366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 60

The girl and I did a very brief photo shoot today. She couldn't stop laughing! I hope she finds that to be the case throughout her life....

I do believe laughter is such a beautiful sound! I am so grateful to be blessed with being able to hear so that I can hear her laughter every day of my life!

I did get her to be somewhat serious for about two seconds...

Then she was just done taking pictures....

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 59~WW

I love popcorn! 

Especially with extra BUTTER!!!

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 58

One of the movies that the girl and I watched last night was 

The Trumpet OfThe Swan. Definitely one of my favorite books,The Trumpet of the Swan. I read it as a child, read it to my older kids when they were little, then read it again to the wee ones a few years ago. We do have to read it again because when I asked the girl if she remembered reading it she said no. Anyhow, I never knew that a movie was made based on the book until I cam across it the other day. It was cute, but I will always love the book much much more! When we drove by these swans, obviously  finding food, with their little tails in the air, I had to stop and shoot!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 57

After a sleep over with her friends in which she stayed awake late, up early for church, then out to eat with the family, I think the girl had just about had it. After getting our food at the restaurant, she says to me that she has to go to the bathroom then proceeded to throw up everything that she had eaten in days (or at least that's what it seemed like, it really was a projectile expulsion out of that little girl of monumental proportions). The girl and I decided it would be best to leave dinner early and go cuddle at home with a couple of girly movies. By the time we got home she seemed perfectly fine (as you can see by the picture)! Evidently, thankfully, she expelled whatever was making her feel poorly.

Geology

Our topic of the week this week was Geology. My hubby is a bit of a rocks, stones, dinosaur bones collector. He and his parents have quite a collection. They call it Nature's Expressions.

We (I should say my in-laws) held a class on geology. They discussed what our earth is made out of, and types of rocks. It's pretty beneficial to have a father-in-law that's affiliated with the Michigan Mineralogical Society.

Geology has never been my best subject. Being married to a man that has a passion for it has definitely peeked an interest in me. Watching my kids learn from the most knowledgeable people on the subject has been invaluable!

The kids followed the class with a fun filled swim!

All in all, a pretty awesome day at school!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 56

Today the pics were slim pickings! Between getting our tax stuff together and housework (yuck) I just didn't get the camera out. I think it might be easier to find inspiration while out and about. I looked out the window and thought I saw a bird in the tree so I slapped on the zoom lens to see if I could get a shot. Come to find out, it was only some sort of a ball! 

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 55

Yes, that is steam and snow you see in the background of the boys in swim suits. My in-laws have an in-door pool that we are fortunate enough to use. The wee ones love to go over to grandma and grandpa's house. Wouldn't you?

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 54

I had my little princess in the car with me. We came across a pair of vultures in an open field. They didn't like that I pulled over to take their picture and promptly took flight. I still thought the shot was pretty neat even though you can't see the bird clearly. I thought it had a bit of an Alfred Hitchcock flare. 

Parental Rights...again...

I've written about this before and I'm sure that I will again! Parental Rights is a topic that I feel very strongly about. It is up there among my top reasons for homeschooling! I read an article today that really hit a nerve. It was about a child who's homemade lunch was taken away for being not healthy enough. To be perfectly honest with you, it really shouldn't be the concern of the school if a parent chooses to pack only cake in their child's lunch! That may be a little irresponsible on the part of a parent, however it should still be their choice. It reminded me of a time when my older kids were in public school. I had brought a bag of candy for my son's class party. I was met at the door of the school by a woman (that worked for the school) that I knew very well, and she knew me. I could see my son about 50 feet away from me at his locker, but was not allowed to give him the bag of candy or talk to him. I had to leave it in the office to be given to him by a staff member. How ridiculous. We live in a small town where everyone knows everyone. I could understand if the school employee didn't know me and know that I was his mother, but that wasn't the case! The situation really got me thinking.

I came across another article about a girl being given vaccines at school without their parent's consent. The school doesn't keep kids full medical history on hand. What if that child had medical reasons for not receiving those vaccines. The girl did also have an adverse reaction to the vaccines as well. The health system that ran the clinic administering the vaccines that day at that school said that they will meet with the student’s family to ensure that the issue is addressed appropriately. How do you address the issue appropriately when you can't take it back. They can not undo the vaccines given to the girl! Again I think of my own situation. I have a son that if given vaccines could be subject to extreme adverse reactions due to his health condition. 


Again, I will adamantly state that as parents we should never give up our right to make decisions on our children's behalf about their well being! 


 I do know that there are parents out there that don't take care of their kids, but I do believe they are the minority,  not the majority. At the end of the day, do we want to live in a police state? We live in a country founded on the belief that we should all be free. Most parents have children with the best of intention to raise those children to adulthood with love and nurturing, guiding them along the way, teaching them the skills that they will need to be happy, helpful contributing members to society. I don't know of any parent that gives birth, looks at their beautiful baby and thinks, "the government should raise this child with love".

Here is another article that should be an eye opener on parental rights and the governments encroachment on those rights.

Children can not raise themselves, nor should they raise each other. They should be raised by their parents, the ones with a vested loving interest in them and their future! There is a great book regarding parenting that I would highly recommend!

Back to parental rights...It is our responsibility as parents to protect our children! The first step to that is to take responsibility in raising our own kids! Parents who love their kids are more qualified for that job then the government!

Be proactive as a parent! Be informed! Let's hang on to our kids and maintain our parental rights! 

