Camping for the Campers!!

Monday we pulled the camper that we were working on home after a small rain storm. We'd popped it up slightly while in storage and found some water... so, we knew where we had to fix so that it wouldn't leak anymore. The campers had already done their math for the day and so we called the school day over (schools around us are already out for summer but we school year round) and asked the campers to help us. Well... we got where it was leaking fixed and had it partially popped up while still on the truck to check for something... Daddy asked ECJ to get something out of the bed of the truck, ECJ jumped up on the back bumper, and the roof that we had just finished fixing started splitting from the rest of the camper! Daddy quickly moved it to a flatter area only to have the entire roof cave in right after we finished popping it up the rest of the way!! So, we spent the rest of the day tearing apart the camper so that it was only the bottom box and nothing else to take back to the scrap yard the next day. We also had to go repossess the camper that we'd sold because the woman kept coming up with excuse after excuse not to pay us when she'd promised. Sometimes you get burned when you trust people.

On Tuesday we took the old camper to the scrap yard and then came home and did math with the campers... After math we brought home the camper that we'd repossessed and spent some time cleaning it and repairing the damage that the people who were supposed to have bought it did to the camper. Life lessons were learned for everyone in the family (although Daddy and I were sad that we had to talk about how you can't trust everyone to keep their word yet again). While we were finishing up cleaning I noticed a caterpillar that was gray and nearly blended in with the dirt and sticks that surrounded it right before it climbed up one of the trees in our yard.

Wednesday and Thursday we did math, read a lot of books about Europe and England for Europe week in the Give Your Child the World book group that we joined. We read some about Ireland and how there's still religious problems between the Catholics and the Protestants there ... this made Peanut especially sad, she prays that they'll reach a peace sometime soon because she doesn't think that you should fight over religious beliefs. I happen to agree with her. We spent a lot of time outside and some time scrapping ... there was time spent doing individual projects and playing games. All in all both days were pretty normal for us.

Friday Daddy decided pretty early in the morning that we were taking the camper to the nearest state park and going camping for the weekend to celebrate his birthday! The camper got brought home from the storage unit and packed for the two nights that we'd be gone. ECJ decided that he'd like to stay home so one of our friends came over to spend those two nights with him (he's 16 and COULD have been left alone as we were only about fifteen minutes from the house ... but, he'd never been left alone over night let alone for two nights). Daddy, myself, and the girls left and went camping! We set up camp really quickly (we've had lots of practice with the putting up and taking down of campers over the last few weeks) and then Grandma and Papa showed up at the campground to give Daddy his birthday card!! We went for several walks, watched videos while it rained, and I crocheted quietly during those movies. Yes, we bring TV and DVD players with us while we camp ... especially when we know that it's going to be a rainy weekend! We tried to go to bed/sleep around 10 PM but there were so many mosquitoes that we were bombarded all night long! There had to have been at least 100 mosquitoes in the camper itself and so many more outside! 

On Saturday morning, Daddy's birthday, we all woke up around 6 AM ... we'd only slept a few hours each thanks to the mosquitoes and grabbing some coffee it was discussed and agreed that we'd leave camp a day early. We were all tired and had realized that we much prefer tow behind campers or fifth wheels than pop ups. Besides it was scheduled to pour down rain for most of the day and we didn't want to be locked in the camper watching videos with mosquitoes bombing us every few seconds. We packed most of our stuff up and took the girls back to the house, woke up ECJ, and then YCJ made pancakes for everyone while Daddy and I tried to get the energy up to go back and take down the pop up. Around 9:30 Daddy and I did head back, check out of the park, and take down the pop up relatively easily. We have the process down to a science now! We took the camper back to storage, unpacked the truck at the house, and then settled in to ride out the rain with naps. Daddy actually spent the majority of his birthday napping and relaxing which is how he'd really wanted to spend it anyways ... we just weren't camping while he did so. That evening Daddy and I drove to meet up with a person we're doing a few scrapping jobs for over the next week or two. We tried to go look at the second job but the rain was coming down so hard that we could barely see!! We headed home, ate a late supper of rice with shredded chicken and gravy, and then all went to bed early! (We also weren't feeling very well thinking that we'd ended up with mild cases of food poisoning while camping.)

Sunday morning we woke up to more rain and a "lake" in our side yard. I ran to the store to grab some fish sticks and tater tots for the campers for supper (Daddy and I are either going to eat chicken sandwiches or eggs salad sandwiches). After getting home I updated this blog post (not publishing it until next Friday) and decided to crochet the rest of the day away other than the time that Daddy and I will be quoting the second job for scrapping tonight. Rainy days are best used crocheting, writing, talking to God, and relaxing in my humble opinion... I won't blog about the rest of the day because I'm not touching the computer again until Monday evening.

Monday again! Daddy and I woke up relatively early (but late for our usual wake up time) at 6:30 A.M. ... we had coffee and chit chatted while I jotted out the contract for the scrap job that Daddy had to do this week. We did a quick run to the store after waking up ECJ to take the dogs out and then Daddy and ECJ left to begin work on the scrap job. I took a shower, ate breakfast, and planned out this week's lessons in my planner. I woke the girls up and made sure that they ate breakfast before we did a few chores (some of which usually fall to ECJ to do) ... we brought up the trash cans from the curb, took the dogs out, cleaned the cat pan, and set up the coffee pot for later. We followed this by school lessons: this week it's The Prairie Primer unit study (we're going slow on this one and won't have it completed until probably December), talked about why it's never a bother to talk to God or ask Him questions, math, health with Eat This Not That, and began studying Asia for the Give Your Child the World book club since this is Asia week. After lessons were over the girls each wrote a letter to a friend, cleaned up the living room and dining room, and turned on Boxcar Children to watch. I ran the vacuum and then went to write a letter myself and work some on my crochet because I have to finish a blanket by Wednesday. But, before I began crocheting for the day the girls and I ran to the store (well, actually we walked) and picked up the things I needed to make potato soup for supper and some cereal. When we got back we ate lunch, a small off brand lunchable for each of us, and I played a computer game for about half an hour. I then crocheted until Daddy came home. We took a gentleman to the storage unit and sold the pop up camper and then came back home. I quickly got supper going (Potato Soup, recipe at the end of this post) and then crocheted some more. As a matter of fact I spent pretty much almost all night crocheting, pausing only to eat supper, pass out meds,  read to the girls before they went to bed.

