Park Day ... Part Eins

While Mr. Rooster was in Evanston Wy- Oh My Goodness IT IS GORGEOUS -ming, I took the Wild Bunch-Zoo Crew on the requisite trip to park for pictures and for fun. I mean gee this trip that Mr. Rooster took was so hard on the kidlets that Savannah literally made herself sick.

So here they are ... The morning of April 22nd ... all smiling and having fun at the UTPB Stonehenge replica. We love to take photos out there ... it is really just uber cool to have a bit of British history, replicated here in Texas, especially here in town.

My girls are so darn cute in pigtails!

LOL, See how sweet they all look here .... look at the first pose though ...

Sarah ... don't choke Jon~~~

Tune in tomorrow at the same bat place, at the same bat time ...

for the further park adventures of the Zoo Crew - Wild Bunch ...

Yesterday ...

Wednesday in a Word ...

I love you more today, than yesterday, but not nearly as much as I will tomorrow ....

Finally ...

you get to see that handsome Rooster guy ... as he walked across the stage. I am so far behind it is pitiful. I know I should do this blog thing more often ... as a dear family member told me over Thanksgiving ... I'm VERY inconsistent. LOL, maybe I'll get on a roll here before long. I heard a really good piece of advice this weekend ... I need to quit letting life get in the way of the things I WANT to do!

So, without any further ramblings or ado from me ... I present to you ... Rooster!! In his graduate cap and gown glory ...

Birthday Wishes ...

Today ... is the 12th year that we have been blessed with ...

The Big Bubba ... he is the one that started our story ... and he is usually the one that instigates moments like these .... where all of my children are strangling a poor komodo dragon statue in the Fort Worth Zoo ...

or ....

all of my children perched on the ledge in the water park ribbiting like frogs ... because well they were near the water ...

Then, there are the moments when God's tiniest and very beautiful creatures catch his attention, and just don't let go. He was simply entranced by these beautiful little birds in the zoo. They bought little sticks with bird seed stuck to them to feed to the birds. He ended up with birds all over him ... trying to not only eat the food he had for them, but also nibble at his ears. Funny how their touch never concerned him in the least bit.

Of course of late, you will find him pestering his father with relentless questions about how this works, why this is the way it is, or what does this do, where is this or that, when does this occur, and on and on and on the questions roll ... And his questions are never annoying, they are thoughtful and though provoking. Of course those questions that come at 11:00 at night when we are trying to fall asleep are a bit frustrating. And no matter how many times we show him how to Google an answer to his more technical questions, he still comes to both Rooster and I first. Don't get me wrong, I love it! I love the fact that he thinks we are a fount of knowledge~~~

These boys have seen their share of rattlers since we live in the country, but alas they never seem to tire of any display of one especially one that is this long!!

Happiest of birthday wishes to my dear Big Bubba ... you are my tenderheart ... and I love you tenderly with all my Momma heart!

Edit ... sorry ... I have referred to the above mentioned child in this post as Big Bubba, and have been informed that he prefers the online moniker of Ranger ... ah, I love my children soooo much!

Studying ...

~ Wednesday in a Word ~

Oh, What a Feeling ...

Assignment: Take time this week to write about YOU and your feelings of trials and triumphs with homeschooling. Touch on when you first heard about the concept of home schooling and whether you tip-toed into the idea or just jumped in and never looked back. Share your schooling as a child and how you compare it to what your goals are for your children.



Why is the first assignment always the hardest - especially when you have to write about yourself?!?!? Ah, I know I can make this easier ... just one bite at a time ... you know like eating elephant! LOL

((chewing sounds))

Homeschooling … WOW … once I heard about it (fourteen years ago) I just literally jumped in with both feet. My precious Rooster introduced me to homeschooling - both he and his sister homeschooled before we started dating. **My MOST PRECIOUS Sister Sue that has homeschooled all of her children to some degree ... some she took out of school and homeschooled, some were always homeschooled, and one started homeschool but ended up graduating from a small town school where he played football. I am as proud of my nieces and nephews as I am my own children. I can only hope to raise my children to be as intelligent AND to walk with Christ as they do ... beautiful, beautiful people! ** The only time I have ever looked back is to see how far down the rabbit trails we have traveled. Hmm, makes you wonder from reading this first paragraph who it actually is that gets off of the rabbit trails ... ((GIGGLING))

I look back now ... we started in 1995 homeschooling my daughter and my step-daughter joined our homeschool in 1997 (my step-son who was also homeschooled had already left home to start a family) with boxed curriculum. Then sometime that year, I found unit studies. Rooster and I sat down one weekend, picked a topic and we designed a whole unit around Charlotte's Web - language arts, math, science, history, ... it was all there ... LOL, he calls our units "Prego Units" ... "it's in there!" I don't even know if that is their tag-line anymore, or if it's Ragu's ... LOL, I don't know if they are even in existence anymore - not only has my homeschooling changed from boxed but so has my cooking ... I make food fresh now ... very little mixes or packaged foods! **RABBIT TRAILS**

