Happy 4th of July Ya'll! This is how we do it in the South...

On the 4th of July we packed up the car and headed down to Cowpens SC and spent the day with friends and family.  We had a Redneck Independence Day as Ranee (my sis-in-law) called it.  We spent the day eating, swimming, making homemade root beer, and shootin' guns.  Aaron even got to shoot a M-16.  Who owns M-16's you ask?  Good ol' boys from Cowpens that's who. 

Aaron, just floating.  And yes that is you in the background Jake.  He was concerned he wasn't in the picture.

Riannon getting ready to try a front flip.

Jake in the middle of a front flip that kind of went sideways a little...

The big kids: Jake, Elliot, Alex, Della, and Riannon.

Don't you wish this was your backyard?  I do.

The big kids built forts out of all the rafts for most of the day.

This is just some of the arsenal...If we ever get attacked I know exactly where I am going.  Aaron saw me posting this and said we will probably get a call from the FBI. :)

Ranee and Amanda, 2 of Charlie's Angels.

Aaron shooting the M-16.  I really missed the best picture.  His face after he shoot it.  Like a kid in a candy store.

Riannon smelling the root beer.

Jake got a little too much sun and didn't drink enough water so we spent a little time inside rehydrating and letting the ibuprofen kick in.  This was their game room, fully equipped with this game, pool table, pin ball machine, air hockey and all the action figures you can remember from the 80's.  This is a almost 10 year old boys dream...

If you don't know what the South Carolina flag looks like than you should look it up.  I am not from SC but I admit it is the coolest state flag.  It was being recreated right in the backyard that evening.  A Palmetto Tree with a crescent moon.  The guys tried desperately to snap a picture with there phones...I had to take a picture of them. :)

My camera is just a point in shoot (that I LOVE with all my heart don't get me wrong.) and I couldn't get a good picture with it any more than they could with their phones!

Night swimming..

Glowing wrist bands for the big kids...

...and the little girls. 

The frog we shared the pool with that day was glad when we were done swimming and he came out of hiding.

This is a picture of the guys hurriedly moving the fireworks away so they wouldn't all light up at once.  Just a few seconds before this the fireworks were all about a foot away from the lite ones...

Happy Birthday America! I am thankful to live in the most amazing country in the world.  I am also thankful for our forefathers that through Heavenly inspiration established and fought for this free country.  I am also extremely thankful for all of our soldiers that have fought and continue to do so for all of us to be able to spend Independence Day this way.
(Sorry we didn't get to see you Nana and Papa Harmon.  We will be heading back done soon.)

400th post...

This is literally the first time I have been on the computer in a week.  There is just too much summer fun going on to be at the computer.  Not to mention that Aaron has gotten me addicted to the old TV show from a few years back called "Jericho".  It is on Netflix and I (and we, when Aaron has been home) have spent the last several nights (besides the 4th)  staying up way to late (1:30 one night...) watching episode, after episode.  Have you seen it?  It is about a little town in Kansas struggling to survive after the US has been attacked (by who, I don't know yet...) and had several major cities (including DC) obliterated  by nuc's.  That makes it sound like I am a weird-oh for wanting to watch it, but trust me it is awesome!!!  What does this have to do with this being my 400th post?  Nothing. It really just explains why I haven't been on the computer for a whole week because I usually blog at night after Aaron has gone to work ...

Jake saw on my dashboard that my next post was going to be my 400th and he told me it should be something really special.  No pressure there.  Maybe subconsciously that is another reason I haven't posted...I finally decided on the something special that this post could be about.  Or maybe this is just my way of getting out of really having to think about writing something down.  Any who...July 1st was the day we could file to homeschool because that is the day our county considers the start of the official 2011-2012 school year.  Last Friday we got on line and named (Jake decided on the name finally) and filed for our homeschool.  And because I am a picture taking fool I have pictures.  This is a big moment-I wanted to document it!  Are you bored yet with my forever talking of homeschooling?  Sorry.  The novelty has yet to wear off.  :) 

So, our homeschool is called: Harmon's Learning Academy. At first it was going to be Jake's Learning Academy but he decided it should be Harmon in case we ever have a baby. :)

What do you do after a night at the ER? and A Simple Pleasure

Look pitiful so that your mom will let you eat Ritz crackers and watch cartoons all morning.

