Playoffs!

Those who know me pretty well know that I say I am a "Redskins fan by marriage". Before I was married I would occasionally watch football. I lost love for the sport after growing up on the 80's in Upstate NY, cheering on the Buffalo Bills, being disappointed year after year. If you were a part of that era, you understand.

After falling in love and marrying my husband, I knew that I should embrace this football thing once again. Ya know, sharing common interests is important. I was assured that the Redskins were fan worthy, that they were at one time a pretty spectacular team, and that "This year we have a great new ______________ (coach, quarterback, pair of awesome receivers, nifty uniforms), so this year should be great.

By mid season, and about 300 yellow flags that had flown against the skins, our cheering would turn into hopes for a good draft pick.

This year started off with the usual excitement, and by a few games into the season I was just content to have games that were respectable. Even the early losses were not completely self destructive, so I was pleased.

I would like to thank the Redskins for winning and entering the playoffs on my husband's 38th birthday. He has been such a loyal fan all these years!


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Location:Kimberly Pl,Evans,United States

Cute, but not Pinterest - Worthy

The other night the kids made fairy wings out of some cardboard boxes that were once holding Christmas presents. Megan has worn hers everyday, secured around her tiny body with a piece of ribbon. They may not end up as a viral pin on Pinterest, but they are cute.

That is Megan's face after I requested a smile from her.

This is regular Megan before the requested smile.

And these are the wings from the back.
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On The Road Again

On the road, again! We decided to head out of Dodge (Dillsburg, PA) a bit earlier than originally planned due to the threat of a massive snowy wintry-mix storm headed towards the Northeast. So, the day after Christmas we pulled the children out of bed at 0445 (that is AM for all you non-military types) and made our pre-planned departure time of 0500. By pre-planned I mean at about 10 pm the night before Hubby and I discussed what time we hoped to leave by.

We fought our way through some wintery weather which was much more wintery than forecasters had forecasted. But thanks to lots of prayers and the smartphone radar maps, we made it safely to a McDonalds in Blacksburg, VA and waited out the last of the storm to pass through the rest of the way.

Later on I snapped these photos of the kids. Megan is wearing her Doctor scrubs which were part of a present from Auntie Beth. She wore them yesterday and slept in them. I am sure we got some looks as we dined at not-so-upscale fast food establishments along I-81, but I think she looks cute.


And silly face Megan. . .


Laura wanted a picture taken too


But Jack did not!


Neither did James.


John and I look too scary to be photographed after our mid morning travels through the northeast. Trust me.

Happy Trails to you, until we meet again!

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Retro-Blogging "The Bowl"

I doubt that I am the first person ever to blog about how cute kids are when they are sick. When my kids are ill, most gain comfort from being near The Bowl. I remember that my mom had a bowl just like this one for situations just like this. A fine family tradition. Now, aren't you glad you visited my blog today?






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Location:Evans, GA

Christmas Eve Snow

While visiting the Transue Family in PA we got some snowfall. The kids were thrilled and went to play on the back deck.


They scraped snow off the grill for snowball making.





I told Laura to look at the Camera and she went into full-pose mode.


James learned it was hard to put on gloves, he went to find daddy for help.


Megan loved the snowflakes.

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Location:Maple St,Dillsburg,United States

Hasta La Vista Baby

It was just one of those photo moments that I wanted to capture. . .


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Reptiles, Mammals, Amphibians

One of our fellow Classical Conversations Communities invited an ecology specialist from the University of GA to come speak to the kids. They invited our campus, and we were thrilled! The speaker was great showing all the kids different animals that live in our area. He had snakes, turtles, frogs, and even a baby alligator. In the far left of the picture below you may be arable to see Megan, sitting in big sister Laura's protective lap.


Why, no, that is not my son James reclining during the presentation. (okay, it is) But yes, the adorable girl in the white shirt with the long curly brown hair is Jack's sweet special friend at CC. They do get along very well.





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American Girl Doll Party

Laura had an American Girl Doll themed Birthday celebration with a few of her friends.


Lou just ate a piece of Paula Dean Red Velvet Pound Cake, and is now napping to recover. He is what I am looking at as I post this blog.


Here is the mandatory sharing of deepest, darkest secrets. I believe it is a prerequisite for any 9-10 year old girl party. I am sure their secrets are indeed very dark and deep!





