As You Were

My friend Kenny died last week.  He was 58.  He leaves behind his wife of 39 years, his only son, his daughter-in-law, 3 beautiful grandchildren, his mother, and innumerable extended family and friends who loved him.  He had a heart attack quite unexpectedly and died at church in a meeting.

My heart aches with missing him, and I cannot imagine how his family must feel.  His son gave a beautiful eulogy, and ended with saying that he hopes to be as good a husband and father as his dad was, but he doesn't know how to be himself without his dad.  They were best friends and did most things together.  They recorded 2 CDs together, which fulfilled a dream of Kenny's.  I know my world would be turned upside down if I lost my dad, and I don't get to see him every day because we live so far apart.

Kenny loved music.  He particularly loved the Beatles, and the funeral people found an interesting CD with funeral music arrangements of Beatles songs to play.  Apparently Kenny had said he didn't want funeral music at his funeral someday, but the Beatles.  I can't say I cared for the funeral-ish versions of their music, but I suppose it was an acceptable compromise.  I do wonder if Kenny would have cringed at those arrangements.

Kenny and I were both on the praise team at our church.  Even though I only knew him for a little over a year and a half, I saw him every week and we shared music and laughter together.  He shared those things with everyone.  We had a little inside joke about one of the songs we performed, and in listening to people talk about their experiences with Kenny, I think he had an inside joke with just about everyone.  It was a great way to connect with people.

I learned some things about Kenny during his eulogy that made me wish I'd had more time to get to know him and that my husband had had the same opportunity.  He loved Star Trek and Star Wars, and so do we.  He was also into science fiction and space, and loved model rockets.  Todd would have loved that!

Kenny's son told a story about starting a Star Wars fan club with his dad and some friends, and how much his dad loved being a part of that.  One night Kenny fell asleep while watching a movie and startled himself awake, and the other guys were laughing.  He just looked at them and said, "As you were."  (I think this is a Star Trek quote, but I can't be sure.)  That's how Brad ended his eulogy: by telling us all, "As you were."

We had a get-together at our house on the 4th of July for our praise team, and Kenny and his lovely wife, Renae, came and brought the most amazing baked beans.  I didn't learn until after they arrived that they had a family dinner at their house, and had sat their family down to eat and then came over to join us.  I can't tell you how much that meant to me.  He and Renae said we'd have to get together with the kids, and I was looking forward to getting to know them as part of our North Carolina family.

The best thing about Kenny is that although I know he would not have chosen to leave his life on earth just yet, everyone knew how much he loved them.  His family knew beyond all doubt that he adored them and were the most important thing to them.  He didn't leave any broken relationships behind.  We all miss him terribly, but I don't believe there are any regrets of things we didn't get to say.  I hope the same will be said about me, someday.

Thanks, Kenny, for being a great friend.  I will miss you greatly and look forward to seeing you in heaven.

Homeschool: Our Scintillating Conversation

Me: (Child), Get your math.

Child: I don't know where it is.

Me: Well, find it.

Child: Will you help me?

Me: Is it in your bag?

Child: (spoken without moving from couch) No, I took it out.

Me: Look in the bonus room.

Child: It's not there.

Me: What about your bedroom?

Child: It's not there.

Me: FIND YOUR MATH! I DO NOT HAVE IT AND HAVE NOT SEEN IT!!

Child: walks straight out to car and gets her math books

Me: Deep breathing and counting to 10 (or more) so as not to go choke said child and whack her on the head with said math book.

There is No Peace with Preschoolers

We started our homeschool year a couple of weeks ago - the day after Labor Day, to coincide with Isaac starting preschool again.  We took the plunge into Ambleside Online, combining years 1 & 2 so we don't miss any of the wonderful books.  The first week went REALLY well.  It was even better than I'd hoped!  The girls enjoyed the books we're reading and even though we're doubling up, it's not a terribly heavy workload.  Of course, our math books hadn't arrived yet and we don't have our microscope for science; it's going to take another week or two to get up to our full load, but still, it was good.

