Forty & Fabulous

So today I celebrate my 40th birthday!

Everyone keeps asking me if I feel old but honestly I don’t…until you ask. LOL My wonderful family & some pretty sneaky friends threw me a surprise party and made many of my pinterest dreams come true but I will share their wonderful party skills later. Lauryn was asked to come up with 40 life events to put on a board and said she struggled a bit with this so I thought I would share he first 10 today.

1. Summer 1972 – No I wasn’t born but apparently I cut short a fun family camping trip out West while still in my mother’s belly. My mom and oldest sister flew back home to Florida while the rest of the family drove back.

2. December 17 1972 – This would be the day of my birth

3. August 1977 – I started kindergarten and my teacher was Mrs. Bellhorn. This was extra special because she taught both my brothers and my sisters.

4. September 1978 – My first piano lesson at Rollins College. My teacher, Mrs. Hunting, burst in the room and without looking up blurted out something about redheads being mean (she was a redhead). What she didn’t know was that sitting at one of the pianos in the back was an extremely shy redheaded girl.

5. 1978-1979 – We would drive up to my grandparents house in Waynesville, NC and I would play with Bonnie, the girl next door. She had a strong southern accent; a cat named Pepper and a dog named Bern-a-de-atte (can you hear the twang?)

6. Summers – Every year our family spend a week or two at New Symrna Beach. We lived 45 minutes away but I swear it would take forever to finally get there!

7. Summer 1981 – My siblings were much older and beach vacation often ended up being mom and I there the whole week while everyone else popped in and out based on work and school schedules. This included my dad. This one trip we had bought a yellow Hawaiian Punch inflatable raft to ride the waves and dad took me out as far as I dared and we spent the afternoon riding the waves.

8. 1983-1986 – Joined the Jackson Heights Middle School band and played the clarinet

9. September 1986 – I gave my mom a black eye! Yup you read right. I was in 8th grade and I  accidentally hit her in the face with a tennis racket.

10. 1986 – I can’t remember which month but in 8th grade I was Student of the Month.

First Week of School...

Friday Funnies...

After a lovely afternoon sitting on the deck with my friend, we came inside to find this...

Oliver stalking his virtual prey

Friday Funnies...

Ben filling his father's shoes

Every Fall the military takes time out to say thank you to the families who support the men and women in uniform. Families from all over the area come to the Guard base and spend an afternoon with the troops their loved ones serve alongside each month. This October we attended Family Day with my husband at his unit. While waiting for my husband to finish some business we waited in his office and just happened to witness the following.



Colonel sits down in the office and says, "Shirt (referring to my husband's rank), I've got a troop that just won't act right. And I just don't know what to do about it."

Thoughtfully my 8 year old puts his hands to his chin and then responds, "You know I think you ought to talk to him about it and give him a chance and I think he'll come around."

I think we were all a bit surprised by his wonderful response instead of his usual shurking behind a large object hoping that no one would notice him. haha

Friday Funnies....

On Mondays, we have a mini co-op here in our home. One of the benefits of including an "almost finished" homeschool mom is that she has some free time on her hands. So while I am teaching the history portion she is available to help my younger two if they should have questions. This week she was helping my 8 year old with his math. During their conversation, she commented to him that he was pretty good in math and then asked what his favorite subject was. He thought about it and replied rather enthusiastically, "Dictation! It's really easy. All I have to do is speak and then write it down."

In our home we are trying our hand at the dictation modeled during the Childlight USA conference. Simply put we are feasting on ideas while practicing handwriting and spelling. For him it seems easy but for me I am satisfied with the 10 minutes it takes and the benefits it supplies.

A Moment's Peace...

As every busy mother knows it can be difficult to steal a few quiet moments of your own. Recently my sisters and I decided to make spa appointments. The room was quiet except for the music playing softly in the background. Tension was slowly leaving my body. All was right in the world. Until...

First I heard the muffled sounds of my oldest daughter's ringtone. Darn it! I forgot to silence my phone. OK no big deal. I'll just call her back when we are done. No sooner had I resolved that issue when I heard her ringtone again. Clearly I should have informed her I would be unavailable for an hour. Trying to regain my peace, my cell phone rang AGAIN. This time it was an unknown caller. Why is it that when you don't want to talk everyone wants to talk to you? Shortly after my third interruption, my daughter calls again. OK what could possibly be so important that she couldn't wait thirty more minutes? Really! Can't a mom have some peace?

My time evaporated and I was forced to return to the real world. I turned to my sister and joked that Lauryn had called me three times during our facial so she must really miss me. I check my voice mail. "Mom" Lauryn began, "it's a good thing the house is not on fire and I didn't need you right away." Her voice exasperated. I return her phone calls and she begins to tell her tale.