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 53

The day consisted of school work, martial arts, playing with friends, and going out to dinner. Times like these are invaluable! 

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 52

The girl scout cookies are in! And Orange Cat is more than happy to help sort!

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By Word of Mouth Musings

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 51

I seem to be taking a lot of sky pictures lately. The contrails in the sky this evening were hard to resist photographing. My son and I sat and watched them for quite some time as they went from thin line, to wider spread, to even odd shaped.

As we watched the changing trails fade to black, a flock of birds flew over head, where they were going I couldn't say. 

These quiet moments with one of my wee ones just to admire the beauty in the world makes me feel very happy to have this gift of life and especially fortunate to be able to share my time here with my favorite people, my family!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 50

It has truly been a long, filled weekend! Today my little grandbaby was baptized! It was a very busy day for her (and for us). 

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 49

Friday night the girl had a sleep over with her friends that live down the road. She hung out and played most of the day Saturday. Shortly after she got home, she curled up on a cuddle chair with her brother's girlfriend without even taking her coat off and fell fast asleep! 

Such a tuckered out little girl.

Poetic Winter~Passion

We spend much of our winters watching wrestling. Our older son wrestled so I guess it was fitting when the younger one wanted to wrestle also. It takes a lot of  passion to be able to get out on the mat and perform to the best of your ability!

Hope everyone's winter is filled with love, fun, and passion!

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 47 & 48

This picture a day is harder than I thought it would be. I do normally have my camera with me. I even normally take several pictures a day....but there are those days that my life seems to take me in different directions that I'd like to go. Day 47 left me without a picture taken, and in the evening just too tired to seek one out. But, alas, I will not give up! I'll post three pictures for day 48 to try to make up for no picture on day 47!

The wee ones and I took a trip to the post office today to upgrade their passport cards to passport books for a trip to Cancun this summer. On the way home the sky looked so beautiful that we couldn't resist stopping and admiring it. It is so hard to believe it's winter with the way the weather's been. The wee ones have barely used their winter coats!

Then movie night;

I seem to be having a boy week! The girl went on a sleep over with her friends tonight so the boy and I got to have some much needed mom and son alone time. We went out to dinner and are currently enjoying watching  

                                                            Happy weekend!!!

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 46

The boy tested over the weekend to progress a belt level in Martial Arts, however the results ceremony wasn't until Monday night. The boy takes Drama on Monday nights and wasn't able to attend the ceremony so today at his Martial Arts Class he was able to have his own private results ceremony! He progressed from yellow belt to gold belt. What a proud little guy!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 45

We had a great time bowling today to celebrate Valentine's Day! The boy just informed me that the ball he was throwing in the picture was a strike! 

Some Valentine's Day history and resources

Valentine's Day is one of the most celebrated days of love in history. Does anyone really know the true "history" behind it? In church every year our pastor tells of the story of St. Valentine, who defied Claudius II law that all men remain single so that they would be better soldiers, and continued to conduct marital services in private. Later Valentine was sentenced to death. In our homeschool we've looked up many resources for the history of Valentine's Day, here are some that we've found informative and productive;

History.com

Kaboose which also offers some pretty cool crafts for V-Day.

apples4theteacher also offers crafts as well as interactive computer games.

Holiday Cook complete with Valentine menu suggestions .

Everything Valentine's Day that also gives Valentine customs from around the world.

So off we go to celebrate and exchange Valentine's with our friends! Happy Valentine's day!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 44~Valentine plans??

Today was a busy day. School work, drama, and many preparations for the much anticipated Valentine's Day tomorrow. The kids had their choice of box cards or homemade cards. The girl picked a little of both, but the boy picked box cards for his friends but bought a nice Hallmark card for his special someone that he wanted to be his Valentine. 

So Tomorrow, for the most part, we'll take time off from the academics to go bowling with our friends, exchange Valentine's, and all around enjoy good company! 

What are your Valentine plans?

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 43 Wrestling

Again I seem to be a day behind posting, the picture was however taken yesterday. 

My little wrestler was patiently waiting for his next match with daddy while watching other wrestling matches in the mean time.  

His older brother wrestled also. he came to me 13 years ago, six years old, big bright blue eyes, asking if he could wrestle. I visualized WWF or WWE whatever it is now and adamantly told him no. He persisted. He finally talked me into talking to the person in charge of the program who finally talked me into letting him give it a try. It didn't take me long to realized that the actually sport, wrestling, is nothing like what you see on T.V. 

It is a sport that teaches confidence, integrity, stamina, agility, balance, and quick thinking just to name a few of the positive attributes. My older son went on to finish his wrestling career taking second place in the state in his weight class before going off to college. 

The little guy, having so much admiration for his older brother has been wrestling since he was four, although we didn't let him wrestle in a tournament until he was five almost six. Being that he's only almost nine, we don't know if he'll want to continue wrestling, but what we do know is that we'll support whatever passion he has.

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 42

Delilah! She's a bit of an odd man out here in Casa Chaos. I'm not sure why, given the fact that all of our animals are related. She happened to be perched on the stairs just waiting for me to take her picture tonight. Good thing too! I hadn't yet taken even one picture today! My son tested in Martial Arts to progress a belt but it was so crowded that I didn't even bother taking my camera out of the bag. So Miss Delilah was just what I needed!

Keeping warm on a chilly winter night

On a chilly winter night some of my favorite things to keep warm are snuggling up with someone I love, and drinking hot tea with my princess! 

Maybe the tea was a little too warm.

Maybe we'll let it cool a bit more.

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