 But seriously my boy deserves a break...
Last night after Cub Scouts we went over to our next door neighbors to chat with her about the dog sitting we will be doing for her this weekend.  She is the owner of Bear, Sadie's best dog friend.  He is younger than Sadie and still has his razor sharp puppy teeth.  Do you see where I am going with this?  Jake was throwing sticks for Bear while we were talking and Bear jumped up to get the stick from him right as he was getting ready to throw it...Next thing I know, Jake screams and blood is dripping down off his wrist.  Fast forward 20 minutes and we are sitting in the ER waiting. We were pretty lucky  we were only there for a total of 2 1/2 hours which has got to be some kind of record.  Looking around the waiting room there were just a bunch of people that honestly looked liked they had no reason to be there (which made me happy.  I am not a fan of germs, blood, or puke that comes out of anyone other than my own family).  No wounds (besides Jake of course), broken bones, or even coughing.  Just people with their wristbands on, chatting with whoever brought them.  It was kind of strange actually.  Usually you see all sorts of creepy or gross things in the ER.  Luckily for us Jake's "flesh wound", as he was calling it, was it for blood.  Aaron said they were probably there to get out of the heat and into the air conditioning. :)

Jake entertained the hospital staff and us while we were there.  The man who checked him out and took our information before being seen was amused when Jake told him he didn't need stitches-just a band aid and we could call it good.  The man also asked if Jake had any recent illnesses or infections (no), and Jake asked if the wart on his thumb (that we have been to the doctor 6 times for to have them freeze off and we have gone through a box and a half of the at home freeze kits and large amounts of duct tape.  This wart seriously will not go away.  Next stop dermatologist..) counted.  The man laughed and told him it didn't. :)  When we actually got into the room another man (maybe a nurses assistant or something) came in to get more info. and tell us what we could expect.  He looked at Jake's wrist and said it needed stitches but because it was a dog bite (more like a tooth slash.  Bear didn't chomp down.  His tooth just made contact.), they may not close it up because of the risk of infection-they wanted it to be able to drain.  Jake was so happy that he might not need stitches and told the guy it really wasn't that bad.  To this the man said: "It looks pretty bad to me."  When the doctor came in to numb it, she was telling Jake it shouldn't hurt.  Jake looked at her and said; "Shouldn't?"  She laughed and said: "Oh you caught that part did ya?  You are pretty bright, because most people don't hear that part." (It did hurt by the way...) Before the stitches were put in she took out this big bottle (a one liter maybe) of saline solution to clean it out and told Jake she was going to clean out the wound and that it wouldn't hurt but it would be cold.  He looked at the bottle and said: "You are using that whole thing?". I guess you had to be there to see his facial expressions for most of these moments but we were all chuckling the whole time and I had to document them.  Especially when the doctor showed him the "fish hook" she used to do the stitches after she was done.  Jake took one look at it and said: "I don't know how I survived it!"  He is one funny kid.
I think his humor and quick wit is a defense mechanism because he had a few moments of tears.  Aaron was joking with him in the waiting room about rabies and how they use part of your intestines to treat you for it.    We obviously know that Bear does not have rabies (and that intestines aren't used to treat you for it...), but it was more than Jake could take and tears started to well up in his eyes.  Which Aaron didn't notice right away because he thought was being so funny.  Way to go Daddy. :)  Turns out in stressful situations Jake can only handle his own jokes, not other peoples.  

