Please pray for Stellan!

Tomorrow morning, a dear bloggy friend, MckMama, will be delivering her 4th baby (in 4 years, no less) who is baby Stellan. She indeed is very blessed to have had a child each year for the last 4 years. Well, baby Stellan needs some prayers, you see, he has an enlarged heart, and about 13 weeks ago, his parents were told that he would surely die. Everything seems to have corrected itself, besides the enlarged heart. So if you are reading this, please say a little prayer for Stellan.

Thanks ;)

Link to MckMama's Blog: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

A small thought for today!

This is not an original quote. I found this on Michele's Blog: Family Centered Living. Isn't it the most profound quote? How important for us all to remember it. So true... So true!


“I take a deep breath and remember: We’re only lost when we’re outside The Story. We’re only angst-ridden when we’ve lost our place in God’s grand narrative. We’re only unsteady when we’ve slipped from the Word and into the whirl.“

It's been a really crazy week. Sorry I haven't posted lately. I swear we have been running around all week. I will try to post on it later.

Our Wonderful Little Nature Study Group

I have to say that this year has definitely been our best year homeschooling thus far. Partially due to the fact that we have formed (together with two other area families) a wonderful nature study group. Charlotte Mason recommended nature study to her students, and now I know why. My children are so much more in touch with their natural surroundings now, than I ever was as a child. We have been taking weekly nature walks with our group in an area park near our home. There are many different paths (mowed) for the children to explore their natural surroundings without the risk of poison ivy, snake bite, etc... We meet every Friday morning at 10 a.m. What a wonderful experience for our children.


At the end of our daily excursion, we sometimes do a nature craft, and most often have a picnic.

In our daily studies, we have been going through the book Pocketful of Pincones by Karen Andreola. What a wonderful example she has set for us each day, and the children are loving drawing in their nature notebooks, and learning the scientific names for plants and animals. After we finish this book, which should take us through the year, we will be starting Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study. This will probably take us through the next several years, as it is over 800 pages. I do believe my children will be richer in knowledge for learning about their world in this fashion. I am so glad that I have the opportunity to give this wonderful gift to them.

PS... If you are interested in learning more about Anna Botsford Comstock, there is a wonderful movie that we found at the public library called The Girl of the Limberlost that is all about her life as a child, and her love of nature.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

To the most wonderful Dad in the whole world, (I am the luckiest-- or I should say WE are the luckiest) Happy Birthday!
Love you Dad, more than words could ever express!
Yes, he was about 5 or 6 at one point in time. Doesn't Jennifer's David look just like him in this photo?
What a handsome young man! It's no wonder our Mom fell in love with him.
This one too... Aren't we lucky? You Bet!!!

Ready, Set, School...

Before we started the 2008-2009 school year, I talked my sweet husband into helping me paint our kitchen/dining area. So on a whim, on a Sunday afternoon, we ran to Walmart, had the wallpaper border scanned into their computer to come up with the perfect color. We REALLY like it.
Truthseeker and Thumbody working on their papers for the first day of school.
New maps for our school wall.
Plus all our old stuff...
Our schedule and our school cabinet.
Houston we have a problem... Our floor no longer matches. That is definitely next, along with the counter top that no longer matches.
More Learning fun stuff. Our first day of school was September 2.

Our Vacation-- Day 3, Part 2

After we left the Cozy Dog Drive-In, we decided to go to the Illinois State Museum. We had a slight problem finding it however, as it was smack dab downtown. We looked at the map, and parked in a lot, that looked as if it was somewhat close to the Museum. Well, we walked, and we walked, we passed the State Capital, we passed the IRS building, we passed all sorts of things, but no museum. After about 10 blocks, we asked someone where it was. Only 5 blocks ahead they said. We didn't tell them that we had already walked 10 blocks. Did I say that it was 98 degrees out? It was, but we finally made it there. Whew!!!

A nice photo of the State Capital building, while on our long walk to the museum.

Truthseeker and I in the exploration room, at the Illinois State Museum.
Truthseeker looks at some different kinds of fish that are native to Illinois.

The boys play an interactive educational video game about sharks.

