B.B.'s Upgrade

This is Blue Bell when we first got her. The small crate was perfect then.
Now that our little Southern belle has doubled in size, she needs more stretching
room. Enter Craigslist.
Success!
I-Crate medium at half the price, still in the box (unopened even).
We set it up, move her bedding, and

 

Voila!

"That's what I'm talkin' about! Thanks for the upgrade, Mom," she seems to say as she stretches
out her growing form and welcomes some sleep-time.
Sweet Doggie dreams.

B.B. at 3 Months

She's growing. At least for now she is still about the same size as Little Lady as you can see in this picture.

When we got Blue Bell, we were told that she was a mix between a Bichon Frise and a Boxer. We don't see any resemblance to those breeds. Other than the "Flying Nun" ( Who remembers that show?), what does she look like to you? I mean what breed of dog.
Some people say they see Jack Russell Terrier, definitely Terrier though.

Little Lady says, "You don't have to guess what I am. I know that my mother is a Tea Cup Chihuahua and my father is a Toy Fox Terrier."

Lady and B.B. are getting along (with supervision). Lady wants to make sure she keeps her Top Dog status and this "annoying" puppy doesn't get "out of hand". So far Lady has helped teach B.B. how to ask to go outside.

Hopefully their relationship will grow and they will be good friends.

What a Lot of Butterflies Go Flying By!

 

 

All of these pictures were taken on the same day. It seemed we just kept seeing them. And not just butterflies, but caterpillars, too. Josiah even got "stuck" by a Saddleback that just dropped onto his hand. It did hurt, but none of the stickers stayed in his skin. We put ice and then a baking soda paste and it started feeling better.

Blue Bell

No not ice cream. Nor is it something that you ring. And it's not even blue!
It is the name we chose for the puppy.
Which puppy did we pick?

If you guessed the one that Hannah was holding,
you are right!

Blue Bell (B.B. for short) came home Monday evening and our life with puppy began. B.B. was the runt of the litter. She is very attentive, but easy-going.

She likes to play with Josiah.

And then when she's tired, she likes to cuddle with Hannah.

Yep, she's a sweetie!

She is already beginning her obedience training and we've also been able to check off some of the things on the socialization chart. Maybe I'll post a video soon, so you can see B.B. in action.

Which One Would You Choose?

Our family has been researching Diabetic Alert Dogs. I was intrigued when I heard about it on a YouTube video that someone shared on Facebook.
These dogs actually can smell when a person's blood sugar is too high or too low and be trained to signal the owner. Well there is actually a lot of training to do, but the fantastic sense of "scents" is a God-given gift that dogs have. They just have to be trained to use it.
We've also been looking for a puppy to train. We think we found it in a litter of puppies that were rescued. They were a breed we weren't familiar with, so we researched Bichon/Boxer. Both breeds are low shedders and eager to please, and the Bichon is supposedly hypoallergenic (a plus). Of course, the ancestry is not that certain, as they only knew the breed of the mom (whom they said disappeared).

There were six healthy looking pups all wanting to be adopted - 2 tan and white males and 4 white and tan females. We wanted a female. We held them and watched them and narrowed it down to two.

Both were so sweet. It was a tough decision. Which one would you choose?
Find out on my next post.

Did you know . . .?

Okay, I feel a bit silly here, but I am going to risk it.
You probably already knew this about mechanical pencils, so just humor me while I share my newfound knowledge with the world.

Recently my daughter bought some of these type pencils at Kroger in the marked-down section. She has enjoyed using them for her school work and writing her books.
Today, she surprised me by taking off the eraser and emptying out the contents saying, "Look, Mom,
I found out where the lead comes from."

When I got over the shock of such an incredibly clever thing that had been hidden from me all these years - You know I wasn't born yesterday, but I always thought you had to buy those packages of extra leads. Sure I read instructions and labels, but maybe all of mine were given to me without packaging or labels. Well the secret is out now! - I explained to dear daughter that those were actually spares and showed her how to replace one.

