gotta love a snow day in March

This morning, at 5:30, we woke to a surprise of 2 inches of snow blanketing our home. Well, I heard the newscast last night, but the surprise came because we'd resigned ourselves, in recent years, to not getting more than a dusting, if any, when they forecast snow to the valley floor, especially when we live down here by the river. This is the first snow over an inch we've had at home in two years. This is not to say that our neighbors a mile up the hill haven't had lots of snow...oh, there has been many times it has snowed for them. We usually drive up there just to have a look. And a couple times we've been on snow routes, but oblivious to the fact, as there wasn't snow down here at the end of the road! So, pardon me for posting so many pictures, but it is fun to get in on the snow action for once!

By 6, the news reported that our district was on a 2-hour snow delay and snow routes. Finally, a couple hours later, the school district called school all together as snow continued to fall this morning. However, our snow began to melt before dawn, so I snapped a few pictures while it was still dark.

Jim was standing in two inches of slush when wiping snow off the windshield before leaving for work this morning at 6.

backyard at dawn

We lost a favorite tree in the front. I'm disappointed and really need to get some new shubbery planted as this is our privacy barrier by the road. After more than 10 years, some plants/trees have died off or grown up leaving holes.

front driveway

backyard again in the daylight

Snow Slushies

The kids made these the week before on our snow vacation at the cabin where we had 2+ feet of snow.  It was actually their idea to make. We kept bowls of snow in the freezer and they were going back for refills during our movie. The next day, Catherine was the 'cook' and happily served slushies to her sis & bro.

A bowl of snow + drink of choice. Here we have Blue Raspberry Kool Aid and Mango Juice. At the cabin they used Cherry 7-Up and OJ.

Spoon snow into glasses...

...Add juice...

...And serve with a spoon.

 Blueberry Pancakes

My view while making breakfast - love the way everything looks covered in snow.

Snow Pics from the Farm
Here are some farm pics I did some vintage editing with...
Standing at the back door at dawn; 180 degree view in 3 shots-- 

Cows slept in barn last night; usually they bed down in pasture under trees. Here they are coming out for the first time and checking out the strange, white stuff, and Kendal tearing it up; loved running and rolling in the snow --

 

 

Cozy-Lazy Snow Day

The kids have been watching Little House DVDs, texting friends on their ipods, eating snacks and 'chillaxin'. Earlier, I made the kids a blueberry pancake breakfast and snow slushies. They are really hyper and happy to be home today. It is loud with their teasing, laughter, and impromtu wrestling matches. I love it...most of the time.

 

At 2:00, we had only large patches of snow left in the yard and the sun was shining. I tried a Pinterest-inspired recipe - crockpot Lava Cake. Should be ready around 6:00. Kids did a few chores around the house - dishes, garbage, etc. But, it is fun to be together and to have a cozy-lazy day.

new fall calves

See new cattle purchased this fall at Suburban Cowgirls blog.

August Fairs Update

August consisted of three weeks of fairs and a week of camping, so blogging took backseat for awhile. It was an exciting show season with several wins. The kids and cattle won over $700 in prize money and two buckles! Check out the fair photos and show results update at Suburban Cowgirls.

garden dish

The other day, I posted a pic of the bucket we use to bring in fresh-picked produce from our garden and orchards...but at the time of that photo, the bucket was empty. Admiring the beautiful colors of the swiss chard we picked on Monday night prompted me to take a picture of the bucket full.
I picked, washed and chopped the swiss chard and a few leaves of spinach, with a couple leeks and carrots also from the garden, then sauteed it all in olive oil. It took only minutes to prepare this side dish, earth to table. It was served with rotisserie chicken and cheese tortellini.

Haying 2011

 
See more haying photos at Suburban Cowgirls.

