I scream, you scream, we all scream for...

do I really have to finish that sentence? Probably not. ;)

Yesterday, we had our second ice cream social with our homeschool group. This time we were missing about half the kids, most because of illness and some because of scheduling conflicts.

Even with six children missing they seemed to have a great time. They kind of played "court", but I think it was more "chase". Either way, the mom's, and Auburn, had a great time eating ice cream and talking about cartoons (from the past), school, work, and all kinds of things that mom's talk about when the kids are not paying us any attention.

I think we'll have to have another "social" very soon...once everyone is well. ;)

Tonight I started baking for my mother's mother's family reunion tomorrow. I currently have a pecan pie cooling and tomorrow morning I'm baking a pumpkin pie. John took a crumb of crust to taste. He said it was good; I'm hoping so but I had a difficult time with it tonight. I love making homemade crusts and it usually comes easily, so when I have a problem with it I worry.

That is all the excitement from Lugoff. We lead such interesting lives. ;)

A Nature Class first

What a morning!!!

Today was our first Nature Class with our new teacher, Mr. Tim. We are going to miss Ms. Chanda for so many reasons, but we have just as many to be excited about Mr. Tim. Too bad our first trip out was not ALL fantastic.

Today was our long nature walk through Clemson Extension. We were on trails the girls and I had never been on. There are buildings out there!! Nice ones!! LOL We even saw a toad with THREE legs! I know April is going to hate they missed that. Mr. Tim told us that dragon flies eat tadpoles, but sometimes will only take a leg. He (the toad) was so sweet. He kept making a little tweety sound, not really a croak but higher.

We also noticed, unlike Ms. Chanda who stopped at almost all scat, Mr. Tim would rather discuss other things. ;) I believe that is something our kids are going to have to adjust to; they do love discussing poo! lol I know two different children stopped at two different piles to point it out, but Mr. Tim was in the lead and focused on other things. :) Bug, true bugs, not just insects. So much to learn from him. I was so confused! Still am. ;)

Well, I think we may have been about half way through our walk when we came across a small pond. We stood there for awhile looking a midgeys (not sure how to spell that) and dragon flies. We also watched the gator in the pond for a bit too. Just as we started going again is when the drama struck. And what drama it was! (Jesse told me in the car on the way home) Mr. Tim saw a snake skin hanging on a tree so they walked over to take a closer look. Hmm. Not on the trail, maybe that should have been our first clue! It was; however, behind one of the nice buildings (no clue what/or which one). Wendy and I were a little bit behind the pack when I heard Mr. Tim tell everyone to run. They stood there. He said it again. Then they ran! Then the screaming started. Poor Thomas!! I still had no idea why they, we, were running. I just new Thomas was screaming while Hope dragged him behind her.

Turned out we were running from yellow jackets! Fierce little boogers they are. We thought we had cleared it, just to discover all of Thomas' screaming was because he had been stung...twice. I started pulling out my first aid kit to spray him down. Poor Thomas continued screaming. It turned out he had a stinger stuck in his arm on a third sting we missed. Needless to say, he wanted nothing more to do with the outdoors after that point. Next thing I know "Franklin" was hit on his hand. Then his leg, which didn't look nearly has bad has his finger. After we found Thomas' third one, then Chloe comes running over. She got stung on her hand too! Three of the six kids were stung. No adults were harmed (go figure). But two of the three kids were hit more than once. I just keep thinking that could have been so much worse had Mr. Tim not kept telling them to run. I told the group after, "What did we learn today? When Mr. Tim says run, you haul butt!"

I have to say our drama queen, Chloe, did remarkably well with her sting. Not one tear. She ran right over and I put Neosporin right on it. She held her hand the rest of the time, but never became hysterical. I was so proud. Honestly, I didn't think they girls were bothered by it. Not until we left the garden (we spent twenty minutes at the Trading Station). We drove over to our favorite place to have a picnic and they requested we keep the windows up. Jesse said she wasn't really hungry. This was an hour past our lunch time. We decided to just go home. I think they may be done with school today. Just a bit too much drama today.

A little of this and little of that

I have a couple of minutes before I need to start peeling shrimp, so I thought I'd write a few lines.

Summer is officially over here. John and I put the pool away yesterday. It was truly a sad moment for Jesse as she realized she has entered it for the last time this year. While I was very reluctant to make the pool purchase, I am very glad John was persistent. We enjoyed it so much while we were out of school and tried to enjoy it at least once a week when we returned to our studies. We are all looking forward to it going back up next spring.

I've been doing a bit of rearranging here (yes, Mom, again). The spices in the kitchen have been driving me nuts lately. We have several in magnetic holders for the refrigerator, but the majority of them are still in their original jars. We have so many different kinds I didn't see how we could put all of them on the refrigerator. I gave up on that idea last week. I set out to purchase a spice holder that goes in your drawer. Well guess what could not be found at Lowe's or Target. A spice holder for the drawer. Oh, yeah! I could find one for the cabinet, but I don't want them in the cabinet (it is too high for me to get them easily). A few days ago I found myself standing in the kitchen staring at the drawers. One, the junk drawer, had plenty (so I thought) room after I moved John's grilling items another location. But there was not enough room for ALL the spices AND the stuff already in the drawer. Still thinking it over and really not able to focus on much else, I finally had a thought. I took the basket some of the spices were in and placed the girls snack plates, bowls and cups in the basket on the counter. That left an ENTIRE drawer free...once I moved the tea boxes. :) Now, all the spices are in the drawer, labels up, so they can be found quickly. John grilled chicken last night and went right to the spice he wanted. He likes it.