The highlight of the afternoon was going up and down the escalators.
Truthseeker stands in front of an 1980's "teen" bedroom in the Journey through Time section of the museum. I pointed out quite a few things that reminded me of my "teenage" bedroom. I think this person was a bit younger than me though, because a lot of the music tapes were popular when I was in college. Oh well, it was neat for him to see, anyway. I don't recall my bedroom being that messy though. Was yours?
Skaterboy is grinding corn into cornmeal the old fashioned way in the Exploration section of the museum. There were a lot of areas in this particular museum where photographs were prohibited. I kept thinking about Night At The Museum, as we walked through here. I don't ever think I will look at a museum in the same way, after seeing that movie. We loved it!
When we returned home, we had a new friend waiting for us. Earlier in the week we had went for a walk down our street to pick wildflowers near the woods. We found a little caterpillar crawling down the middle of the road. I picked it up, and thought.... hmmmm... nature study project, we'll see if we can hatch a butterfly from this little critter. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take, but I was willing to give it a try. So we put the little caterpillar in a large jar with some of the wildflowers that we picked in there, and a tiny bit of water. Thank goodness there was some nettle in with the flowers, because the caterpillar loved them, and started munching right away on them. A few hours later, we noticed that our caterpillar was hanging in a "J". I knew that soon it would be turning itself into a chrysalis, which by morning it had formed. Imagine how surprised we were when we returned home this day, and found the caterpillar hatched (so quickly), into a beautiful butterfly. The wings were dry, and it was ready to be let free. So we said goodbye, and opened the window, and away it flew.

We identified this butterfly as a Common Buckeye. Here is some more interesting facts regarding this butterfly:

Buckeye Butterfly

Buckeye Chrysalis

Buckeye (Junonia coenia)

Where do they live?

- Illinois State Map

- National Map

Buckeye's year-round range includes Mexico, the Caribbean and extreme southern parts of the US. During Warmer months, Buckeyes migrate northward to the midwest, sometimes as far as southern Canada.

What do they eat?

Buckeye Caterpillars eat Plantain(above), Snapdragon and Toadflax.

What is their habitat?

Buckeyes prefer fields, dunes and other open areas with flowers, especially where the vegetation is short.

Our Vacation -- Day 3

Sorry I have been MIA for awhile. We started school last Tuesday, and ever since we have been busy little beavers around here. We are also busy getting ready for the Lincoln Railsplitter Festival this weekend, and getting over a bout with the flu. Glad to be back though. Hope you didn't miss me too much. Well, I wanted to continue posting about our fabulous educational vacation we took this past August. So I will continue there. After I am finished, in a few days or so, I will catch everyone up to what we are currently doing. Our third day of vacation, we took everyone to the Lincoln Mansion, where he lived as a lawyer right before his presidency.


Here is an actual photo of his home. The Lincoln's never sold this home when they moved to Washington, because they had fully intended on moving back here, after his presidency terms ended. Unfortunately, you all know the story, and because of the tragedy and loss of the president and his sons, they never returned to their home in Springfield. Mrs. Lincoln was declared insane soon after her husband died, and sent to live in an insane asylum the rest of her life.
This is not a picture of where Abraham Lincoln took his daily BM. No, I would never take a photo like that. I wonder how many decisions and speeches were thought up, while on this very throne?

Skaterboy and Thumbody, outside the Lincoln Manson, waiting for the tour to begin.

Truthseeker and Thumbody chatting as they walked along the wooden sidewalks that surrounded Abe Lincoln's neighborhood.
Here is a picture of my grandma reading a sign on a cart that we believe to be a slave wagon.
Here is a parade float, advertising Lincoln's run for president. I think it's pretty good, considering the times. A log cabin with Lincoln's picture on it. Not at all like the floats of today, huh..

After our tour of Lincoln's home, we drove across town to the Cozy Dog Drive-in. The restaurant has been around since the 40's, and supposedly invented the first corn dog. Truthseeker stands in front of the original sign. Thumbody enjoying his meal at the Cozy Dog Drive-in. One thing we found to be an extreme treat was that they had cherry and vanilla syrup that you could add to your soda pop.


Truthseeker eating his Cozy Dog. The Cozy Dog original menu. Pretty neat, huh? The restaurant sits on the old Route 66. So it was a pretty hopping place back in it's hay day. Tomorrow I will continue our saga of vacation day 3. It was a busy day, and continued our journey after lunch. So I will post that tomorrow.

