Introducing...

Someone sent me this the other day, and I just couldn't resist sharing! Enjoy!!

Family fun!

We recently purchased a pop-up camper. We had looked for a long time before finding the right one for us, so we were really excited to take her on her first voyage recently!! We went to O'Leno State Park and then took everyone tubing down the Ichetucknee River. What an awesome time!! If you're looking for some fun, I highly recommend it, but arrive early. There are only a certain number of tubers permitted in each day. This is done to help protect the pristine nature of this beautiful river. You can choose from the long 3 hour float trip to other shorter versions. There are also springs to swim in at the Ichetucknee Park if you would rather not tube.

Leaping Lipizzaners!

Once you get done saying THAT five times fast... LOL

I love doing field trips with my children. I think they are so important to really solidify the learning process. One of our recent trips was to see the Lipizzan Stallions. If you are not familiar with these horses, they were used for battle. In fact, the picture you see is one of the stallions leaping. These amazing leaps and plunges were originally executed with a mounted rider and were meant to terrorize foot soldiers during battle. They are spectacular athletes!

no place like home!

Things have just gotten so crazy around here lately. I have been doing a lot a traveling around the state training some facilities in ABC Music & Me. It's a great music and movement program for young children. If your child attends a daycare or preschool, you should ask them about providing it for your child!

One of the benefits of home schooling this year was that we were able to travel as a family. R and S really enjoyed seeing all the sites and learning more about each place we visited. Here are a few favorites places.

Checking out the gorilla in Miami Metro Zoo-It's humbling to see him with only inches of glass separating you.

Checking out the fort in St Augustine, Florida. It's a Spanish fort, but the British also used it during the Revolutionary War.

Hopefully things will settle down soon, and I'll post more about what we've been up to.

Candle in the Corner

My friend, Heidi, has a great thing going on over at her blog, Moms Ministry, and More. She is a missionary in Asia and decided to do some fund raising to help out other missionaries around the world. Each missionary that is participating in the Candle in the Corner contest has donated an item that is unique to their respective country. You can enter to win one of these items by making a donation using the "Chip In" button at the top right corner of her blog. Every $5 donation earns one entry. Click here to view the full details of the contest. She will be showcasing one of the items each day, so be sure to check it out!

So much to say, so little time

Gosh, so much has gone on in the last week. We had a great time in Western North Carolina. Even though it rained nearly every day of our trip, we still managed to have loads of fun. The colors and cooler weather were wonderful!! We visited an apple orchard on one of the sunny days and were able to pick our own apples, which was a new experience for everyone. We also met the nicest family there! (pictured below) They were rather quiet, but we held up our end of the conversation really well. LOL

We also completed our first book reports. If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you should be able to view them there. I'm working on getting them uploaded there. We decided it would be fun to do a TV interview about character from their books. As the TV host, I asked them questions about the story line, characters, etc. It was lots of fun! We even had a live studio audience. Thanks to Daddy, Grandma, and Papa!

Before we left the mountains the weather turned even colder. We were so excited to see the season's first snow! Here's a picture of the snow on the river as we were leaving for home.

Leader of the Band

There's a contest going on right now at my business, Delightful Sounds. The "Leader of the Band" contest is a photo contest with children engaged in various musical activities. The contest was open to families all over the country, but since the contestants all turned out to be local, a gift certificate for 50% off the tuition of a future Kindermusik class at Delightful Sounds will be awarded to the winner. There will also be other music prizes and goodies awarded.

I hope you'll take a minute to caste your own vote and help out one of these special children. Here's how to vote:

1. Visit the Delightful Sounds page on Facebook.


2. Look through the photo album titled "Leader of the Band Contest".


3. Add "vote" as a comment under your favorite photo.


4. While you're there, make sure to become a fan! It's a great way to keep up with what's going on at Delightful Sounds.
   

Good luck to all of the contestants! Make sure to tell your friends and family to visit and vote too!

The Mouse

The Mouse has been very busy this week at our house. It's a very unusual mouse, you see. When you least suspect it, you may find a note saying, "Thinking of you" or "I love you!". However the Mouse also moves things to strange places to get the same point across. The mouse has been here for a couple of years and has raised two little mice who also do this unusual behavior. Last night, I crawled into bed. It was very late and had been a long day. In fact, the long day was a culmination of what had been a very long week. As I slid my feet under the covers, I ran into something. What in the world? I reached under the sheets and pulled out a large box of crackers. I smiled. Next to the bed I found more food items that didn't belong there. The baby mice had been there, and they were thinking of me. Tomorrow would surely be a better day. :0)

I would love to hear about your own "I love you" rituals.