Towel mountain

Every.  Week.

Marie is towel washer and folder here. 

This makes me smile....  When we were getting married we registered at JCP for towels.  Golden yellow for the main bathroom, taupe for the master bath, the kitchen was all white and blue, as was the nearby powder room.  So elegant and neat.

I don't think we have two matching towels in the whole house these days.

(And I wouldn't have it any other way.)

Mark 7:4
And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

GM day

Every few years we get a sneak peak into Daddy’s work.  Pictures are prohibited outside, so we widely have to lean on our memories to recall what his plant looks like. 

They had this race car outside and we were welcome to pose and sit in it.

Ecclesiastes 3:13
Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.

Getting decked?

Our deck needed sealing.
I will spare all the details, and just reflect on the goodness of seeing the kids work along side John to make this big job very doable.

I can’t believe how fast they have grown up.

The bees were a problem the second day and John got creative. 

(Doesn’t everyone have a beekeeping suit?)

Ecclesiastes 4:9
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

Her turn

Katriel has been showing signs that she is ready to take reading by storm.
Her friend, Rumor Weed, is helping.

I can’t wait until the day she can open the Bible and read it for herself.

Psalm 115:14
May the Lord give you increase, you and your children!

Endless shrimp 2017

For the third year we made it to Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster.

We ate until we were sick…

(and I about really WAS sick when they said they no longer take Olive Garden gift cards [even though it says they do on the back] and I had to pay the full $85 it cost for this extravaganza!)

Still – time with these silly girls is  gift. 

Matthew 15:11 - It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.

SK 2017 season

The first game was today and the weather could not have been more lovely.  I convinced Marie to let me braid her hair early and as soon as Spanish class finished up we hopped into the van to get to the game vs. Saint Paul on our own field.

If you’ve read other posts about Scarlet Knights, then you might remember how highly John and I regard Marie’s Coach, Mr. Marshall.  He is SUCH a good and godly influence and mentor.  I am regularly astonished at how gently noble he is. 

Nan met us there, and later Stewart and Nigel headed over to watch the second half.  Marie got to play quite a bit and the won the game.

Throughout the game we wondered what the band was she was wearing.  It turned out that in addition to the two regular team captains, they are going to have two honorary captains each game to bolster both defense and offense plays on the field.  Marie was given the honorary defensive captain job this week.

The little girls were whiney and hot.  Or hot and whiney.  You decide.  I decided that I would not bring them to another game.  Just sayin’.

I Timothy 4:8 -

For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

New bedroom (mostly)

This bedroom.  LOL.  It has continued to undergo transformation over the last 1.5 years.  It started and stopped, at least twice.  The first time was when I realized we didn’t have the money or energy to switch out the old carpet.  So I “fixed” it with a new quilt.  Story here: Settling.

Then – our friends gifted us an unused gift card that paid for the bulk of a new carpet and we embarked on a redo.  Story here: Bedroom re-do.  Except that it never felt done.

Then – One day my friend Diane was over giving me some suggestions for my living room.  I mentioned that I really wanted to fix my room, but I wanted a white metal headboard and they are ridiculously expensive.  A day or two later she sent me a Craigslist link with a brass headboard.  We bought it and I got busy painting it white.

Over the course of the spring and summer we built other things when time and budget allowed.  I got very familiar with Pinterest, thanks to Diane, and had lots of new ideas.

I also painted the formerly (and short-lived) purple walls to match the first two.  I had to guess the color because the old can didn’t have a label.  It turned out fine.  *PHEW*

NOTHING happened over night. 

We had trips to Costa Rica and Canada (twice) and camping.  We had birthdays and friends from Oregon visits and a kitchen redo.  We had football and soccer and baseball schedules.  We had a leaky roof, a dying van, and a lawn tractor fire.  We had life.

And then there was the bedspread hunt. 

We have a history of not paying too much for bedding and I didn’t want to change that. I didn’t hate the spread we had and wasn’t going to change it just to change it.  I waited for a good deal.

We had a few attempts.

And then Walmart to the rescue!

And the curtain hunt began.

And while there are still a few decor ideas up our sleeves, I’m going to call it pretty-sorta-done. 
With the emphasis on pretty.

The hanging, mirrored, jewelry case was a Mother’s Day gift and perfect for me and this room.
The bedskirt is a story of ridiculous splurging after ruling out making it myself.  On rare occasions I will willingly pay to not have to do something ourselves (especially if it seems it would cost more time than we have).

I LOVE my bedroom.  I love it.  John is very happy with it, too.  I get such a happy, rest-filled feeling in there.  We have purposed to keep it very clean and so far it is working out.  We don’t do school in there anymore, either.  It’s a refuge in a busy house in a busy life. 

Matthew 8:24
And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.

Put a little song in your heart.

A few weeks ago, Marie mentioned a song from the Disney movie Brave that she would like to have the music to.  I had to hunt around online, and the closest I could find was a duet book.  I quietly ordered it for her and Tabitha (there were other songs in it that I knew they both would like).

At first, Tab was far more interested than Marie.  What jumped out to Marie was the word “duet” and she wondered if it would be useful.

A little while passed and she sat down with the book at the piano, then brought it to the table.  Then back to the piano.  And back to the table.  And she identified that the top staff from one and the bottom staff of the other would blend to make it a single musician piece.

And – we now have lots of new music wafting through our house. 

The first one she worked out?  Pirates of the Caribbean theme song. 

Proverbs 25:20
Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on soda.

Super talent

Apparently,my daughter is so creative she colors in her sleep.

(Notice Stewart’s kitty.)

Psalm 104:24
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

How we do things…

Check out the clock on the wall. 
They have already done their devotions and are into the meat of chemistry.

Best part of homeschooling? 
Finding what works and loving it.

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness

Superhero Princesses

The best of both worlds:  defend the universe and look good for tea.

Scenes from a homeschool 2017

We are still in the stage where we finish school early.

So we hung out in the basement on the XBox.

Except Stewart – who came home tired.  Full Time college is hard work.

1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin