Pie!

Jake is very fond of pumpkin pie and has been begging me to make one for the past three days. Today I broke down and finally made one. He devouerd his piece and saved one for breakfast tomorrow.

Tom and Jake both love the moon tonight. Tom said it looks like cross, the way the light emanates from four sides. Jake says that God probably did that to remind us.

Dan and I went to buy a used car for Ann today. The Pontiac she has been borrowing from us was on its last leg and the air conditioning didn't work anymore. We found a maroon Cadillac Catera. Perfect!

Dan showed the boys how the swamp cooler takes heat out of the air by putting it through water. He did it by doing a play with them as the molecules. Too funny. Jake said he would rather it be a musical.

Nikki is trying to run a band with the boys but it isn't working out. Her and Tom are just too much alike and are butting heads. There is a talent show coming up for the California Homeschool Network Expo and they want to perform. I told her to let Tom be the boss of the band and she could do a solo act separately. That seems to have smoothed things over a bit. We'll see.

Almost time for bed. I'm tired. It was hot today, but only 90, not much wind. The rooster tried to kick my butt!

Chickens

I love my chickens! I'm going to post some lovely pictures of my flock tonight. They are so sweet. The past few days, I have let them out of their coop to wander the property during the day. I had a feeling they would go back to their coop as soon as the sun started to go down and they did. All day long they have been hanging out on the front porch picking at bugs and eating my plants. It is worth it to have to clean up after them in the evening. It's so fun to sit and watch them up here. They crack me up.

Yesterday morning they were up on the porch, but then suddenly Frankie (the Americauna) went missing. When I looked around the yard for her, she was heading back from the coop. I checked her nest and sure enough there was an egg!

Today I cleaned the coop. They hung out around the coop while I cleaned and followed me over to the front of the house while I cleaned their waterer. Then followed me back when I was done.
They are much happier chickens now that I let them wander during the day. The risk of a coyote getting them is there. We have one that walks right through the middle of the property. But they are so happy, I'm willing to risk it. Especially since they spend most of their time right next to the house. It drives my dog, Kiara, crazy. She sits at the screen or by the fence whimpering. She wants to chase them so bad. The Colonel (the rooster) stands right at the fence and harasses her, strutting back and forth and crowing.

It got hot!

We finally got to 100 degrees today! The house is nice and cool though with our awesome swamp coolers. :) We spent the day relaxing mostly. My throat hurts and we are all worn out from our adventures yesterday. Grandma Ann took us to see Toy Story 3 and we loved it. The cartoon at the beginning was the best! So different from what we usually see. I always love those Pixar cartoons. And the movie was great. It made me cry. It wasn't sad or depressing, just touching. It felt real. The kids just loved it!

Today I let the chickens roam free to see what they would do all day. They camped out on our porch!! I put a bowl of water there for them and they spent the whole day pecking around and harassing the dogs. Around 5pm I noticed that they had wandered off and I saw them back in there coop. Too cute. I just love those crazy birds.

One of our bunnies is a poopy mess and looks bad, like maybe he feels crappy. I washed him off, and cleaned his house, but it is a mess again in minutes. I hope he is ok.

The wind is blowing and the sun has gone down. Joshua Trees silhouetted against the sky. Crazy loud crickets here don't chirp, the make a consistent buzz that is not a pretty. I love the desert!

Beach Day!

Wow, what a great day we had yesterday! Jake had a loose filling and we had to make an appointment at our dentist. Sounds yucky so far, but we have an awesome drug-free dentist in Laguna Beach that we travel 130 miles to see! Jake noticed the loose filling and told me we needed to see the dentist ASAP. So we had to make a day of it. Why make the trek down there and then not go to the beach?

We picked up my Mom on the way down but got to Laguna about an hour before the appointment. So we stopped at Nix Nature Center and took a look around. Next time, I think we may have to do some hiking in there. Gorgeous!

Tom checking out some Native American stuff.

Jake's reaction when I said "Let's go for a walk!"

Electronic Bats

Pretty!

The dentist was quick and painless. We love that guy!

Then we walked down and had lunch at the Greeter. THANKS MOM!