Last week, we were all sick.  We did do some reading, but for the most part, we laid around and felt pathetic.  It was pretty bad.

So, today, my goal was to get back on track!  We started off with some math, and Abbie finished reading the two things she was unable to read last week.  It wasn't terrible.

The thing is, Isaac is not terribly quiet while we're schooling - the child talks incessantly, bless him.  He also kept asking when we were going to go outside.  Abbie really needs quiet for reading and Emma would do just about anything to get out of school work, so we didn't get as much done as I'd hoped.  After math, we did go outside, and I decided to take a look at my plans for the week and tweak a bit (already).

I hope to be able to do a 4-day school week this year, with Fridays off for co-op twice per month and some fun field trips on the other weeks.  Isaac has preschool 3 mornings per week this year, which is wonderful.  We can get a lot done while he's gone and be mostly finished with our work before I need to pick him up.

Mondays, however, are going to have to be filled primarily with things he can either do with us, or that his talking won't bring to a screeching halt.  I think this might be a good thing, actually.  There are many things that will allow him to tag along.  We can do our hymn study (he LOVES) to sing, composer study (he loves all music), nature study, and geography - we're reading Paddle to the Sea, and I know he would enjoy listening in.  These are things that are easy to overlook when faced with finishing math and trying to get grammar done, so I'm hopeful that it will work out for the best for our homeschool year overall.  The girls will still have to do math on Monday, and some language arts, but we can keep history and other things that require more conversation and concentration for times when Isaac is in school.

I have to say that I have no idea how all this is going to play out when he's ready to start school at home with us.  He is so active and talkative that I'm glad he will not go to public school, but those same traits make it tough in the homeschool sometimes too.

Abbie's Math Instruction

We got a cool set of math manipulatives, called See & Solve Manipulative Kit by Lakeshore Learning for Isaac in the mail today.  They were recommended by Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler, and I was able to get them for a great price on Ebay, so I ordered them.

Isaac, of course, had to take them out of the box RIGHT THEN and play with them, and Abbie can't resist anything math related, so she started trying to show him some simple addition.

Abbie:  "Isaac, how many fingers am I holding up:

Isaac: "One."

Abbie: "And how many fingers on my other hand?"

Isaac: "One."

Abbie: "If I put my fingers together, how many are there?"

Isaac: "Two."

Abbie:  "So, one plus one is....?"

Isaac (confidently): "Six!"

I managed not to laugh out loud.  He did get better with the next problem.  When she asked him, after showing him her fingers and all, how many two plus one equalled, he did say "Three!"  So cute.

Guidecraft Givewaway - Interlox Blocks!

Head over to Cindy's blog, Along The Way, and check out her Guidecraft giveaway!  A lucky winner will receive the Interlox 96 piece building set.  It looks like a lot of fun!  I know my budding engineer(s) would enjoy it.  Check them out:

Doesn't that look nifty? You definitely want to enter to win these!  I will be adding them to Schmooey's wish list!

Archimedes Discussions

The girls and I have been reading Archimedes and the Door of Science together, as part of Living Books Curriculum Year 3.  It's been interesting to read what life was like in Ancient Greece.  We're now starting to learn about some of Archimedes' discoveries of simple machines, like the screw and the lever.

Today, we read about Archimedes making a bet with King Hiero that he could move whatever heavy object King Hiero gave him to move, no matter how large.  The king told him to move a ship out of the harbor that all the king's slaves had not been able to move.  Archimedes set up a system of pulleys, and moved the ship with one hand.  Needless to say, he impressed the king.

We also read about a discussion Archimedes liked to have with King Hiero.  Archimedes believed that the most perfect thing was a well-reasoned idea.  King Hiero said that such ideas were useless unless they could be applied in a practical way.  I asked the girls which they thought was better - thought, or application. They told me they agreed with Archimedes.

