Life Gets Messy: Life keeps moving...

Hello!

Another "I can't believe how long it's been since I posted" post? I hope not. No regrets, just moving on.

Today is September 11th. This is our life.

Morning Fog

Homeschooling: We are already in week 8 of school. People who thought we were crazy to start school in July are now jealous of my time off in September. We're still using Sonlight this year as our curriculum, and everyone is studying American History. Little Bit is in 3rd grade at age 7, Curly Sue is in 4th grade at age 9, and Peanut is in 5th grade at age 11. The younger two do a lot of work together, in Core 3, while Peanut is charging on ahead combining all of American History into one year with Core 3+4, and working largely on her own. Peanut is also choosing to study Latin this year, and everyone is taking Piano Lessons, though they don't practice nearly enough. I'm studying American History on my own right along with them, getting ready to take a CLEP exam by the end of the year.

(Little Bit's Vault Routine)

(Peanut's Beam Routine)

(Curly Sue on Bars)

Gymnastics: Since the Summer Exhibition in July, we've moved from being a family at the gym to one of those families who live at the gym. This has happened for two reasons. One, the girls love gymnastics, and have added classes and the older two have joined the rec team. Between the 3 of them, they take 9 hours of lessons a week. Second, I went and got myself a job at the gym back in Feb. working at the front desk. That has changed, too, and I've been earning my certifications as a Preschool Instructor, and am now the Preschool Director, in addition to working at the desk. Not only did I get my first paycheck in 12 years last week, but I earned myself a raise too. I work about six hours a week, and really LOVE my job!

4-H, FCE, Senior Center: We have 2 girls in 4-H this year, and right now they are BOTH running for an office in their class (we go to the public school for 4-H twice a month.) Peanut is running for Reporter, and Curly Sue is running for Contest Chairman (though she hopes she doesn't win now that she knows how much she'll have to get up and talk.) They hope to sign up for several after-school groups with 4-H but I think we'll have to limit it to one each if I plan on still having any free time. I'm in FCE, which is a service group that meets once a month, and I'm also now a board member for our local Sr. Citizens' Center. It keeps me busy, but I love both.

Farm Stuff: We sold our eggs & veggies at the Lynchburg Farmer's Market all summer, and now that things are winding down in the gardens, the market is done for the year. We still get to see our farmer friends once a month, when we go help prepare & serve a meal at the Sr. Ctr. together. My own garden still has tomatoes, basil, chard, squash, and peppers, but not market quantities, just for us. Yesterday I got Napa cabbage, peas, & squash plants to put in for a fall crop. We have lost several chickens to a mystery predator in the last month, and plan to butcher about 20 more before winter to make it easier to keep them over the cold season. Really our motto around here lately is "more camp, less farm." It works for us.

The Shop. (You can only see 1/2 of it here, it's 2x as long as it looks.)

Mr. Incredible: Once again he lives up to the name. He's still working 2 full time jobs (one at night on F, SA, SU, and the second during the day on T, W, TH.) In his "free" time he's built an awesome shop, and screened in the front porch. We LOVE the porch, it effectively added half again as much square footage to our house since we eat out there, and have a second sitting area as well. And, more importantly, NO MORE CHICKENS ON THE PORCH!!

Breakfast on the new screened porch.

The Porch!

Exercise: Working at the gym has given me an even bigger desire to be fit. I don't really care what I weigh, but I want to set a good example for my own kids & the ones I teach. So, I now have a treadmill in the basement (thank you, Mr. I!!) and I'm up to a mile & a quarter in under 20 minutes. I start every day with 30 min on the treadmill, 30 min of mixed exercise, and 30 more of yoga. It feels really good.

The girls at the Colbert Ferry Site on the Natchez Trace in August.

Other: There's still the day to day stuff going on around here too. We re-arranged the furniture, and are planning a basement remodel to add 2 bedrooms for the girls, a cold storage room for canned goods & beer, and a smaller family room for the TV and treadmill. We have a trailer of firewood to unload, and another one to go get, before it's wood-stove season, and I want to do some more stonework in the yard now that the porch is done. We lost our freezer full of beef last month when the freezer accidentally got left open (I cried.) But, our 2nd cow went to the butcher to replace it last week. We took a week off in August and the girls & I went to MS to visit my sister & her family, and then we took another week off at the start of Sept. and took the girls to Oak Ridge, TN to the American Museum of Science & Energy, and to see the sights as far as the Manhattan Project goes. Hint, when going to an energy museum, take a Navy Nuke with you, you get WAY better explanations of what stuff is. It made the girls think Dad was all that much cooler. A geeky family vacation, but we're a geeky family, so everyone LOVED it!