worms

It's funny that when you really relax about learning you notice learning taking place even more! The girls have been outside and have come back with a big box of worms they have dug up outside.....they are fascinated with them (Abby also brought in a little stick that she is adamant is actually a worm that froze in the winter!!!) so now they are studying the parts of the worms and have the bug books out and are studying their new pets.....

We just found a very cool website on worms too...
http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/worm/pg000102.html

Life is a rollercoaster!

Quite a day! This morning was nice. I got some chores done and then we all sat at the table and wrote to our penpals...each of the children has a few penpals....includinga few new ones. I wrote to my Nan and started a letter to Lianne. Abigail wrote to Isaac.

I was puzzled this morning. I lost my Avon foot file a couple of months ago...you know the kind of thing...you use it to rub off all the yucky skin on your feet...loooovely!!! Anyway it vanished ages ago...coudn't find it anywhere......so this morning I walk into the sitting room and there it is...on the sofa!!!!! Exactly where you expect to find a foot file!!!!! What on earth was it doing there????

Laurie made orange jello hoping it would be ready for lunch but learnt you have to be patient with jello...so they had it for dessert tonight instead!

After lunch we drove into town as the boys had homeschool gym class. I took the others to the thrift store which was so much fun!!! I love that my girls get excited over the 'hunt' for bargains at the thrift store!!!! They couldn't care less about designer labels etc...they know what they like!!! Susannah found a TON of new clothes there.....and Abigail found some fab purple sunglass that matched her outfit......I got a few books (no surprise there) and some things for the boys...oh including a great wall sticker kit of Garfield for Laurie!

After we picked the boys up we headed to the homeschool office......where they preceded to give Chris someone elses exam results - DETAILED exam results.....they are so lax about confidentiality there.....Still, one more week and we are DONE with that schoolboard yay!!! :) They are so ignorant of homeschooling issues...and don't even know anything about other homeschool boards and what is available...you'd think they would be interested in knowing about their 'competition'.........they know NOTHING about getting into college as a homeschooled child either......they seem to think you HAVE to have a diploma!!! Duh!!!!

I am excited about beginning with EU instead.

After that we ran to the Kinsmen to pick up CHris's application for the training course he is taking this summer. He is doing a Leaders in Training course with three levels...basically it will teach him how to run summer camps for kids...even teaches child psychology...he has to put in 70 hours of voluntary work and attend training nights.....I htink he will enjoy it!

On the way home we stopped off at Tims as I owed Laurie a large Iced Capp for his latest book review. Chris got a coffee as did I. Then home finally.

I made grilled beef with savoury brown rice. I added some diced new potatos to the rice which was really nice......

I didn't each much though as my throat started to hurt in town and has since become much worse...it hurts to swallow and hurts right up into my ears.......I am sooo hoping I don't have a cold coming. I haven't had a cold in so long!

The Oilers are playing atm. So far it's 1-1 which isn't good. Go Oilers Go!!!!!!

The kids were so much fun today.......I love how much our relationship has improved since they stopped school. They are really great company.

The girls took the dogs for a walk just after dinner....they like to go on their 'adventures' each day around our land. More often than not they come back with doodles and sketches in their notebooks. Sometimes Susie takes the camera with her to picture their adventure!

They are outside playing hopscotch now, Laurie is helping Lloyd dig the trench for the chicken run and Chris is watching hockey. Sam is out with Lloyd too......he loves being outside.

I was chatting to a someone in ONtario this morning....she is going to the UK on holiday soon and staying in Wells of all places!!!! She asked if I knew Somerset....Ha!!! I grew up there...all my family are there!!!!! Such a small world :) So I suggested a few places they might like to visit. I am so jealous of them going over!!!! Hope they have a great time though.....so many people go to the UK and just do London but the South West is so beautiful and so rich in history!!

Please please don't let me wake up full of a cold tomorrow! Let this sore throat turn out to be nothing!!!!!

Blooming Marvellous

More flowers and plants from our garden. This is our first summer here and it's fascinating to see all teh new plants and flowers popping up....learning what it all is and where everything is.....it still amazes me how delicate flowers like violas can survive such harsh winters and thrive!