I told them we would try dinner using Archimedes' method.  I would think about a fabulous dinner, from preparation to serving.  I would ponder all the ingredients and think about exactly what I needed to do to make such a dinner.  I would ruminate on the process of cooking and what would happen when the ingredients were combined.  Then, when Todd came home, I would tell him all about my well-reasoned dinner plan, and see what he thought of it - all theory, no food on the table.  Somehow, they didn't think that sounded like a very good idea!  Ha.

We read about "work," and how the scientific definition of work is the action of forces on things.  I showed them how hard I could work by poking Emma in the leg several times.  She didn't find that nearly as amusing as I did.  

We also read about level 1, level 2 and level 3 levers today, and found them a bit confusing.  We're going to make real levers tomorrow so we can see how they work.  A level 3 lever is something like a fishing pole.  It really makes no sense looking at the pictures in the book, but we could imagine it better when we thought about how a fishing pole works.  I have a feeling we may need to involve Todd with this lesson.  They are supposed to be "simple" machines, and I'm sure we can make the levers.  I guess I should be thankful we're not to the math part yet.  Bleah.

Another Confessions of a Homeschooler Giveaway!

Well, I didn't win the nifty geography curriculum, but I'm going for the new giveaway!  Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler has a really fun, inexpensive preschool curriculum, Letter of the Week.  I'm getting it ready to use with Isaac, mostly as a way to keep him busy while the girls are doing school.  I think he's going to love it!

 

Erica just came out with her K4 Expansion for the LOTW curriculum, and is giving away a copy to one lucky winner!  Go check it out.  She has made some great activities for an older preschooler.  (Is that possible? An older preschooler?  LOL.)  There are beginning math, reading, and writing activities.  Isaac already knows most of his letters, so we are going to move ahead with beginning reading.  He will love the colorful, fun activities in this curriculum

Go over and enter now!  You know you want to. :-)

Expedition Earth Giveaway!

Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler is giving away a copy of her Expedition Earth geography curriculum!  I've enjoyed reading about it on the blog.  It looks like a lot of fun.

Here is the blurb from her blog:

Get ready for an exciting voyage across the world! Come along as we walk on the Great Wall of China, wander through the Amazon Rainforest, and climb the Egyptian Pyramids! Within this curriculum you'll discover the sights and sounds of 31 countries across the globe. You’ll get hands-on with fun activities, crafts, recipes and more! So grab your passports, and get ready to go! It's time for Expedition Earth!

CLICK HERE to enter - there are lots of ways to get extra entries, too! I believe it's targeted at K-3, since she has younger children, but we all know you can make of it what you want when you homeschool. :-)  Head on over and enter to win!

Look what I found!

Today, since we finally have some sunshine, I was outside trimming some bushes. It's probably not the right time, but they have been ignored for a long time (since before we moved in a year ago - eek) and some of them are out of control. Actually, Abbie did a lot of the trimming for me last week, but she didn't do the Giant Holly Bush or the Rose Bush Trying to Take Over the World (RBTTOW).

I decided, after attempting to trim the RBTTOW a bit, that it needed a good whacking off down to about 24". I should have done it earlier, and it's showing lots of lovely new growth, but the thing is immense and needs to be brought back under control. As I was trimming, though, I found this:

It's a cardinal's nest!  Of course, I immediately stopped trimming the bush and cleaned up, to get away from there as quickly as possible.  That poor mother bird must have been having heart palpitations.  The RBTTOW looks a little, shall we say, interesting at this point, half trimmed, but I'd rather have the baby cardinals.

Isaac was very helpful yesterday.  He picked up branches for me in his little red wagon, and dumped them on the edge of the yard - almost in the "natural area."  He also used his wagon to clean up after the lawn mower.

He is so cute sometimes, I can hardly stand it.

Update:  The mother cardinal was back on her nest this morning when we came home from church!  I'm hoping to get some pictures of the babies as they grow.

