Dance Recital

Grace had her dance recital this weekend. She did a fantastic job and I kinda think she had a great time too! I wanted to share a few pics.


This first one is of her jazz number. It was "Madagascar Moves" and she was a giraffe. It was her favorite. It was cute and looked really fun for the kids!

The next picture is from her tap dance. It was "Family Vacation" and they just wore swimsuits and coverups. It was cute too.

Her last dance was her ballet and it was by far my favorite. They all looked so pretty and graceful. It was called "Heaven is the Face of a Little Girl".

And of course, every dancer deserves a bouquet of flowers after the show!

Can you guess who in our family chose orange and white flowers? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count!

Critters

We like critters around here. We have several. Not as many as I'd like but still, quite a few. If I had my way we'd add chickens, rabbits, and maybe baby goats. Whitney doesn't share my opinion. Probably because he doesn't want to take care of any more and he assumes he'd be the one to do that. I have the best of intention and the kids and I pretty well take care of what we have but he's right. He'd probably be the one gathering eggs, feeding goats and cleaning rabbit cages. So we are happy with the critters we do have...mostly.


This is Coco. She's my baby. We got her at 6 weeks and she literally believes I'm her mommy. Whitney reminds me that my parents gave her TO THE KIDS for Christmas a couple of years ago.





We currently have eight of these adorable things running around. Two mama cats had kittens within days of each other. These kittens don't seem know which cat is their mother and the mama cats don't seem to mind. It's like a kitty commune. We love having outdoor cats for a reason. We'll get to that later.






Of course, here's Chuckie. Chuckie and Buddy are still alive and well. The kids have also added a third frog to the mix and that's Chuck. Colin is not very original with names it seems.

This is one of the butterflies we raised from caterpillars. It was so fun! I'll have a blog about that whole experience soon.

As you can see, we have cute and cuddly critters, critters that are green and slimy, and flying critters. We like them. The kids learn responsibility and it's just plain fun!

We have them for other reasons than just fun. For example, we got an outside cat shortly after moving into our house five years ago. After seeing a large snake in the driveway we decided a cat was a good idea. Of course the cats have multiplied a bit but we don't mind. We like them. And we've only seen 2 live snakes in the yard in five years. Until today. Grace almost stepped on THIS!

Seems to be about 1 foot and a half long. Whitney just about shot it's head off. Then Colin beat it with an ax handle. Seriously, he did. Whitney says is a copperhead. I sincerely hope he's wrong and that it's just a rat snake. But I'm sure he's not.

This tells us maybe the big cats don't need that second big bowl of food every evening. They need to use their God-given instincts and HUNT and KILL things like SNAKES!


Just sayin'.

Now THIS is summer vacation!

We finished school today. Yippee! Our first homeschooling year is complete and it was great though we are happy to have summer vacay! Well, complete except for grades, filing, and other record-keeping....I guess it's not summer break for me just yet!

I have a few things to blog about our school year...a field trip and the butterflies we raised but today...today was about the beginning of summer vacation in the Chastain house!

Grace had an extra dance practice tonight so that meant a late dinner. While she and her Dad were gone I made dinner and thought I'd make a special dessert to celebrate. I had been talking to Mom and she told me how great a recipe for Chocolate Cobbler had turned out. Yes, a recipe for THE Chocolate Cobbler from Cracker Barrel. I found the recipe here.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/chocolate-cobbler/

I was a bit skeptical but Mom said it was THE one. I had everything on hand and it looked easy. Plus, my kids LOVE anything chocolate so I gave it a try.

First you melt butter in a casserole dish. Butter is good, very good!

Second, you spoon your batter over the melted butter but do not stir!!!

Yes, this picture is of chocolate batter sitting in melted butter. Is anything wrong with that? I think not! Please tell me nothing is wrong with this!

Third, sprinkle sugar and cocoa over the batter/butter. I won't tell you that this step calls for a full cup of sugar and we won't mention the 3/4 cup that's already in the batter.

You're welcome.

Don't stir it!

Last, pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water over dish of butter/batter/sugar. What? Water? That just seemed odd to me. But, I followed the directions. Oh, don't stir it!

And THIS heavenly thing is what came out of the oven. Remember the water? The sugar/cocoa? Well that together makes this delicious, rich fudge sauce. Serve it with vanilla ice cream and, oh my! It was good.

But the kids, they were hesitant to try it. They weren't sure. Chocolate, fudge sauce, and ice cream?? That can't be good. They fought it. We forced them to eat it. They kicked. They screamed. They hated every bite.

(Anyone who knows my kids knows that I'm just kidding.)

As I was spooning out his dessert Colin said "Now THIS is summer vacation!" That statement and their pure joy about such a simple thing....that's a great part of being Mom!

Happy summer vacation to all of you!

Chuckie

This is Chuckie. I posted earlier about Grace and Whitney building a habitat for a tree frog. Grace named the frog Chuckie and since we took these photos, Chuckie now has a roommate named Buddy.

This is the habitat they created. Yes, it is peanut butter jars. We have them everywhere and use them for everything. Right, Mom? Anyway, after a bit of reading, we learned they like/need both water and earth. So, there is water and a sponge on one side. A tunnel connects the two sides. Dirt is on the other side. I think we need to drop some grass seed on the dirt side but we haven't yet. There are plenty of large air hole on the water side.

Grace catches moths to put in the jar to feed them.

I was pretty impressed with their habitat. It took an evening to build and a full day for the glue to dry. Gorilla Glue is an amazing thing. It expands as it dries filling the crack connecting the pipe to the jars. After it was dry it took an hour or so to scrape all the extra glue off. Now, for those of you that know Whitney, I am sure you cannot possible imagine him overdoing it by using WAY TOO MUCH glue, can you? That's what I thought. =)

Oh, and there are little "feet" made of pvc pipe so it doesn't roll around. This is Chuckie and Buddy's habitat not an amusement park ride!

