Happy National Coffee Day

It's National Coffee Day.  Honest it is.

Not wanting to be fuddy-duddies, Hannah and I took a little drive

to our favorite coffee stand.

 

All the baristas here know us all by name.   

Most stands will ask, "Would you like straws or beans?"

They don't have to ask.  They know our "usual".

{Is that a good thing or bad thing?}

 

Mine: Americano with a splash of half and half and a dash of cinnamon,

no straws, but beans - PLEASE!

 

Can you believe they have eggnog already?

Some of us in our family have vowed to not take our first sip until Black Friday

- which, by the way, is the start of the Christmas season - thank you very much.

My coffee comrade - except she got an apple cider with a smidge of caramel sauce. 

Perfect for this autumn Monday.

Life Lately

 

 

Ellie learned to ride a bike.

 

 

 

I sorta wish he hadn't shown her that yet.

 

fall faves

firewood - splittin' and stackin' and splittin' some more.

 I found this little surprise on my camera.  Silly kids.

Random tidbit

You know how I adore vintage and retro stuff?

I came across these recently.  How's this for retro?

 

As a kid Eric did some modeling for Ford Modeling Agency. 

Yep, he's the baseball player.

This ad is circa 1970's.

. . .

 

I was an honorary bat girl for the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

My photo with then first baseman, Steve Garvey is circa 1970's too.

{You couldn't tell by my hair, could you?   ;-)  }

Bet you never knew that bit of trivia about us.  Random, I know.
. . .
 

I've just started going through boxes of photos in an attempt to get them more organized.  Notice, I said, "more organized".  It's a huge, overwhelming project, so my goal is small.   Of course, anything would be an improvement over the "dumped in a box" method I have going now.  

I laugh at how many bad pictures I took, but there was no way to know how they looked before they were developed, so in hopes to send copies in letters to far off relatives, I even ordered DOUBLES.   

Yeah.

But the upside of going through old photos is all the smiles and laughter it brings.
Big hair, crazy fashion, sweet memories and really cute kids!




 

 

 

 

 

Homonyms and a pun

Pairs...

 

         of socks?

         of scissors?

         of pants?

         two people?

NOPE...

Pears...

 

          crisp

 

          sauce

 

          butter

 

          canned

. . .

Today there will be a pair

who will pare

all the pears. 

And tomorrow we all shall enjoy the fruit of our labors. ;-)

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

My Silver Longboarder

I told Eric the other day that I thought he should be the poster boy

for Bustin Boards, and I'm really not kidding. 

 

He makes long boarding look so easy...and fun.

 

He recently bought some slider gloves by Triple 8. 

They have puck-like discs on the palms of the gloves.  The protection allows

him to do power slides without worry of losing layers of skin.

 

Look how low he gets!  Like I said, he makes it look so easy.

 

I'm pretty proud of my Silver long boarder.

The Mom-mobile

Ta-Da.

 

The Lord is ever faithful and has provided abundantly for us.

I had gotten used to driving Matthew's smaller car these past months.

As I drove this car home I thought to myself,

"Wow, this sure is BIG!  It's like a White Whale."

 

Call me Ishmael.  Ha Ha. 

My husband is the sweetest.  We were barely home when he got to work, changing the oil and washing it up so that it looks all purty.

 

I was busy reading the owner's manual trying to figure out all the buttons and switches, and how to open and close the SUNROOF!  :-) 

 

The kids were excited. 

Mary exclaimed, "Mama, it's bootiful."

and Daniel said, "It's supes cool."

 

. . .

 

Thank you to all who have been praying for our car situation ~

 for God's perfect provision and timing.   

What a blessing.

 

 

So far so good.

This year I have children in every level of education from kindergarten to college.

How crazy is that?!

 

Ready or not...here we go.

 

The beauty of homeschooling is that it's personalized.

What works for one of my kids, might not for another - so we tweak and adjust to find just the right mix of whatever is needed.

 

I am unsure of Abbie's pace this year.  She is such an eager learner, that I may need to pick up the pace and move to the next level quicker than I had planned.  

I'll give it a month and then reevaluate.

 

Of course, Mary would like to do everything that she sees Abbie doing.

For now, that is working.

 

We made some changes in curriculum for our kids in middle school and high school this year, so I have a little bit of a learning curve myself as I become familiar with its structure and style, but so far we are liking it.

 

We are easing into routine that seems to have a nice rhythm to it.  Enough structure to allow us to accomplish what we should, and enough flexibility to have fun too.

This year has worked itself out such that Fridays will be light.   I'm going to try to make Friday afternoons our game day.  We own so many board games, both educational and traditional.  They are such a fun way to learn and spend time together. 

 

I know we only started this week, but so far so good.  :-)

Even though it is a ton of work, and there are days that are discouraging and exhausting,

I am so thankful for the privilege I have to educate my children at home.

 

. . .

 

Sometimes

Sometimes this is just how I feel.

 

I have no idea what she was thinking when I snapped this shot, but it cracks me up every time I see it.  

Plan B {as in Beans}

Just about the time I think we are ready to start school ...

 

Here I am, in the midst of books, curriculum, and other supplies, busily trying to get organized when I get a call from a friend, "Green beans are ready and they are loaded if you'd like to come pick." 

 

Picking was quick. 2 big buckets full in about 45 minutes. 

Then there is the snapping.  That's not so quick.

{For this batch I actually lined up handfuls and cut them into pieces with a knife.}

Thankfully, Hannah helped a lot too.

   

I was able get 19 jars canned from that picking.  I had already done a couple other pickings/cannings.  We have plenty of green beans to last us until next season.  :-)

 

Canning is hard work.  It equates to long hours on your feet, cutting, or pitting, or blanching, or paring, or peeling, or snapping in a hot and sticky kitchen.  Honestly, it's exhausting, and sometimes I wonder if it is worth the effort.

 

But some evening in the future, when I serve these with dinner and everyone raves at how good they taste, and I remember that they was FREE.  I know I will be quite happy and thankful that I took the time for plan B.

I had hoped to be a little better prepared with my lesson plans, but we shall start school on Monday anyway.  {Just in time for pears and apples!}