Around the House

Levi has been working on the restaurant pretty constant even when he is home he is on his phone or looking up some plans and he has reached the point of no longer sleeping which is a typical GM lifestyle.... soon enough it will be over. Oh the roller coaster life of construction projects. 

At least we don't have to worry about moving somewhere new when the project ends!

So.... we have been enjoying a few trips to the library now. It is SO nice for my littles to be able to see the books - picking them out online is harder for them and it takes a long time for them to make it over to our closest library. 

Although! We loaded up today and put our masks on ( the kids have gotten so good about wearing them even Bella leaves her on - I think they are so grateful to go somewhere they don't mind at all) and I put Cecily on my back and we got lots of enjoyment out of our trip. 

Coraline got almost every book about cats that they had. 

Nephi - Mostly planes and bugs

Clairana - Graphic novels and books on Egypt and Turkey and who knows what else that girl enjoys learning anything. 

Bella - Princess and Animal books

Cecily - she got whatever board book Bella thought she needed

I also got loads of books that I had placed on hold. It is a yearly time were I ask all the other mamas in our bookclub to give me their recommendations for the year and this time I managed to get almost all of them either at the library or we already owned them. Next week we will decided on what books we will dive into with the kids for another year of bookclubing. It is crazy we are already on year three of this magical monthly event. It has to be my favorite thing. 

Our garden has been a dream this year. We didn't even really pick out anything particular at the nursery when we went (mostly because it was our first outing and it was during a time when we were all very nervous still so we just threw anything in our basket that they had)

Everyone has been helping this year which makes a huge difference. Also, we laid down this black blanket which made weed pulling much better. The kids now can tell where the real plant is! 

We have gotten - loads of tomatoes, corn, yellow squash, zucchini, beans, yellow peppers, jalapenos,berries, popcorn, onions, cucumbers and I am sure something else I can't remember right now. 

This is truly the first time a garden has really paid off in the grocery bill budget. I have been able to stretch our grocery trips out just by having extra vegetables to eat. 

It has been nice seems most times homeschooling is not the cheapest route to go. 

Look at this beautiful place we get to call home. I just love it here.
I remember living in Arizona and seeing pictures from  home (Indiana) and feeling like they had filters or were fake because of the color crazy how you get used to the desert but nope that is truly what it looks like.

Now don't get me wrong, I do LOVE Arizona but Indiana will always be home. 

Essentials with Clairana!

This homeschooling year is going to look even better!

Clairana and I will be taking a class together once a week for a couple hours. 

It is called Essentials and part of our Classical Conversations journey, we will get to learn together. 

She will be completing three years of this class and then she will move onto class by herself.

She will have 7 classmates and all children will have a parent with them and one director/instructor. 

Nephi will join the rotation next year.  Ages 9-12 

Language Arts (45 mins)

She will be learning excellent grammar skills that lay the foundations for acquiring a foreign language. 

Basic capitalization and punctuation, phonograms, sentence structure, patters, purposes, eight parts of speech, classifications for verbs, nouns, pronouns, sentence diagramming and more.

Writing from Institute for Excellence in Writing (45 mins)

Different writing structures, using IEW writing models; techniques to polish any writing style.

Math 

Arithmetic Drills and Games

Greater speed and accuracy in mental arithmetic as students prepare for algebra and beyond

Perfect Timing for learning about U.S. History. 

Homeschooling Quote for the New Year......

Cabella is FOUR!

Cabella Lou 

Favorite Food - Meat, Eggs, Popcorn

Favorite Color - Purple

Favorite Thing to Do - Play Outside 

Wears Dresses Everyday

Bella is such a fun addition to our family. She is our rough and tumble girl who rarely fusses. 

She never wanders far which is such a joy for me. 

She is super brave and will try anything - which does make us nervous. 

Eats Anything. 

Family Comedian. 

Sleeps So Well. 

Mail from her Primary Teacher - Sister Chadbourne. 

This fancy gem from Pappy & Bubbe (Levi's parents)

Sibling Presents in Pajamas!
Also, Levi's mom sent her so many clothes which is SUPER nice because farm life doesn't seem to hold up to clothes very well. 

Coraline kept a secret for a long time - she got Bella
Calico Critters which is their new love. 

Nephi decorated Bella's present so sweet with her name/stickers and a bracelet he made for her. 

Bell family sent pajamas and a book that Clairana read to Bella over and over again yesterday. 

