Quick Visit

Left to Right (Kevin, Bay, Dennis, Grandma, Mike)

Sunday afternoon, Dennis, Bay and Grandma went for a quick unplanned visit to his brother, Mike's house. Kevin was in town, the trailer needed to be returned to Mike, and Grandma wanted to see her boys. Enough said. The plan was for Dennis to take one of the kids...I was leaning toward Eric going, but Eric was vehemently against it. He explicitly explained that he was really looking forward to just relaxing on Sunday. No problem since Bay REALLY wanted to go. It turned out to be a wonderful arrangement. Evidently Bay needed some middle child attention, and got plenty of it. He wrote in his journal about it today, and drew a great picture of what he remembered from the afternoon. Evidently Eric really needed to be at home and have some peace and quiet too, because he literally spent the entire afternoon/evening reading. He even declined to watch the Redskins game with us on the big screen at Granni/Gramps' house. Of course, since Eric was off in his own world with Eragon, Leah got mommy and Grannni time.

It is so nice when each child is able to get that individual time in the way they need it most. What is fun to see is how their personalities change when you get them by themselves. Bay's journal entry is at the bottom since I thought it was very cute.

See the cool arched doorway in the background??? That is what Bay drew if you can't make it out. Here is what he dictated to me to go with his drawing (see top of page for that).
"This is a door at Uncle Mike's house. It's raining and everyone is at the fire. While it was raining I was playing ball with Stinky (the dog). When we were done with dinner I got to have Sprite and watch Avatar."

Rare Occasion

Rarely do the kids get opportunities to play in the rain...usually if it's raining, it's also thunderstorming, or it's too cold to get that wet. Anyways, we, like the rest of the east coast, are experiencing several days of periods of rain and wind due to a tropical low, so this has been the perfect opportunity for playing in the rain! The kids went out after dinner and it started misting and then turned into a full-out downpour. Rain boots kept their feet dry, but that's about all that was dry. They had a great time as can be imagined. Oh the simple joys of childhood.

The Shack

I recently read a book and I'd like to post about it. There aren't too many books I read that I would really recommend to people (I usually read just to put myself to sleep at night). However this book has affected me differently. I won't give away the plot, but hopefully you'll pick up a copy and read it. I think you'll be glad you did. After you read it, loan it to someone else to read.

The book is written by a friend of the main character. As you'll find out in the foreward, pretty much, Will (the author) is a good writer and so his friend, Mack (the main character) asked him to tell his story for him. The story revolves around a very tragic event in Mack's life....very very sad, but if you can move through that to what God teaches him, it is very worth it. The book is much more than the tragedy. It gave me a picture of God that is more tangible and complete than anything I have ever known, even after having a close relationship with him for most of my life. As I read my Bible and think about my relationship with Jesus now, I seem to be looking at it through a new pair of lenses, lenses that make what he says clear in a different sort of way. Mack's (the main character) experiences with God reveal HIS love in such a clear way. I don't want you to get the idea that the book is thelogical or religious, because it is completely NOT religious. If anything, it will break some religious stereotypes. It is real and a real picture of what a real relationship with Jesus is about. Be prepared to be challenged and changed.

If you read it, I'd love to hear what you think.

Dennis' New Toy

Dennis is really enjoying his new (used) Yamaha Venture. It is quite a change from the bike he had 8 years ago (MUCH bigger) He is going to be getting it lowered so his vertically challenged legs will be able to reach the ground on flat feet. He finally got the registration done and has ridden it to work this week. For those of you readers who hadn't heard, Dennis' brothers, Kevin & Mike, recently bought Dennis this motorcycle. Why...you ask...did they do that? Is it because they had nothing better to do? no. Is it because they love him so much? well, they do love him, but, no. Is it because they wanted to release years of guilt for picking on him when he was a little kid? sorry, no guilt there, so, no.

Funny as it may sound, they were so non-impressed with his riding skills when he went out to CA to ride with them that they really thought he needed to practice more! What a cool surprise to Dennis. And, yes, probably in the end, it is because they love their little brother, Dennis!

Can't tell who's happier here, Dennis or Bay! Bay is wearing his ski helmet for riding around our street. We don't have any youth helmets yet. When Leah heard that daddy was getting a motorcycle, the first thing she said was, "I can wear my black motorcycle shirt when you take me for a ride!"

SPACE TROUBLE

by Eric MacQuilliam

This is a comic that Eric recently made to be a submission for our Homeschool Group newsletter. In order to see the picture larger, you will need to click on it and it should enlarge on your computer screen. You may have to read it a few times to understand his placement of the speech bubbles: sometimes he starts the people talking at the bottom of the frame, and sometimes in the middle. Eric LOVES drawing comics and they almost always relate to his legos which he and his brother play with in almost every free moment.

Soccer So Far...

