Pick Your Own Sweet Corn

Aunt Vicky and Cousin Stephanie took us to Alstede Farm. We got to go on the hay wagon, and pick our own sweet corn.

Not ever having grown my own corn before, we learned that the ear of corn actually grows about a foot off the ground, even though the corn plant itself grows to be taller than me. I can see why there are corn mazes, too. While we were in the corn fields, we really had to depend on our hearing to be able to locate one another. That is cousin Stephanie with Nathan in the photo.

The weather was clear, but very cold! The ride on the hay wagon, especially over some open fields, made me wish I had a hat and gloves on. Brrrr! I think it was about 40 degrees or so.

After picking corn, we had homemade ice cream in the little shop on the farm. Aaron had smurf ice cream. Yes, it is blue, and yes, it is actually called smurf ice cream. It was actually very delicious - blueberry ice cream with marshmallow cream. Yummmmmm.

Stephanie also picked out some apple cider doughnuts (apple cider from the apples on the farm) which we had for dessert last night. The doughnuts are soft, moist, and not very sweet - and perfumed with the taste of apples. The mug that I chose to put my milk in just cracks me up. Funny, no?

Jockey Hollow

The roam schooler in me got so excited about this place!!!

Dave's aunt took us to Jockey Hollow National Park in Morristown, New Jersey. It is where George Washington and 10,000 soldiers spent the long, cold winter of 1779-1780 during the Revolutionary War. There are still some soldiers' quarters (cabins built by them) at the park. They are 14' by 16' and would house 12 men. It was so cool to see the cabins, and to think about the feet of those brave men from the past walking around that very area! The boys marveled at how the cabins were constructed like Lincoln Logs, without any nails, and on a downhill slope so that precipitation would drain.

We also got to try the costumes that look like clothing from that time period, and watched a short film in the visitor's center about that historic winter.

We had originally hoped to go to DC, but it is not going to happen on this trip. I am glad we still got a taste of American history :-).

Greetings from the east coast!

We are having a wonderful, restful time on the East Coast. We spent our first few days in Harvey Cedars, a beach town off the coast of New Jersey. It is actually on this sand bar - it looks like a finger of land surrounded on both sides by water. It was gorgeous - but the weather changed the next day, and it became bone chillingly cold (at least for this California girl) and windy. Still stunning, though.

We were at Harvey Cedars Bible Conference to attend a retreat. All of the kids had a blast, and I was able to attend most of the sessions since they all happily went to their respective classes. Even Lily was content to be in her little toddler class after I would stick around and get her settled in. It was a rich time, and I received a lot from the ministry time.

After the retreat, we stayed at our friends' home in Montvale, New Jersey. The Chens are such dear friends of ours - Dave and Daniel go back probably 25 years. Our kids had so much fun staying with them and playing with their kids every day (and we are going back tomorrow to their house). See them ready to save the world in their various vehicles?

Do you like photo of the magnet I saw on a friend's refrigerator over here? Tee hee. Dave concedes that it is true in our family :-).

Lastly, the kids are refreshed by te discovery of so many insects here. Praying mantids as long as their hand, and woolly bear caterpillars. Of course they want to take all of them home, but reality checks and they know it is not possible.

More later. We are at Aunt Vicky's house now in Morristown, and I have to get ready for the day :-).

Around Here. . .

Some shots from the last couple of weeks. . .

Lily's early intervention teacher, Lorraine, brought a new toy to play with last time she was here - POM POMS!!!   Apparently, they are available at the 99 Cents Store right now because of the beginning of football season.

As you can see - they were a hit!  The K boys stayed over night and Nicky decided to participate in Lily's class instead of playing with the other boys.

The boys have been doing a homeschool P.E. class once a week at a nearby park.  This month's sport is soccer!

You can barely see him - but that's Matthew throwing the ball  in.

And look at Aarbear and his fancy foot work.  I am so proud of him!

What does Lily girl do during P.E.?  Well, she and I sit on a blanket under the shade.   We hang out.  I bring along my Bible and notebook, or other reading I want to catch up on.  I also try to bring some special toys just for this blanket time.  I brought rice and scoopers for a sensory bin.  This is just about her favorite thing to do - scooping, dumping, making a mess.

