Ski Bunnies

Camryn's first day on skis! She loved it, but it sure was nice having Ma with us so Cam could take extra long breaks in the lodge while we skied with the older three. Thanks Mom!

Ben, Katie and Will love skiing. They don't have the same childhood that Jon and I did growing up on a mountain, but at least they get to ski a couple times a year and can get down in one piece. And who knows, maybe we'll live in a mountain town again one day and become a family of ski bums! Of course that would require it to snow above 50 degrees for me to live there. But it could happen.

Boys

When he ends up in the hospital, or jail, you will know why. Yes he designed and built this himself. See what useful things he is learning in homeschool. Sigh.

Skate Kate

Katie's new love is skating. She asks everyday if we can go to the rink. She loved helping our neighbors Jake, who is 7, and Abbey, who is 5, skate for the first time. She is quite a good teacher considering she has only been a couple times herself. Thanks to Uncle Cory and Auntie Steph for teaching Kate to be comfortable on the ice, you got her hooked!

The Next American Idol

Talented? Not really. Adorable? You bet. And as far as Hollywood is concerned that's all that matters.

Iron Will

We spent the day at the ice rink yesterday having fun slipping, falling and learning to skate with our neighbors. At first Will was discouraged and frustrated. During a quick snack break, he declares "I know what I need to do to learn to skate. I need to try harder!"  And he did.

Uncle Cory and Auntie Stephanie would be so proud!

The Face of Fever

I hate it when my kids are sick. I really do. It breaks my heart. Especially when a fever sneaks in and steals away all their energy and smiles. The only good thing that comes out of a fever (other than a virus they fight off) is pictures. Call me cruel, but when my kids are down and out with a fever I get out the camera. A picture of what they look like with out the 'cheese' smile plastered on their face is worth every 'I don't feel good' whine. Well almost worth it.

So sorry you are feeling bad little one. Don't mind me I'm just going to snap a few pictures.

(And yes her fever was hot enough to turn her face pink and lips red.)

 Notice those eyes. That mixture of brown and green innocense? They are the EXACT same color as Jon's. She is the only one who has those earthy eyes. I love them. Had I known I would have named her Hazel.  

See she wasn't THAT bad off, she smiled as she saw the moon through the window. She always gets excited when she spots the moon in the day time sky. I'm sure the fact she 'saw' it turn blue, red, yellow and green had nothing to do with her high fever. I gave her some Motrin after that anyway, just in case. :)

Seriously.

So in the past 3 months ...

 Will turned FIVE. (Pictured here with cousin Logan)

 And here with his cake made by yours truly, thank you very much.

Camryn got bit by the fashion bug.

 I have a secret admirer.

 Katie got all her hair cut off and is sporting a super cute (and much easier to brush) blond bob.

 We went to the beach. Strep throat and all.

 Ben mastered the art of sandcastle building with the perfect combination of sand and water.

 My kids have grow even taller and skinnier. And a little more ornery.

 Camryn started her first year of preschool.

 My hair keeps getting shorter. And I now drive sideways ? Good thing I always wear my seat belt!

My brother Jesse got married in Laguna Beach. Coinciding with myself and Jon falling in love with Southern California.

And that's about it. Well except for work, homeschooling, music lessons, art class, Spanish, PE, Faith Formation, Kindermusik, creative writing and sports. Oh yeah, and somewhere around here there is a ton of laundry that needs to be done and an entire house that needs to be cleaned. I better run ...

Cucumbers and Cam

This is the largest single cucumber plant ever. Well, ok, maybe not. But it is large. Very large. And is taking over the house and yard. It's a beautiful, healthy, strong plant. And yes, that's only one cucumber plant. Climbing up the screen porch to the deck off the office. It's really quite pretty don't ya think? And guess how many cucumber we've gotten from this beautiful bounty?  Three. Three scrawny little cucumbers. I guess that's what they mean when they say looks aren't everything. Geez!

And here's Camryn reading a bedtime story to me. It makes up for a huge, healthy non-producing cucumber plant.

