Busy Days

The boys did well at the Youth Bird Competition, placing 2nd in the High School Division, 1st for the most money raised in the same division, and Stennes won 1st for his bird journal. They identified 132 species, which pleased them greatly because their original goal was 115. They've come a long way.
The Girl moved into a 3rd grade math book; she's just whizzing along. Josiah is imitating a...what? Cossack in pain?

Poppins wrote a love song for our anniversary. The tune was interesting, with strong overtones of "Chopsticks".

ChubChub wanted to show you his rabbit. What do you mean you can't see it? Gotta have lots of imagination around this kid!

Another birthday/anniversary gift from Poppins. We were married on my birthday. Can't forget that one, can you, Poppins?

ChubChub diligently re-filled the pepper mill. It kept him happily occupied for a good while.

Working on Greek and Latin. We're trying to catch up a bit, and Mean Ol' Mama was pleased to see how much they retained. They're in the same level in Greek and Latin, but different levels in Spanish and English.

This Greek is getting hard, yes?

Do you think Branch could use another pair of shoes? These are his absolute favorite. Well broken in, that's for sure.

Look what we finished today with Branch and The Girl! Mean Ol' Mama read aloud and explained when necessary, but they have quite a bit of Science and History knowledge due to field trips and other life experiences.

When we finished school today, they decided to play....MORE school????!!!! Can't figure these kids out (Yes, I ended this sentence with a preposition). Sorry.

ChubChub enjoyed his play time during school hours. A big mess, but quickly picked up. (Look! Another preposition on the end!)

The Girl and Branch gave the ice cream churn a few turns. Yummy!

Don't be fooled, folks. Anders did NOT cook the burgers. His cousin did all the work.

Poppins drilled Anders on multiplication facts while we waited for supper next door with Pop and the others. We really enjoyed that meal.

This Past Week

Anders moved his chicks to their new home. Each boy has a different breed of chickens, and some of them are quite pretty. Josiah worked on his new garden, planting Kentucky Wonder beans with a friend.

Row, row, row your raft...

And now, presenting... a floating head!

The boys hammered out knives on the forge. Old saw blades certainly come in handy.

Stennes caught up on his Greek translation.

Anders caught up on his, as well!

Mean Ol' Mama found these sweet notes on her bed from The Girl. She's such a cutie.

A friend brought fresh kale to share for salads. Quite tasty!

Poppins bought the kids a new, much-needed trampoline. Gotta read those instructions first.

And now to try it out! Wheeeeeee!!!

We went preaching locally last Sunday and had a nice time. The people were very kind. This place is quite large and we nearly lost our voices singing loudly to those who were behind us and further in front [not in the photo].

Teresa and Mean Ol' Mama headed out with the kids at 5:00 a.m. Monday morning. We stopped at a state park for breakfast because the kids were starving. Hey, kids, you're starving, remember? Kids? Yoo-hoo??!!

The boys ate down by the lake. It was so fresh and pretty that morning.

We spent the afternoon/night at a dear friend's home. Guess what? More boys!

Thankfully, this family also has two sweet girls. The oldest read bedtime stories to The Girl.

Tuesday morning the boys went birding with a shore-bird expert and Dr. Lynch, Josiah's surgeon (it's a long story). They had a really good time.

We went racing away to Fort Morris, missed the turn, did a U-turn on a country road and promptly got stuck in the marshy soil. Thankfully, the boys were strong enough to push us out, but Anders and Caleb ended up wearing a good bit of the mud. Teresa and Mean Ol' Mama could hardly see for laughing so hard!

We stopped for a quick lunch of braunschweiger on crackers and sweet/spicy chips. Sounds strange, but the boys really enjoyed it.

We made a quick visit to one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States (early 1700s).

We felt pretty special when they opened Fort Morris just for us (another long story).

In the museum:

We enjoyed listening to the speaker discuss Colonial life at the Fort.

Smell that block of tea, Branch? Wouldn't Mean Ol' Mama love to have it?

Participating in old-fashioned games:

We then headed out to Jekyll Island after visiting two more wildlife refuges, looking for more birds. The beach on the Island was lovely, and we enjoyed our hotel stay.

Wednesday we visited Fort Frederica on Saint Simons Island. Watch out for these two soldiers!

Look at this lovely lassie!

Branch and The Girl earned their Junior Ranger badges for this Fort. They had such a good time.

We saw Christ Church where John and Charles Wesley preached. They stood under this tree to preach some of their first sermons on the Island.

We then raced like mad to the Okefenokee Swamp, trying to reach the 3:00 boat tour. We made it! The guide actually waited on us, and we were the only ones on the ride. It was interesting, especially since the guide had been homeschooled, too.

Snap! Watch your fingers, fellas!