A cartoon written just for me!

Someone has been spying on me!

First Day of School

Today was the beginning of something new. Nolan and Logan have moved to a brick and mortar school! We are all very excited for them. No more Homeschooligans. I am trying to decide if this will be the end of the blog or if something new will come....stay tuned!

Catawba Indian Reservation

Nolan and Logan had their first field trip today. We went to the Catawba Indian Reservation. Nolan was able to meet his teacher, Mr. Anderson. The Catawba's gave a wonderful presentation including traditional dancing, pottery (by an 86 year old master potter), and drumming. The children learned about the history of the Indians. It was a great time!

Cody's Holly Ball

Cody is in Junior Assembly (a social club for 6th-9th graders). He was a nervous wreck the night of the event in which the children had to dress in formal attire. I drove Cody and his "girl" friend Emme to the pre-party and dance. They had a wonderful time!

Logan's 1st tooth

Logan lost her 1st tooth, Dec. 5th, 2009. Nolan just couldn't let her have all the glory so he pulled a tooth the same day too! The tooth fairy left a crystal and $5 under her pillow. I now have three children with missing teeth (they look like a bunch of hillbilly children)!

Congrats to Cody!

Cody auditioned for the Winthrop ST-ARTS program and made it in! The program is for Gifted and Talented students in the arts.

There were only 40 spots open and over 140 students auditioned. Cody played "Devil's Dream" and the judge said his performance was "intense". We are SO extremely proud of him! Go Cody!

Being Thankful

A recent project assigned to Logan was to make her own "Thankful" book. I decided to also have Nolan do this. First we discussed what being thankful meant. I told them what I was thankful for and then asked them what they were thankful for. Logan was the first to say that she is thankful for her bird, crayons, gerbils, and candy. Nolan's response was the bird, legos, and hotwheels. Wow, Dad and I didn't even make it onto the thankfulness list. I came up with my own list.

What I am thankful for:

I am thankful for the hard times; which have taught me to have patience, hope, and forgiveness.
I am thankful for my children; they have taught me humor and how to act silly again.
I am thankful to know and feel what it is like to be poor; it has taught me to have sympathy and charity.
I am thankful to live in America; most thankful that we only have 3 years until the next presidential election and not 4!
I am thankful for freedom from religion. We are able to choose what to believe.
I am thankful that I have had a chance to homeschool. No other time in my life will I get the opportunity to watch my own children learn and grow from everything that I have taught them.
I am thankful for my husband; he always keeps my spirits up and guides me when I ask. He gives 100% of himself to me and the family.
I am thankful for my car; I could not or would not want to walk long distances with my children!
I am thankful for coffee; how could I stay awake to homeschool without it?
I am thankful for museums; my children have been able to escape into the science of the world.
I am thankful for headache medication.
I am thankful for my eyesight; to see all the beautiful sights of the world.
I am thankful for my hearing; to hear my children's laughter.
I am thankful.

152

152....you are asking yourself what is this number about? That is precisely what I have been trying to figure out. It all began about 6 months ago when Logan said, "I want 152 cats, and 152 gerbils". Then a couple weeks later she said, "Watch me do this trick on my skateboard, I can jump the ramp 152 times". Then one month later she said, "I want to eat 152 cookies". After that she said, "I have 152 dollars". The list goes on and on. Logan loves the number 152. I would LOVE to know where she came up with 152 and why it sticks in her mind. Maybe one day she will write 152 books, or help 152 animals. If you have had any experience with 152 please let me know so that we can solve this mystery.

Logan's K5 Education & Technology Class

Logan has been taking a Technology class at school. She is learning how to speed type, use Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Paint. Here is her latest masterpiece she made using the Microsoft Paint program. She is doing very well in school. Her teacher gave her the Deibels and LEAP assessments yesterday and scored well above the class average. She is loving school this year and she even talks to her teacher!

Logan & Mrs. Watkins

We attended a meet and greet at The Knight's game last night. It was great to meet Logan's teacher face to face, we interact with her everyday but it is on the computer monitor. Logan was excited even though she isn't smiling in the photo.