Toyboxes & More Giveaway!

Be sure you head over to the Crafty Classroom blog and checkout the Toyboxes & More Giveaway!

Here is a little info from the Toyboxes and More website:

ToyBoxesandMore.com offers high quality, affordable Wood Toy Boxes that are perfect for children of all ages; All of our products are built for real kids in the real world. The furniture and toys featured in our store are built to pass on for generations and make fantastic gifts and keepsakes. Our goal is to inspire children with the power of their imagination through unique and creative heirloom-quality wooden toys and room furnishings.

All you have to do is register an account with Toyboxes & More, and leave a comment on the Crafty Classroom blog telling her that you'd like to enter the contest and that you've created your account. Of course, if you already have one, just mention that. There are a couple of other things you can do for extra entries - like blogging about it! :-D

One lucky winner will receive a very cool Wooden Bead Maze. I know my little guy will enjoy it, and so will the many smallish visitors that come to my house. Make sure you go over and enter to win!

Aquarium Update

Abbie told me at the beginning of the school year that she wanted to study aquatic plants. I had no idea what we were going to do to accomplish that, until my mom reminded me that we could set up a fish tank. We still had a 20 gallon tank left from all the fish tanks we used to have, so we got that set up using Diana Walstead's "el Natural" approach. Basically, you put down a layer of potting soil (we used Miracle Gro Organic Choice, at the recommendation of our local fish guru), then tuck the plants in, and then add a layer of gravel on top. You can see a blog post about it here, and someone else's step-by-step instructions here. There's also a forum about it here, I've gotten lots of great help from the folks at Aquatic Plant Central.

To date, we have a breeding pair of dalmation lyretail mollies, and 4 of their babies are now about an inch long. We've recently seen at least one brand-new baby, so that's exciting. Here is a picture of what I'm talking about:

We recently added two golden wonder killifish, and they are a lot of fun. I think they are helping with controlling the molly population, which is good. I believe we have two male fish, so we won't be getting any killi babies.

We also added two creamsicle lyretail mollies. Here is a picture of someone else's:

They are so pretty! Abbie loves them. The female is pregnant, and we currently have her in a little breeding tank until she has her babies. She has figured out how to escape said tank, so we've had to re-capture her several times and put her back in there.

We also added some peppered cory catfish and an algae eater. We have a lot of algae in the tank, and our one little algae eater isn't making much of a dent. I don't think our planted tank plan is working out quite like it should. We shouldn't really need a filter, but we had a BioWheel mini running on it (I believe they are now called BioWheel 100), and it wasn't enough. The water was cloudy, and it just wouldn't clear up, even with frequent water changes. We ended up putting our Eclipse system on the tank. The Eclipse is an awesome system, but it's for more than our tank should need. I don't think the tank is getting enough light for the plants. We're supposed to install two fairly high-powered compact fluorescent lights over the tank specifically for the plants, but we haven't gotten around to doing that, so I think we're going to have to keep the Eclipse in place for now. The water is clearing up nicely. Unfortunately, part of the tube on the filter portion was cracked. Todd repaired it with some electrical tape, but it's LOUD. We ordered replacement parts and I hope they will be there this week. I don't think the fish like the noise.

On a very happy note, I called a fish store in Charlotte called Fintastic, and they are going to find me some julidochromis ornatus!

Todd and I had a breeding pair of them when we lived in Michigan, and we loved them. They had 21 babies, and we had to sell them back to the pet shop. I think they are my all-time favorite fish. We have a little 5.5 gallon tank, and it's all set up and waiting for the julies to come home. I can't wait!

Guidecraft Giveaway!

Head on over to Granola Mom for God for a giveaway for Guidecraft Block Mates Farm Animals! They are very cute. I think Isaac would have a blast with them.

Guidecraft also makes dinosaurs and safari animals. They are all cute! I can't decide which ones I like best, but I think Isaac would prefer the dinosaurs. :-) If we don't win the giveaway, I will have to put them on his wish list!