She's so darn cute, if I may say so myself. And you if can't understand her, don't worry, no one else can either. We call it Cam-speak. And much like her big sister it looks like she's on her way to speech therapy once she turns four, but for now we are enjoying her way of talking ... and calling herself  "Namryn".

Sheer Will

Will decided he wanted to ride his bike without training wheels today. So he did. In typical Will fashion he just picked up his bike and started riding. We took him to the park a couple times this spring to practice (where it's nice and grassy and makes for a softer landing) and he always did fairly well, but never wanted to try it 'off the grass'.  Enter our hot, humid, don't want to leave the house, summer weather and the bikes get put away until October when we can venture outside again without melting. Today was an exception, it was a nice and cool 87 degrees, time to go outside to do something other than submerge ourselves in water. Out come the bikes! And Will says he wants to ride without training wheels. Cool, but first we (as in Jon and myself) NEED to clean out the car. We were seriously in some form of health violation driving the kids around in that hazmat vehicle. So Will, sorry buddy, you will have to wait a little bit. We'll go to the park when we are done. Will, in pure Will fashion, decides he's not going to wait, he's just going to do it himself. And he does.

And that's how Will operates. He has more determination and focus than I know what to do with. But it does come in handy at times, like you know, when you need to disinfect your motor vehicle. Way to go Will. I am so proud of you. Surprised, no. But still proud.

August ???

Seriously? It's August? When did that happen?

My last post was three months ago ... and in that time let's see what has happened? Well first I got a job with Bank of America, then school got out and Ben and Katie said goodbye to Charlotte Latin, then Camryn (my baby turned 3), then Ben turned 9!!, then Grandma Baba and Papa came to visit, then we went to Maine for two weeks, then my second best friend in Charlotte moved ... and well you get the picture.

So here's the latest and greatest:

Viola!! It's our homeschooling room!! Otherwise known as The Death of a Dining Room. That large empty wall space will hold the white board. There are a lot more books and "stuff" in general in this room already, but it's not quite finished. I will be sure to take a picture on our first official day. Once I figure out when that's going to be.

In other news. Check out this little fish:

Isn't she the cutest little fish you've ever seen?? Today was her first day of swimming without 'armies' and she did great!!

So now that it's August and summer vacation is winding down I will try to make a better attempt at keeping up with this blog thing ... because I mean, really, what else do I have to do with all my time. HA!

Life's Calling

Homeschooling isn't for everyone. It's not something everyone can do. It takes a certain type of person. As an example take this typical day in our backyard. See that black 'thing' in the bottom of the pool? That is a bull frog.

Now I could have just caught this bull frog and let him go. And that would have been the end of it. But no, as a homeschooler at heart, I took this opportunity to teach and share the joy and awe of nature to my youngest children.

We noted the frog's sheer size. That's Will's crock that frog is next too. We also talked about how the chlorine in the pool probably had the frog feeling pretty sick at this point. Their skin is much more porous than ours ya know.

Here's the fella up close and personal. Will noted that the frog looked like he had two sets of eyes. Being the nature genius that I am I pointed out those 'other eyes' are how the frog hears. Not exactly ears per se, but hearing devices. I believe this is what scientists call them ~ hearing devices.
Yup almost certain that's what they are called. 

Imagine all we were learning at this point! It was such a fantastic lesson. Will and Camryn were eating it up. They love observing nature. Here is Camryn's hand. Notice this frog would be too large for Camryn to hold in one hand. Now I'm a nature nut, but this frog was a little too big and a little too gross for my liking, but as a future homeschooler I kept my emotions to myself as we continued to observe and learn about this strange looking animal.

And here in this video is where you can really witness me in my glory and see first hand why I consider homeschooling my life's calling. I was born to do this. Just listen to the awe and amazement in my voice.  The kids are going to learn so much from me.

Seven on the Seventh!

Katie-Kat turned seven on April seventh. And now that I have high speed internet I can share the pictures with you. Yeah for seven. Yeah for modern technology! We all joined Katie for lunch and a treat at school for her birthday.

