march 7-13.2008
It was great having my sister and her husband out to visit. They took that ever needed break from full time school and work, to come visit us and the DC area. Here are some things we did. We visited the DC Temple, and we did some temple work together. We had a fun family dinner along with Aaron my brother and Cami his wife and their baby Kaylee on Sunday. We toured the Capitol Building and Botanical Gardens in DC. We got to watch the girls at their gymnastics class. I was called to be on a jury, and was dismissed since I homeschool my children and can’t really miss being home with them. It was fun seeing how the whole jury selection process happens. Fun field trip for me and the girls! And then to end a fun filled week, we went to the Baltimore Science Museum, where they had the Body World exhibit. Amazing!!! And we squeezed in play time, movie time, relax time, and some good food too! Miss ya sis, hope to see you both soon!

march 6.2008
So reading the classics with the kids is always rewarding. Especially since a lot of them I never read the first go around. Our good friends that homeschool also join us for science and bookclub, as we meet once a week, doing more science and fun experiments than the book thing. But having our kids be able to reach into a book and pull out the morals of the stories is fascinating to watch, and good practice. Our first book for bookclub was Moby Dick. Ahhh, the infamous Captain Ahab, always out for revenge, never letting things go, always wanting to get even. Could that apply in any of our lives? Or having people believe in us, or believing in someone else, as in the Secret Garden, that can definitely be applicable. If you tell someone their going to be a certain way, chances are they will believe it. So why not believe in others, and encourage them to be the best they can be. One of my favorite quotes is, “Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.” So why not believe the very best? What’s the harm in having people grow up feeling good about themselves, feeling like they can achieve the world? I believe only making their lives, and the generations to come after them a better one. Isn’t that what we want? We can believe in ourselves, no matter what others believe also. Everyone has a choice, no matter what. What will be your choice in life, the road less traveled but the right road, or the one others follow because that’s what everyone else is doing? I personally like having my own space, thinking outside of the box, wondering why we do things because “everyone else does it”, and why is it o.k. to be the norm? So for me, I am grateful for agency, freedom, and having created my own “secret garden” at home, where I feel it is beautiful, and I can dream, my kids can dream, and we can make beautiful memories together.

march 4.2008
Tuesday, our busy day, or busier day, or out and about day, or what we like to call our “creative day,” is finally coming to a close. This is our day that we don’t do math, reading, and arithmetic, but enjoy learning about classical music and doing some art. The girls made their own art today, and I laminated it, so they made their own placemats, and they get to look at it when they eat! (The two with the trees are supposed to be if you were looking through a telescope from space, you could see earth and trees, and then Cam’s is a lion, toucan and birds). Then of course, our fun class gymnastics, and then off to piano. Thank goodness there is only one day a week like this. I’m not a person that likes to go from one thing to the next. I guess I’m the type of person that likes to set the schedule, instead of the schedule setting me. Hence the homeschooling, but these classes are fun, and the girls really enjoy them! Off the subject of today’s activities…so I made cinnamon rolls last night, and ate a ton almost before midnight, woke up, and fed the girls a yummy warm cinnamon roll(of course made with freshly ground hard white wheat and organic cane sugar), and had only “a couple bites” after seeing the couple of pounds I gained from yesterday’s cinnamon rolls, and did good deeds by giving lots away so I wouldn’t eat the whole pan and a half by myself! So my problems is, I love to bake, and half of the time it turns out, and that half is the time I like to eat it all. So do I not bake? or do I bake and eat it all? Not sure what to do about this dilemma!