Dragonfly Days

recognized

Lacrosse was hard this year. The team barely had enough girls to field a team. Only half of them would show up to practice on a regular basis. More often than not, the team had to forfeit because players would not show up for the games. But, they still played. They played many games 3-4 players down, no subs, and with players that hadn't shown up to practice. They played when they had the flu and were throwing up every 5 minutes in a garbage can on the side of the field. They played their hearts out. Sometimes they were able to tie the game or come within a point of winning even though they had already forfeited and the odds were stacked against them.

Three girls on our team were chosen for the all league game team 1.  Here were the criteria for being chosen:

Throughout the 2013 season each coach would recognize players from opposing teams that stood out on the field before, during, and/or after the game. These players were identified for their talent and/or sportsmanship. This is an All-League selection (as opposed to an All-Star selection) because we take into account a players attitude and composure in addition to how they perform on the field.   Team 1 selections are players who have excelled and been recognized for their skill level and demeanor.

Both Alex and Talisa were chosen. What a great way to honor their dedication and hard work.

In a funny little twist they were put on opposing teams for the all league game. Alex as goalie and Talisa as attack.  It was a fun game. Very nice to see them play with players who were as dedicated as they are.  Very fun to see them opposing each other, challenging each other, and cheering each other on. The game ended with a tie, 9-9 and lots of laughter.

We're so very happy for them.

 

this week and some random thoughts.

This week is busy and exciting and huge. Already it's only noon on Monday and we've been to the dermatologist and chiropractor times two.  I'm having my second cup of coffee and trying to muster more energy for the day.

Tonight the girls have their all-star or all league game for lacrosse. It's going to be a late night.  Tomorrow Talisa has graduation practice and we are one day closer to graduation.  It's crazy to think about our oldest graduating. Of course, maybe not so crazy when your dermatologist refers to your age when answering questions. Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder that I am getting older. Actually he was talking to Zac, not me, but it still stung a bit.

I've decided that our lives will never necessarily slow down and I need to stop waiting for that to happen. Instead life seems to be more of a snowball speeding down a hill.  I think it started when our older kids hit about 12 years of age.  I need to stop trying to pull it back up the hill and just get on, enjoy the ride, and not hit any trees!

So in no particular order here is what we are up to this week:

• lacrosse
• graduation
• fencing practice
• fencing tournament
• last day of school for the public school children
• ordering curriculum for next year- more on that when I have time to write about it.

I am not in the habit of taking pictures much anymore.  So one of the only pics I took this weekend:

Taken while out shopping for a graduation dress. This one didn't make the final cut.  We ended up getting two. 

Hope everyone has a great week!

 

 

spring

The mulberry tree.

The milkweed has gone crazy this year.  However, we still haven't spotted any monarchs.

We tore out the rock garden out our front windows and made it into a flower garden. Jack loves the fuchsia plants. I call them fairy plants.

The campanula is a new favorite. It is doing really well in my new garden.

Jack's little box garden is doing well. His strawberry plants are going crazy! He has his beloved snapdragons and verbena.

Our vegetable garden is coming along nicely. The lettuce is up and we are harvesting  daily. The Kale and chard are also ready. We have cilantro popping up everywhere and summer squash coming on.  It also looks like our peas might make it! We fight the heat and birds every year. This year our plants are bigger than ever before. Now if we could just get the peas to come on.

Where have we been?

That break was longer than I thought it would be.  Every time I thought of posting again I couldn't decide where to start or what to post. The past six months have been crazy busy.  So what have we been up to?

Scouting colleges, filling out all kinds of applications, and getting ready for graduation which is next week! Playing lacrosse and being chosen for the all star team also.

Fencing. Fencing practice, fencing competitions, everything fencing.  And he loves it.

Prom, dating, being 17, working hard and getting a big promotion.

Turning 16, getting ready to get her drivers liscense, playing lacrosse and also being chosen for the all star team.

Working hard, helping coach the girls lacrosse team, and gardening. Along with all the other things he does.

And what have I been up to? Homeschooling, chauffeuring, creating, doing more driving, and cheering everybody on in their endeavors.  Missing this space during all of it and looking forward to being back.

 

December 18

Not much to say in these parts. We have been soaking up family time the past few days. Thankful for what we have and who we share our lives with.  I have been taking advantage of the fact that Jack said I could take as many pictures of him as I want.  Favorite memories over the past few days:

• Jack and his huge piece of peppermint chocolate cake.
• a mother-son date including a movie, dinner and Christmas shopping
• making cookies with the family. We have a lot of zombie and ninja themed gingerbread men.
• spending the morning reading Christmas stories and singing Christmas carols next to the tree.
• going for a walk by the river to look for rocks. Coming back with 5lbs of them because every single rock was amazing.
• watching Jack fall in love with a sport and be excited about it. Fencing is his life.
• Jack waking up every day asking if it has snowed. Tonight it finally started to snow, I went in to tell him and he was already asleep. Hopefully it will be there in the morning.
• I have declared the whole week a Christmas week. 

XOXO

bells

Yesterday we had the privelage of ringing the Salvation Army bell.  We had a fun time. Ended up staying for 3 hours, which was long and cold. But we were all glad to do it.

