Power outage

We lost our power Sunday night so I made dinner by lamplight on Monday.  I was thankful for my gas range which allowed me to light the burners by hand so I could cook.




I have a collection of oil lamps and am always glad to have a reason to put them into use.  We have a woodstove in our living room, which helped keep the house more comfortable.  Clarence got his generator running so we wouldn't lose all the contents of our refrigerator and freezers.  The weather, though very windy, was not terribly cold which would have made things more difficult.  As it was, we had a lot to be thankful for.

After about 24 hours, the power came back on and our pioneer party was over.  It was a long week.

FIAR Moms Reunion

I was thrilled to get to spend a few hours catching up with dear friends today. 

Eleven years ago this month, we had our very first Five in a Row co-op day.  We read Cranberry Thanksgiving and were done by lunchtime.

I remember the kids making bookmarks by stamping them with cut cranberries but my only other memories of that day are of how shy the kids were with each other (of course, I was shy, too) and the thought that this group seemed very promising.

It turned out to be the only group we stayed with all through the years.  We drifted in and out of various other, larger, co-ops but they all paled in comparison to what we had with this group.  It was a good fit in those early months because it expanded on our main curriculum.  It remained a good fit not only because the families all became friends but also because there was a lot of brilliance in the minds of these women below.  They had amazing ideas accompanied by great follow-through and I credit them with making our homeschooling journey not only more successful, but also a whole lot more fun.



 (I'm stealing my friend Cheri's picture since, bad blogger that I am, I didn't even take my camera along.)

As we continued to meet, the ideas expanded and became day-long events each month.  Our planning sessions helped us get to know each other better and become good friends.  We'd often be brainstorming ideas when we should have been heading for home, because we'd spent all the planning time talking and laughing together.  As the kids grew, we moved away from the FIAR curriculum but remained a literature-based group, reading a book each month and doing corresponding activities.  We're down to three families now, but have no plans to give it up yet.

Time moves on, circumstances change, and it had been a few years since we'd all been together.  The idea of a reunion was mentioned and we all managed to make some time today to get together and play catch up.  It's hard to believe the youngest of our kids is now 12-he was just a baby when we met.  The oldest of the group is now a couple years into his enlistment in the Marines.

I am so thankful God brought us together all those years ago.  I left our reunion once again feeling so thankful for the blessing they have each been to me and so happy to have been able to spend a little time with them-just like old times.

October Quiz

The Bible quizzing season is back.  This year, the quizzers will work their way through the book of Matthew.

It's different this year, with Julianne trying her hand as quizmaster, and Allison quizzing without her.  Another reminder that they're growing up quickly.


In individual competition, Allison ended up placing 3rd.

Allison was able to join with another team for the team competition.  They were supposed to have another quizzer, but she was sick the day of the quiz.  The two remaining girls still managed to take third place in the team competition.

We are hopeful that Allison will have a team of her own by next quiz.  She and Julianne have recruited their friend, Molly, to join in the fun and we may yet add another quizzer from our church.  Even if no one else from our church joins, Allison and Molly will be able to compete as a two person team and oh, my, are they ever looking forward to it.

Meeting Phil Vischer

This past spring, our FIAR group read Phil Vischer's autobiography, Me, Myself, and Bob.  The kids suggested this book, mostly because they wanted our activity for the day to be a VeggieTales marathon.

As a mom of VeggieTales groupies, it was, at times, a difficult book to read because we so love VeggieTales.  Phil Vischer is incredibly gifted and it was heartbreaking to read about the downfall of the company he had invested so much of his time, talents, and energy into creating.  But you have to keep reading because it ultimately is not a sad story, but rather a story of how God used the failure of his business to teach him some things, as well as to direct his path.

One of the other FIAR moms heard about Phil Vischer coming to the area to speak at a church this past weekend.  The church has both Saturday night and Sunday morning services, so we all met there Saturday evening to hear him share his story and some of the lessons God taught him through those bad experiences.  It was well worth the hour-and-a-half drive for us, especially when the kids got to meet him afterward.



It was a pretty big deal to meet him-especially considering Julianne's comments for her commencement program included the following:


I’m tempted to attempt thanking everyone who has helped my education thus far, beginning with Phil Vischer and Veggietales, or Tom Clark and his obsession with why.  However, in the interest of saving trees I think I’ll just cover the highlights.  You can all breathe a sigh of relief.

