Recent pictures from life

Partial view of the garden. We have tiny green tomatoes on the vines. Yeah!

We have been observing a Canda Goose nest at a friend's house for the past few weeks. We went for a visit on Tuesday and to our surprise....gosslings! They are adorable! We will be writing about our experience in our nature journals.

Here is princess Poodle twirling the baton in her co-op musical Amerikids.

Here she is holding her first place ribbon for her art piece "Lady Listening to birds". both of her pieces are on the table laying flat behind her.

She also got first place for her science exhibit. I was happy for her. She truly worked very hard on the project. Can you see the joy in her face? Priceless.

Random Tidbits

1. We have tiny, green, baby tomatoes in our garden!!!
2. I also shooed away two large does from our garden yesterday morning!!! Must get up fencing.
3. Only a few more weeks of first grade for Princess Poodle. The year has flown.
4. Even though I am sleeping so much better, I feel run down lately. Why is that?
5. We have started reading about the westward expansion and pioneer. This will be kept simple with living books and some videos.
6. The kids and I washed our dirty van yesterday.
7. After budget crunching and being willing to give up some other things, we are going to get to go to Disney world again in the fall. We are so excited. This trip does wonders for me and the kids mentally. After schooling in July, and August, the trip in September will be a welcomed break.
8. We are going in early June to visit my sister in Charleston. I have never been. Also we will be going to columbia to see an art exhibit that will have some works from the greats like Monet, van Gogh etc. Princess Poodle is very excited.
9Princess poodle got first place in her science fair and first in the art fair. She got third in the photography fair. Will post pics later.
10. God loves me even though I am hopelessly flawed, a sinner, and stubborn beyond measure at times!

Thanks for stopping by.
Sheryl

I love the outdoors BUT...

I am an outdoor girl. I love having our garden and spent time there this evening teaching my kids the proper way to weed i.e. Don't pull up our dahlias that are just coming up!!! I tended to my iris bed and potted some plants for the back porch. I have dirt under my nails even after my shower and my nails are WAY short because of my pottery classes. I am taking Triple H to feed ducks tomorrow and I never feel as at peace as I do when outside. With all that said there are some things I hate about the outdoors. Two main things to be exact....mosquitoes and biting ants. I loathe them. They make living in shorts and barefeet misery at times. Well, as of this week I can now add a third bug to my hate list. No its not spiders, I kinda like them as long as they aren't black widows. (Spiders eat insects remember and remember I hate mosquitoes. Anyone guessed yet my new arch enemy?
I won't keep you in suspense any longer. TICKS! AGGGGHHHHHH. Just this week I have removed one from myself, two from Princess Poodle and one from Triple H. We have never had ticks before and my kids have been playing outdoors their whole lives. But for whatever reason, be it rainfall, or lack of harsh winters, or location; we have a tick problem and we don't have any animals! Unless you count backyard deer and turkey. Blast those beautiful white tail deer and proud looking turkeys!
I won't go running for the tv remote and computer screen. We must be outdoors. So I will have to find a way of dealing with the ticks. Right now my only line of defense is a nightly tick check of their entire bodies. And I do mean entire. Those ticks have a way of getting in some not so great places!
With summer fast approaching I guess I need to stock up on ant poison, bug spray with low deet, anti-itch creme, benedryl, citronella candles, and new tweezers. I'll just add all these along side the pool towels, sunscreen, popsicles, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk.

What a list!

From the Garden...

Our garden is complete. It has tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, blueberries, and flower bulbs. We are starting small, hoping not to overwhelm ourselves. We made stepping stones with Mimi and placed them in the garden to have a path to walk on. I still want to paint the raised bed but that will have to wait for now. We also have to put our lovely signs up. Need to go to home depot for stakes. Enjoy the pics.

Mommy and Princess Poodle planting our tomato plants.

Look at those dirty hands. A true sign of a job well done!

This is Crinkleroot. He is the protector of our garden.
Here is Triple H. I took this picture from a distance. I think he and Crinkleroot are having a deep conversation about the meaning of life. What do you think?

A few pictures from Easter.

Here are a few Easter pics. Husband is absent in pictures because he hates having his picture taken. He always looks drunk in them. Really he does...

A Hodgepodge of a post

This week has been a week of trying to get back into reality. After a week devoted to a science fair project and then a week of spring break, we are a bit off kilter. We have hit math heavy this week, moving quickly through many of the easier lessons. We got back into our Writing with Ease and have a few more lessons to go in that curriculum. Princess Poodle has practice everyday this week adn next for her co-op's spring musical and that is keeping us on the road! Triple H is a mystery as one day he wants to do school and the next day doesn't care and is way too silly. I'm so glad I haven't felt the need to push him this year.
My pottery classes are about to start back and I'm excited and nervous. I haven't been on the wheel in four weeks and hope I haven't forgotten everything. Our garden is now complete with tomato plants, pepper plants, and dahlia bulbs; thanks to my two best friends. (Are you laughing Karrie?) My iris bed is planted and I want to add some lamb's ear for a silver touch. I have a growing interest in all things grown lately. (Can't imagine why..stop laughing Karrie!) I am also starting to play with painting and have a picture of a little girl I am dying to paint if I can ever find the time between the laundry and the homeshooling. (ok, go ahead and laugh Karrie, I deserve it!)
We have a few more weeks until our 4 week summer break in June. I am trying to talk hubby into taking a few days off to go to Charleston to visit my sister and then hit columbia to see an art exhibit that is coming there that I really want to see. It will have paintings from some of the great masters! I really want to go to Disney again, but seeing that we have no stimulus check coming like we did last year, I don't see that happening. I guess Mickey will have to do without me this year. I also need to finish planning our geograpy/world tour curriculum for next year.
This crazy posts sums up what has been going on with us lately. I'll post new garden pics soon.
Thanks for stopping by.
And please pardon the references to someone named Karrie. I just couldn't help myself and only she will know why.

Upcoming Art/Science/History Festival

Princess Poodle's Art Entry: Woman Listening to Birds is what she titled it.

Princess Poodles Photography Entry: Theme was Inspiration: Things that inspire you

Its a picture she took of one of her best friends. She says that he inspires her to be courageous, brave and adventurous. I think the picture shows that really well.

I'll post pics of her Bird Exhibit once it is finished.

In other news, we are on Spring Break. Next week we will be hitting math and writing hard in order to get caught up. We will also be starting Pioneers in May. All is well as long as I keep my laid back attitude going. This festival takes alot of time but I think it is worth it. As far as co-ops for next year we are on a waiting list and hopefully will get a call in June.

Everyone have a wonderful Easter!