Logan even meet another kindergartner in her class that lives less than 2 miles from our house! We are hoping to play with her,Chloey, this week! It was great seeing other homeschool friends that have also switched to Connections Academy. Going to be a fantastic school year!

Nolan's Creativity

Steve walked through the backdoor Friday afternoon, just home from work. Nolan dashed downstairs eager to show both of us something he had created. He begged us to come upstairs to see, so we followed. He pointed to our bedroom door and there it was. It was what the three children have been doing for a while now, decorating their own doors. Nolan made this lovely sign for my and Steve's door. I thought it was so adorable that I left it up.

how they have grown.......

I began taking photos of the kids in this spot four years ago. I cannot believe how they have changed and how quickly time has passed..........

Smoky Mountains Trip

Time to go back to school, so we had to take one more vacation, to the mountains. First stop was in Maggie Valley where three years ago I began a tradition of shooting the kids at Smoky Falls. I will post a series of those shots later.

We decided to stay at a campground, in a cabin, so that the kids could ride their bikes, swim, play in the creek, and meet other kids. We found a quaint campground in Bryson City that wasn't everything we hoped for but it was nice enough.

Steve and the boys are whittling at the campground. This is one of Nolan's favorite pastimes.

Cody being Cody.

We decided to spend all day Thursday hiking around the Great Smoky National Park. First stop to be Clingmans Dome. Logan has asked for weeks what it is like to be in the clouds. She was able to learn first hand at Clingmans Dome. From the main road, Clingmans Dome is 7 miles up. It is the highest peak in the Smokies at 6700 ft. As we drove up the clouds above grew darker and more dense, before you knew it we were in the clouds and it began to rain. We parked at Clingmans Dome and got of our car to a chilling 60 degrees!!!!! Logan decided that she did not like to be in the clouds, it was not fun.

This is the magnificent view from Clingmans Dome, you should be able to for miles, we were lucky to see 5 feet in front of us!

After the trip to Clingmans Dome we decided to hike a Quiet Walkway. The gnats were SO bad that after 5 mins we RAN to the car to escape them. So far our GSNP day is not looking good!

Next we went to the Kids Day at the GSNP and Cody was able to participate in the Junior Blacksmith class. He LOVED this. He was able to keep the "Ring-A-Ding-A-Ling" that he made.

We found this really cool tree in the Great Smoky National Park. I took all three kids photos with it.

Now it is time to head back to the cabin, Steve told us to keep our eyes peeled for Elk. As soon as he said that we came around a turn and there were cars everywhere. We jumped out of our car, grabbed the camera, and began shooting. As many times as we have visited the park this is the first time we have seen an Elk!

After our busy day we headed to Bryson City to cure a sweet tooth with some old fashioned ice cream.

Steve took us to Dillsboro and everything was closed, so we went by the Dillsboro Inn and showed the kids the Damn.

This is Logan and Nolan in the loft of the tiny cabin.

Back in Cherokee, NC we visited a creek to collect rocks. We visited this same spot on our very first trip three years ago.

Logan was excited to find a "L" shaped rock!

On our last day and we decided to try TUBING. My vision of tubing was drifting slowly down a river, relaxing.........
The Deep Creek was not slow, not relaxing.... it was fast (Class I & II in places) and it was an adrenaline rush, especially when I dropped Steve's car key in the river! OOPS! Panic set in but I guess Mother Nature was on our side because the key sank and was beside my foot. My lucky day! We tubed for 3-4 hours. The kids want to do it everyday next year on our return visit, and so does Mom! It was the square root of awesomeness !!!!

Steve's Christmas, Birthday, Anniversary, Valentine's Day Came Early

Daddy has a new toy! Can you tell that he is excited???? Logan was scared to death to take a trip on the boat, but once she jumped into the lake she was screaming and giggling. The kids did not want to go home. We rode and swam until sunset. Love it!

Simple Pleasures

My memories of summer break were simple. Spending lots of time at my grandmother and cousins, going for walks to Fewell Park, slip and slide, running through the sprinkler, helping my grandmother with the garden, taking a trip to the mountains for the day and having a picnic lunch, Hopewell Hash day in Hickory Grove, taking naps, and exploring everything around me. Summer is the time to unplug the TV, gaming systems, and to enjoy the simple pleasures of summer.