we took with my sister and her family. Yesterday we went to Fairhaven Farms in Fairhaven, MN. It feels like our lives have been consumed with homeschooling, piano lessons, soccer, preparing for winter, and the like since mid-August. We played hooky from church and headed out to go through a 4 acre corn maze, look at gardens and chickens, buy things in the little store, and have a wagon ride. (not a hayride, a wagon ride...my allergies were happy) On our way home we even went out to eat. It was a lovely day!!

Summer Memories 2011

It is already the last day of July. I can hardly believe it. Our summer has been jam-packed with lots of "scheduled" down-time. We have been swimming, hanging out with friends and family, hosting picnics and parties and get-togethers. We had our annual 4th of July weekend with Aaron's brother and his family. We have been on the road for travel soccer and eaten untold numbers of McDonalds ice cream treats. We have gone to the movies and have been watching the Anne of Green Gables series. We have been gardening, landscaping and improving our yard. The kids have been taking turns going camping with my parents.

It has been...lovely.

But homeschool is never far from my mind and we will be beginning again before you know it.

Unless...

I take the year off!

Rhubarb Shade

We have been planting the garden and harvesting rhubarb. It always amazes me that the kids have no problem chowing down a couple pieces of the sour stuff. And no sour face!

The kids love getting involved in helping with the yard. (The two big ones are starting to resist, but I recall resisting a LOT of what my parents wanted me to do when I was 13 1/2). Evidently, from these pictures, it is very important to provide shade for Daddy while helping with the rhubarb.

The Little Things

I have been just barely keeping up with the necessities of life around here the last couple of months. Between field trips, homeschooling, swimming lessons, piano lessons, Awana, youth group, church, soccer, switching winter clothes out, standardized testing, spring birthdays, and Carlie and Caleb being in a musical...well, I have hardly had the time to sit down! I am looking forward to some unscheduled time around home!

Despite the craziness, I have been finding myself more and more able to enter into God's rest and not be stressed out or overwhelmed. He truly is sufficient! And He brings joy to my heart through the little things in life.

First tooth lost

(Even though Glory is our 5th child to lose a first tooth, it never gets old!)

Crazy girl makes me smile :)

Blink!

Our homeschool family loves to play games. We play all sorts of games. Some of them are part of our school routine and others are just for the plain fun of it. We tend to play a couple of different games for a couple of weeks and then move on to something new or forgotten. (We have been playing Mancala lately. Remember that game? I think Aaron and I got it the year we got married!)

One game the kids love right now is Blink. They actually have been playing it regularly since Christmas, when Glory received it as a gift. It is a card game from the makers of Uno that claims to be the "world's fastest game". It is actually a really quick game so everybody gets a turn. The idea is to try to be the first to get rid of your pile of cards by matching the shape, amount of objects on a card, or the color. Lots of options for having a card that plays. The direction indicate ages 7+, but 5 year old Glory has had no trouble with it.

My girls like to make up new ways to play. So it is a fun game with other options.

What homeschooling mom doesn't appreciate open-ended activities?

Even if you don't homeschool, it is a fun and quick game that the kids can play while you are cooking supper, giving baby a bath, etc.

This is what the girls did today while I cleaned up the mess from lunch.

Perfectly entertaining and not at all difficult to set up or put away.

Around the Bend

-18 degrees Fahrenheit. That is what I saw on our thermometer when I got up on this sunny, yet frigid February morning. The weatherman posted the possible upcoming temps. 20's. 30's. The possibility and hope of 40's brings joy to my heart.

I don't usually mind winter a whole lot. We are mostly homebodies around here so I often don't even notice the temperature. This year, however, seems like it began early and has been especially loaded with snow, bitter cold, and illness.

So the promise of 30's and up for a stretch thrills me to the core.

Around the bend I can see rhubarb poking its head through the new grass. The flowers will be begging to be cut and put into canning jars on the middle of the table.

I can't wait.

Dry Erase Boards

Dry erase boards are one of my favorite homeschool helps. We have them in varying sizes with lots of choices of color in markers. We use them for all sorts of school-related things. I use a medium sized board when teaching Carlie and Caleb grammar. The kids (especially the youngers) love to use boards for spelling practice and tests. It seems to take a lot less effort to write on a dry erase board than on paper all of the time.

Glory just loves to copy words onto her board.

Bad Hair Day...I Mean, Crazy Hair Night

The girls look forward to Crazy Hair Night at Awana's all year long. This is the first year that Glory was old enough to be part of it. Somehow, her hair ended up being more cute that crazy, but she was still thrilled.

I think Glory was a little excited!

Maggie had 13 ponies in her hair, all the same size.

The child truly has a mop of hair.


Carlie did Ellie's hair. Isn't that what big sisters are for?