Tuesday rolled around again and Daddy and I lay in bed long past time to wake up. Quietly drinking coffee and relaxing the morning away. Then it was time for Daddy to go back to the scrap job he'd done half of on Monday, before he left with ECJ he ran me to the post office and then the gas station. After Daddy left the girls and I did school lessons, our regular chores around the house, and laundry (time to strip the bed Daddy and I sleep in and change the sheets out while running the comforter through the dryer to get rid of the dog hair). After lessons the girls watched some cartoons on DVD while I played my computer game for a bit and then went off to crochet. We went on a small walk after a lunch of leftovers and I went right back to crocheting while the girls watched some more cartoons. When Daddy came home he dropped off ECJ and picked me up, we ran to the bank and then the gas station, and quickly we got back home. There were several leftovers in the fridge from boiled eggs to chicken and potato soup ... not to mention the sandwich fixings. Everyone had a very eclectic supper except for Daddy and I who ate the same thing that we ate the night before: potato soup, butter bread, and melon pieces. We turned on Netflix to watch Forensic Files after we ate and I spent the majority of the night crocheting ... again only stopping to pass out meds and read to the campers about Asia. This night we read about the Philippines. Everyone was in bed and asleep by 11:30.

Just in case it isn't apparent in the upper two paragraphs ... ECJ not only worked pretty much all day long with Daddy both Monday and Tuesday, but he also came home did his chores AND his school work! He's working really hard to impress upon us that he is mature enough to get his learner's permit for driving later this summer/year.

On Wednesday morning I woke up at 5 AM and stayed awake! I had to finish the blanket before I left the house (or so I thought)... coffee, breakfast, and crochet all before the sun officially rose. I did not get the blanket finished in the morning. After looking at the forecast we noticed that it was supposed to rain all day, so Daddy called Grandma and Papa and rescheduled the BBQ we'd planned to have with them this day until Saturday. The campers woke up and ate breakfast about an hour and a half before Noni showed up. Could we have done lessons? Sure, but we try not to do five days of lessons during the summer usually (though this summer there will be more five day weeks than previous summers). Noni brought ECJ's new math book: Life of Fred Advanced Algebra ... algebra hasn't been friendly to ECJ in the last few months but we're hoping that he can get through both Advanced Algebra AND Geometry (Life of Fred again) before this time next year. He was less than thrilled to see how thick the book was. We went to eat at Wendy's with Noni and then went bowling ... ECJ won the first game and YCJ won the second game. I came in dead last both times. But, we had a lot of fun!! We stopped at Kroger on the way home to pick up some things like milk, cereal, and bread. I gave Noni a bottle of wine that I'd been given by Grandma and then Noni had to leave. I did a pretty quick scrapping trip with Daddy and then we picked up some pizza for supper (I'd taken out fish but neither of us felt like eating fish). The campers were excited by the surprise. After supper I spent several hours crocheting, again I stopped for meds, bedtime reading, and to stretch a bit. Everyone was asleep by 11:30 again.

Thursday morning I woke up at 5 AM and stayed awake again. More coffee, breakfast, and crochet before sunrise while listening to the Bible being read to me. After Daddy woke up we had a bit more coffee, woke up the kids and fed them, and then headed to the scrap yard to pick up what was owed us from the scrap job on Monday and Tuesday. Once we finished with that we ran to the auto part store and grabbed a new coil pack (spark pack) for the car and new plugs for it as well. We came home and Daddy gave all three campers a lesson in installing a coil pack and doing a tune up on a car. Once that was done Daddy and I ran to pick up a load of dirt, two yards worth, with our truck. Dropped that back at the house and grabbed the car and then went to Menard's for a few other items needed. Friday we'll be down at Grandma and Papa's house most of the day using up that dirt and other items to help them out. I came inside and played a bit of my computer game, then crocheted more while Daddy took a nap ... and finally cooked supper of fish and fried potatoes. I then continued to crochet until it was time to pass out meds, read for bedtime (moving on to Australia a few days early as we'd like to just finish off this part of the book club ... we'll be going over the same territory during the fall semester and into next spring doing one section at a time per month), and getting the girls settled for bed. I then crocheted until 10:30 PM and was in bed asleep by shortly after 11 PM.

Friday and Saturday we spent the majority of each of these days at Grandma and Papa's house building up the ground around the foundation and in the garden, spreading grass seeds, watering things, and doing some minor work in the basement. Both of these days were HOT ... like in the 90's dripping with humidity HOT. We made BBQ both nights while we were there: fish and veggie packets for Friday and ribs and corn on the cob for Saturday. When we got home Saturday evening (we'd slept at home on Friday evening as well) we discovered that our lawn mower no longer worked... so off to the store Daddy and I went and we bought our first brand new lawn mower in about a decade.

So, here it is Sunday afternoon and I'm finishing updating this blog post. We went to early mass at church today and then took a drive to look at a house (more on that in a future post). We ended the day with scrapping, supper from Taco Bell (too hot to cook, in the high 90's again today with humidity), and after a cool bath I crocheted for a few hours.

