Fall is in the Air: A Photo Shoot

As beautiful as today was, we couldn't wait to get outside a while this morning to enjoy the little chill in the air. I couldn't resist snatching the digital camera from its home so I could catch the children in action. I hope you enojy this little glimpse of life from our neck of the woods.

Moms for Modesty

Anyone that knows me well know that I have a few soapboxes I occasionally (hee-hee) get on. One of them is modesty. I saw this graphic on a friend's blog and added it. As soon as I can, I'll link it properly. Other soapboxes for those who don't know are: breastfeeding, homeschooling, and being open to life in your marriage as the Church teaches.... I'll add some good links on these when I can.

Pear season

Pear Butter (from Ball Blue Book: Guide to Home Canning, Freezing and Dehydration)

20 medium pears
4 cups sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
1 t grated orange peel
1/2 t nutmeg

To prepare pulp: Wash and quarter pears. Cook until soft, adding only enough water to prevent sticking (about 1/2 cup). Press through a sieve or food mill. Measure 2 quarts pear pulp.
To prepare butter: Combine pear pulp and sugar in a large saucepot, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add remaining ingredients. Cook until thick enough to round up on a spoon. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Ladle hot butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 mins. in a boiling water canner. Yield: about 4 pints.

Field Day Early Autumn 2006

Dawn has a wonderful Field Day Early Autumn at her blog going on. There are some really neat photos! Even our humble little blog picts are linked. ;-) I just love all the creative folks in the homeschool blogosphere!

Need I say more?

High School at Home...

Angie's latest post makes so much sense. I hope you'll enjoy her article as much as I have. I have also purchased this book and plan to make good use of it. ;-)

The more I read, research and pray about it, I really believe that the road we're taking by homeschooling is what God wants of our family, even if it's not always the popular choice among our peers.

The kids are thrilled that we got another cat a few weeks ago... this is "Winner" whom is lovingly called "Winnie" and "Minnie" by Emma. :-)

Snakes alive!

We've had a couple too many snake sightings at our house lately. Here's the big one dh killed yesterday. It's a plain-bellied water snake according to my Audobon Guide.
There was a small one in the garage a couple days ago I almost stepped on. =:-O

Ah, a nice little turtle on our path, too...

We've had some interesting nature sightings around here lately... check out this spider who has made herself at home on my new porch hand-rail... look at those huge egg sacs hanging there, too! Poor grasshopper...

I'm not sure what kind it is? We'll research it as best we can. Let me know if you know!

9/5/06 UPDATE: Thanks to MacBeth, we now know for certain that it is a garden orb weaver . That's what we thought it was but wanted to be certain since it's such a prominent fixture of our house right now. =:-O Hey, and there are over a thousand eggs in each sac. Ugh... wonder if I could sell them? LOL!

Emma's going to be a writer... she's always finding a pencil or crayon and proceeding to write on any paper or book she can get her hands on. And then there's my angel napping...

Here's my John Deere Boy being a ham! One has the back of Emma's lovely little strawberry-blonde head...

Okay, so I finally got my camera fixed and we've been having fun with it again. Some of these pictures were taken by me and some by my oldest son. There were some real winners this week. On the right is Jacob building a cardhouse. They've all been playing more card games since our recent beach trip with my family/clan. Jacob is growing up so fast!
The next one is Grace, Mary and Grace's BF, Hannah, in Grace's new room. Yep, those walls are different colors. ;-) She picked it out and the opposing walls are green and lavendar.