Sweetness and Light

Seen, Heard & Read ~ Wild Animal Edition!

We ventured to a wild animal park about an hour south of our home on Labor Day. We were privileged to have my father join us and it was a delight for us all.

Seen ~

Six hundred and fifty year old tree, wowee! At Sean-Paul's chin was the year Leonardo da Vinci was born!

 

The river otter (Lontra canadensis) was a favorite of everyone, especially grandpa :)

 

This young bull elk was not in the least interested in the three-car tram that was passing him by. He apparently has claimed this herd prematurely as the cows were as disinterested in him as he was with us :)

 

Heard ~

"Mommy, look how the slightest breeze makes the leaves shake on that tree." (Seamus on a nature walk)

"Look, here's a picture of the baby squirrel we just saw on the doorstep." (Sean-Paul painting)

"Mom, you won't believe what I found, it's the biggest limpid shell yet!!" (Violet at the beach Friday night, SCORE one for the shell collection)

"I wonder how big satellites are and how they move around?" (Matthias, the ever-wondering scientist)

Books Seen Being Read ~

Read Aloud ~ Swallows and Amazons (almost finished, even though I will be sad as this one is truly an all-time favorite)

Seamus ~ The Cat and the Hat Comes Back (he couldn't believe that he could read this now, very exciting!!) This is Our Home (Seton Reader)

Matthias ~The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy, Bionicles (6 book collection) Archimedes and the Door to Science, Edmund Campion (Vision book)

Violet ~Rilla of Ingleside, They Loved to Laugh, Catholic Girls Guide, Home Comforts, Nancy Drews, a Costume making book, Things to Make and Do: Accessories (American Girl) Mary Frances Housekeeping

Moi ~ Revolutionary Road (almost finished) Howard's End (audio cd's) Teach Your Own by Holt (always a nice injection at the beginning of a new school year).

 

We lift our eyes to the heavens and sing of His glory and thank Him for the goodness in our lives.

We're settling in to a nice groove. Really good week! Thanks for visiting our little corner :)

Chill Time

We had the pleasure of spending last week at our favorite Lakeside vacation spot with my parents. It was their birthday present to me this year and it was a welcome gift and such a delightful amount of "chill time" for us all! (Warning LOTS of pictures ;-)

Bucket Time ::

 

Boat Time ::

 

Discovery Time ::

 

Swim Time ::

 

Wonders of God's Creation Time ::

 

Climbing Time ::

 

Skate Time ::

 

Feast Day Time :: Pentecost Sunday

 

Kayak Time ::

 

Jumping In Time ::

 

Mama's Chill Time ::

 

Pool Time ::

 

Ball Time ::

 

Park Time ::

 

Goose Time :: (lots of these beauties around)

 

Dock Time ::

 

Water Slide Time ::

 

More Beach Time ::

 

And finaly Crash Time ::

 

This was a great get away and the pictures can only convey a morsel of our enjoyment and great family time together! I hope your summer is off to a grand start! 

I haven't forgotten about Summer School either, and will be back later this week with some more ideas and sharing from others as well!

Many blessings in your Summer days together :) 

Hello, My Name Is....

Here I am!!!  I can't even begin to tell you all what it has been like being away from my dear online friends this long, an ETERNITY for sure, but we are now moved and I am finally online again!

Thanks to everyone for your precious prayers and well wishes as they were truly felt and appreciated! 

I can't promise a heavy dose of blogging anytime soon as we are still settling in to our new home in the Pacific Northwest, but we had a very uneventful move and are loving our new location!  Thanks be to God!

I hope all my friends and visitors are enjoying a delightful Fall season of new schooling and cooler weather and that God continues to bless you and your families as he has ours.  I look forward to cathcing up with you all and please forgive my lack of commenting at your blogs, it has been SO LONG!!  ( I still have over 1000 google reader posts to sort through even as I type, eegad!)  Please know that you have all been in my prayers and that I truly wish you well!

May Our Lady in her Sorrows hold you close to her heart and her Son's. Many blessings in your day and have a great weekend!

Love,

Lakeside Bliss

As usual our lakeside vacation was much too short.  We did enjoy ourselves immensely and had some special celebrations while we were there. 

Mainly we just relaxed and played on the beach, went to the pool and relished in the lovely weather and the dear children having so much fun!  Here is a little photo memory of our favorite things:

Paddle kids.

Yes, I am Pocahontas and that's my trusty scout :)

Beachtime.

First time with water wings, swimming by himself :)

Swim coach!

Dockside.

Chillin for lunch after pooltime.

More paddletime.

Not a bad outlook for a week or so.  We miss it already...

Thanks for visiting today and I hope you're enjoying your summertime fun wherever you may be!!  Many blessings in your day!

A YURT Excursion or The Ultimate 6 Year Old's Birthday Sleepover!

We had the distinct pleasure of taking our newly turned six year old and his very willing siblings on an incredible overnight adventure in a YURT!! 

On first thought I was a little nervous (okay, ALOT nervous) that is was going to be miserable as we are still experiencing temperatures in the single digits at night and this altitude that we would be staying at is even higher than our home locale, so...here we go!! 

These are the highlights of a most delightful and memory filled overnight with my sweeties!  Oh to be so blessed, I am so underserving!

I now present you, the Yurt:

 

And to the dear children's delight, there were a series of SNOW TUNNELS just outside the yurt door for my little explorers to play in, how cool is that! (Is he really six, sigh...)

 

A very delighted and smallish tunnel explorer:

 

Another tunneler Extrordinaire:

 

Is that a happy birthday boy or what?