When we first saw and fell in love with this house last year, it was surrounded by hundreds of the large daisies...so many that our first thought was to call this house Daisy Cottage.

Like the line in You've Got Mail...."Daisies are such friendly flowers, don't you think they're just the friendliest flower"?

Pirates, bookcases and 16 children

Today I am grateful for:

1. The rain we have had the last week.....although it would be nice to have the Alberta blue skies back again thank you very much :)

2. All the flower buds on the Irises...they are going to be stunning when they flower!!

3. My delightful afternoon out with just Abigail. On the drive to the birthday party we talked and talked. She was asking if I knew any pirates. I said that Aunty Clare had said that Uncle Jack might have been a pirate as he was always on boats. Abby said that Uncle Jack was old and then asked if he was going to die soon...we started talking about growing old and about dying and she told me that she doesn't want to get old!

4. My beautiful home and the wonderful feeling I get when I turn into our driveway each time. It is always so good to come home. I love driving out of the city and towards home.

5. For Lloyd - for the man he is, strong and reliable and dependable and loving and yet able to show so much concern for a tiny bird in our yard...happy to head out into the long grass to search for a nest and possible other babies.

6. My new bookcase......and having somewhere to put more books, family pictures and special keepsakes.

7. Sitting and watching another show about the Duggar family. How wonderful to have such a large family. Abigail thought it was a great idea too...and wants to know if we can go to a homeschool conference like the Duggars did :)

Dark skies looming

Some pictures of the dark skies around our home last night....we watched them approaching and sat on the porch until the strong winds and rain hit......

A picture of my gorgeous Daughters that I took of them in the dandelions before they were cut down......and my beautiful girl Amber.

And life goes on......

I was chatting with a friend today......I don't know her too well but she seems really nice. She was explaining that her and her DH have separated...she's hoping they can get back together and work things out but she isn't sure......I was surprised to hear her news.....it's sad...but I wanted her to know that life goes on. I explained about my situation and how it can be rough at the time but you get through it, life goes on, it changes but the world doesn't stop...that you just have to face it like a new adventure......that she'll be ok.....

I don't know if it helped but I wanted her to know I'd been there.....

The end of a marriage can be tough.....to all involved...it changes so much. But I know for me it was for the best and I wouldn't change my life for anything now.......my divorce was just a blot on the landscape....look how far I've come since!!!!!!

And there are wonderful, loving, kind and generous men out there like Lloyd.....men who don't see children as an inconvenience...men who happily accept your children as their own.....

Lloyd and I drove into town this morning to collect Laurie - he slept over at the twins house last night....most weekends he stays there and loves it......their parents work and it seems they always have 'cool' babysitters and lots of people going in and out of the house.....we stopped off for coffee and croissants too.

This afternoon I took Abby to N's birthday party.....she had fun there...I learnt what a Peony is and now want to buy some to plant around here...although I'm wondering if the big plant at the front with the biy buds ready to burst is actually a dark pink peony. They smell beautiful.

I was chatting to a lady at the party who is from Guyana...she seemed surprised I knew where it was ;) She moved to the NWT from Guyana...wow what a difference in climate!

N's Grandma was at the party.....her voice was shaky and reminded me exactly of Nanny Collison (except for the slight Canadian accent).....it was amazing listening to her talk and took me back 25 years to when I would go to my Nans house.....they years go by so fast, she died 16 years ago. Where does the time go?

When I got home Lloyd had been cutting the grass in the front paddock...sadly he had run over a little bird hiding in the long grasses....we think it was a song sparrow.....we have hunted and hunted for it's nest but can't see anything. Lloyd was feeling terrible for hurting it. We wanted to cut all the long grass back but now aren't sure what to do....maybe wait a month until all the nestlings have flown just in case!

Lloyd is now making the new cheery bookcase for the sitting room. Apart from the sofas and crown molding, that room is now finished...we just want to find some nice paintings for the walls.