Wordless Wednesday : three peas in a pod planting a garden {one month ago}

 Sunday, May 22

my little cowgirls

Spring Classic Jr. Livestock Show, Memorial Day weekend, 2011

{to view more photos visit our Suburban Cowgirls blog}

a sunny morning on the farm

I came downstairs the other morning to this view out the back door. Actually, Crater moved his head by the time I grabbed the camera, but he was staring at the house...waiting for his morning feed. I just love looking out and seeing cattle in the field. We have had cattle on the place for just a year now!

Good-bye Favorite Fall View

I wait for this favorite season all year, and love it for all that it is--the sights, smells, weather/temperature changes, harvest bounty, and because of its warm, colorful, earthy feel. So today, under the circumstances, I think it is not eccentric of me to say that I am kind of feeling a little sadness. I've had to say good-bye much too soon to the four large, lush, green, shade-making-early-autumn-color-changing-birdhouse-hanging-peaceful-happy-atmoshere-making Locust trees that line our large backyard. Well, they're still there, in essence, but Jac has trimmed them up so severely that they resemble a short tree in the dead of winter, except with large stubs rather than spindley limbs sticking out. I am so un-enthused that I don't even want to show the before and after pics on this post--but, I probably should or you'll just think I'm being a drama queen.
Now this butcher-job was not an accident, mind you, but a planned event. He even explained what he was doing, and as usual, asked me if it was ok. I, being practical, said it was fine. I just didn't realize what the outcome would really be! You see, what makes matters worse, is that we just said good-bye to our greening-up-nicely-autumn grass when he sprayed out (killed) the lawn in the back last Friday because he wants to till it up, upgrade the sprinkler system, smooth out the gopher, mole, snake and grey-digger ruts that have formed after the 10+ years since the yard was first planted by the previous owner. It will be nice to have new yard, and I am grateful to have such a hard-working husband, so I have given him all my support in his related projects.
This would include the drastic tree trimming so that the falling leaves don't kill out the newly planted baby grass as it comes up, so that the overgrown trees don't break and fall onto the newly plated grass, and so that the trimming he usually does in January/February won't have to be done over the new lawn. These sound like fine reasons--better than his later admission that now we won't have so many leaves to rake up this fall. Yeah, but what's fall without falling leaves, really?
If I were to look on the bright side, I would say that at least the kids have had a blast building forts of the huge branches that are strewn over the backyard, playing army and jungle themed games, and helping their dad move branches with their work gloves on. And, my husband is getting a wonderful upper-body strengthening work out. Anything else? Hmmm--nope! Oh, wait...come spring, we will have a nice, large, dry pile to burn for our bon fires & hot dogs/smores roasting tradition so that we won't have to look at he pile anymore. No, maybe we'll burn it later this fall.
Now, please know I am not complaining, but just so shocked. I am amazed at how much this changes the atmosphere of our home. Our great room faces the backyard--my kitchen window, the windows from where we sit at the counter or dining table to do school, and the view we look at for our entire day, and we are home probably 80-90% of the time. It affects the amount and tint of the light that comes in these windows and our skylights. It is literally like erasing much of the color from our view and replacing it with gray. I guess I am struggling with this more because of the wonderful time we had just two weeks ago schooling in the yard under the green trees, sitting in the green grass, sipping cold water in 90 degree heat, and thinking/hoping then that summer would continue on longer.

I think this post has helped me in my minor grief. I'm spray painting some things outside and working on my computer armoire project. My wonderful husband took our two oldest down to the river with the boat for a ride and some Daddy-time this evening. He is great. My mother took Catherine home with her to her house yesterday (til Tuesday!)--she was up here to watch the kids play soccer games and to give us all haircuts. Yeah, she's pretty great, too. Things are looking up:)! Plus, it's beginning to get dark so soom I won't be looking at those stumps. Hee-hee! I just looked at the pics I added to this page and L'dOL!!!

Homeschool Open House-- Week 1 Report

2007-08 First Day of School

Jessica Rose--Second Grade

Andrew James--Kindergarten

Catherine Ruth--adorable, terrible twos

"My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for insight as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God."

