Daily Quote

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.

--Victor Hugo

Ordering Materials for September

I finally got my order together to get the kids' curriculum for next school year. It's a fun job, I have to say, even though I keep wanting to put the brakes on summer so we never have to get to September again....I wanted to make sure to order early this year so that I can plan--last year with moving it was really hard to be organized and we started late. However, I found some really neat things that I'm excited to teach, and I did quite well even though I didn't shop around. My favorite homeschool catalogue, bar none, is Rainbow Resources. It's something like 1500 pages long, but the reason it's so long is because the family that runs the company reviews every product and really explains it. So I feel much more confident that it will fit our needs, and because they have so many choices I really feel like I'm narrowing down to the best possible one for each child.

Matt and I talked about trying to find the books individually, say through Amazon to get better prices, but really, who has time for that?? I'd end up getting sidetracked, maybe changing my mind, having it ship in 20 different boxes because Amazon uses so many suppliers, etc. And although Rainbow Resources espouses some ideals that I do not agree with whatsoever--evolution is a dirty word, your daughter should want nothing from her life except what some future husband wants for her, etc.---at least it's a family business so I like supporting that.

I got everything I need for Rachel, Julia and Ben for $380, free shipping. I will write about some of the curricula I chose at another time...too tired now. I have a date with a cup of decaf and my book, possibly with a foot rub later on when Matt is done talking to his Mom on the phone.....

Jen

Anna & Emma

This is my niece, Anna, reading to Emma on our vacation. Not only is it just a lovely picture, but it was so nice to see Emma warming to her cousins and actually letting one of the big girls hold her! Because she doesn't see her cousins from my brother's family very often, and when she does it's a huge family gathering--she gets overwhelmed. This results in her clinging to me or to Matt mercilessly, and not allowing anyone to even talk to her--although every one of my nieces dotes on her and wants to hold her, play and read with her. (If she'd just get the point, she'd have the constant attention she always wants that as the youngest of 4 kids she hardly ever gets!!!)

Anyway, our nice long getaway with the family allowed Emma to come off her high horse a bit and socialize. Maybe she'll even remember Anna's name the next time they meet...

Jen

A Sand Castle

This is the castle that my kids, nephews and nieces made on our beach vacation. They worked really hard on it, all together, digging and finding just the right shells to decorate it. By the time we left the beach that day, it was completely in the water, looking like a little pool. Emma liked sitting in the middle!

Jen

Veggies

I had just been bemoaning the fact that except for the tomatoes, which are doing very well, my attempt at a vegetable garden this year has been pretty unsuccessful--but then we came back from our vacation in CT. I'd gone outside to check on the tomatoes, which had all been green before we left, but at least there were several large ones on the heirloom plant, and a tiny cluster or two on the grape and cherry plants. I wanted to see if they'd ripened or grown more--and they had. One large one was turning red, others were forming, the green ones had gotten bigger, and the cherry and grape plants had fairly exploded with clusters. So I was happy about that--apparently chickens don't find tomatoes appealing.

The herbs were also doing well, but the peas had been trampled mercilessly by those lovely birds. They had pulled up all the pepper plants and the watermelon vine that I'd had such hopes for weeks ago, and the cucumbers, eggplant and heirloom beans (a tempting combination of green, wax and purple beans!) were doing better than the peas, but not by much. Then I looked closer....

There were peas and beans all over the vines! The purple ones were so gorgeous they were nearly unbelievable. Dark, shiny and nice, with remnants on flowers at the top. The green and wax beans were just as I remembered picking from my Grandma's garden, and the peas had gotten a bit too large, but I still gleefully snapped them off into my basket. And two small cucumbers are hiding under their huge leaves, so adorable. The eggplant has flowers on it, too, but no fruit, so we'll wait and see. However--there was one pepper plant that although mostly out of the ground still has something that just may be a pepper forming on it. I almost tried to stand it up and bury the roots (again! the chickens keep yanking it up!) but then decided I should just let it be and see if it develops.

Next year I shall have to invest in garden fencing!!!

Jen

Flowers, so gorgeous!

When we got home from Connecticut two days ago, the garden was glorious. I picked bouquets from the perennial garden in the backyard, the bouquet garden that I planted by the front walk this spring, which has been surprisingly successful (I have never grown flowers from seeds with any measure of success before) and tossed in some roses from the bushes on the side of the house. They are lovely and make me very happy.

Jen

Daily Quote

The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.


---Jean Giraudoux

Home again

Well, we are home from our vacation in Connecticut!

It was fun to be with (almost) all of our family again! We hadn't seen Uncle David and Aunt Donna's family for awhile, especially Anna, so it was very enjoyable to see them and celebrate Nicolas' birthday!

We can't go on vacation without taking some pictures! Who can? :)

-Rachel

Here is Ben, in the water at the beach! Finally he is overcoming his fear of the ocean!



Here is Aunt Susan, lighting Nicolas' Birthday Pies with 4th of July sparklers!

Here is Emma, playing with some seaweed on the shore.

Daily Quote

If you wished to be loved, love.


--Lucius Annaeus Seneca