Thanksgiving in Gatlinburg

We spent last Thanksgiving in an amazing cabin in Gatlinburg with Josh’s parents, his siblings and their spouses and our nieces. All in all there were 10 adults plus 5 children, every one of them under the age of 5! It was chaotic, but so much fun!

 

It snowed!! I think it was the first snow that our kids really got to experience since our move. We were very excited! Everyone bundled up and ran outside to have snowball fights and build snowmen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josh worked so hard to roll up enough snow for a snowman. Once he had rolled up two balls for the bottom two portions of the snowman and stacked them, he put it on the trunk of our car. While he went to roll a head, the other parts slid off of the car and smashed on the driveway. Oops. He was devastated. He spent the next 30 minutes pouting on the pavement and contemplating the meaning of his existence. Poor thing.

Tennessee is such a beautiful state! The mountains there in Gatlinburg are just incredible. We drove up into them one day and the snow and ice were beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited Cade’s Cove. It is a driving tour. Lydia got to drive.There were deer grazing in a field. Josh was thinking out loud that if he only had his bow and arrow he could make the shot from where we were parked. He said, “That, my children, is food.” And Lydia promptly pointed and said, “Food!” Quite comical. It was only appropriate then for us to head downtown to the Jerky Store and pick up some venison jerky. Mmm good! (In case you were wondering, it was a very cold day!)

 

 

 

 

 

We visited The Christmas Place, The Apple Barn (you must go there and have some apple cider donuts and hot cider!) and enjoyed some snuggle time with Erma and Erpa too!

Leaf Raking and Bonding Time in New Jersey

In November we made a trip to New Jersey. It was a bittersweet time for us. My grandmother was in the hospital living her final days.

When we weren’t at the hospital, we tried to keep things light. We raked leaves for Grandpa Beaver. It was Josh’s first time raking leaves. And our children’s first time really seeing a huge accumulation of fallen leaves on the ground. So it was also their first time jumping in leaves.

Lydia hated it. She opted to supervise. James and JoyAnna had a great time. Josh got blisters. We learned an important lesson that day – gloves are a necessity when raking. Uncle Timmy owns his own landscaping business. Maybe James will grow up to be apprenticed to him? JoyAnna can take care of marketing and Lydia can keep the books, or something.

James and JoyAnna rode ponies at the Padilla’s house.

And Lydia developed a special bond with her Uncle Timmy.

As we drove past the “You are now leaving New Jersey” sign on the interstate, JoyAnna burst into tears. She wanted to stay and live there. Sweet girl! When you are old enough to learn about taxes and politics, my dear, you will change your mind.

Pigeon Forge Wedding

My cousin, Veronica, got married on my birthday last year! She lives near Pigeon Forge, and she had a beautiful country wedding. It was decorated like something out of one of those wedding magazines. Everything was just picture perfect.

It was also a family reunion of sorts. I had more fun at that wedding than I have had in a L O N G time. My brothers and sister were there. My dad was there. My aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. It was the first time that JoyAnna and Lydia had met my brother, Timmy. It was also the first time that my grandparents had all three of their children together at the same time in a very long time. So that made it even more special.

This is my handsome brother, Timmy, and his sweet fiancee, Allissa.

And here is my beautiful sister, Jamie.

And last, but certainly not least, my baby brother, Kevin.

Here we are together. I am the oldest. Timmy comes next. Then Jamie. And Kevin is the youngest.

And here we are…My dad, his children and my children. (Thank you, Josh, for taking this picture for me!)

James and JoyAnna had so much fun dancing together. They always do at weddings. The wedding photographers snapped some beautiful pictures of them. I was so thankful, because I didn’t get any myself!

And, this, my dear friends, is my favorite picture from that evening. It makes me laugh so hard every time I look at it. To those of you unfortunate enough to be IN the photo, I apologize for any embarrassment this may cause. Just don’t share my blog address with your friends, and you should be fine. If any of you have any idea what evoked such reactions, and you are still willing to speak to me, will you please remind me?? I can’t remember!

Hello, Nashville!

Since we were arriving in Nashville in the fall, we were all very excited about apple picking. It was going to be a first for everyone except me. I grew up picking apples each fall, and when I was old enough to get a job, I worked at the orchard we used to pick at every year.

I found an orchard nearby that grew Crispin-Mutsu apples. Those are my favorites! Pratt’s Orchard in Lebanon. So one morning, after we had gotten settled in just enough that we could justify taking a break, we drove over to go picking.

