Funny Faces

Getting Jane to smile for the camera has been a little harder lately. We have found if she is left alone with an ipod or dad's phone, we will find dozens of silly selfies.  

I would say this is outfit was to impersonate dad, but Nathan never wears ties.

The latest silly face craze at our house, zombie eyes.  

Spring Baseball Fever

We traveled to Iowa with Nathan for work and stopped at a baseball game along the way.

The Quad Cities River Bandits.

The boys both got Minecraft T-shirts for their birthdays.

This day gave us our first relief from a long cold winter.

The sunshine was welcomed and a little unexpected, I hadn't begun to pack sunscreen yet and so we all got a little sunburn. 

This was our second game of the season. We joined the Romans in Midland to watch The Great Lake Loons play.
Elliot thought it would be funny to wear all of his minor league baseball gear.  He is wearing his Whitecap shirts our team here in Grand Rapids, a River Bandit claw something he purchased at the Iowa game, and a Loons hat. 

The Loons mascots were very interactive and a lot of fun to be around. Jane got a card signed by both of them.

The girls tried very hard to get Louie the Loon to help them start a wave. The crowd was sparse and it wasn't easy, but he rallied everyone and got them to do it. 

The girls got their face on the big screen twice. 

A fun night and a win for the Loons. 

Wordy Wednesday

We watched a season of Junior Master Chef with the kids. It inspired them to do a little cooking.  I was nervous letting Elliot use a sharp knife, not that mine are really sharp. I am hoping to get a new set soon. Back to the point, after watching a nine year old make three course meals with various potentially dangerous cooking equipment. I decided my kids probably can use a knife. 

He is helping me make chicken noodle soup. 

When I look at this picture I really think he is smiling not so much because he is cooking but because he is getting to use a knife. Elliot loves knives. Once he figured out a machete was a knife and not a gun he knew he had to have one. He believes it is a reality since dad told him the story of having one as a kid. We will see how long we can hold him off.
 All the time he is coming to me and asking how to sharpen his pocket knife.
He told me this morning if he had a shirt with a pocket in the front he could disguise his pocket knife as a pen, then if a robber came into the house and said " hey nice pen" he could whip it out and cut the robbers gun in half.  I am glad he is armed and ready to defend if need be.

Boys should be encouraged to be brave and protect. Our culture is quick to denounce the nature of men, starting from a young age.  Whenever we have the chance we need to validate their masculinity and their desires to be strong and fight.  Not to perpetuate foolishness, or violence, but to direct them to be men who seek God, honor women, value life and pursue integrity. 

Valentines and Grammar

We had a reprieve from the bitter cold, and the kids took the opportunity to play outside and build a snowman.
 Jane said she was hot and took off her coat.  How hot was it? 43 degrees!  The heat wave won't last long, they say colder temperatures are in the forecast.

January 2014 Jane gets braces. 
 We have begun the two year process. She chose the color of her bands by the outfit she would wear to Wednesday school the next day. That's my girl, very fashion conscious.  She also would not allow me to take a picture of her after they were on, so this is the only shot I got from the orthodontist.

Right now she only has top clear braces with colored bands. They don't always show up in pictures.  This photo is from our American Heritage Girls, Daddy/Daughter dance. 

I should have held the valentine so as not to show off my dirty counter-top. I will hopefully make someone else feel less guilty about a less than spot-less house, by keeping it in the photo.

When Jane handed me this Valentine I of course had that warm fuzzy mom moment, but when I actually read it the first thing I noticed was the correct usage of "You're."   As my children's primary educator I can see success and failure with everything they write or say. I have learned not to necessarily blame poor grammar on teachers.  Jane can diagram, use in a sentence and even explain when and how to use several words/phrases with no grammatical error. I know this because I grade her papers and tests.
  That does not keep that child from using the word funner at least once a month.
Every time she says something wrong, my husband chimes in " Who is your English teacher?"  I have to defend the fact she knows how to say things properly, it is just poor speech habits and laziness that prevent her from doing so.  Which I have to admit I am guilty of doing from time to time. 

We had our second annual Valentines party for our homeschool group.  This year we hosted it at our clubhouse, so the kids could run around and we could bring in our own treats. 
I somehow managed not to take a picture, probably because I was too busy talking. 
 I am thankful for a community of mothers who understand the ups and downs of home-educating. 

 I know parents who don't homeschool and still feel their child's performance reflects upon them.  When you are the teacher of your child that feeling is magnified.  There is really no one else to "blame" for something going awry.  I am not one for pointing fingers or placing blame, usually a bad idea. 
 Yet, I have come to find that if there is any it is often justifiably directed at the student;  
The student who is refusing to write sentences because it is too hard, the student who says they can't read because their sibling is being too loud.  These are the obstacles my kids have to face, their own motivation, concentration and confidence in choosing to learn and get knowledge. 