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Potato Soup:
4-5 lbs pealed and cubed potatoes
2 small onions diced
garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper
tbs butter
instant mashed potatoes
shredded cheese
water and milk

Prep all your veggies. Saute onions in butter right in your soup pot until onions are tender. Take off heat and add potatoes, seasonings, and water to cover potatoes. Boil approximately half an hour, or until potatoes are tender and falling apart. Turn heat to low and add milk to fill the pot 3/4 of the way full ... add instant mashed potatoes to thicken soup to desired thickness (you may end up having to add more milk). Serve with shredded cheese and butter bread if you wish.

Building Memories 2018

Sunday morning Daddy and I woke up before 8 AM and had our coffee, I also had my Belvita breakfast biscuits and a small yogurt for breakfast (part of my diet that I've given myself to try to loose weight by the end of summer). The morning was cool and slightly cloudy but we had a camper to work on. We woke ECJ up around 9 and after he did his morning chores he helped us close the camper back up so that we could work on the roof some more. Daddy and I discussed some options and then left on a hardware store run to pick up some small self tapping screws and some foam board for the roof. After getting back Daddy laid out the foam boards while I woke the girls up (this was near 11 AM ... yup, we missed mass again this week). After the foam was laid out and duct-taped lightly together to stay in pattern we measured the roof and measured a length of roll roof for one side of the camper roof. Several cuts, liquid nails, and the top molding put back on on the one side we had about 1/3 of the roof ready for a seal coat (the seal coat we'll be doing next week or the week after, $55 a gallon!). We took what was left of our roll roof, not enough to finish another third of the camper let alone the whole roof, and set it down on the roof and then weighed it down with some boards. We made a spot in Monday's schedule to include running back to the hardware store and buying more roll roof. The campers helped us with everything and spent a lot of time outside. About 1:30 Daddy and I ate roast beef tortilla rolls with cheddar cheese and the campers each had a sandwich and some fruit, sandwiches varied by camper lol. Around 2 PM ECJ went fishing with a friend, Daddy and I took a quick trip a few miles away to do some light scrapping, and the girls had some fun times watching Goosebumps that they'd borrowed from the library. Daddy and I were back home by 2:30 and we instantly got a load of laundry going and Daddy laid down to relax and watch Blue Bloods on Netflix while I settled in to crochet on my niece's birthday gift (she's getting a blanket from me and knows it already). The girls played some Go Fish and other card games while Pokemon videos played in the background. Supper was at 5 PM (by which time ECJ was home) and consisted of chicken parmesan , garlic bread, and noodles with sauce. Desert was fresh melon, strawberries, and grapes. Since we wake up early in the mornings through the week the girls took either a bath or shower according to preferance, took their meds, had me read more Children Just Like Me, looked at a few picture books we'd borrowed from the library for International week in our reading club, and were in bed by 9:30. ECJ quickly followed and was in bed shortly after 10. Daddy and I were in bed and fast asleep by 11:30 PM. Whew! What a day it seems like it was after writing all of that down!!

On Monday Daddy and I woke up at 5 AM, I started the coffee pot, and opened one of my drinkable Activia yogurts to start my day out... three cups of coffee and a Belvita soft baked chocolate and oat breakfast bar and I was ready to face the day with a smile on my face! I did a bit of cardio with one of my exercise DVDs and then woke ECJ up to do his morning chores. The girls woke up on their own shortly thereafter. Daddy and I ran an errand around 9:30 and then came home to load the truck with what scrap we had (ECJ had taken it apart while we were gone) and ran it to the scrap yard. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to grab a few things that we were missing for the next couple of night's suppers and also grabbed the campers some lunchables and us adults a fruit platter full of melon and berries. When we were done with the fruits we were able to give what was left to the kids for a nice, healthy snack. I've also taken a liking to these Sparkling Ice waters and settled down to drink one while I did some organizing for the rest of the month for homeschooling. We read some information about Africa, part of a book on tropical rain forests, watched a few YouTube videos on Africa, and then did some math to round the day out. This week we're not doing extra language arts but are simply journaling about what we're learning about Africa. By mid afternoon Daddy decided to take a quick nap (his back and knees hurt and the heat was bothering his lungs), the girls were watching videos about Littlest Pet Shops together, ECJ was playing his new favorite video game, and I decided to take a mental break and play a computer game. The campers all went outside to hang out with friends or play when their friends from public school got home for the day and stayed out until I called them in for supper. We ate chicken wraps and salads. The campers then went back outside to enjoy the weather while I sat next to Daddy watching Blue Bloods on Netflix and crocheting. The campers came in the house in time for meds (around 8:30), had an ice cream sandwich, brushed their teeth, did silent reading, I read aloud from the rain forest book some more, and then the girls went to bed. ECJ followed them pretty quickly and Daddy and I were asleep by 11 PM. ((NO laundry this day!!! YAY!!!)))

Tuesday Noni came over and we went to the beach... just the campers, myself, and Noni. It was a fabulous day! Weather in the mid 80's, nice breeze off of the lake for Noni and I, and very cold lake water for the campers to enjoy! Swimming in the great lakes really isn't warm enough for me until around mid to late August... and even then it's pretty chilly. I personally like inland lakes or pools now that I'm older and dipping my toes into freezing water makes me whimper. ECJ actually got a headache from submerging his head in such cold water repeatedly. Before the beach we'd stopped at Wendy's for lunch, I stayed on course by eating a baked potato and a fruit cup. After the beach we stopped at Wal-Mart for some things that I needed to pick up because it was right on our way home. Noni spoiled Daddy this day with 3 shirts (2 T's and a tank), a pair of jeans, some of his favorite beverage for summer time, and a gift card to Menard's. Daddy was in a great mood the whole day because of this. After Noni left Daddy and I did a bit of scrapping in the next town over and basically came home with nothing ... to many scrappers in a small area competing for too little scrap. We had homemade turkey meat nachos and I added a side of melon slices to my meal because of the small portion of nachos that I'd taken. We were all in bed no later than 11:30 PM and the only "school" that we did was our read aloud, Does it Always Rain in the Rain Forest? , which was part of last week's books that we didn't get to.

