I imagine by now you are thinking “wow, she wasn’t kidding when she said she had an insane amount of summer photos.”  You can’t say you weren’t warned ; )  If you missed the first four parts, click here, here, here or here.  You can now breathe a sigh of relief…this is it.

In July, we had a delightful dinner with Yaya and Grandpa Larry.  The kids used to call her Grandma Nury, but over the summer I listened to the book Home Front on audio and the grandmother was called Yaya (which is Greek for Grandma).  If you listen to that book, you’ll know exactly why I began to think of Nury as Yaya…it sounded just like her and the character fit her perfectly.  The things Yaya said and did in that book were exactly the things Nury would have said or done.  I was telling the kids about it and I asked them if they agreed and thought Grandma Nury seemed more like a yaya than grandma.  They agreed and suggested we call her Yaya.  So they do.  And she loves it.  And it seriously fits her.  (Don’t bother asking about the strange picture of Larry and Dax…I figure if they want to be silly for the picture then it’s fair game for posting.) 

I got a bee in my bonnet in July and decided, just a few weeks before school was set to begin, to rearrange our entire house.  I wanted to bring the schoolroom back into the house (it’s been out in Daxson’s office suite for the last few years), move the couch-bed out into the office suite (for guests), and move the majority of the toys somewhere besides the schoolroom.  I dragged Jessica into my spontaneous plan and being the good friend that she is, she agreed to help.  We started with the couch-bed.  Not being professional movers (and apparently having no one wise around), we never thought to tie the bed together.  So we got it flipped on its side and managed to get it into the laundry room (which is really a tiny hallway entry from the back door) and dang it if the bed didn’t pop open.  I was stuck between the bed and the door when it happened and I panicked.  All of a sudden my breathing went shallow and I was trapped trying to imagine how in the world we were going to get out.  Suddenly it dawned on me that I wasn’t trapped…I could simply walk out the back door.  Whew!  With that crisis over in my head, I was able to focus on a plan.  I ran to get a rope while Jessica (who may be leading a secret life as Hercules) managed to shove the bed back into place.  Jessica did some fancy knot tying, we breathed a sigh of relief and finished the rest of the moving without anymore drama.  Oh, except the part where I asked Jessica to help me move all the books off of one of the bookshelves in the old schoolroom.  Her face was priceless when she realized that I had all the books double stacked.

After everything was moved, Dax sacrificed a day (although really I think he did it in an effort to save the walls and to make sure everything was hung just so, as I tend to be an eye-baller when it comes to hanging things whereas he is extremely accurate and everything is perfect) to hang all of my millions of things back on the walls.  I really tried my best to make the school area look more like just another part of our house (in trying to be more in tune with Charlotte Mason) but it must just be in my blood to make a schoolroom look like a schoolroom.  At the end of the moving and hanging, Daxson said (thinking he was being encouraging), “Well, it’s really beginning to look like a schoolroom!”  I stifled a scream and accepted the room’s destiny.

So we went from this…To this… Plus a bookshelf in the dining room…It didn’t happen as smoothly as those pictures show.  There was a whole lot of mess and stress in between (good grief, I have accumulated a lot of um, stuff, over the years!)…

July included a few well-child check-ups which then led to a false alarm with Andrew.  His pediatrician heard a split in his heartbeat when we went in for his check-up and she could hear it in all four chambers, so just to be on the safe side, she sent him on to see the cardiologist.  (There may have been a few moments between her recommendation and our visit that I may have needlessly panicked.)  After listening to his heart, the cardiologist agreed that there was a split so he did an ultrasound and whew! it came out perfect.  Katie visited the dentist for the first time.  All of my kids LOVE going to the dentist.  They have a friendly, fun dental hygienist (who is also very pretty!), which makes the trip something to look forward to.  Katie was no different than the boys.  She hopped right up on her seat and opened wide.  Her favorite part?  Choosing a toy from the toy bin, of course. 

We had a surprise visitor in July!  Alex came down with Granny and Pappy for a day to surprise the boys.  They were thrilled!  William had cashed in some allowance on a foam plane so we headed to the park to try it out… There was also some wild splashing in the pool and some serious Lego time… A few last random July events included wild bedhead, watching the Honda get towed (it’s fixed and fine now), fitting Katie’s hair into a ponytail, Andrew learning that 5 might just be too little for a pocketknife, and some cowboy time. 

