Gentleman, start your engines!

It's been a busy couple of days. So much fun. Really, we couldn't have had a better Friday and Saturday.



Uncle David (my brother), Aidan (my nephew), and Grandad (my dad) came to visit. On Friday, the 3 grown boys had a lovely bonding experience while traveling at about 140 m.p.h. around Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord.



There was a class to attend before heading onto the racetrack. I brought Isaac and Aidan later on so that we could watch the action. Honestly, I had a really fun time, and a new respect for those NASCAR drivers.



David was the first to head out. This was his second time attending the Richard Petty Racing Experience. Can you tell Noah was slightly nervous? He was next from our threesome, with Grandad following.



They all drove great... too fast for my taste, but boys will be boys.



This driving program is designed for people like my dad, brother, and husband. Or any person who likes to have a lead foot.



The little boys had fun, too, watching the big boys drive.



Not to mention there were sweet father-son moments to be had.



Grandad is a lifelong race fan. Richard Petty has always topped his list of favorite drivers.



I couldn't help but wondering how the wives, mothers, and daughters of race car drivers feel each Sunday their loved one drives out onto the track. I don't think I could handle that sort of stress.





But I admit, my husband looked pretty good in a race car... or standing by a race car.

Blessings in Being Spontaneous

I am rarely spontaneous. It has something to do with four little children. I knew that there was a party scheduled the evening of the county swim meet. I didn't think I would feel like going, so I didn't even tell Noah about it until mid-afternoon.



I'm so glad we went. The fun was well worth the effort.



We brought along a ball to appease somebody's current obsession. The ball never left Little Man's sight. If he doesn't become an athlete in the future I'll be surprised.



Guess who has the horse loving gene?



Not one, but apparently two little girls. Both were eager to ride. Kristin was so brave, proudly sitting on that big horse.



Isaac rode, too, but after one lap around, he was ready to go jump out of the hayloft and play with his friends. He had a ball.



Little Man wasn't so sure about these giant animals... the horse's head was bigger than him.



The flowers were amazing. I could have taken hundreds of photographs, but children and time did not allow. The Kammires have a perfect yard for taking pictures.



I didn't capture as many photos as I wanted to, but we did get to experience excellent food, lots of children, plenty of space, lush green grass, the smell of a horse barn (probably my most favorite smell ever), a glass of chilled white wine, friendly people, a bonfire with s'mores, truly the picture perfect party setting... even with Kristin's two scraped knees at the end. And to think, we almost missed it all.

Our Day

It was a busy day. After a full hot breakfast (breskast as Lulu says, or brefkast as Isaac says), I dropped Isaac and Noah off at the county wide swim meet. Ten teams total, competing... thankfully the older kids competed yesterday, and today was just ages 10 and under. Halfway through, I traded places with Noah, so that we didn't have to bring the little ones to the extra crowded pool.



Isaac did great, improving all of his individual times! He improved his 50 meter freestyle by 14 seconds, 25 free by 2 seconds, and 25 backstroke by 7 seconds. He placed well, his best place was 4th in the backstroke, and 3rd in the freestyle relay. There were some fast little kids competing!



These photos are not from today, but from a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, I did not remember to charge my camera battery.



After hitting up Wal-mart (and forgetting to buy basic staples like bananas and coffee), and making a quick pasta salad, we headed to a swim team party at the Kammire's. They have a BEAUTIFUL home. Twenty-eight acre horse farm... or shall I say cat farm? (They have 18 outdoor cats, mostly rescued).



I have many more photos from the party... but I'll get to them tomorrow. Time to hit the hay :-)

Summer Fever (another boring homeschool post)

This whole homeschooling thing is really a trial and error sort of process. Learn as I go. Do the best I can with what I have. Try to stay sane.

The swim team season comes to a close tomorrow after a lengthy county wide meet. Which leads me into a predicament. What do I do with our day? The last 6 weeks we've had swim practice every day, and meets on Tuesdays. Now... nothing. Amazing how an hour of pool time breaks up the day. (During many practices I'd take the littler 3 to the baby pool.)

I can take all four kids to the pool by myself now that Lauralyn is much more independent. Bubby lasts about 90 minutes at the most, and then he is done. I don't have any fun as I am scanning and counting heads constantly. But it gets us out of the house.

There are several bloggers out there who conduct a year round homeschool. A full month off in June and December. Two weeks off every nine weeks. This is too rigid for my personality, but I do think I'll be starting the school year soon. Maybe next week.

I would love to take a month off in December! And we'll take a week off for the beach in mid-September. I have been known to take random days off. Like when my hormones make me slightly crazy, and it's all I can do to make it through the day :-)

LOVE, love, love picking curriculum! I am the smorgasbord kinda gal. I pick and choose. It's a lot of fun. I know I posted a few months ago what I THOUGHT I was going to use. Well, I am selling my previously mentioned Lifepac science and history workbooks. I didn't like them. It seemed like pointless busy work. I am going with Apologia for science... I got one of the zoology books off ebay, and I am MOST impressed. I'll likely use their curriculum for many years. I have read some blogs that give them a big thumbs up.

