Christmas 2020

A beautiful Christmas Morning! It is a glorious season. Thank you Jesus!

I got this beautiful creation for Laura!

Yes, it's one of Spencer's legs. Lilly's Spring lamb.

 

Thanksgiving!

 What a nice day this was!

Going to let pictures say it for me.

Cooke Kids!

 These kids are so special! I love these pictures! 

It has been a long year with Covid complicating travel and time with family. I missed going to Texas last Spring, and I wasn't going to miss out on the chance to see them in the fall. Lilly and I packed up school and headed down to Texas in November. It was still nice weather there and we were able to do some really fun stuff! The virus didn't keep us from hiking, 

and watching movies and playing games. 

Paul was just finishing up his "American Road Trip" and he met us at Laura's which was really fun. We were abel to caravan home!

Laura sent me pictures that  she took of the kids around Christmas. 

I can't wait for Summer!! We are going to do a trip out West! That will be amazing!!

The mask sweat shop

Picnic on the Blanco "river" which in the fall, is the Blanco riverbed.

Can't wait to get on the road again.

October Beauty!

 Photos from the end of the Summer:

Lilly and Rumple

Paul Hits The Road!

 Paul is off on an awesome adventure!!

He is going to spend the next few months driving his van across the country, visiting friends and family from all over the United States.

He starts in Pennsylvania and then heads to Ohio to hang out with Uncle Steve and Aunt Terry. Then he will drive through South Dakota and on through the "middle states". He will be in Washington with Dad and the Uncles and the Davises for a couple of weeks. His friend Frankie will be flying out to visit and they will camp and tour. He will also be able to stay with Tim's sister Jordan for a while in Olympia, WA.

Here are pictures from the "Bon Voyage" party that his friends threw for him!

Maria and Austin

 Our dear friends, the Hoppels welcomed a new son into the family! 

Maria was married to Austin Howsare today and it was just a beautiful day all the way around!

We were so blessed to be able to join them, Covid couldn't keep us away. We have been waiting for this for so long!

Good-by Old Tree

 So we had to say good-by to a dear old friend today.

The huge tree in the backyard has been dying for as long as we have lived here and it was time to finally lay it to rest. We hired a great company out of Baltimore and they did an amazing job! 

Just so relieved that it is done and isn't "hanging over our heads" anymore.

Isaias- Not the Storm of the Century, But Big Enough!

Well, yesterday we met tropical storm Isaias. It came right up I95 and dumped about 6 inches of rain on our little town. 

We didn't have too much trouble in our neighborhood, although the creek did rise over it's banks as usual. Our sump pump has been dead for a long time, so we had to take the water out manually. I appreciate Isaias showing up in the daylight hours instead of the middle of the night! 

There were tornado warnings all over the place and some damage south of us. After it passed, though the weather was gorgeous, and I took a very nice walk! 

A Long Hot Summer- And That's Good!

A lot has happened since I last posted!

I did NOT end up going to Ohio, for the simple reason that our Governor asked that people not travel out of state, due to the virus, and there are a lot of people attending the course, from all over the country. I would have been there for two weeks, and the potential existed that I could bring the virus home, and then I would have had to quarantine for two weeks!

So that was the reason that I chose not to go, but the reason that I wasn't SUPPOSED to go is that my adventure in homeschooling isn't over.

Lilly's dessert creation

The day after I made the decision to stay home, Nina and I decided that it would be a good idea to pull Lilly from school, and for me to help Nina homeschool her. 

Nina is the driving force in all of this. She has been unhappy with the public school situation since Lilly went to middle school, although there are some good teachers, there is just to much administration to wade through for everything. It is just so cumbersome!

Nina has been choosing curriculum, writing out plans, and getting Lilly pumped!

This is really going to be so good for Lilly's path forward, with the horse, and with all of the things that she will be able to add to her education.

She is riding a new pony, at a new barn. His name is Rumple. 

I think that this is going to be a really good move, a fresh start.

At the old place, everyone knew her from when she was very small, they were all friends and Lilly had to worry about everyone's relationships. 

The new coach only knows what she is seeing, which is a very accomplished rider. I am really impressed with Lilly's ability.

We are going to be going to a co-op once a week, we will be going up to Freedom Hills theraputic riding and volunteering once a week, and she will have the opportunity to focus on things that she is excited about learning!

I am really thrilled to be creating plans and looking at books and designing curriculum again. 

One thing that we will be doing is exploring human history but with the history of the horse along with it.

Horses have been walking with humanity since the beginning of civilization, for the most part. 

I think this is really a great course for us to go through this year. It should keep her interested.

So I learned a lot this week about "Parsley worms". I had never heard of such a thing, but I had a very nice parsley plant outside, and last week I noticed a huge caterpillar, wait, no 10 caterpillars, on the plant. 

Lilly was here, and she googled it and they are, indeed, parsley worms, the larvae of beautiful swallowtail butterflies. 

So the parsley looked like this:

And ended up like this:

Then all of them packed up and headed out to make their chrysalis' elsewhere. I am bummed because I was hoping to watch them change.

Lilly and I have hiked together a few times and she is a serious hiker! 

She and I went up the river last week, and she enjoyed it, so I took her today on one of our group hikes.

We went to Susquehanna State park, and we had quite a nice little group!

It was hot, but we were under the trees, and I loved it!

So that's that for the time being. I'll try to do better at updating....