Wedding Weekend

We may have just finished being a part of our last wedding, until our own children get married.  Last month, Jeremy's long time buddy, John Michael finally got married:)  We traveled to North Carolina for the ceremony.  I would say the drive was beautiful, but it wasn't ;)  We left super early, spent three hours at a customer's house while Jeremy worked on a problem with their system (the kids and I watched a few movies in their home theater, that probably costs more than our house....nice, but stressful!), then we had to speed our way to Atlanta (and got a ticket because of that speeding), dropped Jeremy off with the guys for a bachelor party at the Atlanta Braves game, and I drove the final three hours with the kids.

Now, I have done quite a bit of traveling with the kids (multi-state road trip last fall), but this was the worst it's ever been.  I not only had to drive through Atlanta at rush hour, but I also had to use the outer belts and go through various towns.  It was the most stressful drive I've had so far.  I finally got on the country roads, and had a hard time enjoying them; I was so stressed out! ha!!

But, we finally made it to NC and stayed at Brendle Cabin...a super sweet place that was just perfect for our family.  

We got there just as the sun was going down.  I wish I could have captured the squealing and screaming that took place as my children saw lightening bugs for the first time.  (Nate screamed in fear, hahaha).  They were so excited!  (Nate too, once he realized what they were).  

But, the screaming didn't end there.  Nope....the next surprise came over.  It as Grammy & Gramps!  Woohooo!!!!  The kids had no idea they would see them.  

The next day, we had a fun picnic at a local park.  The kids played on the play ground and fished with Gramps (which then turned into "worm play".)

The rehearsal dinner location had a kid's play area right next door.  I hung out with the kids there after dinner.  But, daddy finally got some game time in ;)

The kids love John Michael....and look forward to his "squeeze bear" hugs.

The wedding was beautiful, and we are happy for JM and his sweet wife Amanda.  

They had a fun photo booth during the reception.  Hannah enjoyed dressing up.

And then....things got out of control.  Gramps and the kids, playing in the aftermath of the car "decoration" left by the groomsmen.

The cabin was great, and even had some cute goats for the kids to torture, eh, I mean play with ;)

What started off as a stressful trip, turned into a fun weekend :)

Paddleboards

The girls went on a fun play date last month over at their friend Ella's house.  They had a blast swimming together, catching minnows, and even heading out on the paddleboard to get closer to their creatures:)

Hannah looks like a natural!

Becoming "That Girl" through Golf

While at the Teach Them Diligently homeschool convention this past May, I was introduced to Heidi St. John a wonderful homeschooling mother of 7 (SEVEN!).  She is rather well known in homeschool circles for her funny and inspiring presentations and her oh so helpful books.

I went to a session called "The Busy Mom's Guide to Romance", which was based off the book of the same name.  She talked a lot about the vortex that mom's get into.  This whirlwind of pride, comparison, busyness, desperation and even depression.  She reminded us that our children, wonderful as they may be, will be leaving home one day and we will be left with our husbands.  If we want our marriages to survive, to be full of life and excitement, we need to continue to work on that relationship first and foremost. Our spouse is who we will have with us all our life, our children are only with us for a few years.  I love and agree with that thinking.

Although we've had some difficult circumstances come up over the years, I've always felt like Jeremy and I had a pretty great relationship and a wonderful marriage.  But, I also see that it is something we are constantly working on.  As we quickly approach the 10 year mark, we can see signs of the vortex trying hard to suck us in and distract us from what is most important in our lives.  Long hours at work, busyness at home, homeschooling, homeschooling, homeschooling, chores, commitments, and the list could go on and on.

Well, Heidi St. John challenged those of us at her session to remember "That Girl".  You know, "That Girl" your husband first met.  "That Girl" who was exciting, adventurous and ready to tackle life.  "That Girl" who enjoyed time with him and would do anything she could do to be around him.  Well, "That Girl" gets lost after several years of marriage, pregnancy and childbirth, raising children, working, homeschooling, taking care of the home, cooking endless meals and cleaning up even more endless messes.