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

I warned you there would be lots of photos.  I tried to put the rest of the summer photos in this one post but there’s no way you would have stuck with me to the end.  So be prepared: there are more to come ; ) If you missed parts one, two, or three, just click here, here, or here.  Otherwise, read on…

July brought with it a visit from our dear friends in San Antonio.  We met Jen, Tim, Hannah, and Rebecca last Spring Break (2015) at the beach.  Jen and Tim’s delightful chatty children befriended our chatty children.  Instant friendship.  Joey and William asked after the girls left if they could please write them letters.  So they did and a pen-pal relationship was born.  The friendship naturally extended to the adults, as well.  I look forward to and adore our visits.  Jen is a wealth of knowledge on politics, which I love to soak up, and Tim and I never run out of education topics to discuss, both of us being involved in the education of children, him in the public school world, me in the homeschool community.  The kids delight in one another’s company, so it’s just a lovely visit each time they come down for their Spring Break and Summer beach fix.  This year’s visit included Jen’s birthday which we were honored to celebrate with her (and surprisingly, I have very few photos of!), a trip out to our local university for a bike ride, and a few days at the beach.  Then they unexpectedly popped back down for a day visit in August.  It was exactly what we needed after our first week of school…a beach date with friends that we love spending time with.  Our visit to the University…

The beach… Our August visit…

Save

Save

Save

I warned you that I took an insane amount of photos over the summer.  Believe me yet?  If you’d like to see the first part (summer birthdays) or the second part (June), head here or here.  Otherwise, here are a few memories from our June/July trip to Austin…

On our way up to Austin, we met the Johnsons at the Snake Farm (whose name is a bit deceptive as it also has lions, exotic birds, and a petting zoo just to name a few).

We got to Austin just in time to see the Carnicoms as they passed through on their move from El Paso back to Ohio.  The kids loved the chance to play with Quinn again and to smooch on sweet baby Jaxyn.  Oh and Jay now ranks on my boys’ list of super cool people as he managed to catch a turtle from the duck pond. 

Leslie took us to McKinney Roughs Nature Park.  We took a little hike along one of the many paths there.  It was beautiful!

We spent some serious time swimming, of course. Granny and Pappy joined us a few times which the kids adored.  

The Johnsons invited us to join them at a family night event out at the Ladybird Wildflower Center.  That’s one of our favorite places in the area, so we were excited to join them.  We saw birds and snakes and furs and all kinds of things that delight little boys. 

Back in May, I had an early miscarriage.  I wanted to memorialize the loss so we headed out to Our Lady of the Rosary cemetery in Georgetown where our other miscarriage is buried along with my sister’s little angels.  We named the baby Anna Jeanne and when her stone arrives, we’ll add her in to the garden of babies. 

We never miss an opportunity for ice cream at Amy’s. 

William made himself a grappling hook which he used to climb the wall in my parents backyard.  From there he monitored traffic (and is positive he saw the real Carmen Sandiego escape). 

There was a pool party at NIGHT…seriously, my kids were ecstatic at the idea of staying up after dark.  We’re a wild bunch, wouldn’t you say? 

For the 4th of July, we headed to Georgetown for the festivities (we were 15 minutes late and managed to miss the entire parade!).  Georgetown is such an idyllic American town…perfect for 4th of July events.   

Due to the ease (and low cost!) of digital photography, I managed to take an insane amount of photos over the summer.  If you’d like to see the first part (summer birthdays), head here.  Otherwise, here are a few more highlights of our summer…

Father’s Day:  We always love a reason to celebrate Daxson and all the reasons the kids love him.  This year they worked for a few weeks on filling in this nifty little book that we found at Target (called Amazing Dad) and they had fun presenting it to him.  Of course his favorites were the grown-up treats and the kids’ favorites were the Star Wars books.  June is always full of graduations.  Lots of new beginnings and clipping wings.  This year was a milestone for me as my students that I taught ten years ago at IWA walked the graduation stage and while I wish them all good luck and joyful college days, the one graduate that took center stage in my mind was my godson, Jake, in Kingston, New York.  I still remember (with extreme clarity!) celebrating his 1st birthday the summer I lived with him and his parents.  It seems nearly impossible to imagine that he has crossed the adult threshold and will be navigating the world of college this year, dorms, responsibility and all!  As I couldn’t be there to celebrate the momentous occasion, I thoughtfully prepared a college prep package unlike any other.  I packaged up four books that I thought he should read along his college journey, marking when he should read each one and what advice I thought each offered.  Here’s a little peek into his package, the books I chose and the reasons why… June was the beginning of hot days, pool fun, and beach trips.  The pool started off on the patio, but as it began to lean with the slight incline, it became a bigger project.  Part of the yard was dug up, leveled and covered with crushed granite.  Now it rests quite happily in what used to be our grassy knoll, leveled, flat and full of nice, cool water.

