Archives for November 2008

70 then 40!

Yep, you guessed it. Yesterday was a wonderful 68-70 degrees here in the southeast. Perfect weather for getting rambunctious boys outside. We headed to the park while others braved the shopping crowds. Not this chick! I knew today was bringing rain and 40 degree temperatures so I saw my window and JUMPED. One can only take so much of boys being locked up in the house.

Three of the four boys were having an usual chat as we walked around the lake yesterday. I wonder what #1 son was telling them? Notice the footballs? They are never far from my son’s hands.

Here’s my favorite shot of #3 son. I love all the grays.
Working on it now in a b&w.

One of my good friends came along with her two kids. This is her youngest. Look at those eyelashes! UGH!

And her is my friend and her oldest daughter as we began our walk…

Hope you guys are having a good weekend.
I’m dreading school again on Monday!
IN HIM,

4 Comments

Posted: November 29, 2008 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags: homeschooling outside

Reflections

Recently baby girl and I went outside so I could practice with my newest toy…the Canon 40D. I’m enjoying learning how to use it and am itching to have a reason to get outside and shoot. She’s slowly but surely getting to the “I have to bribe her” age of 4 (not my favorite age – what happened to my sweet baby girl – she’s been replaced by an alien).
I did manage to get a few neat shots in before she completely turned her lip up, then turned her back on me. Here’s one…

We were shooting into the storm door and I ended up with the neatest reflection shot. I love the sunlight playing on her hair and the curve of the door handle on the right.

Off to do life.
Have a great day in Jesus!!!
Only in Him…

2 Comments

Posted: November 26, 2008 by Julie |Category: Photography and Tips | Tags:

My last Hendersonville post….sniff, sniff!

Aw….
It’s been so nice to relive such a special trip with you all. I’m sad I don’t have anymore pictures to post. This is the last of them. These are from our cozy and SWEET hotel room! My hubbie got a great hotel room with two bedrooms and a den. It was a sweet suite!! Pardon that….I couldn’t resist.

Here’s son #2 relaxing on the bed….

And here’s #3 son and baby girl watching TV…

Wow, that’s a big flash mom!!

Sweet bedroom feet…

And sweet PJ’s….

So that’s our relaxing and wonderful time in Hendersonville NC. I’m sure you can’t enjoy it the way we did but thanks for humoring me!
IN HIM,

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Posted: November 25, 2008 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags:

This time has just passed too quickly….

Remember the how long the days were when we were kids? Time almost stood still. Christmas took at least 2 years to roll around. And summer vacation seemed endless.

Now, at 43, the days pass all too quickly. Fall seemed to whiz by this year and we’re already into freezing temperatures at night and 40 degree days. Where does the time go?

My oldest is almost ten and my baby is four. Wasn’t it yesterday that I had three in diapers?

Hands On Learning

Any of you who have been following our family time in Hendersonville NC know that one day was filled with a trip to Hands On Children’s Gallery in downtown Hendersonville. It was so much fun. The kids got to practice being doctors and lawyers and such.

A crowd favorite was the stage, complete with high drama curtain and clothes to dress up in. Baby girl had quite a few costume changes.

One

Two

Three

Big Brother was her wardrobe assistant and dance partner

While son #3 was entertained by son #2 with a puppet show

Then we moved onto shopping at the grocery store

Then we were off to the Ambulatory Medical Center for a little doctoring…
I’m wondering if this might be a mother’s dream? All her kids in white doctor’s coats….

Good thing dummies can’t file malpractice suits because the one they doctored up got treated for all kinds of things that day!

Have a great weekend….

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Posted: November 21, 2008 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags:

Hendersonville Park

After the fun we had on Veteran’s Day downtown we sought out a local park. It was a huge complex filled with baseball fields, bike trails, swing sets, and fields of fall colored grass.

We found a great spot to throw football and play on a couple swing sets. After playing for a while I took out the camera to try and catch a Christmas Card shot. Beforehand though I was amazed at what a huge field we had and my boys stayed in a 20 foot radius doing this!

After watching his brothers #3 son jumped in…

BOYS!!!

But baby girl was not to be outdone.
"Look what I can do mommy!"

See the boys in the background? This was just before the third one joined in all the wrestling!

Resting in HIM,

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Posted: November 19, 2008 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags:

More Veteran's Day Photos

Period costumes…

More from our hike…
A dear friend’s children….