The nice old man at the country store in the orchard, (Mr. Pratt?), gave us a basket and a wagon and told us where each type of apples were located. The girls hopped in the wagon, James found a buddy, and I hopped through the orchard like a happy little fawn.

Yum, yum, yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we picked, we drove over to Cedars of Lebanon State Park. One of the things we LOVE about Tennessee is that there are no fees to visit their state parks. They had a craft that day, so James and JoyAnna made butterflies. In the garden, Josh found a locust skin. James didn’t want to touch it, but JoyAnna scooped it right up. So brave! I remember collecting them as a little girl so we could paint them. How we came up with that idea, I will never know.

There are so many sinkholes in that park. They were really scary to me. I kept envisioning the upper parts collapsing on our heads. Yikes!

 

Farewell, Florida

Before we left for Nashville, Josh and I wanted to go to Sanibel one last time. It was a place that held fond memories for us because his entire family used to get together there each year around Memorial Day for a vacation. We had some really great times with them. Besides, Sanibel is just a beautiful place and we knew it would be a long time before we were near a nice beach again.

 

 

 

 

We arrived just as the sun was setting. It was gorgeous. James, JoyAnna and Lydia were excited to look for shells and splash in the water. We ended up with a gallon sized ziploc bag full of them. That was such a nice night!

Summer Adventure in Florida

Yes, my friends, it has been about a year since I last uploaded pictures from my camera! And here are some from last summer when we hosted a foreign exchange student from Shanghai, China. His name is Yang, but we call him Sam. Each student was given an “American” name to use while they were here. Our neighbor hosted a girl from China, and we called her Linda. 

Both Sam and Linda were very sweet and respectful. They both really loved playing with our children. We loved getting to know them both, but of course we had developed a special affection for Sam. By the time they left to go back home it was heartbreaking. Sam felt like one of our children. In fact, one weekend when his class had gone to visit some theme parks in Orlando, Sam became separated from the group and was lost in the parking lot. He called us to ask for help, but his cell phone battery died. That was terrifying for us…I’m sure it caused Sam a little anxiety as well. We called his group leader to let her know all that Sam was able to communicate to us about his location. Then Josh and I just prayed…what else was there for us to do? A little while later we heard back that his group leader that they had found him and he was fine. Praise God!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sam came to church with us. He sat down at the piano with our sweet friend, Hannah, and she was showing him how to pay. We played board games and puzzles almost every night together. Sam beat Josh and Monopoly one night. That was great!

Josh taught Sam how to play chess. He picked it up very quickly. He gave Sam his chess set the night he left to go back to China. We watched a 3-D movie together and had a popcorn party, played baseball, did yard work (Sam had never mowed a lawn before and wanted to give it a try…he did a great job!), and just generally had a wonderful time with him. Josh was even able to take off from work early one afternoon to go bowling with Sam and his class. That was fun! I wish I had pictures of that!!

Our dear neighbor and friend, Ms. Gloria, took Sam and Linda to pick up the bus that would take them to the airport. It was so sad to say goodbye. We have kept in touch with Sam, though not as well as I would like. Most of which is my own fault. Sam emailed and said that he was hoping to come to college here. I believe he said he was speaking to a school in Connecticut.

Catch Up

Blog posts from me have been few and far between. One of the reasons is because I had no way to get the pictures off of my camera…or so I thought! And the other reason is because updating my blog just has not made it very high on the priority list.

Out of pure necessity this evening (our memory card on the camera was full and would not take any more pictures) my husband figured out that our odd-sized memory card that our digital camera uses actually DOES fit into the printer, and thus I actually COULD have been uploading my pictures these past 10 months!

I suppose it’s now time to try to play catch up a bit.

I hope you enjoy seeing and reading what we’ve been up to since we relocated to Nashville. Of course, this will just be a very small sampling since I haven’t used my camera much in the past several months.

So if you have found yourself wondering whether or not we have crawled under a rock hardly to be seen anymore…now you know the truth!

Baby Boys vs. Baby Chicks

This morning JoyAnna and Lydia were snuggling, tickling, and just loving in general on little Gideon.

James was sitting nearby reading a book quietly.

I asked the girls, "Aren't babies so cute?"

They eagerly agreed.

Then James chimed in, "But I like baby chicks better."

Happy Birthday, Gideon Matthew!