June also included a weekly trip to the pet store as Joey received a Fat-Tailed African Gecko for his birthday.  It was a gift from Auntie Romy and Uncle Lister (which Dax and I ironically suggested) and Joey was THRILLED…for the first few weeks.  Then he realized that not only was his little friend nocturnal, but he had been given the most shy lizard ever.  The poor little guy (named Joey Jr.) was frightened to death of us.  He only came out of his hidey hole when it was completely dark and no one was around (we know this because Dax and I tried, unsuccessfully, to watch him catch crickets in the quiet of the night but as soon as he sensed our presence, even in the dark!, he scampered back to his hiding spot).  After a few weeks of catching wily crickets and scooping poop, Joey seemed less enchanted with his new friend, although he never complained about the work, only about the fact that his pet was a bit un-interactive.  Daxson seemed a bit overwhelmed with the lizard (even though he wasn’t the one carting the kids to the pet store to stock up on crickets nor was he in charge of scooping poop); he didn’t like the smell and he hated the lack of action (plus Dax has a thing against caged animals).  Daxson casually mentioned that a dog would have been a bit more entertaining and that was all it took to plant the seed.  I’m pretty sure Dax didn’t actually want to replace the lizard with a dog; it was more of a nudge to see the futility of owning a lizard, but Joey outsmarted him.  Joey insisted that if he were to return the lizard (because apparently you can do that at PetCo), it was on the condition that he could research dog breeds and use the money from the aquarium and lizard to get himself a dog.  Desperate to be rid of the lizard, Dax agreed.  So guess what…Joey is spending his free-time researching dog breeds.  I’m pretty sure he won’t let this go, so I see a dog in our very near future. So while he may have returned the original gift, Joey is extremely thankful to Auntie Romy and Uncle Lister, as they have managed to open the door to getting a dog (a door which was firmly shut until the lizard came along).  Funny how when faced with one thing (such as a lizard), something else suddenly seems much lovelier than it ever originally did (like owning a dog).

And while Joey Jr. was cute, no one seems to miss him much (oh wait, what was there to miss…we never got to see him while he was here!).  Our advice:  either get a leopard spotted gecko (like my nephew has which is cute and social) or skip the lizard and find a more interactive pet when you’ve got four overly enthusiastic pet loving kids.  On the plus side, all of the kids enjoyed our trips to the pet store…pretty sure they’re all in love with the hamsters just like I was as a kid! Other random June highlights:  June is fig month and while we still enjoyed the fruits of Larry’s labor, we actually managed to grow enough figs ourselves this year to enjoy, William was sent to the gastroenterologist (where he got to observe some fun construction while waiting to be seen) to sort out his gastro issues (with success), William and Andrew declared their love for the little girls that live behind us and the kids enjoyed a little target practice with Grandpa Larry and Dax. 

Save

Save

Save

It doesn’t feel like the end of summer.  In fact, today it feels like an oven outside.  The kids plan to grab their swimsuits and flap around in the pool for a bit this afternoon, so I suppose summer isn’t officially over (and it won’t be in South Texas for quite some time), but the carefree days of being lazy and lounging in the shade of the trees and playing Legos for hours on end are over for awhile as we continue to move along in our new school year.

I thought it would be lovely to share some summer highlights here (so that when the boredom of routine creeps in at some point, we can look back and dream of summer days yet to come), however due to the ridiculous number of photos I took this summer, I’ll be kind and divide this post into parts.  ; )  You’re welcome.

Birthdays:  We kicked off our end of the school year with Katie’s 3rd birthday, 11 days later we celebrated Joey’s 9th birthday Star Wars style, and 11 days after that we celebrated a sweet little 5th birthday for Andrew.

Katie’s birthday included a visit from Granny and Pappy (with a quick trip to the mall with Granny for some new shoes and cute summer clothes) plus a whole lot of pink, some doll play and new make-up (the boys were just as enamored with the pretend make-up kit as Katie was…don’t let them deny it).

Joey’s birthday was celebrated with a Star Wars party.  We used quite a few of the ideas from here and tweaked a few and ended up with an awesome party.  The party was set-up as a Jedi Training Course where each padwan had a checklist of tasks to complete in order to earn his Jedi vest.

First they had to escape from the Death Star, which was an obstacle course that included navigating through storm trooper laser fire (red string strung up around the playset), wading through the trash pit (the pool filled with recycled trash), shooting down the tie fighter (using rubber bands to shoot at a poster of the tie fighter), bowling down storm troopers (literally bowling), and bombing the death star (tossing a ball into a bucket). 