I have also been doing a bit of baking over the weekend. With my new meds, come new restrictions to my diet. I suppose it was good that I was already tired of eggs, sausage and bacon for breakfast. I was already looking for new ideas. ;) This weekend I made a morning cake, kind of like a coffee cake, but moist. And full of things that are so good for you! Everyone loved it! John said it was his favorite recipe so far. I also made pumpkin muffins. Honestly, I wasn't sure I would even like them. I love them! They were so yummy. John came into the kitchen just as I pulled them out of the oven and said, "those are restaurant quality." I was proud, but at the moment still worried about the taste. Chloe was the only one who said, "they are not my favorite", but she didn't leave one crumb on her plate.

This morning was a little different. The girls were doing school work while I cleaned some for an ice cream social we are having this week. During the cleaning process, I was checking my emails for something in particular. I happened across a comment from FB from a friend who homeschools. She was upset about having to constantly defend their choice to homeschool. I totally understand where she is coming from. Seems like some of our family either they don't want to talk about, don't agree with us so they say nothing (which I really don't mind), or just don't quite get what homeschooling is all about. I put in a few comments on the subject hoping to help find a cord with those who were upsetting her. I think I helped with one; the other didn't seem to be "reading" anything all of the homeschooling moms were saying. I've met people like that too. I just hope my friend can find her way despite the obstacles.

That CRAZY Morgan!!!

I adore my Uncle Morgan. I saw him a couple of weeks ago at the family reunion and we talked a bit about his last adventure. He, and some biker buddies, spent three months riding to, and around, Alaska. He was telling me about some of their visit. I could have listened for hours. It was fascinating. Then yesterday he posted this picture on Facebook. I had to put it here.

If memory serves me correctly (it rarely does) Uncle Morgan plays Santa every year. You have to admit he is a perfect Santa!! He is the one sitting in the chair, with Santa on his lap. :)

Gotta LOVE my family!

Another crazy week!

Again, I think this is our norm. :) John was home, both, Monday and Tuesday this week. Therefore, no school work. I do love being out of school when he is home. The girls have a chance to irritate play with him. School is going well, though I think I need to redo some of my filing system. Not all of it is working well. I just need 6-8 hours of uninterrupted time to look at it. Hmm. Wonder when that will happen?

This week started my big journey at taekwondo. Master Mike has changed stores at his other job and will not be available to teach on Tuesdays. I have been placed in a position of...something. I would not say authority; I feel I have little, though I may have a bit. I am still working on learning, really knowing, all the green through red belt forms. But because MM is not there at all on Tuesdays, I also need to relearn all three first and second degree forms. We did not have to relearn those to earn our black jackets. Now, I'm playing catch-up, but I'm doing it as I go. It is a very interesting journey. Last night I, personally, was teaching a red belt form, a green belt form, a nunchuck form and I had to assist with a blue belt form, all in one class. See what I mean about interesting? Next session will be more fun. I may have a black belt recommended, while I prepare for my own graduation to third degree. I just don't know if MM is going to ask me to teach her or Alex. Alex tends to make her nervous and upset. She has aspergers and needs a certain amount of pampering in class.

That was a day!!

Yesterday was my kind of day! Well, mostly. I did spend most of it looking for my license that went missing after the fender bender. I did finally find it about 3pm.

The girls and I took some time off from school work yesterday. Our week had been a bit crazy and I thought some down time was in order. Jesse rearranged her room. Her bed is now in front of her window and she says "it is soo cozy." She still has some work to do, but she had some to do before she rearranged. :) Chloe and I actually played a game. Yes, a game!! We played PayDay, three months worth and the child stomped the snot out of me. Like real life every time I got mail it was a bill. Go figure!

Last night the girls wanted something sweet. Since we didn't have anything, they made something. And yes THEY made it. The did all the measuring and mixing. John put the sheet in the oven and took it out. But they made chocolate chip cookies with no help. They did a fantastic job and didn't make that big of a mess either. I sat on the loveseat watching them. I just cannot get over how grown up they are getting, especially Jesse. She looks so different with her glasses (that she still won't let me get a picture of her).

The End of an Era

I have been driving since I was seventeen. I really had no desire to drive before then. My Sonny would drive me to school, though I did have to ride the bus back home. As a senior, he left early which left me with the bus. I think some days he wished he could take me home too, especially those days he heard I had been messed with by the guys on the bus. :) Always the protector. Love him!

But my Sonny is the point of this story. Two days ago, while backing to leave the vets office, I backed straight into a UPS truck. Clearly I was distracted. I have not had an accident since I was seventeen and it wasn't MY fault. This is the first accident I've had that was my fault. I can't remember if I even looked in the rear view mirror. This is really unlike me, especially in parking lots full of older people and animals. I am usually so careful. John usually looks behind me too, but he didn't do his usual either.

I was lucky in one way. I was backing, so I was not going very fast. I was unlucky in the fact I was driving John's car. Forgiveness has been given, but I feel horrible about the whole thing. John's back light (driver's side) was busted and his bumper has a nice gouge. He is scheduled to take his car on Tuesday for repairs. I am hoping we get it back on Tuesday. Our lives are too hectic to be down a car.

So ends the era of my perfect driving. I'm mourning the loss and the confidence.