We welcomed Gideon Matthew into the world April 25th at 9:18 PM Central Mountain Time!! He is 7 pounds 12 ounces and measured 21" long. He bested Lydia, my biggest baby, by 5 ounces. He is very sweet and quiet, tolerating well even the coldest wipes against his tiny baby bottom!

Joshua and I are praising God for His care and protection of Gideon and me during these last few weeks. We see now that had we not trusted Him and rather listened to the advice of the doctors several weeks ago, Gideon would have been several pounds smaller and not as fully developed. How good God was to give us clear direction in that decision!

We had an ultrasound at the doctors office today to confirm that he was in position and his measurements looked good. They estimated that he would be between 7 pounds 8 ounces and 7 pounds 12 ounces. Pretty accurate! They also said that he was facing up, towards my belly button. That meant that his head was not resting in the proper position and could have been what had delayed active labor. Also, That there was not a risk to him, or me, because of this, only that it could make pushing more challenging.

We arrived at the hospital after 8 PM, my contractions were 5 minutes apart, and he was born after only about an hour. When he was born, he was facing the correct position, and we think it was because I had chosen to labor on my knees leaning over the back of the bed. My water broke on its own shortly before he was delivered. He was born very pink, and cried strongly but very briefly. He is nursing well and has already made two dirty diapers for Daddy. He is strong and curious, turning towards lights and sounds...especially his daddy's voice.

I was so blessed to have my best friend, Joshua, and my dearest Nashville friend, supporting me through labor. They communicated everything I wanted to the hospital staff and doctor when I couldn't and were so very encouraging. Our pastor and his wife generously opened their home to James, JoyAnna, and Lydia for the evening. God has taken care of every detail so perfectly...what a faithful, merciful, and loving Heavenly Father we serve!

I cannot wait to introduce the older children to their little brother in the morning!

Thank you, dear friends and family, for praying for this boy and his mama! God has heard and answered, and I am in awe again of His goodness towards His people!

Come Soon, Little Gideon!

I went to the doctor on Friday, March 29th. I was not even 37 weeks yet and was already dilated to 4cm. My doctor warned me to get to the hospital right away when I went into labor because it would probably go very quickly.




The next Wednesday we went to a car lot to shop for a minivan. After walking around for several hours and finding out the one that we were going to buy was just sold, we decided to go to our favorite Mexican restaurant. I ate their spicy salsa and ordered chicken fajitas. Yum! I was stuffed. Towards the end of the meal I began having strong contractions, some of which were only 3-4 minutes apart, and a sudden urge to visit the restroom. Uh oh! We decided that since we were only a mile away from the hospital that it would be wise to get checked before the 40 minute drive home.


When I got to the hospital, we learned that I was 6cm. dilated. Even though all contractions had stopped and nothing else seemed to be going on, they would not release me. So I spent the night in the hospital.


In the morning, I was 8 cm. dilated...without having any real, consistent contractions. Maybe just one or two here or there, and they were not very strong and certainly not painful. All night the doctors had been pressuring me to let them break my water. They insisted that I was having stalled labor and needed to be helped along. By this time I was only just 37 weeks. Not only did I not want to experience a "helped along" labor, but Josh and I were concerned that it was a little too early for our little guy to be born. If things weren't progressing on their own naturally, baby was healthy and strong, and I wasn't even to full term, why should we be in such a rush? We just weren't convinced that I actually ever WAS in labor like they insisted I was. Another few days, or even a couple of weeks, in the womb just seemed to us to be better for baby.




By the next evening we had a choice to make; allow the doctor to artificially get things going, or leave the hospital against medical advice. We chose to leave. I got the "you and baby will die if you have an unassisted birth outside of a hospital" spiel, signed the papers releasing the doctors and hospital from any responsibility, and happily left the hospital.




And here we are...still no baby! At my last check-up on Friday, April 11th I still was only 8 cm. My doctor could not believe that I was so far dilated and not in active labor. They did a non-stress test, drew blood to make sure that my blood count was good, and could not believe that I was walking around like that. Gideon is strong and healthy, and I know he has grown because now I am feeling the discomfort.




Everyday I grow more excited to meet this new little one that God has been lovingly knitting together in my womb. Everything is set up and ready for his arrival. Josh brought home our minivan on Saturday. I have all of my hospital bags packed and in the trunk. Infant car seat is waiting at the door to go too. I can't wait to post that he has joined our family!!