How do you judge triumphs? Are they the "grades" that your child makes? Are they the fact that when you child is mixed company, they carry on intellectual conversations about their studies? I believe our homeschool triumphs come in many different sparkles I see everyday when I look into the eyes of my children as I talk with them. When I cracked open Amy Pak's New World Explorer CD case, I saw the pure delight in my eight year old Wolf-boy's eyes. He had been watching the mail for days to be the first of my five "mail carriers" to snag the history goodie! Each day when we open our Exploring God's Creation with Astronomy book by Jeannie Fulbright, Miss Smiley (10) and Miss Boo-Bop (5) clap their hands with glee and delight. Bubba-bear looks on with pride as he leaps further and further into his math ... he may struggle with diagramming a sentence, but the maturity and pride I saw creep across his face as he helped ME understand my college algebra problem ... well ... that just said it all for me. Lately, my greatest triumph though was to find for my lost boy ... Sir Hiss-alot his niche if you will, in the academic world. Sir Hiss-alot has fallen in love with MATH! My lost boy, which most of you know is our adopted son - came to us with a myrad of issues - however the failure to thrive due to starvation and attachment disorder (and no he was not adopted from a third world country - he was a relation's child - rolling eyes, spitting, and growling) are the greatest obstacles that we have to get around at this time.

The trials however, fall in line with the triumphs ... it is a trial when a child comes to me and says XYZ is not working for me - but it still works for the other five children. Figuring out a way to make XYZ work for all of my children is definitely my trial. Balancing my class work, work, and home educating my children is another trial. My genius boys just suggested that I get up earlier - how much earlier than 4:30 am can a person actually get up and still be a viable human until 9 pm that night???? Hehehehe ... they are my boys ... I swear I love them ... but "Ethel, there are days ... STRAIGHT TO THE MOON"!

Now I know some started school this week, but we being very traditional homeschoolers (and by traditional I mean we have to do everything different from the system) start our school year in January. We took a longer than usual break this year, as my Rooster and dearest Sister Sue lost their mom. We took some time off to visit Sister Sue, and help her clean out some storage. We also took some time off to be with Rooster-love while he adjusted to his new job and our new schedule (EVERY WEEKEND OFF - no more seven/three/seven/four insanity - no more 6 am to 6 pm that turns into 4:30 am to 9:30 pm - no more nights and VACATION ... we actually get VACATION now!!!!) and we had a couple of mini-vacations mixed in there. So, we "kinda" put some things off until now and are just starting a new study in science and history.See my happy homeschoolers ... this was our "first" day of Exploring God's Creation with Astronomy. We have been "lap-n-notebooking" this year. I have seen such a tremendous difference in how my precious ones learn. Better yet, I see the joy my children have in learning ... now isn't that the ultimate homeschooling "feeling"!

2 Corinthians 7:4

Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.

Just as Paul turned to God for comfort during the tribulations of Corinth, I have found great comfort turning to God during our trials of homeschooling. And as Paul found comfort and joy from the Corinthians in his time of need ... I have always found comfort and joy being a part of the homeschooling community - whether it was a time a needed a suggestion for curriculum, or if I needed help on teaching a child! This is only one of many verses that has become my favorite while homeschooling.

Happy Birthday ... to Miss Smiley

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday Miss Smiley,

Happy birthday to YOU!

It is hard to believe that this was you (Christmas 1998) just ten very short years ago. Where did all the time go Miss Smiley ...

Your Nini Angel was so very proud of you. My little chunky girl ... just weighing in at 9 lbs 8 oz. ... you made your big strappin' brothers looks rather small and helpless.

We brought you home from the hospital ... less than a day after you were born. I was so tired from labor, but I just wanted to get you home and get into my bed ... where I could cuddle you up and SLEEP while your Poppa Rooster watched over us.

Of course I should have known that the love affair was sealed between you and Nini Angel when she fed you mashed potatos and gravy your first Thanksgiving (shaking head). Your Poppa Rooster threatened her with driving you back to town where she could soothe your little gassy tummy ... unfortunately for her, see she would have loved to soothe you ... you nursed and slept through the night. ((Rolling-eyes)) So, at just three months old ... you started eating homemade babyfood.

And here you are now ...

So beautiful ...

Laughing and smiling ...

Enjoying your moment in the sun ...

You have become such a helpful, caring, young lady. Giving your best, caring for our family ... you have embraced the biblical sense of the world service, and actually enjoying blessing your family.

This is a picture of my little guy at a walking park here in town, this used to be a buffalo wallow back in the day ...

Oh precious family of mine ... do you know how happy it makes me to see you all smiling and laughing!!!

My dear Pop's wanted to know why I wasn't using my SLR ... hahaha ... this is why, I couldn't immediately have a picture of him to have, hold, or see the way I can with my digi! Besides the fact that Kodak has yet to come out with a 420 count roll of film.

The Key to my Heart ...

For some odd reason ... I love sepia pictures of my children.

