TBT- July 2010

I was thinking about Carlsbad Caverns as I blogged last weekends Jewel Cave adventure.  I looked back through this blog but saw I wasn't blogging at the time and so I thought I would do a flashback.....

July 2010- Jackie and Cody drove out to New Mexico to visit.  We had a BBQ on the fourth and tried to do what little sightseeing Clovis had to offer.  Dave took us to see a drone and we walked around the static planes onbase.

And I remember going to see Billy the Kid's grave.... and watching the movie later about Billy the Kid.

 But I couldn't find photos from the caverns...... I'll do some digging.

Jewel Cave

Dave had a long four day weekend for the Fourth.  He spent a good amount of time repainting our new guest room, which used to be Nate's room, and was quite a bright blue color.  The trim painting also moved ahead, and actually moved up since now the stairway is painted and the entire downstairs (minus the laundry room, which is also going to be repainted soon-ish)

But on Sunday, my 31st birthday, we went to church after a blueberry pancake breakfast.  Then after lunch we headed towards Jewel Cave National Monument.  It's about 50 miles from home, and we had to drive through the hills to get there.  

We went on a tour that was over and hour and included walking up and down 720 steps.

The sights were pretty amazing.

The only thing I thought was poopy was that you could only take photos when the tour stopped and there were lots of cool stuff while we were moving that would have been nice to stop and look at.  

Nate did really well on the tour, but I expected he would since he did so well at Carlsbad Caverns when he was little.

It was a fun way to spend a birthday.... and since we had walked up and down 720 steps I had a buffalo burger for dinner!  

After dinner we had cake and I opened gifts.  

Then Dave went back to painting.

Moment of the Week

SUMMER

Finds

As much as I loved Nate's loft bed it was a problem for a 5'2" mom to change sheets and reach up there in general.... So this year when yard sale rolled around I knew I wanted to post the bed on Craigslist.  After a few days we did sell the bed, and we had the cash to find Nate a new twin bed and we had great luck.  

There was a twenty five day old posting for this Jenny Lind twin bed and I thought for sure it was an old ad that surely the bed was long sold and I was getting my hopes up only to have them crushed.  But...  It wasn't sold so I bought it!  We love it.  Nate loves it, even though the first few nights he fell out of bed several times.... go figure, he never fell from the loft bed.  

Then I was hopelessly patrolling for night stands and happened to find THE PERFECT nightstand!  It looks like it could have been a matching set for the bed!  I even braved a craigslist meeting on my own to score this table!( I usually kiss Dave good-bye and send him to pick up my craigslist finds)  The table top could use refinishing, but right now we are going to leave it.  Maybe next winter....maybe.

So Nate's room is looking pretty grown up.  I'm hunting for an antique dresser and a military style foot locker..... I think once the red and blue toy box is replaced it will look really grown up in there.  I'm also working on a new quilt for Nate.  The current quilt is still nice, but I did make it for a one year old.  The new quilt will have navy blue, gray, and green prints.  I think it will be handsome.

Speaking of growing up, Dave and Nate exclusively read chapter books at night before bed now.  They have been enjoying these Baseball Card Adventures books.  I bought a three pack(Babe, Jackie, and Mickey)  from Scholastic.  Nate really loves these historical tales.  I'm so happy that Nate loves reading, and I feel so lucky that I picked a husband that is willing to read to his son every night.  

That Time of Year

With summer arriving things have been busy around here.

 Probably the most restful times are spent on the front porch watching rain together.

After years spent in hot dry regions with no rain, storms still make us stop and watch.

Summer school is going well.... Bonnie likes to join in, and recently tried her paws at teaching.

We really enjoy our local library, and in summer the added perk of their summer reading program makes for lots of fun.....

Nate even got to be part of Mr. Stinky Feet's band!

There is a new ice cream place downtown and we LOVE it.  They have a Maple Bacon ice cream that is INSANE.... Nate loved the 'graffiti' flavor as you can see here.

 Things in the yard are doing well. The flower baskets are all growing rapidly, and the flowers I planted in the front are still alive!  It's a miracle.  

