Moving some more..

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http://aquietlifeacademy.wordpress.com/

So ready for spring....and a mild summer

Christmas journeys - Part Two

I know I'm a little late on part two but I finally made it.....
So Christmas Eve we were ready to celebrate.

 Our journey took us to Aunt Cynthia's. And Mimi got some well needed cuddle time with her Gammie.

The traditional playing of cards was a fun time by all...except me. My time was coming though. I was able to play Christmas night.











Christmas Morning!!!! Santa left Mimi a rather large sized horse....this was definitely her favorite.

 Lauren got something to work on her drawing skills. She does so well with her drawing and loves all the how to books.













Next Christmas breakfast at Gamma and Papa's house....

Grapes are always on his menu!

Fun Felicity/American Girl stuff for our fun lover.

A few trucks for our truck lover.

A rabbit hutch for our animal lover.

Next stop....the Wilson Family lunch....

This year was cousin Jessie's turn to host.

Neat story about these ladies. They wore dresses that belonged to Jonathan's great grandmother's mom and her sister. They were beautiful!

Another antique dress.

My favorite part of the day. The kids were belting out hymns and Thomas sang his little heart out!

Christmas journeys - Part One

 So our annual Christmas adventure began this year with an early visit from one of Santa's helpers. The girls had asked for kittens for Christmas and these two cuties were sent to them a week before. Apparently they just couldn't wait until Christmas.

 The girls have been such good mommies to them. The white one is Pearl and the tan one is Peter Pan. We've been listening to Peter Pan in the car so of course Lauren jumped at the chance to use Peter's name. One of our close friends, Jamie,  has a cat named Pearl...and Emily is just in love with her Mrs. Jamie so .....Pearl it is!

 Mrs. Jamie and Mr. Steve also stopped by one day bringing Christmas gifts of books!! Thomas just loves the books they pick out for him.

 Our next stop was Saysa and Uncle Jim's house. Here the kids received their ornaments from Papa Mac and Mrs. Jacque. Every Christmas year the kids are excited to put up their keepsake ornaments from them.

You can see Emily has already attacked the cookies and cake.

 This year they also received water bottles with their names. They've been using them most days around the house.

 Thomas was excited about his ornament too!

 The girls oogled the cash for their new purses. I think Lauren was more focused on George Washington's picture.

 And of course, Thomas got some more vehicles for his collection. That boy and his obsession.

 It was a fun night with family and the kids had a great time.

 But the big finale was in the garage!!

 Bicycles for everyone!.. Well, I didn't get one...and Jonathan didn't either but all the little people did. And oh the love! The girls really needed replacements and these have been just perfect.

We did have a little trouble getting Thomas off of his. He sat on it for a good 20 minutes before finally coming inside.

It was a good time. I think about Dad a lot this time of year. He would have been so fun with them....more like obsessed with them. One day we'll be together again.

Our adventures continue...on to Christmas Eve!

our new project

One of my favorite Christmas gifts is a book Jonathan gave me.

Waterfall Hikes of Upstate South Carolina by Thomas E. King. We have ventured to several waterfalls around the area but this book is incredible. It has everything that I need to best decide on our next adventure. Each falls has:

• a picture of the falls
• length of hike to falls
• driving directions
• a brief description of the falls
• and difficulty of trail

There are several other details included like a rating for the fall and a desciption of the location that make this book so helpful. One of the best details is a regional grouping of the falls. The falls are grouped together by proximity so you can visit more than one if you have the time. All falls are located in Oconee, Pickens and Greenville Counties so it's fits us perfectly.

My new project, along with one of my buddies (and anyone who wants to join us), is to explore as many of these falls as possible. I'm so looking forward to our first trek...if I can decide on just one!

oh Santa

Tonight the girls are having a sleep over with their Saysa and Uncle Jim. They have been taking them to Darwin Wright Park to see Santa at Christmas time. I need inside info on what Santa is going to bring so there are no duplicates ;)

Ballet..ballet...ballet..

My little ballarinas had their performance last night and they were just brilliant!!

Emily and her buddy Emma.

The girls were so excited about their performance and Emily was feeling a little 80's with the way she wanted to wear her head band. She is so funny. She worked so hard but every time she looked at me she got a little distracted. She was too busy smiling...such a happy little girl.

