Deer Sightings

Karl, what are your thoughts again on the boundary fence?
Actually, right now,

we do not mind as they are eating the vines and grasses we can not get to

due to the high water table and the last few weeks of down pours.
They are pretty to look at as long as they stay away from my fruit trees!!!

Learning Moments From Mono

Well, I have learned a few things from my bout with Mononucleosis. First, I can do nothing without God. He can take it all away in a flash. Second, how I got to this point? This one is a little hard for non-military/non-homeschooling folks to understand.


When we decided I would home school the children it was a gradual building process of work. Kindergarten was about an hour or two of focused work and more interactions with the world, like nature discoveries and book reading. First Grade and a Pre-K was more involved as Isabella was quickly excelling and showing signs to want to learn to read. This required more individual focus and lots of book reading, but actual schooling was two to two and half hours. Second/Third Grade and Official Kindergarten/First Grade was a little more focused work, but the oral reading was decreasing. Then we moved!


We had been pretty settled in the house when we began the homeschooling journey. Yes, we did some projects, but they were added in slowly and we did not try to kill ourselves over it. The basement had been built and our conversion of living room to dining room was a Summer project. The garden was part of our Kindergarten going into First Grade science curriculum. But it was not moving to another state into a new home on acres of land.


The children had been slowly building their activities also. First with swimming, adding soccer, gymnastics, ballet, tap, and cub scouts one at a time. The Aquarium and Seaport activities were part of our schooling programs. Karl and I slowly added to our church responsibilities from assistant teacher/nursery to Director of Religious Education and Confirmation Teacher. Then we moved!


I made the mistake of trying to pretend to my family that I could make our transition as painless as possible. I tried to overlook the obvious fact of our lives, we are a military family and we do move around. I wanted the children to not miss out on their activities that brought normalcy to their otherwise hectic life as military children. I tried to pretend we could get the house the way we wanted it within an unreasonable amount of time as long as I just worked a little harder and faster. I tired to live a double life of Farm Girl and Suburban Socialite by trying to make them both perfect. The Farm Girl by tackling the land and creating the dream we wished for while looking at the plot before we moved. I wanted to make it the picture in our minds within a couple of years so we could enjoy it. The Suburban Socialite by keeping the children in all their activities like soccer, choir, scouts, piano, etc. Karl and I resumed our church duties by tackling Sixth Grade Religious Education teaching responsibilities. I never took the time to just be and take it all in. I was moving faster than I could keep up. I was exhausted and landed myself in the Emergency Room. That was the breaking point!


I knew I could no longer keep up this ridiculous pace and live to enjoy it. Time was passing us by with memories of me being too tired to enjoy the moments. This was not going to work. All projects came to a stop. Luckily for the children their activities were slowing down for Summer Break, and their schooling was slowing down for a short break also. (We are taking all of July off.) I began to return to being me again. I was resting more, catching up on books I wanted to read, remembering what snuggling with the children on the sofa was all about. We found our way back to the fun of schooling instead of dealing with a check off list.


The garden is not going to happen this year. I missed the best planting window and Chester is still showering us with lovely farm gifts of fresh chicken eggs, fresh lettuces, cabbage, broccoli, and promises of tomatoes, sweet peppers, and green beans. The zucchini and squash might be a little slimmer this year as the long rains have caused some fungal disease on several plants. Chester only wants to share the joys of his garden and receive a few jars of my tomato sauce. His Step Children want the salsa. I think the lack of garden might push me to the Amish Markets this summer for fresh produce. I wanted to get to it last year, but time got away. I will only be harvesting lavender, onions, and garlic this year. I might get a few pots of herbs for my Birthday but that is about it.

As for projects, I have scaled down. Karl and I have something in works, but even that project got scaled down. We will be tackling the play structure but leaving out the patio/deck/retaining walls/planting beds of the rear of the house. We expect the project to take up the majority of the Summer working days. Karl is taking a week off plus an extra long weekend during July for working on the project and helping the children with a Summer Camp. The play structure needs to be built as we are a year behind on this promise to the children. The design details include a fort which will double as a camping space to accommodate four to five sleeping bags. It will include two swings, a 10 foot slide, climbing wall, lookout tower and sand pit. All of this is going to be placed near the trees to create a wilderness creative play space. I will be helping Karl as best I can, but when my body says take a nap, I need to listen. Several friends have volunteered their husbands to help Karl also. It will be nice when completed. The space will be a great escape for the children when life throws us curve balls to deal with.


As for the military mentality of hurry up so you can enjoy it. We do not plan on moving anymore. We have lots of years to visit the museums of DC, Mount Vernon, Monticello, and more. We really can not do anything with the largest amount of land until we have a the pond dug in order to drain the "bogginess" off the areas so we can get to the rest of the land. We tried to walk out to the back part of the land to see the boundary markers and stepped calf high deep in water and muck. This is going to require a contractor and a backhoe. So this huge project, upwards of a several thousand dollars, will be put off for minimally a year if not more. Karl says he will clear me a space in the vicinity of the future barn for next year's garden. It will be a large temporary space until the backhoe comes but near enough to the house and play structure for easy access.