I started to think about "That Girl" my husband first met.  She was fun, energetic, at times fearless (remember that crazy flight we took with just a lawn mower engine and a parachute, or skydiving, or riding the bull while white water rafting), bubbly, slightly airheaded, compassionate, adventurous.  "That Girl" was pretty fun to be around;)

Then, I started to think about who "That Girl" became.  Serious, timid, afraid of failure, afraid of getting hurt, afraid of others getting hurt, focused on all that is undone (laundry, cleaning, mopping, chores, chores, chores).  "That Girl" became resentful of much of life and to be honest quite fearful of living it.

So, it has been a quiet ambition of mine to find "That Girl" again.  I want out of the vortex!  One way out is to capture time together that may have slowly been given away to other things (laundry for instance ;).  So, I started looking for ways to gain time with my main man;)

Jeremy has always liked to play golf.  I have pretty much always hated when he would go to play.  It was expensive (especially in Naples!).  It took 4-5 hours away from the family, usually on a weekend when I wanted him around (in part to tackle my 'honey do' lists...even if they were unspoken).  The equipment is expensive and well, it took him away from me.  So, I would say, since we've been married, he's played 2 to 3 rounds of golf a year.

Now we live in an area where is it much more affordable to golf or go to the driving range.  So, he's played a lot more recently.  But, those little feelings of resentment toward the game would creep in...no matter how hard I would try to smother them with nice words.

Until....until I listened to Heidi St. John.  It recently hit me that instead of being frustrated when he wanted to play a round of golf, or go to the range for an hour, I should join him and make it into a fun time!  That's what "That Girl" would have done 10 or 12 years ago!

So, I asked him to buy me some clubs.  The hard part was talking him into not buying me the best...because, you know Jeremy, he likes the best:)  I bought my clubs at Target and I love them (they are purple by the way).  When I told him I wanted to start golfing with him, I think he was a little wary of the idea.  He wanted to make sure that I really wanted to play.  That I would count every shot (even if it went backward, which I am famous for doing).  He wanted me to really learn how to play and to enjoy it, and improve, and talk about it with him.  I decided that learning to play and talk about golf with my husband was just as important to him as it was to me!

We went to the range a couple of times and well, I have a lot of improving to do.  We've watched some videos on You tube, and even a DVD he has.  I still don't "get it", but I am learning.

Yesterday was the test.  How would I really do!  We decided to play 9 holes, and had to bring the kids along.  The kids did great.  They had fun riding around.  Nicole had on her nature vest and butterfly net (they found some baby armadillos that we would have simply passed by).  Although Jeremy and I didn't get to ride together, we did get to play together.  He was excited when I hit the ball well, and encouraged me when I only hit it 10 feet.

I thought the best part happened on hole four.  It was a par four hole...and I did it!  I made it in four strokes and got a par!  yay!!!!

 But, something better happened a few holes later.  It was just a little par 3.  I teed off and the ball landed just to the left of the green.  I took my pitching wedge out and did a practice swing.

"Woa, woa....way to hard babe!  You'll hit it clear over the green and into the water." He said.

So, I tried again,

 "Still to hard.  You need to slow your swing down.  Short backstroke, slowly bring it through, and follow through.  Golfing takes finesse."

 So, I practiced again and he said it looked better.  I stepped up to the ball, and tried to follow all of his advice.  It was a beautiful chip, with a nice arc.  It landed and rolled, rolled, rolled...RIGHT INTO THE HOLE!!!!  I chipped it into the hole!  I got a birdie!

I threw my club in the air and screamed (probably not allowed on the golf course).  He came running across to me and I jumped into a giant hug!  He was so proud of me...and at that moment I thought, "There she is!  There is "That Girl". 

Although I scored several 10s and even an 11 on a hole, I'm excited to go golfing again.  Maybe God gave me that great shot to give me hope and reminder that at that moment, I was doing the right thing with my husband.

Although laundry, cooking, cleaning, and homeschooling are all big parts of my life that can not be forgotten....I can still find time to be "That Girl" to my dear husband.  He is a wonderful man, and I want to continue to build a great relationship with him.  I have been changed by marriage and kids and life...but I am still "That Girl" who was 19 and fearless.  I want to see her a little more often, and I think my husband likes to see her every once in a while too:)

Creature Adventurers

The kids love to watch the PBS show, Wild Kratts.  It's about two grown up brothers who wonder what it would be like to be an animal.  They morph into a cartoon where they create creature power suits and they get to act like that particular animal.  They are always getting into crazy predictaments, which makes the show entertaining.  However, it is also very educations.  The kids have learned a lot about animals, all different types of animals.  Then, we can talk about those "creature powers" and understand that it was God who designed those animals.  It was God who gave them there specialites.  It's God who we should honor and glorify when we see the amazing speed of a cheetah, or the burrowing capabilities of an earthworm.

This show has, in part, encouraged the kids to be "creature adventurers".  They love to capture small insects and lizards and check them out. But, their desires are becoming much larger than lizards.  

Nate and Hannah trying to feed the birds in the backyard by hand.

 Earlier this week, we watched "My Side of the Mountain".  It's a movie (well, first it was a book), about a young teenage boy who decided to live for a year in the mountains.  He created his own home out of a tree, conducted algae experiments, and even trained a peregrine falcon to hunt for him.  Nicole really connected with that, because the Wild Kratts have talked a lot about Peregrine Falcons.

So, Nicole has decided that she wants to lure a Peregrine Falcon to her hand, catch it, and then release it.

This was her first attempt.  She used a garden glove and had deli sliced ham in her hand that she flopped around.

 That same night, she came up with this list of chores to do.

She is really focused on learning about these birds, and other larger birds of prey.  We've done some research and printed pictures of them in flight so she can tell the difference between a Red Tailed Hawk, and a Peregrine Falcon.  I love that girl!

Of course, they are still capturing lizards.  I thought this was funny....they put a fake lizard in the little container as company for the two real lizards!

 We had a butterfly that got into our lanai last week.  The kids have had fun watching it these past few days.  But, it started to die last night.  This was them saying goodbye.

 Nicole is soaking up as much science as she can!  She asked for the microscope because she wanted to look at a spider web.

And, this was Hannah, finally beginning to catch her own lizards.  

 I am so happy with the curiosity that my children show.  Although I don't want to catch lizards, or have a falcon land on me, it's fun to watch them come up with these ideas.  This is what I love about homeschooling.  I can encourage and foster these ideas.  Who knows...maybe Nicole will be a bird lover and work with them.  Probably not, but I'm sure she will have fond memories of creative play as a child.  I think she'll remember her vest, her magnifying glass, her microscope, and her animal and plant identification book.  For now though...we'll keep exploring and keep learning!

Caterpillars & Butterflies

Oh boy, did we have an exciting couple of weeks!  First of all, Nicole bought herself an exploring vest and a butterfly tent.  Then, just a day or so later, she stumbled upon a fuzzy caterpillar!  We researched the caterpillar, and she discovered it was Tussock Moth caterpillar.  We found out that it likes oak trees so, we put it in the butterfly tent, gave it some oak leaves, and it went to town eating!

Capturing the fuzzy tussock mother caterpillar

Close inspection of the 7 year old kind!

We then found a monarch caterpillar in our butterfly garden, so we cut off a piece of the milkweed, and stuck the caterpillar in the tent as well.  They were happy friends.

A monarch caterpillar

Soon, I noticed that poor little monarch caterpillar reaching with all of it's might to the side of the cage and I knew what was going to happen.  I gently pushed the milkweed to the side and the caterpillar climbed it's way to the top of the cage and dangled itself upside down for about 48 hours.

