Anderson Family lovejoypeace

Home Between Thanksgiving and Christmas travels (surgery, finish week 15 of MFW, sing, and sign)

2011-12-26T20:51:00.000-05:00

We had about two weeks from the time we got back from Kentucky from being over there for an extended Thanksgiving visit until we left again for North Dakota. This post is our 2 weeks at home between our travels.

Rose had surgery to remove an extra tooth. They gave her laughing gas then sedated her through an IV. I was a little concerned about the anesthesia because I have had complications. But she did just fine.

They cut the roof of her mouth behind her front teeth. She had stitches between each tooth up front.

before surgery

with gas, getting ready for the IV

in the recovery room

She had two days on liquids and about a week on soft foods. We are thankful that everything went so well and she healed up so fast.

~~~~~

Daddy and Rose...

~~~~~

Visiting a local farm where we can get raw milk. Rose petting one of the cows.

~~~~~

We went to a cute showing of the Nutcracker called "The Peanutcracker" with our homeschool group. It was a narrated version to make it easier for kids to follow the story line. Since we studied Tchaikovsky this semester, this was a nice tie-in to our studies.

Rose and the Sugarplum Fairy

~~~~~
We finished up our Week 15 of My Father's World in school. Rose completed Abeka 2nd Grade Math and started her 3rd Grade Math. We are using Teaching Textbooks for 3rd grade math. Rose feels so accomplished finishing her 2nd grade math so early and she loved doing her first few lessons of 3rd grade math on the computer.
Yay, Rose!

~~~~~

Rose in her 'Children In Action' vest. CIA is her Wednesday night Missions class.

~~~~~~

Our little elf.

She made a little outfit when Chad and I mention she was our little elf helper.

~~~~~

We did our family Christmas early.

She was surprised to wake up and see so many presents. (I only had a few out in the living room all week)

a happy girl and her gifts....

Our day of "family Christmas" was gifts, daddy reading the Bible to us, singing carols, watching movies, and just enjoying being together. That evening Rose and Chad went caroling with our church on a hayride. We enjoyed our special day together.

~~~~~

The Childrens Choir singing in church Sunday morning.

Rose signed Silent Night at church Sunday night. This year she learned the second and third verses.

Here is a clip of her signing. This is not a clear video and it is too far away...but I may get a better video soon, as she is going on what we call a 'cross country tour'...she may get to sign at grandparents churches in North Dakota and Kentucky in addition to here in Nevada.
This is verse two of the song.

~~~~~

Rose wanted to make her cousins and a couple of dear friends a winter pillow.

Here she is listening to audiobooks on the IPad while she is sewing.

Her finished pillows! (She did a great job...she wanted me to mention that mommy helped with some of the closing seams)

~~~~~

This is Rose at our Realtor's office.

We closed on our house the day before we left for Christmas travels.

A house for Christmas....my wonderful husband sure does give great gifts!

Thanksgiving visit to Kentucky

2011-12-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

We stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Irvin in KY for two weeks over Thanksgiving break. We had a good time visiting family. My sister Kristie, who is a church secretary, took her week of vacation while I was in....so I got to see both of my sisters and all my nephews and niece a lot. It was very nice for me to get spend so much time with everyone.

We did lots of cooking and baking. Here cousin Tori and Rose are making some delicious sausage balls.

Rose sitting with Grandpa

The Davis family came up for a nice visit. Here is Rose and Lilly Kate.

These two girls LOVE books! What great presents to get each other!

Rose and her cousins had a blast on the farm. Here Tori is taking them on ranger rides/running errands for Grandpa.

Rose helping G-ma with her Christmas lights.

Cousin Tim and Rose playing.

G-pa watching over his goats.

Oh what fun!! We went to the Creation Museum one day. Cousin Tim came with us and we had a BLAST!!

It was a great day.

We went to a 'Snakes Alive' Workshop...we touched many snakes and reptiles...

The three of us holding a very heavy 15 foot Boa....

Looking at some of the exhibits....

On this touch-screen monitor they helped Noah build the Ark by answering questions...

That evening the Creation Museum had "Christmas Town" with live dramas, lights, petting zoo, etc.

The Creation Museum was great!! We hope to visit each time we go home to KY!

I will end this post with a photo of my sweet girl, Rose, on an airplane during the flight home.

This was the first air travel I had done with a child without my dear husband, Chad....so I was little nervous. Rose and I both can get air sick and daddy usually takes care of stuff for us. ...But we did really well. She is a great traveler! (and a sweet girl) :0)

Week 15 of 2nd Grade (with IPad apps)

2011-12-22T01:09:00.000-05:00

Our states this week are New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, and North Carolina. Rose really enjoys doing her state sheets and learning interesting things about each state.

Do you use an IPad? We use it everyday here. It is a fun way to practice math facts or play a geography game or study spelling words.

I thought I would share some apps we use. I can not remember where I found out about each app....it could have been a blog or facebook or just on my own. I wish I could remember who told me about what so I could give credit, but my memory just isn't that sharp.

I do know I got some after reading reviews at appsforhomeschooling.com

We actually only did half of week 15 as Rose and I are headed to Kentucky for two weeks to visit family for Thanksgiving. So we will finish up the week when we get back.

Week 14 of MFW 2nd grade (with bread making)

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

note - We went from week 12 to week 14 because in MFW (My Father's World curriculum), which I am using, it has week 13 for Thanksgiving activities. It is an optional week and you just come back and do week 13 on the real week of Thanksgiving.

This week we are learning Jesus is the Way, ...Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, ...and Birds. Rose is coming along in her Reading, Writing, and Language Arts. She continues to excel in Math. Enjoys Art, Music, and Literature tremendously.

It was our turn to bring a snack to Keepers Club so we made "acorns" with Hershey kisses and Ritz peanut butter mini sandwiches.

~~~~~

We did bread Making in keepers Club.

Rose thought her Keepers club bread was delicious!

~~~~~

Our church had a Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night.

~~~~~

A photo of Rose playing with Rebecca. She felt she had been giving her new Build A Bear too much attention, and Rebecca not enough attention....so she declared it 'Rebecca Day' and played with Rebecca all day...even having her join in on school work. She also made sure they wore one of their matching outfits.

