Crazy Busy Days
Things are just so busy here lately. Dad and Chris continue to plug away at the garage. They (along with Uncle Cliff) have completed two sides and replaced the windows and the side door. It looks marvelous, from the right angle. After all, they have only completed two sides! So, if you hit the correct angle, it looks like it's finished.
This past weekend, Chris and I took a little jaunt out to Pittsburgh. Chris was invited to exhort Sunday morning. It was a small group, though. About half the people were attending Shippensburg Bible School. We had a good visit, though. We drove out late Saturday and stayed the night with friends (Dave and Lori Pommer). The kids had a grand time-they love the Pommer kids.
The Saturday that we left, I took it upon myself to do something crazy. I decided to do two weeks of cooking in one day. That way, I could not cook dinner for two weeks. Fortunately, my mom came and helped me out. She had come up with Dad and since she had nothing better to do (yeah, right), she helped me cook. Together we made 2 meatloafs, 2 pans of "Pasta in a Pot", 80 stuffed shells, a batch of spaghetti sauce, 4lbs of meatballs, a double batch of cookies, some church windows (a yummy dessert), a triple batch of blueberry muffins and about 20 calzones. I was sooooo tired when we got done! But, today I could leave for my eye appointment and all Chris had to do was put a pan of stuffed shells in the oven for dinner. Perfect.
Today, my cousin (friend and fellow homeschooler) came over today to play. Well, the kids played. We chatted and broke up fights as needed and planned for the upcoming school year. We are going to try and work out a schedule to get together once a week for co-op classes. We also have another friend that is homeschooling and together with her, we'll work out something for the kids. Probably we'll have two of us teaching and one of us off each week. That way, every third week, we get to have an off day for teaching. At least, that's the theory. We haven't begun to really hash out the details, but it's a start.
We will be heading off to Canada in about three weeks. Chris will be leaving a week earlier than us. He is hiking, along with the above mentioned Dave Pommer, the last hundred miles to the camp. The kids and I will be joining him one week after he leaves. I'm a little nervous about traveling by myself to Canada. It's a 13hr drive, without stops. So, we'll put in a hefty first day and stop over in Parry Sound for the night. Then, we'll have a nice quiet dinner (insert laughter here) and pop off to sleep (insert even more laughter-after all, the kids just spent the whole day in the car sleeping). The second day will be only about a four hour drive up to Manitoulin Island where we'll camp for the next week. It's also a Bible School, so there will be classes for all and I'm looking forward to the kids all having a class. This is the first year where they are all old enough to attend a class. Before, David was too young and he just stayed with me, which meant I didn't get to hear both adult classes. Provided he goes without a fuss, I should be able to attend both.
I spent this afternoon/evening putting together a menu and shopping list for the camp. I try to work out what we'll eat for the week, buy everything and cook what I can ahead of time. Then, I freeze it all and we eat it as it thaws out. This is the part that stresses me the most. And it's really only stressing because I can't do much until the last hours before we leave. I can plan all I want, but I can't really enact any packing until mere days/hours before we leave. Which, by the way, will be ridiculously early on Friday morning. I must add glowsticks to my list of things to buy. There's nothing like a package of glowsticks for keeping the kids busy in the car at 3am....
This past weekend, Chris and I took a little jaunt out to Pittsburgh. Chris was invited to exhort Sunday morning. It was a small group, though. About half the people were attending Shippensburg Bible School. We had a good visit, though. We drove out late Saturday and stayed the night with friends (Dave and Lori Pommer). The kids had a grand time-they love the Pommer kids.
The Saturday that we left, I took it upon myself to do something crazy. I decided to do two weeks of cooking in one day. That way, I could not cook dinner for two weeks. Fortunately, my mom came and helped me out. She had come up with Dad and since she had nothing better to do (yeah, right), she helped me cook. Together we made 2 meatloafs, 2 pans of "Pasta in a Pot", 80 stuffed shells, a batch of spaghetti sauce, 4lbs of meatballs, a double batch of cookies, some church windows (a yummy dessert), a triple batch of blueberry muffins and about 20 calzones. I was sooooo tired when we got done! But, today I could leave for my eye appointment and all Chris had to do was put a pan of stuffed shells in the oven for dinner. Perfect.
Today, my cousin (friend and fellow homeschooler) came over today to play. Well, the kids played. We chatted and broke up fights as needed and planned for the upcoming school year. We are going to try and work out a schedule to get together once a week for co-op classes. We also have another friend that is homeschooling and together with her, we'll work out something for the kids. Probably we'll have two of us teaching and one of us off each week. That way, every third week, we get to have an off day for teaching. At least, that's the theory. We haven't begun to really hash out the details, but it's a start.
We will be heading off to Canada in about three weeks. Chris will be leaving a week earlier than us. He is hiking, along with the above mentioned Dave Pommer, the last hundred miles to the camp. The kids and I will be joining him one week after he leaves. I'm a little nervous about traveling by myself to Canada. It's a 13hr drive, without stops. So, we'll put in a hefty first day and stop over in Parry Sound for the night. Then, we'll have a nice quiet dinner (insert laughter here) and pop off to sleep (insert even more laughter-after all, the kids just spent the whole day in the car sleeping). The second day will be only about a four hour drive up to Manitoulin Island where we'll camp for the next week. It's also a Bible School, so there will be classes for all and I'm looking forward to the kids all having a class. This is the first year where they are all old enough to attend a class. Before, David was too young and he just stayed with me, which meant I didn't get to hear both adult classes. Provided he goes without a fuss, I should be able to attend both.
I spent this afternoon/evening putting together a menu and shopping list for the camp. I try to work out what we'll eat for the week, buy everything and cook what I can ahead of time. Then, I freeze it all and we eat it as it thaws out. This is the part that stresses me the most. And it's really only stressing because I can't do much until the last hours before we leave. I can plan all I want, but I can't really enact any packing until mere days/hours before we leave. Which, by the way, will be ridiculously early on Friday morning. I must add glowsticks to my list of things to buy. There's nothing like a package of glowsticks for keeping the kids busy in the car at 3am....
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