In the beginning of June, Bo and I celebrated our 9th anniversary... we had a lovely dinner and evening out, thanks to Grandma Boehler and Grandpa Harold.
First, we love our homeschool conference... It is put on by the Christian Home Educators of Colorado. It is always such a time of encouragement and refreshing and it is a treat to see all of our friends in Denver. Mind you, I forgot a camera, but a dear friend, Beth Longtine took these pictures of Adam just before we left for the drive home. Yep, everyone was pretty well worn-out from the activities of the weekend. Also, I couldn't bring up the CHEC conference without mentioning how indebted we are to my parents who took time off to watch all ELEVEN of their grandchildren so both Bo & I and Justin & Lindsey could attend the conference. Talk about some generational involvement and commitment to Kingdom Building in the family... that's my parents.
Then at the end of June we finished up our 10-11 school year. The children studied the Revolutionary War and colonial living for their last unit. We have Punkin, G-pa, Grandma Boehler, & Grandpa Harold over for the unit celebration. Some days I think we are barely adding a single drop to the bucket of their education, and then we get to our unit celebration and I realize just how full the buckets has gotten with all those individual drops. Here are some of the pictures:
Punkin helping the children make snickerdoodles for the dessert... Apparently we have the New England cooks to thank for this cookie. They had a flair for oddly named baked goods, having also named some cookies kinkawoodles and Jolly Breeches.
The children in front of their unit display... they also recited a fully memorized catechism, and Katherine read part of a Patrick Henry speech and Jacob read part of the Declaration of Independence.
Katherine dressed as a Colonial woman.
Jacob dressed as Daniel Boone.
The celebration dinner was seafood (because the original 13 colonies were all on the eastern seaboard), potato cakes, vegetables (something the colonists could have grown in their garden), and bread.
A display board that showed all the different colonial foods the children made during this unit, including Liberty Tea, bread, Hasty Pudding, and dried fruit.
For the 4th of July we stayed home, went Sunday-afternoon fishing, saw the 4th of July Parade downtown and then set off some little fireworks at home.
The children yelled "thank-you" to the veterans in the parade until they were nearly hoarse. Harvard did a study that stated "Attending one Fourth of July before age 18 increases the likelihood of identifying as a Republican by at least 2 percent and voting for the Republican candidate by 4 percent. It also increases voter turnout by 0.9 percent and boosts political campaign contributions by 3 percent." Just doing our part.
It really was a nice little parade and the children got an Otter Pop in the process.
Jane and her sparkler.
The scene in the cul de sac.
Pure excitement!
Oh yeah, we also butchered our meat chickens over the weekend.
Katherine was fascinated with pulled out the chicken hearts and livers... go figure.
William got up the courage to touch one of the kidneys.
Jane was mesmerized by the chicken feet... after they were chopped off you could pull a tendon and still make them move. Jane also did a good job of watching Adam during the butchering process.
FISHING!
Once we got to Oregon, we went to the beach for a couple of days. It was a wonderful time. The first day was windy and perfect for kite-flying and shell-collecting. The second day was calm and warm, so there was a lot of wave-jumping and sand-playing on that day.
Jane buried in the sand.
Jacob & Micah wave-jumping.
Katherine & Addy helping William get a taste of wave-jumping.
We ate dinner the first night out on the beach, roasting hotdogs and then s'mores. Katherine looking about as perfect as possible.
Emily & William kite-flying.
Adam absolutely loved the sand. He couldn't get enough of it. He rolled around in it and wallowed in it and begged for more.
After the beach, we went to Uncle Jim & Aunt Sandy's home in Lyons for the family reunion... Although the weather wasn't entirely cooperative, it was a lovely time. There was visiting, playing, resting, eating, and lots of good memories made.
William was well-equipped for swimming... unfortunately because of the rain, he only got to really go once.
Micah & Jacob slept several nights in a tent which was about 50 yards from Justin & Lindsey's cabin. So very brave.
Due to the rain the motorhome barn was a common gathering place, it was also where we held the traditional auction that raises money for Podruchny Family Reunion.
The children did an acrylic painting project on one of the rainy days. It was a lovely success.
Jacob learning to ride the Honda 50.
Katherine learning to ride the Honda 50.
My dear friend Jana and I schemed so that our paths would cross for a day in Oregon. It was a wonderful time.
And then sooner than we would have liked, the reunion was over and we were on our way home again. We made a fun little stop at a dam on the way out of Oregon (we are all those little people on the concrete platform) and that is the last of the photos. Wow, quite a blog posting... another should follow after our MI trip. Yes, I guess we are doing a lot this summer.
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