~~~~~

In our study about birds, we made a Robin's Nest snack using chocolate chips melted with peanut butter for the mud, rice noodles for the twigs, and shredded wheat for the grass.

~~~~~

Rose doing some of her school work in her 'tent'

~~~~~

We love to play board games around here. Our current favorite is 'Made For Trade'. It is fun and educational. It goes along with the time period we are currently studying, which makes it even more interesting. You can play at different levels, so it should be a regular for years to come.

~~~~~

Rose's favorite book this week was 'Farmer Boy' by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Week 12 of 2nd Grade (with Pilgrim Plantation Day)

2011-12-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

11/6/11 - 11/12/11

Here is her George Washington page....

We are starting our gentle hands-on overview of the 50 states. We will learn about each state chronologically with our history lessons, at the times they joined the USA.

This week we learned about Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia.

At the end of the week we went to a homeschool group Pilgrim Plantation Day. We dressed up, did period games, crafts, and had a Thanks-Giving feast.

Week 11 of 2nd Grade (with Soap Making)

2011-12-10T19:35:00.001-05:00

10/29/11 to 11/5/11

Over the weekend a local church had a dress up harvest party with games, apple bobbing, pie eating contest, shows, etc.

~~~~~

On Monday night our church had a Harvest Party. We ate pizza, played games, painted a pumpkin, etc.

~~~~~
In history we learned about the Constitution and the Liberty Bell. We made this craft, with instructions HERE. Instead of writing "Liberty", we wrote the scripture that is actually inscribed on the bell.
"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof"

~~~~~
On Tuesday night at Keepers Club the girls did scented soap making....

here is Rose's finished soap in her bathroom and already used a few times....

~~~~~

Rose playing horse with daddy.....he was moving along a little too slow for her, so she hops off and brings back a carrot to encourage him to go faster...

~~~~~~

Rose is doing some cross stitching while daddy is reading to her. I think this is a book about George Washington. I think we read about 10 or 11 George Washington books this week.

~~~~~

In Science we are currently using the book Birds, Nest, and Eggs. It is a very enjoyable book.

~~~~~

On Saturday we went to one of Rose's friends birthday party at Build -A- Bear.

I need Jesus...

2011-11-14T01:09:00.000-05:00

Those are the words Pastor Mark ended his sermon with tonight. They rang true to me. He talked about storms in our lives and how Jesus is our way through.

I feel extremely blessed. I am overwhelmed with what God has given me. Especially when I think of my wonderful husband. My daughter. Homeschooling. and so much more.

But I am also struggling. I MISS my extended family (and some super close friends) so much. I ache thinking about the distance between us. I want to be in Kentucky and see my dad's smile and feel his embrace. I want to give my mom a hug and enjoy her presence. I just want to be with them so bad.
If I could just hop in my van and drive over and visit them....

It's not that it has been a super long time since I've spent time with them (4 months ago) and Rose and I are going back in 9 days and spending two weeks there.

But I can Feel the distance. A couple thousand miles is long way.

I cry at the drop of a hat.
Rose misses her family and friends so deeply as well.
I don't mean to be mopey. I do realize my many many blessings.

But it is still a true hurt that I feel.

I realized that me just 'deciding' to think of the positives isn't going to make it go away....or relying on my fabulous husband to take the sad feelings away. ...It is setting my eyes on Jesus that will get me through.

I need Jesus.

Week Ten (Pumpkin Patch)

2011-11-11T09:35:00.001-05:00

Rose is continuing to love history. Here we made some Hasty Pudding. (It is mentioned in the song 'Yankee Doodle' and in some of the books we had been reading.)

We weren't expecting to like it, but it was quite good. Our studies said it was traditional to serve it with butter and maple syrup, so that is how we tried it.

Rose's 13 Colonies and Declaration of the United States.

Rose made ink from berries

and used a feather to write with her ink

She thought it was super cool!

Rose helping out in the kitchen at Keepers Club.

We learned decoupage this week. It was my turn to teach and Rose was the only student that had decoupaged before.

Daddy did the science experiments with Rose this week :0)

Our Field Trip this week was to the local Pumpkin Patch with some homeschool friends.

I got lost in the maze, but did catch back up with Rose and the group she was with. We let the girls lead and they got us out.

At the Exit!

We got to pick a pumpkin, go on a hayride and see a few animals.

When we dropped off our pumpkins in the car, Rose decided to put on her Camel-back (it is a backpack that holds a big pouch of water with a hose going around to her mouth) It is handy when we are biking, but apparently, just as handy when you are walking around on a farm.

Daddy and Rose carving a happy face pumpkin.

Week Nine (UNR Game)

2011-11-10T08:54:00.000-05:00

Rose was working on a tedious craft and I was reading to her and she said, "It is nice to work on a quiet activity while someone reads to you. It is just nice, isn't it mommy?"

Rose enjoyed several books this week, but her favorite was 'Sarah Witcher's Story' by Elizabeth Yates.

She also really enjoyed 'The Sign of the Beaver' audio by Elizabeth George Speare.

Here is a picture of us doing school work in the grad student/faculty room in the UNR library.

Just thought this was a cute picture..... Rose trying on a hat at Whole Foods.

Rose assisting daddy patching our bike tires.....

Chad is good about getting things done in a timely manner. If something needs done around the house or with the computers, he does it right away. I appreciate my wonderful husband on so many levels.

We ended the week with an UNR football game....

Week Eight (with a visit from Uncle Cullen)

2011-11-09T08:37:00.001-05:00

In history Rose made a hornbook

we made some caramel apples (a must for fall!)

Rose is whizzing through her math. If she keeps up this pace, she will be done with 2nd grade math at the end of November.

Rose working on a math sheet

At Keepers Club the girls (and moms) learned about First Aid.

Rose being an injured person during the demonstration

This week we studied Benjamin Franklin. I forgot to ask Rose what her favorite book was this week.

Here is her history notebook page.

In Music we are studying Tchaikovsky. Rose is really enjoying his music.


at the dentist

Uncle Cullen came in for a few days from Boise, ID. So that was enough to call for a couple day "holiday" from school work :)

went to the IMAX to see a movie about Sharks

We went and walked on the river walkway in downtown....

stopped to watch the ducks

Then we had the famous Reno's Awful Awful Burger...

Rose and Uncle Cullen looking at fossils

Cullen and Chad talking to their parents on the phone....their dad telling them that he retired!

Happy Retirement Grandpa Anderson!! You know, now we expect you and Grandma to come for looong visits!!!