 Will adores his big sister and spent his morning making this hat and door hanger for her. He wrapped it and presented it to her like it was the best thing he had ever done. She, being the fantastic big sister she is, totally made a big deal of it. Thank you Katie, you made Will's day making him think that he made yours.

 And below she is waiting for her cake. Just look at that face. Cake makes me feel the same exact way!

 Katie wanted to have a mock sleep over party with all the girls from her class. Add my other three, the neighbors two kids, a major storm with wind, rain and hail and you've got one exciting party! (And 15 screaming kids.)

 The party was lots of fun. Katie had a blast. And now she's seven. SEVEN.

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl. The best thing about my seven year old? The notes she leaves me to find while she's at school. Everyone one ends in "P.S. I love you." 

Farm Fun

 We spent Saturday afternoon at a farm in Shelby, NC. Katie's friend Lily Grace's grandparents own a beautiful sprawling horse farm up there. Every spring they throw a spring fling for their two granddaughters and all their classmates and families. It was spectacular!

 We pet and fed alpaca.

 Rode a miniature horse. (I didn't get a picture of Ben on the little guy, but he said it was his favorite part of the day. He had never ridden 'bare back' before and he thought that was pretty cool.)

 Camryn wanted to take the miniature home with us.

Held very soft and very sweet baby bunnies. (Katie was convinced this bunny wanted her to bring him home.)

Snuggled baby chicks.  This is Will asking "Can I keep this one?" (I must admit the chicks were beyond adorable. And we were just talking about the life cycle of chickens. It would be really neat to have a laying hen, and collect our own eggs. But the HOA here in Ballantyne Country Club has a hard time with children's playsets in the backyard, I'm gonna guess that they would say No to livestock.  Maybe we could convince Ma to get some baby chicks. Here that Ma? Haven't you always wanted chickens???)

And even got to pet a tortoise. I even found this tortoise to be quite cute. Will wanted to ride him.

This is my favorite picture. This is Kate with a couple of her friends in one of the million fields. Every time you turned around you saw another sight like this ~ fields and fences as far as you could see. It was beautiful!  Thank you to Lily Grace and family for hosting, it was a great day!

Spring Break

Sigh. Spring break is over. It has ended on a very cold and wet Sunday. We didn't go anywhere for the first time ever over Spring Break. I thought the kids might be sad or disappointed to have to stay home for a week, but that wasn't the case at all. We had a fun filled week of playing and learning and being with people we love, including each other. Now, don't get my wrong, I could have used a week on the beach with a fancy drink in hand, room service and hotel staff, but the kids didn't miss a thing. Here are some shots from the week.

 Kate at our neighborhood park. She likes to spin that tire swing as fast as possible. It makes me sick to my stomach just to watch her, but that's my Kate ~ full speed ahead!

 The youngest rascals. Camyrn trying to get some love from her big brother.

 But Will just wants to climb trees.

 All four munchkins enjoying a warm day.

In an attempt to see the 'super-moon' we headed to the airport to try to catch sunset and moonrise. The cloudy weather kept us from viewing the moon at it's closest to earth in 20 years. But we did get to see lots of planes take off. Ben and Kate enjoyed the view from the top of Jon's truck. Will and Cam were a little freaked out by all the noise and opted to stay inside the truck. Will even insisted I hold him on my lap. Never in a million years would I peg Will to be scared of airplanes taking off. You learn something new everyday.

We spent one day at Reed Gold Mine in Midland, NC. If you've never been you must go. It was a great tour and we learned so much about gold mining and geology. Reed was the first documented discovery of gold in the US. Take that California! We'll be back soon to try our own hand at panning in the river (they hadn't started panning yet this spring when we were there.) The picture above is of the 'exit' from one of the tunnels.

And here is Cam in one of the tunnels. She held up well through the tour, but towards the end she had seen enough quartz veins and had heard enough gold history for the day.

Here's Ma with the kiddos outside the mine at Reed's. We were so glad she spent the day with us.

