Acadia, Maine

We kicked off our homeschool year with a trip to Acadia National Park, Maine. It was amazing, and despite the fact that Corwin had a stomach bug all week, and I got it for a day, we still all had a fantastic time. The weather was gorgeous, and the scenery was storybook. I felt like we had walked into a fairy tale. But I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, even though the pictures can't even do the place justice.

On our trip up we were sweetly hosted by a Andy P. from our days in Clemson who now lives in RI with 2 adorable twin boys and his sweet wife who was away visiting friends. It takes a big heart to open your house to 3 kids, the 2 of us and our puppy! I did take pics but decided I'd better refrain from posting in a public place without permission. Thank you for a wonderful visit!

We are here! The kids maintained a high level of enthusiasm and excitement and exhaustion the entire time. Imagine them constantly talking or singing or moving repetitively and you'll get the picture. A man asked us if we had spotted any wild-life, and Wally very truly said, "We scare it off long before we see it!"

Canoeing Eagle Lake. The water was crystal clear. We could see the rocks at the bottom until the bottom got so deep that sunlight could not penetrate.

The kids found an old house on one side of the lake, and the woods behind were full of huckleberries which they consumed in vast quantities. (No, this was not the reason for the stomach troubles...mom...only Corwin had it and he had it before eating). ;0)

Our campsight in Blackwoods Campground in the National Park. We set up in the pouring rain, but thankfully, that was the last of it for the week.

You can't stay frustrated with those little faces for long even if they do scare all of the wildlife from here back to NC.

Getting eaten alive by the only wildlife not afraid of them...a dinosaur coming out of the ground.

Hiking down a trail with lots of old sea caves and "squeezers". I can't remember the name of the mountain right now! The kids LOVED it.

Corwin found a nice little "chair" to rest on. 

At the top of? still can't remember what mountain...sadly we couldn't see b/c of the fog. This was the only day with thick fog all day!

We loved seeing birch trees!

Seeing tidal pools for the first time.

Poor Corwee feeling a little off. Pippin is doing what he does so well.

We went to a Ranger Program on Tidal Pools. Corwin loved it even though they had to list him as a 5 year old to allow him to come.

Eating at Thurston's Lobster Pound. It was awesome! And they let dogs come too :)

The harbor and Thurston's. We saw them bringing in the lobster.

The kids found it fascinating. Rhi had to be encouraged not to think about the poor live one we picked now not alive and on our plate, but she managed to enjoy it.

At Bass Harbor Light House.

Thunder Hole. Womp-Womp hole more like it even at high tide, but it was pretty cool.

We canoed in the ocean one day in a little strip between islands. There were many starfish hanging on the rocks. 

This is the day I was sick. Conveniently I had a whole ocean to hurl in.

"Swimming" at Echo Lake. It was cold outside the water. I don't know how they did it.

Dinner at the campground. We made lots of food ahead of time so we just had to warm up and serve.

Making S'mores.

Jordan Pond and the Bubbles. I really wish we had been feeling well enough and had time enough to have tea at the tea house there, but, alas, we did not. Perhaps if Wally and I go back there for a second honeymoon or something ;0)

Hiking on the odd tree path around the pond.

Swimming at Sand Beach. Even though Corwin had a cast, he could get in with his cast cover. They had great fun jumping over the waves and playing in the sand.

We found a real sea cave to explore that had tidal pools in it too. Alden especially thought this was awesome.

One of the tidal pools' amazing ecosystems. 

On top of Cadillac Mountain. No, we were wimps and could not get up for the first sunrise in the USA.

We saw a schooner sailing between the Porcupine Islands.

The view (only about 1/4 of it). 

Last stop was to see a cobblestone beach. These are a little larger than cobbles, but that is where they got cobbles from. Just picked them up off of beaches and stuck them in their streets!

So sad to leave. 

The kids enjoyed seeing New York City from afar all lit up at night, and we went to worship at the National Cathedral in DC on the way home. This was nice b/c we're studying the Middle Ages, and it is built in Gothic style with flying buttresses and all.

National Cathedral in DC.

Now do you see why I counted this as our first week of homeschool? 

First day of school back at home. You can see the bags under their eyes, but they did great jumping right in to more traditional style lessons.

Not to leave Corwin out...I never felt it necessary to call this stage anything, but he REALLY wanted to do school. Each day he begs me to do math and to do an ABC page. Our life and hence school has been pretty hectic so far this school year, but I really want to include math and learning ABC sounds in his day each day if I can. 

I'm learning to expect not to know what each day is going to be like. It works better for my sanity.

However, Maine, I think, exceeded our expectations, and we are so glad we could take the kids to such a beautiful part of God's creation. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Happy baby shower for Aunt Clara and Uncle Brooks. Cousin Mary Ruth had way too much fun helping. We were so thankful we could be there to celebrate a new little boy who will soon make an appearance!

Mary Ruth feeding Corwin a grape, I think. She's going to be a great big sister. Clara's gonna have to keep a sharp eye on her. Mary Ruth, "Grape in baby brother's mouth? Good idea!".