We had doll sized food. Mini club crackers, baby goldfish, cheese cubes and pepperoni. The dolls did not actually eat, and in fact I heard one party-goer yell not to even let the food touch the Doll's face! It could RUIN THEIR SKIN!


Laura had a good time with her friends, and I think the dolls had a good time too.

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Reading!

You teach a boy to read, and then he reads you the newspaper article about the Columbia County Library Budget. He looks cute.


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Funny Cartoon

I know it has been awhile since I have blogged. I have shyed away from my blog since Jack was diagnosed with Hirschsprung's disease. I was a bit unsure how much of that experience I wanted to post about, so I ended up not blogging at all. So I'll leave you tonight with this:


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Removing Red Jello From A White Ceiling

It finally happened. My kids did something that I couldn't fix with a google search. I rely heavily on google for information like "how to remove permanent marker from a dry erase board" and "best product to remove nail polish from carpeting" but today when I discovered red jello had somehow found it's way onto the basement ceiling, I HAD A COW, as we used to say. And then I turned to good old google for the answer, and I found nothing.

So I removed the superfluous jello, dabbed the spots with a paper towel soaked in bleach, and it worked perfectly. The spots are not visible after the area had a chance to dry! Yay bleach!




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Let's Go Fly A Kite

Kite flying at "Friend Day" at Severns Valley Church.








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Location:Elizabethtown, KY

Before and After

Laura wanted to get her hair cut, and I can't believe that I let her! Here are
the before and after pictures:


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No Cook Playdough

This week we tested a recipe for no cook Playdough which we found at this website Www.momswhothink.com/preschool/Playdough-recipes




While I appreciated not needing to use a stove to make this dough, it did not have the same smooth texture. It resembled a salt dough more than a traditional play dough. It made a fun speckled egg color when we added our Betty Crocker Neon gels.



One batch made enough for two preschoolers to play with quietly for about an hour. One batch also makes enough to evoke jealousy in a 9 year old sister doing seat work.




The play dough was stored in a ziplock bag and was brought back out the next day to play. The second play session was too long, however, and the play dough was discarded after that use.

Location:Elizabethtown,KY

Classical Conversations

This fall I took a huge leap of faith and enrolled our two oldest children in a homeschool group that goes by the name of Classical Conversations. It was a leap of faith, because when you are starting to learn about the Classical model of education, and all that it entails, it can seem pretty scary. I felt totally unqualified to lead my family in this model of education. I gave it a shot anyways. I signed us up and paid the tuition and fees, and thanked the Lord that at least I wasn't going to be a tutor for one of the classes. Then the director called and told me that she needed another tutor. I questioned her choice, and after she assured me that she had no one else to call upon, I accepted.

I have learned so much through this journey. I have amazed myself at what I have learned, and what my children are able to learn and retain. I am really using this year as a trial year. It is our first year venturing into Classical Education, and this has been a challenging year for other reasons, so I am working on keeping this year fun, retaining what we can, and planning on going at it with a clearer perception of what Classical education is and what it means to our family as we move into next year.

If you would like to see the blog of someone who has a much better grasp at this whole thing check out this website. I am so impressed with her materials and I refer to this blog for ideas on how to review the material we learn at CC.  http://halfahundredacrewood.blogspot.com/p/classical-conversations.html

Our Doggie

I don't know how often our dog has made it into the blog, but this is a picture that needs sharing. This is our dog. This is our beagle dog. This is our old beagle dog. This is our old, chubby, beagle dog. His name is Lou. When we were newly weds we adopted Lou from one of my coworkers who was moving to Florida. John wanted to name him "Lee" or "Jeb" but we finally settled on Lou. Later I came to find out that there is a beagle dog in the movie "All Dogs Go To Heaven" that is named Lou, but it is short for Loser. Nice.

As Lou grew he transformed from a wild and crazy puppy into the couch potato you see below. He has had a knee surgery and we know he suffers from arthritis. It does not stop him from hanging around the table or following toddlers with pop tarts to try to get some extra nourishment.

And when he sleeps like this, he snores. But we love him!

What We Have Been Up to Since OCT

Well, when life gets busy my blog suffers, but that is okay. I am not a professional blogger. I do have some catching up to do, and what better time to do it than right now. I will start blogging about some of the stuff that has been going on in Transue-land.