After that, they had to Build a Droid using cut-out pieces and glue sticks. 

Then they were off to complete Light Saber Training (pool noodles decorated with duct tape). 

Next was the Design a Starfighter station where each padwan had to use Perler beads to build their own starfighter. 

After building a starfighter, the padwans headed off to Fight in the Jedi Bubble Wars.

Finally, each padwan was expected to head over to the Intergalactic Photo Booth where after having his/her photo taken, they received their official Jedi vest.  Clearly the photo booth was quite a bit of fun…even for the adults! Having each received their Jedi vest, the Jedis engaged in a light saber duel (although I’m not sure if duel actually means only two people fighting but Joey insisted that this was the correct way to describe the chaos that took place…Uncle Dustin would probably describe it more as a mob attack). The Jedis joined together for one last mission (of which I have no pictures!) where they had to follow a trivia question scavenger hunt in search of the Kylo Ren candle.  Once they found it, they were able to refuel with cupcakes and Vader-Ade (lemonade).  Exhausted from their training and missions, they settled in to watch Joey open his gifts.  Andrew’s birthday included lots of Legos, safari equipment and cupcakes along with an afternoon of playing with Walker and Gavin followed by a hot dog dinner (his favorite!) and movie night (he chose a new movie he received for his birthday, The Peanuts Movie). 

Save

Save

Save

{A Week of Gratitude (in pictures)}:the chance to visually reflect on my daily blessings; an opportunity to let the good in my life soak deep in my memory; a moment to appreciate the happiness that surrounds me; a chance to acknowledge how incredibly beautiful this life really is

Sunday: Dinner with Yaya and Grandpa (plus some snazzy new clothes for Katie!)Monday: An opportunity to photograph these darling little faces (shh…it’s part of a surprise birthday gift for Dax)Tuesday: The chance to delve into Charlotte Mason’s beautiful writings with a group of lovely women Wednesday: A very special package that arrived in the mailThursday: An art project that was all about the process NOT the productFriday: Math that no one complained aboutSaturday:  The opening ceremony for this year’s Texas Nature Challenge

Save

This article was first published in August 2014 in The Bend magazine. 

I remember the first time my husband asked me to consider homeschooling. I balked. We didn’t even have kids yet and here he was asking me to home educate them! He had heard someone say that parents are the only ones who truly have the child’s best interest in mind. I mulled that over in my mind and while I believed he was right, I quickly dismissed the crazy notion of homeschooling. I was in my second year of teaching and, while the public and private school systems left much room for improvement, I still had a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that I could provide better.

Then I had my first child. And I delighted in each new thing he learned. I saw joy in his eyes as he accomplished some new feat, conquered a difficult task, discovered something new. I wanted that joy of learning to last his whole life.

I realized that I didn’t want him to receive a job-focused, work-training public education. I didn’t want the better part of his day to be spent with people I hardly knew.  I wanted him to be more than a test score; more than a tuition check.  I wanted him to be treated and educated as an individual, not part of a group, where the average is catered to and there is no time for following rabbit trails.  I wanted him to be able to pray, anytime, anywhere.  I wanted him to get out in nature and revel in it, not sit indoors and read about it.  I wanted him to read living books written by people who love their subjects. I wanted to create a safe haven, in the midst of this fast-paced, competitive world we live in, where he could ask questions, make mistakes, and grow without the fear of bullying, peer pressure or subliminal messages from government agencies and teachers.  I wanted him to be hands-on, messy, involved.  I wanted moral training and character education to be ranked as important as science and history.  I wanted to immerse him in a day of learning…where the lines of school and life just naturally blur and blend.  I wanted him to feel that, in the words of the educator Charlotte Mason, “education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.”  Above all, I wanted him to fall in love with learning.

I strive, daily, to instill a love of learning deep in each of my children’s souls and I see the fruits of my labor sprinkled generously throughout each day.  I look at my kids, cuddled up on the couch, reading together, the oldest helping the youngest and my heart is glad.  I watch as they make connections between history and science and faith.  I listen to spontaneous prayers and I witness their growth in character.  I am present to help them overcome their struggles and to celebrate their accomplishments, no matter how small.  I overhear their conversation and marvel at the idea that my children, ages 7 and younger, can make connections between Shakespeare’s work and their own lives and I know that what we’re doing is good.   That crazy idea my husband had years ago?  It works for us.

Please hop over to The Bend magazine to see it in its original beautiful print. 

Save

Save