#write28days – Remember our children are only young once

Today is day 10 of my #write28days series of Homeschooling Helps, Hints, and Resources.  Today I want to speak on a topic that is all too obvious in our home.  The fact is our children are only young once.  We only get to have them for a certain number of years before they grow up, move out and create lives of their own.  When we first began homeschooling our oldest was ten and our youngest was not quite four yet.  Now our oldest will turn twenty-three in June and our youngest is sixteen.

I have to wonder where the time has gone and how it has flown by.  I have some regrets about how we spent our time.  But in other ways, I have no regrets.  I regret in some ways that we took the path of active duty military.  Because this means our youngest two do not have as many tangible memories of my husband’s parent, their aunts, and uncles as well as their cousins.  But in other ways, I have no regrets we took this path because some of their experiences could never have been duplicated anywhere else.  For example, I think our children truly enjoyed our many visits to Busch Gardens where we stayed in the cabins at Fort Eustis.

There is the time we drove from Pennsylvania to their grandparents’ home in eastern North Carolina along with three of their friends from central Pennsylvania.  The three girls saw the ocean for the very first time.

Of course, now we are in Texas and my four children are all either playing a band instrument or a string instrument along with their father and myself.

So my point is to enjoy your children and let your children enjoy growing up.  Do not get so caught up in looking to the future that you lose sight of the present.  Be present with them as well.  Take time to do things together as a family so you have memories for the future.  Because before you know it you go from there:

to here:

And there is no way to go back and recapture those moments ever again.  Enjoy your children today.  Love your children today.  Most importantly, remember God only gave us those children for a season where they truly need us.

#write28days

 

 

Sanctified Sunday – November 4, 2018

Our family tries to set apart Sundays as a day for our family. However, we have days like today where my husband has be at the Army Reserve Center for what we used to call drill weekends but are now called Battle Assemblies. Plus, we are moving into the realm of our children moving on with their own lives (i.e. our oldest son now has a job), so today he is at work. So the rest of us are left behind. Plus, our 12-passenger van needs some work done to it (which will happen on Wednesday – thankfully). So I do not really want to drive the distance to the church we are currently attending. It is not a very happy van right now. So instead my husband has the van and I am driving our truck to take our son to and from work.

So for the rest of us, this means a somewhat quiet weekend, well as quiet as it can be when our youngest son is practicing the alto saxophone. This particular child seems to thrive on instruments that are not necessarily quiet, including the alto saxophone and the bass clarinet. Right now, the only quiet instrument he practices is the electric keyboard because he can plug in headphones while practicing.

So I am using my time this morning to do my Bible study, work on blogging, listen to podcasts and work through some courses I am currently enrolled in to help with blogging.

What do you choose to do on Sundays?  I would love to hear from you.

Thoughts for Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Last Thursday, we had to take our youngest son back to the hearing doctor.  While there we went back to the waterfront.  Here is a picture from our first visit of the flags we saw from one part of the waterfront park.  The second picture is one we took from right beside the flags.

This past week saw our family get a new to us freezer that did not work when we plugged it in.  So we are trying to see if we can get it to work. It will be so nice to have two freezers again.  We like to have one for meat/poultry/pork/fish/shrimp etc. and then the second freezer we like to use for vegetables, fruit and other items.

We have started using the program “Plan to Eat” to help with grocery shopping, meal planning, and even with grocery shopping lists.  I am trying to incorporate some variety into our meals and menu planning.  With that, I want to move into our Tasty Tuesday portion of the day.

For our Tasty Tuesday meal for this week, I want to share the Shrimp Scampi we had on Friday night.  We used frozen shrimp we bought at the military commissary in Corpus Christi, olive oil, fresh parsley, diced onions, minced garlic, butter and some cooking white wine.  I found the original recipe online and then tweaked it to meet our family’s likes.  We chopped the onion very fine because I have some children who are not fans of onions.  Then I added the white wine for flavor and body even though it was not called for initially.  Finally, we served it over mini bowtie pasta.  The meal was served with a baguette.  I have to say we all enjoyed the meal.

Here are some photographs of the meal.