Our Vacation -- Day 2

Day 2 of our vacation was spent at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL. We all had a wonderful time. My photos go sort of backwards, as I posted them somewhat out of order. Major highlights from the trip: 1) The White House tour was spectacular, as was the Log Cabin Home of Abraham Lincoln, when he was a boy. Very cool! We saw the BEST educational (fun) and interesting show there, called: The Ghost in The Library. No words can describe how very cool it was. You just have to see it for your self to believe it. There was another show, not quite as neat as the first one, but very informative and action packed (in 4D) called: Through The Eyes of a President, and Mary's Attic was enjoyed by us all.

Truthseeker and Mom (myself), play dress-up in Mary's Attic. Can you guess who Truthseeker is dressed up as?
Skaterboy is dressed as a young Abe Lincoln, in his early years at New Salem.
Truthseeker and Thumbody with their souvenirs from the day
Truthseeker wanted a spy glass, and Skaterboy wanted this very cool t-shirt. Abe with an I-pod, what's next?
Thumbody LOVED the Lincoln's House Play set in Mary's Attic. Thumbody enjoyed playing and pretending for a VERY long time with the Lincoln family dolls inside.
A family photo with the Lincoln Family.
All of us standing in front of the Lincoln family. I realized that we matched the family logistics on the wall, and just had to have a picture taken. Mom, Dad, and 3 boys. Sadly only 1 of their children survived. They actually led very tragic lives. Mary was declared mentally insane by her eldest son Robert, not long after Abraham was assassinated. She had lost 3 children, one at their home in Springfield, when Abe was a lawyer, one in the white house, and one not long after Abraham was assassinated. He almost made it to adulthood. All children died of closely related symptoms. Very sad indeed.

Truthseeker dressed up in an Abraham mask, and Yankee coat.
My grandma dressed up in period clothing. As you can see we all had fun dressing up in Mary's Attic.
Thumbody in a confederate coat. We don't have any other photos of the museum, because in most areas photography is prohibited. It is so worth the minimal cost to go. So... if you ever get to Springfield, IL. You should check it out!

Vacation --Day 1... New Salem, IL

On the first day of our vacation this year we visited New Salem, IL. Home of Abraham Lincoln, in his younger years. He came to this town on a flat boat, and after a time decided to stay for awhile, open a mercantile store, which by the way, went bust. He did some land surveying in this town, as well, but lost his surveying equipment, to pay off debts he owed from his store. These items were auctioned off, but the high bidder ended up giving the tools back to Abe as he felt he was a respectable citizen of the community, and probably felt a little sorry for him. Abe was respected in New Salem, and decided to become a lawyer. Abe was pretty much self educated, and could be found around town with his nose in a book, sitting under a tree, more than not. Here is our tour of New Salem.
Here is the old fashioned lumber mill, that is on the same waterway, that Abe Lincoln arrived in his flat boat on. The kids are taking turns turning the water wheel. Much of the water is dried up, from lack of rain.
117 steps each way. Not bad going down. Knocks the breath out of you coming back up.
Truthseeker and Thumbody, sitting at a desk in the old schoolhouse/church.
Truthseeker and my Grandma, resting on a bench. You can see a few log houses in the background. The complete town is built up around these log cabins standing where the originals stood, so many years ago. I would say that there are at least 12 log cabin plantations, 2 general mercantiles, a post office, drs office, tavern (which by the way was a B&B back then.) No alcohol was served in them. There were many gardens in each homestead. Grandma asked one of the workers, what some of the plants were. The lady said that many of the plants in the gardens are from pioneer seeds. We were wondering whether or not they used the garden vegetables or let them turn to seed. Too bad they don't have a farmer's market stand set up by the gift shop. You would think that it would provide them with more income.
More resting pictures by a log cabin. We did a lot of walking that day.
This is the teacher's desk that goes with the student's desk above. There was enough room for about 10 students tops. It was also their church. I can't imagine fitting more than 20 people in there. But they must have. The date above the fireplace reads: Sept. 12, 1912.
One of the rebuilt pioneer homes. The CCC's rebuilt New Salem right before WWII. My grandma told me that a couple of her brothers were in the CCC's. Not in Illinois though.
Truthseeker on a statue of Abe Lincoln. It was a fun day. Make sure you check out tomorrow's post for Day 2 of our vacation. After our very long and hot tour of New Salem, my Grandma treated us all to an ice cream cone in the gift shop. I picked coconut/pecan. Oh my, was it good! It really cooled us off. Thanks Grandma!