Wednesday Daddy and I ran several errands (including going to Menard's) and paid for an outside storage spot for the camper. We then spent the majority of the day outside, all of us, working on the camper getting the roof sealed and ready for camping. It still needs a good cleaning and a coat of sealant on the roof for extra protection ... but it is weather tight right now. Oh, and I still have to repair a few small spots in the canvas. A small tear by the dining table (fixing by sewing it back to the base as it only tore out the thread) and fashioning to extra bits of material for either side of the door because the canvas just doesn't quit reach the door at the moment... but might after a bit of stretching. After hauling the camper to the storage spot Daddy and I went for a trip around town to see if there was any scrap out... we got a few things. Then we came home and picked a friend up to show him the camper and go out to a store that we have here in Michigan (called Meijer's) to pick up some sandwich fixings for supper. We ate sandwiches and a noodle salad before Daddy and I headed back out to pick up some more scrap. Again, we were competing with too many scrappers for too little space and too little scrap... this gets harder every year. We also took a few minutes to look at a newer pop up than what we've been working on that needs a little repair, since we know so many people who want pop up's right now Daddy is thinking about buying it to repair and sell, if the price is right. We got home, passed out meds, did our read aloud, and then pretty much everyone went to bed. Again, we were all asleep by 11:30 PM.

On Thursday Daddy and I woke up at five to have coffee and I ate my breakfast of my Activia drinkable yogurt and my Belvita soft baked chocolate and oat breakfast bar. I then rested a bit and fell back asleep for about two hours while Daddy ran around town again looking for scrap that people had put out in the morning on their way to work. Two nights of scrapping came up with one of our smaller loads that we took back around noon. The campers had finished their chores, eaten breakfast, and done their math lessens all by noon ... as well as helped load the truck. When Daddy and I got back from the scrap yard we had lunch of sandwiches and a veggie tray while the campers made lunch out of tortilla chips with hummus and a veggie tray. Daddy took a quick nap, I updated this blog post and read some emails, and the campers all watched various YouTube tutorials on their subjects of interest (programming, gaming, video making and editing)... Around 3 Daddy and I left to go scrapping in another town, a friend of ours stopped at the house at 4:30 to stay with the campers until we got home, and we tried to finish the week out strong scrap wise.

And so we come to Friday. Nearly the end of the week, one day left and a new week begins, and it's going to be a lovely (if hot) weekend! Daddy and I woke up at 5 AM again, coffee and talking before the day began. I ate my breakfast, considered exercising before the campers got up, discarded that thought and caught another two hours of sleep. When I rolled out of bed everyone else was either up or soon following my example. Campers ate breakfast and did chores, Daddy unloaded and then reloaded (with mine and the campers help) the scrap in and out of the truck, and then Daddy and I left for the scrap yard. While we were gone the campers did their math assignments and then moved on to their favorite escape of play in the house .... ECJ to his new obsession of Skyrim and the girls played with Littlest Pet Shops together. When we got back, after stopping at the bank to deposit some money, Daddy took a nap ... he'd had a migraine brewing since last night and hoped some medicine and rest would set it straight. I decided not to run the vacuum but to play my computer game for a bit since that likely wouldn't bother Daddy's head. The campers went outside to enjoy the weather for awhile and came back in when Daddy and I went to go pick something up around 5 PM or so. Yup, Daddy had found a pop up for the right price for us to fix quickly and resell! No major issues with it and we knocked out the work on it before we even had supper... 

Camper that we sold...

Daddy helping Peanut
wash our camper!

Saturday and Sunday (Father's Day) we cleaned up the pop up we'd just picked up AND sold it within the same day! That was Saturday, the whole family helped to get it power washed, cleaned inside, and sold ... Daddy and I dropped it off to the new owners Saturday evening and pulled our pop up home where we popped it up in preparation for cleaning it Sunday. Daddy's choice, not mine, it's how he wanted to spend his Father's Day. So, after coffee and breakfast on Sunday morning we all went outside and began to put the braces around the camper, get the canvas stretched all the way out, power wash and scrub the entire camper, unzip windows to air it out, clean floors and counters, ... and so much more! With the weather being in the 90's it was a very hot day to be doing such a thing. For supper we had chili dogs, salad, and baked beans. And I'd like to wish a happy father's day to all of the dad's out there!!! We ended the day watching Maleficent since we'd found it while cleaning up the camper! Pop corn for those who wanted it and nice cold melons and strawberries for those of us who preferred that. 

There will be no update next week as we'll be camping with little to no reception. But, look for our update the following week!!

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Breaking the Silence

Monkey

YCJ

Oh my goodness! I haven't blogged in over two months! YIKES! But, life was really busy and threw several curve balls at us. Four birthdays happened ... the biggest one was YCJ turning thirteen last month!!! She didn't really want to turn thirteen as she was scared that somehow becoming a teenager would fundamentally change who she is. She's glad to report that her fears were unfounded as of yet. Our family life is slowing down and we're getting into a very good schedule that works for all of us. Monkey turned 21, SweetPea turned 2, and I turned the age that I am now. 


I'm not going to get into all of the details of the last two months.... It's a long, drawn out story and really I'm not ready to go over all of it with anyone (including myself). But, things are turning out like God planned ... sometimes we may wish that He would include us in that planning progress but of course He does not and we're required to simply trust that He knows what is best. Sometimes letting go of control of your life hurts and is very hard ... but, all the time it is worth it because when He closes a door He always opens a window!