Language Lessons

 

We decided about a year ago that we would begin learning Latin American Spanish as a family. We bought the Rosetta Stone homeschool edition at a great price and Josh and I began. After a few weeks we realized that we had a problem. Since both of us had studied German in school, Josh studied it for 4 years and I studied for 5 with neither of us mastering it at all, we kept confusing Spanish and German words and phrases. As we were shown a picture of a horse and asked to say what it was we would answer das Pferd instead of el Caballo.

About a month ago we had a great offer on the Rosetta Stone homeschool edition for German and decided that we would purchase it. Our goal has always been to introduce the children to other languages as early as we could and give them an opportunity to learn to speak and understand several. There are 5 languages that we would like the children to be able to understand to some extent. German, Spanish, Latin, Hebrew and Greek.

German and Spanish are important to our family because both Josh and I are very much German and would like to visit Germany to see where our families come from. Josh’s Oma, having been born and raised in Germany, speaks German and we hope to be able to practice speaking with and writing letters to her.

Spanish is such a helpful language to know because it is everywhere and there are so many Spanish speaking people that we see everyday. It would also be helpful if God ever called one or more of our children to missions because there are so many Spanish speaking countries.

A knowledge of Latin will help them be better spellers, and also be able to grasp other languages more easily. Hebrew and Greek are also important so they will have the tools to be able to interpret and understand the Bible in it’s original language. (Josh already has begun teaching the kids the Greek Alphabet.)

James began his German lessons with Josh and me as soon as we received the program in the mail. He is doing very well – much better than either Josh or I ever anticipated! Last week I found an App for the Ipad (it is also available for Android) called DuoLingo that lets you learn and practice languages completely free! They also have a free website. You can find it at www.duolingo.com and they offer Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese. They also offer English for native speakers of other languages. Josh and I signed up. It’s a little too advanced for James right now because you must be able to correctly spell and write dictated sentences. We love the format. It makes learning German like a game, but not in a bad way. It is very fun AND very challenging. And in a year or so will be an excellent supplement to James’ German lessons.

I remember when I was in high school, another student in my class took a trip over the summer to Germany so she could practice her skills through immersion. She came back and told the class about her experience. She said that since she had come back to the United States she was now thinking and even dreaming in German, it was so natural to her! My German teacher was very please, of course, because before this particular student’s trip she was the worst student in the class!

Well, last night I was dreaming in German! And I have found myself occasionally thinking “auf Deutsch”! I’m sure my grammar is incorrect and I am probably not forming my sentences exactly right, but that is still a very exciting milestone to me.

So…if you have been wanting to learn one of those languages, or you have been thinking about incorporating a foreign language into your homeschool lessons, check out DuoLingo. It has been so helpful to us in just one week!! (No, I’m not being paid by DuoLingo or receiving any compensation. I just wanted to share how much we love this App!)

What’s New

It was a busy week for us, Eads! And a nice, busy Saturday to end it too! We arrived back home in Nashville from our trip to Florida last Saturday evening. Exhausted and, I have to admit, a little grumpy. Funny how too many hours in a sedan crammed full with people and their things can do that to you. We had a crazy drive through a bad snow and ice storm to get there, and once we were there it was non-stop busy – but tons of fun and wonderful times visiting with family and friends. Josh began having some heart issues half-way through, so I took him to our doctor in Fort Myers – the one who helped me when I was so sick during my pregnancy for Lydia. They fixed him up and he’s feeling much better! Then off to Atlanta to get some more use out of our season passes to Stone Mountain Park…had an amazing dinner at a little Cuban place called Mojitos in downtown-wherever-we-were outside of Atlanta, and finally back home.

Monday was unpack, unwind, and get back into the swing of things day. Tuesday night we had some new friends over for dinner. I am still amazed at how we fit 4 adults around a wobbly card table and 5 children (6 years old and under) in our kitchen to eat a meal, but we did it. And it was a great time! Wednesday we dropped Josh off at work so I could make it to a prenatal appointment and run some errands. Thursday the kids all had check-ups with their new pediatrician. They did awesome!! Josh and I laughed because they are all very tall for their ages, and very lean! I guess the tall comes from my side, and the lean from his? Last night we spent the time we had together after the kids went to bed trolling Craigslist for minivans and violin lessons…keep reading!