They were so cute dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Lauren was intense as always. She was busy watching the older girls practice and trying to remember her steps. She was so concerned with messing up.

In the end she was happy with her performance. She did remember her mistakes of course but wasn't too hard on herself this time. She performed the Chinese dance from the Nutcracker.

Thomas thoroughly enjoys the dancing. He always wants to walk in the middle of them and help out. We made sure he had his buddies with him...Mr. Skidsteer and Mr. Tractor.

We ended the night with Gamma, Papa, Papa Mac and Granny Mac at Joe's Restaurant for ice cream, of course!

Ashtabula, Pendleton, South Carolina

One of my favorite things about homeschooling my kids is this:

The time we get to share together is priceless and I love how the kids love each other. Yes, they do argue and hit and... but the majority of the time is living, playing and learning together in complete harmony. No, rarely in complete harmony, but I must admit they do get along very well and I am proud of that.

(oh, and yes that is laundry on the back of the couch...I try to stay humble)

Anyway, we were able to learn together today thanks to my wonderful mom-in-law. She took us to Ashtabula, in Pendleton.

They have tours going on right now throughout December and it was a different experience. Each room is set in different time periods of the homes existence. For example, our first room was set around 1800 during the time of the house's initial construction.

Mrs. Gibbes is being visited by her sister from Charleston. They put on a 5+ minute skit. Each room has people relevant to the house performing a short skit in period clothing. It was a great experience and the girls loved it...I loved it!!

Each place along the tour was a new revelation of the time and the people. It really made it come alive.

 

It was a great day to spend together. And one of my and my mom-in-law's favorite things about visiting historical sites are THE BOOKS! You can always find a unique book or two that is more specific about the area than other book stores. We found two keepers that I highly recommend:

Did you know that the Swamp Fox could not swim!!! Just one of the interesting things I've already learned. Jonathan liked the maps in the book. They did a good job of illustrating the vast area that he fought. The man got around!

The other find was one that my girls really liked. They love studying other girls and women in history and this one is perfect:

In summary it was a wonderful day to spend together and learn about our history in South Carolina. I hope my little ones never loose that love for learning something new.

Season for Change

So I've been inspired to make a few changes to our school lessons. My friend Cayce has inspired me to change up our history a little. I really love My Father's World and how they bring literature into their lessons but it has gotten a little lite in that area. Cayce was having the same issue  with the program and in her research found  a wonderful history that we are going to try out. TruthQuest may just work out for us. I love American history and even more I love God's hand in our history. The homeschool mom that wrote this had a desire to create a curriculum that incorporated those two elements. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works for us.

Thankful

We've had so much to be thankful for this year. Our new home just to name one. But I will say the last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy. I'm slowly getting on my feet cognitively and literally.

The thanksgiving weekend has been wonderful. I've had a bit of a chance to get some things in order. My mom and her sister have been here visiting and we have had a great time together. We've also been spending time with Jonathan's brother and he has been a great help around the little farm.

The last two days have been fun and tiring. The guys worked on clearing out the large trees from our future orchard and we all started working on clearing the fences. My brother-in-law has even gotten to practice blocking our driveway ;)

 

It has been great having him around and needless to say we have been living outside. The last couple days have been just beautiful...I love this place. We have a lot of work to do here but God has really blessed us with this land.

As far as school goes the educational experiences are endless! Relating what we are doing to what the first colonists to America went through...it really helps it to come alive. We've been taking a bit of a break from our structured lessons and moved to more, um, living school. I guess that's the best way to describe it. Next week Jonathan will be back at work and we'll start back to some of our more traditional learning. But the kids have really learned a lot lately and had a lot of fun doing it too.

How many two year olds do you know that know what a level is? My boy does...so what if he uses it to dig with he's just learning how to adapt...right? The girls have been attached to their Gran and loving this time to spend with her.

And we've all enjoyed sitting back in the golf cart watching the big guys work hard. Even Jeb, our dog, loves the entertainment.

We started the fence clearing today and I think it will be a winter long project. The way the vines have grown through the fences it will be a slow process. It was hard not to think of how this relates to our lives. Just how when we don't maintain the Godly boundaries in our lives things start to get woven in. And let me tell you it takes a lot to get them out.

God is everywhere in His creation. There is no better classroom!