Random Sunday Musings

Stennes is showing our family's favorite sauce. We encourage the kids to eat as much hot sauce on their meals as possible for Third World preparation. The Girl continued her science project by mashing full loaves of storebought wheat bread and her homemade wheat bread. You can see that the homemade (on the right) is certainly more worth its weight.

Poppins' plate is on the left ; a child's is on the right. Guess who had to come back inside and clean his plate to match Daddy's? Family rule and great Third World prep.

Just hanging around. Two monkeys swinging on the same vine.

ChubChub showing us how to do a pull-up. He's pretty strong for such a little guy.

The Girl received a tea cart made in Indonesia. Aunt Teresa picked it up at a yard sale to add to the (ever-growing) tea collection. It's quite as charming as its new owner.

Two of the men in my life. One I love very much. And the other? Don't tell him I said so, but I can't live without him.

We went preaching in a government housing project Sunday evening, but no photos were taken. Pray for us. We have a lot of plans but not much time.

Friday and Saturday

We celebrated 2 birthdays with visiting friends on Friday. It's fun to have special people come over and encourage us in the path we have chosen to follow. Friday night, supper was shared with more family and friends, and we had Friday Night Worship here.

And this young fella was just too suave.

On Saturday, The Girl made Wheat Roll-Out cookies, which were basically a shortbread dough. It was more work than we anticipated, so after the first tray of little stars, dolls, and other shapes, we ended up rolling balls out of the second dough. Still yummy, though...

She also made whole wheat bread as part of her science experiment. She's going to compare store-bought with home-made. We already did the "taste test" on four guys here at home, and the home-made won.

Ta Da!! The finished product. The loaf at the back weighs the same as the one from the store, so it's being saved for the rest of the experiment.

The call of the jungle finally got to the boys Saturday afternoon. They really enjoyed the tire swing.

Stennes has been trying to figure out how to shape up using the rings

Swingin' through the backyard jungle...

We wrapped up Saturday night at the local YMCA soccer field. Poppins really gave the boys a work out. He was kind of winded, too, but it was so much fun watching them play and antagonize each other in order to sneak in another goal.

Isn't this oak tree beautiful? Can you spot ChubChub? Way down on the right-hand side, leaning against the tree with his little scooter. Kind of puts life into perspective, doesn't it?

While the guys played soccer, The Girl and ChubChub decided to take a bath. A dirt bath. Yep, Mean Ol' Mama was very happy to see the results. [ahem...]

After hot showers and lots of scrubbing, we all sat down for hot vegetable soup and The Girl's bread with butter. We had a very satisfying day.

One Photo Thursday

Josiah. Jamming in torn swim trunks and a Civil War cap. Gotta love it.

Wednesday

Anders and Branch worked on their Spanish Bible lessons. Branch also read a few short books in English. He has very nice handwriting. The other boys were at Shop working on projects. We worked in our History notebooks together this morning, but the projects have to be done, so Stennes and Josiah were excused from book work. Speaking of handwriting, Anders worked on his penmanship in his copybook. Each page (40 in all) contains a Bible verse in English, the same in French, the same in Spanish, and the same in Latin. There is also a proverbial saying / idiomatic expression and a quote from Shakespeare.

After finishing her schoolwork, The Girl began a new puzzle. This one contains 504 pieces. She is a puzzle fiend, so we're hoping that this one is large enough to entertain her for a while.

Finally, I'd like to present my Spanish 101 class. I'm now Mean Ol' Teacher a well as Mean Ol' Mama. I am sooooo pleased with the progress they're making. We've only had 2 classes so far, but they are moving along quite well. Ellos estudian mucho.

Monday and Tuesday

The big boys did quite a bit of Shop work on their projects. It's kind of slow-going when they have to form the boards before they begin building. Branch is still working on his English reading. He seems to enjoy the little stories.

Two lathes going at once. Josiah and his cousin Caleb are busy, busy beavers, shaping bits of wood into beautiful forms.

Since when did Josiah grow horns? And all this time we thought he had a halo... He's wearing one of his favorite shirts: Friends don't let friends go to HELL... He really has a heart to help others know about Christ.

Searching for just the right drill bit. It's an education in itself just digging through Pop's tool supplies.

Josiah and Caleb are consulting a book to choose the next project. Josiah is working on a collection of antique-styled fishing lures.

The photo below is a little blurry, but it shows the Rhinoceros Beetle that Anders so kindly brought into my bathroom to share with me Tuesday morning. What a blessing to have bug-sharing boys...[ahem...]

Later Tuesday morning we attending a Poster Art Class for the local homeschool group. Teresa taught the children some neat "tricks of the trade". They had plenty of paper and other hands-on art supplies to work with .

ChubChub perfect the art of...eating bagels. Well, he's an artist at heart, anyway...

The Girl's poster was as sweet as she is. How can anything be so pretty? [The Girl and the poster...]

Branch did a fine job, too. It's not quite what the class was about, but they're happy, so we're happy.

Lots of photos...