To look on the bright side:  I was glad to see a coupon that I could use for one of Jake's favorite treats, that was on sale BOGO free (I got it for $1.20 that is 20cents a bar.  It tastes even better when it is so cheap.).  Out of all the not fun stuff, it is definitely a simple pleasure to let Jake eat a yummy Klondike bar BEFORE lunch and cheer him up.

You can do things like that when you have stitches.  In fact it may actually be a mandatory step in the healing process.  Jake's sweet face when I told him I didn't just get his antibiotics (you have to take them with a dog bite), I also got him a treat is definitely my simple pleasure.  What is your simple pleasure today?  It may very well be that you weren't in the ER last night with your child getting stitches. :)

Summer posting...Not really feeling it...

As many things do in the summer, posting has become a chore.  It really is much more fun to lay in the sun in 98 degree weather and spray myself with the hose when I am supposed to be spraying Jake as he runs by...I looked at a ladies legs at church on Sunday who had white hose on and realized that my hoseless legs were the same color...I have not pool to tan by (except our little $10 Walmart kids/puppy pool) so the hose will have to do, because another summer with out tan legs just isn't happening.  I bet my cousin Mallory (who is the tan queen every summer and who lives in VERMONT for goodness sake!!!  How can I live in the the hot and humid South and be whiter than a Vermonter...It is sad...) that I would be tanner than her this year and I am not going down with out a fight!  So, that is just one of my excuses for lack of blogging...Another excuse is that we are having too much fun homeschooling.  We have our...We still can't think of a name for them...Mine is "my compass" (it is what is leading us in our educations) and Jake's is his "Case-It" (the name brand of the big binder all AIG students had to have at his former school and it broke half way through the year so we had to replace...but I wasn't going to waste our money again so I let him use a cool Stephen Covey planner/small briefcase I found on clearance at Sam's Club for $12 a few years ago....), but I am trying to convince him we should have a really cool name for it...Jake isn't buying it so far.  But any way, I took pictures of our "whatever you want to call 'ems" because I am really into paper products and pretending I am organized. :)

This is my "Compass".  How cool is that name? The whole idea behind it is that we can take these binders with us wherever we go and have what we need to homeschool.  Some one with more homeschooling and grammatical knowledge tell me if homeschool is one word or two please...When I type it is says it is spelled wrong, but when I type homeschooling it is right...Things like that make me wonder just what kind of education my son will be getting....Any way I love the idea of an education from the classics, but I have to say that I don't think I am ready for it.  So, this is my happy medium.  No, we don't have a curriculum we are following.  I have the list of what Jake has to know in NC for the 5th grade and we will of course cover all of it and then some.  Yes, we are going to focus on reading and studying the things that interest Jake because those things will lead easily into the things he "needs to know".  In the Thomas Jefferson Education books they believe that you must educate yourself as you help your child educate themselves, so I made my own "Compass".  In the book it tells you to make a list of what you want to study  and get to it-that is your compass.  We made the list and the binder is just something I thought would help us focus.  So, here it is:

Have you heard of Peter Walsh (I think that is his name) he was on an organizing/redecorating show and he has a line at Office Max of organizing "stuff".  I could spend all day in Office Max...I am a paper product junkie-that is one of the reasons I retired from scrap booking...I liked to collect the paper not actually use it.  Any way, his line is called  [IN] PLACE and I am kind of in love.  It is just the fancy version of regular things like binders, page protectors, and subject dividers...but I still love it.  I bought this binder a long time ago and never had a reason to use it (at least not a good enough reason to use it...It was too special for just any old paper holding job...) until now!

I have this cute pencil case so that I will have pencils and pens on hand whenever we need them.

And this amazing post-it note thingy-ma-bobber.