Now that James is 6, he is old enough (in our opinion) to begin music lessons. We had previously decided that the children would begin with piano, and then we would allow them to take lessons on another instrument if they wanted. We decided that since we do not have room for a piano in our apartment, nor do we want to have to MOVE a piano when we buy a house, James could begin with a more portable instrument. Violin, it is!

We began our morning by perusing the shelves at our new favorite place…McKay’s Used Books and Music. Sadly, the bacon truck was nowhere to be found today. We picked up some good books though, were disappointed at not finding a few we were really hoping to get our hands on, and then visited the free bins outside the front doors. We were so excited at a few of the things we found there. Book hunting is so exhilarating!

After McKay’s we went to Nashville Violins. I brought with us my great-grandfather’s violin. It was in pretty bad shape, and they have some luthiers that are skilled in repairing them. We figured we would give it a try. Also, we wanted to ask about violin lessons for James AND Josh. Josh really wants to learn how to play Adagio for Strings before he dies. (I personally think 29 is too early for a bucket list.) It will be encouraging for James to be able to practice with his Daddy, and it will give them so alone time together on Thursday nights. We found out that it would be $150 to fix the violin and $100 for the bow. It is NOT a Stradivarius. Oh well. But it is somewhere around 100 years old, they think. The inscriptions on the inside are not legible, so we can’t know for sure. Nashville Violins had some of the best rates for violin lessons, they offer a family discount, as well as repair, sell and rent instruments. They were great and the boys are really excited about their first lesson this Thursday.

Next we visited one of the car dealerships we found through Craigslist to look at a few of their minivans. Everything was in pretty bad shape, and the prices weren’t very good either. We left and headed towards another dealer. Josh liked a minivan there so much that he took it for a test drive. Unfortunately, it seemed like it needed some work and we went home for dinner. The dealer told Josh that they are expecting a few more vans in early this week and to check back then. He was really very nice and seemed to be honest.

James will officially begin his 1st Grade workbook on Monday and he is very excited. Both James and JoyAnna are doing really well in school. I’ve been so amazed at the things they have been learning. I began teaching them about graphing this week. When Josh came home from work and they told him what they had done in school he looked at me and asked, “Isn’t that a little advanced?” I told him that they understood it right away and really enjoyed it and I planned to give them more graphing lessons.

Lydia is talking. all. the. time. She repeats everything she hears. And she does it with the most hysterical inflections in her voice. The weather here has been warming up. It was in the low 50’s today and the birds were so happy they were singing the most beautiful songs. Yesterday we stood in the window and watched a robin hunting worms in the grass between our apartment and the parking lot. He got quite a few. I used it as an opportunity to teach the kids a little bit about robins. Here in Tennessee, they never left for the winter. Growing up in New Jersey, we were always excited to try to spot the first robin in the Spring. It wasn’t officially Spring until there were robins around. And we always tried to be the first one to see one. Can’t do that here. Kinda weird. At McKay’s, I found a nice book about robins this morning, so I picked it up. Good find!

My challenge for this week is to go through James’ closet and pull out all of the baby clothes for this boy. I need to wash and sort and repackage in nice plastic bins. Right now they are in disintegrating diaper boxes. No, baby still does not have a name. We are still considering Gideon and Job, but now we’ve also added Titus, Malachi and Simeon to the mix. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions. I’ve never experienced those before. I am not a fan.

Well, since we’re all done with dinner and it’s only 6:15pm Daddy has declared that we will now play a board game. JoyAnna was chosen to pick the game. The Chronicles of Narnia was chosen. Definitely my LEAST favorite board game. I always lose. Badly. But we all have a good laugh at my expense. It is very comical, I suppose.

First Post from Nashville

It has been a long time, Friends. A crazy, and wonderful, difficult and rewarding time. Since moving in September (can it really only be 5 months ago?) we have experienced 2 new seasons for the majority of the family, REALLY begun our home education adventure in earnest, traveled to North Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey in three separate road trips, ministered to my dying grandmother who passed away in November, found an amazing little church that we absolutely love, enjoyed countless hikes and picnics together as a family, hid together in our tiny laundry room for two hours when the tornado sirens were screaming one Saturday evening, and I could go on. It has been quite an adventure, to say the least!

A few days before Christmas James got really sick. Then I got it, and then JoyAnna. Lydia had a touch of it for only a day or so. Josh never got it. He credited his "manly immune system". I never got rid of it, and then finally after 6 weeks or so I came down with a wicked stomach virus. Lets just say it was ugly. Then JoyAnna threw up and we thought she would have it like I did, but thankfully she was fine after that. A week later James had stomach cramps and threw up like something from a horror film. Josh and I were up for two hours in the middle of the night scrubbing and sanitizing our bathroom that night. Poor kid.

