Convention Adventures

Last weekend I was invited to work at the Lancaster homeschool convention on Saturday. I drove to the Lancaster Convention Center Friday evening and even though I had been there, I was nervous about parking and finding my way. I enjoyed the drive. I got caught up on a couple sermons that I hadn't listened to yet. 

When I stopped for supper the gal in charge of the convention told me to use a certain parking garage and if it was full to use valet parking. I'm glad I had that conversation because there was some kind of event and the roundabout in downtown Lancaster just past the convention center was packed with people. I decided to use valet parking at that point. lol. 

I went to the check in counter and got valet parking set up. I went back out to give my car key to the valet and then I couldn't find my room key. I had left it on the check in counter. The counter was black and the room key holder was black so that's my excuse! I headed up my room. 6th floor. My first clue that something was odd was that my room had double doors. I walked in to a foyer...

It was a junior suite. I could clearly hear a band playing Celebrate Good Times on another floor which made me laugh. The room had 2 doors to the hall and 2 doors to adjoining rooms. It just felt eerie to me! I texted to let the gal know that there must be some mistake with my room and then my phone rang. I figured that my room was about to be straightened out and it was the front desk, but they were calling to me that the valet could not start the car. I said I would go down and realized that I gave him the wrong key. So embarrassing.

I didn't hear back from the gal I texted which I thought was strange. I did a couple things and tried to go to sleep. As I laid there I realized that I had texted another person in my contacts (who I do not know well) instead of the person I meant to.

I finally fell asleep, but I ddin't feel rested in the morning! It made for a good breakfast conversation. When I checked out the room had been billed correctly. And I headed to the vendor hall where I was much more comfortable!

It was a big display! There were 2 distance learning teachers with us. I enjoyed having there expertise to draw on. When I had a question about 6th grade math, I pulled the teacher in and when I had a question about 6th grade science I could give my own experience but also have the teacher talk about it.

I was super tired on the way home. I stopped at the Christiana and got my Chick Fil A tea and Starbucks chai. When I was ready to walk back to my car which is always a far walk in Christiana, it was pouring rain. I waited for a few minutes and then made a run for it when it the rain lessened a bit. I still got quite wet! I was happy to get home and happy to sleep in my normal room with my husband.

Joy Dare::May

5390. Isaiah singing ABC's

5391. Josiah open to what I had to say

5392. Seeing Josiah interact with the Wednesday night boys

5393. That first spring beach day

5394. Asking the right questions

5395. Listening

5396. Grandad mowed our grass

5397. Dogwood blooms and azalea bouquets

 5398. The cutest magnet

 5399. A fun date

 5400. Beautiful evening to sit outside
5401. Phone conversations
5402. Books that lead to teaching and sharing
5403. Dreaming of possibilities
5404. Seeds planted
5405. Chives are my favorite

 5406. Everything flowed smoothly today

5407. Children motivated to do chores

5408. Windows open, breeze blowing

5409. Finished another year of CBS

5410. Hearing Josiah singing in the back seat

5411. School taking less time

5412. When plans change and the evening is free

5413. Able to pick up Renee and Lydia

5414. Adventure with Aliza

5415. Singing with the radio

5416. The whole Secret Keeper Girl message

5417. So much fun playing Chuck E. Cheese games

5418. Supper with my family

5419. Seeing Gramma's memorial

 5420. Breakfast in bed
5421. Talking
5422. Some extra lovin' on Mother's Day
5423. Good dentist appointments for the children
5424. Anna excited about reading
5425. $1 bags of mulch
5426. The flowerbed keeps calling me to work in it
5427. Jeremy was out later than usual to see the snake--and take care of it
5428. Finding little flower sprouts
5429. Working hard to finish school
5430. An empty Wednesday morning
5431. A lot of determination
5432. School is finished!
5433. Carpooling
5434. Ice cream to celebrate
5435. Jeremy drove to WV
5436. Teacher flowers

5437. Didn't need to use our umbrellas
5438. Garden Tour traditions
5439. I get ideas...
5440. Got to listen to a sermon
5441. Experienced a vintage market

5442. Beautiful evening to play outside
5443. Picnic and a hike
5444. Chrissy twice in one weekend!
5445. Sometimes I skip a number by accident!
5446. The girls had alone time with Brandi
5447. No alarm
5448. Aliza doing chores
5449. Janell and the girls stayed for supper
5450. Mulch makes things look so pretty
5451. Summer bike rides (Isaiah is fast now!)
5452. Wednesday evening = sitting beside Jeremy
5453. Josiah is a great strawberry picker
5454. Isaiah using the word "responsible"
5455. Time at Mom's house
5456. Makeup with Aiza
5457. Anna discovered American Girl books
5458. Summer = sneaking in scrapbooking moments
5459. Vegetable garden planted
5460. Jeremy keeping me company
5461. Teamwork to mow the yard
5462. Jeff did so much work!
5463. Homemade fresh strawberry tea
5464. Extravagant grace
5465. Hugging my Dad
5466. Jeremy took Memorial Day off
5467. First Cove trip
5468. Grilled chicken
5469. Zoo, picnic, playground
5470. Nap
5471. Chai and I felt more like myself
5472. I didn't know I would enjoy taking care of the flowerbed so much
5473. Last Wednesday night club
5474. Making choices is hard sometime, but making that hard decision is the gift in the end
5475. My children have no problem expressing their feeling or opinions
5476. God things happening
5477. Big potty training progress for Isaiah

Spontaneous Side Trip

On the Garden Tour, Chrissy casually mentioned that Cunningham Falls would be really big with all the rain we've had. That piqued my interest and by that evening Jeremy said yes and I had our little side trip on our way home planned!