I had to check out my "older" models just to see if maybe this was a new thing, but NO even my old ones have that feature. Who knew? Did you?

My kids thought I was crazy. I was so excited - snapping pictures for my blog and wondering how many other people did not know.

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2, . . .

It's almost time to blast-off into a new school year for us. Even after a long drawn out 2012-2013 year, we are excited to start again.

My shiny new teacher's manual

The day after Labor Day, I will be teaching a 7th grader and a 4th grader. When we finish this year, we will have completed My Father's World's Multi-Age Learning Cycle.

• Exploring Countries and Cultures
• Creation To The Greeks
• Rome To The Reformation
• Exploration To 1850
• 1850 To Modern Times

We had also used MFW Creation From A To Z and Adventures in My Father's World. We absolutely love this curriculum. We used another curriculum for one year, but quickly came back.
Next year, we will go through pretty much the same cycle, but it gets more in-depth as Hannah enters High School, the following year.
But hold on! We're not there yet. Let's just take it one year at a time, okay?

Our school room

complete with watchdog

Teacher's station

Just some of our books

For our other subjects, we use Spelling Power, Intermediate Language Lessons, All in One English, and Right Start Math.
Hannah still practices Ebaru Violin and Handbells. Josiah is learning keyboard and percussion.
We also enrolled in ICC (Institute for Cultural Communicators) again this year for communication and leadership skills.

An Animal Surprise

On our ride home from vacation last Friday, it was cloudy and rainy. It would have been a dismal day if we had not had some surprises along the way. Our favorite was a little petting zoo just off the interstate that we had never noticed before. Shortly after going through Macon, we were in need of a stretch break and saw a sign. The rain had stopped, so we pulled up by the gas station, paid a $1.00 entry fee, got food for the animals and took some time to enjoy more of God's creation.

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Time for a Vacation

We had a wonderful relaxing vacation revisiting our favorite island (so far, anyway), Jekyll. For almost a full week, we enjoyed the sunrises and sunsets on the beach.

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Just another Mousy Monday

Petunia is hanging out in her hammock.



Smilebox for a Mouse

This is actually for Josiah, my little animal-loving boy. When we all got mice, he chose a tiny black one that turned out to be the tamest, cutest mouse I have ever seen.
The relationship they had was special and so I want to remember all of those happy times with this Smile Box.

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Jump Back to June

We opened the pool in June and enjoyed some jumping and diving. I worked on teaching Tboy how to swim and float.

Then, while he was at camp, we bought a City Pass and visited . . .

 

                                            CNN Center

 

                              Georgia Aquarium

                               World of Coke

                                   Zoo Atlanta

                                   and

                                      Fernbank Science Museum.

Whew! Theron had taken the week off so we could spend some time together as a family. I did get sick with a bad cold before we made it to Fernbank. We ended up going the following week and taking a family friend.

Also in June, we had our FCFE End of Year Celebration.
It was also our last month with Tboy. After his return from camp, he moved back to his previous foster family who wish to adopt him.



My Memories of May

This is our lonely homeschool room. Where are the kids? Hannah often goes up to her room to work on some of her assignments in piece and quiet. Josiah is probably outside chasing a bug. Tboy might still be at public school. We're not stuck to this table all day. Thank goodness! We do our reading on the couch or I read to them at the table while they eat. Even spelling and math and English are often done on the couch or even outside. Yay for home school.

Hannah and I were in the Spring Handbell Concert. Josiah did not participate this session, but Hannah is still very much into it. It really is a lot of fun.

The guys went bowling with some friends. They seem to have had a good time. I wasn't there. I'm glad Theron took them for some special time, though.

April's Reappearing

 Ah Yes, the flowers of April! Everything was really in bloom.
The money plant




Tulips

Iris

 

Dogwood

 

Groundcover



 

Azaleas

White and Pink Petunias

And the kale I planted too late last year had grown and bloomed. We harvested and used it this year.


This was the month for planting a new garden with the kids and going to the park.