Let's Play "I Spy"!

While wandering around on the walkway to the front door, something caught my eye!

This little Spruce tree is only three feet tall, but what is that nestled into the branches?

Looks like Mother Bird has found something useful for my straw mulch. I did not dare get any closer but used the zoom on the camera.

I showed the children the nature find and they were all excited. They have told everyone! However, by Sunday, Father's Day, we had to discover who the nest belonged to. I pulled out a Bird Identification Book and we began to eliminated them one at a time. Finally we figured it out!

The Chipping Sparrow!

This highly useful bird dines almost exclusively on insects with some seed to round out the diet. This is good as I want the insect population to go down so I do not have to send Karl out to kill any more of these.....

Karl is talking up the idea of Guinea Hens a lot more lately, especially after his camping trip with the kiddos last weekend. The children had 16 ticks removed before coming home and I removed six more off Isabella, one off Anton and three off Karl. My only hesitation is trying to not over load myself again. Having the dogs is a little easier to deal with when we want to get away than farm animals. We can either take the dogs to a kennel or bring them with us. Farm animals require someone coming twice daily to take care of them. We might be able to get the neighbor kids across the way as they are responsible teenagers, but I am hesitant never the less. Maybe after I get those tree guards on the fruit trees and our next project completed?

I might be able to put it off till next Spring?

Donations of Love

Sometimes pictures are better than words!

We told Isabella she could get her hair cut anyway she wanted since First Communion had passed. She declared Mary Clair and herself would be having a race to see who's hair would grow the fastest. She wished to cut it just above her shoulders. When I called the stylist who regularly cuts Mary Claire's hair, she asked how long was it. She wondered if Isabella would be interested in donating the hair to Locks of Love. I explained the situation to her and Isabella was all for it even though it meant cutting the hair a little shorter than she had initially wanted.

After the initial cut, she got to have her hair shampooed like the big girls and then cut to shape. She asked if she could sit under the big dryers too!

The stylist was game and I searched for a garden magazine for her to look at while I got my hair cut and styled. She likes her new shorter length and thinks it might reduce the ticks!

Guess What We Found?

After two days of torrential down pours and high winds, we had a surprise in out garage.


The garage had been left open for different hours during the course of the time the storms started for various reasons, like taking the dogs out and leaving for work an hour later, etc.


The children had taken the dogs out while I was getting our picnic lunch together for a park outing when they began beating on the front door. They unusually take the dogs out via the garage. Isabella exclaimed there was an anteater in the garage! Not thinking about her comment, I said "Good, it will eat the ants!" When I returned to our lunch preps, I had a second to register what she had said and replied that anteaters live in Africa. Finally we had our things ready and I sent the children to the garage to get into the truck. When I reached the truck, I remembered about the anteater. Anton realized I was thinking about this and stated it was under the wheelbarrow. I carefully walked in that direction and saw a long pointed tail and a flat shell! I shook my head and murmured to the turtle, you will have to wait till I can get back.

When we returned this is what I saw.

So for all the friends who have sent me pictures of their baby raccoons or mice, here is my unnatural run in with nature!

I called Donna and asked if her son, 14, could come over when he returned from school to help me out with an animal problem. Doug scooped up the turtle with a big shovel and dumped it into a big cardboard box. Later I asked Tim what his son did with the turtle. Doug had let it go about a mile from our house near a creek inlet way behind his house, but a half hour later, Tim saw the snapping turtle walking, pretty fast for a turtle, across his yard towards the swamp. So, we might have another run in with this turtle at another date.

Schubert Singers

Isabella's first performance with the Schubert Singers was beautiful. Isabella auditioned for the choral group last February and was accepted as the youngest performer in the group. The age range is 7 through 12 with both boys and girls. The groups are divided between Alto/Tenor, First Sopranos and Second Sopranos. Isabella is a Second Soprano.

The girls had similar cream colored tea length dresses with matching bolero capes and a wreath of red roses in their hair. The boys performance outfit with a navy blue three piece suit. They looked and sounded wonderful.

Isabella's soccer season

Isabella's age group has a totally different view to soccer. In the younger group they do not keep score and play without a goalie. However, the children know who wins. It is more for teaching skills and having fun!

Isabella has spent the majority of the season fighting how she knows the game is suppose to be played, and playing how this age group plays. She wants to play defense, but we managed to get her moving by the last few games.

Even to the point of being forward and scoring! I am not trying to put more glory on being forward, enough parents do that,

I just wanted her to play all the positions so she could see she can!

The Dragon's coach will not be at the final game, Coach Missy the assistant will be there. But Coach Vince wanted to give the players their trophies, so her end of season party was held before the end of season.

It was a lovely day, even if it was terribly hot.

Anton's Last Game for Spring 2009

Anton's team did well, they ranked second for the season. The team ranked first was exceptional with no losses. The Jaguars were actually annihilated the first match with the Lions but came back and tied the second time around. The last game was held at 9 in the morning, however, it was already very hot and humid!

He played mid-field for a small portion of the game,

but then returned to his favored defender position.

