Today I am going to take a little trip back in time and post some of my favorite pictures from the past.
Nico and Kaya jammin on Dad’s drums ~ Jan ‘06
Posing in some cute clothes from Jessica ~ April ‘06
Between contractions ~ 8/17/06
Our Cute Trio ~ August ‘06
Checking out the Cutie in the Mirror ~ 10/06
Luna Sitting and Loving Books at 4 mon. 12/06
Ok, that’s it for now. I will deliver more Flashback Friday goodies next week!
Inspired by our recent sponsorship of a child in Ghana through Compassion, Kaya has been really eager to learn more about Africa. I really believe that, when children follow their own interests, they get so much more out of their learning experiences. So, we have started an in depth study on Africa with a focus on Ghana.
Yesterday we did some map work, finding Ghana on the map and also reviewing what Kaya had learned previously about continents, countries, directions and so on. We printed off the national flag of Ghana, learned what the colors represent and hung that up next to a world map and map of Africa. I ordered a stack of books through inter-library loan and we will springboard into traditional African tales. I also plan to cover things like climate, economy, landforms, natural resources and culture and possibly have Kaya write a short report on what she’s learned. Because she now has a desire to learn more about the country where Precious lives, she is on fire about the topic and therefore getting a TON out of it. It is awesome to see the spark in her!
In other news, I did get a picture of our elusive deer friend yesterday, though through the window so the quality isn’t the best. He/she visits at least once a day now.
Also, Jay was able to install the custom bathroom vanity he had been working on for his client's cottage along with a set of drawers that were to be fitted into a recess in the bathroom wall. These are made of reclaimed barnwood, which is a material Jay really loves to work with.
The corner pieces of the vanity were originally knee braces to the timber-frame of an old barn. The counter top was originally a barn floor. I love to think of the history of the old wood, trying to imagine who it was that worked so hard with hand tools to build up the barn all those many years ago.
The pictures don’t do it justice, but the top of the vanity is so beautiful.
Jay’s craftsmanship and attention to detail blows me away every time. These drawers are magnificent.
And here they are installed in the cottage.
Jay still has some other things to install in the cottage over the next week and we look forward to going over with him and spending some time at the lake.
And here is one picture I forgot to add yesterday. 
Starting off with things that make you go, “Hmmmmm….” Out of the 35 visits to my blog yesterday, only 7 people commented to let me know who they are. While I am fine with random passers-by coming to read (knowing that is the nature of a public blog) I am feeling a little up in the air with actually leaving this public. Many of my daily visitors come here through the same venues or Google searches every time, so I know that the visits are deliberate. I am mulling it all over, but if this page suddenly shuts down, you can email me at tiedyebutterfly at hotmail dot com and let me know you’d like access.
On to the day’s “this ‘n that”, it was a nice day around our house. In the morning, we did a quick run to the store and picked up a much needed pendant light for the area between the kitchen and dining room. We have a little built in desk/table sort of thing between the two rooms where my laptop sits and we took out a gaudy hanging light over the space when we moved in.
I like orange. :)
Then, once that was in, I took a knife to my two biggest jade plants and finished up a two-stage deep pruning. I’ve had both plants for about ten years and they were both very small when I first got them. The Jade is from a plant that my best girl-friend’s mom had. She gave me a 3 inch cutting that has grown into quite a large plant. Keeping in mind that over the years it has had enough cuttings take from it to start over 20 new plants. Recently, my dog knocked the whole big pot off of the side of the porch and broke a few branches off. The plant itself was getting a lof of droopy branches off the side that made it unbalanced. About 20 drastic cuts later, my Jade is feeling much lighter.
Probably hard to tell in the picture, but the plant and pot together are taller than Luna, easily.
The Spoon Jade was bought about two weeks after Jay and I got together nine years ago. Again, it was just about 4 inches tall when I got it and has since Mothered at least 15 plants. This one had the same issue of side branches hanging down off the side and close to 30 cuts later, she’s looking much better.
While I tended to my plants and did my “round the house” chores, Luna and Kaya did lap upon lap around the driveway.
We need to keep our eyes open for a trike for Luna. This little Radio Flyer scooter is getting a bit too small for her. She got it when she turned one, and it’s served her well for the last two years.
Aw, so little and cute!
Taking some time to day to count my blessings….
I’d like to take a minute to mention a great organization called Compassion. Compassion Once our property sale goes through, we plan to sponsor a little girl from Ghana who lives with her grandmother. This is one of the best organizations of it’s kind out there, over 83% of the sponsorship goes right to the aid of the child. You can also send monetary gifts right to the child or their family and Compassion workers assess true needs and help the family use 100% of those funds. Sponsoring one child costs $38 per month and while we are by no means rich and often linger just above “just getting by”, I realize that compared to many in this world, we are so privileged. When we make this commitment, I know we can do whatever it takes to stick with it. The average family income in Ghana is just $10 in USD. Per family. Think about that for a second.
I know that there are SO many out there who are just like us and are “just getting by”, but I urge you to think for a minute of all that you could do for a child, a family, by joining with Compassion and sponsoring a child.
If you can’t commit to that, think about donating just $10 to Nothing But Nets where your donation will buy one bed net that could save a life by preventing the spread of malaria.
After many, many days of rain and clouds, today has been simply beautiful. The sky is a brilliant blue and without the steady rain, I can open all of the windows and let the house air out a bit. I had gotten really behind with the laundry, not having a dryer and relying on the clothesline. So, today I did about 6 loads in total and it feels good to have the gigantic dirty clothes pile out of the closet and fresh sheets and blankets on all of the beds.