  It is common in homeschool circles to have a name for your "school." Some people do this because officially they are required to report their children's academic progress to a governing authority, others just do it for fun. 
The kids were not interested in helping me pick out a name.  I attempted to find a meaningful and spiritual reference as some of my friends, I wanted something short and sweet and I couldn't make any scripture reference fit.   I decided upon
The Socially Awkward Academy. A tongue in cheek expression making light of one of the top arguments people make against home-schooling, what about socialization? I have said before this is the least of our problems as home-schoolers here at the Sweeney household. 

My Socially Awkward children and their cute cousin Benjamin. 

End of 2013

2014 has greeted us with a long cold winter that started in 2013. Although it has only been three months, is has felt like a year. 

Some of my goals this year, learn more Spanish, practice my Chinese characters, be more fit. I think should add to the list learn how to love winter.  

Lake Michigan is pretty, year round. If I can't love winter here, there might not be any hope for me. 

 2013  Reflections

I made my first turkey.

 Raw meat grosses me out.  I do eat meat and cook with a fair amount. However I like it in small chunks, or ground up. When the decision was made that I would cook the turkey, I had reservations.  Just the thought ofpulling out the insides and handling that much raw meat made me queasy.  I also stereotyped turkey makers as the elders of the the family, I am one of the kids! Being responsible for it made me feel old.  Thanks to the Internet, Pioneer Woman and Alton Brown I felt I had the resources to guide me through the process. 

Brining the turkey seemed to be my only option after scouring the Internet and reading reviews. Orange peels, apple cider, spices etc.. Nathan commented that if the turkey tasted as good as the brine smelled it would be a hit. 

My thoughtful husband pulled the insides out and helped me transport it, as a result I had little physical contact with the turkey itself. 

 2013 was the year that an event would happen only once in a lot of lifetimes, when Hanukkah and Thanksgiving crossed paths.  Although  we are not Jewish, I really wanted to participate in this special event. I decided I would make Latkes. I think my cooking of these needs perfecting but we ended up eating them all at breakfast time and they never made it to the Thanksgiving meal.

The Bird..  I am no food photographer I was in a hurry to get a picture before the carving.
I felt it was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I spent too much time worrying. It would have been a lot harder without Nathan helping me carry and move it from one place to another. I was thankful for a cold Thanksgiving because there was no way it was going to fit in my fridge and I could keep it in the garage. 
Verdict: juicy breast meat, but Nathan felt it was maybe a little too juicy. If I make it again I will dry it out a little bit before baking.  I probably ate more turkey this year than any other, but overall I still prefer ham.. 

SKI

The Double Cola Co. In Chattanooga Tenn. makes this delicious soda. I might like it more than coke. It has high fructose corn syrup,and lots of caffeine, so unfortunately I have no good reason to start drinking it regularly.  The flavor is great and they do claim it is made with real fruit juices.  Take the sweetness of Mountain Dew and add a nice refreshing citrus taste and you come close to SKI. I can even water it down with club soda, add lime and it still taste great. I won't be trying that with Coke anytime soon.  Nathan discovered it while in Evansville, Indiana for work. He might not be going back there again so his last trip we stocked up.


Camera obscura/ pin hole camera
 Nathan set up a pin hole camera in Jane's room. Supposedly this technique was used by artist in the past to paint buildings, landscapes etc.
  It was neat to see the houses across the field from Jane's window so clearly defined on the wall. Nathan drove around the neighborhood and we could see the van move along the road.

I am looking forward to 2014 being full of new opportunities and seeing God work in our lives.

presentations past and present from outypants on Vimeo.

auld christmas from outypants on Vimeo.

before thanks from outypants on Vimeo.

Homeschool Happenings

WZZM News station

  

Everyone is out getting the story.
 In the past they would have to come back to the station to edit and put on the air. Modern technology allows them to report,edit and send back to the station from one location.

The green screen 

Future WZZM crew?

Grand Rapids 

One of the mom's was good at asking the editors, weatherman, etc. what schooling they needed to to get their jobs. 
 I didn't think to ask those questions, I was like the kids, looking at the buttons, screens, flashing lights and trying to see myself on the TV..   The answer that might have escaped the kids, but moms will gladly remind them, was that a college education was needed. 

Weather Ball
Red- warmer weather ahead- Blue- cooler, Green- no change forseen- blinking- snow or rain.



POST FARM
Second Year

 Thankful for the friends we have made over the past year.

Lovely bunch of 10 year olds.. All have September/October birthdays.

2012

 We got bigger pumpkins this year, as we went later in the season.

This is why I go, fresh pumpkin doughnuts.

Our Thursday morning class at Res-Life held a crazy hair day on October 31st. Games, candy and prizes were available for the kids that day.

Ava and her sister had great crazy hair.

 We just did some hair dye and pig tails

 The girls, trading their prizes and candy

Elliot  had his hand at playing pool.

Some of the classes the kids have been taking on Thursday morning:

Gift Making

Defend your faith

Michigan History

Gym

Games

Drama.

I plan on including some pictures and information about their Wednesday school in the future.

I know I have said it before, but my kids don't have to worry about socialization with the way we homeschool, I have the opposite problem, too many choices for socializing. 

fruitridge from outypants on Vimeo.