Proverbs 2:1-5

Monday

{special outdoor school day w/ creation theme, four-square writing (+reading/presenting of piece) based on attributes of God, discussed and chose character trait to work on and related Scripture for memory and application to their lives, phonics/reading & math practice pages}

Projects:
continued Flat Stanley Adventure Journal and Photos

Activities:
6-7--soccer practice

Reflection:
Today we had our first day of school. It was a good day. It was sunny and hot (above 90 degrees), with a nice breeze. We began the day with a special breakfast of fresh, local peaches and homemade oat waffles served outside beneath the shady trees. The breakfast was an elegant, country picnic at the table in our yard that we all worked together to put on--Jessica helped to peel peaches, plate up waffles, and pick and arrange our garden zinnias into a centerpiece for the table--also we picked and added gourds and cut sunflower heads from our garden. Andrew helped move the table into the shade and set it up, and then he monitored Catherine to keep her from sticking her fingers in the butter or spilling before we took pictures of our breakfast.



After breakfast, we did school there on the picnic table, and read the Bible lesson sitting in the grass. With studying creation, it was good to do this lesson outside where we could really experience God’s beautiful world on such a fine day. The kids were so proud of their writing pieces, and wanted to repeat reading them over and over. They read them to Daddy that night. They have each memorized them now (Andrew's is four sentences, and Jessica's is 4 paragraphs).

Catherine played with her dolls in the shade, while the big kids studied. Once in awhile, she’d pop up on top of the table to get a better look at what everyone was doing. I tried to get her to nap on the quilt I had spread out for her to play on, but she just wouldn't settle down. Finally, I took her inside and laid her on the couch with her blankie and said, "You lay down and take your nap!--Don't get up!" in a firm voice, turned around and walked out. She went right to sleep. I really don't see why that wouldn't work outside, except that she just must see the yard as huge opportunity for fun, and be too excited out there to relax. Thankfully, she is usually easy to put to sleep just by instructing her verbally.


We transitioned inside sometime after lunch because of the heat, and I made the kids a frozen strawberry smoothie which they enjoyed on the couch after Catie woke up from her nap. It is amusing the way they all share sips of each others even while knowing it was made in the same batch and tastes the same--I guess they just need to check to be sure. Either that or they're just holding on to the tradition of their younger days.

The kids had dressed in some new clothing/shoes (but only short sleeves and bare legs because of the heat--kids will have to wait for fall weather to wear their new fall outfits) for first day of school pictures. Earlier that morning, Jess began her training in ironing (thought of this and did it on her own with permission), and Andrew learned to tie his shoes well today. Both kids were so proud of themselves, took ownership in all aspects of the day, and were bundles of joy. It was a fun time.

We started school on time, but schooled until after 4, as there were lots of interuptions with the toddler, farm, setting up/moving around, meals, snacks, the heat, etc.)! And, the kids were begging for more! Gotta love that! Personally, I would have liked to do several more things that I had planned, but we took advantage of the 'bunny trails'. At least, I'd say we made lasting good impressions of the first day of school. I finally got them to take a break and go play outside for awhile around five o' clock.

Tuesday
{PATRIOT DAY--discussed events of 9-11-01 and viewed powerpoint presentation of pictures from the tragedy--God is in control--began A Reason For Handwriting program (A-manuscript, J-cursive), First Language Lessons, poetry reading/memorization "The Goops" and "Mr. Nobody", Wise Guide Spelling List--Jessica aced pretest--applied phonetic markings, identified nouns and drew a symbol next to each word to identify person, place, thing, or idea nouns, 2 pages Easy Grammar daily practice book for 2nd/3rd grade, Saxon math lesson, 'My Word Book'--point and identify--for Catie, played outside}

Activities:
none

Wednesday
{handwriting, daily grammar, math lesson, listened to Children's Bible Audio Collection, Volume 1 during lunch}

Activities:
2:30-4--art class with local, award-winning artist and teacher, Linda Aman at her studio in Tualatin--kids had a brief art history lesson, studied the work of a famous artist, and did a piece based on the lesson--This week it was drawing concentric rings, using a series of plexiglas circles and rulers to build a pattern.