 

2013 Garden

It seems like an off year for our garden.  The weather has been different this year, and Clarence has been working on our bathroom a lot of the time he would normally have spent in the garden.  I haven't done any gardening due to some issues with my hands so I've been especially thankful for the help the girls have given us with weeding and harvesting.

When our beans weren't producing in July, as is usual, I started to think we weren't going to get much at all out of the garden.  Every time Clarence or one of the girls would bring in something, it seemed like a special blessing because it honestly wasn't looking very promising to me.

The beans eventually came on like gangbusters and, if I don't can any more than I already have, we'll have plenty. 

After I considered buying cucumbers from the farm market, Allison came in with a basket full of them that was more than enough to make the girls' favorite bread and butter pickles.

We got a nice amount of onions, which is better than normal for us.  The potatoes still need to be dug, but Clarence and Allison have already grabbed a few and it looks like we will have a good amount of them as well.

The tomatoes are ripening slowly and, if we don't get an early frost, I'm sure we'll be pleased with the amount produced.  There are some jalapenos and bell peppers ready to pick for making salsa, too.

We've had a fair amount of corn for dinner (I don't can or freeze corn), and beets are growing for a fall harvest.  Our zucchini hasn't done as well as years past, but we've enjoyed several of them as well. 



The basil has done beautifully.  Clarence brought in a paper bag of basil tonight and I was able to make this pesto.  He harvested it a while back, too, so I already had a few jars in the freezer.  (If you wonder why I have old dates and contents on my lids, I use old canning lids with my Foodsaver to vacuum seal the jars before freezing.  Sealing stuff in jars is my main use for my Foodsaver-it is well worth ordering the attachment if you have a Foodsaver.)

So, after such a slow start, our garden has done very well.  Oh, me of little faith.

New WalMart training

Allison picked some of Clarence's dahlias to enjoy in the house.  They have nothing to do with this post, except that I thought I needed a picture.

I don't venture into WalMart very often, but there are some items that are enough cheaper there that I make the extra stop once in a while.  This past week was one of those times.

The girls each needed a new planner for the school year and I wanted to get some other odds and ends while I was waiting to pick Julianne up from work.  Having time to kill (therefore, time to look around) makes for a much more expensive trip than being in a hurry and loading only those things on my list into the cart.

I found cute planners, but not notebook filler paper.  Big packs of index cards and, oh, yeah, the last time I tried using my white-out, it was all dried up, so into the cart it went.  Then off to the health and beauty department to get various things.

I finally arrived at the self-checkout lane and started scanning my items.  When I scanned my white-out, the register told me to wait for assistance.  Who knew they had to card you for correction fluid?

The checkout girl walked over, carefully punched in her numbers, then turned and very deliberately looked at my face.  I smiled and said "I'm 50."

She responded with "Really?  If you were buying booze, I would have carded you because you only look 35."

I laughed and thanked her-and as I walked away, I mused that I felt a lot better about my $80 bill than I had before she had to verify my age.  I'm convinced this was some sort of marketing ploy.  Well played, WalMart.

She did it!

 

Last Saturday was Julianne's commencement ceremony.

Julianne and her friend, Samantha, were the only graduates, which made for a small ceremony, but it was a very special day.  One of the big co-ops here offers a graduation ceremony to any homeschoolers who want to participate-but you don't get to choose your own color cap and gown.  I still find that strange, since homeschoolers by definition are independent thinkers.  So we had to do it ourselves.

Allison played the piano for the ceremony, then sang with Julianne while Julianne played, in lieu of having to fit a piano recital into our too-hectic schedule this spring.

Emily made Julianne toss her cap into the air when we were outside for pictures.  Some traditions just can't be broken, ya know.

Julianne's cap, by the way, is a Dr. Seuss "Oh, the Places You'll Go" cap.  When I saw it on Amazon, I knew it was perfect for her.  She agreed.

Some of our dear Five in a Row friends made the long drive to spend the day with us.  Unfortunately, a ninja snuck in and knocked Max out of the picture.  Looks like Molly is in imminent danger, too!

We are so proud of you, Julianne.  You've worked diligently to reach this milestone and we look forward to seeing what you accomplish next.