Looking forward to doing it all again next year!

busy day

 

 

Today we had our group Christmas activity for our online school.

We had a fun time seeing our friends and making some decorations.

Jack did these in art class today. They are of Mary and baby Jesus.  I love them. He did so well.

 

 

Jack is really excited for Saint Nicholas day.  He even straightened his room up after all his classes this evening.

Our little St. Nick checking out the gifts.  She is such a silly cat.

 

checking my list

Today was a good day! I actually had enough energy to get some things done. Either that or realizing that Christmas Eve is 3 weeks from today spurred me into action. Yikes!

We brought out the Christmas decorations and Jack decorated himself as well as the tree.  More pictures to come. 

I shipped the first orders out for my etsy store. Squeeee!

I started Christmas shopping.  I was able to finish shopping for our two secret Santa kids. And get most of ours done.

I started a few new cuffs. Alex came up with an awesome design for one that I will hopefully get done in a few days.

I did the laundry.

We did school! Yay for that. Especially on a day that we end up doing two unit tests.  Excited that today's history lesson was on Saint Nicholas, just in time for the holiday this week.

Found this while shopping. Love it!

It was a pretty good Monday all around.

 

where have I been?!?

It's been a while. Sorry about that.  I caught the bug going around and was down for a week or so.  I am still recovering, but getting better every day. We lost most of November, now we are struggling to get caught up to December. Here are some photos from the last little bit:

Jack with his Hero factory creation. What else do you do when confined to a room for 2 weeks?

The girls drug me out for some black Friday shopping. We made it about an hour and a half before I couldn't stand up anymore. Sigh.

After a month off, the boys are back to work on the bug. It got a paint job and is starting to get put back together.

The boy and his piggy.

Fiddling with some electronics.

Alex made Thanksgiving dinner for us, three days late. Everyone wanted to wait until I could eat with them.  She did it all. I was very impressed.

Jack did help grate the cheese for the cheeseball.

Last week we struggled to get back into our homeschooling routine.  We decided music can be good at certain times.

 

Jack made a sculpture of a Mario bomb from tissues, tape and permanent marker.  You can't really tell from the pic, but it was awesome.

And I opened an etsy store! Here is the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/abundantsoulshop 

So glad to be back here in this space and looking forward to posting more during my favorite season!

XOX

 

 

the rest of the week

I promised pictures. I have them, but the won't upload right. They are all turned on the side.  We did get around to our science experiment on Tuesday. That was the last of the good days.  That night Jack's fever was back, he was having trouble breathing, and up all night. The next day the doctor called in another scrip for him to take along with the one he was on already.  Back into the bedroom he went. Wednesday night Talisa started in with a fever. She stayed home Thursday and slept. Went to work on Friday and was up all night Friday night with a raging ear infection.  Zac started in Friday morning with a runny nose and cough.  I started a fever last night that is still hanging on. I also have a horrible sore throat.  I had been telling my fil all week that he needed to stay out in his motor home and stay away from us. Finally this morning I laid down the law.  The last thing we need is him coming down with this.  He stayed away today. I just hope it lasts. This is nasty stuff.

I do have a few pictures from the week to share.

Hey the picture uploaded right this time! This is our non-Newtonian fluid experiment.

We even cooked it to see how it reacted.

Steven and his first paid car job. :) His boss hired him to change out the in tank fuel pump(? I think that is what it was?) So not only did he have his first job but he was able to drive it around. 

 

This is how Jack spent most of Wednesday, under a blanket reading.

This beauty has been hanging out in our backyard for the past two days. We are hoping he moves in for a bit. Very interesting to watch.

Jack was actually feeling well enough to go to his room and play for a bit today. He was really proud of his three canon tail on this one.

I am hoping that my fever breaks so I can finish the Thanksgiving shopping within the next day or two.  At least we have the turkey and pumpkin, anything else we can wing it.  

Have a good weekend.

November 12 2012

Another doctors visit. I've really had my fill.  The pick eye wasn't getting better. The drops were causing more problems than helping.  And the poor boy was not feeling well.  We left with another scrip.

Mousetrap seems to be helping more than anything this evening.  I can't even remember how to play the game, but setting it up and turning that crank sure is fun. I starting imagining a huge one in my backyard. Might be a fun summer project.

I promise to be back with a non medical, stressed out update. :) Tomorrow we are going to do a fun science project for our study on states of matter!

 

November 9 2012

*pic from Monday

First thing this morning I broke the carafe for my coffee maker. Not a good way to start the day.  Jack and I headed out to find a coffee maker. Mine was so old I couldn't get a replacement carafe.  We ran into a store for some jewelry supplies. When he saw the office supply store he asked if we could please get a pencil sharpener that works.  We eventually found a new coffee maker and headed home. Perfect timing for brewing coffee as the weather outside turned. 

We made disgusting slime from a kit I picked up at the store. When you poke your finger into it, it makes a farting noise. Hilarious if you are the right age. Mythbusters for a couple of hours. Pizza was requested for dinner.