While I was away, I informed her that she was in charge of cleaning the inside of the house. So, taking her responsibility seriously, she decided to put the dog on the deck and vacuum the house. Forgetting that she set the house alarm while I was gone, she set it off when she opened the door to let the dog out. Have you ever heard those house alarms? The ear-piercing obnoxious sound they make? Frantically she ran over to the keypad and turned the alarm off but not before setting off the protocol of phone calls the alarm company would make to ensure things were fine. Remember that unknown call I received during my appointment? Yes, that was the alarm company wanting to know if things were OK? They also called Lauryn but her phone went straight to voicemail leaving the alarm company to think the alarm truly went off. Of course the police came to the house to check it out.

Ironically a friend had just sent me an email on a homeschooling high schoolers lecture she had attended. One of the points was to allow your children to experience challenging situations to further develop their strengths. See I had it planned all along. LOL

Homeschool Blues...

Kids say the darndest things...

This week our house has been filled with teenage girls so you can imagine all the laughter, squeals, and conversation. Over coffee and donuts one of our guests shared her early morning observations in regards to my 8 year old.

In our home we have two pets, a cat, Velma and a dog, Izzy. I have often described Velma as a menopausal woman. She and Izzy have sort of a love-hate relationship. Izzy loves to tease Velma and Velma hates it. Early this particular morning Velma was in the kitchen having her breakfast. She likes to eat on our windowsill so that she can eat in peace. Izzy likes to taunt her during meal time. :-) Our 8 year old was up as well enjoying his quiet time acting out whatever was in his imagination. At one point he paused and went in the kitchen to see all the goings on. He was "caught" by our guest on all fours barking. Then he turned to Velma and said, "See Velma. It's only barking. You don't have to be scared."

Oh the sweet imagination of little boys!

Ambitious Goals Retold...

It is true. Yesterday my imagination overtook my brain and I created a long and tiring to-do list. But I thought I would share some humorous highlights from the day.

• After announcing to the kids itwas time to work in the garden, I came outside to notice my 7 yr. old in his yellow hard hat and tool belt (all tools accounted for) bent over the garden pulling weeds. Maybe my instructions were unclear...build a garden?weed a garden? :-)
• Busily pruning our crape myrtle tree I noticed how beautiful and silent it was so I paused to look around and discovered I had been abandoned to work alone! Good help is so hard to find.
• We found an old wasp's nest on a tree branch I pruned. The two youngest were discussing whether or not we should keep it when the 7 yr. old matter-of-factly replied, "It's nature. We should keep it."
• I moved to the gardenia bush next. This has been my garden nemesis as disease has tried to take this sweet smelling joy away from me. While deep in the pruning process I turned my head and (gross alert) poked the pupil of my eye with a stick. Swollen and red it was quite a sight to see. Thankfully it is sore but much better today!
• While all this was going on I marinated pork spare ribs with fresh rosemary and sage. When my husband came home from work he threw them on the grill and we dined divinely. I looked like a one-eyed pirate but we were making memories! haha

I am sure there are many life lessons from yesterday. We did more home than schooling but still it was an enoyable day.

It's Alive...

A funny thing happened on the way to the Nature Study (ba dum dum)...

In an effort to try and regain our school and enjoy more of our subjects, we are packing away our Apologia Physical Science for a while and heading to the great outdoors. Today we decided to start with the Handbook of Nature Study Outdoor Challenge #1. Prior to going outside we spent some time talking about how each of us would see different things while outside and that was okay. Personally, I seem to always take notice of the sounds of nature. Maybe that's because there is a calming peacefulness to the outdoor chatter of the animals but that is a topic for a different blog. :-) So off we go, to enjoy our backyard! The girls walked around the house and ended up on the swings. Taking in the sights and sounds of our yard and enjoying a brief moment in time. Lurking in the woods was a hunter waiting to surprise us...our cat, Velma! So out she comes from the woods holding a brown mass in her mouth and then the mass begins to move. The girls jump off the swing and run screaming toward the house, "Ew Velma has a mouse! And it's alive!"

Ah yes just another peaceful Nature Study moment...

Kids say the darndest things...

Recently our family has recovered from the swine flu. While laying in bed I tried to keep my mind off of my misery and found myself traveling down memory lane. So I thought I would share a "best of" post on some of our more humorous moments.

The newest arrival
Living in California, we were expecting our third child. On the day of her arrival my husband and I were doing what we always did on the 1st and 15th...shopping at the commissary. While picking out the usual items I began to notice waves of pain in my back. Quietly I leaned over to my husband and informed him I thought I was in labor. I've never seen a man move so fast. We checked out quickly as my husband pulled the "my wife is in labor card" to the cashier and made our way back home. He shuffled the kids over to our neighbor and off we went to greet our newest addition. After she was born, we called our neighbor to let her know that all was well and we had welcomed in a new daughter. Hanging up the phone she turned to our 5 year old daughter Lauryn and said, "Lauryn you have a beautiful baby girl!" Lauryn, in her usual manner, rolled this over in her mind and replied, "I hope so. I sure didn't want an ugly one!"

