New Toy!

 Here's Dan driving off towards home with it!

We've been wanting a new vehicle toy for some time and after the Christmas we had...we got it!! Yes, we drove all the way down to Laguna to pick it up and in hind sight we should have rented a trailer to bring it home, but it was SO worth it!

We decided on the Baja Bug because it is old enough not to need a smog check, runs on little gas, it's cheap, and well...it's just so cool looking! This one needs a little minor work, but we can use it as it is right now. The engine and transmission have had lots of work and it runs great. We had only one problem. It's not charging the battery as it runs, so when it got dark and the lights came on, it died on the freeway. Hmm...that's why they guy through in a set of jumper cables!

Dan was behind me on the freeway and in the left lane, no where near an exit when it died the first time. He got it on the shoulder and then called me. When I came back, the Highway Patrol was there giving the car a charge. That guy was super nice. We got it off at the next stop, but it died crossing the street and two people stopped to help Dan push it. I was praying he didn't have a heart attack pushing that thing! So we sat at a gas station charging it off our truck for a bit. Drove another piece and charged it again. Stopped at a Walmart that time and picked up a meter so Dan could see how much battery he had left. It's amazing how comforting a Walmart is to us. It was a huge nice one too. I was envious.

We stopped and charged up one more time before we got home. It was at the Whitewater rest stop we know and love. There was a pony asleep by the fence. I wanted to take a picture, but my phone doesn't work well at night. Dan called Mom from there so she would know we were almost home. He talked to Tom and told him about our plight. I'm sure he was working on fixing it in his mind.

The kids came running out when we got home. The boys are so excited! I think we will take it out to our favorite camping spot this weekend for a trial run. There are several spots we've been dying to get to but couldn't do it in our truck!

Christmas Is Over!

Oh man! It was, once again, the best Christmas ever!

Sword Play!

Where's Christmas?! I know! I'm getting caught up. Christmas will be discussed later!

The boys and I drove down to the OC for a class on how to make foam swords last week. Cool, huh? It was given through a school called "Celebration Education" that offers classes designed for homeschoolers by homeschoolers. Much fun was had by all! They made two swords and then had an all out war. I tried to take some pictures, but they were moving pretty fast.

After the "class", we stayed for our old park day and a Christmas Cookie Exchange. Then we headed to Great-Grandpa's house and took him out to dinner for his Birthday. That was my favorite part. I love my Grandpa and I love spending a little time with him and my boys. I didn't get a picture though! Grr...

Uncle Sam Magoo!

 I know! You probably haven't even thought of Mr. Magoo! This came up on my Netflix as a suggestion and the boys and I just finished watching it. Lately, I've been watching a documentary or biography on Netflix in the afternoon. It's a subversive attempt at getting the boys to watch something besides the Simpsons! Ha! Today I chose this instead. Mom's time on the TV! They were both sucked in and it was great. I love that they both know what parts of American History they are talking about before the show put a name to it. They knew all the historical characters and had comments about how accurate it was or not. The word "propaganda" came up, and we talked about using original sources if you really want to know what happened or what someone thought or did. There were also a few quotes at the end that have spurred us on to knowing more. They were from people I hadn't heard of or don't know much about.

Another great hour with my boys and now they ran off to play Halo at Grandma Anne's house. And I just saw one of the chickens chase a cottontail across the yard!! It's cold and wet out, but it didn't snow, so I'm sulking.

Finished St. Augustine Reading

This reading was only to Book IX, so I haven't finished the book. I'm following the reading plan written in "The Great Books" series.

This one took me awhile because of the language. It was bit harder to read, but once I got into it, it was amazing. I'm not reading to understand every paragraph fully. I'm reading right now just to get through the selection and glean what I can. The next time I read, I will get more. It is a great way to give yourself and education! I only read about an hour and a half a day, and slowly but surely the books open up their wisdom to me. I love it!

Rain!

The weather report says it will rain like crazy today. Oh, it better! There are clouds in the west, but no rain yet. Our big plans for driving down to Orange County for a foam sword making workshop and park day have been postponed to next week. Well, the class part has been postponed. I still have to drive down and pick up Nikki from her friends house. She spent the weekend there. The best laid plans...I guess.

Last night, the boys and I finished reading "Anne of Green Gables". You would think that they wouldn't enjoy a book as tame as that, but they loved it. Both of them want to read the next one right away. That book is just filled with awesome descriptions. I think that Tom especially loves the clever ways that Anne deals with her situations and feelings. He identifies with her over the top imagination. There are other books that I would like to read out loud, but I think the next Anne book is going to be first.

Oh Wow...that St. Augustine Again

You wouldn't think that a guy that wrote some 1600 years ago would have anything relevant to say to me, but wow! Here's the bit I found I had to share today:

"For a froward will was a lust made; and a lust served became a custom; and custom not resisted became necessity."

Everyone has desires and all of them are natural, not all of them serve us well. If we give into these "lusts"(and we're not talking just sexual here, people), we serve them and they become custom, normal, to us. How many feelings and desires do we give into that become a normal part of our lives and we feel that we must work around them because they have to be there? If your action does not serve you purpose in life you must give it up. Only things that make us better people and help us toward are goals as human beings should we keep in our lives.

Oh, the other thing was that he described giving up his carnal nature to serve God as waking up. It was glorious. Funny to hear someone so long ago describe something that we all feel today. You're all warm and comfortable and you want to wake up, in the back of your mind, but you don't want to make that final effort to jump up and get dressed. The transition from comfortable sleep to enjoyable waking is a pretty tough one. Much like the transition from inactivity to activity, from reading about a subject to acting on that subject. Crazy!