Saturday (June 2nd) we chose to have a quiet day around the house for the most part. Naps were taken by several members of the family, I worked on a blanket for one of my nieces (not showing pictures of that just yet, I will after her birthday), YCJ and Peanut spent a good portion of the afternoon playing a new to us game on the Playstation 3, while ECJ went fishing during the afternoon with a family friend. The majority of my day was spent with my crochet hook and it helped me stay calm like it always has, it is my happy place more days than not... So, I've decided that I must make time to crochet each day. Peanut worked on some of her crafting today before playing video games and spending some time outside with her siblings. YCJ worked on editing and making more videos starring her Littlest Pet Shops using Calico Critters furniture and cabin. ECJ completed all of his chores (except for his evening chores) before heading out for an afternoon and early evening worth of fishing. A soothing, cool (the temperatures stayed in the 70's for the day) Saturday spent at home was just what was called for.

On Sunday we skipped mass due to a torrential downpour and stayed in bed relaxing for a bit. After breakfast Peanut and the Cracker Jacks spent several hours playing video games together without fighting with each other. Around lunch time Daddy and I went out scrapping around our house and followed that up with scrapping down by Grandma and Papa's house. We were gone past supper time and so it was a fend for yourself type of night... with several leftovers, canned goods, and other things in the house we weren't worried that everyone would eat well. After we got home everyone went for an early evening walk and then after a few episodes of Hart of Dixie on Netflix for us parents, and some YouTube videos for the younger kids we all went to bed relatively early.


Monday the adults woke up at 5 AM! Coffee time in the quiet and then back to sleep for a couple of hours for Daddy and I ... I've been sleep walking lately so I'm not resting properly and Daddy's up making sure I'm not going to hurt myself in my sleep. After the campers woke up and ate breakfast Daddy and I went to the Secretary of State for the yearly stickers that cost so much for our vehicles, but we bypassed a three hour long wait by being able to use the kiosk! After that we ran to the bank, stopped at two stores, got gas in the car, paid some bills, and then came home. ECJ stayed home while we ran up to the library to pick up some books for Give Your Child the World book club this summer (this week is International week), some other fun books, and several movies. Lessons were done after lunch... just  math, and history for the day because I began not feeling well. Then ECJ popped in a Spongebob Squarepants Season 2 DVD and the children all snacked on chips while watching it. We went for a walk before and after supper, which was chicken wraps (YUMMY!). Then again it was early to bed after some TV time ... this time we watched Goosebumps The Headless Ghost together as a family before bed. Even though I wasn't feeling well I read a bit of Children Just Like Me before the girls headed off to bed. (Just an aside for those of you with children who like the Goosebump series by R.L. Stine ... there's a video called Awesome Ants that will go well with the Arthropods unit from The Good and The Beautiful science.)

Then came Tuesday, I woke up with a sore throat and drainage happening behind my ears causing my glands to be swollen. YAY! It's never fun when I'm sick... We took apart some scrap and loaded the truck taking the scrap back to the scrap yard. Today we did two loads... I sipped on frozen coke all day long along with some throat lozenges and didn't speak very much. When we finished at the scrap yard we called home, everyone was working on math so Daddy and I decided to run to the car insurance agency and drop off a tow bill from a few weeks ago that we'd sent in the mail but apparently had become lost in transit. While we were in the area we did a little scrapping as well, and this time I DO mean a LITTLE scrapping as there wasn't much out. Since I still wasn't feeling good Daddy stopped on the way home and bought tacos for the campers, I had some noodle soup, and we were pleasantly surprised because YCJ had run the vacuum for us while we were gone. I rested for a bit and then soaked in the tub for a bit, reading the last three chapters of my current bath book. Afterwards I passed out meds to everyone, read a bit of Children Just Like Me for International week for the Give Your Child the World book club. I tucked the girls in bed, told ECJ what time he needed to be in bed, and then went to bed myself by 10 PM or so.

Wednesday I woke up still having a sore throat, drainage from behind my ears, swollen glands, and just for fun I was dizzy as well. I spent the majority of the day staving off being dizzy by moving slowly and not bending from the waist or laying down. Vertigo ... yeah, probably time to call the doctor but I decided to give it another day or two. I helped Daddy unload the back of the truck, watched as ECJ began cutting the lawn, ran to the store with Daddy, and then watched as ECJ put up the lawn equipment. Daddy left to go scrapping, do some gardening at Grandma and Papa's house, and attend a men's group at our favorite church later in the evening. I sat down and played a computer game for awhile and then worked on this blog post to catch it up. After lunch I read some more of Children Just Like Me, pulled up some YouTube videos for the campers to check out how other people live around the world, and then went through some of our curriculum to see what I still need to buy for the fall. Off and on I came back to playing the computer game because laying down or trying to crochet simply wasn't working. The campers worked on their math with very little assistance from me and got chores done without prompting. I folded three loads of laundry this day and washed two. Even when I'm not feeling well I keep moving unless I simply cannot. During the afternoon the girls watched more YouTube and ECJ played some games on the Playstation 3. YCJ helped me make pancakes, eggs, and bacon for supper. Meds were given out around eight. I read more of Children Just Like Me and then sent the girls off to bed by 9:30, which was shortly after Daddy got home. I went to bed soon afterwards hoping to wake up feeling better so that I could avoid the doctor office if at all possible. (To find the book club for the summer that I keep talking about follow this link.)

