Homeschooling Ideas

A friend of mine writes a fabulous blog. Really, everyday I laugh or cry or nod my head in complete understanding! It's great.

She just finished up a 5 day series on how she homeschools with Classical Conversations. The link will get you to the first in the series. Her tips can easily be applied to any homeschool so I encourage you to check it out! She has some great links and printables too.

The Muse

This  is the best picture we got of "Baby Cow" at the July 18th Cow Appreciation Day. Oh dear! This computer is being fussy. :( errrr. We go every year because we love us some chicken! The people that own the Chik-Fil-A across the stress are super sweet and kind and friends of some of our friends so we tend to support their business. Baby Cow loved that all the "REAL" cows came over to talk to her. Sidenote, do you see the ridiculous length of my ponytail? Yeah, totally Locks of Love time again.

 

As I was looking for pictures I noticed a definite theme to our collection. Snow Flake! Seems to me that whenever she does or says anything even remotely adorable someone says, "Quick- Electron, grab your camera!" He has become the family documentarian. Snow Flake is his muse of choice. We have all kinds of exploitive funny videos and pictures of her doing the strangest things. I promise you if they ever figure out she can be trained to do a trick, they take pictures of her doing it! They think it is hilarious that she will now carry her own diapers to the trash, and then clap for herself, and she will carry her step stool over to the "ish-y" tank and beg us to turn it on so she can watch they "ish-y" and scream at the top of her lungs, "HEEEEEEEEY!" She must think he will eventually come out of there and respond, "Well, hello there little one. I am so glad you've chosen to visit with me again. We must have tea sometime." She cracks us all up. I have to start remembering to take more pictures of all of them instead of letting them just take pictures of her. They are such a troupe of circus folks. By the way, she begs to take baths all day long and loves when she has company and her other favorite thing to do is to walk to the lake and eat berries while watching the fish and turtles and geese. Funny girl. By the way, do NOT ever try to go out the door without taking her too. She was born to be outdoors. She is her daddy's daughter!

Birthday Girl

Kelsey Peace, August 11, 2009- 3 years old

Our Sweet Pea turned 3 years old yesterday. It seems like only yesterday she was born and then again, it seems as if she has always been a part of my heart. Funny, at first my (our?) grief was so new and fresh that it hurt like an open oozing wound. Now it seems to be more of a constant dull pain that is always there, never going away for even a second, but it has become such a part of me that it would be wrong for it to be gone.

Truly I think now it is more the pain of loving her and not being able to hold her and "check in" with her..... yet. Yesterday I found myself just wishing I could pick up the phone and talk to her for just a sentence or two, "Hey, it's Mom. Just wanted to say I love you and I can't wait to see you again."

I suppose living in the age of microwaves and emails and cell phones does weird things to your heart. Anyhow, I (Melissa) went to the cemetery yesterday and this time I went alone. It effected (affected? not that far in our grammar curriculum yet, sorry) me in a whole new way. It was strange but it was instinct to be visiting a 3 yr old and not the newborn that we had taken out there. This was a definite first for me.

One of the hardest things for me has been to cope with not being there while she grows up- to miss her milestones. Maybe yesterday was just God's special gift to my heart.

There were several new babies since I was there last.... that always rips my heart out. By the same token, when there are no new graves or only one or two, it makes me smile and rejoice. Something new that really made me smile was that about 6 months ago the funeral home that handles the babies began to put the baby's picture on the temporary marker! I LOVED seeing the sweet faces of those precious ones. And yes, if I'd had the option, I would've said,"YES!".

Anyhow, this is the way "Baby Land", as it is called, looked yesterday. It is so sad to see all the graves that don't have flowers or even permanent markers. Breaks my heart, the circumstances that cause that are even more heart breaking usually.

Yes, every single one of these is  a dead baby. Many parents leave toys, notes from grandparents, precious things that give you insight into the family that loves the little ones buried here.

GIVEAWAY!!

One of the blogs I love is doing a giveaway today: The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking.

The company sponsoring the giveaway: MadeOn Skin Care Products, is doing a special coupon code for those who want to try out this green way to keep bugs off. They have a bunch of really neat products that I would love to try. So, for all of you wannabe crunchy folks out there (like me) who are just beginning your journey, check it out. The details are on the blog. Then follow the link to the company and try it out! And don't forget to enter for the giveaway too. :)