Once when the goalie left the box,

Anton was the "man" because the goalie lost control of the ball.

Anton ran into the box and prevented a goal attempt.

As soon as he left the field, he was trying to hydrate as quickly as possible.

It was a good season but now Anton moves up. In many ways I am feeling very positive about this. Anton joined a team in which over half of the boys had been playing soccer with this coach for several years. The coach knew these boys strengths and weaknesses.

Anton being a more resevered boy, did not try to draw a lot of attention to himself,

at least not in the ways of the other boys.

The coach did not know until the last month how agile Anton can be with his dribbling and shielding. Anton's confidence is in his defending, the position he has played for three years, he does not trust himself in the game to move to other positions. This coach really had his hands full with the behavior of some of the boys which made skill learning difficult. With moving up into the higher age bracket, Anton will see a new coach who has no preconceived expectations.

The new coach should be less accommodating to behavior issues

as older boys would be expected to be there to practice or leave.

Karl and Anton Move Up!

Anton started the evening as a Bear Scout, looking all cute and slightly boyish.

Then he had to grow up on us in the matter of an hour!

Anton is now a Webelo!
Karl being the Den Leader will also be moving up with his boys.

They are very excited and look forward to the challenges ahead.

The Joys of Motherhood

This Mother's Day, I was blessed to have my mother here with me. She stayed on after the First Communion in order for me to rest and get better. The children, actually Isabella, had been planning their Mother's Day Morning for nearly a month. Isabella declared Daddy, Anton, Amy (my younger sister) and herself would make breakfast in bed for me and my mother. After a rummaging around, the children tickled with delight, brought in a tray with almond waffles with strawberries on top, scrambled eggs and orange juice. They told me latter that Daddy carried the try up the stairs because they were afraid of spilling it. I have to say, I was a bit lonely all alone in my room. My mother had gotten downstairs to enjoy her breakfast with everyone else.

Then my sister and Dad left to return home. Karl got the children ready and off they went to the Natural History Museum in DC for the Day. I was given specific orders to rest. I spend the majority of the day on the couch reading and talking with my mother. It was a Mother's Day like I never had before.

Isabella's First Communion - Part 3

My friend, Laura, made Isabella's cake. She called asking me what she could do and I replied, the cake. I was going to break down and buy one since energy and time were not in my favor. I am glad Laura made her cake, it was not only beautiful but full of love. She made it just as Isabella asked, 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 white with flowers.

After a light lunch of ham, potato salad, fruits, veggie tray, and chips, we let her open her gifts.

Then the children played. Here Isabella and Mary Claire are driving off in the gator.
When will they realize they are getting too big for the toy version?

The moment of truth came the next time we attended mass. Isabella out of habit stood and crossed her arms. Then her eyes got all aglow and she moved her arms into her "prayer hands" with a bright smile across her face.

Isabella's First Communion - Part 2

Isabella's ensemble was a combination of several elements. The veil she wore was borrowed from our closest family friends here, the pearls were my great grandmother Isabelle's, and the ringlet curls were traditional of all of my mother's girls on First Communion. She felt like she was walking on clouds the whole day.

As for the rules set by the church, no photos could be taken during the ceremony. A professional photographer was the only one allowed to take during the ceremony. We could take pictures during the processional, recessional and after the ceremony.

After the pictures from downstairs, we were able to get a few with our family friends (here is Olivia and Matthew) who came to support Isabella and her day. She really had been looking forward to the day she could participate in the communion ceremony.

Oh, I feel I need to let everyone know who feels the need to pre-arrange marriages with their son and Isabella, Matthew's mom has joined the list. However, Matthew is also Anton's best friend and Matthew's sister, Mary Claire, is Isabella's best friend. Mary Claire was not at the ceremony because of soccer but comes to the party. Yes, Laura and I joke about it, but it would be a nice match. Alas, Isabella is also thinking about becoming a missionary sister in order to "take care of all of Jesus' lost children". These are her words not mine.

Isabella's First Communion - Part 1

The second weekend in May, Isabella had her big day in the church, her First Holy Communion. I had always felt I should make Isabella's dress for her due to my sewing background. However, once the diagnoses of Mono, friends were calling to offer their daughter's dresses so as not to over stress my already weak system. My mother also sent mine and my sisters' dresses. Isabella tried on the dresses, and it literally made me feel like dirt since the things she liked about the ones that actually fit were part of the dress I was making. I tried to be joyful for Isabella, but my heart was breaking as I wanted her to have her own dress if she could not fit into a family dress. So I tried my best to complete the dress. I was in tears the night before because I just could not get it done. My brain and hands were not working right. My mother then jumped in and finished the hem and rolled Isabella's hair so it would be in ringlet curls. I was exhausted but promised everyone once the dress was completed, I would stop and rest to heal.

Her day was filled with pictures and well wishes.

My sister, Amy, who is Isabella's Godmother, came in along with my parents. They had spend the days before touring the Capitol and the Shrine.

Finally we got to the church without ruining the dress!

Soon it was time to meet up with her friends and line up for the procession.

The girls all looked beautiful!

It was hard to keep them from twirling their dresses

and prancing like princesses.