Family supper

While we were eating supper last night I couldn't help but notice our deer family was having their supper right outside the window.  :)

We love our home in the woods.  :)

Sunday pics, etc.

Just a few pictures from Sunday.  I love these little crew so much! 

  

 

Not every pictures turns out great.  :)

We are having such a great start to the school year.  So far I am very happy with our curriculum choices and the momentum we have going.  Everyone is working hard and knows what to do.  We are reading The 21 Balloons  by William Pene du Bois and really enjoying it.   So far our protagonist has crashed on a mysterious and wonderful island.  I am curious to see how this all resolves itself.

Tuckerman is in love with cursive right now and insists on teaching Charlie.  We were riding in the car today and he said, "Charlie when we get home, do you want to go to cursive school?"  And Charlie enthusiastically agreed to go.  Tonight at bedtime he walked into Charlie's room with a sign that said, "Cursive classes open."  :)

Tuck Tuck has always noticed fonts and letter formation.  I let him take his spelling test on the magnadoodle and he was taking so long making his letters look just right.

Overheard:
Mommy:  Julia and Tucker, grab these limbs we cut and throw them in the woods.
Tucker:  Ugh.
Mommy:  What did you say!?
Tucker:  I said, "happy to help, Mommy!"

This and that

We've been busy the past two weeks getting back into the education swing of things.  I told people we had a "soft open" to homeschooling by starting with just a few subjects- math, religion and handwriting- for the first week.  

Then we threw in piano lessons and boys choir- and this year Tuckerman is in the choir!  He was so excited to go his to his first rehearsal!

We went to our first field trip of the year last week- a visit to the Planetarium to learn all about the night sky and the eclipse in particular.

Tuckerman has had the eclipse on the brain.  There are eclipse crafts all over the house-

These line up to be a solar eclipse-

But if you flip them over in place you have a lunar eclipse!  Good job Mr. T!

I said, "What's on your head?"  He said, "I made a transmogrifier helmet!"  (ala Calvin and Hobbes)

Dressing up in Daddy's clothes-

Tuckerman altar served again last week.  Seeing that little cherub in his cassock is just the cutest thing!

We were blessed to be able to attend the Mass where a Sister made her final vows as a Sister Servant of the Eternal Word! 

To see such a lovely lady vow to follow Christ in poverty, chastity and obedience was moving. 

We've been having the August "books in the mail every single day" season as new books arrive for the school year.  We're stacking up on Landmark books this year. 

Speaking of books, we all just finished "Black Ships Before Troy," which is the most beautifully illustrated version of the Illiad.  We all loved it!    So far I haven't met a book by Rosemary Sutcliff that I didn't love. 

We made it to a baseball game Saturday night as Marc entertained a client.  I've never followed baseball, but I'm beginning to really enjoy it!  The children love to watch the games!

We also dropped by the trampoline zone the other day and had a blast!  Everyone loved jumping into the foam pit- Tucker and Charlie especially loved swinging on the trapeze into the pit!

Chess match- Auburn vs. FSU!

Oh, and Marc went to debate camp last week.  I wish I had taken some pictures.  He went for three days and was given both sides of an argument to debate in several rounds.  He had zero experience, but the coaches were great and explained the principals of it all.  It's a Christian forensic group so they began and ended each day in prayer. 

Helping him prepare reminded me of my Moot Court days in law school, and I instantly felt so competitive.   Hashing it out at home, Marky would say, "they say this...." and I would say, "Oh please!  That fails in three ways...."  I had to calm down and remember that this was HIS time, not mine!    I guess there's a little lawyer left in the girl after all.  :)

Great American Eclipse

Well today was the day America had her first coast-to-coast solar eclipse since 1918!  We were blessed to be able to drive up to the center of the point of totality in Tennessee and witness this wonderful event!

We drove up most of the way last night and stayed in a hotel in Kimball, Tennessee.  This morning we got up and headed to a farm that was acquired by a brother of a friend.  He literally looked at Google maps for the best location and called a homeowner and asked if we could use his farm as a viewing point.  He agreed!  He not only hosted us (and 80 others), he bought us all wings, ribs, chips and drinks, brought in porta potties, and took the children on a long tractor ride!   Our friend's brother had commemorative cups made for every person there that had the name of the farm and all the eclipse info!  Such a treat!

Yes, I bought us t-shirts- I am that Mom.

There were so many children to play with and games going on!

We all brought tents- we actually bought one for this trip, but I love it and know we will use it!

 

Our friend brought us all Eclipse-themed goody bags with "Sun chips", "Milky Ways", "Orbitz" gum, and "Starbursts!"  :)

Our souvenir cups- the name of the farm and town is on the other side!

The eclipse began around lunchtime-

We were all blown away!

The children loved going on the tractor ride during the eclipse-

He took the children riding in the tractor all over his gorgeous land- 300 acres!

As we approached totality everything got much cooler and darker....

At 100% totality for 2 1/2 minutes we could see stars and planets, all the crickets and frogs came out croaking, the cows beside us got up from resting and began eating, all around the edge was a circular sunrise.  It was magical! 

And then it began to lighten back up.  Unfortunately for us, right at the exact moment of totality a cloud passed over us and we missed seeing the dark moon completely covering the sun.  However we did see all the effects and saw a nice summer evening at 1:30 in the afternoon!

This little guy is the real reason we felt obligated to go to all this trouble.  Our little astronomer was just so happy!

We love you children so much and hope you always remember our magical day at the Great American Eclipse!