It's that time of year....

School picture time....

Will Franklin, who will be 16 in 15 days.

Umm, when did this kid grow from that little round faced cherub to this mini-man? seriously.

Ethan James, 14...and the above comment applies to this young dude too.

Melanie Kate, 12

Beautiful, inside and out, mos def

Levi Taylor, who will be 8 in 30 days. hard to believe he's not that little pursed-lip scaredy baby anymore....I blinked and he's 8.

Molly Christine, 3 years.

Our source of constant delight and entertainment...

poooooo-ser.

back in 2005, I took pix of their profiles. I need to dig them out but until then, here are their updated profiles.

or mugshots if ya wanna get technical.

I'm kidding.

she doesn't look thrilled.

he's up to something.

hee hee.

Mel picked one of my geraniums {gasp!} and stuck it in her hair....

sweet kids.

Hi.

How are ya today?

We were able to enjoy a {most of the} day at home kinda day. Mel reminded me that we hadn't taken our school pics yet. Naturally, I obey my daughter...and these are the results.

Hope this finds you gearing up for a fun-filled weekend...I think we get to be around home again and for that we say YIPEE!!

God & the History of Art

Joni Eareckson Tada

Today's lesson dealt with frustration in learning art...and the ultimate example of overcoming this was Joni Eareckson Tada. dare I say it - AMAZING!

The woman, paralyzed from the neck down for the past 20+ years, creates beautiful art by holding her pencil, brush, whatever, in her MOUTH. (I think it was back in the 70's that she went swimming, dove into shallow water and broke her neck)

We are just starting this 4 year curriculum on Art History and I'm excited. yeah, it's only the first day but it's so much more interesting than Math or Science. :)

Today has been a good day. I actually got up before dawn and walked with my adorable neighbor and now we are waiting on big news on the biz front.

God bless you this Wednesday. We are off to Algebra tutoring now...

amazing

I'm amazed at how often I use the word or forms of the word AMAZE.

I need a thesaurus.

sooo many pictures....so little time.

Will and Ethan inside the Wright's Bicycle shop, in the area where they built their world famous flyer. If you will recall, these two played Wilbur and Orville in their homeschool co-op's play in 2007. We have a connection. :)

Here we find the five Young'n's outside of the Wright's actual home.

Thomas Edison's laboratory was, to say the very least, amazingly cool.

Outside of Edison's office

Tom captured this pic with his amazing Nikon bad boy...just so happened to catch both of Molly's feet OFF the ground.

Hanging with Tom Edison

beautiful (Tom's cam)

outside ye olde McGuffey School house (Tom)

I don't have as much time to blog as I'd like today, so this will be brief and will continue over the course of a few days, since there are so many pics to sift thru and to steal from my brother.

it is time for algebra tutoring with my friend, Jennifer...and other schooling needs to continue to take place here at our home...amazing how side tracked we can get. so, until next time, peace.

let the fun begin...

Or something like it....

on our way to Greenfield Village, we traveled down Eight Mile Road, made famous by a certain angry rapper, to which I won't mention here....but lemme tell ya...it's a crazy, creepy roadway.

I'll just go ahead and apologize for this tomfoolery now...gotta love the horse drawn carriages all throughout the Village...and MELANIE thought it'd be funny to stand over a fresh pile of doo and take a pic. We told her it'd be even MORE tasteless if she was the human in the picture. This way, with E in the pic, it's only mildly tasteless.

Ya just have to love having creative teenagers.

This is a cute pic because Molly is just so sure of herself.

we have our hands full with that one.

In Mrs. Cohen's Millinery, we all got to try on [lice-infested] hats....not really...but it was brought to my attention on Facebook that I should've considered this. ewww.

I love my gaggle o' kids. each so unique and fun in their own ways.

I have quite a few pix from the Village and didn't know how to start without starting haphazardly...it'll be an overwhelming task and I'm just not up for it yet. :)

Until that day, chow.

a snippet here, a snippet there...

Sybil aka Molly

My momma

Tom with Aunt Nan

Melanie Kate

My firstborn with my Grandma's firstborn. awww.

Beck squeezing mercilessly on our beloved auntie

Barb

scoping out the scene...

Ethan James

Aunt Darlene showing her Sparty support.

Hello sweet cheeks

These stairs are irresistible for littles. You can't help but want to slide down them over and over. I slid these same stairs as a child.

David and Uncle Frank, talking biz

Piper, Uncle John, Will and Levi...we all had such a good time visiting with my Dad's side of the family.

that's about all the blogging I can handle on this day....this first day of Autumn, 2010.

I wondered why it was such a funnnnnky day...and then a friend on Facebook reminded me that it was indeed an Equinox and yes, Billy, those do mess with one's system.

It's messing with mine.

I have so very much to blog about and so little desire to do so. I know you are all waiting with bated breath to see what is next in my world. (really?)

eat your heart out!

blogging again and don't it feel so good?

So glad to see my sister in law, Natalie, bloggin' again.

go check her out at:

nexttolast.blogspot.com

...love her.

Michigan: Part I - Dawn & Rob

My cousin, Dawn, married Rob...that event is what spurred this trip on. and it's amazing the things we can come up with to keep ourselves busy and fill our time.

L to R: Jennifer, who is married to my cousin, Scott, who just happens to be Dawn's younger bro. Becky and I. We love to implement others into our self portraits. :)

L to R: Molly thinks she's Tarzan here. wow. Sara, who belongs to my cousin, Rhonda, who you will see below. Piper...my adorable niecey. cute little ladies.

wouldn't be a wedding without all that smooching.

L to R: Me, Dawnie, Rhonda, and Beck.

The wedding party.