Attack of the Squirrels

Yikes! The squirrels at the Grand Canyon are fearless. The Rangers warn people about these dangerous creatures. I sat there in disbelief that this little guy was soooo close to us. I now realize that I should have been quicker in moving my son. However, I am grateful he did not bite S.

Turns out this is what the rascal was after:

(Ice cream )

Funny Girl

My oldest is a HAM. She cracks me up. Her expressions, her humor, her wardrobe are all thing that make her her; and I absolutely love it! She is very witty and quick with her words: Me= “Was the food good P?”  P= “ No, it was delightful.” (with a smirk on her face). She is also very good at expressing herself through her clothing. I can’t tell you the number of time she has come out of her room with a dress or shorts over her pants, all in a rainbow of colors . I love that she feels comfortable enough with herself that she doesn’t follow the trends she makes her own. I pray that this will continue into adolescence. My children’s ability to express who they are (without being disrespectful) is very important to me. This is one of the reasons I homeschool. I find that many kids try so hard to fit in that they stifle some of their wonderful individuality. Well anyway, needless to say I love, love, love who my daughter is.

I guess the best way to describe her is through pictures, a pic. really is worth a thousand words :

(Dressed herself, and did a great job. Brown, blue, and pink is an interesting color combo.You can’t see it ,but she has a blue jeweled sticker on the side of her nose, to coordinate with the blue sweater.)

Has a thing for hats:

Always posing:

My Animal Loving Girl

For those of you who read my post about Isabella Rose (the horny toad, whom we had to set free); you know we were crazy to think of getting the girls fish. Well we did and R’s fish has already passed on (yes there were plenty of tears this time also). The fish now awaits for her return (in the freezer ) to Wal-mart for a replacement fish. Believe it or not, you really can return anything to Wally World!

My parents got R one of those butterfly habitats for Christmas, at my suggestion. We knew she would enjoy it, because of her love for all living creatures. Plus it would be great as part of our science lessons. However, this morning she was talking about the wonderful pet butterflies she’ll soon have. I then realized that she thought she was going to be able to keep them forever. I had to explain that eventually we will have to set them free . I know you must be thinking that I am trying to torture or at least toughen up my “I don’t want to eat an egg because it used to be a baby chick”,  precious little girl. Really I have done all this without thinking . In the end I do believe it will teach some good lessons (I hope).

R also was quickly attached to a Pink Dolphin that she carried around Toys ‘R Us while we were there. When we had to go and leave it behind, again she cried, “But I love it Mamma!”. So later that night we went back and purchased it as a Christmas present. At least this animal can’t die and doesn’t ever need to be set free .

This was her reaction upon be reunited with her beloved friend on Christmas morning:

Fossil Walk

The Fossil Walk was a lot of fun. We had to educate the girls before hand on how all these aquatic fossils really got on the very top of the Grand Canyons cliffs. However the ranger was right when she said the whole thing used to be under water, her explanation of how it all happened and where all the water went is what was lacking .  It was awesome for the girls to hunt, find and touch real fossils. Here is the paper that the ranger gave us, so that we could recognize the different ones:

(we stuck this in our Lapbook also)

Here are some of the fossils we found:

(Bryozoan)

(crinoid)

(brachiopod)

Here are a few that we didn’t find but that the ranger showed us:

The ranger helped us identify them correctly. Literally fossils were all around us. Once she showed us what to look for we were amazed at how they were everywhere we looked in this small area of the fossil hunt. We later talked about how fossils are made and what they can show us, a very cool day.

We also did a lot more hiking, here’s some pics:

(people as specks)

My Poem For Christmas

I am going to be brave and post a poem I wrote many years ago . At this season of Christmas I can’t help but think of God’s amazing love in sending His Son to us.

                                            GOD’S LOVE

                    God’s love fills me to every border of my heart.

                          Overwhelming even the deepest part.

                    It’s as a cloud holding fast the mountain peak.

             The power of an eagle, Yet gentle as a dove does it seek.

                 As a note of a lovely score, it settles on your spirit.

