Pumpkin Patch Visit

Yesterday we visited Cotton Hills Farm to enjoy the wonderful Fall day and to pick out some pumpkin for the front porch.  We've been to this Farm before and it's alway fun so we returned to the same place again this year.  They have barbeque, a 4 acre corn maze, farm animals, face painting, etc.  But the best part is the Pumpkin Chunkin.  We love watching them catapult pumpkins way across the cotton field!  Crazy but very entertaining!  We had a blast and picked out 2 good pumpkins to help decorate our front porch and welcome in Fall.  I love Fall!

 Getting ready to enter into the corn maze

 Hmmm...which way should we go??

 Shew! We made it!

 Poor pregnant goat.  Doesn't look comfortable does it?

Karate kids

 View of the corn maze

 Roman Revenge....the pumpkin chunkin machine.  Fun to watch!



 Ansley took this picture.  Isn't it good?

A visit to the Fire Station

Recently Elisabeth's Girl Scout troop took a visit to the Fire Station and Fire fighter Diane told them all what they should do in case of a fire and let them try on her firefighter uniform. She was so good with the kids and they had so much fun while they were learning. Then they all took a tour of the firetruck and the firehouse.   The girls learned alot and even though Elisabeth came home slightly paranoid that our house was going to catch on fire she at least knows exactly what to do in case anything were to ever happen!

 Fire fighter Diane and Captain Sparky  :-)

Busy, Busy, Busy

That just about sums up our life right now! We are in full swing with the new school so my Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are very full of keeping 2 girls moving forward with their school assignments as they work from home on those days.  I'm slowly learning how to juggle helping both of them at once.  We are getting into a routine now.  And we've been able to take advantage of the flexible schedule a few times since we started this endeavor.  We've gotten up early, worked for awhile and then taken a few hour break to go consignment sale shopping and then it's back home to finish up school.  We've also finished early on Friday so the girls can have playdates with their friends that homeschool.  But the biggest advantage is NOT having homework to do in the evenings.  I am loving that!  Our quality of life in the evening is soooo much better! And they are learning so much.  Elisabeth is learning cursive and is starting to learn to do simple diagraming of sentences.  Ansley is doing much better in math this year and her confidence is growing.  She is doing lots of sentence diagraming/classification and is learning how to do a keyword outlines and then use them to give oral presentations and write summary paragraphs.  Not to mention they are both having the Bible woven into their history lessons.  They are learning alot and so am I!  It has been a very good decision for our family to pull them out of public school and put them in a different atmosphere.   Gotta run.......Elisabeth is done with her math test and I'm off to help them finish up their lessons for the day.  :-)

A Weekend in Charleston

This year to celebrate our "big" birthdays, Sheryl and I spent a girls only weekend in Charleston.  We stayed right downtown and we were able to walk to everything.  We took our time wandering through the stores and the market and then took a walk to The Battery and Battery Park.  It was nice to just do whatever whenever we wanted.  We could stop and sit for however long we wanted and talk if we wanted or just sit in the lovely peace and quiet and just people watch.  Everyone needs a weekend like that every now and then.  I think we should make it a yearly tradition......don't you Sheryl?  We had good shrimp and grits for dinner on Saturday night (YUM!).  We met up with a long time friend on Sunday and spent a few hours hanging out at the beach together.  Then she took us to a great restaurant (Taco Mamacita) on Sullivan's Island for lunch. It was delicious!  I just love the Isle of Palms, Sullivans Island, Folly Beach, etc, etc.  I could live anywhere down there!  I swear one day I'm going to retire there. I'm already working on my kids because I won't be able to live to far from them for very long.   I've told Elisabeth that if she really wants to be a dentist then the Medical College in Charleston is a great place to go to school.  And it's a great place to live too when she gets finished with school.  Ansley is already in on the deal because she loves Charleston and would love to live there.  I believe we're on our way!  

First day of First and Fifth grade

Today is the first day of school and for the most part the girls were excited.  A little bit of nervousness set in as we drove closer and closer to the school this morning. The summer was busy and went by really really quickly!  Both girls are starting a new school this year and we are all starting a new adventure as we send the kids to a private school that meets 2 days a week and then they work from home 3 days a week.  I like their teachers and I like what I've seen in the lesson plans so far so I think this is going to be a nice change from public school.  It just means I need to be more disciplined to get my errands and stuff done during the 2 days they are at school!  It's a change for all of us but a change for the better I think.

As usual here are pictures of the kids on the 1st day.  I can't wait to hear about their day when I pick them up.  I think we'll go to the Peach Stand for some ice cream on the way home!  :-)

 

Elisabeth and one of her teachers, Mrs. O'Daniel

Doesn't Ansley looked thrilled that her mom is taking her picture on the 1st day of school.  Moms can be sooo embarrassing.  :-)

6th Birthday

We celebrated Elisabeth's 6th birthday at Build-A-Bear today.  She had 8 of her friends come to help her celebrate by building a bear and then we went down to the food court and ate lunch, cake and ice cream and then opened presents.  Elisabeth had a GREAT time!  It was fun! 

 A view of North Quito

The Basilica in Quito

Our desserts at Crepes and Waffles restaurant.  YUM!  The big one on the left is mine  :-)



A few more pictures from Ecuador

Honestly I am too tired to post and write much.  We have been going non-stop since we've been here.  We are up early each day and go to bed late.  The altitude really wears you out!  The week has been good and it's really hard to believe that tomorrow is Friday.  It has gone by fast.  I am posting a few more pictures but I'll write more about the trip later or when we get back home.  Good night from Ecuador!

 The volcano Cotopaxi.  It is still an active volcano.  This was the first day there weren't clouds all around it and we could see the top.  It's a beautiful sight.

 We are staying at a Catholic retreat.  This is the building we are staying in.  The first window right there is our room.

 The meat she is cooking is pork.  If you eat that off the street you'd probably get really really sick.  The whole cooked pigs were there leaning against the window.

 There is graffiti everywhere and on top of most walls around the houses there is broken glass like this to keep people out.

 One of the many beautiful views from the Henry Davis orphanage we visited yesterday and today.

Quito and surrounding areas are very hilly/mountainous and houses are built all into the sides and down into the valley.