What I learned this week...and last week...

(This is my last post of the day I swear (and I actually did this yesterday so in a way it doesn't count as wasting time today...unless you count this rambling right now...)!

1.) Math can be fun!  Especially if you use it to figure out how many flowers you will need to surprise Nee and Papa with an early Mother's/Father's day gift by filling in window boxes and pots galore...all to help brighten up the yard and help get their house sold quicker.  I am going to have to do a post and show you just how cute their house is in case you all know someone who may want to buy it. :)  For now here are pictures of the flowers...

2.) Which leads me into the next bit of yard work we did last week.  We spread out 15 yards of mulch.  That is a lot of mulch people!  In case you don't know how much it is this will give you an idea:

 Before the mulch...

 After:

We worked so hard that we all ate our own $5 foot long subway sandwich's at lunch!  You would have thought we would have slept like babies since we were so tired but we didn't.  I learned that after a whole day of back breaking yard work you are just too tired to sleep!  I also re-learned that hard work is good for the soul...

3.)  I also learned a whole lot about all the U.S. presidents last month.  Did you know that Taft got stuck in a bath tub in the White House so he got them to put in bigger ones? Did you know that most of the early presidents didn't want to be the president they just did it out a feeling of duty to their country? (Washington, Adams, Jefferson...none of them wanted to do it...Pretty different from today's politician's!)  Did you know Ronald Reagan was one of the top 5 presidents ever?...Well that one isn't a fact it is my opinion but since I have studied all the presidents it is pretty close to fact. :)  I always thought that though...I also learned that Jake knows a lot about George Washington and that doing projects is so fun.

Jake did a big poster, written report, and presentation and it was all awesome!  

 I had to get a shot of him working on it because he was having so much fun. :)

We learned about all the presidents by working together and researching all of them (I admit I have Obama and I haven't done my little report on him yet...We have to write positive things and it is a little harder for me to do that for him...).  I made up a sheet of facts to fill in and printed them off for Jake, Nee, Papa, & myself and we split them all up and did mini projects and then we came back together to present them to each other. We ended up with lots of facts, a love for our countries founding fathers, and an awesome book:

It was a 2 page mini report that I typed up (if you are interested in a copy let me know and I can email it to you).  On page 2 we were supposed to find 5 facts that we thought were interesting about the particular presidents we were researching that week.  There were so many interesting things about them that most of mine ended up looking like this:

 I got flashcards from the homeschool store and we put them in some sheets I took out of my coupon book (in other words they are in baseball card holders).  Since I got them used there were a couple missing but we are going to print pictures of them to fill it in.  We found out that my mom's encyclopedia's (from 1975) that we have been trying to get her to throw out, are too much of a treasure to part with.  We got tons of info. on most of the presidents that way.

 I had to post this one...I wish he were a live to be our president again...We really need him or someone like him right about now....

4.) I learned that once I started reading this book:

...I could not put it down!!!!!  You can't really click it to see inside...that is just the picture I found first. :)  I know I am one of the last people on earth to read this book (...Have you read it?) so you have heard this a million times probably: it is so thought provoking, scary, sad, and interesting-you should read it.  It has some violence, and I am not a violence person at all!  So much so that my husband (who started reading it before me and finished after me...) was shocked I liked it.  But it was not gruesome violence.  I could ramble on about this book but I won't...I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read the rest of the series....and I can't wait to go see the movie that comes out in a couple of weeks about it!)

5.)  That working hard, even if it isn't reading books or doing worksheets, counts as homeschooling. (See 1 & 2 if you need info on why I feel this way.)

6.)  I learned that the rug my mom bought me from Ikea for $19.95 makes me really happy.  This is what it looks like:

Thanks Mom! :)

7.) I learned that Sadie think lumber and sand are comfortable:

8.) Last but not least: I learned that boys hair is just as fun to play with as girls.
                                                              The Rock Star:

The mini Flock of Seagulls....

Decisions, decisions...

I'm back and not going private...right now.  I am not a good decision maker people so don't judge me!!!  I know most of my ramblings only benefit me but maybe, just maybe every now and then I share an idea that may help someone.  We watched Marley and Me the other night for Family Home Evening (a weak family home evening I know...) and it helped me make my final decision on what to do with this whole blogging thing.  At the end when they are having to put Marley to sleep (and I bawled like a baby because it reminded me of putting my Emily to sleep...like a 5 tissue cry feast...) the oldest son is looking back over his dads newspaper column and it comforts him...Maybe my blog can end up being that way for my family at some point.  Maybe it can be that for someone else who is going through struggles that I have been through and they can see that we made it to the other side and got through it.  Or maybe it will just be a bunch of ramblings and pictures of all the people I love...Either way I am okay with it and ready to roll again.  Just from taking this past week off my brain is all cluttered up with information I need to get out so those few of you who actually read this are stuck with me. :) 

Redneck Thanksgiving

I am running behind on posting (I know you are shocked!) so here is the quick version of our Thanksgiving.  We spent it in Spartanburg with the Harmon's and did it up right-Redneck style!  Here are 36 of the 88 pictures I took...I know that is a lot-cutting it down to 36 was hard...