By the way, did I mention that I am now 7 months pregnant? And it is a boy!! This pregnancy has been the best compared to the other three. Although I am having some of the worst pains ever. My doctor says its round ligament pain. So with that, and all of the illnesses, it has been such a struggle to simply get the day to day routine things done. Some days it's been all I could do just to feed the kids and work on our lessons. Other days it is a success if I can catch the laundry up. It's a real victory if I bake a loaf of bread...in my machine...and have a hot dinner with meat, veggies and a grain or potato dish and there is minimal mess on the floor. There are so many other things that I am hoping to get around to...phone calls, letters, cards, organizing closets, craft projects, etc. but I just haven't been able to get caught up with the more important things. So those things just get pushed aside. I Think this is just the way this particular season of our life is going to look like. And I am learning to be content with that. These early years with my children are flying by, and how much quicker they will go once the baby comes. I am not sorry to have to set aside those other things in order to love and disciple my precious little ones. So if you are reading this and wondering if our family has fallen off the face of the earth, be assured that we have not. I will call, write or visit as I can.

James is very enthusiastically looking forward to the day his little brother comes to live in his room. I wish we could have videotaped his reaction during the ultrasound when we found out. The sweet ultrasound technician said that it was a boy, and several LONG seconds later James looked at me and said, "Wait. Did she just say we are having a boy?" When I confirmed it, his whole little face lit up and he said, "I'm going to have a baby brother!?...he's going to sleep in my room, right!?" And ever since then he has been on cloud 9.  Lydia randomly comes up to me, lifts up my shirt, nuzzles her face against my belly and says, " Awww! Baby brother!" Usually while petting my belly button. She asks at least twice in every hour, "Baby belly?", which is to say, "Is that baby still in your belly?" And often walks around, sticking her belly out, rubbing it and saying, "Baby belly." Which, then, is to say,"I have a baby in my belly, too!"  And JoyAnna is very excited to have another baby to love on. She is old enough for this one that it will be like having a real, live doll to take care of. I am really looking forward to teaching her how to care for and nurture a baby. She will really be able to begin to get it now.

No...we do not have a name picked out yet. :)

We are praying and searching for a used minivan. We will definitely need something larger than our faithful Honda Accord to tote our growing family around town, 5 seats will not cut it any longer. I just don't understand why they are so expensive.  I suggested to Josh that we simply invest in a team of oxen and a carriage. At least you can eat them when they are too old to cart you around anymore, and before that you can breed them to get a backup pair. No tax, no title, no registration...

We are preparing to celebrate James' 6th birthday on Saturday. This one is a big deal to our family. The way we see it, we essentially have 18 years to train, disciple and develop meaningful relationships with our children before they are ready to leave home. Six years old means that one third of our time with James has already passed. So for this birthday we wanted to do something very special. We bought him a new bike because he has definitely outgrown his last one. We have also bought him his very own hiking stick, compass, and outdoorsman vest. We plan to teach him different skills, and when he has completed each activity we will award him with a badge, like in boy scouts, that we will pin on his vest. (We will do the same with the girls, but with a different focus) He will also have badges from trails he has hiked pinned to it. If the weather is. Ice, Josh plans to take him in his first overnight backpacking trip as a sort of rite of passage.

In the middle of next week we will be driving back to Florida for a business conference Josh's company in hosting. They have actually rented SeaWorld! Josh's parents plan to drive up to Orlando to pick up the children and bring them home while Josh and I attend the conference. Then we will head down to meet them at home and spend the rest of the week visiting with friends and family. I really am looking forward to it, all except the actual traveling. When will someone successfully invent teleportation?

Nap time is now over, and I am sure I am just about at my data usage limit anyway. We do not have internet or phone, just a tablet Josh uses for work and I get to use the leftover data. And my Tracfone. Which has worked fine for us since we have moved. Off to practice counting coins with James and JoyAnna. :)

Fe Fi Fiddly-i-o!

This is the song my children are singing at the top of their lungs as we pack our things this morning:

Fe Fi Fiddly-i-o...
Strumming on the old man, Joe!

Oh, dear children...soon you will know the meaning of "banjo"...