Yesterday was nice. Lloyd and I took Sam and went to Costco and bought the bookcase. After that we took Sam home and went back into town to take Laurie to his sleepover and we sat in Starbucks in Chapters for ages over coffee (I had a strawberries and cream frapuccino - yum!!!! We got some snacks for the evening and then headed home. We cut some more grass and tidied up outside....Chris's friend left around 3pm. We lit a fire in the firebowl and the kids had hotdogs cooked on the fire.....then Lloyd lit a big fire to burn some hay bales. He had poured gasoline on the fire to get it started and wow what a bang when he lit it - silly fool!!! He thought it was cool of course (groooooan) as did Chris who was on the trampoline.

The sky darkened so much and it looked as though a storm was coming. We sat on the porch and watched clouds come closer and then the wind hit us and the rain and it was wonderful!

We came in around 9:30pm and Lloyd and I curled up to watch 'The Perfect Man' a movie with Heather Locklear and Big from Sex and the City. It was quite a sweet movie really.

So Sunday evening is here yet again...another weekend is over...Lloyd goes back to work tomorrow. The boys have homeschool gym in the afternoon......the dogs will need walking, the laundry will need to be done and the dandelions will have grown another inch or two......

.......life goes on ;)

Thank goodness for weekends

I think weekends should become three days long instead of just two.

Today I am grateful for:

1. Lloyd and Laurie arriving back from the movies safely, having had a fun evening. And that I didn't have to sit through rubbish like X-Men3 for two hours!!!

2. A quiet evening sat reading by the fire in my big comfy chair.

3. That Sam went to bed and went straight to sleep and hasn't woken up all evening! The girls were playing queitly upstairs and Chris and his friend have been happily playing downstairs.

4. Our beautiful Mountain Bluebird. I hope he becomes an annual visitor to us!

Strewing

http://sandradodd.com/strew/sandra

I strew!!! I didn't know it was an unschooling thing...didn't know others do it.....but I strew!! Have always strewn.....I leave things lying around and know that one or all of the children (or Lloyd) will eventually pick the thing up, look at it, play with it, fix it, take it apart, read it, learn it.......I do it with websites too...I leave links strewn in folders and in the inbox...knowing they will get looked at by someone.......

I strew :) it works...and it leads to a lot of learning!!!! I was worried it was kind of coercing the kids but I guess not...it works :) I don't push things at them....don't make them look at them...but they are more likely to pick things up and use them if they are conveniently 'left hanging around'.........

Go ahead and STREW!!!!!

summer snaps

Sam loves sitting on LLoyds lap and riding the tractor. Our land is covered in dandelions....I know they are weeds but the dandelion clocks are very pretty :) I don't mind them really! It's just they grow so fast - literally over night!

Samsam

My Samsam. Such a funny little thing! 17 months old. My little blue-eyes!!

Phlegm and phlegmatic ;)

The fourth type, the phlegmatic, is the calm, easy-going person. He is
often slow-moving, and does not get ruffled easily. Many of the Latins have a
strong phlegmatic streak in them. The phlegmatic is usually easy to get along
with, and has many friends, but is sometimes so laid back that he doesn't get
around to things he should do. He will often not volunteer for a leadership
role, but if he somehow falls into it, he does well. He is able to make peace
between feuding parties. He tends to see the humorous side of human nature, and
may, with his dry humor, poke fun at others in a hilariously funny way (LaHaye,
pp. 20-23). And, he tends to be late!

I watch the Global breakfast news every morning in bed.....I tend to leave the tv playing while I get dressed which more often than not means the tv is still on when 100 Huntley Street comes on. I am NOT Christian......most of this show makes me want to barf!!! Especially when they start talking about the sanctity of marriage and how gay marriage should be stopped.......anyway.....this morning on Huntley Street there was a lady talking about personality types....it was quite interesting....and having read some more about this today, I think I tend to be a phlegmatic.....I find the name off-putting...makes me think of phlegm. Makes me remember having to collect phlegm from patients during my nurse training. Collecting phlegm is the most disgusting job ever...I'd rather have to get poo specimens or carry urine from men who have had TURP operations than collect phlegm....I can't stand seeing spit on the sidewalks either...Edinburgh was terrible for that....you used to have to dodge the spit on the pavements. Gross

I'm rambling.......so basically I think I am phlegmatic...will have to ask Lloyd what he thinks....he's gone tot he movies with Laurie. I was surprised as Lauries friends called and invited him to a sleepover but he told them he was going to the movies with his dad so he'd sleep over tomorrow instead!