Week Seven (with sewing)

2011-11-08T18:43:00.000-05:00

doing school with "BalloonE" ...just for fun

Rose LOVES books

at our weekly library visit

Rose made Fall/Thanksgiving pillows for her grandparents, our house, and one for a friend. Some are just knot pillows and some are a combination of knot and sewing.

tying a knot on the pillow

sewing a pillow

Some of her finished pillows :0)

Rose's favorite book this week was "If You Lived In Colonial Times" by Ann McGovern.

In history we have studied Leif Erickson, Christopher Columbus, Jamestown, and the Pilgrims.

notebook pages

Week Six (Candle Making and Candy Fair)

2011-11-03T18:15:00.000-04:00

Well this was a fun week. It was hard to narrow down what to talk about. Here is what made the cut...

Rose is enjoying her science in My Father's World. She also likes her Bob Jones University Science that are dvds that she can watch during her tv time. The activities and projects with her BJU science is completely optional, since it is not our official science curriculum....but she often opts to do them for fun.

doing a BJU science activity

Her fossil set that goes with her BJU science

An experiment in our My Father's World Science........

At Keepers At Home Club this week the girls learned to do Tie Dye. Rose Tie Dyed a shirt and a pair of socks. They turned out real cute.

Working on handwriting next to her candle she made earlier.

We also often play classical music or hymns during our day to create a pleasant atmosphere.

In history we made butter!

shaking the cream

the cream turned into butter and buttermilk. YUM!

We went on a Field Trip with some homeschooling friends to make candles....

learning about the process

picking out her colors

Rose with her friend....they had a lot fun

Rose and her finished candle :)

Our favorite book this week was 'The Courage of Sarah Noble' by Alice Delgliesh

We ended the week by going to the Candy Dance Fair....

MFW Week Five (Reno Air Races)

2011-09-26T15:34:00.001-04:00

Some highlights from this week:

In history we studied the early American settlers. We learned that when they didn't have glass, they would use oiled paper for windows. It lets more light shine through and repels water. So of course we made some, too.

The oil paper is on the left and the regular paper on the right.

~~~~~~

For Physical Education Rose enjoyed riding her scooter, playing on the playground, and riding her bike. We have been going biking about three evenings a week in different locations around town.

biking next to the Sparks Marina

biking next to the Truckee River

~~~~~

In addition to reading during school time and free time, Rose continues to read to daddy each evening. (He reads to her for about 45 minutes to an hour and she reads to him for about 10 minutes)

~~~~~

Here Rose is laying out her Bible verse that she learned as part of our My Father's World Bible lesson.

Rose also does the Bob Jones University Bible lessons. She enjoys watching the videos and doing the activities with it. Here she is mixing up pudding as part of the lesson on creation. (it was cute)

Rose also started memorizing Genesis chapter one on her own. I thought maybe we would do that but hadn't really decided when.

One day, she comes in the bathroom, where I am showering and wants me to listen to what she learned. To my surprise she recited several verses. She had been reading and studying her Bible so she could memorize them......and I didn't even know she was working on that!

~~~~~

She continues to love all things art related. We are doing several art things.

(The activities in MFW, I Can Do All Things by Barry Stebbing, Abeka art, and various other things)

~~~~~~

Well this is a little more difficult to blog about....

We ended our week with a Field Trip to the Reno Air Races. We had a fabulous time. Thanks to our homeschool group, we had passes to get in the pits and see all the planes up close. We enjoyed looking at all the different types of air planes, watching some of the races, and some the air plane performances. Thankfully we left 2 hours before the close of the show due to Chad having to go to a reception at work that evening.

As you know, the races ended so tragically that day when a pilot somehow lost control and crashed into the reserved seating area, killing 11 people. We are so thankful that God arranged for us to not be there during that time. We are also thankful that more lives were not lost. We pray that this tragedy can somehow bring people closer God and they seek Him.

MFW Week Four (Hot Air Balloons)

2011-09-18T02:10:00.002-04:00

Here are some snippits from our week:

On Monday we went on a Hiking Field Trip on Mount Rose. It was Labor Day, so daddy went with us!

Can you see Lake Tahoe in the background?

We hiked 2.6 miles up to this waterfall, then back down 2.6 miles...

~~~~~

Our memory verse is John 8:16. Rose decorated this candle to help us think about the verse.

Rose has her Keepers At Home uniform on because we started Keepers Club this week. :0)

~~~~~

We studied different native American tribes this week. The wigwam craft, daddy did with her one evening...

~~~~~

This week one of the things we studied was the stars. Out of all the many books that we read this week, this book really stood out:

Rose picked up the constellations fast and enjoys trying to find them out her window. This book is going on our "to buy" list.

~~~~~

On Friday we went on another Hiking Field Trip. This time it was with some homeschool friends at Galena Park. We arrived at the trail head early so Rose could do some nature study and nature sketching. It was a beautiful place!

~~~~~

To celebrate a job well done in handwriting review our curriculum suggested eating Alphabet Soup for lunch. Well, we do not normally eat canned foods, but this sounded fun.

