FOCUS

This morning as I played on the beach with my family, I had this thought:

When you focus on the distant future, you miss the present treasures.  If I looked right below where I was standing, I could see all of these beautiful shells.  If my focus shifted to the distance, I couldn’t see a single shell. 

Raleigh Tea Party

I am not usually interested in politics and have not been very involved in politics in the past. However, I am very concerned about what the future holds for our children. I feel hopeless to have much of a change on things by myself. Maybe it is time to take action. I have my own beliefs but things seem to be going so far away from what I believe and what I want for my children's future. .
There is a TEA Party in Raleigh on April 15 that my family is strongly considering going to. The video below was interesting to me...
Details about the TEA Party (find one in your area at http://taxdayteaparty.com/teaparty/north-carolina/ )
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
6:30pm - 8:30pm
NC State Capitol
Wilmington Street
Raleigh, NC

Wordless Wednesday

We are at wedding and decided to take pictures on this beautiful bridge while the wedding party gets their pics taken.  Innocent right…Wrong… Check out Ryan in the background.  He loves to pee on trees and hasn’t quite grasped wedding etiquette.  

Chris runs down there and hides Ryan behind the tree while other guests are headed to the bridge.  Pee was flying everywhere!  I just stood there, laughed and took pictures!

Ryan’s 1st Soccer Game

Ryan had his first soccer game last night.  He scored 2 points (we won’t mention that they were for the other team).  None the less, he made 2 goals!  Great job Ryan!

 

Ryan loves his coach.  He kept telling Coach John everything he did.  In this picture, Ryan is pointing out that he has short sleeves like him.

Ryan talking to another boy on his team.  He is very concerned that there are girls on his team.  He mentioned that several times last night. 

Mommy and Ryan during a water break.

Kudos to Arianna

Arianna finished her 10th lesson in her book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  She has been working hard to meet her first goal of 10 lessons to get her piece of candy.  She did 2 lessons each of the last 2 days.  I am so proud of how hard she is working to learn to read.  She has come so far in blending letter sounds in just 10 lessons. 

 

Above she is showing off her chosen candy (a stocking stuffer from Christmas).  In both pictures you can see her chart in the background.  She puts a star on the chart for each lesson she finishes!

 

Returning from the Stone Age

It is the small things that we take for granted in our life which are greatly missed when they are lost. 

Last Friday I sloshed coffee onto my keyboard and shorted a few keys.  I  “fixed” the problem by using by brand new blow dryer to try to dry the area and ended up losing the function of most of the keys.  (For those that don’t know, the new ionic blow dryers can short out electronics).  I have spent the last 5 days carefully choosing my words to type with an onscreen keyboard that I could use with my mouse.  It took forever to type a simple sentence.  I am glad to be back in the technological world with a keyboard!!!!!!!!

Favorite Childhood Memories: Playing in the Mud

I loved to play in the mud as a child! Yesterday I greatly enjoyed watching my children delight in playing in the mud!

Ryan's First Soccer Practice

Ryan has been waiting for today! He had his first soccer practice! He got his jersey which he randomly ended up being given the #1 jersey. He loves his soccer shirt! He is really great at kicking the ball and keeping control of the ball. Enjoy the photos!

Lazy 5 Field Trip

Our Trip to Lazy 5 Ranch

Friday we went on a field trip to one of my favorite places--Lazy 5 Ranch. Everyone had a great time...kids and adults! Words don't do the place justice...check out the pictures! I posted them above...

Gardening

I am exhausted.  The kids and I worked on planting flowers around our mailbox.  I figured that was a small area and it would get me motivated to do the rest of the yard.  Well it might have had the opposite effect.  That small area took most of the afternoon and boy am I tired!  No wonder my grandmother stayed so thin all of her life!  She loves to garden and finds it therapeutic.  I was hoping to have some of her green thumb and wish that I enjoyed it half as much as she does.  Maybe it will become more enjoyable once my back gets used to the bending over and my arm muscles are built up from pulling weeds.  One can always dream:) 

On the other hand we did have a great time digging, finding all of the insects, playing in the mud, getting dirty from head to toe and then playing in the water!  I wish I would have taken my camera outside and taken a before and after picture.  We are excited to see our flowers appear!

These are our sunflowers from last year.  We are going to make a playhouse with sunflowers this year.  Looking forward to that project…I think:) 

Skater Boy

Yesterday at the park, Ryan was playing on a skateboard.  He has never done this before.  He was a natural!  Check out his moves!

 

Here he was using all of his strength to power this hand held excavator. 

Best Friends

With A Friend
By: Vivian Gould
I can talk with a friend
and walk with a friend
and share my umbrella in the rain.
I can play with a friend
and stay with a friend
and learn with a friend
and explain.
I can eat with a friend
and compete with a friend
and even sometimes disagree.
I can ride with a friend
and take pride with a friend.
A friend can mean so much to me!

These two are the best of friends.  I looked back yesterday and this was what a saw.  Two cute boys holding hands.  Sometimes they laugh and goof off, sometimes they fight and argue, but all in all they are great friends. 

Field Trip to Great Harvest Bread Company

Today we went to visit the Great Harvest Bread Company to see how bread is made.  The lady who led the field trip was so great with the kids! 

We got to taste lots of yummy bread while we were there!

First the lady read us a book about making bread! We learned about the five ingredients of good bread…wheat flour, water, honey, yeast and salt. Most of the store breads have a lot of preservatives. 

  

She showed us how to shake the wheat to get the grains.

We got to collect the grains and put them into a container.

The yeast smelled like stinky feet. 

This is the mill that they used to grind the wheat.

Here is the mixer that they used to mix all of the ingredients.

We got to roll out our own bread dough.

This is the huge oven where they cook the bread.  There are 8 shelves in the oven.  Each shelf holds 6 pans of bread.  They can fit up to five loaves on each pan which equals 240 loaves of bread that can be baked at one time. 

Thanks Great Harvest Bread Company for a fun field trip! 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Yesterday we had a St. Patrick’s Day Party with friends.     

We first read a book and made bracelets with green beads.  We learned that the color of Ireland was green.

We ate yummy cupcakes colored green.

We played outside in the water and mud to work off all of the extra sugar!

We made collages with tissue paper and confetti.  We also talked about parades in Ireland.  The kids had a parade.   Later we had pizza and green sprinkled cookies.  I love that we have another family to homeschool with!  We have so much fun learning together!