Striking a Balance
August 26, 2010 - When you homeschool classes can be at most anytime, anywhere and with anyone. We plan on taking full advantage this year as the baby is a bit older and better able to travel.
Science this semester is a traveling show. Every other week we host it here and NLD's best friend (also a homeschooler) who lives in the neighborhood comes over and we do a few lessons together. On the alternate weeks NLD goes to his house for science.
We are doing a class in Balances and Pendulums. Amazing what you can learn with paper clips.
Beginnings
August 24, 2010 - The editors here at the OTR Headquarters would be remiss if we let this day go by without even a mention.
You see, we are short staffed here and have been getting more and more so starting a few weeks ago when JED, one of our now and again contributors (we accept remote submissions, ahem), left to go back to school followed closely by IMD, who has served faithfully the staff here at HQ as head of IT.
Will we get by without them? We'll find a way.
Will we miss them? Of course. But the entire staff here wishes them the best and are praying for them daily as they return to classes today and begin their sophomore year.
Mushroom Weather
August 23, 2010 - It is with great hope that we are seeing the first of many little cold fronts that mark the beginnings of fall and a happy "See Ya, don't let the door hit you in the behind" to a long and hot summer.
So, after a quick clean up from a wonderful dinner it was out the door on the first annual mushroom walk. We figured with a wet couple of days all of the dormant spores would spring to life. We were right.
All Dolled Up
August 21, 2010 - There are many, many reasons that the entire family takes delight in the
beautiful things that
spring forth from such simple items as needles and wool - the rich colors, the fine textures or the beautiful patterns. Most likely its because they come from hands that love us so much.
This little doll was made just for our little Lulu who takes her to bed and carries on about her just as we hopes she would.
Now, she just needs a name.
End of the Line
August 20, 2010 - We are fortunate enough to live in a part of the country with fairly decent train service and we take advantage of its convenience and charm whenever the
opportunity presents itself. I understand that in a few years its likely to be even better but until then we will take what we can get.
It's the End of the Line in many ways for us. Summer vacations are now just a memory, one of the oldest is already back to college and the other is following this weekend. Visits to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a night or two have also been in the summer mix - this one ending with a pleasant enough train ride to make an already lovely stay just that much more memorable.
Welcome home IMD. Wish you were staying longer.
Timeless
August 18, 2010 - It has been an enormously busy summer and with that comes the fall of our daily blog efforts. I could sit here and pine about the reasons why, but I choose to move on. Nuff said.
We have enjoyed much over the summer, not the least of which was a long weekend at the beach. Same place that we as a family have been going for the last 40 years or so. In fact, the same house for the last 25 since Grandma and Grandpa bought it.
The place is timeless. Not much has changed and we like it that way so that our kids can enjoy it pretty much the same way as we did. If you see a few dozen people in the summer its a busy day and we've spent entire weeks down there in the off-season and not seen a single soul on the beach.
Looking forward to our next trip down. Not sure we will ever get tired of it. Probably would have by now.
Progress Report
May 18, 2010 - Just wanted to document our progress on the bathroom refresh before we moved on to the other house projects.
It is amazing what a little drywall, a coat of paint and a new fixture can do for a tiny bathroom. The boys have been working very hard on its completion and are about ready to move on to the hall and stairwell.
Hard to believe that its the same space.
Ordinary Time
June 15, 2010 - With the passing of this Sunday we have entered into the Ordinary Time of the Church Calendar. Its a great reminder that so much of our life is filled with ordinary things like going to work, bathing the kids, cooking or hanging drywall. Salvation can be found in all of them.
And so can teaching moments as with the little bathroom makeover we are working on. The oldest, being home from school, are being put to work on numerous ordinary projects and given the rare opportunity to patch a hole in the wall where a medicine cabinet once was gave me the chance to give them a lesson in manliness.
They passed with flying colors.
Nice to Eat You
June 14, 2010 - Yesterday we began to document our whirlwind weekend with the minor-league baseball game that we attended. The weekend also brought a trip to Grandma and Grandpa and the Science Center and Zoo that is one of the treasures of their little town.
One of the highlights of the zoo was to visit the tigers which made such a fuss over the girls. He stalked them as they made their way past the fence (which I prayed held fast) to the glassed in viewing area. The zookeeper said that he just wanted to play, but I got the impression that 5 young kids would have been his best meal of the week.
Third Base Line
June 12, 2010 - Our family has enjoyed for many years now an outing that one of our clients has for his company every year. The owner has been so generous as to invite us from year to year and the kids look forward to it as do Mom and Dad.
We are treated to a whole spread of pizza, hot dogs, chips, pop-corn, drinks, beer and ice cream. Not to mention the fact that we have a reserved section down in foul territory of the third base line. We are experienced enough by now to know to watch out for in-coming foul balls when left handed batters are up to the plate and have walked away, not only unharmed, but with a baseball or two as a souvenir of the nights game.