How do you spell your name?
One evening my five year old son, Ben came upstairs to ask a very serious question. "Mom," he began "how do you spell your name?" "M-O-M" I replied. Pausing a moment to consider my words he said, "Is that your first name or your last name?"

A conversation with God
Our oldest son, James has a wonderful imagination. He had an incredible gift to get lost in the world of make-believe. At the age of 10, we had begun involving him in more responsibility around the house. Frustrated and tired James vocalized his fatigue with a serious discussion. In response to my husband encouraging him that God had indeed created him to work, James replied "Dad I didn't come here to work. I came to earth to have fun." This struck my funny bone as an image developed in my mind. There in heaven, God is handing out each of our life assignments. "Moses, I want you to lead my people out of Egypt. Noah you will build a great arc. And James...James oh you just go have fun!"

Virginia who?

Last night, Kaelyn and I were getting ready for bed. We got on the topic of the books she was planning to read this summer and came across The Tender Years by Janette Oke. As we skimmed through the beginning, I came across a line that read "this is Virginia's story."

Excited, I said Kaelyn that is Mema's name...Virginia. She glanced at me questionably, "I thought her name was Colene." "It is." I replied, "but her first name is Virginia. So is Aunt Sharyn's." Kaelyn quickly asked, "Then what's your name? California?"

Oh the things little boys will do...

Thursday evening while on the phone with Jay, Ben in usual kid fashion shared how he and his friend ate scrambled bird eggs. I, in typical mommy-mode, panicked and began quizzing him; expecting him to basically become violently ill at any moment. After much dialogue, Jay talked me down off the ledge saying that this must be a tall tale of sorts and Ben is confused. No matter how I formed the questions, Ben's answer came back with absolute certainty that he ate scrambled bird eggs.

Fast forward to today.
I listen to a voicemail from the mom of Ben's friend sheepishly asking if Ben is ok. Her son has been ill and after speaking poison control has come to the conclusion that yes, indeed, he scrambled Ben and himself some bird eggs. Apparently the boys found some eggs that were pushed out of a nest and they decided to eat eggs for a snack. Luckily for Ben, he only had a couple of bites and has faired well. They young chef, however, did not get off so easy. He started throwing up and his body is working hard to get rid of the salmonella. So it is official, I can now say that my son has eaten scrambled bird eggs.

A Day in the Life of...

I get an email from a friend that basically asks if I have trouble getting started on Mondays. Here is my response!

Monday...so far
8:00 woke up and got ready for school, short prayer time
8:30 began trying to wake up the girls
9:00 Meghan arrived
9:15 Kaelyn STILL not up!!
9:30 James is pacing the kitchen waiting for me to take him to work.
I am trying to read emails and figure out why my phone won't send out emails! AHH
9:40 Finally give up and take James to work
10:00 Arrived back home to find girls reading science
10:15 Try to convince the girls we should take our math quiz
Start to respond to this email
Still trying to figure the stupid phone
10:20 Friend calls, "Help we are pulling our son of out school. What do we do?"
11:50 Asked Lauryn to help the girls write their paragraph on Gregory the Great
Make lunch for Ben
12:00 Try to convince Ben we should start school. He still wants to play!
12:00 Bring laptop to table to finish your email and work on paragraph with girls
12:05 Laptop crashes!!! Lost your email!!! AHHH
After much up and down between Ben, girls, and Lauryn finally start the day!!
1:00 Girls reviewing phonograms on DVD
Ben is finally ready to do the math he misplaced earlier in the morning.

Embarrassing to Admit...but fun!

OK so a while back we had a fire ant problem and no bug spray on hand to kill them. Being the internet savvy mom that I am (lol), I decided to google search ways to kill ants. I came across one that suggested we pour boiling water over the ant hill making sure we use enough to kill the queen. This intrigued us SO...we tried it. All the kids in the neighborhood gathered for days to look at the results. My kids would come back reporting new discoveries.

This morning, we were on our way to church when my 11 yr. old showed me a rather large ant hill and without skipping a beat asked if we could boil water to kill it. Once again we gathered all the pots we could find and filled them to the top. After all them reached boiling temperature we walked out to the mound. The first thing my daughter noticed was small white specs surfacing to the top. They almost looked liked grains of rice. Then she noticed as we were heading back to pour the next batch of water that the surviving ants were feverishly working to move their food. This fascinated us so we watched for a while...then we poured the water over them!

I know! It sounds cruel and I hate to admit it but it is so fascinating to watch! J