I am not having fun today.

I decided to give up Facebook for Lent. I spend a lot of time online playing games and such, and as a homeschooling mom, I really don't have time to do that. Also, I should really focus on finding some friends I can hang out with in real life. I do love my online friends, and am going to miss them terribly for the next few weeks, but it would be fabulous if I could spend time with some folks face to face.

Since I never look at a calendar, I assumed that Lent started today. I was wrong - I could have had another entire week of Facebooking! Rats! However, I know myself, and I know that if I waited until next week to stop, I would have lots of reasons why I shouldn't really have to give up FB. I decided to go ahead and be done today.

I am struggling. Isaac has been having one of "those" mornings. Before I even got up this morning, he'd clogged the downstairs toilet with an entire roll of toilet paper.

While I was having breakfast, he soaked his shirt trying to play with his toy coffee maker, so we had to take it off. Then, he wet his pants, and left wet footprints behind him through the living room as he walked in his wet socks, pants around his ankles, to find me in the kitchen and show me his conundrum.

Shortly after I got him dressed in his second set of clothes for the day, he came downstairs again with no pants on, and told me he'd gone to the bathroom (poo this time) upstairs. He managed to do quite well for himself and didn't even clog the toilet! Good for him.

Next, he found a jar of Nutella that I had clearly not put up high in the pantry, and proceeded to eat it with his fingers under the dining room table. When he was finished, he wiped it on the back of his shirt. Actually, I was glad to discover that it was Nutella on his shirt rather than poo, which I'm sure you understand after reading the previous paragraph.

And then, he got his Cariboo game and decided to fill it with water. The base of the game is a cardboard box which didn't respond favorably. It's currently drying on the front porch.

It's only noon. The girls are supposed to be doing school; their math is taking an inordinately long amount of time and it's all we're going to get done today. We have piano lessons this afternoon, then Emma goes to Girls on the Run, and then we have kids' choir and I have adult choir this evening.

I WANT to go play on Facebook and ignore all of the chaos around me. However, I decided to come share my morning here, which has given me a few moments of peace, and will now go make lunch for us so we can leave for piano. I have been picking up around the house, and trying to get some laundry done. I did not get on Facebook and play games, so I count it as a success! Woo hoo!

Baby Ladybugs!

Have you ever seen baby ladybugs? I had not, until today!

We've had a ladybug problem since we moved into our house. Well, not really a problem, because we have high ceilings and they like to hang out where we don't really notice them - except in the master bathroom. They seem to congregate in there. Whether it's because they can find water in there, or because of all the windows, I'm not sure. I know they seek out the water because when we're in the shower they like to drink tiny drops of water from the glass door. I had never seen ladybug footprints before I saw them walking through the steam on the glass. That was pretty cool too.

This morning, I was taking a bath when I should have been educating my children, and I noticed BABY ladybugs on the side of the tub! I have a fondness for most tiny things, and thought they were terribly cute. And, guess what? I took pictures! I knew you'd be thrilled.

Here is a picture of a traumatized adult ladybug near a baby ladybug - look closely at the molding if you can't see the baby. The adult was traumatized because as I tried to pick it up to move it near the baby, it fell a few times due to struggling with me. Apparently it could not sense the vibes of peace and goodwill I was projecting at it.

There is another baby on my razor:

And here is a picture of the adult and a baby on my hand. I thought it was interesting to see that the baby's back is patterned in brown and white - good camouflage for the great outdoors! Hence, the reason I had not seen them before they showed up against the white in my bathroom.

I did call the girls in to look at the baby ladybugs. They thought they were adorable. Look at that - we did science!

Note my amazing photography skills in that last picture. I was holding the "big" camera myself and took the picture one-handed. It's not as easy as you might think.