August has been full of the kind of events that individually don't seem like a lot but collectively have made me tense and like I am out of my mind. Here's the list in summary:

Pippin's Heart
Corwin's Arm
Alden's Ear
Overheating car
Wrecked our 2 vans
Traffic ticket

We seriously could have aired our own Liberty Mutual commercial...you know...the "Humans" one:

It has reminded me that I have absolutely no room to be angry at my family for all of those bad decisions and thoughtless mistakes. We are all in this life together, making mistakes and dumb decisions large and small, and we need to give grace and love each other. That doesn't mean that I will teach my children to drive...that is still Wally's job!

So, I'll start from the top:

At the first vet visit for Pippin, oh so long ago, a heart murmur was detected. It didn't go away, and b/c this breed acquires mitral valve disease later in life which results in heart murmurs, our vet pushed for an ultrasound to determine the location and problem. It ended up being the same valve that later causes problems. Likely it is not the mitral valve disease but a congenital (born with it) thickening of the valve. However, this has implications for how the later acquired disease might progress. SO, we got a whole lot of money back AND got to keep Pippin, who currently is not affected in the slightest by this problem. (As you can see from the picture, Corwin thinks he is a puppy too). Do you wonder why he has a broken elbow? This type of injury could easily happen on any given day with him...and it is not just I who thinks so, he has also frightened our piano teacher and pediatrician. Thankful for guardian angels!!!

Corwin thought he was 007 or something and decided that he could jump off of the playground platform, catch hold of the monkey bars one-handed, and actually hang on. In trying, he landed on his elbow and broke it. A visit to the urgent care followed by almost 2 days of waiting (they actually offered an appointment to the orthopedist for 5 days after he injured it...I refused and got an earlier one), we finally got the word it was broken (as if this mommy had any doubt...I hate the whole medical system at times), and got a cast on it. Corwin was much happier once his poor little elbow was stabilized in the cast, and I think it's the rest of us who are SO ready for it to come off (hopefully tomorrow). We've taken a break from swimming, biking, romping, and had quite a few minor injuries from that hard shell of a cast connecting with our heads, arms, bellies etc. You can see that it has not slowed him down in the slightest, and he is learning his alphabet by hitting a balloon and yelling out the sound that Aa makes. He plans to celebrate the removal of his cast by going to a splashground. He also plans to be a "fwyer" when he grows up (aka flyer aka pilot, "But not on a shooter plane. Just on a BIG fast plane with lots of people."). When I commented that he could give us free tickets so we could travel all over the world, he said, "Yeah. I can fwy you to the moon!". Well, that's not quite the world, but we'll skip that for now.

During this time, my van has been randomly overheating. Then to top that, I decided to back into it using Wally's van. Double whammy. Suffice it to say, I knew it was there, I forgot it was there, I was trying to miss a pole over my right shoulder, and forgot to look back over my left shoulder. SIGH. And I was not going very slowly either. Rhianwen got out of the van and said, "It's ok mommy. You are still the best mommy in the world."

A bright spot in it all was getting to see some friends/family for whom we have been praying as they walk through brain cancer with their littlest (who chose the chair closest to the TV and outside of this picture). Here they are watching The Croods...yes, I relate to that movie at this point.

Then just an hour before our monthly date night, Alden decided that spinning around and falling into a bush was awesome fun and repeated it only to get his ear sliced by a branch. We decided after consulting our family doctor (literally...Wally's brother...who probably wishes we'd stop calling him with every medical problem we have), to slap some liquid bandaid on it and hope and pray for the best. It was really nasty, but in a place where stitches would have been impossible. It seems to be healing pretty well. Too bad Alden wasn't wearing this get-up when he was spinning into bushes, that cardboard could have saved his ear.

Rhianwen very sweetly made a robot costume for Corwin too. My kids constantly want scissors, tape, boxes, paper, cloth, nails, and wood to create stuff like this. Apparently this fall, I need to give them some sewing, welding, and carpentry lessons.

Lastly, the traffic ticket, I am happy to say was not my own! It was Wally's for rolling through a stop sign. Phew! But I couldn't even get snippy about it b/c he was SO gracious about the vans. ;0)

Rhianwen has been the only child so far unscathed which is a little unbelievable b/c she is accident prone. She has been asking for harp lessons for 2 years, and a homeschool mom offered some, so I decided to see that as an open door. We shall see! It is a very pretty instrument. Maybe God knew we needed some soul-soothing around here.

Our kids got the genius idea of connecting their swings together so they did not have to listen to Corwin screaming at them to push him in his swing. Now when Rhi and Alden pump, Corwin gets taken along with them. This is why summer is not a waste of time....school outside of school....problem solving, team work, ingenuity, creativity, service, FUN. And Corwin learned how to pump, even if he is still too lazy to do it often.