So, Thursday was kind of interesting... I wasn't feeling dizzy anymore but still wasn't feeling well. We did our lessons and then Daddy and I ran to the scrap yard. That afternoon we loaded up YCJ and Peanut into the truck and went to go pick up a surprise! We bought a used pop-up camper!!!!! Yes, the roof on the camper needs a lot of TLC, but we couldn't beat the price and KNEW that we'd be able to fix the problems. The girls were so excited they were fairly bouncing. We threw a strap over the top of the camper and then stopped by Grandma and Papa's house for about an hour to allow rush hour traffic to thin out a bit. We then surprised them with pizza for supper! This week hasn't done anything to help me with my diet ... didn't loose one single pound even though I didn't eat much because I wasn't feeling well. After supper it was meds, reading, and bedtime for pretty much all of us.

Friday we decided to skip book lessons and do some hands on work with math, logic, and thinking outside of the box. Daddy and I had to go to several different stores to pick up some things that we needed to work on the camper, some mini amount of groceries (I'll go grocery shopping sometime in the next few days), and before all of that we had to work on the camper a bit to get the right measurements for the wood that we needed to fix it. During the time we were out ECJ got a lesson in measuring without supervision when Daddy called him for some measurements on board that we needed, but had forgotten to measure before we left home, he nailed it on the second try! (We're going to be brushing up on fractions using a measuring tape over the weekend lol.) When we got back home everyone pitched in to help work on the front of the camper and, as with any project, things kept going wrong and we had to rethink our next steps several times. This is what happens when you don't have blueprints, except in your own mind, for the project at hand. This is how we usually do projects because this is how it works for our family. Also, a massive amount of tall grass that no one wants to claim responsibility to cut, we cut down. Shortly before dusk we all came in and I made a late supper of white fish and corn. The screw gun/drill got plugged in to recharge for morning, coffee pot was set up for when we open our eyes, showers were taken, laundry was done... ECJ went down to watch a movie with his young lady friend (they're still not labeling each other, but have been talking since about mid October). When he got back he did dishes and took the trash out. I passed out meds, read more of Children Just Like Me, and then sent the girls to bed. ECJ was told what time he needed to be in bed for the night, weekends he gets longer to play video games but we also need him up in the morning for the camper project, and then Daddy and I went to bed ourselves. After a week of waking up at 5 AM I was more than ready to dream about sleeping in! 

Doing an extra Saturday this week!!! Why? Because I thought you'd enjoy seeing more progress on the camper and us working on it together, of course! LOL silly goose! It rained most of the morning and into early afternoon. So, I made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up fresh veggies, fruits, chips (not on my diet), sparkling water (0 calories), and a few other odds and ends... especially the french fries to go along with our bratwurst and baked beans for supper! By middle afternoon the rain had stopped so we all trooped outside to help Daddy with the camper. We finished fixing the box (the part that lifts up with the roof) and popped up the camper to air it out. We'll finish the roof this weekend and do a good cleaning and some canvas repair next weekend. It's kid and dog approved!!!

Posts You May Have Missed This Week:
Summer Plans


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What This Summer Holds

Okay, so here's the thing... we school year round. September through until the end of August each school year, starting the new school year in September. So, our year looks a bit different than other peoples and that's OK.

Our summer schedule is kind of laid out with three weeks on and one week off of lessons each month (we do much the same in November and December). Usually we do the first three weeks of the month doing lessons and the last week of the month taking a break. This year we're doing a summer reading group using the book Give Your Child the World and each week is a different area of the world, we'll be doing this all summer long with no break weeks and are counting this as our History and Geography for the summer. We'll also be continuing with Exploring Nature with Children as our main Science/Nature spine this summer as well as using The Good and The Beautiful arthropod science unit (two lessons a week). We're going to be playing a few board games to keep the logic side of our brains happy. Those games include: Apples to Apples, Sequence for Kids, Scrabble Junior, Junior Trivia, and Brain Quest Presidents flash cards (to freshen our memories). 

Math will be done five days a week on the weeks we're doing lessons. Language Arts (other than free reading and read a louds) will be done four days a week on the weeks that we're doing lessons. We'll be switching some curriculum come fall so we're just working with what we currently have.

It's already June and that means that we're in our first week on for this month! Two more to go and then a week off ... unless we get really caught up in what we're doing and then we won't take a break week this month.

July is the first three weeks on and the last week off unless family comes to visit from Texas ... then we'll take off whatever week they're going to be up here off.

August is pretty much always the first three weeks on with the last one being off ... and school not starting back in September until after Labor Day. This means we'll either have a four day first week back in September, or we'll take the first week off entirely and hit the books again after that. 

Also in August ECJ will be finally taking his Driver's Education course!

Not a complicated schedule and with pretty much everything being touched on during the summer. ECJ still needs to finish Algebra 2 and Physics this year, YCJ needs to complete her Saxon math book, Peanut is finishing up her Seton math book and getting ready to go into Math You See next year at probably a lower level just so that she can build confidence and adjust to a new program. Next fall YCJ will be doing another round of Saxon but also working through the Life of Fred books that we have until pre-algebra (I still have to buy those and plan on her using them in eighth grade). ECJ will be working through more Life of Fred books, Discovery K12, Easy Peasy, and probably some dual enrollment classes with the college come fall. 

School of Life

Ok, sorry that there's no pictures this week. I did take pictures but already posted them on Instagram and Facebook. There were only a couple and so I decided not to repeat them in this post. So, if you're not following Homeschool Campers on Facebook or Instagram, now might be an awesome time to start doing so as there's sure to be plenty of pictures posted on both while the weather is warmer!

And, I didn't take notes all week long ... nor did I sit down to update this post every night as I usually would. Yup, again life happened and I just wanted to relax and crochet once the babies were asleep. I've had mainly early nights myself sleeping all week long, in bed usually no later than 10:30 (which, is early for me considering that I used to stay up until at least 1 AM). 

This week we did lessons each day except for Tuesday when Noni came out to watch movies with us. I'd love to tell you what we watched, but I can't for the life of me remember. We'd rented three cartoons from RedBox and I made Bagel Melts for lunch (I'll include the super simple recipe for those at the bottom of this post). We also had appointments almost every day this week!

