Doings

We had a blast this week! Monday Philip tilled my garden and got it ready to plant. I started building my asparagus bed with the boys' help....they LOVE using power tools. Allan drilled a hole through a stick with the cordless drill and went around using it as a propeller! It rained that night so that stopped work.

Tuesday and Wednesday we babysat a little two year old girl and the boys just loved it...we didn't get much done but they loved it.

Thursday and Friday (and Saturday) was the Midwest Homeschool Convention here in Cincinnati. If you're a homeschooler it's a "must". It has fast become the biggest homeschool convention in North America. I was fighting horrible allergies that gave me a terrible sinus headache and so I only went to two sessions on Thursday.

The first was by Doug Philips of Vision Forum on "Moments Small and Large which Define Christian Parenthood". He was challenging parents to recognize those things which define what our family is going to look like. Point number one was, "Recognizing the nobility of the commonplace". As a mother of boys who sometimes sighs at all the noise and dirt there was a lot of needed encouragement and challenges in that session.

The second session I went to on Thursday was "The Foundations of Classical Education" by Leigh Bortin. I was expecting something different and it turned out I already knew 90% of what was presented.

Friday morning I was able to get in on Kathie Morrissey on "Managing Multi-Level Teaching". I learned from previous years that this mother of eight is an excellent speaker and she knows where to go for excellent resources. I purchased several of her child-training resources last year (partcularly in the area of character building) that have been invaluable! That was an excellent session with no sitting or standing room left!

I wanted to spend time going through the exhibit hall but even after 3 hours I didn't get to see everything. I usually go, get overwhelmed, and after three weeks once everything has calmed down in my mind I have several ideas that I run with for the following year.

Philip was able to join me for Doug Philips' session on "The Family Table" and we invested in Vision Forum's DVD set on Discipling your family. We're in the process of watching Tedd Tripp's "Shepherding a Child's Heart" and so it will be a little while before we start this new study.

After going through the vendor hall with Philip and stopping to talk to a fellow BJU friend, Champ Thornton, we decided to call it quits.

Upon arriving home we found that Daniel had developed a very high fever and he stayed very sick until about 2:00 this morning.

Yesterday I planted my two blackberry and red raspberry bushes behind the house (we had another snake in the yard this week! Ughhhhh....I wish there were some way to get rid of them other than traps!). Our church was having a 15th anniversary celebration for our pastor and his wife (that's how long they've been pastoring our church) and I was responsible for cooking the 50 lbs of pork loin. We had six crock pots and one large roaster all going! Typically I put the pork loin in my crock pot with 1/2 can of pineapple and the seasoning and then I cook it for 24 hours. But my crockpot must be slow because at 2:00 this morning when I got up to check on all of them only mine and one other wasn't finished. In fact one of the crock pots had almost gone dry. So that left the meat over done instead of soft and dry instead of moist. That was a huge disappointment. I never realized crock pots vary so much...live and learn.

I had to stay home with Daniel this morning since he hadn't been fever free for more than a few hours. He was pretty lethargic still this morning but towards the end of the day started acting his normal self.

This past Wednesday was Allan's birth day but we didn't celebrate because of everything else going on. Tomorrow is going to be his big day! He wants tuna salad sandwiches, chips and pickles for his birthday meal (ughhhh!!!). I'll make his cake tomorrow...it's not going to be anything like he asked for because what he wanted is impossible to make! Philip had promised him several months ago that he'd take Allan out for breakfast on his birthday. That was so special for Allan and they had a high time.
That was our week! Now I'm going to call it a day and gear up for the next one :o) It promises to be full of celebrating, garden planting and hopefully I can plant my blueberry bushes and apple trees this week. We into urban agriculture! I told Philip all we need is a flock of chickens out back!