I guess our taste buds disagreed (they are used to homemade soups). Neither one of us liked eating this canned soup. It was gross. Rose ended up eating a sandwich on some freshly homemade bread instead.

~~~~~

We ended our week by getting up at 4:30 AM to go watch the Reno Hot Air Balloon Races. It starts off with some balloons doing a pre dawn show. It was beautiful and worth getting up for.
(Chad was with us too...he is taking the photos)

After that, we watched to the sunrise. Then at about 7 or so, the balloons started to inflate.

And then we watched them fill the sky....

Very, very neat thing to see!

MFW Adventures Week Three (Lake Tahoe)

2011-09-08T12:39:00.000-04:00

How can school not be fun when you have a Field Trip to Lake Tahoe!

Tuesday was the first day of school for the public school here... So some of the homeschoolers decided to celebrate not being 'behind a desk' by going to Lake Tahoe. (what fun!)

Man, It was beautiful! Rose enjoyed meeting some new friends. They swam, buried themselves in the sand, and even tried to catch crawfish.

Yes, I think we are really going to enjoy Lake Tahoe.

Science is one of Rose's favorite things.... We did some more experiments with air and water.

Here she is working on her ordinal numbers.

This was a fun craft - Jesus sun-catcher.

We placed letters on wax paper, shaved some crayons and scattered them over the paper, placed another piece of wax paper on top, then Rose ironed the papers. We then cut some construction paper and made a border. She has requested to make more....so we probably will.

We had an additional outing this week. Chad took us to the Sparks Rib Cook off on Thursday.

Here we are enjoying a very delicious lunch!!

Rose enjoyed candy made in Italy

and cooling off in the fountains

Yes she loves to paint, in addition to our art curriculum, she loves to do additional painting, drawing and crafts.

She painted this picture on a canvas some friends sent her.

It was a fabulous week! We continue to learn and have so much fun along the way!

Pyramid Lake

2011-09-07T23:21:00.001-04:00

We are enjoying getting to know our new area.

We spent one Saturday at Pyramid Lake. It is on a reservation and not crowded. It was really beautiful.

Well once we arrived, we did drive off the hard sand and onto the soft sand.

Thankfully there were some nice folks down the beach that came and pulled us out.

Ahh, now on to the fun!

The water looks black but it is clear. The sand was black. We could see our feet while standing in the water.

We had a great time!

Homesick...

2011-09-04T23:24:00.000-04:00

We really are enjoying Reno. There is so much to do in town plus visiting Pyramid Lake, Lake Tahoe, taking up biking, hiking, etc. We have been having a great time here. We have been here a month but it feels longer.

Lately, I have been homesick. Missing friends and family.

I would love to be at my parents farm right now. My parents, sisters, niece and nephews around me...laughing, talking, playing.

My parents back porch.....probably my favorite place....

my mom, me, my dad :)

Rose and her cousin Timothy goofing off

my sister Kristie

Chad's commute

2011-09-02T13:21:00.000-04:00

Our apartment is 2 miles from UNR campus, so Chad bikes to work each day. When we get a house he would like for it to be within biking distance, as well.
He doesn't want to buy a second car, pay for additional insurance, or pay for campus parking. He likes the daily exercise of biking to work.

Well Rose has been riding her bike daily as well.
She had her first big wreck, as you can see here.

MFW Adventures Week Two

2011-08-31T00:33:00.000-04:00

Week Two was just as much fun as week one!! We are both enjoying it so much.

This week we studied Christopher Columbus. So we made a Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria fleet and sailed them across the Atlantic Ocean... aka the pool.
Rose had a lot of fun doing this activity with her ships.

Our science experiments this week were about air......

water is pushing the air out of various bottles

She was thrilled to read to daddy from her Bible......

Rose and her new Bible...she loves reading it herself

This is how we go to the library.......(with a rolley cart!)

MFW Adventures Week One

2011-08-24T20:02:00.005-04:00

We really enjoyed this week of school! Rose was super ready to start back to school, so that helped a lot!

She was so excited Sunday night she could hardly get to sleep.

Here she is on Monday. The first day of 2nd grade.

Probably my favorite from this past week was writing a letter to Rose explaining why we picked her name.
It was so precious to write this to her.

Rose's favorite thing was starting her time line.

This year we are studying US history.
The time line is up in our hallway and Rose is looking forward to people being able to see it when they come over.

On Monday we had a "red, white, and blue" snack.....Well, they suggested yogurt, but I thought I would make pudding as a special treat since we regularly have yogurt. But I hadn't made pudding since before Rose was born and forgot that unlike yogurt, vanilla pudding is yellow not white. Also, our blueberries look purple and I thought I had some strawberries, but didn't, so I used a red grape, which also looked purple.
So our "red, white, and blue" snack ended up a 'yellow and purple' snack. But we enjoyed it very much and we pretended it was red, white and blue! Which just added to the fun!

Here is a picture of an experiment we did with salt water/fresh water. She loves science and would be very happy if we did an experiment EVERY day.

Here she is doing Art. She has a book and I have a copy of the same book.....we both do it together in our own books. super fun!

Making a bracelet with an R (for Rose) to remind her that God loves HER.

Nature Study and nature sketching.....this is another thing we both do together. She loves doing nature study. Now that we are in the west and not the Southeast.....it is harder for me. I don't know the plants here! I need new field guides that pertain to this area.

We did lots more, too, of course......maybe I will highlight some other areas next week.

It was a great first week of second grade!!

What we are using for 2nd Grade

2011-08-15T19:32:00.001-04:00

I am really excited about this year. I think it will be a good one! Rose is actually excited about it too!

Here are most of the curriculum tools I have selected for our 2011-2012 school year. Rose will be in second grade this year.

For our Bible, History, Geography, Art and Science we are using My Father's World Adventures Deluxe.

It includes:

Teacher's Manual, Second Edition
Student Sheets (purchase one per student)
Map of the U.S./World - placemat size (purchase one per student)
NIrV Discoverer's Bible for Young Readers
The Story of the U.S.
American Pioneers and Patriots
North American Indians
Red, White, and Blue
The Thanksgiving Story
The 4th of July Story
First Encyclopedia of Science
Science in the Kitchen
Science With Air
Birds, Nests, and Eggs
Celebrate America (CD)
Read-Alouds for Adventures in My Fathers World
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims
The Courage of Sarah Noble
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Sarah Whitcher's Story
In Grandma's Attic
Mountain Born
Farmer Boy
Introduction to Tchaikovsky & the Nutcracker Suite
I Can Do All Things
Paint and Marker Cards
My First Magnet Kit
Soda Bottle Bird Feeder

This curriculum also uses a weekly book basket with additional books we get from the library.

Additional Bible
We will also be learning additional scriptures in larger sections and/or chapter segments.