Both Eric and Bay are playing soccer this fall in the recreation league. This will be Eric's 3rd season playing, and he is by no means a soccer star, but he has shown improvement in each successive season, so we encouraged him to keep trying. He is already (after 2 weeks of practice) becoming more aggressive with the ball, which is a good thing for him :)

Bay is also old enough to play on a team in the recreation league, and Dennis is coaching his team with another parent. This is Dennis' first time coaching, and he is really enjoying it! The only thing we don't enjoy is that both practices are at the same time at completely different parks, so I never get to see Bay play, and Dennis never gets to see Eric play. This week their games are at the same times at different parks, so it will be the same deal. Last week their games overlapped, but we all got to spend some time at both games.

County Fair

This weekend is our local county fair. We love the county fair. We always enter as many things as we can reasonably carry that any of us have made during the past year. The kids typically enter artwork, sometimes lego creations, crafts, etc. For me it's usually canned goods, herbs and sewing. This year even Dennis got in on the fun with a simple wood working project he did. Yesterday the kids and i ran over to the fairgrounds for an hour to see our exhibits and visit the animals (Thursday is free to exhibitors). It was very empty since it had just opened.

Today was School Day (schools are out) so kids get in free. Dennis had off today so he was able to come. Also not too crowded compared to going at night. My parents came along too.

Here are our results.

Bay got a 1st in his one and only entry...a painting of a rocket. Before you get too excited, yes he did this by himself, but the idea we got out of a really neat Usborne finger painting art book that we use for school quite often. Eric did a painting just like this when he was Bay's age from the book and it is interesting to see how similar they are!
Eric entered artwork in markers, colored pencils, crayons and paint. His spider painting, above, won 2nd place. He also entered a painted rock and a creative writing piece.
The Christmas banner that wraps around the case is one I made last winter for our home. It is cut from felt and then sewed on in different ways. I got the idea from a Company Store catalog.
Dennis' wooden knife won 3rd. We thought of many more things he can enter next year after seeing what types of things were there!


I am including all of my sewing entries. I did get a ribbon on all of them, but not because they are so great. Most of them were the only entry in their category, so it goes to show that something doesn't have to be great to win a prize! Most of the judges write constructive criticism on the back of the entry card so it is nice to hear what they have to say about each piece.
Above is an apron I made for my mom for mother's day. It is reversible.

This is a twirling skirt i made for Leah.
This was actually a nightgown that my mom made for Leah, but I knew she wouldn't go to the trouble of entering it, so I entered it for her! Good job Granni!
This is Bay's robe and he was so happy to see that HE got a first place on his robe :)
Leah's robe and sundress.

I also entered 3 bunches of herbs (lavendar, sage and oregano) from my herb garden and got either 3rd or 4th on them.

A pleasant surprise to the day was to find out that all rides were only 1 ticket each (normally 4 or 5). So instead of only being able to ride 1x each, the kids got to ride 3x each. They were very happy about that!

Bay and Eric in the TOMB OF DOOM!!!
Leah on the choo choo train.

We finished the fair with a treat and then we were done. What a fun family day!

End of Summer Camping at OhiopyleFinally getting to post about our end-of-summer camping trip. We spent 7 days at our favorite spot in Pennsylvania. Every year we go and stay a little bit longer, and every year it's just never enough!

Highlights from the week:

2 bike rides (25 miles and 22 miles long respectively)

2 hikes (1 to the natural water slides)

painting rocks collected from a river bed

seeing 2 hornet nests, hawks, a pet skunk, lots of chipmunks and a baby snake

realizing Leah is now officially too big for the backpack carrier

Playing in the natural water slides. A little further down the water moved a little more and everyone played in them. Water temp: 65 degrees!!!

Leah climbing on the playground adjacent to our campsite

Snack break during a hike

Eric's painted rock

beautiful river bed

happy campers

the best way to travel 22 miles by bicycle

taking a dip along the river/bike trail

Swimming at Night

A friend of ours recently gave us a pool light. We turned it on last night and the kids and I got in tonight to swim in response to the incredibly hot and muggy day we've had. They have not swam at night in our pool all summer, so this was quite a treat! However, we had already put all of the pool toys away, so we couldn't find Leah's arm swimmy things. Didn't seem to phase her a bit, she just said, "then I'll just swim to you without them on, Mommy!" This might not sound like anything special unless you knew that all summer (until a month ago) Leah spent all of her time in the pool with flotation devices on and clinging to the ladder. She would not let go for anything...months...if I made her let go and just held her in the pool, she would scream and scream till I put her back on her safe ladder. It drove me crazy (being the swim teacher I am!), but sometime in August she decided that she would swim to me with her arm floaties on, and since then she's been all over the pool, face in, reaching & pulling, floating on her back, etc. Huge change, but still with a flotation device. I did NOT expect anything more this summer from her, so swimming completely unassisted was not something i was pushing.

We got in the pool and before I knew it, she had jumped off the ladder to me and swam with her face in to me! I gave her a push back and she was doing this for the entire 45 minutes or so we were in the pool. She was doing freestyle, streamlining and freestyle kick, breastroke arms, just floating...most of the time she was making it about halfway across the pool before she'd grab onto me for a breath! She was so excited and proud, and of course we all made a big deal of her, which she loved :) No pictures due to the darkness and the fact that I was in the pool...but i'm sure we'll have some soon. Swim team is in this girl's future for sure!!!