And here are the youngest Palmer girls. Camryn is obsessed with her cousin Ella. We were lucky to spend time with them at the playground and then at the Carolina Raptor Center the next day. I was hoping that spending some time with Ella would result in Camryn not asking about her a million times a day ... but nope, it has just made her ask even more. Poor Ella, she's never going to be able to shake the Camryn shadow. Sorry sweet girl. Overall it was a great week. I am so sad to see it end. Sigh. Time to set the alarm. Back to the grind we go!

Our Decision to Homeschool

This is a big one. It may seem like an impulsive and hasty decision, but it has been years in the making. I started questioning traditional education when Ben was a baby and I witnessed first hand how amazing a growing brain is. Ben was using sign language to communicate when he was just a few month old. He was speaking clearly by the time he was a year old. But it wasn't only his verbal skills that impressed us. Everything we did, saw, touched, tasted, smelled, talked or read about stayed with him. This child wasn't just growing, he was learning. As every parent knows, children are full of awe and wonder, they drink in the world around them, they never stop learning. As their moms and dads we are their first teachers. They learn to walk, talk, count, categorize, write, paint, add and subtract before they ever step foot into a school setting. It was around the time Ben started preschool that I started questioning traditional schooling.
Who came up with the idea of putting 20 some odd kids of the same age into a classroom with two (and in public school only one) teachers for them to sit and listen to what it is they need to know? How did we come to the understanding that this was the way kids learn? In what way does this stimulate the learning? How does this situation reflect life after school and how is it giving them any life skills? Where else in the world (or when) are we put in a room with 20 people our exact same age and talked to? And why doesn't this seem odd to anyone else??
These are questions I had before we even started exploring elementary schools. I tried selling Jon on the Montessori method, but he wasn't buying it. And even I myself wasn't 100 percent sure. We had many reasons for wanting to keep our kids out of public schools, moving being the number one reason. We move a lot in case you haven't noticed. And around here the school zoning changes as often as we change our own address ~ meaning that our kids would be changing schools  ALL THE TIME. Of course there were other reasons for choosing a private school, the same reason everyone who sends their kids to private school chooses to do so, but those don't really matter here.
Latin was our first choice after exploring, touring, visiting, all the private schools in Charlotte. I fell in love with the people, the campus, their philosophy and passion for teaching. I was impressed by their understanding of children's needs ... two recesses every day, PE three times a week, no homework in Kindergarten, very little homework beyond that etc etc. And we have been happy. The kids have been happy. They are learning. They have friends. They enjoy school. So what's the problem?
Well that's the kicker. There is no 'problem'. And as far as traditional school go, I think Latin is the best in Charlotte. I just think there is a better way. A different way.

A way to teach kids the way kids learn, not teach them to learn the way we teach.

