At eleven and twelve years old our boys can swing to both sides of the emotional spectrum in a heart beat. After spending Friday afternoon playing with their friend (Dylan) we had some chores for them to do on Saturday. “Woe is me”, was the unified outcry. “You’re always taking our fun away from us,” […]
A Very Large Pond
The flooding of the lower acreage is passé. We expect it when we have many days of rain. We have had MANY days of CONSTANT rain. Here is what the field looked like on Saturday. Notice that field fence by the canoe? That is the fencing Michael and I replaced in December. It sits on […]
How to Teach an Old Dog a New Trick
Michael put a doggy door in Luke’s door. Luke’s bedroom, which is in the garage, was very damp. Between the rain and the fog the air had a lot of humidity in it. Combined with Luke getting wet and bringing that wetness into the room, it was WET, all the time. Michael also trimmed up […]
A Joyful Visit
My sister and my two nieces came down New Year’s Day to stay the night. When we lived in Milwaukie we were minutes from all of my family. I miss them so much. I thought I would be able to talk on the phone to make up for it but life is so busy especially […]
Fun Additions at the Barn
For Christmas we got the boys a bunch of goose decoys. They want to hunt everything but we have limited it to Canada Geese. We surprised them Christmas morning with a field of geese (decoys). It was pretty funny. They thought they were real and told us to all hide so we didn’t scare them […]
Homeschool Grading
We have homeschooled our boys now for eight years. They are in the fifth and sixth grades and this year and it is our first year of grading. The only things we graded prior to this year were spelling tests and math. However, those grades were not compiled anywhere nor kept. If they missed a […]
December Happenings
Here is a little update of just a few things that have been going on so far in December. We found a great Christmas tree farm just ten minutes from our home. They had a lot of nice trees from which to choose. We wanted a smaller tree than we normally have. This being our […]
Nicholas Turns Eleven
My baby is 11 years old! Time sure flies when kids enter the picture. As usual we celebrated his birthday with a family celebration. You might remember his “half birthday” party with his new and old friends this summer. For this party his relatives from the Portland area came down to help him celebrate. His […]
AWANA Night
Every Thursday night during the school year for the past nine years our boys have attended AWANA at our church. AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15). It is kind of like the Christian version of scouts. The kids memorize Bible verses and study scripture. They get tested and earn badges […]
Animals, Antics and Analogies
I find it enjoyable to notice things on our farm. As the seasons change so does the landscape, birds and wildlife. During summer the the barn swallows reigned supreme. A doe and her spotted fawns could be seen in the lower acreage in the early morning hours. The bull frogs lulled us to sleep each […]
Homeschool
As a homeschooling family we have a lot of flexibility with how and where we do school. In our previous home we mostly did school at the kitchen table and on the sofa. In our new home we do school all over the house. Mostly we do it at that same kitchen table which is […]
A Play Date
We are taking this week off of school. We drove up to Wilsonville today and picked up Nate. He is their favorite friend and they were going to get to spend the whole day together. The excitement was palpable. Nate actually woke up at 4:00 a.m. asking his mom if it was time for me […]