Sunday's Style

Arielle wanted to try something new with Stacia's hair last night - much to Zander's glee. Stacia was labeled a "straw head." I have no clue what that really means  but Stacia took it personally.

All is forgiven this a.m. as she woke up with CURLS. Joyful shouts of, "I look like Harmony," fill our home and probably woke up Michael.

Happy Sunday.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Prepared for Fall

Michael and Nolan spent the day at Lake Tahoe on the PMOC's 11th annual "Advance."

The rest of us hung out at home. Arielle worked on an application for a summer internship. The younger two played games, watched movies, created all sorts of scenarios with Legos, dinosaurs and dolls. I wrote "real emails" to friends.....responses dating back to 3 July. It was good to take the time and write "letter-like emails"  to dear friends.

We also found time to put out the fall decorations.I know it's early....but we see Halloween things up and that's our signal to go fall and Thanksgiving.  I also know we are busy during the week and have been on the weekends too - this was the window I've been watching for.

 Arielle commented that something seems wrong to have scarecrows with palm trees. She may have a point.

The rest of our things went inside. I observed our decorations, which were plentiful for our Texan home, seem dwarfed at this home. Just maybe our over-abundance of Christmas decorations will be right for this house. Then they'll go away before our things are moved again. LOL

In keeping with our commitment to live frugally, I think I will use what I have rather than buy hay bales this year. I'm thinking a box with straw glued on top and front will work fine. ::snort:: Or maybe I'll just leave it with the spartan look.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Doing A Few Things

I've stayed on SCHEDULE with everything but blogging this week.  

It's 5:00 p.m. and I have had a quiet time, enjoyed a 3 pile walk with Stacia (not a type o), taught two children History, Lit, Science, Geography, helped two through math and one through phonics, read 40 minutes of "Fellowship of the Ring" with Zander, got one son and a husband off to a PMOC men's retreat, helped one apply for a summer internship, researched a van, had tea with three children at home, and ordered pizza in. I've NOT had a shower...but all I'm o.k. with where I'm at. The main things are done...and most days I get the shower in before 0800. 

In the past year God has truly worked into my heart lessons about doing "A Few Things Well." (Click for a good read.) Ruth says it well, 

And so, I’m choosing to live a quiet life, work (diligently) with my hands, and to strive to do a few things well. The few things that matter. The few things I’ve been given to do. The few things that count for eternity.{Snip}

I’m just picking and choosing; I’m filtering and sifting. I’m discerning and decluttering. I’m moving things up to the top, and letting others work their way down. I’m letting go of fear of missing all the excitement that’s going on out there, and attending to the mission field right here at my kitchen counter. 

We have been AMAZED  how fast AMAZON Prime arrives to our new home in CA. I discovered Subscribe and Save and have been checking prices between them and Vitacost and local stores. I can order the thing or two  I need and not have to take hours to drive to town, shop and come home. We're focused. LOL

Arielle was thrilled with Wednesday's packages

Zander races to meet the Ontrac driver each day. 

Um...glad we like the Rooibos tea - I didn't read close enough to see it was six boxes. ::snort:: These boxes have led to Stacia begging for tea time each afternoon. It's a fun habit to reinstate from decades past. 

Some strange blue eyed animal in CA? 

I realized Tuesday I need straws and clay for Science....Wed. was PWOC and Amazon guaranteed it would arrive on Thursday - it did.  Living the good life....

Stacia enjoys spending time with me. She asked to go on a walk this morning...and we added Yuuki...thus the 3 pile walk; 40 min walk. ::snort:: We spotted a 15 pass van in another part of the subdivision, complete with stick figures in the window. Stacia is sure we should take brownies to them with a note that says, "We are new to CA and have the same kind of van as you. We have nine kids. Maybe you can take a break from homeschooling and meet us at the park."  Funny thing is - I'm very tempted. ::snort:: 

I scheduled Friday for experiments, working on our science notebooks and educational games; along with our Tapestry. This worked well.

A new friend stopped by (giving the kids a most welcome break) with this helmet! It's the coolest thing. Zander is thrilled. No one will be teasing him for having a "lady's" helmet NOW....though it wasn't a lady's helmet in the first place. He LOVES it.

Glad it's Friday. Pizza's just arrived - too tired to even make any.  We're going to watch movies, eat, maybe sit in the hot tub.....not a bad first week of "doing it all."  Can you tell which page belongs to which student?