We'll be doing unit studies for history this year, starting with an American Indian unit. I have bought about 20 books to help us along, we'll do some fun art and hands on projects. This will be completely my own compilation. I'll have to give a review of the materials once I have done it.

For now the plan is to stick with Horizons for math and penmanship, and Lifepac for language arts. These are all worksheet based, but seem fairly interesting. I am also going to use Five in a Row to break the monotony up as need be. I want to depend heavily on literature and life experiences as a teaching tool.

Oh, and Nanet, you said you'd teach the kids Spanish. 'Cause no hablo espanol. Y usted está más impresionante. Además, me gusta mi margarittas muy fuerte. ¿Quién necesita aprender español cuando iGoogle fácilmente traducir para mí? Ooh, me siento tan bilingüe ahora. PS ¿sabía usted que prefiero mi lugar de huevos fritos revueltos? Pero sólo si los bordes son crujientes y la yema es fluido. Ahem. That was too much fun. Unfortunately, iGoogle did not translate correctly as I did the old switch-a-roo, and it totally butchered my sentences. It should say I prefer my eggs fried instead of scrambled...

If you are reading still, I am sorry for such a jumbled post. It's been a while since I sat down and typed. This helps me clear my head :-)

Don't worry. I'll put pictures up in my next post. Tiene un fabuloso día. O de la noche. Sea lo que sea.

Fun with Friends

Our good friends, David and Karen, invited us to a birthday party for their youngest two kiddos, Lane and Liam. Lane turns 6 this week and Liam turns 3. I have high hopes at least one of our kids will marry one of their kids... here's to hoping:




But seriously, we do love the Freemans, and rarely get to hang out, so this was quite the treat!




Isaac worked on his flip of the board, but mostly did back flops.


Grumpy Daddy holding cranky baby.


Go, Liam!






Flying Lulu! This was her first time ever off a diving board! "That was really awesome, " she told me later.

Thank you Freemans for a wonderful afternoon! Hope to do it again soon!

For Funnsies

On my way home from my first photo shoot (with the winners of my giveaway), I stopped uptown to see what all the hubbub was about. A bike race. Or is it a cycle race? Either way, it was really cool.

Shred On

I have completed about three weeks of Shredding using Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred dvd. Here is a brief summary of my three week experience:

Week one: "Completed" level 1 of the Shred three times. Thought I was going to die. I was so sore that everything hurt. A lot.

Week two: Managed to not be quite as sore. Still thought I was going to die. Still cheated my way through three level 1 workouts.

Week three: Feeling stronger. No longer sore. Can actually make it through level 1 without cheating. I CAN DO THIS!!! Time to give level 2 a try.

I have lost 5 or 6 pounds since starting the Shred, without "dieting." (Remember, cheese? MMmmmmm.) I feel fitter. My gut is shrinking. I am getting firmer. Hooray!

I HATE doing the workout, but I LOVE the way it makes me feel, so I will suffer through those 20 minute sessions three or four times a week.

Combined with walking 12+ miles a week, I might actually be back to my fit self just in time for bathing suit season to be over. Joy. At least the baby weight will be gone. And yes, I consider this year with Little Man like a pregnancy.

In other news, Kristin is about 85% potty trained, and Little Man is taking more steps every day! We're making some serious progress in the Haut House this summer!

And the WINNER is...

The Bannister Family!!!! Congratulations! Please contact me by leaving me a comment with your email. I won't publish the comment, so your email will remain safe :-)

But wait, there's MORE! Anybody who schedules a photography session for the month of July or August will receive 20% off any prints ordered when you use the coupon code "summer2009." I am also running introductory prices through the month of September.

In addition for bloggers, if you post a permanent Light of Mine Photography button on your blog, you will receive a $15 credit on each photo session in the future!

To add this button, copy and paste the code below into your site.

<a href="http://lightofminephotography.com"><img width="250" alt="lightofmine_webbutt" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3635/3689402510_a2fb92ef4b_o.jpg" height="170" /></a>

The website is up and running thanks to my awesome husband who cranked it out over the weekend. Needs little tweaking here and there, but it's mostly done for now!

Happy Independence Day

We celebrated the day in a low key fashion. A cookout at Granny and Pop Pop's. Nanet and Mr. Jesse, too.



Little Man celebrated the day by taking his first steps independently. Unbalanced and quickly falling down. But they were still his first steps.





Plenty of sparks, crackles, pops, and smoke courtesy of Mr. Jesse. The best kind of entertainment.





Kristin managed to have no pee-pee accidents today. We officially have only one child in diapers (minus night-time). Yay!





Noah has been suffering the past 5 days with a horrible looking broken toe. Lots of pain, lots of drugs, lots of keeping his foot up. Despite the pain, he managed to do his annual jump over the firecracker... hopping on one foot.







The Fourth of July is quickly becoming my favorite holiday. I hope yours was as good as mine.