Favorite pics of the week

The first pic I actually took Saturday, but I've worked on it over the week so we'll call it this week! I love the expression on his face but the picture itself isn't as clear as I'd like given the fact that he was shaking his head at me and telling me not to take his picture;

                                           This is the original pic:

This is with some texture to it to give it that canvas look:

This is the black and white version:

I think I like the textured one best....

Here's my other favorite pic of the week;

Meet Shaw Shaw Ming Ming. She was absent from Cat School earlier in the week, but we love her just the same!

It's been a kitty sort of a week :)

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

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Thursdays...

Thursdays are normally a long day for us here in Casa Chaos, or should I say outside of Casa Chaos. The Boy: Martial Arts, Drama, Guitar, Training in becoming a Knight, Science. The Girl; Martial Arts, Biology, Art, gymnastics, FIAR. So after their classes Little Miss was very tuckered out;

But despite a long day, this time a year it would be criminal not to stop and admire the ever changing appearance of fall.

Happy Thursday!

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Creating a village to raise a child....

            I'm a mom of 6. I've been a parent for nearly 26 years now. It makes me feel grey haired to even entertain that thought! I don't by any means claim to be the all knowing when it comes to raising kids, as a matter of fact I often say that the more kids that I had the more that I feel that I know virtually nothing! When I decided (and I said I because my hubby was not on board at the time) to homeschool the wee ones I knew that I had a lot to learn! I joined many homeschool support groups. As many as I could find! I asked as many questions as veteran homeschool parents would tolerate about curriculum, schedules, etc. The one question that I didn't ask was about socialization, I knew that was a silly "homeschool" myth. I was concerned about my own ability to teach my children, so support was what I sought.
            As my homeschool journey has evolved, much like having multiple kids, each with very distinct and individual personalities, I've realized that I need to be open minded, versatile, and able to roll with the punches. the one thing that I no longer question is my own ability to be able to teach my kids, maybe because I've realized that they teach me more than I could ever imagine, so if they can do it (teach) so can I!
            So, enter the bloggosphere....I have found so much invaluable information via blogs (other people's experiences, trials, recommendations, opinions). On to the HSBAPost.com Blog Awards, being new to the blogging community, I was shocked to be nominated in a few categories, honored, but shocked. That being said the reason that I'm grateful for the awards is because I have found soooo many blogs with great information and ideas through the nominations by category that I may not have found otherwise! So I do believe I will keep blogging, and continue reading other's blogs to enrich our journey!
            You know the old saying "it takes a village to raise a child"? I do believe that's true, and it's up to us as parents to create our own village!

WW-Cat Schooled...

Time to take attendance...

Delilah

Orange Cat

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Tina's Pic Story

Play Dough, Martial Arts, Pianos, and Good-Byes...

Our weekend consisted of making playdough

My son was even ok with the fact that we only made pink! We make play dough every year at around this time and normally again around spring. There are so many play dough recipes out there but normally we use this one. It's simple, it lasts, and it's user friendly (not too sticky and easy to play with, very much like store bought). We only made pink this time because we didn't check provisions prior to and found that we didn't have enough flour or salt for another batch, but my son was a sport and let my daughter pick the color. This time of year we normally make fun fall color play dough and even add some spices to give it the scent of the season, this time only pink.

Then off to Martial Arts testing:

He was mortified that I was taking pictures :/

He broke the board!

She was fine with me taking pictures :)

I thought this looked like she was doing a little Karate Kid move.

Then I was very happy to get a visit from my college kids, as well as my oldest daughter and her hubby, especially since they helped me move a piano.

None of the older kids let me take their pictures this weekend, but my little grandbaby will always play along!

In the midst of everything I seem to have acquired a very much unwanted cold! So our school day today was not as productive as I would have liked, 

With me a bit crabby from not feeling well and wee ones who could totally tell that I wasn't up to par.The beauty of creating our own schedule allowed us to call it a day without "finishing" what we planned. 

The older kids headed back to their respective abodes. I probably won't see them again until Thanksgiving which makes me a bit sad. As challenging as being a parent can be through all of the different stages, letting go is definitely the hardest hurdle for me.

Amazing Visitor

People that know me know that for some strange reason I like to photograph bugs. So over the last couple of days we've had a special visitor that shared with us a pretty amazing occurrence in her life that I couldn't resist capturing.  Meet who my kids originally named Charlie;

My hubby brought her in because he thought she'd freeze over night. I swear if we had a farm all of the animals would sleep inside in the winter for that very reason!

I told my family that I thought Charlie was a girl and that I thought she was carrying babies!

We put her on my hibiscus plant where she seemed quite comfy. We soon found out that I was right! So the kids promptly changed her name from Charlie to Charlotte.

And we were able to share in her amazing birth;

And then there was an egg sac (oothecca)

It was a pretty unforgettable experience that inspired much conversation and research. We're hoping our little egg sac hatches many healthy little nymphs in the spring :)

Here are some informative sites for Praying Mantis education;

Youtube video on how to hatch the egg sac

theprayingmantis.org

Praying Mantis Fact Sheet

Have a fantastic weekend and don't forget to cast your vote at the HSBAPost.com blog awards!

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Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Ladybird Fly away Home...

As a kid I really liked Ladybugs. Now I know that there are some species that actually bite! They are not so cute anymore. But this one was kind enough to pose for the camera.

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