Hilton Head Photo Drop: Part 1

A lot of picture, with a few words...I am in catch up mode.

I had to snap a picture of Jake on the way to the beach. It has been years since we have been.  

Enjoying the balcony and checking out our neighbor Al the gator...

 First pick of Jake and his reunion with the beach...

Jake and me on the beach!  It was extremely windy and rainy but we didn't care.  Nee and Papa started to come with us but changed their mind when it started raining.  Aaron wasn't there yet.  He had to work so he got there later that evening.

Even though it was chilly the water was beautiful!

There was a pool too that Jake had to jump in and check out on the first day.  (Even though it was cold, windy, and rainy!  He comes by that naturally.  The water calls to us...)

The cute townhouse.

The next day when Aaron was there...checking out Al again.

Back on the beach..

On Saturday after spending a little time on the beach we decided to head to the famous Salty Dog Cafe.  This is a picture of Jake with a picture of Jake.  Did you follow that?  This picture of Jake is the original Salty Dog (there has been 3 other since the 1st Jake).  His masters boat sank at sea and he dragged him back to land-it took 3days and nights. They built the restaurant in Jake's honor and it was delicious!  We saw that sites on that end of the island, which included: a light house, boats (we all like the sailboat the best), a dead sting ray, a fun park, and some rain. It was a fun afternoon.

Ferns grow on the tree branches here.  Can you just feel the humidity when you look at this picture?

Spanish moss in the trees.  It is beautiful but I am sure there are snakes hiding in this very picture.  Curse you snakes of the South climbing trees!!!

Homegrown Genius (I saw that on a bumper sticker once and I love it!)

                  Jake is a Memory Master.
On April 26th our Classical Conversations co-op had an awards ceremony to acknowledge all the hard work that the children had put in over the last 24 weeks we meet and worked together. Jake got two awards.  One for having participated in the Essentials program.  Jake learned more in his 24 weeks in Essentials about grammar than I learned in all my school years.  It is amazing and he put in a lot of hard work.  He also became a Cycle 1 Memory Master in Foundations.  This means that he memorized ALL the information from all 24 weeks.  It is a ton of information!!! 

            It's over 400 pieces of information.

             -161 event and people in a chronological timeline.

                                 -The 44 US Presidents   
            -24 history sentences to add depth to our timeline. (This is an example of just one of the 24 history sentences he memorized: "The British North American Act established the Dominion of Canada. The Canadians gained total independence from Britain in 1982. French is spoken in the province of Quebec."  That is one weeks memory work and it isn't even the longest one...He memorized 24 sentences paragraphs like that!)

-120 locations and geographic features in Africa, Europe, and the Old World.
-25 Science facts (including classifications of living things and each continents highest mountain)

-5 Latin noun endings and their singular and plural declensions.

-English grammar facts-including 53 prepositions, 23 helping verbs, and 12 linking verbs.

-In math we refreshed our memorization of the multiplication tables up to 15x15, common squares and cubes and basic geometry.

He did all this, while also working through Saxon Math 7/6 (math for average 7th graders & advanced 6th graders), reading & studying Vol. 1 of the Story of the World, reading a ton of  other books and a ton of other things I can't think of at the moment, because Jake has 2 buddies from our co-op over today that moved into our neighborhood over the weekend and Jake is rushing me to finish so I can take them to the church to ride bikes...even though they have been riding all over already!  Jake is in heaven having friends right up the street!  It has been several years since he has had that!

He even got this cool t-shrit to show he is a Memory Master.

It's my new favorite shirt for him to wear.

We are just the tiniest bit proud of him. :)

I am blogging...in my living room!

Did you get that? I am blogging. Not in the church parking lot. Not at the library. In the living room while watching The Voice (we DVRed it and watched it after FHE with Nee and Papa).  Aaron called me on Friday from work and said that I needed to be at the house on Monday (today) between 10-12 because the that is when they were coming to install internet. And then he said Happy Birthday.  So, Happy birthday to me (in 11 days)!!!

Here are some pictures I promised...Get ready for random....

Jake and Jaxon.  We got to spend the afternoon with Jaxon on his birthday (April 23rd) and you know I took pictures...(I am glad I did because I forgot to bring my camera to his b-day party).  Jake loves finally having a boy cousin that lives in the U.S.  These guys are good buddies.

Jaxon started walking a couple of weeks before his b-day (he was had been trying to toddle around for a few weeks before that). Now a month later and he is walking like a boss. 

Jake was "Supermaning" Jaxon around and they were just too quick for a good shot! :)

I love. Love. LOVE this one of the little man.

This is my crazy child as we were homeschooling one day in the backyard.  See how cool it is to homeschool?  You can wear a cape and there is only one person that will laugh at you!  Just kidding-I didn't laugh.  We both chuckled and counted out blessing that we can be goofy while we are learning.

Then there was this time when Jake and I stayed in our PJ's and played Lego's on the bed.  After a while we started wondering where Sadie was.  She usually drags her toys to where ever we are...