I (we) have been happy at Latin. But not blown away. When you spend a lot of money on your children's education you kind of expect to be blown away. At least I did. We have already poured 100,000 (yes, one hundred thousand dollars) into Latin. And I'm thinking I can do better. When Ben started going through novels at school ~ reading them while the other's kids finished up their work. And Katie came home stressing about not being able to do something that all the other kids can do ~ like spell a certain word or read chapter books. I really started to question our education system yet again. Private and public.
I also took at look at our life, our daily life. It consisted of waking Ben & Katie up before they were ready (6:50am ... not that that is that early. How many times can you say that in a sentence??), shoving more food down their throat then they felt like eating (I'm crazy about getting my kids a good breakfast), hustling them to eat, brush teeth, get socks, get shoes, get lunch, get out the door. As soon as they would leave (Jon takes them to school) Will, Camryn and I would breathe a sigh of relief. Mornings are crazy. After school is not really much better. On a good day it's 3:30 by the time we are home. They play for a bit, then it's time to make dinner, set the table, eat, do homework, take showers, read and go to bed. 7:00 bedtime may seem early. But you try waking my sleepy kids up in the morning and then have to deal with them the rest of the day. Kids need sleep. My kids need sleep. If they are getting up at 7am, they should be in bed by 7.  I was (am) feeling like we spend the best part of our days away from each other. I was missing the best Ben and the best Katie and I was getting the left overs. And they were getting stressed drill Sargent mom. Go, go, go ... do, do do. I feel like I bark orders at them all the time. And these are days when we don't have anything else going on. Throw in Faith Formation, or soccer or gymnastics and it adds an whole other level of 'rush' to our house. And get this. That's with only half the kids in our house going to school. I started to wonder what our life was going to be like with four kids in school. That if it's this crazy now when I have two little kids, what on earth was it going to be like 5 years from now? Would we even see each other? Would we even know each other? This is not the way I want our family life to be. I want to know my kids.  I want to see them at their best (I already get the worst) and I want them to see me at my best too. I don't want the school's left overs.
It has also become pretty obvious to us this year that Ben is pretty far ahead of most of his classmates. In everything. He likes school, but he is bored most days. He reads novel after novel while kids finish their work. If the best school in Charlotte can't keep him interested and learning, well then who can? I know ~ he can. He can choose when he's done learning something, or how in depth he wants to learn it. He can surround himself with as much information, activities, experiments that he wants. I can help him do this. He can be the captain of his own domain, and I can navigate. He's not ready to be let loose to do as he chooses but he's certainly capable of testing his own limits and exploring his own mind. And together we can feed his need to learn and grow ... and not ask him to sit quietly and read if he wants to do more and learn more. He does not have to be limited by the others around him. He is free to learn all his mind wants to learn.
When I put all these factors together. I knew I had to try homeschooling. I knew that I wouldn't be satisfied that my kids were getting the best education until I did. When Jon asked "If Latin were free what would you want to do next year." I would still want to homeschool. It was at that point that we knew it would be our next step. Since then I have been up to my elbows in research, theory, psychology, learning styles,  and curricula. The journey has begun. Ben and Katie will finish out the year at Latin and we will begin our homeschooling adventure later this summer. There are days I question my ability to teach them. There are days I question my sanity. There are days I question everything. But I know as long as I continue to put Ben and Katie (and Will and Camryn) first, that it will be the best thing, not only for them, but for our family.
I knew going into this that it wasn't going to be easy. I expected a lot of things: the kids to be upset at first, and they were; for some people to question it, and they have; for others to be supportive and excited, and they have to. But the one thing I didn't expect was how it would change Katie. There are days that Katie gets in the car after school and is mean. Just downright mean. To everyone. She is usually in tears by the time we get home. She never blames school. And honestly, I just chalked it up to 'Katie being Katie' ... having a rough time with something and taking it out on all of us. BUT since we've talked about homeschooling Katie hasn't had one break down. She hasn't had one 'mean' day. There is a sense of relief in her eyes. She is calmer and happier. Katie tells me every day that she can't wait to start homeschooling. School has been stressing her out. She is six years old and stressed about school. And I didn't even realize it. That right there is more than enough reason for me to homeschool.

It Has Sprung!

Spring that is. Despite our wintery weather today, rainy and 50, spring has arrived. It is the most beautiful time of year around here. I love seeing all the trees and flowers come to life. I never really experienced spring until we moved here. Spring here is equivalent to Summer in Maine. Everything is green and growing and happy. The days are warm and the nights cool. Here summer is our harshest season. The heat and humidity keep all living things, people included, in a constant state of dehydration and stunted growth. It's spring when things are truly alive here in Charlotte.

 Above is a Bradford Pear tree. This one happens to be at the entrance to our cul-de-sac. Isn't it gorgeous? As the green leaves start to push the white blossoms off, the tree will snow down pedals. I could watch the Bradfords snow for hours. These trees are everywhere in Charlotte ~ even along the highway. They are one of our first spring blossoms and always a welcome sight towards the end of winter. Their shape is a very uniform 'pear' shape that they maintain without any pruning, and once the white blossoms have passed the leaves are such a bright and happy green they maintain their visual beauty. They are *almost* the perfect landscaping tree to have in your yard. The only problem? They stink. I mean really, really stink. Like gross bodily fluid stink. And I'm not exaggerating. It's grosser than gross. And the reason I will never plant one in my yard.  Smell vetoes looks in my book. But I guess it balances out it's extreme beauty, otherwise it would rule the ornamental tree world. And, well, that just wouldn't be fair to other trees.

