Catch Up: August-early November

We got back from our six weeks of vacation on Friday, August 3. To save time, I will mainly post pictures of our activities.

The Family Ministries group (of which I am a member) hosted a "Back to School Luau" at the church on Sunday, August 5. Jennifer outdid herself as usual. We had upwards of 300 persons in attendance.

We invited our old neighbors and current friends, Frank, Lupita, and Nathan to attend.

Celebrating Grandma's birthday on August 10.

And Aunt Wanda's the next day. Jennifer was so nice and made cupcakes for her.

Our new built-in got painted while we were gone. I finally remembered to take a picture!

Aubree got about five or six red spots on her face and arms lasered off. You can see it a little bit on the bottom of her cheek there. They thought it would take two treatments but they all disappeared after only one.

A fellow homeschool mom volunteered to start a homeschool band at the church on Tuesday's. She teaches for free but we provide our own instruments. At first Aubree was going to do the clarinet but then settled on the trumpet (yay!) and Calleigh wasn't going to do it at all. But once the teacher said she had no trombone player, Calleigh decided she wanted to join after all and play the trombone.

This is how the dogs sleep every night now...in Calleigh's room. Look closely. There are two dogs there!

Meeting the latest cousin, Natalie, David and Yully's new baby.

We attended the Kids and Family Expo at the Convention Center.

Brady and Aubree climbed a coconut tree.

This is a 6-year old Michael Jackson impersonator. He danced and lip synced a few songs and was very good!

I was perusing the website about the expo when I came across my picture from a few years ago when we won some tickets.

We started the school year on Wednesday, August 22. It was the start of a new way of life because Brady is now actually going school. Overall, we are once again doing My Father's World with the theme this year called, "Exploration to 1850."

Calleigh - 6th
Bible - MFW (we are memorizing a good portion of the book of James)
History - MFW
Science - Animals, Botany (using Apologia)
English - Grammar and Punctuation by Evan-Moor, Editor-in-Chief (Critical Thinking Company)
Writing - Wordsmith Apprentice, Writing Skills for Today (MFW)
Reading - Abeka
Spelling - A Reason for Spelling, Level E
Math - Teaching Textbooks 6
Handwriting - Pictures in Cursive by Queen's English
Spanish - Duolingo
Music - Studying various composers, piano lessons, band
PE - Ice skating on Tuesday's, homeschool PE on Wednesday's, intramurals at FLEC

Aubree - 4th/5th
Bible - MFW (we are memorizing a good portion of the book of James)
History - MFW
Science - Animals, Botany (using Apologia
English - Critical Thinking Company (CTC) Level D, Editor-in-Chief (CTC)
Writing - Wordsmith Apprentice, Writing Skills for Today (MFW)
Reading - Abeka
Spelling - A Reason for Spelling Level E
Math - Teaching Textbooks 5
Handwriting - Pictures in Cursive by Queen's English
Spanish - Duolingo
Music - Studying various composers, piano lessons, band

Art - She and Brady are taking an art class on Friday's

PE - Ice skating on Tuesday's, homeschool PE on Wednesday's, intramurals at FLEC

Brady - 1st/2nd

Math - Teaching Textbooks 3

Reading - "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"

Phonics - Explode the Code

Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears

Science - Animals, Botany

It's going really well with Brady. My one-on-one time with him really only takes about 30 minutes and then he listens in while we are doing Bible, Science, etc. Math is definitely his strong suit and it befuddles me that it took me until my third kid to get one that loves math like I do. But then, I had to wait until him to get my lefty too.

One of the best things about homeschool: not having to fix your hair in the morning. I present Exhibit A.

Working on some Explode the Code

Decorating our "World" cake

Aubree should be in her last year of Adventurers this year but since she is more in fifth grade than fourth, and being in fifth grade is the criteria to be in Pathfinders, she skipped her last year of Adventurers. Plus, now she will be a Pathfinder for the big camporee in Wisconsin in August, 2019.

Induction on August 26. Started an hour late!

Saturday night after induction, the girls did a "lock-in" in the Upper Youth Center. Since there are two of them now, I was okay with letting them both stay overnight. They had a really, really great time and this is what happened when they got home on Sunday.

Colby on that Sunday morning. Pure boy. To be clear, he's sound asleep. I think his hand is just resting there.

Celebrating Colby's fifth birthday at Sabbath School on the 25th.

Colby's request was to go to Lucky Monkey on his birthday which was Monday, the 27th. This picture makes it look like he and Brady are the same size which is not the case.

Lunch at Sweet Tomatoes

Some new Legos

Not sure what this was but he was very excited.

I adore this boy.

Getting his hearing checked at his well visit. No problems.

Colby - 5 Years
Height - 41 1/2 inches (23rd percentile)
Weight - 37.2 pounds (24th percentile)
BP - 98/60
Vision - 20/25
Pulse - 94
Clothing Size - 4 (pants & shorts) & 4/5 (shirts)
Shoe Size - 10

The Conrads came and visited us from Cape Cod for Labor Day weekend. We enjoyed an outing to the T-Rex Cafe. We were able to make a reservation and didn't have to wait.

We walked around Disney Springs for a bit and had some vegan ice cream. Not sure how much it was loved by my kids.

The boys had such a fun time playing with Caleb.