Saturday was Saint Patrick's Day! We celebrated by cleaning Monkey's room (O M G - so much stuff!) and I made Corned Beef and Cabbage in my crock pot version of the Instant Pot! It turned out so good! Follow this link for the recipe to make it using either your crock pot or Instant Pot. I also crocheted for a while and watched part of the fifth season of Game of Thrones.

So, here it is Sunday and I'm catching you guys up on my not so exciting week worth of life. We just had so many appointments and so many campers and grand-campers doing all kinds of things to do with life that it seemed like the week passed before I knew it was even here! Today we went scrapping (and got a load almost as big as our summer loads!) and then I came home to do laundry, wash the washing machine, get the ham in the oven for Sunday night supper, make ranch/bacon noodle salad to go with the ham, and juggle grand-campers and campers while they came in and went back out into our nearly 70* day!!!

I'm going to leave off here with a big smile and go outside and play with all the kiddos until the ham is done in the oven.

Bagel Melts

• onion or plain bagels
• cream cheese
• ham or bacon
• onions - sliced thin in circles
• tomatoes - sliced thin in circles
• favorite kind of melty cheese (we usually use mozzarella or provalone)

Place open bagels on baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350*. Spread cream cheese on top of bagels. Top with ham, onions, tomatoes, and cheese. Bake in oven until cheese is melty and slightly browned. Serve. 

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In Like a Lion

Saturday and Sunday at the beginning of this March were spent entirely relaxing and spending time as a family. I made quick and simple meals so that everyone could continue to just hang out with each other. We did not end up going to mass on Sunday because our car needs it's brake line fixed and our truck just doesn't fit everyone so that we could all go. Instead we did some Bible reading, prayed the rosary together, and had some intentional prayer for those whom requested that we pray for them. The campers and grandcampers watched a lot of Sponge Bob Square Pants and other movies like Despicable Me 1&2 and Minions. The spent both days getting along and hanging out with each other. We also watched Aliens in the Attic together as a family. Sunday, Grandma and Papa stopped by our house while out on a ride!! They brought us two paper bags filled with newspaper to use in the bottom of Sugar Baby's rabbit cage AND three twelve packs of toilet paper! (Yup, I'm a mom that gets excited over toilet paper lol)

Monday and Tuesday we worked on some basic stuff with everyone. I got out the flashcards for ABC's, 123's, Multiplication, Division, Sight Words, Adding, Subtracting, and major land marks throughout the world. We made a game of school both days. Daddy had an appointment on Tuesday morning with the neurologist (everything has come back normal, it doesn't explain the migraines but I'm still very thankful) and Little Man and I went with him to the doctor's office. Both Cracker Jacks and Peanut, plus Sweet Pea, stayed home while we went to the doctor office ... and other than spilled on clothing for Sweet Pea everything went swimmingly. Of course Sweet Pea isn't yet two years old and we're all very well aware of how messy toddlers can be. Monday night I made turkey meatballs, mushroom/onion gravy, and noodles for supper while Tuesday night we had a "fend for yourself night". On fend for yourself nights the children can pick whatever they want to eat and so long as I don't have to cook it for them they can eat it. I cheated a little bit and took over the oven to make four personal pizzas for the kids who could eat them (I didn't want anyone to get burned because the Cracker Jack's aren't yet used to using the oven with a toddler in the house). Daddy and I ate subs for supper and (most exciting to me) Little Man ate a bowl of rice cereal!!! He just started eating cereal so he's still practicing on how it goes to eat something other than a bottle of formula and I'm being reminded that I have to try to remember what ages babies eat certain foods again. (Any tips or pointers for that, please feel free to comment!)

Movie night!

On Wednesday I figured that it was time to get back to the book lessons, we really have several books to finish by the end of August so that we can "grade up" when September rolls around. We school year round so I really don't see this as being a problem, but with the past several months being more unschooling than book learning I feel that need to check those boxes that certain curriculum is completed. So, out came the Prairie Primer for the girls as we began Little House on the Prairie , the second book in the nine book series ... we're really enjoying this unit study and I might pick another next year (but, more likely, we'll be using The Good and The Beautiful language arts exclusively). After book lessons the campers went back to working on individual projects: video creation and editing for both girls and online computer program program for ECJ. We topped the night off with watching Aliens Ate My Homework and Daddy's Home 2.

(SweetPea was giving him a pat on the head)

Thursday and Friday were pretty uneventful. We did lessons both days, the campers played video games, the grandcampers watched lots of Spongebob Squarepants season 2 as they both are very entertained by watching the same episodes several times each day (we rotate the three disks every three days, they just pretty much get played on repeat as background noise when we're not doing school or watching other movies together). Little Man still isn't enjoying tummy time too much but we got him a new jumper this week and he's absolutely loving it!


Saturday and Sunday (ok, I forgot to publish this Friday) ... Saturday we spent much of the day grocery shopping, leaving ECJ in charge on and off all day long of the younger children. He's very up to the task and for the most part doesn't complain (though there are days he doesn't like being the responsible one). We managed to completely fill our refrigerator and both the regular freezer and the deep freezer! We only need to pick up some canned goods for the pantry sometime during the week. We do our main grocery shopping once a month so being able to fill everything, and possibly not need to buy as much meat next month, is wonderful! Saturday night both Little Man and SweetPea had issues ... Little Man slept fitfully on and off throughout the night and SweetPea did much the same and constantly wanted "Aba" (her grandfather, my hubby)... for that reason Daddy and I were both very tired Sunday morning and almost overslept and missed mass! But, we did wake up and manage to get four of the five kiddos ready (ECJ stayed home as he doesn't have his driver's license yet and there are not enough seats in the truck for seven people), get out the door, and drive the 45 minutes to get to Gaga and Papa's church for mass! We enjoyed mass, had breakfast with Daddy's sister and Gaga and Papa at the church, and then went over to Gaga and Papa's house to visit for awhile. The time change really threw us off all day long, eating meals at the wrong times because of it ... getting caught up in cleaning the house Sunday afternoon/evening (and putting together SweetPea's new bed!!!) to the point that it was seven o' clock before we were eating supper! 

