Sunday Travel

Last Sunday was major travel for our family. Gabriel left for deployment; I'm sad for him to be away from his family for so long, so say a prayer for him and Alayna and the boys when you think of them. 

He was rerouted for a bit due to storms, but made it to his future home for the next seven months yesterday. 

Alyssa, JP and Oliver hit the beach in Myrtle Beach. I have the cutest video ever of Oliver dancing on the beach, but Blogger doesn't want to upload it for us!

Elijah and I set off for Spartanburg, SC for a week of basketball camp. I have hit the sports big league with this kiddo! The plan was I was going to take Selah and Bella also and we were going to explore the local area, but I am awaiting an MRI for what is likely a herniated disk and walking is quite painful. Instead, I arranged for them to go to friend's houses for four of the five days and they got to swim their last swim meet of the summer. I spent a LOT of time in the hotel room doing school since walking was too painful to go exploring. I got two full weeks of work done in four days and only went a bit stir-crazy. 

Elijah did long days from 7:45 a.m. until 9:15 p.m., except the last night he didn't get out until 11:15. There was 6 hours of classroom basketball and 6 hours of court a day. He starts practices for this winter starting tomorrow night. I didn't see this coming at the beginning, but I really like basketball and I love the families we travel and hang with on this team! 

The last night of basketball around 11:30 p.m. - worn out. 

A huge surprise was the fact that JD's sister, Nancy, moved to Spartanburg area the week before Elijah and my visit. Their daughter and family lives close also, so I was able to go see the one day at their house and then Elijah and I met them on the way out of town on Friday. 

We got home on Friday night in time for Tori and Julia's end of the year ceremony from their summer work on Saturday. It was an awesome ceremony. This is them with Elisha who ran the program. 

Basketball Lines

We paved the first side of our driveway back in December to create a basketball area for the kids. This last weekend, we installed a net to keep the ball from falling down to the lower driveway. Yesterday, JD and Elijah used a stencil we ordered to paint basketball lines on the driveway.

Oliver and I just hung out while the guys worked. 

Oliver has his own hoop and  takes the game very seriously. 

I think my lens got dirty so these look foggy....

While we enjoyed our farm, Selah headed out to her first day of working at a horse farm with rescue horses; she was pretty excited when she got home!

Science Fair

We survived 7th grade Science Fair!

Selah did "Are all dog nose prints different?"

Elijah did "The 5 Second Rule".  I am thankful for the experience and I am thankful it is over! 

Oliver and Brown Bear

 Another generation loving Brown Bear - this is Oliver's current favorite. It works so nicely that all these kids know how to read, so after one reads it, he may find another kid to read another round. 

Essentials Projects

  Elijah and Selah have completed their large Essentials project, board and paper. That's a relief! Elijah did Samurai and Selah did Olmecs. Here are just a few pictures to show their hard work, because yes, we saved the wood sword that JD and Elijah built, but Selah's sugar pyramid and the posters have already retired at the land fill!

Ready or Not

 After dragging the kids through town for nine hours the other day, I think we are ready for Christmas. I came home and ordered the last few things and the big girls have helped me wrap them as they have rolled in. The girls are all great shoppers; it's poor Elijah who was requesting to go home the last several hours.

 Look at these super darling cookies that Tori made as a gift for a friend - I just love them. 

 We are off for some caroling with friends to several shut-ins. Merry Christmas!

First Day Photo

 As usual, I forgot to take a first day of CC photo before we left the house, so I was pretty excited when I got there and some brilliant person had a table for us to snap a quick pic. Here are my three CC'ers this year; it felt sad to not have Tori and Julia there, but they are doing another home school co-op instead.
 

Elijah and Selah are 5th grade and Bella is 4th. This is the first year that Selah and Elijah are doing afternoon Essentials class, which is pretty intensive grammar and IEW writing. Bella is observing with me. 

Here's to another great year - Elijah and Bella's 6th year; Selah's 5th and the 5th I have tutored. Our Classical Conversation community has been a real blessing! 

New Adventure

We have launched into a new pastime as a family - cheering for Elijah and his team "The Americans" at flag football. It is a rather competitive sport and feels so official since they play on the high-school field. 

Last Sunday, we (JD, I, Tori, Moriah, Chris, Selah and Bella) froze our tooshies off on the bleachers. We had on coats and went back for picnic blankets to try and stay warm.

Elijah - far left

Today it was just Tori and I as the spectators. JD had his annual "Beans and Bullets" church mens group here, Selah and Bella went and toured the battle- fields with friends, Julia went to another friends, etc, etc. Today was 82 degrees - hard to believe only six days after we froze at the first game.

Elijah played so well today - he is a 9 year old on the 9-11 team and his first year AND he removed five flags! It was a pretty exciting game and they won with a handsome lead. We were so proud of our little buddy!

Elijah - far right

I need to do the battle field tour with the other kids, it was pretty impressive  book and route the girls did today to learn about the Civil War. Here they are at the big Confederate Cemetery downtown - 

And even more exciting - Cook Out!

Jenny

 

More Fall -

 I intended to get the baby bushes pictures right up, although I'm sure my average readers have fared alright with the wait. I used fake stone edging from Home Depot that has spikes to secure into the ground. We thought it may only be temporary, as JD would build edges that match our 1,000 retaining walls, but we really like it and may just leave it long term. 

This is the right side of the front porch - 

  

Here's the long side run on the left side of the porch. Once the garage is done, I'm going to put a little matching "Christmas" tree at the end also. The ground just isn't leveled completely yet. We moved the roses out along the fence and are hopeful they will make it; they were dying where they were. 

I also planted three blackberry bushes on the middle layer of the back yard. I wish I had purchased six as I'm sure they are going to be sold out when I finally make it back to Lowe's to see; I guess I could mail order them.

Here is our October 31st happenings. My attention to costume was exactly as follows:

One hour before time to leave for Harvest Party, I asked the kids if they were dressing up. A few said yes. I said, "well, go find a costume." They are minimal, but qualified for candy at the trunks of the Harvest Party. We went to a local church for the first time with local friends, and it was small but nice. There was just a lot of eating hot dogs and hanging out with friends time.

  
There was a face painting booth, so the lady helped Selah be more "indiany" - 

  
And Bella more "princessy" - Bella is a super adorable kid, but her fake smiles at this age aren't working in her favor. It seems they all go through this stage.

  
Here is Elijah's little friend, Tie. He spent the afternoon of the 31st with us since his momma is Tori's CC Challenge tutor. Our classes were moved to Monday this week but Tori's stayed Tuesday. Elijah has loved him since he came home from China well over a year ago.

  
Speaking of a different kind of love, since the English language is lacking in different needed words for love - I love avocado oil if you haven't tried it. It can cook in high temps, unlike olive oil, and has such a good flavor. We use it to cook eggs, meats and veggies. We buy ours at Costco, of course, but I'm sure it may be available other places. I highly recommend it. 

Yes, this was Nov. 1st and I let Bella sleep in her face paint and wear it the next day. It stayed on well so she must have slept on her back only. I figured the sheets needed to be changed anyway!

Jenny