Piano Lessons

Sydney, Delaney and I started taking piano lessons in mid-February and have been LOVING it. Mr. Luke, a man from our church who is not a "piano teacher" but has been playing the piano since he was 4, is our instructor. He comes to our house on Tuesday afternoons and usually brings his two daughters (ages 4 and 5) along to play with Sadey. It's good for use all.

Sydney and I are working on the 2nd book of the Bastien series. I am not ashamed to say that she is whipping me, but it's been a healthy competition for us both.

Delaney is still working on the first book in that series. Truth be told, she plays just as well and just as many songs as Sydney and I. The thing that's keeping her in that first book is that she can't read the music and has been playing completely by ear. She does a fabulous job, but of course she should probably learn how to read the music before she gets too far into her lessons. She's doing great though and I'm extremely proud of her for sticking with it even when she gets frustrated.

2009 Flower Garden - part 1

Sydney has been begging to have a flower garden since we first moved into this house in March 2007. We finally got started on it this week.

We are actually planting a little late by Florida standards, but even after being here for 3 years, we are still running on Indiana time. We decided to start from seeds because (1) we're homeschoolers who can't pass up a good learning opportunity and (2) seeds are 20 cents a package whereas a flat of flowers is more like $10. We can do the math.

We did have to splurge on the little Jiffy greenhouse for $6 at WalMart, but it is reusable so it was money well spent.

It was pretty easy. We just had to add water, aerate, plant the seeds, put the lid on and now we are waiting for some growth.

Happy Goat Day!!!

Goat Day. I wish I could say that I understand it. But I don't. I really and truly have no idea what it's all about.

Last October we were told that there was a fabulous family event called Goat Day at the pioneer settlement about 1 1/2 hours from our house. We had been to the settlement before and really had a good time, but it was uber rainy that day so we thought it'd be fun to go back. We were envisioning some sort of pioneer re-enactment having to do with goats - maybe demonstrations on how to make goat cheese or something??? Yeah, I don't know -- but what would you think?

So we loaded up the car on a warm October Saturday morning, drove cross country and were greeted with a HUGE line to get into the settlement. You have to understand that this settlement is literally in the middle of nowhere. Well, it's actually in a park - but the park is in the middle of nowhere. The line to get into this place was HUGE! Did I say that already? Yeah, well the size merits a bit of repetition. It was like we were waiting for Springsteen or something.

After waiting about an hour to get into the park, we were accosted by a guy wanting $5 a person. "For Goat Day?" we naively asked. The place was like a giant parking lot. No goats or pioneers anywhere to be seen. So we paid our $20 (it was a long drive and we figured we ought to at least go see what the heck was going on), found a parking space in the back forty and walked forever before we found some action.

OK so now I've been to Goat Day and I still have no clue what it is. It was kind of like a carnival with lots of inflatables for the kids to jump on, pony rides, food and craft booths and even a greased pig event. Honest.

There were also a lot of political signs and booths and pamphlets being passed out...but no goats. I wonder if it's some sort of beginning to the political season or something? I really just don't know. We did make our way over to the pioneer settlement though and saw two goats in a pen. But that was about it for the event's namesake. We'll need to go back again this year to ask more probing questions. Last year we just wandered around saying, "This is Goat Day." The kids still think it's hillarious and for whatever reason will pipe up with "Happy Goat Day!" at the oddest moments - just to make us all laugh. It always works.

Here are the kids outside the general store at the pioneer settlement. Notice their authentic, made in China, pioneer toys :)

These really ARE authentic pioneer toys - made from corn cobs and feathers. The kids loved flying these things all over the house and Lilley thought they were tasty *yum*

We had a good time chatting with these ladies. They showed the girls how the wool is dyed and spun and turned into clothing or blankets.

Happy Goat Day!!!!!

Beach Day

Every now and again you need to put away the books and go enjoy some of God's greatest gifts.

This is why we live in Florida.

New Year's Eve (12/31/08)

What better way to ring in the new year than with your family. There's nothing more fun that Make Your Own Pizza Night, movies, Wii, Shirley Temples, funny hats & glasses and watching the ball drop at midnight!

