This and That

Little Miss Baker is getting really good :)  She made the everyone grilled cheese and salami sandwiches, a pan of brownies and cake pops with a vanilla glaze this day:

Eli is doing great at basketball and I am loving his coaches.  I was especially entertained by Eli's enthusiasm this night of practice:

Why, oh why did it take us 2 years to find this gem???  A friend at church told us about the Yuma Proving Grounds pool and found it to be amazing!  It's a good 45 minutes away, but worth it in my opinion; it's clean, free, has somewhat decent hours and was pretty quiet (we had it all to ourselves for about an hour this day).

This video is in honor of my great uncle Bill, who died of a stroke this week.  I have many memories of uncle Bill taking all the grandkids out to the vacant lot next to my grandparents house and running races with us.  He was an avid runner until he couldn't run anymore and I love the idea of caring his legacy on just a little. However, I don't ever remember running races in pajama bottoms, but that's just a little bit of Shear added to it.

Our piano is almost constantly being played now. Eli will sit down and play the songs he has memorized, Alison will play scales, Ben will play hymns and any spare moment, Colin jumps on and plays this ditty:

Staying at the White's

On the first day, all the boys did the slip and slide, and everyone else started on the 3d puzzle.

the finished 3d puzzle.

We got to go see some helicopters and go to chick-fil-a for lunch.

On Sunday, Aline and I went swimming at a friends house.

the boys tried camping on the trampoline.

On Monday, I threw a party for when mom and dad got home.

{Jen writing}

We are so blessed by the White's and their willingness to help us out.  Not only did they take care of our kids, but it was basically summer camp for them.  They have so much energy and organized activities for the kids each day.  Laurel had to go to a seminar one day for a homeschool group they are involved with and Brian gets an award for taking care of ALL of the kids. At the end of the day, this was the text we got:

  5 boys, enough said.

AND Laurel let Alison take over the house the day we were coming back.  She baked peanut butter cookies, hung decorations and wrote a card.  It was the best thing to come home to :)

Our Virginia Trip

Shortly after Ben came home from this last deployment, he mentioned that the flight surgeon he was deployed with asked if he would consider officiating her wedding.  He thought it would be a great getaway for us, so he agreed.  I know it meant the world to her and it didn't take long for us to realize how much some time to be just Ben and Jen, was needed.

We traveled all day Thursday and picked up this tiny car in Norfolk to get us around the tidewater area.  It felt like a toy car...the two of us and our luggage barely fit!

Friday morning started at one of our favorite places on the planet; Windsor Castle Park.

 This trip could be titled, Holy Humidity!

I wanted to run all morning, but the humidity had other plans.  We made it 6.5 miles before we waved our white flag, wrung out our clothes and went to get Ringo's, still the absolute best donuts.

 We cleaned up and then went to The Point, for lunch.

 It was funny being back at these old favorite places; the same staff, food and beauty...just a little more country than we remembered.  Did I mention it was my birthday too?  Best birthday lunch right here!

 

Then we headed to the Inn at Warner Hall for the wedding rehearsal.  They were just a little happy to see Ben and we were even more happy to see green and rain.

When we pulled up, Ben said he felt like he was stepping into a movie.  For real.  It felt like we were in Stars Hallow and a guest at the Dragon Fly Inn.  Go watch Gilmore Girls if you don't know what I'm talking about.  Sookie was in the kitchen, Lorelai greeted us at the front desk and a very tipsy Emile Gilmore was the mother of the bride.

Anyway, they showed us to our fancy room and I ironed Ben's clothes on the baby ironing board :)

 

We were thoroughly spoiled at the Inn.  They had drinks and appetizers galore each evening, along with amazing food at each meal.

 

There are so many stories I could share about this weekend.   It's always a bit of a shock for me to see Ben in work mode; some because there are parts of his job that are insane and some because it's a side of him I don't see at home.  This is a perfect picture of Ben at work:

 Ben said he was going to get a lemon cookie he kept hearing rave reviews about.  I started to wonder what happened to him, when I found him in front of the cookie table, talking intently to this older couple.  He listened carefully to their life story and asked a few questions before excusing himself back to our appetizers.  Ben not at work=does not chit chat with strangers.  Ben at work=strikes up conversations with everyone and they always end up sharing all the intimate details of their life.