Places to Visit …

Hehehe, see my little tractor ... that's what I have to work with out here in all these mesquite bushes, sage bushes, cactus, tumble weeds, rocks, dirt, sand ....

This morning's cuppa liquid hug sure felt good, I left the heater down low last night … it was a balmy 80 degrees here under the mesquites. I had ruggle-rats running to and fro in SHORTS no less!! Asking frequently if it was SPRING … yes, here it is JANUARY the 8^th!! And they are asking if it is spring, but then again as we drove through downtown Odessa yesterday on the way to drop off the precious Rooster's Wranglers for their walk on their own starch job, we noticed that the trees had buds, and some were opening!! Not a good sign … the mesquites are smart enough to keep their buds closed and hidden – the omnipotent mesquite knows it isn't sunshine time just yet …

As I sat here enjoying my daily indulgence of coffee, hazelnut creamer, and hot chocolate … yummers, I started reading through the various blogs that I so enjoy reading. As I started catching up on a few back posts to my very dear traveling friends posts at Gone Walkabout this fabulous thought was inspired by her post on where she had actually gone walkabout. So, I started thinking … and from a previous conversation the precious Rooster and I had, I started compiling a list of places we want to go "walkabout".

First on the list is Germany – we want to visit all of the castles and areas that Rooster so vividly remembers from being stationed there … and I want to enjoy the country that my German teacher, Herr Gitchell, made me fall in love with so many years ago!

Then, I started thinking about all of the National Historic sites that there are to visit here … my boys would love a trip to Hawaii to Pearl Harbor … but then, I realized that here I am, a VERY proud Texan, and I have NEVER taken my children to the Alamo! I am so ashamed of myself!! So, here is just the Texas list of places we need to take our children to see …

The Alamo, The Spanish Governor's Palace - San Antonio, Texas

The State Capital, The Governor's Mansion – Austin, Texas

South Padre Island, Port Isabel Lighthouse – Port Isabel, Texas

Caprock Canyons to see the Official Texas Bison Herd!, Palo Duro Canyon, TEXAS! The Musical – Canyon, Texas/Quitaque, Texas (((OOOOH, WEEEEE – there is a LOT to do on that trip!!!)))

Colorado Bend SP, Gorman Falls, Caves, River trip through Canyons – Bend, Texas

Fort Davis – Fort Davis, Texas

Apollo Mission Control – Houston, Texas

Big Bend National Park – Big Bend, Texas

Okay, I need to consider this … and start planning my family some trips. I have to plan these trips quietly, or otherwise SOMETHING will come up where we can't go. Rooster always tells me that quiet spontaneous trips – spontaneous for him, quietly planned by me – are the best trips!

Vista is a BEAST

Have I ever explained just exactly how much I LOVE VISTA the crashing beast!! I was tooling right along ... bloggin', scrappin', and doing MY thing, minding MY business and THEN this beast named VISTA crashed my laptop AGAIN!! I had to do a complete system restore ... thankfully I have Gateway Backup otherwise NOT being a wise person this last month, I had NOTHING backed up to the external ... well, we are back up and in business, I have a new external drive, and I save NOTHING to the hard drive on the computer.

GRRR ... what a deal ... gee, I didn't even remember how long it had been ... December 23rd. That just drives me nuts ... I lost a lot of time!! Plus Christmas being in there ...

Oh oh oh ... my precious Roo bought me a digital camera for Christmas ... a Kodak Z712 IS. IT IS SO COOL. So, yes, I have been snapping pictures again. Today, I started working on a series that I want put together of my children for Christmas presents next year for our family. Photobucket has the best deal on QOOP goodies, they have either soft bound or hard bound books of pictures, and I can load them up for pretty reasonable prices. I'm thinking of doing a year or two at a time - just depends on the number of pictures I snap. The books are 8.5 x 10 I know my grandparents would LOVE to have something like that and Grand-Charlie has missed out on so much of the kids lives that I thought this would be a really cool way for him to be able to see them and what they do.

That is a really sad part of my life ... I have a grandfather, a dad, three brothers and countless aunts, uncles, and cousins that I, my husband, and my children never get to visit with because of one crossed wire with my step-mother. I have a very dear friend that says family is a four letter word. I tend to agree.

Ah, well .. we will be back on track tomorrow. I am going to scrap a bit tonight and then off to beddie bye!

Rooster love has two nights left and well, can we all say YEAH!!

His mid-winter semester class is a booger bear ... he took Macro Economics ... 15 chapters in 15 days ... he has finished nine of them ... bless his heart ... he has four exams to take and he will be DONE with that class. He is constantly amazed at how quickly school is flying by ... the Associates is completed, now we are on to complete the Bachelor's. Rooster loves being an Aggie; he is absolutely hilarious about his Aggie's!! Never in all my life thought he would go for being an Aggie considering the fact that he is a died in the wool Red Raider.

Well, it is time for me to sign off ... look for new scrap pages tomorrow ... until then ... have a wonderful evening ...