BACK TO homeSCHOOL year 2!

    Life has been hectic for us lately. Which is why our "back to school" blog entry is being documented in late November instead of August. Such is life, amiright? 

We have experienced a lot of loss this year. My father in law in February, out sweet Henry bassett in May and then on August 1st, a dear dear friend lost his battle with covid19. I hate covid with every fiber of my being. It's a thief. A thief of life, a thief of joy, and a thief of civility. Hipolito Sanchez Jr was one of the greatest men I have ever met. He also happens to be "Grandpa" to my niece and nephew and my sister's father in law. Since our bio father was less than involved, Hipo filled that void for my sister. And for me in a way too. He was one of a kind and this world is bit dimmer without his vibrant smile and infectious laugh. Not a great way to kick of our school year, but we had to push forward. 

Since we're homeschooling, we school year round. Our new school started July 1st so during our Florida vacation, we still did school. For that reason, and the chaos of life, I didn't take any "first day of school" pictures. mom fail. I'll try to do better next year. But here are a few "schooling" pictures for the record. :) 

These are pictures from the "Giants of the Night" class put on by MDC. We love all the educational programs they offer. 

New this year, we are doing co-op twice a month. Several moms and I got together and put this homeschool co-op together for our families and other families that may be interested in our area. It has been a huge blessing. I am teaching science; Charlotte is teaching geography and older elementary art; Mandy is teaching lower elementary art; Emeritus and Joy lead our life skills class, Annie and I help in all the other classes as well. Here are a few pictures of our life skills cooking class. 

We're still loving this life, even with all the chaos it brings. 

Summer Fun in '21!

July 1st we embarked on our journey to Florida. My father-in-law's desire was for his ashes to spread at sea. He was a navy man and we set out to fulfil that wish. It was a long drive and it rained most of the time, unfortunately, but we had a good time. 

July 1st also happens to be a very special day in our home as it is Isaac's birthday! We started the day with gifts for his 7th birthday before starting our road trip. He also got to pick out where we ate that day. He chose Mexican. It's a staple for our family. ha! 

We took a small detour so we could visit NOLA. It was really cool to see. We hope to go back sometime when we can spend more time there. 

Lots of water! We saw some really beautiful scenery and sites along the way. 

Fancy houses in Tampa. Plus more rain. 

We got a little break from the rain for a couple days and enjoyed some wonderful seafood and beach time. 

July 5th is our anniversary. It rained that evening, but we still snuck away for dinner out while Aunt Miss watched the boys. 

Hurricane Elsa was predicted to make landfall early on the 7th so we decided to leave the evening of the 6th just to be safe. We spread Lloyd's ashes in the rough waters of the gulf outside of Tampa and then we headed north. We drove until around 3 a.m. and stayed the night in Dalton, GA. The next day we did a little sight seeing at the site for the civil war Battle of Chickamauga.

The beautiful smokey mountains. 

After we lost Henry, I reached out to Olsi's bassetts, the breeder from which we got Henry, to see if they would have a sibling to Henry. They didn't have a full sibling, but they did have a half. So, we welcomed Huck to our home. He's helping patch that hole in heart from losing Henry. We could never replace Henry, but at least we can still have a part of him here with us through his half brother. 

Eli's birthday sleepover! 

The net was supposedly broken. lol

Summer fun!

Our chickens got big!

July birthday party!