Other projects they have been busy doing: folding construction paper in half, cutting random curvy shapes, opening them back up, drawing monster faces on it, and taping them all over their walls and beds. Cutting pieces of paper and labeling everything (I have labels for my cabinets that say "cabinets", for my clock, for their chairs, for the bathroom etc.). Writing a daily schedule of when they will play what, such as: 1h-read, 1h-play Star Wars, 1h-play Tod, 1/2h-eat lunch, 1h-draw...etc. I told them since this is the last week of summer, they'd better get busy with it ;0)

I've recently finished reading The Five Love Languages of Children and I was reminded how imbalanced I am at loving them well. I'm excited to try to discover each child's primary love language and to start practicing all of them (Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Gifts, Acts of Service, Quality Time) with them as well as Wally. When I was spending some one-on-one time with Alden, he told me the funniest thing, "Sometimes I pretend my pieces of food are kingdoms, and when I eat them, they are conquered." Maybe I should try that. I might feel a bit more in control...

Frozen Dance Camp

Rhianwen was so totally thrilled that she could go to dance camp at her studio North Carolina Dance Institute where they did crafts, dances, and even got to watch the movie Frozen. At the end of the week they did a performance for all of the families. It was so cute and fun for her! She was the "future Elsa" and got to dance with an older student who assisted that week and who was so sweet to all the little ones.

Wally got pics with his phone (I'm too lazy to crop). Rhi is in a few classes with the other little girl in the picture.

Alden's head made it in this one :)

Ta daaaa!

For those of you (grandmas) who want to watch most of it, you can see below (click on the next one for the ending--my memory card filled up, and Wally had to do the rest on his phone---also, we cut out the In Summer dance since Rhi was not in it...her dance instructor said she was too mature for that one :):

I'm so thankful she has something that is so fun and enjoyable that builds her confidence. I'm praying God will use it in amazing ways as she grows. Because we are Sabbatarians her opportunities are limited (for example, can't audition for the professional Nutcracker which takes children from all kinds of studios in the area b/c half of their rehearsals are on Sundays.) But we know God has given her this talent for a reason even if it will not be used to its fullest in this life, she will still have those skills in the life to come. We are thankful too for her submissive spirit to His ways. One day, those decisions will be completely her own, but for now she rests in our convictions and believes them as well.

Happy Birthday Dear Alden!

Wow, am I behind on blogging. We have had one thing after another of minor catastrophes...but that is for the August post...SO

Alden had quite the birthday celebration. The weekend of his birthday, Wally decided to cash in on our Groupon to Wheels Fun Park, and they all had a blast riding go-carts, climbing, and roller skating.

Feelin' so cool.

Does anyone find this video hilarious? I remember loving roller skating and wonder if I thought I was speeding around when I was really just doing this:  

I had to put all 3 (feel free to skip, it was just too funny to me):

Happy birthday to our 6 year old! We are singing to him first thing in the morning.

So happy.

Matchbox cars/motorcycle and a track to run them on. He's been asking for this for a year.

Super pleased.

Blowing out 6 candles! I cannot believe it :( :)

Then it was time for a Star Wars/Clone Wars party. No, he has not seen any movies or cartoons, but he reads the easy readers from the library (blah...I hate them, but let him read the boring poorly written things occasionally just b/c he loves them so very much). His friend Micah gave him this totally awesome helmet.

Hand to hand combat with Uncle Christopher.

Creating their own light sabers. THE easiest craft I have ever organized. They used red and green masking tape and various sharpies to create a personalized light saber.

Of course we used them! On each other and those bad storm trooper balloon guys who kept popping up--sadly it was very difficult to annihilate them. If you want balloons to pop get them from Walmart not Party City ;0) However, the young Padawans did not seem to mind learning the skill of perseverance and team work.

Then it was warp speed on the slip and slide---Han Solo aka Wally used a rope and his own brawn to catapult them into deep space:

Yes, he was sore the next day...and the next.

Chewbacca aka Grandaddy helped keep everything running smoothly.

We again did a treasure hunt this year. It worked nicely with the Bible verses from I Corinthians 13 b/c so much of Star Wars/Clone Wars is about the choice between power and love and has plenty of actions like prophetic powers, understanding all knowledge, power to move mountains etc. It segued nicely.

 Getting a clue.

Then the kids had fun with their blasters (water guns). It  mostly was just a squirt fest.

Ze cake. He had a clone wars rice paper picture. I tried a fat free cake, and I got comments about it tasting kind of like apple muffins, burnt, or yucky. Point taken, point taken...sigh. :) It mostly got devoured anyway.

We were so happy to have Grandmama and Grandaddy stay with us and go to church with us the next day!

I am so thankful for my first boy Alden. He has a servant's heart and is almost always willing to help especially if he views the task as unique or special or truly important. He loves daddy so very much, and there is almost nothing better than spending time working on a project or participating in an activity with him. He is very creative with Legos and K'nex but can also follow detailed instructions for construction. He has become much more musical this year, can carry a tune pretty well, and is making progress in piano. Reading is coming along. I think he thinks he cannot read very well, but, when he is motivated, he can read anything he puts his mind to. He told me this year he would like to learn to carve and to build things with a hammer and nails and wood. For his birthday he asked for a Bible study book similar to what I have been doing with Rhianwen. I pray that he will continue to desire learning God's ways of wisdom as he has this summer. 

 The treasure map we made with God's words of wisdom leading the way. Alden LOVED this visual depiction and idea.