It was lost but now it's found...

Whoo-hoo!! We found our long lost camera cord, which is significant for two reasons. One, we can finally get all the photos on the computer; and two, the batteries can be charged again so we'll be able to actually use the camera again.

Look for some photos in the near future.

Almost the Liberty Bell

The boys and I went on a field trip today to the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum where there is an authentic full-sized replica of the Liberty Bell- sans crack. Sorry, no photos, as the camera cord is still in hiding and I've yet to buy another. The museum is located in an old water tank, which is pretty neat in itself. There were some neat military artifacts throughout the museum, but my favorite was the journal of a chaplain from WWII. I didn't know but it was illegal for those deployed to keep journals in case they were intercepted with important information. We weren't able to touch the original journal but it had been typed out and placed in a notebook that was on display and available to read. His entry for their arrival at Omaha Beach was chilling.
The boys enjoyed all of the military uniforms and especially getting to lift a very heavy flint-lock gun that was a copy of those used in the Civil War. Of course, the highlight was being able to ring the bell with a rubber mallet -we have all been officially inducted into the "Ding-Dong" club. And here I thought we'd been members all along.

The Royal "We" and My New Favorite Pen

I love the new Sharpie pen!! They offered one as a bonus in a package of Sharpie markers that we recently found on sale at Target. Nathan was asking why we were buying so many markers and I told him it was because we use them all the time. He then informed me that "he" didn't really use them that much... which is true- it is a special day indeed when they are allowed to use "our" Sharpies. I suppose I must have been speaking of "we" in the royal sense, because "I" use them almost daily.


This reminded me of a quote recently in a newsletter I received from Sonlight...

My son told me that there are three uses for the word "we."

In normal usage, we means you and I. Then there's the royal we which kings use to mean I. Last is the maternal we which means you, as in "We need to clean your room."


LOL! The maternal "we" is my favorite one.

Cookies

These just might be my new favorite cookies. I first made them last Christmas and decided that we needed to have them again- just to make sure they were as good as I remembered. The boys and I made a batch yesterday and boy does this recipe make a BATCH. We baked a couple of pans and portioned the rest into cookie sizes for the freezer- now we can have cookies whenever we'd like... well, maybe not whenever, but they are there when we have a sweet-tooth that only a cookie could cure.

Not-Back-to-School 2009

Public schools in our county started today so we, as the homeschool rebels we are, decided to celebrate with a Not-back-to-school breakfast and party. While kids around the county were packing lunches and backpacks and heading into classrooms for a days worth of introductions, new teachers, new books, new classmates... our kids were having a tremendous potluck breakfast in their pajamas, watching a few cartoons followed by slip-and-slide water fun outside.
While parents all over the county were sloughing their kids off to school, rushing them out of the house, sitting in carpool lines, possibly even fretting over forgotten lunches... we were chatting over coffee with the sound of happy kids in the background, taking our time with nowhere to rush off to. It was great fun and a couple of moms even donned pajamas to join in the festivities. I'd suggest though that if you are one of those kind of moms, before you head out in curlers, you check the car for gas the night before lest you find yourself half way to your destination pumping gas in jammies and fuzzy pink slippers... don't ask where this advice comes from, but trust me, it's good advice.