Fun At The Cat Show

If you know me, you know that I am a cat person. I love animals, generally, but I am partial to cats. I have five of them and am open to more (although I do not believe my husband shares that sentiment). There is nothing better than a purring cat!

A couple of years ago, when Isaac was a baby, we went to a cat show in Raleigh. There are two different cat clubs there that host shows, and I'm not sure which one we attended. We had a great time, and met several people who were just there showing their pet cats. They told us it was a lot of fun and we should try it. I was sure there was no way we'd ever do that. I love my cats, but I like them at home, you know? They all hate to be groomed, and you have to groom show cats a lot. And clip their nails - that's a whole 'nother barrel of laughs.

Apparently the girls have had the idea of showing a cat in the backs of their minds since then. We got a kitten from the local animal control in September 2010, and it didn't take long for them to start talking about showing her. They mentioned it a couple of times, and I said helpful things like "Mmm hmm" and tried to pretend I hadn't heard them, hoping they'd forget about it.

My children are nothing if not persistent, however, and they began to ask more specific questions regarding when, exactly, we might be able to take the kitten to a cat show and what we needed to do to get there. So, I sighed in resignation and began to do a little research in January. I learned that there was, indeed, a cat show in Raleigh in February, but we were a little late in signing up (not impossibly so, but enough that I could use it as an excuse to wait until the next one) and one in the town where we live in October. I made a deal with them that we'd go to the one in Raleigh and check it out, to see if they thought they really wanted to continue with their cat show plan, and then sign up for the local one if they thought it still sounded like a good idea.

Off to Raleigh we went on Friday afternoon, to stay with some dear friends, have pizza, and then see some cats. Todd and I decided that it would probably be best not to take Isaac to the cat show, as his window for being quiet is quite limited and there were too many opportunities to hide, as he is wont to do these days, or otherwise run amok. Todd stayed with Isaac at our friends' house and they played while the girls and I headed off to the fair grounds and the cat show.

We had such a good time! There were so many beautiful cats to see, both pets - many rescued - and purebred. I would have been willing to take home one of everything. There truly is something special and fun about each breed. There were also two local rescues present, which I thought was fabulous. I have to try not to get too close to them though because I always want one.

I was going to try to list all the breeds we saw, but I didn't write them down and I'm not sure, looking at the list on The International Cat Association's website, if we saw some this year or the last time we went. I'd say my favorite cats this time around were the Bengals. They are lovely, active, friendly, playful SHORTHAIRED cats. They are a lot of fun!

The most beautiful cat I saw there was Zabbie, a shaded silver British Shorthair. Her website is here. She's a kitten, and her mom wants to breed her, and is in the process of finding her a suitable mate. I adore silver cats. My Gabe, best cat EVER, was a silver tabby exotic shorthair. The British Shorthair breed was developed in Britain, and there are most certainly Persians in their origins. I think that's what I loved about Zabbie, besides her amazing color: her short nose. It's not squashed like a Persian's or an exotic's, which I love, but still short and cute.

Abbie fell in love with the Maine Coons. She thinks she would like a silver classic tabby, if she likes showing cats and we get her a pedigreed cat to show. That's a big IF, but Todd is quite partial to Maine Coons, so I think it would be fairly easy to sell him on the idea. Here's a picture of a kitten:

:-D

And here's a picture of an adult:

I think I could live with a cat like that.

I have to say, though, that the BEST cat I saw all weekend was a rescue named Deacon, a cat who was rescued from a trailer park with several others where they were being used to train fighting dogs. That is a soap box for another day, so I won't get started. Marley's Cat Tales was one of the rescues there, and they had cages for 3 cats. The first time we stopped by, there were only two - Deacon and a lovely red Persian male named Sparky (I think). Sparky was lovely, but as much as I love my Persians, I am done with their crazy coats and especially Dory's weepy eyes and cat snot. (I am sure that's TMI, sorry.) Anyhoo, the very nice woman who was minding the cats let me hold Deacon, and I was instantly in love. He is a cuddler. There are not many cats who relish being held and petted, but Deacon positively reveled while we were bonding. He curled up on my chest, tucked his head under my chin, and proceeded to purr loudly and make happy feet. When he got tired of one position, he readjusted and we resumed our love fest. He is a solid cat - much heavier than you expect when you pick him up - and the most loving cat I've ever met. If I'd been allowed to take him then and there, nothing would have prevented me from doing so. However, there is an application process, and Todd is pretty sure we're not adopting him. I'm pretty sure I'd like to at least consider it, though, so I am going to contact them and find out if anyone else figured out how wonderful he is and adopted him first.