Chad will continue to read the Bible to us after supper each day and ask us questions from Balancing the Sword. We will also continue to learn hymns as a family during this time, as well.

Additional Art
We will continue do some more Meet the Masters.
We will add some of the Draw Write Now pages from books 2, 3, and 5 that coordinate with MFW.

Math we are doing A Beka.

English we are doing Queen language Lessons as we complete a book, we just move on to the next.
We are also doing the Spell to Write and Read program.
We will finish up our Queen Cursive Book A and then use scripture to practice handwriting (cursive and manuscript).

Reading
The MFW includes reading time, but we will also be reading through the 2nd grade A Beka readers, the Rod and Staff Readers, and the Pathway Readers. We will also finish up the Simply Charlotte Mason reading kit.

Character Development
We will be using Character Sketches Booklets, Character Sketches series one, and the coordinating coloring book, character cards and I Will cards.

We will also be reading a variety of character enhancing books such as the Millers series, the Little Jewel books, the God is Good series and other books.

Violin
We are picking back up the violin and using The Violin Book. We are in book 2. This is a program where I am teaching myself and Rose how to play.

Free Time learning
For free time Rose can choose to watch the Bob Jones University Bible, Science, and or Heritage Studies. This is a full curriculum all on it's own, but we are using it as a TV time option. She has all the coordinating books and workbooks that go with the video, but again they are optional for her to use.

You can view a sample Bible video HERE.
a sample Science video HERE.
and a sample Heritage Studies video HERE.

Home Ec.
We will continue learning to cook, bake, clean and sew. We also will be joining a local Keepers at Home Club. (This will be our 4th year doing KAH)

P. E.
We will be biking, walking, swimming, hiking, etc. In the winter Rose will be taking snow ski lessons as well.

Ahh.....all unpacked

2011-08-10T19:59:00.000-04:00

Yippee! We are all unpacked and organized!!

Here is our kitchen, dining, and living room(s). Actually it is all one open space.

It feels good.

Moved again

2011-08-08T18:44:00.001-04:00

We have been in Reno for eight days .....so why does my home still look like this, you ask?

Well, as stated in my earlier post, on Tuesday evening we unloaded our truck and started unpacking.
We had the kitchen all organized and most of the laundry area set up and was starting on other areas. Then later on Wednesday, the apartment manager told us they would move us to another unit. (Remember the carpet.....my burning eyes, burning nostrils) But the new unit wouldn't be ready until Saturday. (Well, they told us Friday, but it ended up being Saturday)

So we stopped unpacking boxes and spent the rest of the week living among the boxes. Meanwhile, the cleaner reactions seemed to be getting worse..... in addition to the burning I had fatigue and my throat was swollen.

So, we tried to spend as much time as possible outside of the apartment.

We went swimming several times.

Chad and Rose played some pool.

We visited the UNR campus

explored our new city

and even went to a drive-in

On Saturday and Sunday afternoon we moved to a different building in the same community. And by Monday morning all my symptoms were gone! They finally told us that the carpet was suppose to have been replaced in our first unit before we moved in. I hope they replace it before they move someone else in.

So NOW (Monday) we can finally start unpacking and organizing.

As a result, summer break is going on a little longer for Rose!

And I wanted to throw this picture in for Grandpa and Grandma Anderson. They send us stuff (books, games, cards, and even some school papers) from Chad's childhood every now and then.....and we LOVE it!
Here is Chad and Rose playing his old card game "Tail the Donkey" We have had a lot of fun playing.

It is so neat for Rose to play games from her daddy's childhood.

Email me for our NEW updated mailing address......

Not quite settled in....

2011-08-03T12:10:00.003-04:00

We got here on Sunday and as of Wednesday we still aren't settled in, yet.

Our carpets were covered with cleaning powder. So on Monday they had the carpet cleaners come out. Which meant we couldn't unload until Tuesday evening so the carpets could dry.
We have been letting the apartment air out these past few days as well...my eyes and nostrils have been burning from the cleaning powder they used.

So we spent our time cleaning and trying to get acquainted with our new area. Rose has been enjoying the very cold pool. And here she is in the media room at the clubhouse.

I did some work on the netbook while she watched a cute cartoon called Adventures from the Book of Virtues

So Tuesday night our stuff got unload....and this is what our place looks like now.

I was planning on starting school on Monday....but I am having my doubts that our home will be organized, our school stuff organized, prepped and ready by then. ....we will see!

I will soon post about what we will be using for school this year.

PS- did you know that Nevada has more mountain ranges than any other state?
Someone on facebook posted a link to 'What Is Your State Good At?' that showed a couple of interesting facts about each state. Nevada's said "Nevada is #1 in teen pregnancies, home foreclosures, and meth use, but it also has more mountain ranges than any other state."
So I will focus on the positive and enjoy the fact that it has so many mountain ranges. We saw a lot of them on our drive here.
And Mt. Rose which is by Lake Tahoe, but we can see from here, still has some snow on it. .....quite beautiful.

Drive Across America...Day Nine

2011-08-01T12:17:00.000-04:00

Today we were in Nevada.

We drove 479 miles and this is the route we took:

View Larger Map
We listened to 'The Last Battle'. So we listened to all 7 Chronicles of Narnia books and a couple of Lamplighter books during our trip.

We did get up early today since today was going to be our longest drive.

Rose and I hanging out in the lobby while daddy loads and pulls the van around.

It was raining when we drove through Vegas...

Scenes from my window....

Lunch....I think Chad was hoping we could avoid McD....but it sure did please one little girl

This is beautiful Walker Lake. It was gorgeous, even though you can not see it well in this photo.

These mountains were on one side of us while the huge beautiful lake was on the other.

I even tried reading a little while...

The I-Trans bands worked wonderfully. Some days I could go an hour or two before turning it back on. It is a totally different experience riding without being so sick the whole way! I did on occasion get a headache. At those times, I would rub the essential oils behind my ears and turn the band back on and it would go away within 30 minutes, usually sooner. I am very pleased and think it is worth a try to any one who sufferes from motion sickness.

If you don't get car sick but your child does, I urge you to please be sensitive to that; it can be very very miserable and it hurts to talk or move even in the slightest. And it can come across as just being grumpy. Being still, keeping the temperature low, and not being crowded also make a difference.

We came up on this little town that was green! It was music for my eyes...

a great little traveler!

almost there...

We made it....

Chad and Rose in front of the clubhouse

waiting for the keys to our apartment

the little kitchen

living room

Rose coloring in her new room

We used one of our recently acquired Reno Groupons for supper at a Thia restaurant close by