And SweetPea is sleeping in her brand new big girl bed!!!

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February 2017

Ok so it's Sunday, February 4th, and I'm sitting amid my family while ECJ plays Call of Duty WW2 with a friend, YCJ is watching YouTube videos, Monkey is napping with Little Man on the love seat, and Peanut and SweetPea are playing amongst the chaos. Daddy has gone off to an appointment that he has nearly every Sunday. We missed mass this morning because most of us are still getting over the creeping cruds, praying that we're better any day now. The campers have plans of playing Minecraft on multiplayer survival mode together later after the grand-campers go to bed. When Daddy gets home we're planning on turning on Game of Thrones season two and vegging out (meaning he might take a nap while I crochet and mostly watch the shows), and for supper tonight we're planning on scrambled eggs and fried potatoes. It's currently still snowing outside and is supposed to continue until sometime over night. ECJ will be out shoveling at least one more time this evening. (I'm typing this part up at noon on Sunday so we'll see if we stick to the plans laid out. I'll update tomorrow if we did or not.) Tomorrow morning brings book lessons back to the campers full time.

Monday morning dawned to chores and breakfast (we didn't finish season two of Game of Thrones Sunday night but we plan to finish it Wednesday evening). After the girls did morning yoga, something that Monkey started the girls doing daily and I don't have the energy to do in the morning (me time, yay!), we settled in for our lessons. Lessons were done quickly and without argument ... almost as if we hadn't been away from the books for so long. I think it literally took us less than two hours to complete everything in the lesson plans for the day! The rest of the day was spent with cleaning up ... general vacuuming, laundry, dishes, bathrooms cleaned, etc..

On Tuesday Daddy had a doctor appointment in the morning for an EEG, another test to rule out certain things causing the migraines. The appointment did well. Then we ran another errand and came back home. It was in the afternoon by the time we got back to the house and we decided that instead of doing lessons this day, after asking the campers and including their opinions, we'll be doing school this weekend. That afternoon Daddy and I took naps with the grand-campers in the bed with us! It was such a wonderful nap!

Wednesday morning Daddy and I got up really really early because we had an appointment that is two hours away in fair weather with decent traffic. This morning we had a winter storm advisory, the expressway was bumper to bumper, and everything was slick as dog slobber! We passed several vehicles that had gone into the ditch on our way southbound. Daddy called where we were going once they opened (and it was obvious that we were going to miss our appointment time) and told them what the trouble was, they agreed to reschedule. So, on our way home ... taking surface roads this time ... Daddy and I stopped for a very rare, just the two of us, breakfast out. When we got back to the house Daddy had to run an errand in the next town over and I did lessons with the campers after they finished their morning yoga and apparently video games were a must this morning. Again, the book lessons came off without a hitch and we were finished in less than two hours. SweetPea "did school" by coloring a couple of pages while her aunts did math and history and then we sang and signed wheels on the bus with her a few times. After Daddy got home I pulled out my crochet, while the campers pulled out video games again, and Daddy and I watched the last two episodes of season two of Game of Thrones. The evening was capped off by me reading to the girls. We've started a new bedtime book: So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl. We're two nights into the book and so far it is fascinating having just found out that it's actually taking place sometime during the great potato famine in Ireland.

...

So, I started writing this at the beginning of February, then life caught up with me and I stopped writing from my notes. Really all I remember from February is doing book lessons three weeks and being sick for a week solid near the middle of the month. We'd had a strong stomach virus that went throughout the whole house, starting with the grandcampers, then the campers, and finally the adults. It was something fierce! While the grandcampers and campers seemed to feel better within 36 hours, the adults took more like four or five days to recover from it. 

Half the month was cold with the other half being more spring like and all mud. Unfortunately the best week for being outside was the week that we were all ill. Such is life. We only logged sixteen hours of outside time the whole of February (basically) and that's no fun! We're ready for spring to come back to Michigan. The grandcampers and campers are getting cabin fever, I need the natural vitamin D from the sun to get out of my winter funk, and even Daddy is tired of the snow and cold of winter.

I've spent several days this past month researching what we'll be doing in the fall for lessons for 11th, 7th, and 4th grades ... not to mention that SweetPea is going to be doing nursery school this fall. I know that she will only be about two and a half when we start but she loves "doing school" with her aunts and uncle. Right now that consists of coloring and drawing while everyone else does school. She mimics my pacing with books while I read and grabs a book of her own to do the same. I haven't really settled on anything particular for next year, but I know that we'll be using a combination of The Good And The Beautiful and Master Books. I haven't settled on if I want SweetPea to do a formal nursery school curriculum (as Peanut did) or if I'm just going to fly by the seat of my pants working on the very basics with her.

Little Man eating his first bowl of cereal.

This year on Valentine's Day Daddy surprised me with flowers and chocolate. We normally don't celebrate the day but he made it special indeed for me, even bought all of the campers and grandcampers chocolate to celebrate! You may notice that there's only a couple of pictures here in this post ... honestly I didn't grab many this past month. Certain moments got captured but the rest of the time life was just too busy!

Here's to March coming in like a lion but going out like a lamb. Here's to me posting weekly again. Here's to life calming down a bit. Now, I'm off to work on a niece's birthday gift for this year and spend the day relaxing with the campers and grandcampers. I hope that February was a good month for the rest of you.

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