This is how we catch moths. Now, I thought it might be easier to just catch them flying around the outside sights in the evening. I was sorely mistaken! This, another ingenious idea from the hubby, is Grace's moth catcher. It is a bucket with a flashlight in the bottom. And yes, that is a ziploc bag. And YES!!! The moths actually fly into the bag where they are promptly zipped up and taken to Chuckie and Buddy! How smart is that! Not on the moths part of course!

Anyway, we've had a good time with it. Grace is fervently keeping her room clean. She wants to bring Chuckie and Buddy into her room but we told her she has to keep her dresser and bookshelf cleaned off before something else comes in to sit on them. Saturday is the big day when she gets to bring them in off the porch. She's so excited!

Homeschooling

When we began homeschooling, some people were extremely supportive, most people actually. Some were skeptical and some were just curious. We believed and still do that it was the right decision for our family. We believe it is the direction that God had led and we are continuing to follow. Our first year is winding down and I thought I'd give a brief recap. Here is a picture of one day during our first week. We did not buy desks for school, the kids each had an antique desk from grandparents. If we had not had them, we probably would have conducted school around the dining room table.


Sometime our first week or so we did our first art projects. We did straw painting (can you say dizzy??) and my favorite, marble painting!

We have taken field trips. This picture is from the Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna. We took a cave tour and saw cave formations such as stalactites and stalagmites. We even took a short hike but decided we'd return on a cooler day for a longer hike.

This picture is from a field trip to see replicas of the Nina and the Pinta. It was so cool!

We are growing things and learning about it as we grow! We are growing lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, basil, and parsley. We intend to have a garden each year but it always sneaks up on us and we just use pots. Can someone tell time to slow down a bit pretty please? Thanks!


We also currently have 8 butterfly larvae that we are watching and documenting as they grow. I'll have a full post once we have butterflies.

Grace and her Dad are making a habitat for a wild tree frog they caught a couple of days ago. They are everywhere around here at night. We studied them a bit and figured out a good habitat and I'll post pictures of it once it's finished. I think Whitney is having as much fun as Grace with it.

One funny thing...one pot of my lettuce had a few snails (several actually) and I was horrified and grossed out. Grace was thrilled because that is what black beetles eat and she and her friend Jaron were catching them this weekend and...you guessed it...making habitats! So now we don't have to search for beetle food.

Granted, some days we blow off worksheets and handwriting pages and go outside or to the beach. Those days I like to think the kids are still "in school" because they are so much more tuned in to what's around them. (Don't tell them that!) They realize learning occurs out of class now as much as in class. And that my friends, is why we do what we do! :o)

Finally!

I can't tell you how long I have planned to blog.








I think of things all the time to blog about.







I plan what I will say.







I plan the pictures I will post.







Let's just say I have big plans! ;)








Now, I'm at a loss on where to begin. How funny is that?






Writer's block? HA! As if I'm a writer!







Am I freezing up? HA! It's not like I am about to go on stage!





Let's just update. It's been an interesting time in our life. Daniel is now 17 and we hardly see him. He used to be eager to visit his dad and siblings whenever he had a break from school long enough to make it to Florida. Now, at 17, I think he has more social interests. He prefers his friends....to us???? When did that happen? How did he grow up so fast??? He had just turned 5 when I met his dad. Seems like it's only been a few years...not 12! Jeez....that means I'm getting older...I must have aged...12 years! He is planning to visit us and hit the beach a few times this summer. Can't wait. The kids think an amusement park is visiting when Daniel is here!
As a side note, Whitney turns 40 this year! Just a few weeks away. He's not sweating it though. He does keep reminding me that men get distinguished while women get old....aaarg.







Grace is 9 and sweet as ever! She is such a good helper. I am constantly amazed at her maturity level and responsibility. Then she does something that makes me go "WHAT???" and I have to remind myself that she IS a child. She LOVES reading and we make frequent trips to the library for 4 or more books at a time and within a week she needs to go back. Homeschooling has been great for her though I think she would thrive in any environment. She gets excited at learning something by doing things, not in a textbook. I'll be posting soon about our frog catching and habitat creating and our butterfly larvae once they emerge as butterflies. She LOVES it. Most of all Grace is a DADDY'S GIRL and always has been. She'd much rather work outside with Whitney than inside with me...and he gives hard chores....I don't want to do them but she loves it.






Colin, my Colin....he is 6 and turning 7 in a few months. He is a character. He is loving becoming more independent each day. He gets so upset if I tell him to go do something (make his bed, feed the cats, etc) before he has a chance to do it because he wants to surprise me by doing it himself. He can shower by himself now! I don't know if he should have been doing that by age 4 or something but we are excited to reach it at 6. For a while he wasn't getting his hair completely rinsed but now he is. He's just too short to hang the towel back up...his sister happily helps with that in exchange for him taking her dirty clothes to the laundry room for him. He has delved into a myriad of sports this year...soccer, basketball and now tee ball. Yes, we have begun the dreaded baseball. Don't get me wrong, he loves it and we are enjoying it too. It's just that as he gets older...come on...some of you parents are WAY over the top...a few coaches too. I don't mean by being competitive, a little of that is good for the boys but come on, some yell so much at the kids that it's not fun anymore. Isn't it supposed to be fun? Homeschooling has been challenging some days though I am sure that it is the right decision. He is a "Wiggly Willy" and I have to stay on my toes to keep him focused but he is doing great. We struggle in spelling but he is a fantastic reader so I am sure the spelling will come. He gets excited about now reading chapter books on his own.






Well, that's my kiddo update. I'm sure I'll have more as we go along.






Lists, I need to make lists as I think of blog ideas......