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

I Love My Life

Another fun day of  school. The younger two are really liking Famous Men of the Middle Ages and  Arabian Night Tales.  Nolan is figuring out his new High School Routine. Arielle is keeping us all in line. ::snort:: 

The older three went out of an early morning run. My knees just don't like running so I settled for a step workout....We got a kick out of Yuuki stretching with everyone at the end of working out. 

When Arielle was done stretching, Yuuki was determined to get as close to her as possible. ::snort::

I  love how well the family room is working for us. We've never had one that we could use for "family" gatherings...and I like it. We did our table school in the family room...didn't have to pick it all up at lunch time...it's the little things that make one sing. 

I pulled out the "treasure chest" which came with Sing Spell Read and Write. I've debated long and hard about "rewarding" children to learn....knowledge, pride of learning should be it's own reward...but this came along with the kit and since our youngest is eight...I better use it now or send it to the thrift store. I let her pick out trinket.....I told Zander he could pick something too.

 

Which led to this...and the gleeful observation, "I love my life." I'm not so sure Arielle loves his life. It's a gekko and she's developed a really over-the-top fear of the things. Yes, I talked to Zander. 

After lunch we rode bikes over to the purple park to meet Stephanie and her three darlings. It was GREAT to have adult conversation. Nolan rode over when he was done with school. The weather is cooling off and it was pleasant...a bit hot...but pleasant. It was nice for the kids to run off energy and fun for Moms to have adult talk. It felt like "home"  - at the park with a young mom and her kids - reminded me of my gals in Misawa. I love my life too.  All my other park photos  turned out blurry - guess this is the Arielle post.

I had just enough time to get dinner ready before Michael got home at 6:00 p.m. Brussel Sprouts, Stir fry, Pasta, Salad, Watermelon....I had no clue what some of the things were I threw in the stir fry. I tasted raw and figured if I didn't keel over it was probably good for the stir fry.  Yuuki sits right under my feet while I cook...every.night. I'm telling her here she does not like Brussel Sprouts.

When Arielle keeled over at dinner, I began to worry  maybe something WAS poisonous...but no one else keeled over.

Michael is after the birds....it's a bit ironic to read about God's wonderful, intelligent creation of BIRDS - while they fly into our windows.

Choosing Joy! 
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Farm Fresh

Fresh - picked in the a.m.; delivered early afternoon! Organic. Non- GMO. $20 a week. I was won over with the flowers (though the flowers is what made me wonder about the basil as it was packaged together).

 Michael is not so impressed with the teeny, tiny squash. I ran a produce co-op. I will admit I was thinking much more produce than this, we could probably eat 4 boxes a week...BUT this is FRESH, ORGANIC and non GMO - and came right to my door. *I* didn't have to go the terminal, pick it up, sort it...hassle out the prices.....I may still look into the produce terminals around here...see if anyone is interested in a co-op because a laundry basket full of produce is more what we need.....but I'm happy to have found Reeves Farm.  I think their variety will go down as the season ends...that may be the time to look at more conventional co-ops over CSA...but I'm going to stick with this and see what happens. I can always fill in the gaps. It's certainly less of a culture shock than going to the Linda Walmart.

There are three kinds of squash I've never cooked here...butternut (blush), delicata, and patty pan...and I'm not sure what the baby ones are. ::snort:: One bite sized watermelon and one snack sized watermelon, several kinds of zucchini, Armenian cucumbers, 2 kinds of tomatoes, basil, peppers. I've no idea what to do with the peppers...anyone want some?

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

We're Off! 2013/2014

Another school year out the starting gate in a blaze of activity! We started with a rolling start last week, but today we hit it hard. I think it's going to be a good year. We're covering Year 2 in Tapestry of Grace.  We're all doing Japanese: the high school  students with a tutor; the younger ones and I with our flashcards and maybe this site. Everyone is doing math and science at their level. The younger two will be doing Zoology 1: Flying Animals this year. Neither of them remember it well from our run through it when they were younger. Works for me. The older two are doing a variety of add-ons (electives). Speech, Logic, Health, Cosmetology, Movies as Lit...because obviously eight English Credits would not be enough. ::snort:: 

We've had such a nice long break that I knew we'd have a fair bit of review to do this month.  I noted our snap memorizer wasn't doing so well at reading random things around town. Some informal quizzing confirmed the program we were using allowed her to memorize words and then read it "perfectly twice" and move on. I unpacked Sing Spell Read and Write and suggested we do it as a review...and wow is that helping. I can see her already picking up decoding skills after just two weeks.  Zander hated Sing Spell Read and Write and has done well with I See Sam....each child is different. *I* had hoped I would never have the SSRW songs drilling into my consciousness at 0330 again...but it's not about me. ::snort:: I'm telling myself this is precious - she's the very last to use the program and we had a workbook and prizes waiting since we shifted gears for  Zander.