I have a calendar, our chore lists (that I believe is totally part of homeschooling), attendance records, a place to keep track of grades because Jake still wants to get report cards, and all other things related to being a homeschooling mom! (I have a section of things I am going to be studying right along with Jake-right now it is the states.  No I do not know all I should know geographically or other wise about this fine country...) I even a list for library books (found it at http://donnayoung.org/homeschooling/index.htm,) and their due dates because we ALWAYS have late books-but not anymore!

I have a section with answer keys to the math worksheets I found at one of my new favorite websites:  worksheetworks.com.  We aren't really going to get into math until we get back from Vermont (in September), but Jake wanted to do some sheets (math geek). Which I think is an awesome idea if that is what he likes to do.

I have my compass which has all the things I want to spend time learning about for the next 6 months.  I am going to do some sewing, canning, and dehydrating-the domestic side of me is dying to come out.  The "academic" side I am focusing on studying: US history, the Constitution and the way our government is supposed to run, the Federalist Papers, (you get it-all the things the founding Fathers laid out for us...).  On the spiritual side I am going to continue to study the Book of Mormon and read the Doctrine and Covenants, that I am going to admit for the first time ever:  I have never read the D&C all the way through...I am a sad person I know...

This is Jake's.  His is binder is broken into the 3 main categories he wanted to study this summer:  The States (location, capital, order of statehood, and interesting facts.), animals (he wants to research a few different animals-you may remember he started a project a week or so ago on the Black Mamba snake), and History (he wants to research Blackbeard, Beethoven..and a couple of others I can't think of at the moment...).  His binder has built in pencil/pen case and calculator.  He loves it and everyone in his AIG class was jealous of his "briefcase".  He has a section in the back labeled "other" with his "Math: Keeping Skills Sharp" section and a section to take notes on things he is reading-especially the Book of Mormon, which he would like to finish reading by his birthday.  Behind the first page (a picture of a compass) is the list of things he wants to learn in the next 6 months, that he can add to any time he wants.

This is his "compass".

We also went to the library and signed up for the summer reading program.  They gave him a bag with info. on the program, a book mark, and some other cool things that I really can't remember off the top of my head...He did get a free book called Extra Credit by  Andrew Clements, since he signed up the book club for it in a couple of weeks.  This is the plastic bag that he wanted to keep but I talked him into taking a picture of it to preserve the memory and then tossing it. :)

Jake checked out several books (he has already read almost 3 of them since Friday) and these 2 DVD's that he thought looked awesome.

This is Jake doing his first math worksheet.  We weren't going to officially start until July 5th, but neither of us could wait any longer!  Our binders are so cool and were just waiting for us to use...

We had fun going through our little turning in and me checking it process (we have a turn in folder and a graded folder in one of those wire magazine holders.) and Jake was seriously thrilled at his first 100%.  So excited that he gave me a hug. :)  I am glad he is so excited to homeschool.  It isn't like he isn't used to getting 100%'s on his math worksheets, but there was just something about it being the first one for our school. :)

It was fun for me to use my red pen to check it and then put it down on my grading sheet. :)

  We also did our first state yesterday: Florida.  Jake decided he wanted to do Alaska and Hawaii tomorrow.

How cute is Jake's manatee?  Did you know that Florida was the 27th state (I thought it was a state way earlier...) and that 80% of the US's oranges and grapefruits are grown in Florida?  It also has more varieties of fish than any other place in the world has.  Pretty cool.  We also learned that while Crayola's eraseable colored pencils are great for coloring or highlighting...they are not so great for writing with...Jake's handwriting really isn't as sloppy as it looks on this sheet. (Seriously-I wised up and switched to a regular pencil half way through my sheet. :) )  He wanted to make sure everyone knew that....but don't look to closely at his math worksheet that he decided at the last second he wanted to sign and date (in case I got it confused with another students)...not sure why he wrote that so sloppy... :) 

I realize that this is an awfully long post about binders and papers, but we are really excited to be homeschooling and I wanted to document this so on days when we want to pull each others hair out we can remember we really do like each other. :)

We really didn't forget Father's Day, I swear...

