No More Naked Men Please

So.....next Thursday we are going to Georgia's Renaissance Festival for their home school/elementary school day. I've decided that in preparation we will skip ahead about 1500 years, give or take, in our history studies and do a crash course on the time period of the Renaissance.

So far.....

• We've read an overview of the Renaissance in A Child's History of the World by Hillyer.
• We've studied the art of DaVinci and Michelangelo. (Eli says he's tired of naked men, lol)
• We've read a child's version of The Tempest by Shakespeare. Mason loved this.
• We've learned how men and women from different classes greeted each other.
• The boys learned how to "make a leg". It seems men in this time were especially proud of their calves and took every opportunity to show them off. They wore stockings and short pants and would stand with a leg forward and foot turned outward to make their calf more prominent.
• We tried to learn how to bow but still need more practice. They flat refused to kiss my hand.
• We've learned that people in this era tried to be as wordy as possible.

We've got so much more to cover. Henry VIII, knights, more Shakespeare, more Renaissance culture, King Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin.......etc. I can do anything for a week, right?

I hope that going from the uber interesting culture of Classical Greece to the just as interesting culture of The Renaissance won't make the boys' eyes glaze over when we have to study the less interesting parts of history.

I Know the Answers.........Trust Me

I had to laugh yesterday (without Mason seeing me, of course). I pulled out his math notebook to check the work I had asked him to complete from the day before and this is what I saw: the numbers 14 thru 28 each number with a check mark beside it.

The following conversation ensued:
Me: "Mason, why didn't you do the math work you were assigned?"
Mason: "I did."
Me: "Why are there only check marks here? Where are your answers?"
Mason: (Matter of factly) "I did the problems in my head and just checked them off when I was done."

Eli's 9th Birthday

Eli turned 9 on Saturday. We had a family party at my mom & dad's complete with pizza and the requested Lego Star Wars light side vs. dark side cake. He got a total of $105 plus Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium (a wonderful movie for all ages), two Lego star wars kits, and a potato gun. The potato gun was a big hit, all three boys (each with their own potato gun) spent much time outside shooting each other with potato 'pellets'.


Yesterday, Bryan took Eli to Toys R Us to spend his birthday money. He spent all of it on a 953 piece Lego Police Headquarters. Amazingly, he has spent all of his free time since he got home last night working on putting it together. I'm very impressed with his focus and skill in following the directions. I'll post a pic when he gets finished.

All in all, it was a very good birthday. I can't believe my baby is nine. Time flies. I'm trying hard to pay attention everyday so that I don't reach his 18th birthday with too many "Cat's in the Cradle" regrets.

My Baby Girl is Sweet Sixteen

I can't believe Laine turned 16 yesterday. Where have the years gone?

I can honestly say that even though I treasure each memory from her childhood, I wouldn't go back. A wise woman once told me to enjoy each stage of my children's life and not worry about missing it when it passed. Truly, God has taken care of the sadness I thought I would feel about the kids growing up and replaced it with the joy and wonder of each 'stage' seeming better than the last.

I'm amazed constantly at the mature, godly, young woman Laine is becoming. She's not perfect, of course, but she is a wonderful person with whom I would choose to spend my time even if we were not related. Many parents complain about the teenage years but I've found the joys of having this teenage girl around far outweigh the trials.

I love you Laine! Happy Birthday!

Rocky for Chill

For my dear husband. Now you can work full-time, pastor part-time, take 4 classes in seminary, AND rewatch all six Rocky movies. No need to thank me. Love you dear ;-)

Tolkien Obsession

O.k. I'll admit it. I've developed a small J.R.R.Tolkien obsession. I had never read the The Lord of the Rings Trilogy or watched the movies until the fall of last year. I had to watch the movies with the subtitles the first time just to understand what was being said. Since then, I've watched the screen version of the movies twice and the extended version once. I've read The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King and am halfway through both The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales.

It seems that I've passed my addiction on to one of my children. Mason has read The Hobbit and is almost finished with The Fellowship of the Ring. He reads a little each night and becomes more and more enthralled with the world of Middle Earth.


I would encourage anyone who likes fantasy and has never read Tolkien to give it a try.

My New Necklace

I have a new necklace. It is a pink yarn "chain" with a key on the end. The key belongs to the new locking doorknob we put on our pantry door. The pantry holds all the "good" snacks. You know, chips, crackers, soft drinks, etc.... I've had a hard time enforcing many of our food rules, rules such as; one soft drink a day, only one snack between meals, eat at the table, and so on. I was constantly having to yell "Close the pantry door" from another room and my kids were constantly eating. I don't know how they got so food obsessed but it is time for the obsession to stop. Now I unlock the door only at snack and meal times. The change since the lock has been on is amazing. Just knowing that the door is locked seems to have helped the boys focus on things other than "let's see what is good to eat in the pantry."