Jake sitting on Papa's new toy: A four wheeler...

Riannon and Jake...

The big boys playing with the toys...

Doing nail swirly style....

The nail polish in the water.  Pretty don't you think?

Of course we shot guns.  Here are my 2 guys with a very LOUD one....

Here are the dogs in "jail".  Look at Sadie (on the far left)-she is rolling her eyes that I am taking their picture.  Aaron and Jake your PTPP attitude is even wearing off on Sadie. :)

Papa Harmon and Aaron frying the turkey.  Aaron decided for every picture I took on Thanksgiving he was going to stick out his tongue...At least he was letting me take pictures of him!

Can you say delicious?...

I had to take a picture of my beloved bread maker.  It may have done it's last batch of rolls...It has been dying for a while (we got it as a wedding gift and we have been married for 14 years so it is old.) but the batch of rolls we made Thanksgiving morning in it, had it screeching like it wasn't going to make it.  Seriously it was making screeching noise.

"Two Papa's!" a quote from Jake when he was around 2 or 3, when both Papa Harmon and Papa G. were at the same place.  It was like it clicked in his little head for the first time that he had 2 Papa's. :) 

The kids were the first to dig in to the feast...Wait a minute!  I think Nana beat them to it! Check her out in the background sneaking a taste of something from the dessert table. Caught you Nana! :)

Ranee, Aaron (and his tongue), and Jeremy...

Piling the feast on the giant plates. They really are giant.  You don't have to go back for seconds when you use serving platters...You think I am kidding?  That really is what they are... :)

Jake made a snow man out of his mashed potatoes and ham.  We are so proud of his creativity. :)  Crazy kid!...

The senior table...

The cool table (I was sitting at this one too just so you know).  Aaron keeping up with the tradition of the day.  We decided Riannon could join us this time instead of sitting with the kiddos.  See how cool we are?..

The kiddos and Leah in the back ground-the rest of her table never did come back for a picture.  She could have been part of the cool table if Riannon hadn't been there, but Riannon is pretty cool so we couldn't kick her out. :)

The cousins that were able to make it.  We missed you Sara, Kayla, and Megan!!!...

And of course a silly one...

Jeremy and his Charlies Angel pose...

Ranee is practicing for the concealed weapons course...

Jake took some time to sit at Emily's (our black lab that we had to put to sleep because she had cancer) grave. 

Me and my favorite 10 year old...

Aaron forgot to stick out his tongue in this one. :)

Della found a new cool use for a neck pillow. :)

Black Friday started at 10pm on Thursday night so we made our way to Walmart...

Riannon had proof on her boot that people were a little pushy...

The fruits of our labor: DVD's for $1.96.  I got a couple for $5 too.  Shhhh! These are Christmas gifts...

In case you are wondering this is what it looked like at 10pm...I can only imagine what it looked like at midnight when the big stuff went on sale!  We called it a night and skipped Target opening at midnight like we planned.  The only thing on our list was $5 flannel Lego Star Wars PJ pants for Jake-not worth the chaos...

The rest of the weekend looked like this...

Riannon had a zit on her nose-one of those painful ones that is under the skin.  I told her about the toothpaste trick to pull it to the surface.  She was kind enough to let me take her picture with it on her nose. :) 

We split some wood and stacked it at the Martin's and then at the Harmon's.  We were trying to work off some calories we took in.

Nana asked me to paint her mailbox.  Della was my assistant and it turned out she was good enough to help me finish quicker!  Thanks Della.  Oh yeah-like my layers? (I hadn't done anything to my hair...) Ranee gave me a hair cut.  I can always talk her into it. No she isn't a hairdresser-she is just my hairdresser.  I don't believe in paying to get my hair cut.  Why would I when I have a sister-in-law that will do it for free!  Thanks Ranee! :)

We also looked at a house that has been on the market off and on for the past 7 years-for the fun of it.  I love it!  We are hoping Aaron will get a teaching position here for the next school year and crossing our fingers that it will still be on the market.  It is perfect for us!  It is three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, 2 car garage, fenced in back yard that backs up to the woods, living and family rooms...I love it...Not sure why it hasn't sold-except they had it priced too high for some of those years.  Now they just want to sell it and are willing to negotiate-big time!  It is smaller than other houses in the neighborhood.  Ranee and Jeremy looked at it a couple of years ago (when they were buying a home) and really liked it except that the bedrooms were a little too small to put two kiddos in.  It would fit us perfectly!  You can see the corner of it in the background of the picture of me and Della painting.  Two doors down from Nana and Papa Harmon and right up the road (with in walking/biking distance in a neighborhood that allows children to do those things safely!) from the Martin's (COUSINS!!!).  Keep your fingers crossed...This is the second home in the neighborhood that I have owned in my dreams... :)

This is Jake and Sadie on the way home from Spartanburg.  How cute are they? 

And that is the quick version of an awesome weekend in South Carolina. Hope you were able to spend your Thanksgiving with the ones you love too!