Well, we made it! Our drive across America has come to an end. We had so much fun seeing the sights and enjoying each others company.
Your comments were very encouraging to me, thanks! And I especially appreciate those who have been praying for us.

We visited 12 states.
Which is a great kick off to our homeschool year coming up, since we will be studying U.S. geography. What fun!

I hope you enjoyed following along as we moved from Atlanta, Ga to Reno, NV. It is a big change for us.

Please feel free to keep following along as I will continue to share....

Drive Across America...Day Eight

2011-07-31T12:31:00.000-04:00

Today we were in:
Arizona
Nevada

We drove 234 miles and this is the route we took:

View Larger Map
We finished listening to The Silver Cup.

In the morning Rose and Chad had time to go swimming before breakfast. We enjoyed our breakfast out on the patio. It was a beautiful morning.

From my window...

We made it to our New home state

We visited Hoover Dam.

The Hoover Dam...picture taken from the new bridge

on the bridge

The dam's power plant creates electricity for the surrounding states.

A picture of the bridge from the dam.

From on top of the dam, looking out at Lake Meade.

We decided to take a tour of the Power Plant

Learning more inside the Exhibit Hall

We could have spent a lot more time at Hoover Dam. We drove across the bridge, walked across the bridge. We drove across the dam, walked across the dam. We went into the dam and through the tunnels. We saw the power plant and the exhibits.
It was very hot. I suggest visiting in a different month :0) But it was all very interesting. Rose enjoyed learning all about it.

We veered off of the interstate for our stay for the night. We stayed at the 4 star Loews Resort at Las Vegas Lake in Henderson, NV. (We used Priceline)

It was very nice.

They had a couple of pools, a water slide, a beach to the lake....

We had a fun time in the pools.

We thought the resort restaurants were too expensive, so we went into Henderson and had LJS.

We enjoyed today a lot. If it had been cooler we probably would have stayed at Hoover Dam a little longer than we did. But we enjoyed having extra time to enjoy the resort pools, as well.

I finally changed my wrist watch from EST to PST. For some reason, that was a big deal to me. It was symbol of us not going back to Atlanta.

Everywhere we go, people ask were we live. We say Atlanta, GA. But for the past few days...it almost feels like we are lying saying Atlanta, now. But we are not yet 'from' Reno, as we have not got there yet. Rose thinks we should say 'our van', since that is our current only constant. :0)

Drive Across America...Day Seven

2011-07-30T01:15:00.001-04:00

The states we were in today:
Colorado
Utah
New Mexico
Arizona

We drove 329 miles and this is the route we took:

View Larger Map

We finished listening to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and started The Silver Chair.

Our first stop today was at Four Corners. The corner where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona meet.

Rose and I both found some hand crafted jewelry to buy from the booths at 4 Corners, which is located on a Reservation

Here we are standing in 4 states (in the background you can see the booths set up all around it)

Rose laying in four states at one time

From my window...

Sonic for lunch

I forgot to mention that Rose lost a tooth yesterday. She pulled it in the van. She calls it her Golden Tooth since it was her 7th tooth to come out and she is 7 years old.

We saw this. We don't know what it is. Do you?

We really enjoyed seeing the Grand Canyon today.

For you trivia lovers....... Rose asked a Ranger and we found out that the Colorado River is on average 300 yards wide and the canyon is on average 10 miles wide.

Rose has been doing the Jr Ranger programs at the parks. She is very proud of her badges she has earned.

my favorite pic today

Dinner tonight was at the Yippee-I!-O! Steakhouse

We stayed at the Best Western in Williams, AZ

Chad and Rose had time to hit the pool before going to bed

We had a great day and felt that we got to see a lot today.

Drive Across America...Day Six

2011-07-29T11:58:00.000-04:00

Our states today were
New Mexico
Colorado

We traveled 320 miles and this is the route we took:

View Larger Map
We finished listening to Prince Caspian and started The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

We got up earlier than usual today, so we could get to Mesa Verde and have time to spend there.

Can you see the camel shaped rock out Chad's window?

The over passes were so colorfully painted in New Mexico.

from my window

We were stopped for road work for about a half hour or so

but we were stopped right at the Continental Divide!

The change in scenery today was vast. In Texas and Oklahoma everything was so flat and dry. All the rivers and creeks we saw were just dry beds. But today we saw green grass and flowing rivers. We saw hills and trees and mountains and valleys. Plus it was not too hot!

Here is a video of pictures Rose took today.

We were so happy when we saw this sign!! An organic deli!

It was WONDERFUL to have a healthier lunch. YUMMY!

We made it to Mesa Verde

inside a kiva

this is how they would grind the corn

Seeing these cliff dwellings was so neat! It was definitely worth coming up into Colorado to see it. This was our most interesting sight seeing day so far.

Rose finally spent some of her saved birthday money. She bought a book at the bookstore 'Ancient Dwellings of the Southwest'. She spends her money so much more wisely than I did as kid. (I would have bought candy as a kid, she buys books)...I can see my parents nodding their heads in agreement...sorry mom and dad about having to pay for those for those cavity fillings. love you :0)

We also purchased one of the Mesa Verde National Parks books. I thought it would be interesting for Rose to read and look through and remember our visit.

Supper was not near as good as lunch was

hotels in Cortez were slim pickings...we booked the Baymont through hotels.com

We had a great day! Mesa Verde was very interesting. We could have spent days there. Plus it was good to get out and do all that walking.

Drive Across America...Day Five

2011-07-28T00:18:00.002-04:00

Our states today were:
Texas
New Mexico

We traveled 277 miles and this is the route we took:

View Larger Map
We finished listening to The Unexpected Return by Lamplighter and
and started The Prince Caspian: Chronicles of Narnia.

Chad and Rose started of the morning with a swim in the beautiful pool and then we ate our free breakfast.

from my window

Tucumcari, NM on route 66 is so much like Radiator Springs in the movie 'Cars'. If you are ever driving by, I strongly suggest getting of off I-40 and taking old Route 66 through this town.....It was neat, I would love to see it at night with all the neons.

Lunch was at a little dinner...

We had originally planned on going to Albuquerque today, but decided to go to Santa Fe instead.

Thanks to Name Your Own Price on Priceline, again, we stayed at another 4 star hotel.

This was also suppose to be our 'rest day', but we found Santa Fe so charming we ended up not resting until (after) bedtime...
We visited the country's oldest church...

The country's oldest house....

And Loretto Chapel, which has the famous spiral staircase...

We walked around the Santa Fe Plaza....

Rose and I played and swam laps in the pool....

We walked around in Santa Fe some more and then had some pizza here....

We had a lovely day!

Drive Across America...Day Four

2011-07-27T11:59:00.000-04:00

Today we were in
Texas
Oklahoma
(then back in Texas)

We traveled 390 miles and this is the route we took:

View Larger Map