Chris's friend A isn't here yet - he's sleeping here tonight. Susie just hurt her arm again.......hope it's ok.....don't want her back in a sling again.....

Male Mountain Bluebird!!!

Hi Jane,
Very nice-- a male mountain bluebird! You can feed them
with mealworms by the way, which you can purchase at pet stores and fishing
stores. Look on the web for mealworm feeder designs.
John

So there we are - the Nature Nut wrote straight back and now we know we have a male Mountain Bluebird!!!! How wonderful!!! Reminds me of KPAX.......

The Nature Nut!!!

I've emailed my pictures of the bird to John Acorn, the Nature Nut!! We met him at the John Janzen Centre the other week so I thought 'he'll know'!!!!.........can't seem to match it to any specific bird...it's like a few of them but not exactly like any!!!

I hope he replies!

Keeping camels in Alberta

We got home to find a package from the Egyptian tourist board....lots of information on attractions in Egypt complete with timelines etc......Lloyd and I plan to go when the children are older......I think it would be a fascinating place to visit.....

One of the attractions is the weekly camel market...they auction off their camels every Tuesday afternoon.....so I think we will buy one....maybe two....keep them in the circular paddock maybe.....call them Bob. Bob 1 and Bob 2. The kids can ride them to get the mail each day.

I wonder how camels cope with the cold......

Lloyd looks a little like a camel.....his thick long eyelashes and the way his jaw moves sideways when he eats.......I'm sure Bob1 and Bob2 would feel right at home here with Lloyd.

Yep...I'm having one of those days ;)

Little Bluebird......how beautiful are you!

This bird has been flying around our garden for a while...it's small....definitely not a Jay.....has blue legs.....black beak (the orangey bit you see is something in it's mouth) ..... Whatever it is, it's beautiful! Rosie and Amber sit on the porch steps watching it fly around and land and feed and then fly on....there heads moving as though they are watching a tennis match at Wimbledon!

It's a little like a Mountain Bluebird but not exactly...it has a black bandanna across its eyes. We also have purple martins flying around.....you can't tell that its a small bird here...much smaller than a Jay....

Our Robins are still around feeding....despite their babies being no where in sight.....Mama and Papa are still with us.....

It's been a very stressful day.......I have self medicated with a box of Raspberry Viva Puffs that I shared with Rosie and Amber on the porch. Now I just feel strung out on sugar.

We went into town today, Chris had his hair cut, we ran some errands and spent a while in the library...ran into Susannahs old facilitator....she was laughing at how many books we had taken out of the library...

I bought a huge pile of books from the used books shelves.....a lot of history books on Egypt etc.....I am hoping to study Ancient Egypt somewhere this Fall.....and the kids haver been learning about it all too......

We went to Chapters to get Laurie a magazine about dirtbikes, it's the topic he wants to learn about the most...and Lloyd is thinking of getting him a bike or a quad.....I got each of the kids a magazine of their choice.....

I'm hoping to take part in an unschoolers blogging carnival....http://tinyurl.com/lnp4l

Lloyd is on his way home.....thankfully. TGIF I love the weekends. I live for the weekends! Lloyd is taking Laurie to the movies tonight to see X Men 3 and Chris has his friends Andrew sleeping over as they are working on some coimputer games based on the world wars.

The girls have their magazines to read or they can curl up witha dvd.....not sure what I will do this evening.......it's still raining out....maybe I'll sit on the porch and read....maybe I will write some letters.....I'm tired today...I haven't been taking my iron.....I am quite anaemic so have to be careful..........

I have finally decided to go with Education UNlimited....I think their philosophies match mine the closest...not perfect I'm sure but I think we will try them for the next year and see.....