6-7--soccer practice

Thursday

{Start of Session 1 for H.I.G.H Day RHCC (Homeschooling In God's Hands Day of Rolling Hills Community Church)--Our church co-op (homeschool enrichment program) which meets 3 hours/1 day/week for 4/6-week sessions each school year.}

We have been in the RHCC co-op for 3 of its 4 years now, but H.I.G.H. Day is the laborious summer revamping work of my friend, Dawnelle, myself, and several others on the leadership team to restructure the co-op to facilitate growth and efficiency of the program. I think it is off to a great start!

Because of answered prayers, we have gained like thirty families, and now boast an enrollment of over 100 students! We have a lot of new teaching talent, and a diverse group of mothers that bring professional experience from many walks of life. We have a few lawyers, a nurse, aerobics instructor, prestigious art school graduate/calligrapher, ballet teacher of 20 years, and many professional teachers... and the list goes on and on! It is very exciting to offer such great classes to children from age 2-up.

Each parent teaches or assists in 2 or the 3 hours. I am assisting in the 2/3's or Pre/K program, and teaching a first grade literature unit study this session. I call this unit 'Lions, Tigers, and Bears', as this class examines a variety of award-winning children's picture books that each relate to a lion, tiger, or bear in some way. I love researching and developing units, writing lesson plans, and using creativity to apply a variety of hands on learning activities to teach the content of the lesson. I am excited about my role in the co-op as Program Coordinator, which is in the area of creative programming to help develop and plan courses, do course scheduling and descriptions, and offer teacher orientations and mentoring.

Jessica is taking Soccer (her choice, instead of ballet for the 1st hour PE electives), Stuart Little (literature unit), and Math Adventures (math games/enrichment activities).

Andrew is in the Pre/K Program which includes circle time (calendar time, flannel board Bible story, and Scripture verse), Veritas music program, 'snack & share' time, PE, and a themed mini-lesson followed by related activity centers to rotate through in a self-directed manner of exploration.

I am really excited that even my little toddler has a well-organized, consistent program each week in the 2's and 3's Program. She has free play, followed by a short introduction to a letter/sound and sign language, playdough activities, story, games, music, craft, and an early learning video to round out her time in class. She is having so much fun 'going to school'.

Activities:
lunch playdate w/ friends following co-op

6:15-8:15--kickoff to Awana Bible program at church; Jac and I are leaders with both our oldest children in the same club and team with us this year
late dinner out @ Macaroni Grill--Daddy's treat

Friday

{took today off of lessons}

Because of birthday party plans for my niece, I met Charlene in town in the morning so she could take Jess home with her to help with the party and pick the kids up from school. I think this was good for Jessica to do today. I think party planning and a bit of rare one-on-one time with her aunt, as well as meeting new friends, girly play time, crafting, pizza, and build-your-own ice cream sundaes was a healthy 'field trip'. Here is a picture of the cute party craft Jess made.

Andrew, Catherine and I spent the day shopping for J & A's upcoming birthday parties, more clothes for all of us, groceries, and a few clearanced back-to-school supplies.

Our Bookshelf this Week:

The Child's Story Bible
For Instructions in Righteousness
Flat Stanley
My Word Book
Stuart Little
*library books of lions, tigers, and bears

For my next report, I will try to better lay out/outline our school plan/curriculum for the year in the areas of:

Math--
Language Arts--Literature, Reading/Phonics, Grammar, Writing, Logic, Latin, Handwriting
Social Studies--History, Geography
Science--
Health & PE--
H.O.M.E.
(Home economics & Outdoor farm/property Maintenance Education)--

Music--

Saturday

Activities:
Today is soccer pictures and games; Jac is coaching Andrew's Willamette United Soccer Club kindergarten boys' team, by the way.