 

A very snug sissy enjoying her top bunk status!

Yurt Mama happily on the bottom bunk with a very tired and soon to be asleep little snuggle-bug!

And here's the view we awoke to and 15 degrees!

We finished our excursion with a delightful hike back down to the lodge (about a mile) in the glorious morning light. Daddy and the older three couldn't resist sledding most of the way on some borrowed snow discs.

Then while my hubby and I sipped yummy steaming Lattes, the kiddos enjoyed Hot Cocoa with whipped cream and Cinnamon Apple Turnovers, and then went back for some more sledding adventures before we headed home. 

All I can say is that if I were six again, this would be the ULTIMATE birthday, and I think it WAS!!

Thanks for enjoying our adventure with us, have the best day today!

Weekend Highlights

We happened to be away for most of the weekend.  It was lovely late Autumn weather.  Some highlights first from my rearview mirror:

Sean-Paul having fun with some very tired sunglasses.

The "boys" playing Poker, yes, you heard that right, my 5 year old and 9 year old are playing poker in the back seat.  I think it was Five-Card-Draw.

Violet giving Seamus advice on his hand.

As you can see here, Sean-Paul has decided he's a big enough boy, at 2 1/2 mind you, to ride his big brother's scooter.  This is him poised and ready to go down a drop, just kidding, he's watching Matthias go down one and unfortunately I missed the shot, it WAS a big one, and on roller blades too ;-)

The rest of our weekend was spent buzzing around, a piano lesson for Matthias, he's working on Pachabel's Canon D right now, you can listen to it here.  Lots of shopping and business and looking at houses...yes Sweetness and Light is gearing up for yet another possible move before Christmas, please keep us in your prayers.  I hope your weekend was blessed and joyful!

It "Shore" Was Fun!

A relaxing week at the Lake is always a good time, even though we were more on the go than sitting and sipping iced teas!  Here's a photo journal of our week away and the rejuvination it brought us all was certainly worth this little sojourn in the Fall!!

Daddy and the Canoe...

Me and my paddle-boat buddy...

Beach Beauty at dusk...

Pool Olympics anyone??

What floats your boat?

Beach therapy...in your socks???

and more...Hey, where'd my feet go???

And lots of great evening walks after a relaxing dinner on the patio..

Have a great week and hope your Autumn has been a time of wonder and great family learning time!!

We're Back...More Soon...

As we rolled in last night under this incredible moon we recalled how clearly home is truly Sweet Home!!  Writing soon about our little sojourn...stay tuned and in the meantime, blessings in the rest of your week!

Away For a Bit...Back Soon!

We're off for a little Fall Sojourn for the rest of the week and some of the next!  I do hope you'll keep in touch and still visit while I'm away!  You can catch up on all our recent Learning at Mama's Muse, my online Learning Notes Journal, here's a little excerpt from today's lessons:

"Read a beautiful story about the Apparition of Our Lady of Tears, at La Salette France.  The kids loved hearing this and we then prayed a decade of the Rosary for the Resurrection. 

Prayer intentions and then we read our new Catholic Mosaic that I was thrilled to find at Barnes & Noble over the weekend!  Mother Teresa by Demi! What an incredibly detailed life of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta for young children, this one is a winner Cay, we loved it, albeit a few days past her celebrated day, it was great!  The kids also colored their stained glass drawing from Fenestrae Fidei which is a lovely accompaniment to our Catholic Mosaic program..." read the rest here!

And then please visit the Archives and Sweetness Pages of Interest for more inspiration and ideas for you!! 

See you soon...and as always, you'll be in my prayers, blessings in your day!

It Was Surreal, 4Real!

To say that I had a "good time" at the First Ever 4Real Conference would be an understatement for sure!  It was truly surreal!  To gather with a group of ladies (and a few gents) in a setting that was so warm and welcoming and friendly was a true delight. 

The hospitality of my generous hostess was beyond gracious and we made a fast friendship that will be in my heart for always (thanks MC)!  Elizabeth Foss and her family were a joy to finally meet and she is as warm and giving as you would expect from a mother of eight!  Oh, and they have a REALLY BIG (and friendly) DOG!!  Meeting all my other Conference partners and co-speakers was equally delightful and to finally put their names to their lovely faces was fantastic!  It is a trip I will not forget anytime soon. 

Unbeknownst to Moi until just before speaking I found out that I was to be recorded and let's just say that put just a little more jitter into my already nervous self!  But to be able to speak to women who have the same passion for home education as myself put me instantly at ease.  (Let's hope it turns out OK). 

Please keep checking in with this thread to find out more on availability to purchase these keepsake DVD's from all the wonderful speakers! 

Without further ado, I bring you the 4Real ladies:

Back row - Theresa from Lapazfarm, MaryChris (4Real Conference planner extraordinaire :) Elizabeth, Moi, Front row- Janette (4Real Forums Designer) Dawn from By Sun and Candlelight!!  Oh and don't miss Baby Karoline! 

What a privilege to be able to spend time with these beautiful and talented and warmhearted women, I was honored to be considered part of the core speaking team with them!!

Here's a few more ladies:

Ruth Tucker from Just Another Day in Paradise!

Theresa and I WELL before our talks!

Dawn and I, and in the background right behind Dawn's left shoulder is adorable Jordon from Cheerios and Fingerpaints!!  I wish I could have had a photo op with ALL the beautiful ladies I was SO privileged to meet, but their well wishes and thank you's will always be imprinted on my heart, thank you all so much for YOUR inspiration and encouragement, it was a huge blessing for me to be a part of this terrific 1st 4Real Conference!  Enjoy!