I haven’t updated in a few days, so here are a few pictures that I’ve taken recently.
On Friday, there was a “Scales and Tales” presentation through the local Naples Library. We met many friends down there and everyone enjoyed the menagerie of creatures.
Our host with a rather feisty Monitor Lizard.
Petting a Water Snake.
Nice necklace, Nico!
Luna’s not quite sure what to think about a snake around her neck.
Then after the program, Nico and Kaya had 2 of their friends over for a slumber party. It was a Giggle-Fest for sure. They’re all such good friends.
Sunday was a nice day, despite a drizzly start. After church, Jay’s Mom and Step-dad came over for a while. We managed to get the girls in bed early and Jay and I got to spend a bit of time togehter for our Anniversary.
Today, it was wonderful to wake to a warm, dry breeze. As the morning went on, the skies cleared completely and we were able to soak in some sun. Because we are technically on our Summer homeschool schedule, the morning’s sit-down work was light. Nico wrote an essay about a book she just finished, The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple. Kaya wrote a character study on Sarah from the Sarah, Plain and Tall trilogy. Then they did some quick math review and I shooed everyone out to enjoy the beautiful day.
For Art, the girls did some watercolors and experimented with wax resist using white crayons.
Luna is finally started to get the hang of using water colors. I have found that she gets better results if I have her repeat after me: Dip, dip (in the water), scrub, scrub (in the paint pan), paint paint.
This is Kaya’s kitty inspired work. Nico was not as thrilled with her end result, but as I told her, art is as much about the process as it is about the product.
Here’s a few pictures I took around the house today.
Last picture, I’ll keep small so as not to creep out my Mom. This is a smaller version of the Nursery Web Spider I found stuck to my sliding door a few weeks back. This one is holding her egg sack, which is a common trait of this kind of spider. Even at half the size of the one I found previously, she’s still darn big.
On the topic of homeschooling, I am getting more and more excited to plan for our upcoming adventures in learning. As many might know, we do not follow any set curriculum. I have always just kept myself a few steps ahead of the girls so that I can adjust what we’re doing to where they are at with their abilities. Recently, though, I have learned about a few different curriculums like Sonlight, which are very heavy on the literature. As I looked through their catalog, I became inspired to swing towards a more “literature-rich” slant. We have always been really into reading and books, but I have started being more deliberate in the choices of the books we focus on. I have already seen Kaya and Nico become inspired by reading and listening to some great, classic literature. I will come back tomorrow with some links that I have really enjoyed lately regarding children’s books.
We eventually decided to tie them out in the yard and wait until morning to try to find out where they came from. The girls were thrilled beyond belief to have foster ponies for the morning and were busy finding clover and grasses for them to eat.
To show how little we know about horses, we initially thought they were mama and baby. After talking with the owners we discovered that they are both pregnant females and the little one was 10 years old while the bigger one was 12!
Just another randomly interesting day out in the Boonies!
It is amazing how a few days of feeling pretty crummy can make you appreciate feeling normal again. I am 99% back to my usual health and was very thankful for it today.
We started the day with a light day of home-learning. Nico and Kaya wrote a journal entry about their fun on Saturday and then they both did some math and some reading. After lunch, we headed out to meet up with some of our fellow homeschoolers at a nearby Continuing Care center to visit with their residents and do some Flag Day crafts.
Kaya was a bit bummed that her friend, Rony, was resting while we were there. She met Rony last time we were there and instantly bonded with her. “Rony” is short for Veronica, and she is a spunky 99 year old woman. Kaya is thrilled to have a friend that is almost 100 and she writes to her from time to time. We all really enjoy going to spend time with the residents and they seem to love having us there. Some of those ladies are real fire crackers!
Here’s a few pics from our trip.
Luna thoroughly enjoys anything that’s messy. After we got home, she wanted to paint some more. I found these cute word plaques at the craft store, so she went to town on one of them.
Yesterday, I was all amped up for a fabulous day. We were going to be meeting up with our fellow homeschoolers for a picnic and then afterwards, meeting up at the same park with my family, who was camping out there. I had been looking forward to the day for quite some time.
Well, the day started out good despite the fact that my stomach felt just a little “off” in the morning. I thought I had just made my coffee too strong. We packed up and headed up to Ontario County Park. Our girls had a great time, but shortly after I got there, my stomach started feeling worse and worse. I tried to distract myself, get through it, but when it came time to sit down and eat, the smell of all of the food was too much for me and I nonchalantly excused myself and got sick out behind a building. Ugh. By the time the first picnic was over, I knew I had just better go home. I was really disappointed to miss out on time with my family, but was feeling so gross and miserable I couldn’t have enjoyed myself. On the bright side, we live close enough that Jay was able to bring me home and then go back to the park so that he and the girls could at least enjoy the fun.
At least Jay was able to take a few pictures of the homeschool picnic, where the kids all had fun with different Field Day activities. I’ll share a few pictures here before I slink back to bed. I’m not sick to my stomach anymore but my body is still feeling pretty weak.
Nico with her friend, Nancy.
Kaya and Hannah doing more of a balloon pass than a balloon toss.
Nancy and Nico are Master Balloon Tossers.
Just a few of our homeschool co-op kids.
Luna with her buddy, Owen. Aren’t they cute?
The bumpy tree picture is the last picture taken and saved before the camera plunged to it's watery resting place.