We listened to 'The Horse and His Boy: The Chronicles of Narnia'
and started listening to 'The Unexpected Return' from Lamplighter.

Today was fun, fun, super fun!

Ahh, Texas....you have donut shops everywhere. We had to have some for breakfast today.

Rose playing with My Little Ponies under her snuggie

Our check engine light came on....we had to stop for minor repairs. It was a broken vacuum hose. The guy here in Decatur, TX was very friendly.

We kept seeing these 'Whataburger' restaurants, so we tried one for lunch.

The scenery from my window today

As we were crossing this bridge we saw that this river was dried up...and there was a cow in the river bed. Poor cow. It was HOT. Oh around 112 degrees.

We drove on Route 66 for part of todays drive. Lots of neat little things here and there.

Do you like the movie 'Cars'? We saw the Conoco station in Shamrock, TX. Here is my photo:

Here it is in the film:

We also saw a rusty truck with eyes and teeth painted on it to look like Mater.

This is my photo of a leaning water tower that is said to be part the inspiration for the leaning tower of tires in the film.

Here is Lugi's tire tower:

Okay, this was even more fun than I was expecting. Just west of Amarillo, TX is the famous Cadillac Ranch.

which by the way, also appeared in the movie as part of the surrounding mountains:

Chad and Rose at the entrance gate with spray paint cans in hand

We got started with our 'art' right away

My creation, I painted the side pink then wrote in white

Rose's creation...her name and a smiley face

This guy painted over mine right away

so Rose painted over his

and then I painted the letters back on....it was all very fun!

Our hotel.... The Ambassador in Amarillo

Supper was super fun, too. We ate at the Big Texan. You may have seen it on Man vs Food. If you can eat a 72 oz steak and sides in 60 minutes, it is free. crazy.

These guys were up on stage, trying to eat that 72 ouncer.....they did not succeed.

Rose's drink came in a boot.

Live music came to your table

Our food :0)

The steak was very good. Mmmmm, mine almost melted in my mouth...it was so tender. I think this was the first meal of the trip were I ate all of my plate!

Rose's meal came with a cowboy hat!

more photos in front of the restaurant

Good-bye, Big Texan Steakhouse.....we had fun!

Today really was a lot of fun! It is pretty neat driving across America!

Also, I had taken over 100 photos today! ...so it was hard trying to decide which ones to include here. I hope you are enjoying coming along with us!!

Drive Across America...Day Three

2011-07-26T13:35:00.000-04:00

The states we were in today:
Louisiana
Texas

We traveled 337 miles. Here is the route we took:

View Larger Map

We listened to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe during the drive.

We had a relaxing morning at the hotel. Since Chad was ready first, he went down and brought up some of the free breakfast to me and Rose.
We traveled to Shreveport, LA where we visited The American Rose Gardens.

Online it stated their season was May to October. Once there they said it is April and May and they didn't charge us the entrance fee, since most of the roses were not in bloom. How nice! We like free!

We were the only peolpe there other than a few friendly workers.

We enjoyed walking around the gardens...

This is in the 'Prayer Garden', my favorite garden there.

Rose had fun navigating with the map

Even though we didn't get to see a lot of roses in bloom, we still enjoyed the gardens very much. It was beautiful and peaceful.

Then on to Texas....

We were able to stop and visit one of my childhood friends, Shawna (Laws) Hornsby. We were driving right pass her town, so we met up for lunch. What fun! She guided us to a local Texas Bar-b-q joint. It was delicious.
It was neat seeing her. We figured that we probably hadn't seen each other since high school graduation, 20 years ago!
When we were kids she lived a few houses down from me. We remembered rollarskating in my basement and playing LP records. oh my. It was neat meeting her two children and visiting for a bit.

Me and Shawna

Shawna told us about a place we could get some yummy snow-balls for dessert on our way back to the interstate...so of course we had to try it! Very sweet, but very good.

Driving through Dallas we noticed how lovely the wall murals and road pillars were. They were colored and had the Texas star and some stripes on each one.

Rose doing her cross stitching as we were traveling through some Dallas traffic

Again we did Priceline. We stayed at the 4 star Hyatt Regency...

The cushions may or may not have been used as swords.

We opted for a lighter supper...I enjoyed this spring salad


Rose and I hit the pool while Chad was grading his students online tests.

Then it hit me...oh my, I had a Crohn's pain attack from something in my salad. (I may have cried off and on from the pain) ...But thankfully I am all better now. I do know of some foods that I can not eat: cucumbers, cashews, broccolli, anything scampi, lots of iceburg lettuce.....but there is more that I have not pinpointed yet. Was it the seasame seeds? the walnuts? I don't know.
But that is why today's post is a later. I could not work on it last night.

Overall it was a great day. We are enjoying the trip. The drive is not overwhelming, actually it is quite enjoyable!

Drive Across America...Day Two

2011-07-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

Today we were in 5 states.
Alabama
Mississippi
Arkansas
Louisiana

We visited Winterville Indian Mounds in Greenville, MS.

We listened to The Magician's Nephew, which is chronologically the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

We traveled 395 miles. Here is the route we took toady.

View Larger Map
We had a relaxing morning in the hotel and ate strawberries and orange juice from our cooler for breakfast..

We started out on the interstate but then veered to a divided highway and eventually down to a regular two lane highway. It was a beautiful drive. We saw a variety of scenery in between all the small towns we drove through. We enjoyed the peacefulness of the drive today.

Rose has been learning her states and capitals via the Audio Memory CD, so I pinned up this map in the van to help her 'see' what she was learning.

The first half hour I was car sick even with my I-Trans band on. So, I rubbed the essential oils behind my ears as well. Yesterday, I was just running the I-trans in 30 minute segments. It automaticly turns off after 30 mins, so I was doing 30 minutes on and 30 minutes off. But since I was feeling sick today I ran it for 60 minutes and increased the power. That helped and I was car sick free the rest of the day!! Yippee! It still seems too good to be true.

Yesterday, when I had my band on, Chad and I did not hold hands. (sob) The sensation was too strong for him. So we only got to hold hands every other half hour. But today we realized that he couldn't feel it if he just held my finger. (yea!) So we got to hold hands, or finger, all day. Ahh, nice.
....Do you hold hands with your husband/wife when you drive??

A friend suggested we get the book The Next Exit . We used it to pick out which exit would be a good one to stop at for lots of choices for lunch.
Rose picked our lunch restaurant. ...Olive Garden, or as she calls it "Oliver Garden" This was a very happy girl!

After lunch we saw some devastating tornado damage. It was awful. Buildings and homes just piles of rubble...semi trucks totally twisted...tree after tree just snapped off.

These are views from my seat....taking the highway (after lunch) instead of the interstate made for a beautiful drive today.

The Winterville Indian Mounds in Greenville, MS