Sorry it's been a few days since I last posted. We've been off-on-off with the electricity due to Florida's tropical storm. Water, water everywhere down here. We left the big ice chest open outside and it ran over at least four times. According to the rain gauge, we had a genuine deluge. Plenty of branches were knocked down, there were flooded streets in the town, and some friends are still without electricity. The photo below shows a stack of magazines that have kept my children encouraged the last few days. Thanks, friend (you know who!!) !! Branch had his first public performance at Friday Night Worship. We gather for songs & prayer every Friday night with Pop & everyone else next door (and anyone who drops in...).

The Girl made a Whole Wheat Fudgy Pudding Cake for Josiah's 11th birthday on Friday. We lost our electricity that night.

Stennes got out his sterno stove to cook a little canned beef stew. We also heated water for Mean Ol' Mama's ever-present hot tea.

The kids pulled out a new game Saturday afternoon. It sure looks dark in the picture, doesn't it? Rain, rain, rain...Drip, drip, drip...Restless kids...

Josiah received some nice gifts. We don't usually give brand-new gifts; rather, we look for thrift store / yard sale goodies. And we strongly discourage "silly" purchases. Josiah will use his birthday cash for a new fishing pole. He hopes to use it a lot during Third World Week coming up in October.

Stennes is having some early-morning snuggle time with ChubChub. Just enough time for another episode of "Prince Stinkerbug". Chub will do anything to hear "...just one more 'tory...peeeze..."

Speaking of Prince Stinkerbug...Do you think his rifle is long enough?

Sunday afternoon was more rain, rain, rain. The big boys ran outside for a little exercise and to start moving the fallen limbs out of the yard. Josiah came across a nice nest of yellow jackets and ended up with at least 12 bites. Monday morning, they went out to kill the nest, and one lone yellow jacket gave his final "Good-bye" to Josiah. Ouch!

Here's a photo of the Boys' Shop that is being re-ordered. They all have their own tables and tools, including The Girl. It looks messy, but it's being overhauled to deliver better Shop Time.

Notice all of the neat things hanging over the work bench? You could probably find anything you needed in this Shop (except for money and more time in your day...).

Stennes has been working diligently on his Fair project. Five days of rain hasn't helped with the timing, though, but it's cleared up. Back to business, brother. The photo below shows the beginnings of his project. New legs, anyone?

We will try to be more dependable in posting. Between Mean Ol' Mama's new job at the College, Fair projects due in 2 weeks, Science Fair projects due next week, Speech competition in 2 weeks, Forestry Judging competition in 2 weeks, Mini-booths due in two weeks, homeschooling, Life Skills, classical guitar classes starting again next Thursday, Algebra starting on Wednesday, Band in Tallahassee on Mondays, etc....[breathe...breathe...] Anyway, we'll try to post more frequently.

Photos of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

Anders and The Girl are working on their history notebook sheets. We're back in Ancient History, working our way towards Ancient Egypt. The kids have new notebooks for this time period, so we think that their timelines will be "just snazzy". Gotta know those fancy words... The Girl worked on her cross stitch project. She enjoys handiwork of all types, so we keep our craft box stashed with plenty of goodies.

Even ChubChub has been bitten by the book bug. This is a rare moment of contentedness and quiet for him.

Anders fixed a good meal of Pumpkin in Coconut Milk, Bang Bang Chicken, and rice. He really enjoys cooking (and "eating" isn't so bad, either...).

This is where the boys will be living for one week in October. We'll be posting more about this later.

Branch has been faithful in taking buckets of leaves to the chickens. They really enjoy those bugs and other half-decomposed goodies. Yummy!

The boys worked with Pop in re-wiring the zip slide that runs through these trees. I've never understood why it's so enjoyable to hang from a metal rod as you zip quickly and precariously through the air on a thin, long wire. Hmm...gotta be a boy thing...

"Mira, Mami, un sapo!" (Look, Mommy, a frog) "Es para ti !" (It's for you !)

[Oh, dear, how can Mean Ol' Mama turn down such a gift from the heart?]

Let me tell you how...by screeching, taking ten steps back, yelling for the other boys to take the poor, squeezed frog far, far away. Yep, gotta give the baby a kiss, but that frog isn't getting anything from me...

A cannon found in the woods. Leftover battle relic? Nope, just something put together by the boys a few years back for authentic play. Notice the backward SU? Don't worry, it's US on the other side. Just keep it pointed in the right direction. Kind of like life, you know; it all works out when you're headed down the right road...

Monday morning Mean Ol' Mama received a very unexpected phone call from a favorite professor at the College (French from many years ago...). "Please help me. We need a Spanish instructor for this term. Interested? Great ! By the way, the first class is tonight..." So the boys prepared meatloaf, baked potatoes, and a cake while Mean Ol' Mama rushed to the College, filled out tons of paperwork, picked up the text, and came home to prepare for class. What a blessing it is to have children who can step in during times of need (and even more of a blessing when they do it willingly, with initiative and competency)...