It's been so long!!

It has been nearly a year since we last wrote on our blog. Aaagh!! The time flies. We've started school, and we're excited about the classes that we have going on. Alex left for college again a couple days ago which was a sad moment for all of us. I'm a 9th grader this year and Travis is a junior. We had an awesome summer and are finding it hard to get back in the swing of school.
=^..^= Jordan

Dove Huntin'

We went dove hunting in Brawley this past week and had tons of fun. Dixie (the boxer) was very interested in the birds, she even retrieved one for us! Obviously some people are more excited than others to be holding up dead birds :)
=^..^= Jordan

Havin' fun at the beach!

Even though we haven't had many great beach days - this was for sure one of them. The kids were playing around and enjoying the wonderful day and the beautiful sunset! How awesome.

Love this picture

this was taken in the gardens at Mount Vernon. That trip seems like so long ago. I found this picture on my computer and thought it was so beautiful!

Another New Vacuum

I have to admit, I vacuum a lot. But what's the deal with having to replace a vacuum every year or so? Do you think that they (Bissell, Hoover, etc) decide that you can only use their product so many times and then that's it - time to get a new one? I wonder if the vacuum would last longer if I used it less often? Hmmm, something to ponder. I have to admit, when I pulled the lovely royal blue machine from the box and started vacuuming, it was very exciting. Our last vacuum had for sure been falling down on the job and then finally just gave up with a loud sound and a terrible smell! After running the new Bissell around the house I had an entire plastic container of gross stuff - how exciting! I know it's an illness! My kids think it's scary how much I enjoy vacuuming! Better sign off - time to vacuum!

Mites - ugh!

We noticed the chickens were looking a bit picked on, so we "set free" two of our roosters. Well, the girls still looked a bit beat up, so out goes the last rooster. A couple of days ago, the poor girls still looked chewed up, even worse then before, so we started looking closer -- they have little black spots on them and they are itching and shaking their heads. Well, they have mites, yuck! So the big dusting project ensues! Jordan was in charge of herding one or two hens at a time into the hen house where Travis reaches down and grabs them by the legs and flips them over. Once they stop clucking and making a huge ruckus - I start dusting them over with mite dust. What a production. All of the hens were in quite an uproar by the time we were finished, we were afraid that a few of them weren't going to survive by they way they were acting. I hope it clears them up - how disgusting! They did all survive by the way!

Mount Vernon

George Washington's home in Virginia. So pretty!

We're On Our Way

Flying out of Long Beach - heading to Washington DC. Yay!

Happy Anniversary!

Beautiful flowers from my sweet husband!

Graduation Day

Here are a couple of pictures from Alex's graduation!

Share Fair

Here is Jordan with her Explorer Project at the Share Fair! Good job Jordan!

Hurrah!

Alex earned a great scholarship today from BSA. Here is a picture of him receiving it! Yay for Alex!!!

Last Recital

After many years of taking piano lessons, Alex had his last one (hopefully not forever). Here is a picture of him at his instructor's home, performing for a few people. It was a sad day! I will miss hearing him play.

Ft. Rosecrans Cemetery

We went to the cemetery today to remove flags from the graves. What an amazing experience. We could see ships and submarines coming in and out in the bay. We helped pull and bundle up over 5,000 flags.

Potted Kitty

Rufus found a new sleeping spot!
=^..^=
jordan

Santa Margarita

so beautiful!

Almost finished!

Here is a picture of Jordan's room so far. She has worked diligently on it and we are both thrilled with the progress. We've all been cleaning and organizing around here lately. Alex cleaned out the piano bench and we found a music newspaper dated 1903. We also found many items belonging to the former owner. We saved most of them. Jordan took some of the old sheet music and made cards with it - how creative. We're not sure who the first owner was, but the last owner had musical programs, report cards and newspaper clippings from the 1950s. She also had tons of sheet music - some pieces she wrote. Very cool.
We ate a zucchini from the garden yesterday! yay! Lot's growing. Our lettuce didn't seem to make it, so I tried one more batch - I think it's too late, but I wanted to try anyway. I can't wait for the tomatoes! The peacocks seem eager to clean up all of the beans, we're trying to keep them out of the garden so the beans have a chance.
Almost summer!

Let the fun begin

lovely lavender!

Tide pool & beach fun!

What a fun home school day. We heard it was going to be a big negative tide so we called some friends and headed down to the beach. What fun! We had a great time and saw starfish, sea slugs, crabs, etc. It was a beautiful day and a great reminder why we home school, also why we live in southern California!

it all started here...

I came across this picture of Alex when I was looking for pictures for Alex's graduation ceremony - sob! I'm not ready for this. Anyway, it's funny how when your kids are little and they say they want to be a firefighter or a pilot or whatever you think they'll grow out of it. Well, Alex didn't grow out of wanting to be a pilot. He almost has his private pilot's license! We're so happy for him.