Haha - just showing off my close up shot.  I was amazed by how clearly this came out.  Go, Canon!

We are preparing for a big trip to the East Coast.  Hopefully, I can blog a bit from my phone while I am there.  Please pray for us?

Around Here

School is in full swing, and we have been learning and playing together :-).

I am doing this post on my phone, which means I can't move my photos around or caption them. Hopefully, it will all make sense.

Lily has been growing in every area! Physically, she has grown so tall and now has some meat on her bones. She and her brothers have been taking swimming lessons. She loves it! No big surprise - as she really is a very active girl as I have said many times before. Over the weekend, she also discovered that she loves to throw and kick the football to her daddy.
Yesterday, we went to a homeschooling co-op, and you can see her right there doing the art lesson with everyone else. Yup-she is a lefty!

This is Aaron's first year of more formal learning. He is registered in kindergarten with our charter school's homeschooling program. Honestly, I wasn't sure how things would go, as he is very sensitive and can be scared of learning new things. Things can be especially hard, I think, when you have two older brothers ahead of you who seem to know soooooo much more than you.

As an aside, there's a drawing below of a little girl trying to touch her ear with her opposite hand. In one of Nathan's social studies books, we had read about a small village in Africa where people do not know their ages. It is simply not a way they keep track of life or a marker for milestones. In order to determine if they are ready for school, they need to be able to touch their ear with their opposite hand by reaching their arm over the top of their head. I don't know why, but I love this! Nathan really got a kick out of this, too.

Anyway, Aaron has been really thriving and blooming! He has taken the plunge (not without initial tears, though) to swim lessons, soccer (he is really good), learning to read (he asks to do reading practice almost every day), and participating in classes and groups. I am so proud of him! It is so fun to see him come into his own, and enjoying it!

Below you can also see the siege tower that Matthew built out of Lego. This was a social studies assignment. We are studying the Assyrians, and their amazing, effective and often cruel methods of war.

And...we did school last Friday on our driveway in the morning. We were waiting for the space shuttle Endeavor to fly over us to its retirement. We finally did see it, and it was so cool! That photo was not taken by us :-).

Ok, off to start my day :-).

Lily's Gotcha Day!

One year ago today - we met our Lily Claire for the first time!

This is Lily's photo from when she was 9 months old.  It is the oldest photo that we have of her.  It is the photo that is on her file that came from China.  Look at those big brown eyes, and that rosebud mouth.  She has already healed from her lip repair that was down in China when she was 7 months old.  I don't like to think about her enduring that surgery all by herself.

Gotcha Day!  This is when she was first handed off to us in our room at the HuaTian Hotel in Changsha, Hunan.  

This is the two of us last week.  Look how happy she is!

So at home and right in the middle of everything - doing a science experiment with brothers.

Manning the remote for Sunday afternoon football with Daddy.

I cannot imagine our family without her dear scrappy adorable self.  She just warms out heart every day with how much she trusts and loves us all.  What an honor it is to be loved by this little child.  Her brothers all dote on her and have accepted her so completely even from the beginning.  I feel so blessed to get to be her mama.

I miss China.  Such fond fond memories of such a special special time!

Queen Hatshepsut and the Best Job

Nathan building a pyramid out of sugar cubes and frosting for our study of Egypt.

About a week ago, we were listening to the story of Queen Hatshepsut (of the New Kingdom of Egypt) from The Story of the World Volume 1.  She was a woman who wanted to be Pharoah.  But, at that time, women could not be rulers.  She ended up being able to rule because she was the regent for her nephew who was next in line for the throne.  The people did not accept her in a power of authority because she was a woman.  She told them to think of her as a man.  She would dress in a man's clothing, and even wear a false beard when she was on the throne.

When we discussed the story later, here's how our conversation went:

Me:  Remember, back then in Egypt, the only jobs women could have were. . . 

Matthew:  A priestess in the temple, or a dancer or - 

Me:  A mother and a wife.

Nathan (looking at me):  I think that's the best job of all.

I would have to agree, sweet boy.  It is the best job of all.  

Of course, I kind of get to be Queen, too - sometimes. . . in my little kingdom here :-).