Don't tell Isaac, but....

I just can't wait to start school again. Officially, our last day was April 7th (Jonathan's birthday!). My plans are all entered into Simply Charlotte Mason's Organizer (http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/) and the calendar is marked for our first day on July 5th. One more box of books should be arriving on the big brown UPS truck this week. Here's our "line-up" for this year:

• Character: Thoughts for Young Men
  


• Dictation: Spelling Wisdom 2


• Grammar: Analytical Grammar


• History: Ancient Egypt, The Cat of Bubastes




• Bible: Genesis through Deuteronomy, Adam and His Kin, One Blood


• Math: Life of Fred-Algebra I


• Nature Study


• Poetry: Rudyard Kipling Poetry for Young People


• Science: Exploring Creation with Physical Science


• Literature: Some Rudyard Kipling books... and whatever else looks good :-)

METHEA Graduation

It is truly an honor that Eddie and I have the privilege to work with the Tennessee Home Education Association (http://www.homeschooling-tennessee.org/) through our local chapter (http://www.mid-eastthea.com/). It's occasions like graduation that make me so very proud of the young adults that our children have become. My sweetie, along with Jim Upton, made this graduation even better. Way to go gang!

Eight Months

Meet Thomas

It just seems a short time ago that we were taking Isaac to see Thomas. I learned a few things back then. One was that you don't have to pay the huge ticket price and ride Thomas to enjoy seeing him. Anyway- Harvey the Crane is Jonathan's favorite. We actually got there in time to see Harvey at work.

Jonathan helped me pack a yummy picnic. We loaded up after nap time and headed to Chattanooga to "see Thomas." Even though the day was cool and looked like rain, we had a wonderful time. Even squeezed in a stop at Babies R Us on the way home to get Rachel a mattress for her new bed.

What could it be?

Daddy has a surprise in the garage!

Dollywood Days

Did I mention that Daddy got season tickets for our family? We loaded up on Wednesday morning and headed off to a day at Dollywood. It was difficult getting there.... but we made it! For whatever reason, when I stopped to get gas- none of the pumps we tried would take any of my credit cards! Finally we found a Piolet in Seiverville to get gas. Boy were we getting low!

The Morgan's spent the night with us after spening the day cleaning and staining our fence. We were up and loaded, ready to get on the road. But we had to make an unexpected stop at Campbell Station Road when Rachel started vomiting. Yuck!

We finally made it. I think we all ended up having a great day including the little ones.

More Photos

For the life of me, I can't remember what these two were watching.

I had written this on the board for Isaac. It was one of our last days of school. When we came into the school room that morning, Eddie had filled in all the blanks with the brown words. Isaac and I had a good laugh!

Ah.... one of the last times Miss Rachel sat in this! The little mutt would climb out of it every time. Even though she couldn't sit up by herself- she's still want out.

Mm mmmm- you guessed it. Spaghetti for dinner.

Instead of trying to clean him up- Eddie just went straight to the tub.

I'm glad Eddie got a picture of this. Easter morning, Jonathan and I colored eggs. Who knows what he was thinking/doing- but he was just sitting in the middle of the floor with the bucket on his head. What a hoot.

Oh! I had forgotten how sick our little guy was until I found this photo on Eddie's camera.

Eddie's new office taking shape.

The first thing that had to be done was the exercise machine had to be disassembled and moved to the barn. That made room for the bookcases.

Mother's Day

Double Duty

I've heard the good, bad, and negative of bathing "the babies" together. But in this season of life, the bad and negative seem worth it. And anyway, they are having so much fun together!

Look what I found....

I snapped some photos on Eddie's camera this morning. When I borrowed his card to load them on my computer, I found all kinds of photos. Isaac on the day before braces. He has done absolutely awesome. I had to reschedule his very first appointment. We'll find out this week if Dr. Chance thinks he is doing as well I think he is.

Our trip to Dollywood
And the highlight of Jonathan's day- getting to "meet Diesel." We didn't explain that Diesel was really a steam engine. While in town one day, we heard a train. We were not near the tracks to see it though. When I ask Jonathan where he thought Diesel had gone, he never even paused before he said, "Oh! To Dollywood."

Eddie enjoyed shooting water at Isaac on this ride. Next trip, I'll probably ride with him since it will be warmer.

Thursday evening ( May 5th) my crew took me to Knoxville to celebrate my birthday.

We ended up at our favorite restaurant- Rafferty's. And Little Miss Rachel had her first

crackers. Yum- that's a big deal for such a little girl. The last time we were there,

I was holding her with trying to eat too. Already she is big enough to sit in a high chair-

with a little help from the cart cover.

Maybe I'll find some more fun photos.