Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Remembering

Jane wrote about what she cooked when she was first married to give encouragement to her newlywed daughter.  It brought back good memories of newlywed life and some of those new found problems.  Here are a few:

  • We ate a lot of taco meat and hamburger helper meals thanks to the food bank at the seminary.
  • I remember buying a candy bar just about every time I went to the grocery store, because now I could.
  • I remember wondering how long it would be before we had a "junk drawer."
  • I remember saying to David when he would ask me what to use to clean something, "Well in my house we would have used a rag, but we don't have any of those yet."
  • I remember we often called either my mom or his mom to ask some cooking question.
  • We also asked either his dad or mine about how to fix this or what to do about that quite often.

I'm sure there were others, but that is all I can remember right now.  Interesting walk down memory lane.   What do you remember about that time in your life?

Monday, September 26, 2011

Digging Historical Fiction

I took two books along on vacation and was able to read both of them.  I found them in the library while searching the shelves for "something interesting to read."  I can't remember the last time I read the genre of historical fiction, but having read these two, I'll pick up more in that category.

First I read, Mount Vernon Love Story by Mary Higgins Clark.

It is a novel about George and Martha Washington.  It was a very easy read, engaging, and I thought added to my knowledge of the character of our first president and his wife.  It made me want to read more about these two people.


The second book I read was Early Candlelight by Maud Hart Lovelace.

This was good as well, but took longer to grab my attention.  It is about Fort Snelling in the 1830's and Lovelace does a good job of weaving a story out of the lives of fur traders, Indians, voyageurs, and the military.  The author of the introduction, Rhoda R. Gilman notes, "It (Early Candlelight) is the kind of work that throws open a window on the past and inspires more than a few readers to go on to a lifelong study of history." That is true for me.  As I read, I would tell David that now I want to return to Ft. Snelling and tour it again and also to see the Sibley House, of whom Lovelace bases the main character.  I also pulled out a map and looked again at the rivers and noted the names of roads, towns, and areas that were mentioned in the book, and it all was more fascinating after reading.  I love that about reading - it takes me to new places and makes me want to dig further.

Friday, September 23, 2011

More Pictures

I have close to 500 pictures from Camp Luther.  Many of them were taken by Hannah who wanted to try out my Cannon EOS digital camera.  She took many neat pictures, capturing the different fun times and scenery at camp.  I'm now going to make encourage her to learn Photoshop Elements in order that when I don't remember how to do something, she can teach me.

Because I have nothing else to say at the moment, here are more pictures for your viewing pleasure.

It was a cool, sunny week.  The perfect temperature for hot chocolate and jamming to music on the iPod.



Trees!  Lots and lots of pine trees!



The deck of the cabin which faces the lake.  We sat there a couple of warmer afternoons, reading while watching the grill.




Watching Daniel Boone:




Game Room fun:





Telling us directions for one of the games in our Friendship Celebration.







Silly boys!





Like Father, like Son.
 





 A favorite activity at camp - Archery!



"It's a dangerous business Frodo, stepping out your door.  You step on the road and who knows where you might be swept off too."





 Aww.




Silly Boys!




This is the first year the camp had wireless internet.  However, it wasn't working at our cabins so we had to walk down the way to pick up service, and check in on our virtual world of emails and Facebook.





Peaceful and beautiful





I had a birthday while at camp!






Playing Daniel Boone!





The Voyageur canoe that all of us fit into!  It is fun!





The place I would sit on the beach to read and check on my virtual world.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

After spending a wonderful week here:


We are home again.
It was a beautiful week, with swimming, games, fireplaces, and friends.



This was the tenth year of our two families meeting.  From that day our friendship has grown and grown to one that we both cherish.  Hannah and Ellie wanted to celebrate and one evening we had a

They had games for us and a slideshow with all the pictures from the past years, and a video of our times together.  It was a lot of fun!

We sure love being able to see our godchild  Joseph.  He is such a cutie and has a very fun personality.  He loved the freedom camp offered him.  To go in and out of the cabin, to follow the other boys to the forts they built in the woods around the cabin, and especially to open the refrigerator and reach the peanut-butter bars at will.

Each year we take a picture of all the kids and here is this year's:


Yes, it was a wonderful week.  We'll have those great memories while we are busy with our daily lives here at home.

Thursday, September 08, 2011

What is Hard About Homeschooling

The thing that makes parenting hard also makes homeschooling hard.  You never know what you're doing or if your making the right (or wrong) decision.  And once one thing is figured out - oh she likes to sleep with her blanket over her head - doesn't work for the next, who wants nothing to do with a blanket at all.  It is always a guessing game, an elimination game, a "well-lets-see-if-this-works" game.

Same with homeschooling.  What worked for the first or second, doesn't always work with the third or fourth.  The learning style of the later children are almost always different from the first ones.  What one picks up almost by breathing (the prayer for returning thanks after a meal), takes another threats of embarrassment (you're almost nine years old - you should have known this!).

Don't forget that while homeschooling multiples, the parent is also trying to keep track of where everyone is and what has been taught.  It is all fun and exciting the first time around, but by golly, the xth time gets to be a bit boring and sometimes not thought about.  "Didn't I just teach this?" runs through the mind quite regularly.  Trying to keep up (or fake) that enthusiasm isn't always a strong suit.

It isn't easy and most of the time I'm floundering about trying to keep my head afloat.  I wonder often how it will all work out, but I won't know until it has (or hasn't).  Until then, I have to keep making decisions in the here and now, hoping they're the best, and trusting that the children are more resilient than I realize.

Saturday, September 03, 2011

New Sounds in the House



It took him almost all of the first thirty-minute lesson to get any sound to come out.  But he did it and is so excited to sound like a duck.  Can you believe I found an instructor in the town next door?  I can't, but I am thankful.