Cunningham Falls is in Frederick, MD. I packed us a picnic lunch. It didn't take much convincing for Chrissy to agree to join us. I know it would have been fun for Jeremy to have Matt come along, but we understood that he had work commitments. It was a really pretty day. It was quite nice to see blue sky. It had been at least a week since we had seen blue sky! This wasn't quite our picnic view, but we did eat looking over the lake.

It was a half mile hike to the falls overlook. The trail was well maintained and just the right distance for us all to handle easily. The children were posing for pictures--and so we took pictures!

Totally Isaiah's own pose--he picked the tree and stuck his leg out around it.

I understand that this falls is usually a trickle of water. It was rushing the day we were there.

There was a place on the trail where you could easily walk down to the stream. We stopped both ways and on the way back I found the perfect rock to sit on. And so we took some more pictures. Jeremy and I got photo bombed by Josiah.

The passing of time is so hard to deal with! I love this tribe of mine so much! It's so fun to go on adventures right now when they are young enough to be in awe and excited and old enough to walk a mile round trip with minimal complaining.

And a picture with Chrissy too! She has been with me through every adventure stage from helping me get 3 littles across the street to the library safely to having some good conversations with Aliza. I'm glad she's stuck with us!

We had a pretty quiet trip on the way home with 4 children napping. Unfortunately that meant I was exhausted at bedtime and they were wide awake!

The Garden Tour Tradition Continues

This year I did not think we would have school finished before the Garden Tour weekend, but I planned ahead and the children were willing to work hard and we did it! It always feels good to shut the doors of the school cabinet and leave for the weekend knowing that summer awaits.

On the 5th day of constant rain, at times torrential rain, we headed to WV. We loaded the car in down pouring rain and drove through rain the whole way. Saturday was just gray with a bit of drizzle. We carried umbrellas but we didn't need to use them.

Chrissy was able to join us again!

I was pretty intrigued by the gardener who was growing vegetables out of hay bales.

The girls love choosing their sweets and savory at the tea party.

The gardener at the house below uses tree branches for storage of garden supplies.

Brandi wasn't able to come along and the girls missed her so much. She met us for lunch at Panera though.

The guys got their time together later that evening. Jeremy and Josiah went to Joel's house to watch him stream Fortnite. Jeremy played and Josiah was thrilled to watch.

And by Sunday Isaiah fell asleep on Grandpa's lap after a couple days without naps and late nights.

When we were ready to leave, Grandma asked for a picture and everyone cooperated!

Mother-Daughter Date

by Aliza
On May 11th, Mommy and I went to a Secret Keeper Girls Mother Daughter Event. The event was 3 hours away, but I didn't care because that meant 3 hours of chatting with Mom.
Well that's what I thought the day before. Me and mommy were ready to leave, we were just waiting for Daddy. He had to watch the kids. We wanted to leave at 2:00, but he arrived at 2:40. We jumped into Daddy's car. We were tense the whole ride there. We picked up a tuna wrap on the way there and skipped supper. We got there 10 minutes late. The show was created for 7 to 12 year olds so I was one of the oldest there.

The message was that God created you a masterpiece. There was a lot of singing and dancing, but I didn't mind. There was 4 music directors and one main teacher. I really liked the quiet teaching parts and stories. Actually I liked all of it!!

At the end of the show, there was a meet and greet. I got to meet all the girls and they talked to me. It was a lot of fun to meet them. My favorite was Lexi. She is Dannah Gresh's Daughter. Dannah Gresh is the creator of Secret Keeper Girls.

Me with Stacy and Lexi.

And me with Sara and Melanie.

After the show, me and Mommy were starving! We stopped by Sonic on the way home, but I was so sleepy I could barely eat. I left with some great memories and the message that God made me a masterpiece.

By Mommy
We may have been a little stressed in the car, but that didn't keep us from singing to every song on the radio! My little girl is growing up and is a lot of fun to do things with. We talked a lot, sang a lot, and she slept a lot on the way home.

Aliza and I have been doing 8 Great Mother Daughter Dates by the founder of Secret Keeper Girls, Dannah Gresh. The themes of the 3 dates we have done so far fit in perfectly with the event. It was the perfect time in Aliza's life for us to go to this together. For some girls, 8 might be a great age, but, for Aliza, this was the right time. I was very impressed with the message and the quality of the show.

I think Aliza summed it all up well! I'm so proud of Aliza and the young lady she is. 

April Read Aloud

In April the character quality we focused our reading on was love. The War that Saved My Life was more intense emotionally than we were used to, but it turned out to be good. WWII was depicted in a pretty realistic sense that allowed me to have discussions with Aliza and Josiah about realities of war versus the hide and seek/tag shooting games they play on the computer. Discussions that let me know their hearts are sensitive and they understand that war is real people shooting and bombing to kill living human beings.

This week we are finishing school. I'll get back to writing blogs again soon!

All the Dance Pictures

This was a fun year of dance for both Aliza and Anna. Aliza did lyrical dance in addition to jazz for the first time and this was Anna's first year of dance. She did ballet and tap. Anna was in a class with Renee and Lydia and she also made a new friend.

Aliza's class was part of the Moana showcase in the recital.

It was next to impossible to get good pictures on the stage! But between me, Chrissy and Grandma Karen we got a few!

Aliza and Anna smiled the whole time they were on stage--real smiles--like they were really having fun! I loved both of their presences on stage.

There might be 5 years between these sisters, but they talk and play and learned to share their love of dance.

Aliza received a trophy for completely 5 years of dance. No one could have been prouder of that trophy than her!

I was crying by the end of recital this year. I knew 3 moms who had seniors, my girl got her trophy and I am so thankful for this studio that celebrates every girl's uniqueness.