This is what Sadie was doing...Sleeping on Jake's bed.  (She actually spent most of her day in the same spot just today.)

Just Jake..Love this kiddo.

I am back to my random photo drops, brain declutters, and whatever else pops in to my head that just needs to be documented.  I have missed you internet. :)

It's not the internet...it's my computer...

I am at my go to blogging place (the library) and it is taking forever to upload pic's!!!  Aaron is going to have to check out my computer and see why all of the sudden it is doing this most annoying thing...

Brain Declutter: Seriously?!?

I am at Panera Bread while Jake is taking his end of the year testing and thought I could upload some photos and blog...Nope.  Not happening because it is taking 5 minutes to upload one picture! Seriously?!?!  I can't catch a break.  I guess I need to go to the library.  They are the only one that has the internet speed I need. 

But I can still declutter the noggin a little, so declutter I shall!

*Although I love the South, there are cons to living here.  The big one that comes to mind right at the moment would be snakes in trees.  Why do they feel the need to hang out in trees?  Seriously?!?  The reason I bring this up is because 2 days ago (I will try to make this the short and sweet version) Jake was sitting on the floor in the living room and I was sitting on the couch folding clothes and he said: "there is something in the tree.  Oh. It's a snake." He is referring to the lovely tree that hangs over the back deck...You know that deck that is attached to my house!!!!  Seriously?!?  While getting up to look out the glass door I say: "No!  I can't be a snake.  AHHHHHHHH!!!"  and from there I broke into loud sobs and grab my cell phone.  Jake was laughing.  Not sure at what because there is nothing funny about me crying like a baby at the snake in the tree.  I call Aaron at work and he calmly reminds me that he is 80 miles away.  Long story short Aaron had his cousin, my new hero, came and killed it.  It was between 3 & 4 feet long.  Everyone keeps pointing out to me that it was just a black snake and they aren't venomous.  As if that makes any difference to me.  It is a snake.  In my yard.  Correction in a tree that is dangling dangerously close to my house.  Correction it is a dead snake.  I hate snakes.  I bought moth balls and put them in the Ivy that is growing up the fence.  I was told it was a good idea because that is where the snakes would hang out in our yard.  Aaron, after I did this, told me I shouldn't have.  He said: "Now where do you think they are going to go?  Under the house and deck."  He did follow up by saying it was probably the only one in the yard because black snakes don't hang out together.  I am sure that was for my benefit and I appreciate it.  I hate snakes...did I mention that?  I am sure the only reason it was in the yard at all is because we went to the beach for the weekend and Sadie had a doggie dream weekend with her best dog friend Penny at Nana and Papa's.  If Sadie had been there she would have scared it and all other snakes away....I hate snakes.  I keep thinking I am going to look out the window and that there are going to be tons of snakes hanging in tree... 

*...And guess what else?  I forgot to empty the rest of Sadie's dog bowl that had a few uneaten pieces of food in it before leaving for the beach.  Apparently a mouse found this out when we were gone (their was old mouse poop in the house when we moved in...).  Yesterday I went to feed Sadie dinner and besides the 3 or 4 pieces left over from her breakfast, I found mouse poop.  In the bowl.  No where else.  In MY house. Seriously?!?  Guess what likes to eat mice? SNAKES.  If a mouse can find a way to get in, guess what else can find a way to get in.  Did you guess snakes because I did.  AHHHHHHHHH! 

*I decided I am going to paint my old desk a light yellow-kind of butter cream and of course distress it.  I am going to do that soon... :)  I will of course take and post (some day) pictures of it.

*Aaron and Jake are going on a father & son camp out tonight.  I am so excited for them!  I was so excited for myself...until the whole mouse/snake thing and now I am just scared.  Aaron put a mouse trap in the laundry room which is off the kitchen and his guess where the mouse came in.  What am I supposed to do if said trap catches a mouse while he is gone?  I hope everyone has clean laundry because i will not be doing any laundry for a while.

*I really am excited to have the house to myself tonight because I rented the 1st season of Downton Abbey and I am going to watch it tonight while worrying about a mouse and a dead snake coming back to life coming into my house.

*Positive of living in the South: Not having our air conditioning on yet because the weather is still Spring like-giving more proof that global warming is a sham!  Usually the air conditioning goes on about the middle of April here. 

*Our house is still not all the way unpacked...I want it to be but I don't want to do it.  I have unpacked what seems like more than enough stuff.  Why is there still more to unpack?  Really it is a matter of organizing.  I need a big bookshelf.  We have a lot of books and no place to put them...

*I got a very cool bench on the side of the road that I am going to paint and sell.  I love free furniture on the side of the road.

*I am  going to get my mom to help me sew pillows for the living room with fabric I have had for almost a year.  It is going to be so fun to have new pops of color!

*Jake looks more and more grown up every day.  It is amazing to me that he is a couple months away from being 12.  He is a big kid now...{tear}, {sigh}. 

*I am going to be 37 in 21 days...{tear}, {sigh}....