Then for dinner tonight, we had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn.  Here is a picture of a piece of fried chicken and the mashed potatoes.  My husband does an absolutely amazing job of frying the chicken.

I would love to hear what is going on in your world.  Click here or on the graphic below to read what other members of the Home School Review Crew are blogging about this week.

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-hands-hold-tablet-pc-blog-word-wooden-background-image40494303

A Weekend Full of Activity

So this past weekend was full of activity.  Saturday morning, Dennis (my husband) and I woke up at 5 am to drive to San Antonio. We went to pick up an order from Bountiful Baskets and do some other shopping including visiting Sprouts, Ccostco, Trader Joes and the commissary at Fort Sam Houston.  From Bountiful Baskets, we ordered 2 regular baskets, 50 pounds of potatoes and over 70 pounds of Gala apples.  The potatoes we are going to can.  The apples we are going to can after making applesauce.  Although this is only our second time going to Bountiful Baskets, I am thrilled with what we received.

Then we went to Sprouts where we bought cabbages, lemons, limes, watermelons,  cous cous, wild rice, red lentils and more.  All in all, I am really pleased with what we found there.  We plan on making sauerkraut with the cabbages.

From there we went to Costco, where we purchased, bottled water, sugar, a 10 pound bag of carrots chicken thighs and chicken drumsticks, rotel tomatoes.

Then we went to Trader Joes where we bought several plants including dill, thyme, mint, and cilantro along with some cookies for our children and more.

From there we went to the commissary at Fort Sam Houston where our main purchase was blocks of Kraft chedder and colby jack cheese because we save money buying it there.  Also, it is lactose-free which is terrific.

Once we were done at the commissary, we drove the two-hours back to Victoria and unloaded the van with the help of our children.  Here is what our table looked like:

Of course, this represents only a fraction of what we actually brought home.  Once we had everything unloaded and somewhat situated, we proceeded to fix the necessary items for our band concert.  Once the food was finished, we dressed and loaded everything that needed to go with us – food, instruments, music stands and of course – us.

Here are some pictures from the concert:

And here are some more pictures:

And some final pictures from the concert and of the reception afterwards.  All in all it was a great evening.

Then on Sunday we had graduation festivities at the church for our second son.  Stay tuned on Wednesday to read more about that.

So what has been going on in your world?  I would love to hear from you.  If you would like to read what other members of the Home School Review Crew are writing about this week, click here or on the graphic below.

Tasty Tuesdays – Mother’s Day Edition

Sunday we had a Mother’s Day feast. It included ribeye steaks, Shrimp-kebobs, grilled vegetables, salad, watermelon, and pineapple along with wild rice.  Because it was Mother’s Day, my children and husband did most of the work.  Here are some pictures

 

And here are some of us actually at the table.  For what it is worth, I prefer to be the one behind the lens.

This past week saw our refrigerator stop working, so we have been working on solving that problem.  This week finds us having our end of the year band concert this coming Saturday so we are n heavy preparations for that.  Then on Sunday, our church is having a graduation picnic, and our second son will be recognized for that.  So stay tuned next week for part 2 of our Homeschool Diploma post.

So what is going on in your world this week?  I would love to hear from you.

If you want to read what other members of the Home School Review Crew are up to, click here or on the graphic below.

Getting Ready to Resume

So our Christmas break is just about over.  For the last several years, we have elected to resume school the day of Martin Luther King Junior day.  We do this because my husband typically has a lot going on with work with all of the end of quarter reports, annual training preparations going into high gear and just other things that go along with the calendar year changing.  So we wait to take down our Christmas tree and put away our decorations when he has a four day weekend.  In the past, we had always left everything up until January 6th, or “Old Christmas”.  But now we go a little longer.

So as this week winds down, I will be making preparations for my three high school students to go back to school.  I really do not feel about this schedule, especially since we have moved to Texas.  I know during the summer, Dennis will be gone to annual training and the weather will be exceptionally hot, so doing schoolwork in the cool temperatures of air conditioning will be appreciated.

So what is going on where you are?  I would love to hear from you.