The younger two were thrilled to see me grabbing books about  knights and castles. However, I think our history channel clip about Clovis the Barbarian and the Visigoths may have been a bit too much for Stacia. She has gone on and on about them slamming his arms in a box...seems to have missed they followed that up with killing the man.  She came down after lunch and suggested we use this book instead. ::snort:: 

I do love this little gal. She shared with me  this is letters from a REAL KING and  they would be wonderful to read together. I agreed to read them with her each day, AFTER couch school with Zander is done. 

I am still on the hunt for an Apologetic course for Arielle.  Honestly, Tapestry is full of Apologetics, but if she wants more....by putting this here our resident theologian will eventually read it if I forget to ask him for some suggestions. ::snort:: 

These two were more than happy to help me implement "Operation Shine" (sounds better than "Operation Conquer the Neighborhood"?).

This silly monkey said, "Um, MOM, the cookie sheet is full and I already scooped this up. What should I do? Should I eat it?"  NO. ::snort::

All in all a good day of school. Everyone was done with everything by 4:00. It's 5:00 p.m. now - dinner for the family is in the oven. I have 30 minutes to put on some make up, and get to the chapel for LiFT (Ladies in Fellowship Together - PWOC monthly event).  ACK just realized I forgot to make something to take - maybe we'll shine a bit less in the hood. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

The Green Machine

We drove to Davis. I drove home from Davis alone. I nearly had a HEART ATTACK driving in six lanes of traffic, overpasses, swirly bridges....but I knew if I had a heart attack I'd wreck the van...and Michael was right behind me. That wouldn't do at all. I kept reminding myself to breathe deeply.  I finally saw our exit and thought, "I'm home free now."   I couldn't BELIEVE all the insane drivers driving towards me in my lane...oops....maybe THIS will be the last time I drive in the wrong lane of traffic.....in any event, I'll soon get more practice on American roads, with American speeds in the 15 pass van because today we purchased this commuter for Michael.  The kids and I will no longer be house-bound, though school has begun. 

It's ugly (top and hoods need painted) but it's SWEET....rides well, immaculate maintenance records, one owner (verified)....it may be ugly but it's PAID for and way under the budget we'd set for a car....$500 under blue book. I'm going to start getting quotes to have it painted "soon." We can hopefully find another economical ride all of us will fit into and still stay within the auto budget. If we don't find a second car we are WELL under budget and that's fine too...but we're spending about $80 a week on gas in the van. OUCH.  The salesman we dealt with will call us if someone turns in a mini-van before it even goes to the service department. Thanking God for this little car...and a fun car salesman. 

Michael  said he couldn't even tell I was nervous driving home. I wasn't driving like I was petrified....somehow he was far enough behind me when I exited the freeway that he didn't see my lane issues. ::snort:: 

Renée S. Suen via photopin cc

We celebrated at Chipotles. Oh.my.heavenly.word. I love their vegan menu and everyone but Zander seemed to enjoy their meal. Zander separated all the food into piles and then ate the chicken pile. He doesn't like restaurants that "mix food" - but from time to time the rest of us like to eat dangerously. 

BTW I was told, by someone "in the know," our little town has the highest Sikh population in America. I was then told that is why there are so many vegan restaurants in the area. I need to go find these restaurants!!! Anyone want to go exploring with me? I have a 15 pass van at my fingertips now. LOL  

We explored historic Marysville after dinner. Ellis Lake is a man-made lake that has been the centerpiece of Marysville since the 1930's.  

Ellis Lake is home to all sorts of geese, ducks and birds. We noted these ducks (as opposed to the rather stand offish ducks in Northern Japan) are more than willing to preform for food. 

Arielle got to "Skype" with Alicia and Emily today. They didn't get the video working but could at least talk....That was a very good thing.

Yuuki welcomed us warmly when we got home.  OH, she howled again when we got home from buying the car. Poor thing...watching the kids is wearing her out. LOL  She still had energy to play kill the pink flamingo! ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...