 Now this? This is a cherry tree. We have lots of these around here too, not rivaling DC by any means, but there are still quite a few. They line the streets here in Ballantyne, making my numerous trips to and from home everyday a little less drab. These are probably my favorite. The pinkish purple blossoms are the perfect spring color and coordinate nicely with their dark brown woody trunks.  Pink and brown is one of my favorite color combinations. So I am a little partial to these trees.

 I love that we live in such a pretty city. These trees may not serve any other purpose than making things look good, but that's just fine with me. Pretty things make me smile.  And smiling is good.

And of course along with the budding trees and  blooming flowers come the mud covered tee-shirts and shorts. The mud around here is NOTHING like the mud in Maine in the spring. But we do our best to get our share of mud covered clothes, because as happy as the pretty trees make me, my kids are always happiest when covered in mud or dirt or paint or flour. Dirty kids equals happy kids. And happy kids make me smile. Even more than cherry blossoms.  

All In Weekends Work

Will learned to ski on Friday. On Saturday he learned to ride his bike without training wheels. We tried to let him rest on Sunday, but he was not about to take any time off. Here he is at our neighborhood park refining his skills today. Just look at him go!

Will, will you please slow down? The rest of us are finding it hard to keep up with you!

'Me loves you'

 That's how Camryn says 'I love you' ... and it's usually followed by the person's name which just makes it that much cuter. And heart melting. 'Me loves you Mommy' brightens my day everyday. It means that much more when your name is added in. And at 2am when she says it as she is kicking me for the umpteen millionith time it causes me to sigh rather than drop kick her across the room. I guess that makes her cute AND smart.

 But boy, is she getting big. She talks NONSTOP. We have to limit her stories at dinner so we can find out what happened in the lives of our other three children. She does everything 'by myself!' and with an attitude, but remains my sweetheart of a little girl. She is still so loving and snuggly. I know it's not going to last forever so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Even at 2am. She has even stopped wearing diapers at night. I have friends ask me how I have done this, and I hate to say it, but I have done nothing. I don't know why my kids seem to get out of diapers so fast. They have all gone from potty training during the day to diaper free at night pretty quickly. I wish I had some good advice, I could write a book on the subject, but truthfully I don't 'do' anything. They seem to know what to do and when to do it and I just follow along. But it sure is nice. Except when she wakes me up to take her pee at 3am.

 Speaking of getting big, Will has been blowing our minds lately. The boy is reading. And writing. And spelling. It is amazing. The picture above is him writing Camryn's name for her. He sounded out Grace and spelled it G-r-a-s ... but then realized that was 'grass' so then he asked me what makes the 's' sound in Grace if it's not an 's'.  Will is smart, don't get me wrong, but I think his new found talent has way more to do with exposure than anything else. He sees (and hears and lives) Ben and Katie reading, writing and spelling and, well, he just is doing what they do. Neither Ben or Kate were anywhere near this point at 4 years old. But they didn't have much exposure to it either. How often to do kids see their parents sit down and write or practice spelling or sound out words they are having trouble reading? Will has been a part of Ben and Katie's 'schooling' since he can remember. To him, it's just what kids do. They sound out words, try to read them and then spell them. It's amazing to watch. And so much fun, too. Even Camryn points out the letters C and Y when she sees them. I guess kids really are sponges.

And the best news of all? Spring has sprung! Maybe not officially, but I am making the call right here and now. We have had a string of beautiful warm weather (thank you Liza!) that is supposed to continue for quite some time. We are getting ready to hit mid 70s this weekend. WOOHOO! You know what that means? T-shirts and lots and lots of lizards thanks to Katie and her ability to catch every living creature on Earth. But I'm ready. I got my sunglasses and buckets!

(PS My spell check is not working on here so excuse any typos or misspellings. I don't have time to go back and look over every word. I hardly even reread what I write. I'm such a rebel that way.)