Saturday, March 26, 2011

30 Things Before I Turn 30

This summer I'll be crossing the threshold into the wonderful land of my 30's (being optimistic here).
It's definitely a milestone. I'm not particularly dreading or fond of the idea of turning 30. Kinda seems like just another year passing so I tried to come up with some sort of list of things I would like to do before I turn 30. Unfortunately the only things I could come up with that wouldn't require a substantial amount of money (for places I'd love to visit and whatnot) were things I have yet to try to make myself.
So I guess that's what I'll do. I've started a list of the things I have yet to try to make myself or things I made a long long time ago that I'd like to give another go. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

1. Bagels
2. Sally Lunn bread
3. Butter
4. Pineapple pie
5. Naan bread
6. Tortilla soup
7. Barbecue sauce
8. Strawberry strawberry cheesecake
9. Chocolate chip baked donuts
10. Smothered chicken and biscuits
11. Olive bread (mostly for Phil since I'm not a huge green olive fan)
12. Boston Cream Pie
13. Sweet potato biscuits
14. Bread pudding
15. Tres leches cake
16. Spritz cookies (I have never been able to get these to work properly)
17. Eskai's recipe for vanilla ice cream
18. Paella
19. Chicken and dumplings completely from scratch
20. Caramels
21. Double Fudge Oreo Cookies
22. Rum cake
23. Marshmallows
24. Hmmm... I'll have to add to this as I think of things...
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Homeschooling Update

It's been a while since the last update.
Thing have been chugging along here in spite of that, of course.
I'll put some pictures throughout so you can see how the boys have grown.

First, Phil's work situation is getting a bit touchy. The military is reducing their numbers which means that people must be kicked out for that to happen. Because Phil would be reenlisting soon he has to get permission now. We have been waiting for months for his request to be approved. There is a chance it won't. There's a chance that by the end of this year we will no longer be a military family. It's been a stressful time because of that but we've come to terms with the possible change and are doing our best to trust that God is in control and that what happens will be for the best in the long run.

Joshua just recently turned 7. It's really really hard for me to believe that! It's like it sneaks up on you. One day you're holding your little baby while you're trying to buy groceries and the next he's adding up a subtotal and seeing if he's right at the register. I am no where near ready for him to be 7 but he has told me that doesn't matter. He is 7 anyway.
Homeschooling has been going great! Each day is a different day. Sometimes we do great. We get everything off the calendar done (how I've been sorting what we should be accomplishing each day). Some days we have other things that have to be done during the morning and we have to run errands instead of doing school. The nice thing is that learning happens even when we're not at home and generally speaking we haven't had too hard of a time catching up.
Math is still Joshua's favorite subject but he really loves doing science experiments. Jeremiah may not share the exact same enthusiasm for math but he is already much farther ahead than I expected him to be by now.
I feel like we're finally into our homeschooling groove. The subject matter changes. We read different books, but we all know that most mornings we'll be getting up and having breakfast then getting ready to learn around the table.

This week we took a field trip day to see the new area they are opening at our zoo. Since we were nearby the art museum we stopped by to take a look around there as well. They have a section of art from Egypt including a couple sarcophagi. A museum employee was talking to the boys about it and Jeremiah asked her where the sarcophagus was. It's a pretty impressive word coming from a 4 1/2 year old! We have been learning a little about Egypt this year in our history book. I love moments when I am not the only one blown away by the brilliance of my boys. I am definitely a lucky Mom!
Oh... and then there's the car.
THEE car! The car Phillipp has wanted for.... well, probably all of eternity until this point. That's not being very precise. It's been probably 5 or 6 years. It's a Subaru STi and it's really pretty awesome. That's my blue wagon in the background. Poor thing didn't see it coming being upstaged like that. Our cars make their own happy little Subaru family now and Phil is one happy guy. Some day soon I'll be able to get Phil to talk about something other than cars but after this, it's not looking good for anytime in the near future.