We have a free companion ticket for Southwest so every time Duncan flies somewhere on Southwest, one of us can fly with him for free. He had to go up to Boston for business on September 6 and my friend Marina from Seattle, whom I hadn't seen in 14 years, happened to be in town for her parents 50th wedding anniversary. So I flew up with Duncan and hung out with Marina for a few hours. We had such a great time reminiscing.

We attended the 100 year anniversary of Forest Lake Academy with the kids decked out in their gear. This is a common occurrence.

Colby (or should I say Tom?) took advantage of the face painter.

Colby is very much into puzzles these days. He says to me, "Aren't you glad that you have a boy that loves to do puzzles?" Yes. Yes, I am.

One of my very favorite pictures ever of the girls. I don't even remember what they were making here. But the joy on their faces! This is when I miss the sister I never had.

Duncan got us some tickets for the Patriots game in Jacksonville against the Jaguars. Great seats (although weirdly, our seats didn't seem to actually exist. We had to keep moving around.) but the free buffet left something to be desired for the vegetarian. But hey, it was free! Unfortunately, the Patriots lost 31-20 and that's when you wish you didn't have a two hour drive home.

It was the hottest game that Brady had ever played in. I thought I was almost going to pass out waiting in line to get in. Everyone was packed together and it took forever. I had sweat dripping down me in buckets. Plus, I had just gotten over a multi-day fever from having a UTI. Not a good combo.

Jennifer and I at D6 in Greensboro, North Carolina. A group of seven of us went...a few new faces from last year.

Our accommodations.

It was a worthy trip although we agreed that it probably wasn't quite as good as last year's. For the next three years, the conference will be in Orlando so no more plane trips needed.

Missed these guys while I was gone. Duncan sent me this picture of the boys. Not sure how Colby could sleep like this.

Beach day with Dad while Mom is away.

September 30 was the church yard sale, which I was in charge of once again. Piles of stuff in my driveway to be picked up to take to the church (I store everyone's donations in my garage)

No rain this time which was huge!

We made about $2,000 which was our biggest total yet.

Scott Russell is a kind gentleman who sold his homemade kettle corn and gave all the proceeds to our Pathfinder club.

Can anyone relate? This is Aubree's room. I can't even. Like, I look at this and I lose my mind. This is how it looked on the Sunday morning that they had Honor Day for Pathfinders. As soon as she left, I ended up cleaning it all and threw a bunch of stuff away. If you have a messy room, you're at risk of it being posted on the internet!!

Pumpkin seeds.

Caught a play at the Rep. I actually wish we hadn't gone. Why do they have to do boyfriend/girlfriend stuff in a play with characters that are supposed to be in Kindergarten?

We went to the playground after the play. I was reminded of how I was at the playground all the time when the girls were little.

We played some Native American games as we studied the first Thanksgiving for school. You have to toss these sticks up in the air and try to catch them. Harder than it looks. I couldn't even do it although the kids got it after a few tries.

Native American bowling (although I'm clear it looked a little different). Brady won.

The girls helped me make chickpea pumpkin meatballs for Pumpkin Fest. The dogs crack me up!

Allen brought Pumpkin Fest to the church after a many years hiatus. The goal was to get new church members involved with current members.

Duncan and I won tank. This was the third year I've won it...each time with a different partner.

I just had to capture this funny sleeping pose.

Dissecting owl pellets. Kind of ewwww and cool at the same time.

My mom and I each flew in to Atlanta and then drove a little over two hours to Greenville, South Carolina to see the Gaither Vocal Band. It was a reunion of all the members who have ever been in the band which was created in the early 80's (total of 19 men). My mom and I had never gone on a mother/ daughter only trip.

We went to concerts Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday night. Saturday morning our seats were all the way up at the front. I loved every minute of it all. Saturday night they even sang my favorite song, "The King is Coming" which I always hope they'll do when I'm at a concert but they had never done so. It made my weekend.

I found an AirBnB about five minutes away. It was in the basement of this house. It was two bedrooms, a living room, and small kitchen space and it worked out perfectly.

Trunk or Treasure at the church on October 31. I am always SO glad when Halloween is over.

Another sleeping picture. I can't help myself. Look at their arms.

The first weekend of November we were at Camp Kulaqua with the Adventurers. It was unseasonably cold both mornings we were there...in the low to mid 40's. And we eat outside!

Working on the state of Florida honor.

Brady and Violet serving food with the Sunbeams group.

Calleigh wanted to help Colby and the Eager Beavers serve breakfast on Sunday morning.

Smores on Saturday night. I don't have a picture of it but Duncan took Colby's training wheels off while we were there and he was successfully riding a two wheeler!

Duncan decided to paint the brick himself. I was VERY nervous with him at the top of that ladder but did appreciate the $$$ we saved. Unfortunately I don't have a picture at the moment of the finished product.

Our electric bill is enormous and we decided to spray some foam insulation in parts of the house where we are missing insulation to help combat it. First they had to remove old insulation which they put in these giant bags.

We had to vacate the premises for one night when they sprayed the foam so we stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's and did our school there the next morning. The girls are actually studying for Bible Bowl here though.

Aubree and Brady do an art class on Friday afternoons.

Forgot to show some pictures of our pantry. This was the former dining room which we moved to the former formal living room.

After having a giant pantry at our old house, I can't survive without one! This is now completed and I'll try to get a picture of the completed project.

That's it through early November. Hope to get the rest posted as soon as tomorrow!