What we have been up to...

This came out. I read it. I was disappointed. Not 100% disappointed...more like 82%. 

Aaron replaced all the pipes in our house. It is amazingly convenient to have a handy husband. We have been having to do half loads a wash for a year because the water was slow to drain (old cast iron pipes). About a week after he fixed the pipes and everything was going great, water was puddle under the washing machine. Luckily it wasn't the plumbing...We just needed a new washing machine, which cost more than Aaron replacing all the pipes. Oh! Did I mention my car was making weird noises that I figured was my tires and it was. We had to replace all four of them the next week. Thank goodness for savings!

 My new washing machine can wash a lot of clothes! I love it....as much as you can really love a washing machine.

Another blurry picture, but it cracks me up so I am posting it!
I picked up a shirt for Jake at Target and he tried it on. As he was coming down the hall he asked it there was something wrong with the sleeves. I did not even notice they were 3/4 length sleeves. I did not know they made men's shirts like that...I thought that was a girl thing. Needless to say we returned it.

The men hanging out in the Man Cave, which we are going to be giving a face lift some time soon.

I have no earthly idea why I took this picture...or why were garbage bags all over the floor. Maybe in twenty years we can have fun trying to make up a story why I posted this.

What the table looks like when we are working hard at school..This is a pretty good day too. Sometime it spills into other areas of the house.

Chemistry labs are pretty interesting. I don't understand much of it, but it is cool!

The first day of school...Way back on August 1st

...was set to start off right with breakfast in bed for Jake!

 But I spilled it on the way in to his room. We rescued the books and one of the plates. 

 Sadie thought it tasted delicious with milk all over it. It was Eggo waffles with a maple flavored sausage patty, cheese, and a fried egg.

 We took this picture for some reason, I am sure, but I have no idea why...

This picture is fuzzy but I just wanted to document the fact that Jake shared half his breakfast with me, since mine was soaked in milk.

Jake is excited to be studying Chemistry this year. He has been waiting years to study it. After all the years it has been since I studied it in high school, I am still not a fan. Math and science mixed together? No thank you. I am glad he is excited though!

Latin...Jake wants to learn Latin. We have been struggling to move forward because of some confusion in the first Chapter. The great part about homeschooling is that we don't have to move on until we get it. I finally broke down and called the company who published our Latin curriculum and it turns out we are smarter than we thought! They are having to rewrite the first chapter because of inconsistencies (they give you rules, you memorize the rules, they tell you there are exceptions but you don't have to worry about those yet, and then the questions that count as grades include things that you could only get right if you knew the exceptions...)....the same ones we were stuck on. Turns out we are so smart we found the issues that the author, editor, and publisher never even came across! We are not the only ones to be calling with concerns. I think I could be a curriculum tester. That would be a fun job.

 On the first day of school you have to have a cafeteria inspired lunch even if you are homeschooled. Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and chocolate milk.

And of course almost two months later we are not nearly as far along as we should be and I wonder every day if we are doing enough...But I think that is what makes for good homeschooling. Always wanting to do better...

September

Our selfie game is not strong. We tried to take a family picture before the first Panthers game of the season and this is how that went. We all had Panthers shirts on...not that you can see that. The Panthers lost and we have to apologize to the Panther Nation for that. You see we got a Chicken Nugget Platter from Chick-Fil-A for the Super Bowl against the Broncos and they lost. Then we got another one for their season opener against the Broncos and they lost again. We will not make the same mistake a third time. Of course none of this explains that fact that they played horribly yesterday and lost. Someone else must have gotten a nugget tray.

We meet a few friends at Croft State Park (it is 5 minutes from our house and yet we rarely go there) and had a picnic and went on a hike.

The trees are still green. We are going to head back in a couple of weeks and see if the leaves start changing. We are also looking forward to when the weather starts changing too. We are over you summer, bring on fall! We have had record heat and lack of rain this September and we are so done with it....

Dreams do come true! Aaron and Jake are playing the Division together but in different rooms. It is a one person video game but you can play with friends over the internet. They found a used, cheap XBox One and they are happy campers.

September 11th. We will never forget...2001 and 2012...

Aaron turned forty and got a Storm trooper and a football (signed by lots of Panthers) for his birthday. Guys never really grow up.

He also got a projector which is pretty awesome. The first thing we did with it was watch an episode of Supergirl. Then Jake played video games on it.

We are excited for fall so we can have a bonfire and watch a movie outside.

Food (I will just make this a jumbled paragraph by telling you what the pictures are...even though it is pretty self explanatory). I love to take pictures of it for some reason. For Jake's birthday party we fried Oreo's and funnel cakes. I haven't made biscuits and gravy in a really long time, so I did...and I just decided we are having it again for dinner tonight. Shredded beef on ciabatta bread is one of our favorites. I used the Pioneer Women's meatball recipe and it is really good! I omitted the grainy mustard, used 2% not whole milk (but I did use heavy whipping cream), and would add a little more salt next time. Our freezer is well stocked with meatball! I also tried her taco meat recipe. I halved it to make sure we liked it but still put the whole recipes worth of water. It was really good that way. Aaron liked it so it is a keeper. I used to Taco Bell seasoning packets but he didn't like them so I am switching! I also was able to bring meals to three families (one pregnant friend and two that just had babies) that is why I made three lasagnas in one day (one for us and two to give away). The week I made those I spent an entire day cooking. Meatballs, taco meat, chicken (I gave some of that to one friend with salad and fruit pizza...I am not saying this to brag. I am letting my posterity now that service is important and can help heal your soul)...and some other things I can't remember. I love my Food Saver. I portioned the food out and it in the freezer ready for future meals.

Amazon deliveries are the best. I told Aaron I wanted some water color pencils so he ordered them for me. I got the water color paper at Walmart and I am ready to have a hobby again. Aaron pointed out that homeschooling is my only hobby at the moment (I have kind of laid all the others aside) and that I should do something for me. This is my new hobby! Notice there are no pictures of my art work...I need to get better!

(Blogging used to be my hobby...maybe it will be again...)

And I am going to finish off this post with a little Sadie adorableness. She is so soft and fluffy. She loves to hug, snuggle, and give kisses. Jake is her human (I am her mom, but he is definitely her human) and she adores him. Her favorite things to do are sleep on Jake's bed (when he isn't in it), eat people food scraps, play with her Frisbee and balls, and take walks. She gets extremely excited when Jake is putting his shoes on before their walks. She "talks" and it is so precious. There are videos to document all the cuteness.


The last time I posted was in April...I am not even going to pretend I can go back and fill in all the gaps but I will try to hit the highlights. I will not stress about it because that is what makes me not do it!  I need to do it though because I love documenting our lives and typing is fun too. Also I am in desperate need of emptying my brain and in the past this has been my go to for that...But I WILL NOT say I am back because that just jinx's me every time! (Have I said this before? Yes. All the time. But here goes again any way: I am not proofreading. I am literally not even rereading. Family reading this in fifty years: don't judge my mistakes.)