IN HIM,

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Posted: November 17, 2008 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags:

Veteran's Day

I’m a day or two late on my promise to post Veteran’s Day and Museum photos but here they are.
Day two of our trip to Hendersonville, NC consisted of a trip to the local museum, participating in the Veternan’s Day Celebration and looking at the Indian homes made by local 8th graders. And after all that a trip to the park.
It was fabulous! The day ended up being great and packed with learning. I will post more photos of the day tomorrow but this is mainly of the museum.

This is outside the museum when we first arrived and realized it was Veteran’s Day

Once inside there was this spectacular quilt sewn in memory of Hendersonville and it’s rich history.

I enjoyed looking through the museum even more than the kids did. They did find this particular artifact of particular interest though since the dice were SO small…

There was a section in the museum for each war. It was interesting to see the present war on terror and Desert Storm. I remember that very clearly. I’m imagining that for some Vietnam, WW 2 and others are just as real to them.

This one reminded me of my dad since he is such a great cartoonist…

The youngest two check out the plane…

There was a neat poster about the Hendersonville Veterans…

And finally what we had originally come to see….
The replicas of the early Indian homes. What a great job these kids did on the models they made.

Tomorrow more from our day.
Now, time for bed!
IN HIM,

Photos to go along with the story

We’re back from Hendersonville and I promised photos to go along with my story. So here goes. (You will be seeing a lot of these in the next few days.)

This is Chimney Rock NC. There is an elevator inside that takes you to the top so that you can see Lake Luke and the surrounding areas.

Here’s the whole gang on top.

After hiking to the top and having my children frown for group photos we headed back down for our Tracks and Traces lesson. We made notebooks with actual animal tracks in them and dissected owl pellets. Here’s what was in ours…

Mouse bones and a skull!

Then off on a hike to the falls:

By this time it was getting later in the day and quite chilly but the gang survived it and we made it back to the cars exhausted.

This is our middle son. Handsome guy,huh?

And baby girl…

Son #1…always being silly.

More tomorrow from our trip to the Veterans Day Celebration, the museum, and the park!

Always in HIM,

4 Comments

Posted: November 14, 2008 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags:

It's almost over…

It’s hard to believe our trip is almost over. It’s been wonderful. After a day at Chimney Rock Park on Monday we accidentally celebrated Veterans Day, Tuesday, in downtown Hendersonville. We had planned to see the Indian Home Exhibit done by 8th graders and ended up getting treated to an entire Veteran’s Day celebration along with a visit to the local museum.

We even got interviewed by the local news station and saw ourselves on TV at 5:30pm. Way cool!!! I’m still trying to get the link to show you guys but no luck yet. Edited to say: Try this link to view the video link.

Then we visited the Mass General Store and played at an awesome park. We ate lunch downtown at a great little soda shop. Absolutely the best hot dog I’ve ever eaten.

Today we stopped by Sky Top Apple Orchard to make sure our home town is adequately supplied with apples (lots of friends wanted apples) and I tasted an Arkansas Black for the first time. Exquisite!! Apples there are $5 for 6 pounds of apples!!

On our way into town today the HOT FRESH NOW sign was on at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts so we just HAD to stop. That allowed time to discuss the manufacturing process and what a product line meant.

Then we visited a super cool learning center called Hands On in downtown Hendersonville NC. And most of our day was spent exploring there. We pretended like we were doctors, went shopping in their grocery store, built lego cars and raced them, built log cabins with lincoln logs, picked apples and harvested them at their "pretend apple orchard", performed a puppet show, danced on stage, and climbed a minature mountain.

Yep, it was Marvelous with a capital M.

After Hands On we stopped for lunch and then caught the afternoon showing of Madagascar 2. Funny movie.

Now I’m sitting on the bed in the hotel and my husband has the kids on the front lawn. The oldest is throwing football with his dad, I’m sure the middle two are wrestling and baby girl is riding Rosey (her stick horsey).

I’m worn out. It’s been a great day and I’m sad to go home.
But can’t wait to get into my own bed again. And I miss Sparky….
I found this 2 year old photo in MY PICTURES…..

God is so wonderful to provide these reprieves from daily life.
It’s been a wonderful fall vacation combined with lots of hands on homeschooling.

I’ve taken loads of pictures which I’ll share this beginning this weekend but I forgot my cord to attach the camera to the computer so I have to wait until I get home.

IN HIm alone,

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Posted: November 12, 2008 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags: