My husband/My hero!

Our flourescent lights that have been under our cabinets have been dying, one-by-one, and so we decided that it was time to replace them with something a little nicer. Off to Lowes, and then Home Depot for Dennis to find out that they don't sell "direct-wire" under-cabinet lights, only the kind that you plug in to an outlet. That was no good for us since we already had the wiring connected to a switch. So Dennis got some and totally made them work! He hard wired them to our exisisting wiring with a junction box. This is so amazing to me because Dennis used to balk at electrical work, but he did such a super job, I just couldn't be happier!

And the light that comes from them is so much warmer than flourescent bulbs.

I've also been busy finishing up some projects around the house...finally getting to sewing Bay's jacket was a priority!

It's exactly like Eric's, but in blue camoflage twill, lined with blue camoflage fleece.

And since I'm giving the whole update, I might as well show you a few pics from our recent afternoon down in the southern part of the county at the Chesapeake Bay Field Lab. This is an educational research area that has an open house each year. It is fun because the kids get to tong for oysters, tour the Skipjack (oyster boat), take a marsh walk and explore estuary creatures with a seine net, among other things. This year it was extremely cold, so we didn't get to enjoy ourselves quite as much as we have before, but it was still fun.

Bay and Leah exploring little mud crabs, minnows, etc.


And our little girl's newest favorite thing to do is to put foam curlers in her hair after her bath and wake up in the morning looking like Shirley Temple !!!

Bull Run and Halloween

This post is way late, but I've been very busy lately and haven't had time to spend posting. Anyways, I still wanted to include something about our fun Halloween/Camping weekend in Manassas, Virginia at Bull Run Park. We camped with some friends from church (Ray & Genia and kids, and Rhonda & Gene and kid). It was a beautiful weekend, and nice to do something different for Halloween. We brought along costumes for the kids, carved our pumpkins at the site, and did a scavenger hunt for candy instead of trick-or-treating. It was very low key and was amazingly easy!

In the above picture, from front left to right is Leah (a queen) and Bay (Spiderman with a cape). Next row behind is Eric (a sorceror), Elliott (face painted as a tiger), Grace (face painted as princess) and Ian (a robber-without his robber mask)

This picture is for my and Genia's friend, Holly, who drew this picture on a piece of canvas long ago, and gave it to Genia for us to have the kids color while on a camping trip sometime. Finally we did it and they enjoyed working on it throughout the day. Thanks Holly! I hope your ears weren't twitching on Saturday, 'cause we talked about you while we colored it :)

Saturday morning Dennis and I took our kids to Manassa Battlefield. Dennis grew up with the battlefield literally in his backyard, so he thought it was really neat to come back after so many years and see it with our kids. I learned a lot about this battle while at the park, and can't wait until Eric studies the Civil War in school to get into it a little more.

WARNING: HISTORY CONTENT AHEAD....

The First Battle at Manassas was in 1861 and was really one of the most monumental battles of the civil war because going into the war, most people had a romantic view of war, and really thought it would all be settled in this one battle. Instead, it marked the beginnig of the bloodiest battle the United States has ever fought. Stonewall Jackson also got his nickname during this battle...soldiers were asking where their commander was and someone said, "There stands Jackson like a stone wall" and so the nickname stuck. He was brave and fought on the front lines with his men.

Pumpkins lit up...the great thing about carving pumpkins while camping, all the mess is already outside, and you can just leave them there when you go!

Hanging out in the park near the Old Stone Bridge.

A New Member of the Family

Recently we rescued a baby kitten from the end of our street. I know, I don't know what has gotten into me...I am not the rescue type. I guess I saw him and in a moment of weakness I was overtaken. Anyways, here he is. We think when we rescued him he was not more than 4 weeks old, if that. He could not lick himself, or lick milk from a bowl. He was in pretty bad shape. After some internet searching, and a few phone calls to our vet friend, we found out that he needed:

1. To be warm! a heating pad did the trick

2. He couldn't eat and get his digestion going until he was sufficiently warm-a dropper with kitten formula worked

After a few days of feedings with the dropper, he learned to lap up the formula with his tongue and so we moved to a bowl. Much easier. Then he amazingly started using a litter box...it is amazing the instincts God has given baby kittens.

Here he is wrapped up in a fleece blanket in Leah's lap the 2nd day we had him home. This is all he did for at least 24 hours...cuddled and got warm.

We have since set up home for him in Leah's bathroom...plenty of room for the kids to go visit and play, and the stinky litter is out of the way for me (my main aversion to cats is changing litter). Here he is perched on Eric's leg-he loves to perch on our laps! He is getting very playful and looks forward to playing with anyone who comes to visit him in his temporary home.


His eyes look blue in this picture, I guess due to the camera flash, but they are really greenish-brown. He's all black with a tiny tuft of white on his chest. Adorable. Can you guess his name?

Tiny little ball of fur. Did you guess his name yet? It's Spooky :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmXX3NuPQU8

If you are at all concerned about the upcoming election, I encourage you to watch the above video produced by Chuck Baldwin for president. He clearly addresses why it is absolutely NOT wasting your vote to vote for a third-party candidate. In light of where it seems evident these elections are headed, consider the fact that if he were to garner enough support in this election (even if he doesn't win) the country may be more receptive to a good third-party candidate by the next election. If all conservatives actually voted for someone who truly represented their views, then Chuck Baldwin would win the election. Please feel free to pass on the link to my blog to anyone you know.

Home School Idea----Lap Books

Have you ever heard of making a lap book? Although I know it is probably a very old idea, it was rather new to me. I was first introduced to them by some home schoolers who were at the Congressional Action Program (sponsored by HSLDA) when we lobbied our senators in D.C. last year. It is a great way for our kids to creatively display in a compact format ANY subject they have studied.

I have been looking for a way to use it with Eric that he would enjoy. We use the Beautiful Feet curriculum for History, and it often takes us on side-tracks studying other things related to the book at hand. This was a great way for him to put that information together in one place that he can easily share with others. If you want some resources to get started on making your own lap book, just google it, but here are two links that we found helpful.

Templates for inside the lap book

How to fold

This was probably the most excited Eric has been about any project he has done, so I think we will do many more of these!

Pretty much you start with a basic manilla folder and fold it as above. Everything fits inside. We are reading Holling C. Holling's Minn of the Mississippi and have been researching snapper turtles (the main character of the story).

Open it up and on the inside are all of the goodies. Front and center is a detailed drawing Eric did (NOT traced) labeling all of the parts of the turtle. On the left is a series of lift-the-flaps detailing the turtle's diet. On the upper right is a fan-book explaining the life-cycle of the turtle from egg, hatchling, adult and reproduction. Across the bottom is a map colored with the location of the common snapper in the North American continent. Then a mini book about the turtle's habitat, then on the right a picture of a snapper in it's habitat.

Mini book, page 1.Lift the flaps...on the outside is a picture of what the turtle likes to eat. Lift the flap and read a description of it.
The fan book. Notice the background picture of the snapper on the title page. Totally Eric's idea. Pretty cool.
Definitely something for him to be proud of :) And I am very proud of my boy!

We've been Skunked!!!

I guess it was inevitable...we have had problems with skunks around the house this fall, and smell them often, but last night Luke finally crossed paths with the skunk. The critter sprayed our deck and the front of our house, and at some point sprayed Luke as well. Poor thing, it got him right in the face! So we looked it up to see what we ought to do and we washed his eyes out last night, but that was about it since it was late.

This morning Eric and I made up a bath for him with warm water (it's 60 degrees outside today), lots of vinegar, baking soda and detergent. Have you ever tried to give a cat a bath? I hadn't until today, so it was quite an adventure! He actually did really well at first, I guess the warm water felt nice and he liked being rubbed. However, he quickly tired of it all and spent most of his time trying to get out of the tub. He never tried to scratch me or claw at me. I had a pretty good grip on his leg, so he wasn't going anywhere till I let go of him!

He kept getting one paw over the edge of the tub which actually was nice so I could scrub him under his belly. Does he look happy? Not too sure about that!
Poor thing, he looks so skinny and forlorn with his fur all wet! As soon as I let him out he shook off like a dog and was off! Haven't seen him since...don't think he trusts me too much.

As for the skunk smell, it's not totally gone by any means, but he is much better. At least we got all those nasty oils out of his fur. I imagine the scent will linger for some time.

As for the skunk, we are researching options in how to get rid of it. We have a have-a-heart trap, and feel confident we can trap it, but what then? Any suggestions?

I have tried to keep this a blog solely about what is going on in our family. I have really tried. And truth be told, this IS what is going on in our family right now. We (Dennis & I) have been in a small quandary as we have been following the current events and the elections this season. While I do not believe that the Presidential election is the most important thing going on, it is VERY important and we have come to the conclusion that God has put us here in this time and place for a purpose. That purpose is not to sit idly by and watch our nation fall into depravity, but to stand up and speak, to make our voices heard. I promise politics will not be a constant feature of this blog, but for today, it is the main feature. I do not apologize for this. It is important to me and I hope it is as important to you.

Please take some time and look into Chuck Baldwin. He is a far cry from Obama and McCain, in a good way.

http://www.baldwin08.com/

Are you wasting a vote on Chuck Baldwin? Absolutely not. Read what he says on this topic here.