Firsts in June

We celebrated several childhood milestones in the past month-ish. I can’t make them stop growing up. 🙁 First 100-piece puzzle (of course it’s a cat): First phonics reader (we love Nora Gaydos): First time riding without training wheels (with Grandpa cheering on): First – and only – time turning 2 (sob!): First time in five years feeling like there’s no “baby” in the house. Happy Birthday, little Man! (Click here to read more or... Read More

Homeschooling Q&A with Mom

Beginning to homeschool can be nerve-wracking. In these early phases of gathering information and finding our homeschooling style, it has been helpful to gather people around who have “been there, done that.” I started counting the BTDT families around me (though not necessarily physically nearby). I’m blessed with at least nine or ten families who can field my questions! I hope that number will grow as we get involved in the homeschool community here. Below... Read More

Angel Food Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

It’s always a treat when Annie comes to our house! Man, can my sister ever cook! Usually, Annie likes to make things up as she goes, but when it comes to baking… well, sometimes she still makes things up as she goes. For this angel food cake recipe, though, she followed every step exactly. And it turned out… heavenly. The recipe is from Glenda, a woman in Annie’s church. She has shared it with the congregation over the years, and she was delighted to pass... Read More

Turtle Shell Rabbit Trail

Last week… we ran across a hexagonal turtle shell pattern while looking at an art book… which led to looking at pictures of turtle shells to see if they’re ever truly hexagonal (sort of, just not symmetrical)… which led to our attempt to re-create the original, mythical, symmetrical, hexagonal turtle shell. It doesn’t take much to entertain us… or to send us on a rabbit trail. Reference books that made this rabbit trail educational: A Child’s... Read More

Infertility Post #10: Happy Ending

Here we are at the end! This is where it gets a little crazy. As in… were these events just a coincidence, or…?? If you’re up for finding meaning in “coincidence” (with a couple of goats thrown in), please read on. Almost-seven years is a long time to go through infertility. By the time I neared the end, I was becoming confused and frustrated by stories with happy endings – probably because I had no way of knowing whether my ending would be... Read More

Décor à l’école

“When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” I learned this as a kid, and ever since, I’ve been mispronouncing words like bear, build, and group. Just kidding. But I taught this rule to my kids last week, and now I’m noticing exceptions everywhere. I’m also noticing that the kids don’t know which letters are vowels. We’re all set now. It’s amazing how much more quickly a concept sinks in when it’s posted... Read More

Word for Wednesday: Trade Secret

Need I say more?! (Click here to read more or leave a comment on Word for Wednesday: Trade...)  Read More

The Amazing Adventures of Kitty Kitty

Last week we had to say goodbye to one of our cats from this post. The hero of the story is alive and well, but his orange buddy has gone on to greener pastures (the back west pasture, to be exact). This story happened when they were both tiny. (The pictures were taken when they had grown up more.) We try to celebrate these good, fun things, keeping in mind that faith is a relationship, not a formula. One morning, a few weeks after we got the kittens, Nutmeg’s much-beloved... Read More

Infertility Post #9: The Year Things Fell Apart

I will be so glad to have these posts finished! And we’re almost there! This is the second to last one, with a happy ending just around the corner. I never imagined it would take a whole year to get through this. After a year of unsuccessful treatments at the reproductive endocrinologist’s clinic, we were burned out and broke. The RE had given us a discount, but there were still enormous bills. We were facing IVF as a next step, and we weren’t ready. Against... Read More