pretty, happy, funny, real

It's a rainy and overcast Thursday here at our house; a perfect kind of day to take a few minutes to join Like Mother Like Daughter for a pretty, happy, funny, real post.

Pretty

This picture is about a month old now... It would be lovely if the crab apple blooms would last longer, but we enjoyed them while they were at their peak.  This tree is really close to the house - and it's a big tree - so the view of the blooms filled a couple of large windows in the living room.

Happy

We have a "sun room" just off our kitchen.  I put that in quotes because it's not a typical sun room and we're not sure what to call it.  We've been told that the room started out as a true greenhouse, but later a roof and walls were added.  It's still sun room/greenhouse-like because it has a dirt floor with a rock path down the middle and huge windows lining the walls.  When we moved in, the room was a wreck.  The walls and ceiling had never been fully finished, the windows weren't trimmed, and it was used more for storage than anything else.  It was obvious that the room had potential, though.  We've been working on it, but it's not quite complete.  However, I did find some wonderful hanging baskets for the room.  I like white flowers, and these are especially nice because they hang down nearly to the floor.  It's making me happy that this room is "getting there" and looking better with each small project.

How about one more entry for happy?  These 2 are so happy with the nice weather.  Nearly every day when they finish school, they pack up their Bitty Twins and head outside for picnics, tent-building, etc.

Funny

This was given to me on Mother's Day by my 7 year old.  I love it!  She got some things dead-on.  Others not so much, but it's given us all a good laugh.  I suppose you'd have to know me pretty well for this to have the full impact, but I assure you that I'm not a dancer in any sense of the word and that I'm not particularly fond of goats.  Yes, we own 2 dairy goats, but that doesn't qualify me as "likes goats", does it?  The part about collecting eggs is funny too.  I certainly enjoy eating and baking with the eggs our chickens lay, but the collecting duty falls to the girls, not me.  I think I'm mostly touched that she thinks  my eyes are pretty and that I'm smart; what more could a Mom hope for?

Real

The girls and I went to our dentist's office for cleanings/checkups today.  Good news: no cavities.  Bad news: 2 orthodontia referrals.

New toothbrushes are such a treat.

The school year "ends" this week

It's May 22 and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  We are very nearly "finished" with school for this academic year.  The weather out here in the mountain wilderness has been unusually warm this entire month - maybe even a bit longer - so we've not been quite as regimented about school for several weeks now.  Had we kept our noses to the grindstone we'd probably have completed all our courses a week ago.  I'm not complaining in any way; May 31 has been my goal all year, so we'll easily make that.  Plus, for the most part, I enjoy our school days (the girls too).  It will just be nice to know that the formal coursework is out of the way for one more year.  I am planning to keep some sort of school happening over the summer.  We were terrible about that last year, but we had valid excuses: a big family trip to Europe and then the whole process of buying/selling real estate that lead to our move to this house.  2011 was a busy summer indeed.  There is not a European trip in the works this year - or any other extended vacation.  We're looking forward to quality time here on our own property - and in the mountains.

First day of school pictures.  See the 6 fingers for 6th grade?

Once I officially claim each of the girls as passing to the next grade we'll have students going into 1st, 2nd and 7th grades.  In all ways we are reminded that time flies, huh?  I've home schooled for Kindergarten the past 2 years in a row and that comes to an end now.  Kind of sad.  Kindergarten was fun for me and the younger girls. They learned so much, but in such a low-key way.  I have most especially enjoyed working on phonics with my kindergartners.  Reading is such a joy and I was thrilled to be the person to get them started.  I'm hopeful that my constant state of book-in-hand will inspire them to keep it up.  There is so much to be learned throughout life and being an avid reader is a great way to do just that.  A side note: my book club just chose a hefty book for our summer reading (The Cypresses Believe in God) and I'm anxious to delve into it.  Long books are some of my favorites.  The longer the better, when it's a well-written book and a good story, right?

And the first grader, who very appropriately started the year with no teeth in front :)

So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we are planning to stick with our same curriculum next school year.  We'll have some decisions to make about sacrament preparation, as our middle daughter should be ready for confession and communion and our oldest ready to be confirmed.  At this point I imagine we'll do some prep at home, combined with the classes at our parish.  We're confident that the parish catechists do an excellent job, but we'll also want it to be a family affair.

There is something about endings that cause us to pause and reflect.  In this case it's the end of the school year and I've been reflecting about our decision to home school.  I have an analogy that makes sense to me and I hope it translates in the telling... To a much less important degree, it's sort of like us being adoptive parents.  As newlyweds, we imagined ourselves being parents, but we didn't imagine it happening via adoption.  But once we honestly assessed our situation, we decided we needed to take an alternate route to parenthood.  Pursuing adoption was unknown and terrifying, but we took the leap and thank God we did.  Again, this home school thing is not on the same scale, but when the girls were little and we planned/imagined their education, it didn't involve schooling at home.  However, 2 years ago it became obvious that we needed to go a different route, so we took another leap of faith and it's been a good thing.  These are major life events that have taught us that just because a path in life is unknown (and looks difficult) doesn't mean that it needs to be avoided.

And finally, the kindergartner.  The "k" was harder than the number grades!