...I just forgot to post about it.  And we forgot (didn't forget just didn't make a priority...) to get cards in the mail to Papa G. and Papa Harmon-but we did talk to them on the phone.  Happy (late) Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

We started the celebration on Saturday by surprising Aaron with 2 of his favorite things:

1. Sweet and Sour chicken from his favorite local Chinese restaurant and
2. A blueberry cheesecake milkshake from a little drive-thru hamburger joint called Cookout.

I went to pick Jake up from his friend Corey's house after a day of swimming (yes I was jealous) and we picked them up on the way home.

We also let him do this since he:

Going to school full time and working 3rd shift full time is not much fun. (The little blue rug is for Sadie.  When we are sitting on the couch and she sits down next to it for us to pat her, she slides around on the hardwood floors.  How spoiled is that mutt?  Ruining the decor of the living room with an old blue bathmat just so she can sit her furry bum down without sliding all over the place.)

The next day I made 2 more of his favorite things:

1. Homemade rolls and

2. Homemade chocolate cookies.

So, you see we didn't forget Aaron.  Jake even wrote a song and played it on the piano for Aaron.  Thank you Aaron for all you do for our family.  Jake said it best one time when he said: "Daddy makes too many sacrifices for this family."  At first I didn't know how to respond, but then I just told him that is what good Daddies do and yours is the best.  Thank you Aaron. I love you.

Simple Pleasures: The Wind on Their Faces...

Today we had to head out early to drop Sadie off at the vet to get spade. We won't see her until tomorrow and we are really going to miss her.  Jake is having a friend over to keep his mind off Sadie' surgery-he is a little worried. On the way we rolled down the windows to let her enjoy the breeze and Jake decided to join in.  At first they started out enjoying the wind at 2 different windows.

And then Sadie couldn't resist and decided to join Jake at his window.

There is Sadie's nose...

...And here they are enjoying the wind on their faces together!

That is my simple pleasure for the day: watching two buddies enjoy the wind on their faces together. What is your simple pleasure? (These pictures didn't turn out that bad considering I was just sticking the camera out the window or by my seat and didn't even look because I was...well...driving.)

Finally Done

I finally finished:

It took me a month or so.  It is long five hundred and something pages, but I don't usually take me any where near  that long to read a book.  It was a definite departure from what I have been reading lately (Anne of Green Gables), and I think more of a boy book. It is a Cowboy and Indian book.  It is a book about lose and starting over.  It is a book about growing and learning who you are and what you are capable of.  It made you feel like you were in the desert with Johannes, the main character.  He endured things not many people I know could.  Read this book.  You really will enjoy it and find many life lessons and wonderful quotes...That I don't have time to talk about right now because Jake is dying to play the Wii with me and I said I would hurry.  He just spent the day with me at Bi-Lo (from 7am to 3pm...I am working one day a month to be kept on the payroll, that way if I need to go back I can.), so I promised to play some Lego Wii...whichever one he feels like!  I just had to tell someone I finally finished Lonesome Gods!  I think  anyone 12 and up (Jake started reading it but lost interest.  I am glad he did because I think some of the things that happen later in the book when Johannes grows up, are things anyone under 12 wouldn't understand.  A few outlaws have plans to assault a young lady.  Of course their attempt is fouled, but it is a concept my almost 10 year old would not understand-thankfully.), girl or boy, could read this and enjoy it.  Especially if you like Cowboys and Indians. Dad I think you would like this one. 

After reading a  more "boyish" book , I am in the mood for a real girls book again.  So, I am reading:

For the first time!  Can you believe it?  I am I the only female out there who adores the movie (the new and old version) but has never actually read it?...Or any of Jane Austen's other books either for that matter...Tell me I am not the only one...I am so excited to read it!  After I finished Lonesome Gods last night at almost 1 o'clock in the morning I couldn't help but read a few pages of it and I love it already. :)