Profound

After being warned and then spanked for climbing and jumping from an unsafe location, Griffin eventually fell and bumped his head after a similar attempt. He cried and told his daddy, "My heart told me not to do it." I know that feeling all too well!

No-Sew Sock Animals

The kids and I goofed off one day this past week because we needed a break from the ordinary school day. We came across a website explaining how to make sock animals. How fun is that!! Once we got started we just couldn't stop. We ended up with four platypuses (or is that platypi), one bunny, and four little purses for carrying the animals.

13 Days Down, 167 To Go

This year BJ and I decided to bring Lily and Schaeffer home full time to homeschool 5 days a week. (Last year they had been attending River's Edge 3 days per week, although we are continuing to use RECA for our umbrella program so we can do fun events with them). In July, as I counted down the days left in the summer break, I could not have felt any more overwhelmed. But today I could not be any more pleased. Homeschooling is going so well! I don't say that in a way to claim any credit for the way its going. I have numerous friends to thank for their encouragement and a God who never leaves my side. I don't have any plans to share on this blog any fabulous insights into homeschool-dom. Frankly, I hate those blogs and websites that say "Oh look at this fabulous Egyptian pyramid my kids made out of macaroni, graham crackers, and glitter glue!" I'm so glad those moms have their act together and have the time and supplies to pull off such a feat and to find time to post step-by-step photos of the process on their blogs. I'm convinced that other things have got to be missing in their lives because its just not possible to do it all no matter how perfect the blog life looks. (My spice cabinet is not alphabetized, and because I don't want to feel insufficient, I try to avoid websites that make me feel as such.)

So when I say homeschool is going well, that means we are accomplishing reading, writing and math nearly every day that we set out to do school. Our dining room now looks like a classroom instead of a pretty place to display heirloom china. I'm okay with that, though. The kids have immediate access to their schoolwork, which they never hurry to get out, and to their art supplies, which they frequently splay across the table and floor. Homeschooling so far has been a rewarding experience. I get to see their excitement and curiousity when we learn something new. We spent a great deal of time researching the cause of volcanoes (because they were mentioned in our history lesson) all to find out that scientists don't really know what causes volcanoes. There are some well-researched theories but no definite conclusions. I like that we don't have a textbook answer for everything and that several sources say different things. That gives us a chance to think and talk and theorize on our own. We also spent a great deal of time talking about, drawing, imagining, and pretending to be Behemoth and Leviathian (interesting dinosaur creatures written about in the book of Job). As you can tell, I'm all geeked out about learning some new stuff too.

If all continues to go well through the school year, Lily will accomplish 2nd grade and Schaeffer will complete Kindergarten (and Griffin and Charlotte will not feel too badly neglected).

LeConte Lodge - A birthday celebration

BJ surprised me with reservations at the LeConte Lodge on top of gorgeous Mount LeConte! We packed our backpacks, filled our Camelbaks, dressed in our trail running gear and hit the Alum Cave Trail Wednesday morning (my actual birthday). We arrived at the top of Mt. LeConte around 3:30 and got settled into our cozy cabin at the Lodge. There is no electricity or running water at the Lodge so everything is quite primitive. They offer kerosene lamps and buckets to collect water from the water pumps around camp. But they do offer fresh linens for the queen sized beds and hot meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was a totally amazing experience! The Lodge is 100% booked during it's open season so reservations have to be made nearly a year in advance - and that's exactly what my amazing husband did for me!!

On Alum Cave Trail

Inside Alum Cave

Taking a break

We made it to the top!

Our cozy cabin that has 3 rooms for other campers.

Cliff Tops

My hunky man on Cliff Tops

One of the amazing views from Mt. LeConte

Getting ready to run back down to civilization the next morning.

The Lodge where meals are served. We met some very cool people here during dinner and breakfast.

New York City - A girls' trip

I met up with my Memphis friend, Betsy, in New York City for an extended 3-day weekend. We are perfect travel companions because we love the same things, travel the same way, and aren't afraid to keep a fast sight-seeing pace. We traveled via plane, subway, cab, bus, and on foot. We hit all major areas of Manhattan: Upper East Side, Soho, Greenwhich Village, Gramercy Park (my favorite), Time Square, Flatiron District (where Obama was visiting on our last day there), Meatpacking District, Fashion District (where our hotel was), Chinatown, Battery Park, and everywhere in between. I loved every square inch of NYC. I would move there in a heartbeat! Here's a glimpse of our trip.

Time Square from the double-decker tour bus.

Parsons, where Project Runway is filmed.

The Empire State building disappearing into the clouds.

When it began to rain while on the double-decker bus, the guide handed out ponchos.

We saw Wicked, the Broadway show that tells the story of the Wicked Witch and Glenda the Good Witch before Dorothy arrived in Oz.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. My favorite part of the trip.

In front of Monet's sunflowers.

Van Gogh

On The Met's rooftop with Manhattan as the backdrop. An amazing place!

An interesting character spotted on 5th Ave. This happens to be a 70-year old man in a bikini riding a girls bike.

Nighttime view of the Empire State building from a rooftop restaurant.

The 911 Memorial. This is one of two fountains which was built on the spot where Tower #1 once stood. For scale, notice how small the people appear on the other side of the fountain. The new World Trade Towers are still under construction and one of them can be seen in this photo just beyond the fountain. They are architectural marvels!

St. Thomas, USVI - Anniversary Celebration

BJ and I picked St. Thomas USVI as the destination to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary. This is one of our most favorite places for total relaxation.

Our view from our villa and the resort's beach.

The view from the resort looking toward Charlotte Amalie's port.

The old folks celebrating 14 glorious years of wedding bliss!

Looking toward our villa (the second building from the left) and the gorgeous blue waters of the Caribbean.

We enjoyed dinner at The Grande Cru which is in the harbor with the yacht club.

We did a trail run on St. John. This was an abandoned sugar mill plantation on the Reef Bay Trail.

The secluded beach at the end of Reef Bay Trail. We had the whole beach to ourselves.

We jumped over a bunch of these hermit crabs while running the trail.

Megan's Bay in St. Thomas. What a view!!

The View from the Top

The kids and I joined Granddad and Grandmama on a hike yesterday at Smokemont, NC. It was an easy 2.5 mile round trip on a fairly flat trail. I wish I could say it was indeed easy, but I carried Charlotte on my back in the carrier and Griffin in my arms most of the way. He is usually a great little hiker, but we were hiking during his nap time so he was not really up to it. We hiked to a little stream and the kids played in it before we turned and came back down the trail. As we crossed back over the Smoky Mtns on the way home, I pulled off at Newfound Gap to snap a pic. Charlotte and Griffin were sacked out in the van. I guess the ride on my back and in my arms wore them out (isn't that ironic?!). I'm always amazed by the majestic views in the Smoky Mtns. I shall never tire of living here and getting to experience the beauty that surrounds East TN.

Newfound Gap

One of a million butterflies we saw on the trail.