Bella LOVES the baby strollers - so we upgraded and got a double! 

Cecily proceeded to steal it when everyone was busy. 

Aunt Rene came over to drop off a present for Bella and Clairana made her a friendship bracelet from all the supplies she gave her for her birthday.


Then we did something magical that hasn't happened since last year. Thanks to Levi.

I had invited Jack and Jane and mom and Randy to come over to watch the kids play in Bella's new unicorn sprinkler for her birthday if they felt comfortable.

They accepted our invite which we were all so excited for company. Then we were sitting out on the front porch late one evening and Levi asked Bella who she would like to have come over if she could pick anyone and if the sickness wasn't around.

She picked her cousin, Reagan.

So in true Levi fashion he jumped up and walked over to the barn and made a phone call to my brother.
He said he was going to send out the invitation and let them decide.

They said YES.

This time in life has been SO exhausting on trying to figure out what decisions are the best ones.

This seems like such a small thing but after months of not having playmates or a get together from a family that was hosting multiple times a week it was perfect for everyone in our house.

We went to bed last night so full and happy that we all got to enjoy a night with loved ones.

Sprinkler Time, Campfire, Ice-cream,  Presents, Sunshine, Grandparents and Cousins.
Perfect.

Cecily and Eden were so fun to watch - like they hadn't seen someone their own size forever. 

Coraline, Ensley, & Reagan with Clairana and Grandparents in the background.
Clairana worked on friendship bracelets most of the night. 

No pictures of the grandparents I guess I was too busy taking pictures of little people. 

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My girlfriend sent this to me the other day and it seems so perfect for this time. I have felt these feelings about who we choose to see and how we interact with everyone. 

Judgement. Fear. Dark Enemies. 

Without these times of darkness, we would never realize that it is only the walk of faith that gets us through even the best of times. Those good times when we could pretend to know what was coming because we knew what has passed. 

The only light I have is faith. I almost said my faith, but to tell the truth, my faith is too weak for this journey. The faith I have today is a faith that has been bestowed on me by Christ. As I walk through the Valley I am aware that all around me others are also feeling their way to an exit. For some, the unseen enemy is right behind them whispering into their ears fear. Occasionally I hear one scream, “We are all going to die.”  But there are other demons about. When the powerful message of fear doesn’t work they pull out another insidious weapon: apathy. “Who cares?”  The ancients called this acedia. Fear and acedia are two arch enemies indeed. 

What looms even more terribly in this darkness is judgement, broken friendships, misunderstandings. We are all very hard on one another these days. It reminds me of the book of Judges in the Bible where everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The problem with that is that we all see things through different lenses. Maybe my neighbor isn’t trying to kill my grandmother as she walks down the street without a mask. Maybe she just sees through a different lens. Maybe the girl across the street doesn’t want a one-world government just because she is comfortable obeying the stay-at-home order.
Fear, acedia, judgement. How can we fight such dark enemies? We wrestle not against flesh and blood. When we don’t know which way to go; when we can’t know what is true; when we are tempted to point the finger at others, we do have a recourse. We can take our eyes off the darkness before us, off our neighbors, and off our own inward selves. We can, instead, do the one thing needful and gaze at Christ, steadily and continually, not daring to move our vision away from him for the least second, lest we sink like Peter did even while walking on the water.

We honestly don’t have to know what is true or who is true because we already live and move and have our being in the Truth and that truth is Christ. If you do not belong to Christ then today there is only one thing needful for sure. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. When we do that then we can walk by faith and not by sight. We can love our neighbors on both sides of the fence. We can rest from even our own selves, that nagging, intruding, insistent taskmaster in our heads. 

The light came into the darkness, my friend. We are free to put one foot in front of the other in confidence that the center will hold world without end.

Let Freedom Ring!

We didn't plan anything this year for the 4th of July mostly because of the pandemic but also because we have been working so hard on trying to get the house done. 

But..... we did get a sweet surprise! 

Mom & Randy came over to look at the new siding and they brought a box of fireworks and asked Levi if he would light them off. 

My mom LOVES fireworks and this year all the public viewings were cancelled. 

It was a great break for our family and we lite them off early because I didn't think we would make it if we waited till dark. 

It worked out perfectly. Mom sat/stood in the car and the kids lined up their chairs next to her. 

Thanks Randy for the pictures!