Getting ready to do some hard work!

One Saturday afternoon, we were working outside and Hannah was about to get in trouble for being inside and NOT working when she came running out, "The caterpillar is making the Chrysalis!".  Nicole and I knew this would happen fast, so we ran in to watch.  May I just stop here and say that this is one of the most amazing things to witness.  It's so neat to know that this little guy is going to come out looking so much different!

About 3 minutes later, the Chrysalis was made and we went on with life as usual (with an occasional glimpse at the butterfly tent.  I did not have high hopes of this guy ever making it out alive, at least our caterpillar a few years ago never came out.  In the mean time, the tussock moth died.  I feel bad about that, but we couldn't lift the opening without fear of damaging the chrysalis.

And....it's made!

Amazingly, about 10 days later, Nicole noticed something different when she checked on the chrysalis.  It was a different color.  That morning, we checked on the chrysalis every ten minutes and notices the outside was becoming more and more see through.  We could see the wings of the butterfly!

This was when we first noticed the change

About an hour later

An hour or so later again.

Then, something amazing happened!  While our friends Karen and Alex were over, Hannah (again!) noticed the butterfly was trying to come out.  We didn't believe her at first, but then found that she was right.  We not only got to watch the caterpillar make its chrysalis, but we also got to watch the butterfly come out of it!  The kids loved it, and were so patient to watch.  It was truly amazing!

If you look closely, you can see it clinging to whatever is left over of the Chrysalis.

Our little butterfly hung upside down the rest of the day to dry out its wings, and later that night we released him near the butterfly garden.  We left the next day for Naples.  I'm so glad it happened while we were home and got to see it....and that we were able to release it before we left:)

Getting ready to be "Free and in the Wild", as the WildKratts say.

Water Cycle

Well, we've been here before, a few times I believe, talking about The Water Cycle.  We are (very) slowly making our way through the kindergarten curriculum of My Father's World this summer.  It gives us something great to do on slow weeks (of which there have not been many), and is a good review for Nicole, while Hannah gets an introduction to Kindergarten.

A few weeks ago, we talked about The Water Cycle.  We did two really fun projects that turned out really well and became a great example of the water cycle.

The first example is a water cycle in a bag, and it really worked!

We put a little bit of water into a plastic cup and labeled the water line.  Then, we drew the water cycle on the front of a gallon zip top bag.  We carefully set the cup in the corner of the bag, symbolizing a source of water.

 Then, we taped the bag to a sunny window.  Our back windows get direct sunlight in the afternoons.

 About two days later, we could see a great example of condensation (clouds), and then water pooled in the corner of the bag (precipitation).

This was later that afternoon.

And a day or so later.

 We left our bags up for a couple of weeks and could very easily see the water cycle happening inside of our bags.  Great little project!

See the puddle at the corner of the bag. That's our "rain".  You can also see how much water evaporated, compared to our line on the cup

We also made a terrarium.  We put some small rocks in the bottom of a glass jar, then layed some moist soil and sand, leaving about the top third empty.  We put a few pieces of moss and some small plants into the soil (and a fake bug of course), then sealed the lid.  We left these out back for the sunlight to hit as well.  Well, it was like a little rain forest in a jar.  The moisture in the soil became condensation, and when the condensations got to heavy, it dripped down like rain.

Aren't they cute?

A couple of days later, we had 'clouds' and 'rain'.

Unrelated to the Water Cycle, our ants came in for our ant farm.

This completely creeped me out.  I was not a fan of keeping aggressive, biting ants in my home (because my instinct is to kill them!  However, they set out to work right away, and were quite interesting.

We ended up leaving them on the back porch.  Unfortunately, moisture got in and the ants  died within a week or so.  In case you never knew...I'm not that good with animals, however, I have to say....I'm glad those ants are dead!