Winchester Academy: May 2010

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Lot's of stuff

~I've been up since 5:24, isn't that ridiculous?! Especially since I didn't get to sleep until after 11:30. Mike and Jonathan got up to go to the gym, and I couldn't get back to sleep. I am hoping for a nap in my future.

~My facebook status doesn't seem to show up on my blog anymore, I've got to work on that.

~Madi has been posting on her blog again. Your daughters should read it!

~Jonathan put a lot of songs on my ipod for me last night. I had an itunes gift card from my birthday (thanks Kirsten!). I've got a little variety, a few songs from Lee (who I hope wins American Idol tonight), The Climb by Miley Cyrus (finally), two songs by Train, Lady Antebellum, and Danny Gokey. (some of what I already had on there includes Casting Crowns, ABBA, and Barry Mannilow)

~I'm sad that American Idol will be over (until January). And I'm sad that Simon is leaving. I know a lot of people love to hate him, but I like him!

~An interesting topic came up more than once yesterday. It probably deserves its own post, but time is scarce around here, so it will have to go in this jumbled, sleepy haze, non-articulate post... God's messages often come from unexpected sources. And just as often, I tend to get hit over the head with the same message a few times in close succession. I was driving yesterday morning and heard my current favorite song from the ever popular "radio station that is always safe for the little ears in the backseat". After that song, I figured it was time for some variety and changed to another station. I was excited to hear some different songs for a change including Billy Joel and Train. So my thought was this, if music makes you happy isn't that a God thing, even if it isn't overtly Christian music? Just in case I wasn't listening, the subject came up two more times yesterday. I really love these podcasts by faith and family live. Guess what the topic of the one I listened to yesterday was! Basically their point was sometimes [overtly Christian] "things are devoid of creativity and devoid of respect for the audience. They are banal. They may be produced with the best of intentions, but they have no sense of the appropriateness of the art form, of using the medium to its full potential" this a direct quote from Catholic screenwriter and Pepperdine professor Barbara Nicolosi. It makes you think huh? What speaks louder to you something that is full of beauty or something that smacks you in the face with a message because the writer/ artist/ singer didn't think you were smart enough to get the point on your own? Since this seemed to be my theme of the day, it came up one more time while talking to a friend. I didn't even bring it up, she did! She was talking about having her children read good literature and how sometimes the best messages come from books that don't even mention God at all. I am currently reading Pollyanna. I've never read it before. I'm not that far into it, but so far it seems to be about making the most of difficult situations. A timely message from a book that has just been sitting around our house for years.

~The AWANA awards ceremony is tonight.

~Jonathan is in an adult play (it always seems wrong to call it that) this weekend. it is A Few Good Men. He is mostly a "set mover", but he gets to do it as a Marine.

~We made Mem's Blueberry Cobbler yesterday (easy...2/3 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 2/3 cup milk, 2 Tbs melted butter, 2 cups blueberries...mix and bake at 350 for about 45 min). We got some delicious local blueberries and Jonathan, Mike and I are eating them by the handful. Jonathan and I went to town on the cobbler as soon as it came out of the oven. We are doing better every week as far as adding healthy things to our diet, but all of a sudden I had a brainstorm...if this is good with blueberries, how much better must it be with chocolate chips?! The answer is...very good too! Interestingly enough, it wasn't as good as I expected though, I think because it has to cook so long. The chocolate chips were kind of baked instead of just melty. Don't worry that's not the end of that experiment. I think I just have to cook it for a little while, then add the chips, I'll get back to you on that.

~As I type this Jake is watching last night's finale of Dancing with the Stars. He is thinking about having his "own Dancing with the Stars". The only problem is he says he's "not sure exactly how to do the cha cha cha" nor is he clear on the "difference between the Vianese Waltz and a regular waltz". He does have the couples all paired up though...(Jake and S; D and A; J and O; and T and G) He is so unique. A friend asked him yesterday what he's been up to since Homeschool PE ended, his response, "working on my shows (Grease, Alice in Wonderland, Once on this Island) and pulling names out of a hat to see who gets to be which dwarf" (He recently saw the Brady Bunch episode where they put on Snow White in their back yard, so now he's all about that too. He is curious as to if he needs a permit to do it in the backyard...the Brady's did!)

~The kids are waiting for me to play Harry Potter Clue, so I'm going to run. I love playing it when there are enough actual people to play it, Jake still can't understand why I won't just play with him and a Webkinz when the other kids aren't playing!

Friday, May 21, 2010

7 quick takes

1. The kids had their homeschool evaluations on Wednesday, so Jonathan is now a high schooler. It is starting to feel a little bit more like summer mode around here (temps in the 90s, the windows closed and A/C on will do that). "School" is not really done yet, but the pace is just a little slower. Jonathan will most likely be doing science and math right right up to the time that his on-line classes start in July, so on the one hand he won't get much of a summer break. On the other hand it's because his whole life is filled with fun and "breaks". Sunday morning between Church and the play he took a science test...what kind of a mother does that make me?! I'll tell you what kind...the kind that let all three kids spend 23 hours with friends for a cast party that went from the end of the play Sunday well into Monday. Oh yeah, then Jonathan slept at another friend's house on Tuesday night so they could play golf on Wed. In the younger days, we would count cast party and golf as school, now we just have to fit the actual classes in around these things.

2. Madi has her third appointment with the new acupunture doctor today. We are loving her. She does this body typing thing, that sounds pretty foreign to me (because it is!), but I trust her. Madi has an herbal tea to drink twice a day, and when we went back last week, the doctor said she could already notice a difference. Apparently Madi's spirit and personality is on a different level (a higher one) than her body type. I'm not sure what this means (again foreign), but the doctor thinks it is because of Theatre. Meaning something like she maybe doesn't have thyroid symptoms even though her blood work is off because Theatre is theraputic for her.

3. The homeschool convention is next week. Usually the convention is second only to Christmas on the favorite days of the year list. This year I've hardly thought about it. Too much on my mind.

4. Mike is stressed beyond belief at work right now. That is most of the "too much on my mind". Two days at a luxury resort for the convention should help a lot with this.

5. No one can ever accuse us weird homeschoolers as being too far out of the mainstream. This morning Jake was playing Harry Potter Clue with two of his Webkinz, Zack and Cody! (NOTE: Clue is not as easy to play with stuffed animals as Sorry or Trouble)

6. Today instead of a green smoothie we had strawberry milk shakes (frozen local strawberries, strawberry yogurt, and milk). My latest favorite "green" smoothie is spinach, celery (mostly the leafy part), blueberries, apples, and grape juice. I love the celery taste in this, it tastes so fresh! It really comes out purple, not green.

7. Jake is back on a Rataouille kick (among many other thing) and is wanting to make soup right now. We'll see how that goes.

For more quick takes go here.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

A massive catch up post of pics

Alice in Wonderland...what a great show! You have one more chance to see it, today at 2. Videos will come eventually, but in the meantime, here are some pics of the show and all of the other activities that have been keeping me away from the computer...

For the royal mind is fickle...

A special date for Jake and Daddy at the Star Wars Concert!

AWANA water night...

AWANA Sparks Jungle Zone trip...

Waiting for Tinkerbell (Miss Amanda, the Theatre director is Tinkerbell!)

A great day, the first of many to come, Homeschool Bike fest 2010!! 20+ kids, about 8miles of biking, lots of swimming, ice cream at more than one stop and Margaritas at the end of it all!