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• July 4, 1776 - America gained its freedom from Britain
• January 1, 1863 the emancipation proclamation was signed and black people gained freedom from their enslavers.
• August 18, 1920 the 19th amendment was passed, granting women the right to vote. 
• July 2, 1964 Civil Rights act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. 
• August 6, 1965 the voting rights act was passed outlawing discriminatory voting practices.
• 1967, the US Supreme Court ruled that laws banning interracial marriage violate the 14th amendment.
• June 15 2012 DACA allowed for immigrants brought as children to the U.S. to receive a renewable two year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit. 

May American continue its trajectory toward life, liberty. and the pursuit of happiness for all. May she never rest until freedom rings in every home from sea to shining sea. 

"History, after all, is people" 

"Historical perspective gives us a profound sense of being part of a long chain of life that went on years before us and will go on years after us, with customs and events differing in many ways but man's problems and aspirations, his grief and joys, remaining substantially the same. The realization that we are not alone, not unattended, brings color and richness to our present experiences reinforces our fortitude and resolves our hesitancies." Elizabeth Janet Gray

We are not stranded on an island with one book to occupy the rest of our days...We can mix it up. We can read to our children a wide variety of books and let the author show them how similar life can be and how different. The solution is not less history or less books it is more. 

"Great art has often been made by bad people" Camille Paglia

So what? We can read to our children what we want. If we read to children widely without fear, we can expand their hearts and furnish their minds and in doing so, give them a place to contend with ideas that may be too painful or awkward to discuss anywhere else.

Excellent Book for these Current Times - The Enchanted Hour Meghan Cox Gurdon
The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction

My thought is that most of the issues in our current world could be addressed by being better parents. Reading for ourselves and to our children.  Discussing life and history so we all may continue to learn and grow for the better. 

Read and Understand the Whole History. Not just the part you see on the news. 

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Around the House Life

Birthday year of flowers which I LOVE.
Levi got me flowers
Ashli (Levi's sister) got me flowers
& Levi's mom got me flowers too.

Jack and Jane were so kind to offer and tend the kids while we went on a date but with everything shut down and trying to be cautious we decided to just stay home.
I did go out to the library and to get Chick-fil-A with the kids for lunch which we were all very excited about. We haven't been to Chick-fil-A since February and it used to be the only place we went for fast food.
Although we did put a movie on for the kids and enjoyed time talking on the front porch and Levi made my favorite salad for dinner.

Flowers from my Sister in Law - Ashli they are BEAUTIFUL. 

Nephi is up to about 30 4 leaf clovers this year. He has been pressing them to keep in his scriptures. 

Clairana and Nephi have been so helpful in getting the trim ready for the house.
One night we stayed up till midnight and they loved helping and honestly they did an amazing job of helping. 

Burning Trim for the house!

Rue's twins were sold yesterday - we will keep them till August. 

The Nigerian Dwarf we may keep this year - Tip

Muddy Summer Nights 

Gift N & C made together.

Gift from Clairana

Flowers from Levi

Coraline's artwork for me. 

Father's Day

Life has been exhausting around here with Levi's work schedule and the house being resided has been SO EXCITING and emotional.

We have had really late nights of working on the house and really early mornings of workers at the house. We also had an unexpected extra labor day because so much of the house plywood needed to be desperately replaced.




I have also been trying to maintain food and drinks for the workers and they stay from sun up to sun down around here. Which we are SO thankful for but its like two families.

BUT ... Sunday was Father's Day and I was determined for us to enjoy this day together.
Camping, Campfire, S'mores, Gator Trip, Nap, Games, Reading,

We went camping on our property which was the first time we had camped together since I was pregnant with Nephi actually. I have been to girl's camp and camped for a week and Levi and Nephi go each year to the Father/Son campout for church.

It was SUPER fun and we all enjoyed it and got to hear the roosters crow early in the morning. Cecily even slept all night and woke up super excited.

 

Wrapping presents. Each of the kids picked out Father's Day books online and I got him some salt mined from Utah and a gun safe. 

Gator Trip to the beach of course!

Breakfast on the campfire. 

 Letting Levi pick the game for the day. Of course it was Blokus.

Cabella got hit with the poison ivy eye now. 

Clairana did the sign. 

Clairana made cookies while I supervised. I LOVE not doing it and just watching. 

Sleeping bags are so fun. Especially going down the stairs. 

Everyone with the books they chose.