We had friends meeting us at the beach, so we drove a down a bit to one of our favorite beach spots, Heisler Park. The boys had a great time with their friends and I really enjoyed seeing mine. My Mom is always fun to hang out with. We checked out the tide pools. All the kids got a little burnt, first beach trip of the summer. We were tired when we got home but pretty darn happy.

Eggs and Snakes

This afternoon I was walking out to the laundry room (it's behind our garage) when I heard a loud squeak and a bit of rustling coming from nearby. I sneaked over to the sound and found a big snake wrapped around something furry!! Wow! I ran back to the house, throwing off my sandals as I went because they were slowing me down. I yelled to the kids that there was a snake eating something and they all came running out, including Dad. When we got back to it, it was really wrapped around the thing. It was mad we were there and started hissing at us. We stood there still as we could in bare feet and hot sand waiting for it to eat the thing. It was too threatened and unwrapped a bit to reveal a small ear. It was a baby bunny! We decided to let it alone to eat its catch. A few minutes later I went back to see if it was still there but I guess he ordered that bunny "to go" and took it to a safer place to eat it. I looked it up online and found out it was a gopher snake and that they shake their tails and hiss to act like rattlesnakes. They aren't venomous and they are great rodent control. Crazy, though. I told the boys he didn't want to eat there where we were because after he eats he is really slow and can't defend himself.

Later I went out to feed the chickens and found a couple eggs! They are our first ones. One was green! They are a lot smaller than I expected them to be. The kids are all very excited. Too bad none of them are big egg eaters, but at least we will have them for cookies and cakes!

Summer Has Started!

You can totally tell because the swamp coolers are running! Dan got them done just in time. Today we went to the skate/spray park and there were a bunch of kids there. That is another sign. School's out. It has only been about 90 degrees the past week or so and it is the first warm week.

FATJEF

Who is this Fat Jeff guy and why do we visit him?! Fatjef is a acronym for the Thomas Jefferson Education Forum that Nikki and I got the chance (last minute) to attend this past Saturday. I learned about TJed years ago at the California Homeschool Network Expo. I was blessed with hearing Dr. Oliver DeMille himself. He is an awesome speaker that really inspired me to continue my own education. If you want to know more about the concept visit the websites and read up. It is fascinating. This post is mostly about my experiences and epiphanies from Saturday's lectures and discussions.

Dr. Shannon Brooks talked to the whole assembly first, explaining the youths role in our future and why it is so important that we educate ourselves and our children to be leaders.

The age/phase my boys are at, we still need to be focusing on their core skills, and Nikki too, since she missed that when she was little. We need to be working on chores together, getting a more regular schedule, and reading together again. We also need to budget our time and money better so that we can go to events, museums, and parks more often. Ever since we moved out here these things have been lost. We have to factor in the gas and time it takes to do things now. The boys have lost the habit of working around the house. And I never had the time to teach Nikki household chores when she was in public school. I also need my daily study time. My studies have been completely forgotten this past year.

This morning we had our first weekly planning meeting. Lately we've been just letting our lives happen to us, it's a very passive lifestyle. You can't achieve anything if you don't have a goal and a plan. This week we are working on a list of things each of us want to do, no matter how small or crazy. Then we can start working on a plan.

At our house we should be making an environment where leadership can develop. That involves a loving, peaceful, and confident home. Our relationships are so much more important that passing on academics. We, as parents, need to be strong in our own culture, principles, and mission. We need to exemplify what a love of learning or scholar phase looks like. We need to show our love and ideals daily and talk about them.

The one thing that kept jumping out to me throughout the sessions is that is seems we have lost the art of living by principles. The principles are what we all have in common. Our homes, families, style, and education may all look different but the principles are the same. Many people hear these principles and then ask for specifics on how to implement them. All anyone can give is their experience, but that doesn't make it how you have to do it. So many want a book or a box of stuff that gives their children an education at the end. It doesn't work that way. You have to understand the principles and then apply them to your family. If what you are doing doesn't abide by the principles then ditch it.

This forum was so helpful and inspiring in so many ways. I hope that it continues in the same vein as it was started. It isn't a homeschool convention. It is a place for adults and youth to learn many of the skills that have been lost over the past couple of generations!