Here is where most of the studying and computer work is accomplished. It has been wonderful to have a room just for school! I had no other place but this room to place the "diner" table from my Cincinnati kitchen, but it has been handy for projects and extra space. I had plans of redoing these walls yellow but was so tired of painting by the time I did the 1,200 coats of orange (Pardon my exaggeration!), that every fiber in my body was resistant to the thought of changing this room - even if the walls are white. They were in excellent condition, so I decided to leave them plain old white. Sometimes you have to choose your "decorating battles."

This week, Seth told me the sweetest thing a boy can say to his Mommy. "When I grow up and Daddy dies (That is not the sweet part!), I am going to marry you." I let him know that between now and then he would find a girl that he will like a lot more than Mommy. At this point, he is not very convinced, and I do not mind him thinking that way for awhile. It is nice to be at the top of some people's list. :-)

Here are a few pictures from the party we had before our move. It was a fun and memorable event for Seth. We displayed his studies, snapshots from the year, had him read, quote twenty-six Bible verses including references and play the piano. Seth and I performed our first public duet, and I was so worried he would mess up that I did! (No comments, Mr Leib! :-)

September 23 was Troy's 29th birthday, and we enjoyed a family picnic together. I grabbed some pizza, fresh veggies and chips for the "festivities" and headed to Lake Robinson. Isn't it beautiful?! I brought some bread so the boys could feed the fish, and they finished the evening by tossing as many rocks as time would allow. When we arrived home, the boys and I presented Troy with a chocolate cake topped with homemade icing. (You can laugh if you wish; I am a musician not a cake decorator! :-) This is better looking than the first time I tried to decorate a cake. Let us just say that on that cake, I had to turn the musical notes into bicycles! Nathan Dahler was at our house and when I showed him the cake, we both doubled over with laughter!!! It is good to be able to laugh at yourself!) Back to this cake, it tastes delicious, and that is what counts. (Yes, there are only six candles because I did not want to put twenty-nine on the cake.) Hope you had a nice day, Honey!

I made a wonderful discovery - at least for me it was. Chalkboard paint!!! I was so excited to paint my own chalkboard on a wall in the homeschool room. If I ever want to do away with it, I just have to grab new paint and roll over it! It has been a great tool to use in school. The only problem is that it looked so cute I painted another on a different wall. (That one is for notes and reminders.) Maybe I should have painted the bottom half of the boys' room with this - they could write on the walls! I was so enthused I thought I would paint the front of two kitchen cabinets. It would be great for writing a shopping list, menu or recipe. HALT!!!! Troy was not "wondering" about that idea. I think it was closer to panic. "Since there is a good possiblity we may not be in this house for many years, let's not do anything that drastic." How "drastic" can chalkboard paint be?! :-) Sigh. My "real" kitchen - the permanent one that I get when Troy is done with grad school - will have two chalkboard cabinets. (Just thought you would like to know.)

On our last Sunday in Dayton, Ohio, we surprised the congregation by having the boys do their first public duet. Ethan is not the least bit afraid of a crowd, so he thrived and jived. When the song ended, he asked, "Can we do dat again?" The whole thing was cute and amusing, and I am sure Grandma Castle would have cried. :-)

painting with "bold" colors. (At least for a few years anyway.) Out of my list of selections, the boys chose a "basketball bathroom." The next logical step is to go for basketball colored walls. Oops, you are "wondering," aren't you?! :-) I found all kinds of "sporty" and denim things to use. I especially love the chalkboard; it is great for writing notes and instructions. Okay, back to the walls - I grabbed the cheapest basketball colored paint at Lowes. (You should have seen the face of the woman in line next to me! She was "wondering." In fact, she even voiced an opinion about the color. Never mind her. I was making a few boys happy.) The paint gal was telling me I should use a primer. (Sure, you are trying to get me to spend more money.) No primer on the walls for me. I painted the first coat. I then did a second coat. Now I am rethinking the primer decision. I begrudgingly paint a third coat before the walls look nice. I decided to do a "technique" on one wall to make it look like the center of the clock, so it only needed one coat. Otherwise I would have run out of paint. I was already tired of painting by the time I was done with the first room! For the bedroom, I marched back to Lowes, exlpained what happened and did not buy the cheap stuff. The new paint was as thick as oil. I was a good girl and started with primer. Whew! This will be a one coat of orange paint job. Cough. Choke. I sadly painted a second coat of orange following the primer and first orange coat. I begrudgingly painted a third coat of orange and made my blisters worse. A total of four coats reside on the boys' bedroom walls. Grrr. So much for KILZ.

Here are the weekend pictures I promised. Aunt Joan will love this room. Her famous quote, "Orange is the bestest color in the world." The handprints on the wall belong to the boys, and Seth helped paint the verse. In case you are "wondering," I tried to make it look like a child's handwriting. I love the way it looks.

at our house! With boys like Seth and Ethan, I never know what to expect. Parents, be cautious about letting your children watch a documentary on tsunamis. You can imagine the mental picture I had when Seth came out of the bathroom tonight and announced that he had been the "wave that shook the world." (Yikes!) I then announced that he could be the boy that cleaned up the wave, and he was quick to inform me that it was too much for his towel. Yup, it took several towels. Earlier today while Seth and I were diligently working on studies, Ethan took advantage of the cleaning supplies and paper towels. He sprayed, sprayed and sprayed (Did I mention he sprayed?) multi-purpose cleaner all over the coffee table, VCR and his head. I have no idea why he included his head, but I am very thankful for Melaleuca's chemical free cleaners! With all the cleaner abounding in the living room, he needed the whole roll of towels, and I was greeted with an "Ahoy, Mate" as he spied me through the paper towel roll when I rounded the corner.

Enjoy the stories. . .I will always have more. Of course, we also have pre-blog happenings I could mention. You know the breaking a dozen eggs on the kitchen floor, driving cars through toilet bowl water, putting game pieces in with the fish, Ethan sticking his bare foot in a paint tray, feeding "Cheezits" in a fan and watching them get chopped up and fly across a room. . . We are making lots of memories!

August 23 was our first day of homeschool this year. We are having lots of fun, and Seth has loved all 22 days so far. His daily subjects are arithmetic, phonics, penmanship, Letters and Sounds, Language 1, spelling and piano/music. Each day we have a Bible story, Scripture verse review, hymn study, phonics words, and he reads two books. Four days a week he has arithmetic speed drills which are one of his favorites. Once a week things are art on Monday, library trip on Tuesday, history on Wednesday, science on Thursday and physical education on Friday. (Who said homeschool had to be boring?!!!)