*Have you ever had that moment when you relearn something and it amazes you?  You know what I mean? You knew it but then you forgot it and upon learning it again your mind is blown.  I am reading a good book (minus a couple of bad words) called "The Wilder Life" by Wendy McClure and it is all about her adventure going to all the "Laura" places to try to capture the memories of the books.  I found it a while ago while I was in the middle of rereading the Little House books and I am just now getting around to reading it.  Any way, in the book I relearned the fact that Laura died in 1957.  My dad was 10 & my mom was 9 when Laura died... Seriously?!?..In my mind it was so much longer ago when Laura ran through the prairie with her bonnet hanging down her back instead of on her head...Can you imagine having grown up in a covered wagon and living to see the invention of the TV?  What an amazing time to have lived...I know I would have been Laura's best friend.  And Anne Shirley's too.  And now that I think about it Elizabeth Bennett and I would have been very close...

*Seriously?!? I just caught a glimpse of the time and I need to get going.  It feels so good to declutter my brain....Have you have any "Seriously?!?" moments in your life lately?

Big Plan @ The Beach Goes Down In Flames...

Still no internet on the home front so I made big plans to update and post every day of our long weekend at the beach...Welllllll, the internet connection takes a century to upload photos so I ditched that idea. (It would have worked perfectly though considering it is day 3 1/2 and the first day with sun and no rain!  It peeked out a tiny bit yesterday between rain showers.)  I decided I would post a few of things I planned on posting here so I won't forget the things that I have been wanting to post....Make sense?  It is okay if it doesn't because this post is actually for me.  I am going to come back and post about these things later-when it won't take a century to upload the pictures...when that will be I do not know-hence the memory note I am jotting here. 

#1-Jaxon is one!
#2-Jake is a MEMORY MASTER!
#3-#5ish...-Hilton Head, SC (the beach trip)

There are probably other things I wanted to blog about but I already forgot what they were.  That is why I am doing this post-so I won't forget any more!!!

The Boy Today... (in story form. Read it to yourself in a whimsical fairy voice...it makes it less like a catch up post and more like a...well a story.)

Once upon a time there was a boy named Jake who's mother was so wonderful that she made him breakfast in bed just because it was today.

Then she took him to the library because she really wanted to blog and check out Pinterest which she hadn't been able to do in forever and she knew he would be thrilled with the idea because he loved the library just as much as she does!  Jake's wonderful mother loved to blog because blogging really meant chronicling his life!

This lucky boy was growing up so quickly that his mother couldn't believe it!  Why just the Saturday before today he had learned how to cut the grass!  His father is so proud and glad he doesn't have to do it any more....

Jake had spent many hours painting, packing, moving, and cleaning in the past months and it made his mother's heart soar!  Just a few days before today when they were getting the last things out of the house they were moving from this wonderful boy cleaned out the whole fridge all by himself...

This amazing young man made it through 24 weeks of Classical Conversations with a breeze.  He grew to despise Essentials but not before he learned more about English grammar than most seniors in high school know.  He is can recite all the prepositions by heart, diagram sentences even his mother can not, and write an amazing research paper.  Jake may have grown tired of all the copy of charts in Essentials but his love of Foundations never wavered and he became a Memory Master!...More on what that means later...

Jake decided to take a recipe he saw on the Pioneer Woman and make it his own one night for dinner when he fried pork loin chops...

His mother was delighted to only have to help with dinner rather than be the one to make it every...single...night.  His wonderful mother is also a bit of a story teller because she doesn't cook every night.  Their family has learned that when they ask her what is for dinner and she says, "Something delicious!", that that means she actually has no idea what is for dinner.

Even though this spectacular boy was growing up quickly he still wasn't too old for dying Easter eggs.  Truth be told no matter how old he is his thoughtful mother will most likely always force him to do it but he hasn't grown up that much yet.

This magnificent boy still loves a good Easter egg hunt!  Who wouldn't when eggs are sometimes filled with money!

The kind boy didn't even mind when his mother uploaded a picture of him eating the dinner he made in the wrong order.  Jake knew she could easily fix it but cared not that she decided not to.

The boy was much like his manly father in his love of mathematics.  They both relished the chance to celebrate Pi day (March 14...3.14 for anyone who is sadly not a math geek) by making a pie.

This kind hearted boy even took the time to tell his miraculous mother how much he loved her Easter decorations.  Jake took after his strong father in wanting to eat the chocolate bunnies but refraining for fear for their lives.

This boy genius spent many hours learning and memorizing his memory work to gain knowledge that he will be able to recall for years to come.

His courageous father says he will teach this gifted boy to play the guitar.  This warms the heart of the lady in there life for she loves being serenaded.

The boy continued to make his mothers heart burst with joy when he finally got good enough at the dishes that she didn't have to spend a lot of time cleaning up after him...at least not all the time.

He had grown into an accomplished and wonderful young man that made his parents so proud.   His amazing mother felt accomplished herself as she finished updating her blog with just a few of things her baby had been up to since she last posted....She also started to wonder if she had written her little story in the tense the whole time but didn't have time to go back and check because her play time was up and it was time to homeschool  Jake. :)