Fishing with Grandpa

Fishing with Grandpa is a given, at least to these kids.

They equate Mississippi with ponds, but the drought left our regular fishing hole dried up so we had to change venues.

 
The upside was a boat;

 the downside was that these fish aren't quite as desperate as the ones the kids were accustomed to "catching." 

 Jonathan got a large mouth bass right at the start then the catching slowed down considerably.

 
And despite my fears and reservations, Doug managed to take all the kids out on the water without anyone going overboard (I was the sole landlubber).

 

While the fishing wasn't great, there were also small frogs to catch which was ever so exciting.

All-in-all a good day to be out by the water.

Thanksgiving Antics

What a beautiful day to celebrate Thanksgiving!

 

It's always good to be out-of-doors and this wild crew had plenty of energy to use.

There was biking and basketball,

races on foot and on bike,

swinging and shooting,

working up an appetite for a lunch time feast.

The Rhythm of Our Days: Fall Edition

It's finally starting to feel more like fall and a few leaves are starting to turn.

We had fallen into a pleasant school routine before heading off to the beach, but it wasn't too hard to pick up where we left off.

The days still start with morning coffee on the back porch but for the last week it has also required a blanket or warm quilt.  With a cup of coffee in my system, I can face making breakfast.

Dish loading, teeth brushing, and bed making done, we all head out for a brief walk in the neighborhood.  It feels a little cumbersome at time to herd six kids (many on wheels of various sizes) down the street while carrying on multiple conversations and watching out for vehicular traffic; still, it is one of my favorite times of the day.

And of course there is the mandatory stop to visit Katherine's favorite puppy.

Once home, we launch into learning.  Andrew pretty much handles his work on his own, but the others require my help on everything.

Reading is the top priority, but it also means that I'm stuck to the couch for a hour or more listening to children sound out stories.  And two of them are doing the same work which means I get to hear the same story twice in a row.  I get a little antsy to say the least.

That is until I had a breakthrough.  I discovered that I could easily do handwork like smocking and quilting while glancing sideways at the book being read.  Multitasking at it's finest!

Mid-morning the kids are ready for a snack so we gather together for our common work (Bible, memory work, history, and a read-aloud).  When we're done, I do math with the boys and Andrew finishes up his work.  The girls are always in and out.

Lunches al fresco are such a blessing and once the boys realized they had less cleanup, the more they insisted on eating outside.  Often I will read a fun book to them ( Man of the Family by Ralph Moody is our current selection).

The boys have a mandatory 30 minute reading session while I read to the girls.  Katherine still naps, and Josie and the boys are free to disappear downstairs to play with LEGOS or go outside (I don't really care as long as I'm not disturbed).

Science and Snacks happens a couple of times a week, but otherwise the afternoons are free for them to entertain themselves, preferably outdoors.

 We've been so blessed with great neighbors, and the girls often head across the street to play or vice versa.

Dinner & cleanup.  A bit of play and then bedtime stories.  And it's time to call it a wrap of a day well spent.

Beach Trip 2016

We finished up our first 6 week period of school and headed to the beach to celebrate!

A dozen kids at the beach doesn't sound particularly relaxing but it's become easier over the years.

Boys don't use plastic shovels.

These boys wasted no time in constructing various cities out sand and incorporating their knowledge of history in making a ziggurat, a nazi concentration camp (we just read The Hiding Place) and many other imaginary dwellings.

The upside of arriving just after a hurricane passes through is the sealife (death) washed ashore.

I never knew there was a pink stingray but we found two in addition to jellyfish, a huge horseshoe crab (and parts of many others) and a fish.

Then there was the living: crabs both small and big(ish).

Another highlight was the beach reclamation project going on just down the beach from us.  Another blessing of the hurricane is that work had to be halted temporarily and thus they were not able to make as much progress as projected (meaning we were not displaced or inconvenienced).

Every morning the trucks rumbled along delivering fuel tanks to the squad of bulldozers spreading the sand that was being pumped from offshore.  There must have been some sealife along for the ride because the seagulls treated the worksite like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

I know in my mind that all my children were along for the trip, but sadly, I only have a few pictures and those mainly of the girls.  I forgot my camera charger and had to rely on my phone, but really it was just that I was always busy handing out snacks to hungry diggers and there was little time for photography.

  

The school bell's a'calling - time to head back to real life!