                 As the hands of lovers intertwined, perfect is the fit. 

                         It’s as a portrait that transfixes the eye,

                                 Or a close knit family tie.

              Glimmering as the dew that settles on a crown of green,

               Or a breeze that brushes against my features, unseen.

              Yes it is always there, just like the brilliant stars of night.

                    It has become too momentous for my sight.

                  I humbly place my face to the ground in prayer.

                         I am so grateful for his tender care.

              The Almighty’s favor adorns this gift to me, and you;

                                 Making us purely new.

                                       (Thank You!)           

Our First Walk Around the Rim

It was a cold day but a good day. To see the girls eyes as they came around the corner was priceless. They both kept mentioning, in P’s words “God is amazing with His creations, isn’t He.”

This was the sight they saw:

They also had gotten their Junior Ranger books (we place this in their Lap books ); and were hard at work with their first assignment, trying to find different kinds of rocks.

We were blessed by a man who offered to take a pic. of the whole family:

Father and Son (We love our hiker pack, and so does S . This Made it easy to go where we wanted without worrying if a stroller could go there too. I can’t tell you how much we have used this thing.):

More Mule Deer:

Views of the Rim:

Hope you enjoyed our first walk as much as we did.

Having Fun Doing Laundry?

 Back to the Grand Canyon saga. Sorry it has  been so long between posts.

Well I forgot to tell you, on the day we arrived at the GC we had to do some laundry(interesting right, just wait). This worked out great because it was raining on and off and we couldn’t do much anyway. As you moms can imagine I was thrilled to be doing laundry on vacation (it is the curse that follows me everywhere).

This time however the Lord blessed me and gave me some awesome entertainment while hauling loads back and forth. Mule Deer, were there to greet me at the door! I had so much fun being so close to them; I snapped a lot of pics. Here are just a few:

God is so good, to give me a break from the same old same old. Plus it was a great experience for the girls. I love His creation and that I’m part of it!

Moving into a new Wordpress Blog about RV Restoration called RVHobby.com

I (Jeff) am officially moving all my how to’s, repairs, restoration and road bumps about my RV and popup tent trailer over to my own blog.  I am calling it RVHobby (www.RVHobby.com).  I have invaded my wonderful wife’s Home School Blog too much and have too many people visiting this blog wanting to learn or read about motorhome updates and upgrades and the like.

My new site has multiple contributing authors who own an renovate their own RV’s (motorhomes), pull trailers, tent trailers and anything else you can camp, travel or vacation in.  I will continue to post my progress and updates on the current projects like the 1984 Coleman pop-up tent trailer and the 1982 Class C Fleetwood Jamboree Motorhome.

This will be my last RV post here on HomeSchoolFamily and I hope all you homeschool moms and dads enjoy our HomeSchool Family website.  Oh, and if you are at all remotely interesting in RVing, come on over to RVHobby.com and pick up a few tips and tricks. 

See you around.

Grand Canyon part 1

On our way to the Grand Canyon we started our first lapbook ever. Here ‘s our first projects (used “In the Hands of a Child” pack). -

We made the vocabulary pocket and started with some of the first vocabulary words: 

( my hand writing is awful because the ride was very bumpy )

Then we talked about Noah and the flood and how it was the cause of the Grand Canyon,  then they did their LB project:

 Ark opens up and has this inside:

The first place we visited late that Friday afternoon was the Desert View Tower at the easternmost end of the National Park. It was a very windy and cold day but the view was still wonderful. The girls enjoyed climbing to the top of the tower.

Girls on the lookout deck of tower:

Jeff and the kids:

Girls and I:

Rain’s a comin’:

When it started to look stormy and the shops were closing we had a race back to the RV, ( the girls won ). We warmed up with some hot coco then ate our Mac & Cheese dinner  ( end of the first day).

First Tooth

P lost her first tooth! She couldn’t wait to get her picture taken without it. The one right next to it will be following soon. My first born baby is growing up so fast . Sometimes I wish I could make time stand still. I do enjoy every age so much though, and love to see them maturing. Does anyone know of a way I can have both?