This might be the longest post I've ever written! It has very little to do with homeschooling, except that the girls are possibly going to pursue showing cats, so I suppose I'll sign off and go make some dinner.

Guidecraft Giveaway!

Go check out the Guidecraft Giveaway on the My Life on a Taffy Pull blog! Mrs. Taffy has reviewed Guidecraft's Animal Train Sort and Match toy, and will be giving one away to a lucky winner! I know it looks like something my Schmooey would enjoy. I poked around at their other toys, and there are LOTS of fabulous things on their site.

Walking with My Boy

Isaac and I took a walk around our neighborhood this morning. Our street is a circle, and it makes a nice walk, about 3/4 of a mile. It's been raining here, so there were lots of puddles. Thankfully, they were mostly small ones. He made sure he stomped in each puddle at least once.

On our last leg, there were several leaves in the road. He had to pick up each one and put it back on the nearest lawn, because, he said, "The weefs need to be with their fam'wies."

Conversations with Isaac, Who Is Very 3

Mom: Isaac, will you hop up please?
Isaac: NO! I DON'T WANT TO HOP UP! I WANT TO HOP DOWN!


Mom: Isaac, do you want some dinner?
Isaac:: NO! I DON'T WANT DINNER! I WANT CAKE!


Isaac (to mom): Do you know my name? [Is this a trick question?]
Mom: I think your name is Orglesnork.
Dad: I think your name is George.
Isaac: I'm not a monkey! I'm a BOY!





(It took me a minute to catch on to that last one. Let me know if you need a hint.)

Horse Camp

The girls went to horse camp this week, at a new stable for us that we found locally. Even though it was EXTREMELY hot, they were so happy to be back on horses, they had a wonderful time.

Emma rode a horse named Pilgrim, and she loved him.

Abbie rode a pony named Pepper, and had a great experience riding her, even though she was a pony. Prior to this week, Abbie took great offense at being asked to ride a pony when Emma was allowed to ride a horse. The thing is that Emma is adult sized, and while Abbie is tall for her age, she is still child-sized and can fit on a pony. Emma is really too tall for most ponies now.

Anyhoo, one of the neat things about this camp is that in addition to horse riding lessons, they were also exposed to driving. THey also got to do vaulting, which involves, I think, getting the horses to jump up onto something, and then back off. I *think* this is a precursor to actual jumping. They'd gone over some very low jumps in lessons at our old barn, crossed poles and the like, but this was a new experience.

Probably the best thing was that our new friend, Christina, was able to come to their end-of-camp performance and saw both girls ride. Getting to know her has made the girls' transition to our new home so much easier. It's wonderful to have a friend!

There's always a little...

There’s always a little truth
behind every "just kidding,"
a little curiosity
behind every "just wondering,"
a little knowledge
behind every "I don’t know,"
and a little emotion
behind every "I don’t care."

Got this little poem from the Generous Husband websiteI was gate-crashing the man version of the Generous Wife site, from whom I receive daily email tips) and thought it was worth pondering.

If you want daily tips on how to improve your marriage, I can recommend The Generous Wife. Not being a husband, I don't know about The Generous Husband, but he seems pretty savvy too. :-) I've found that while not every tip applies to me, they are nearly always thought-provoking, and keeping your marriage in your thoughts is usually a good thing.