The next morning, we went out for a run.  Everyone thought we were crazy to go out in the rain, but we loved it!

 Ben found a baby turtle on the road :)

 

This graveyard was at the back of the Inn.  They picked this place specifically for the historical factor and I thought it added a really cool touch to the weekend.

While everyone else at the Inn was doing wedding stuff, we got to just sit and drink tea.  I finished a book and we talked about life.  I could have stayed in this spot forever.

 Humidity + rain + running = the most stinky clothes you can imagine.  They were so stinky, our fancy room was starting to lose it's fancy appeal and we had to awkwardly take our stink to the boathouse to wash them.  Some of the wedding party was down there killing time, so Ben decided to join in the fishing and I chatted with some of the ladies.

 

 The wedding was supposed to be outside of the house, in the lawn, but due to the rain, it had to be moved to the foyer of the house.  It was a very unique experience, to be standing, looking up for a wedding.  Plus, the girl standing next to me, suddenly had a wardrobe malfunction and I had to lend her my sweater to make it through the ceremony.  Never a dull moment in my life.

 

Ben pronouncing them man and wife

 The reception was in a tent in the backyard.  I never quite understood why they didn't just have the wedding in the tent, but I was also thankful because the humidity was still trying to slowly melt us away.

 

It was way too loud in the tent, so we enjoyed our pie on the patio.

 Sunday morning, Ben got to preach at Hope.

 Seeing the building was incredible.  Actually, it was a strange feeling, sitting in Knox's chairs, in Hope's building (Hope bought the chairs from Knox during a renovation) and being a visitor.  George is on sabbatical and is actually in Kansas, but we got to see Benjamin and Hannah.

Ben talking to Benjamin and Hannah in the foyer of church

The sanctuary:

 We went to lunch with Matt and Kathleen.  They were in our small group and now have a sweet baby.  It was so great catching up with old friends.

 

We ended our trip with a stroll through downtown Smithfield and one final walk around Windsor Castle.

It was a fantastic trip.  We heard countless, "You look so tan!" and "You don't look old enough to have an almost 11 year old!" and "Are you planning on homeschooling forever?".  I got to meet some people Ben was deployed with and see some snippets of his work life.  He got to see me not at work...actually he had a good laugh at me trying to function without mom-brain.  The kids had a great time as well, but I'm going to let Alison tell her side of the story.

Time to Celebrate!

We have been waiting a long time for Colin to get to 40 lbs.  It comes up several times a week and every so often, we'll have Colin jump on the scale to see if he's finally reached our goal (he's been steady at 39 for what seems like forever).  It's been such a hot topic that I told Colin we were going to PARTY when he got to 40 lbs.  I knew I should have had stuff ready to go when it spontaneously happened...sure enough, Ben had him jump on the scale one evening and I heard shouting and jumping coming from upstairs.  I went to see for myself, but when I moved the scale, it went back down to 39.  So Ben got a big cup of water, sure that the few ounces of liquid would bring it back up.  When he took a drink, he got an extra surprise :)

The first thing Colin asked was if we could party with the Whites.  One of my favorite things about this family is that they are always up for spontaneous adventures.  We met them at Chick-fil-A the next morning for a 40 lb celebration!

We were also getting ready for a trip that day, but while I was getting my nails done (a little early birthday treat), Alison set up a little surprise party for me.  She did not like that we would be apart for my birthday, so we celebrated early.  We had layered dip and quesadillas for dinner and Ben picked up a fun dessert.  We had already taken Maya to the kennel, so she set up a stuffed animal to represent Maya being there with us :)

 

Mother's Day

 Mother's day began at 5:30am when Eli came to snuggle in my bed because he had a bad dream.   We have had several early mornings this week due to bad dreams and the bright sun around 5:30.  Praise the Lord for coffee.

Ben made an amazing breakfast; biscuits, eggs and bacon.

We went to church and then had a picnic lunch.