Good times.

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 came with it's usual fun and excitement. Sydney planned another family party complete with a fancy meal and games.

All three girls were in the Christmas play at church again this year. Sadey reprised her role as a sheep while Delaney and Sydney swapped parts this year - Sydney was Mary and Delaney was an angel. It was another beautiful candlelight service.

We exchanged our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve which is always a huge hit with the kids. They love picking out gifts for each other and we think it's important that they focus on making other people happy so they don't get caught in the "gimme gimme" trap that is so prevalent this time of year.

Christmas morning came early - for the first time EVER! Usually we have to wake the girls up, but this year Sydney was up bright and early and full of excitement. We let them dig into their stockings while B & I tried to wake up a bit, then we passed out the gifts.

Delaney REALLY wanted the Swim to Me Puppy this year. I'm not sure WHY, but she loves it.

Sadey wanted a scooter like her big sister. I was nervous that she'd hurt herself, but she did great!

Sydney was ready for a "real" digital camera this year. She loves this one because it's PINK.

Even Lilley found something good under the tree this year!

The best thing about Christmas? Aside from it being the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, of course - was that it was WARM!

Christmas Parade (12/6/08)

Panama City's Christmas parade is HUGE. For my Indiana friends, it's like the 4th of July parade in LP. Only at night. In December. Last year it was in the 60s and fabulous. This year it was COLD! Only I didn't think about how cold it would be to sit outside for 3 hours, so I put the kids in light jackets and we headed out the door. Thank goodness we hadn't cleaned the van out in...ages...and I had some extra jackets in there!

Sadey wasn't completely thrilled with the lights and sounds of the Christmas parade. She wasn't happy, but at least she wasn't crying. Anymore.

Maybe next year she'll start to like these things.

Here's the Dairy Queen float.

In case you didn't know, DQ is kind of a new thing around here. When we first moved in, the nearest DQ was a 45 minute drive. I didn't think that was even legal! A month or so ago, a second store opened and it's only about a 30 minute drive. It's getting closer!

Here are some more floats.

The parade had the usual floats, high school bands and local celebrities and ended with the obligatory appearance of Mr. Claus.

Christmas Card Pics (11/22/08)

We love taking our Christmas picture at the beach. I promise you, we don't do it to rub salt in the wounds of all our northern family and friends. We just LOVE the beach so much that we have to take them there. We have to!

We aren't real photographers so a lot of the shots have "problems" and end up on the cutting room floor. But here are a few of the "throw aways" that I wanted to share.

Bonfire (11/1/08)

We surprised the kids with a bonfire. It was too, too funny because we had them doing all the work to get the bonfire ready and never told them what we were doing. They were completely clueless as they....

stacked wood....

retrieved newspaper to start the fire....

gathered pinecones to start the fire....

and watched Dad make long, pokey sticks for some unexplained reason.

It wasn't until they set up the chairs that Sydney excitedly (and finally) asked, "Hey Mom! Can we have a bonfire?" *doh!* Poor Delaney didn't catch on until this moment (notice the big smile and the hands in mid-clap). I love being able to surprise them right under their noses.

We roasted hot dogs, made smores, sang songs, were entertained by the kids and just generally enjoyed each other's company.

A good time was had by all :)

Weird Fruit Night

I'm baaaaack!!!

So I've gotten a few not-so-gentle reminders lately that my blog is a wee little bit behind. I have no excuse really. Other than total laziness on my part :) But I'm back now and hope to catch you up with all the fun things we've been doing since November.

For now, I'll update you on what we did today :) It was Weird Fruit Night! On our last grocery trip, the girls noticed some strange fruits in the produce department so we decided to give them a try. In the name of social studies, we also did a little bit of research and learned about the fruits before we ate them. Are we homeschoolers, or what? Up for consideration tonight: sharon fruit, star fruit, cactus pear, Uniq/Ugli fruit and strawberries. I threw the strawberries in because I knew we'd eat those - the rest was purely experimental.

 

 

 

 

Clearly the girls enjoyed their homework.