We have raspberries in the backyard.....

 ...And blueberries.  A lot of things in the garden seem to be slow growing.  I think it hasn't been warm enough yet.  The tomatoes are growing tall and getting full, but my peppers aren't much larger than when I planted them.  Hopefully everything will catch up.  But we do have spinach to eat so that is nice.

T-Ball ended last Saturday.  It was a great season for Nate and Dave, and they are both looking forward to next year.

We squeezed in some Put-Put during Father's Day weekend.  Nate hated it a you can obviously see in this photo.

We had our yard sale, which raked in enough moola to pay for our Yellowstone trip next month!

We've gone downtown a lot this year.  They have great concerts every Thursday.

And a movie every Monday.

Nate had his first stitches recently.  It was traumatic for the whole fam.

 Despite the busy stuff going on we've stayed connected and relaxed.

We've taken play breaks...

 And time out for sweet treats.

Enjoyed some wild fun...

...And found some cool stuff.

Relaxed awhile....

.....And we are enjoying life.

 Even through the 'crazy eye' type of moments.

Enjoying Summer Break

It's funny that I say 'enjoying summer break' but then want to talk about summer school.  

We took a couple of weeks off completely then started doing a little bit of school in the mornings.  Just Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  We are reading How to Eat Fried Worms, Nate reads me a BOB book, we count orally, Nate does a super easy math worksheet and I read him a fairy tale.

He also does a simple copy-work sheet.  We aren't really learning anything, just trying to keep using the stuff we learned in Kindergarten.  Nate likes is, and on off days he asks to do school.  We are doing a pond study, reading books, using our field guide and visiting ponds to 'pond watch'.  It's a lot of fun.  Nate asks to do that everyday too.  

Otherwise we play educational games or make crafts.... stuff I'm going to make more time for in 1st grade. 

 The garden is getting exciting.  The tomatoes and peppers are definitely doing well this year. My beans and cucumber plants shot up right away, while I'm still watching for the rest of my peas!  I don't understand. So I replanted some more peas.  I was feeling really worried, then Gary stopped by and said he too had to replant some of his peas.  That made me feel worlds better.  I replanted spinach and lettuce too.  I don't know what's happening.  Learning curve.

Last night we got some pounding rain so this morning when I went to check on the garden I found a spinach leaf broken off the stem so I had to eat it.  The first harvest.  Hehehe.

Hope you're enjoying summer as much as we are....missing peas and all. 

The End.

The end of our first year of homeschooling has me feeling a wide range of emotions.  First of all I am completely 100% glad that we decided to homeschool.  As you may or may not know, just deciding to take the plunge was a HUGE decision, and one I worried I could regret.  What if we ruined Nate?  What if he hated it?  What if I hated it?  What if my house was always dirty because things were too hectic to clean?  What if, what it, what if.

In the beginning of the year Nate did have trouble with the hour it took to do school.... like he was just ready to keel over!  I kept thinking, jeez kid this is one hour.....  Public school is seven! Our Handwriting Without Tear lead to tears once or twice in the beginning.   In the middle of the year getting math done was like pulling teeth, I literally had Dave do math with Nate after work for about a week, because I was struggling.  

Then. Somehow. Things were easy. Nate got through school with no problem, banged out handwriting with confidence and ease.  Even his math was easy and he was proud to get it done.  Then the next minute school was over!  Now that school is out Nate asks daily if we can do school.  He enjoys it, and that means the year was a 100% success in my book!

That was my goal!

I'm so blessed to have spent this year with my son.  I spent the first five years with him of course, but this year..... teaching him, watching him thrive, it was such a blessing I wasn't expecting.

So next year I'm not going to worry so much.  I'm going to trust our decision.  Lean on the HUGE community of local homeschoolers more.  Take more field trips.  Take school on a trip with us.  I'm going to relax and trust that it works because Nate is interested in learning and is sharp as a tack.  

I'm going to trust myself more.  

I'm going to enjoy everyday more.