I should end this rambling post with a disclaimer: we have not become home schooling hard-liners.  Will we always educate our daughters at home?  We don't know.  We firmly believe that a traditional school can be a wonderful place and a great solution for any family.  But for our family, right now, staying at home seems best.  We have found a curriculum we like, we have support from lots of other families, our girls are good students, we have nice space in our home for schooling, etc.  In short, the lack of a better option "forced" us into home schooling, but we have been blessed by a great many factors that have allowed it to be a success for us.

pretty, happy, funny, real

I am determined to join the {pretty, happy, funny, real} linkup today with the wonderful bloggers at Like Mother Like Daughter.  It's been weeks since I got my act together on a Thursday, so today's pictures will be from the past month or so.  Without further ado:

pretty

Easter Sunday!  Pretty girls on a beautiful day.

Another snow scene.  I'm positive I've used pictures of snow as pretty before.  And most people would not think of snow - in April - as pretty.  Nonetheless, this is what we awoke to on Monday or Tuesday of this week.  It was gorgeous.  Oh, and it was gone before noon.  That's just how it happens in these parts during the Spring - rain comes in the form of snow.

Taken through our bedroom window - it would have been better if I'd gone outside, but that would have been cold.

happy

Lately I've been getting our produce from a co-op called Bountiful Baskets.  I think they operate pretty much only in the West, but check their website for more info.  It's a great deal.  I've been so happy with the quality, variety and price.  This was the bounty from a recent Saturday morning pickup.

fresh & yummy fruits and veggies

We have an awesome mechanic.  That in itself is enough to be happy about.  But get this: whenever one of our friends goes to our awesome mechanic, he sends us a thank you gift for the referral.  In the past it's been coffee coupons, but most recently it was cookies and little stampers for the girls.

funny

We bought collars and leashes for the goats.  The girls "walk" them daily!  Goats on leashes qualify as funny, right?

This woodpile is like a jungle gym for goats!

Real

I think we've mentioned here before that Mark travels a fair bit for work.  One of his habits is to pick up a little something for the girls while he's away.  On a recent trip, he brought tea bags home for them.  They were thrilled!  Most people might not be terribly impressed by a tea bag, but these were in the shape of a pyramid and had a fake leaf on the end of the string.  I just love it when they are so happy with the simplest of treats.  A good reminder that something doesn't have to be huge to be a REAL treat.

Sister Joseph Andrew, vocation director for the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, was "in the neighborhood" a couple weeks ago.  She talked to a group of girls from our parish about her community and life as a Sister.  It was wonderful.  If you don't know much about this community, look them up!  They're the Sisters who were on Oprah a couple years ago (not that the Oprah show is an endorsement in any way, but their appearance there gave a wide audience an insight into their life and work).  They were founded in 1997 with 4 sisters and have grown to over 100 Sisters.  The average age of the Sisters is 28 and they come from all across this country as well as Canada, Europe and Asia.  Sister Joseph Andrew was so fun and engaging and REAL!  The girls loved her.  I enjoyed her talk so much.  I also enjoyed hearing the questions the girls asked.  I'm thrilled my 12 year old got to meet a REAL Sister and hear about her very REAL life.

Can you find Sister in the back?  We should have put her in the front!

Thanks for visiting!

The goats are here!

The goats have arrived!  You might recall that once we moved to our present home (about 6 months ago) we began making plans for a large garden and some animals.  We got baby chicks immediately and had great success with them right from the start.  Our hens have been healthy, the girls have enjoyed taking care of them, and we now have more eggs than we can eat.  The chicken success made us brave and we decided to tackle a bigger, more complicated animal.  We researched goats and decided on Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats.  And - fortunately - we found a breeder relatively close to us.  We visited the baby goats once when they were a few weeks old.  And then, last Saturday, Mark and daughter #1 made the trek back to the goat farm to pick up our "kids".

Unloading the goats.  The girls could hardly wait to see them!

As you can imagine, choosing names for the goats was a hot topic around here.  In my opinion, I had lots of really cool ideas for names (Mark was in agreement on most of my suggestions) but the girls kept shooting me down... Finally, someone had the brilliant idea of naming them for 2 characters from one of our family-favorite classic television shows.

So, we're pleased to introduce "Lucy" and "Ethel".

Ethel is on the left, Lucy is on the right.

We borrowed a large dog crate from some friends and transported them home in the back of Mark's car.  Apparently, we have goats who are very tolerant of car trips - not a single incident on the way home :)

We may have gotten the names wrong... Ethel is the nutcase - always climbing on the girls and generally more mischievous than Lucy.  Isn't that backward?

Mark called when they were 10 minutes away, so I grabbed the camera and took the little girls down to the goat shed and waited for them to arrive.  Such excitement!

Exploring their new pen - they went straight for the feed!

Everything is going well so far.  Lucy and Ethel love to play and have human guests in their pen.  They really are cute and sweet (in a totally goat way).  I'm not a huge animal lover - we don't even have a dog - but I think that them being small really helps.  Smaller always seems to be cuter.

Though this is a cute picture, I was probably saying, "don't put your face on the goat!"

So, the whole point of the goats is milk, but they're not quite ready for that yet.  We've got several months to wait before they are ready for the next step on the road to becoming milk-producers.  For now, they'll be entertainment for the girls - and 2 more mouths to feed.

They love climbing around on these stumps Mark put in the pen.