School ~ 1st grade for Liz

The first official day of school was last Monday. The kids all got a school supply at breakfast (colored pencils and a kit for Elizabeth). School seems to take 2.5 hours each day which is more than I thought it would take. But that includes breakfast and getting the kids dressed, etc. And exercise 3x a week. So I guess that makes sense. I'm enjoying it! I have to get myself up earlier than normal, but I am enjoying that time alone to get ready and do some reading and eat breakfast alone. Jonathan and Phoebe play in the play room while we do school unless Phoebe throws a fit. Then she goes in the crib and happily plays alone. Sometimes I think she throws a fit just to get put in the crib. All in all, it was a wonderful start to the school year.

tape shoes

Elizabeth loves to make things with tape. Here you can see the shoes she made for her feet. We go through lots of masking tape around here!

Jonathan on his bike

Nana asked Elizabeth to take some pictures of Jonathan on his new bike, so Elizabeth quickly obliged. She got Jonathan right up there on his bike and took those pictures.

Fishing Game

Jonathan chose a fishing game as one of his toys for his birthday (birthday shopping with Mimi!). All of the kids love to play it.





Phoebe makes this angry face anytime she's concerned or concentrating or serious or angry. I'm sure she's fussing at Jonathan right here.

Jonathan joins a gym

Phillip thought Jonathan needed some time doing boy stuff and being loud and wild since he was home with emotional yet calm girls all day. So we are letting him take a sports development class at The Little Gym. Today was his first day.

Observations: He loves to follow the rules. He stayed close to his teacher and tried to do exactly what she said. He is showing strong tendencies to being left-handed (which would come from my Dad, I suppose). He ran around and was wild and learned something and I'm glad he gets to do this!

Who is Charlotte Mason?

She is the brain-child behind the curriculum I'm using for homeschooling. She espoused the method, and some homeschooling moms put together the curriculum at amblesideonline.org. Here's a short article they wrote to explain her ideas:


Charlotte Mason was a British educator (1842-1923) who believed that education is more than passing exams, getting into the right college or job training. She said education is "an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life." It is about finding out who we are and how we fit in the universe God created.

Her ideas were ahead of her time - while others thought children were empty slates to be filled with information, she believed they were people capable of independent, intelligent thought and that they needed vital ideas, rather than dry facts, to feed their growing minds. She thought children should do the work of dealing with ideas and knowledge rather than the teacher acting as a middle man, dispensing filtered knowledge.

The Charlotte Mason method utilizes narration instead of comprehension exercises; copywork for handwriting; spelling and grammar modeling; nature observation for early science; and literature, poetry, art and music to give children's minds beautiful ideas to feed on.

Books are chosen for the literary quality with which they were written, and even more, their ability to develop the whole person and inspire one's character. The curriculum is geared towards building character with the use of personal habits, quality books, teacher guidance, the work of the Holy Spirit and personal reflection.

End of the trip.

We ate lots of fresh sweet corn in Missouri. Elizabeth cooked with Mimi. We relaxed. I saw my friend and old roommate Jessica and her new baby (well, year old baby now). Had to change a tire on the way back, so that lost us some time; but we made it back to Florida!

Family Pictures..... Lots!

Last night Phillip's brother and sister and their families and Aunt Anita and her kids and Grandma Phoebe and ..... well, there was a lot of family here last night for supper!

Sarah ~ a cousin to Phillip. Elizabeth loves to be with Sarah. They're both very creative and imaginative. I'm glad she has Sarah to look up to. I remember meeting Sarah when she was 4 or 5. It was a presidential election year, and she asked who I was going to vote for. I told her, and she said, "Yea! We're on the same team!"

The boy cousins: Jonathan was glad to be around so many big boys!

Alicia ~ she follows Phoebe around trying to hold her and take care of her.

Seth, Sara's brother.

The ones who started it all!


Galen (Phillip's sister) and Grandma Phoebe.


The siblings.

Phillip's older brother John doing what Phillip says he always did: Bugging his little brother!

Bloody nose from John?

Now they're getting along.



Cousin Zane

Aunt Tanya

Eight year Anniversary

So we've been married 8 years tomorrow! Phillip and I are in a hotel watching Fox News on very wide-screen TV. We sat at a coffee shop this afternoon: Phillip had an iced mocha as always, and I tried something new: a mango smoothie with whipped cream on top and raspberry cream swirled in.

This evening we dressed up and went to Churchill's for supper. This is the restaurant we went to the night he asked me to marry him. This restaurant is so cool! The same head waiter is still there that was there 8 years ago. He has a snobbish accent and is dressed in a black-tie affair. He scoots the table over so that we can sit down, and then places the cloth napkins on our laps. We eat by candlelight: crusty bread with honey butter; house salad (which is now a dish I fix at home) with sugared walnuts, dried apricots, brie cheese, field greens, and tangerine dressing; intermezzo (to cleanse the palette); and a light cream based soup with shrimp and blue crab. It was delicious! And it makes me feel so sophisticated.

After supper went to find chocolate cake at another coffee shop we used to haunt when we lived around here. A soak in a hot tub under the stars. It's fun to relax with each other and no kids! Thank you, Mimi and Papa for keeping them.

Not driving to Missouri

We stayed home (Phillip's parents home) yesterday and relaxed and some family came over to visit.

Grandma Phoebe and Aunt Janet.

Grandma Phoebe and Baby Phoebe playing This Little Piggy... Baby Phoebe didn't want to be held by her right now (she doesn't want to be held by very many right now: too much new stuff going on); so they sat on the couch together for pictures.

Missouri Trip

This was our day yesterday. Eighteen hours in the car! Driving from Florida to Vandalia, Missouri, hometown of Phillip. We got up at 3:15 and were driving down the road by 3:53. I told Phillip today that you can do anything once. It's the trip home that's going to be hard!