My only requests for Mother's Day were, I didn't want to cook lunch and I wanted a picture with the kids.  Eli does not like pictures and I think would have rather cleaned his room than participated.  We tried to talk with him why he despises them so and he said that he prefers videos.  So Ben told him he would take a video, just for him:

What bothers me most about Eli and pictures, is not that he looks goofy and doesn't want them, it's that it portrays to others such a vast difference than what he actually is.  I so want to capture the true sweetness of this boy.  #lifegoals.

I love how Maya snuck herself in this picture.

I probably have said this several times, but I am loving this stage of motherhood.  I love that the kids are old enough to help and do fun things.  Their interests are broadening and questions are more complex.  I have noticed a shift in the last year.  Somehow I have became the mom that other moms ask questions to.  I'm not the young mom with toddlers anymore, and while that was kind of a shock, it's also refreshing.  

I'm a little nervous what this picture will look like next year...I have a feeling a lot is going to change.

Cheers to my fellow homeschool teachers!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

It's also Military Spouse Appreciation day, so if you also get both of those, grab an extra glass!

To my fellow homeschool teachers,

Cheers to us!

To us, who go unnoticed.

Truth is, our work is not seen as a job by society.

To us, who take weird looks from cashiers when our kids are at the store at 11:00am and who are constantly answering somewhat uncomfortable questions like, "Do you like it???".  

Some day I'll be brave enough to ask that question back.

To us, who go unpaid.

Actually, our money goes to the public schools where our kids don't even attend.

To us, who on top of that, pay for our own glue sticks, markers, paper, books...everything.

To us, who teach character along with long division.

Who juggle being a parent and a teacher.  Who are up early in the morning to pray and prep lessons and maybe get a workout in...and drink lots of coffee.

To us, who bare the weight of choosing curriculum.  Who navigate learning styles and teaching preferences and different grades and a million different websites to buy from. 

 

We are important and doing amazing work, even if no one recognizes it.

Here's to a Friday evening after a long week of school.

  May the kids only come out once for a snack and let there be many fun things to watch on Hulu. 

A date with my Ali-Lou

{I'm sorry Alison, I accidentally deleted your beautiful picture}

Alison and I tried out a local bakery, Catherine's Cupcakes.  It was fitting as Alison has been baking up a storm in our house and we were excited to try some fun new flavors.

This was the first 110° day of the season and the bakery seemed to not have AC...why?  I don't understand, but we still had fun.

 

We chatted about girly things and laughed and made plans for more dates.  Often with homeschooling, I forget to carve out one-on-one time because we're always together.  I was reminded this day how much we need it though.

When things go right

It is so easy to focus on the to-do list of curriculums and chores, which often makes for some tense days of constantly dishing out commands.  Our house was feeling the affects of this last week; attitudes were sour, obedience was painfully slow and there were several bouts of tears.  After lots of prayer, some discipline and a refocus on the positive, this week has been SO much better.  Actually, this week has been a delight. 

Eli has finally accepted his real name and now writes it on all his school papers.  He says it's his fancy name.  He gave me his autograph one day:

I know I'm not giving credit where it is due, but someone gave us this book many moons ago and our kids have always LOVED it.  Jalapeno Bagels is about a family operated bakery and it has recipes of the food talked about in the back.  Eli picked up the book for reading time this week and realized that we had everything we needed for Chongo Bars (I can't believe he's old enough to figure that out!) and asked if he could make them.

He did a great job and they were super yummy!

One of my favorite things we've done this year is a huge timeline for history.  I like seeing how everything fits together and the kids like drawing things that they are learning.  Or maybe they really love that they get to stand on the couch to draw :). We had a stack of dates to add and were able to catch up today because Alison was a school warrior this week and finish everything early.

I found that reading with Colin goes the best if he thinks I'm distracted (basically if I'm not hovering over him).  He has been doing amazing when we do this: 2:00 is set reading time (so there's no surprises or arguments), he munches on a snack, I prep dinner and he reads to me.  He is still only making it through a couple of sentences before he feeling really done, but I think he's made huge strides in the last few weeks.