With all the time I have had this week to think, I am thinking again about project-based learning. We haven't been working it in like planned. My excuse is we are too busy. But that is an excuse. Anytime I have an excuse, I start to question whether or not it is valid because we always tend to make time for what is important to us.  And I want some project learning. I think Jack wants it too. He doesn't say that exactly, but he has ideas. I would like to see him follow through on those ideas. I would like to see him LEARN how to follow through on ideas. So I've been spending some late nights reading, taking notes and thinking about it a lot. And I've come to realize that we can make the time. We can make it happen.

 

Novenber 8 2012

Someone is feeling better. And better means Legos.  Today we were able to get out of the house.  Physical Therapy and the VA with gramps.  After lunch the boy and I did a few errands including the book store.  We did much better with a little more space.  I am slowly finding a way to more private time and space.

November 4 2012

Love this statue outside the hospital entrance. It reminds me of my very own chicken boy. I know I have some pictures of him in this exact pose, but for now this is the only one I could find.

Love it.

 

November 3 2012

March 2012

No new pictures for today, but this one makes me smile.   And I am really not sure what to write. I could write about our meeting with the social worker at the hospital. Or about trying to figure out where to fit an extra person in our house. Or trying to help the kids understand their role in all of this.

Or I could write about what I am thankful for.

• my hubby
• my kids
• that I have a house to try and fit another person into.
• That we have the ability to buy a bed.  The saddest thing today was the social worker telling us that we wouldn't believe how many patients she finds beds for because at home they sleep on the floor. The floor.  Most of these are older people. The floor.
• That despite all the overwhelming things, we are healthy and have each other.

 

November already.

It's hasn't been the week I had planned.  I had planned on taking the week off of school, doing some fun science experiments, and enjoying time with friends.  What a turn of events. My father in law suffered an aortic dissection.  So we spent Tuesday night waiting for him to get out of surgery and have spent any spare time we have over at the hospital.  He is now doing well in  a regular hospital room and we are all trying to adjust to what this all means. We are very thankful that everything has turned out so well, that so many things were lined up just right so that everything would work out well. We are also very thankful for all the support we have received. Also very thankful I had everything in order so that we could drop everything and be where we were needed.

I had planned to do nanowrimo and nanblomo, but neither one is happening yet.  last time I tried to do those my father was in the hospital in ICU.  I think maybe it is a sign. 

The Halloween party went on as planned, thanks to the kids.  We couldn't be at the hospital anyways since my fil wasn't resting while we were there and it helped us lighten up a little.

Zac also wanted the kids to be able to celebrate and have some sense of normal. They look forward to the party all year.

 

And these are basically the only pictures I took. There is always next year. 

 

weekly wrap up

Yes he is wearing a coat and barefoot. No, it wasn't that cold outside. He was practicing his spelling by writing the words on our glass door. 

We had a  really good week last week and were able to get back on track with some things. 

History:

• Rome splits
• Constantine
• Visigoths and Vandals
• Attila the Hun

Science:

• ponds
• coral reefs
• unit test

art:

• animals in art

math:

• 3 lessons

spelling:

• -oa words

language:

• capitals
• review

Spanish

• 4 lessons

Extras:

• fun and fitness
• art- Halloween scenes
• fencing
• acrobatics
• hip hop- gave it another try, still ended up not feeling well.
• park day

Reading:

• The Great Brain
• Garfield
• Calvin and Hobbes

Watching:

• Madagascar 3
• Mythbusters
• Blue Planet- Coral Reefs

Others:

• Time with the cousins
• picking out pumpkins
• Halloween party with the neighbors
• lunch with grandpa
• legos

 

 

fall is in the air

I've been trying to get a little decorating done. I wish I had a mantle to decorate.  I had to improvise a little.

Ignore the guitars and the empty picture frame.  I have an idea for that frame, just need to make it happen.

Last weekend, Alex and I ventured in to an antique store for the first time.

It was a mess. Lots of great stuff, but so full you couldn't even get to everything. Made me feel sad for all the books they had. I did pick up a few Garfield books for the boy. I also found this:

Minus the gnomes and such. I put a fresh coat of paint on it-- I had to it was painted three different colors.

 

I am still tweaking it a bit and trying to find the perfect little things to put in it.

 

scenes from the weekend 10/21

I am skipping a weekly wrap-up this week.  We only did school for three days and not that much was done. 

I pulled out some art supplies and Jack's eyes lit up.  Love that he wanted to do some fun stuff with mom.

And yes, art is often made on our floor.Especially when the table is covered with projects.

The boy and his cat.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love our cat?  Can't imagine not having her here. She is even getting a little better about being picked up.

Word on the street is primer by next weekend.  Squeee!

The crafts are starting to spill over to the back porch. Something needs to be done.

The boy, on the swing, reading a book.  I wish my eyesight was that good.

a little nature walk

Today we took advantage of a small window of time and went to one of our favorite parks for a little walk.

We did a little collecting along the way.

I don't know what is up with the shirt being unbuttoned, I think he must have been hot.  I took the camera and tried  working with a new setting.

It was only and hour, but it was needed. It has been another one of those weeks. The older kids have the next two days off school. We are planning to relax, enjoy some fall activities and get some much needed rest. And we are going back to the park!