Entrance to the museum...

on the grounds....

We handed Rose the map and she lead us to different mounds telling us which one we were at....

Rose on top a mound....

Back on the road....More pictures from my seat...

We wanted to eat at a local cajun restaurant, but after driving in the rain, we found the restaurant closed. We checked into the hotel first, and was advised to go Copeland's. There is a Copeland's in Atlanta, a franchise, but we had never been there, so instead of driving around more in the rain, we went there. It was yummy, especially the crawfish and crabcakes.

We had planned on staying in a Bed and Breakfast that I found online. The site stated that children are welcome. But instead of just booking online, I felt I should call. When I called the lady did not seem very kid friendly and encouraged us to stay elsewhere. I am glad I called. We decided to do Priceline again, and stayed at the Hampton.

We had a wonderful day, enjoying each others company and God's beautiful handiwork.

Drive Across America...Day One

2011-07-24T10:31:00.001-04:00

We are off to a good start!
Chad had to teach his last class in the afternoon. So we ended up leaving around 6:30 PM. We knew we wouldn't get too far, but we still wanted to go ahead and start.
Our first stop was 4 miles down the road to use our last Atlanta area Half Off Depot Coupon for supper. Yummy, healthier than regular restaurants, Evos! They have airbaked fries, hormone free beef, organic fruitshakes, etc.

Yes, I did take a bite before I snapped the photo :0)

Then it was time to hit the road. Here is a map of the road we took.

View Larger Map

Oh my goodness, I have to tell you about this! In an earlier post I told you what we use for motion sickness. The pressure point wrist bands and the essential oils had been what we found worked the best. It didn't take it away, and at times Rose and I were still pretty miserable, but that combination was the best so far.
Well, not being satisfied with that, I begin to do some more research and came across the I-Trans bands. I thought they were pretty pricey, but with our long drive approaching I thought it would be worth a try. Oh my YES it was!

Rose was coloring a picture and said her usual "Mommy, do you want to see my picture." To look back at her, I normally brace my head against the head rest, cringe, and very slowly turn my head...knowing that the movement will increase the intensity of my headache and my nausousness. But with my new band I was able to just turn and look and comment on her lovely creation.
That may seem like a little thing, but it was so HUGE! I thought this is too good to be true. I decided to test it. I leaned over to get paper and pen out of my bag that was on the floorboard. (again, HUGE....with motion sickness, you can not lean over!) so far, so good. I decided to write out a list, again I was still okay. I read the list! WOW!
I was just hoping to not feel miserable, but still expecting to have to be completely still, no moving, no writing, and absolutely no reading!!!
I felt so FREE! I could turn my head and talk to Rose whenever I wanted. Look at everything she pointed out. Grab things as needed. Wow!

(Yes, I may have cried some tears of joy.)

Now I can even use my laptop in the car. (insert happy dance)

Rose used her new band as well. She kept saying, "Mommy, I don't have a headache!" "I can color and draw!" "This is the best trip, ever!"

If you suffer from motion sickness, you can imagine how life altering this felt! (insert chorus angels) For those of you who are fortunate enough not to know what in the world I am talking about....sorry for just boring you.....now back to our adventure...

Once we were nearing Birmingham, we decided to to do a "Name Your Own Price" on Priceline. We got the Sheraton Birmingham. At a 3 1/2 star rating some sites state that it is one of the best hotels Birmingham has to offer.

Our room was comfortable and roomy for the 3 of us.

"Convientently located off of I-20"....ummm, yes, you could say that again. This is the view from our window. Yes that is I-20.

The traffic noise was the downside, but it wasn't too bad. But just in case this happens again, we are going to put a variety of classical and some Kenny G music on the Ipod to give us some nice background noise. (We were too tired last night to do it, so I guess the traffic noise didn't bother us too much) At our Atlanta house, we loved listening to the crickets and tree frogs from our backyard as we drifted off to sleep.

Day One is short and sweet...as we only traveled 157 miles. We left Georgia and are now in Alabama. We traveled on interstate roads, without varying to other types of roads.
During the drive we listen to "Buried in the Snow" audio book from Lamplighter.

Friends

2011-07-23T15:14:00.003-04:00

It has been hard to say good-bye to our Atlanta friends.

Some of the families we housechurch with

Rose and friends

Super sweet ladies

Very dear and precious to me

I snapped a random photo... at house church

We have the nicest friends.

Steve and Chad...I didn't get a picture of Steve's wife, Sandra...but she is a very, very precious friend to me. I wish I would have remembered to snap a photo of the two of us! I guess she will just have to come and visit, so I can get that photo. (Sandra, thanks for everything.)

Cissy and Ansley stopped by to say good-bye

Some friends came to congratulate Chad and help load the truck

These were all fellow PhD students with Chad

Here they are after loading most of our belongings! We sure did appreciate all the help!

Rose and Elisabeth

The Carlson's had us over for a good bye play date. We will greatly miss this dear family.

My friend Connie and her girls came to help clean up the house

They washed base boards, windows, and floors. It was done so fast, too!

Age 2 and a BIG helper

precious smiles!

This is fun!

Thanks Connie and girls! They were eager happy workers!

Tim came back over on our last night and helped Chad load all the heavy items and finish things up!

We appreciate your friendship and fellowship.

Some more July happenings

2011-07-23T13:11:00.000-04:00

Some other things from July.....

Rose riding her scooter (to the pool)...with mommy walking

more swim team practice

dressed up like a cow to get free meals at Chick-fil-a


Me and Rose

Chad with some cow ears and a sign on his shirt (Rose is saying "Moo!")

VBS presentation night...North Peachtree Baptist did the Answers in Genesis VBS

VBS night...My good friend Lauren...she is always so good about letting me hold her babies! Ahh, babies...

Congratulations Dr. Anderson

2011-07-21T08:57:00.001-04:00

In 2006, when Rose was just 2 years old, we moved to Atlanta, GA from Lexington, KY so Chad could pursue a PhD.
Chad has worked hard and is good at what he does.

And now he is Dr. Chad Anderson.

He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration through the Computer Information Systems Department at Georgia State University.
The title of his dissertation is "Health Information Systems Affordances: How the Materiality of Information Technology Enables and Constrains the Work Practices of Clinicians".

Chad (right) and his advisor, Dr. Robey.

Now in 2011 Rose is 7 years old and we are moving again. ...this time across the country. Chad has accepted a tenure track faculty position at the University of Nevada, Reno. Chad is looking forward to continuing his research and teaching in Nevada.

A visit to Kentucky

2011-07-20T09:00:00.004-04:00

We went up to Kentucky for the annual McBee family reunion.
We stayed with my sister, Kristie, and her family from Thursday to Sunday and then Gpa and Gma from Sunday to Tuesday.
My other sister Jennifer and her family also stayed at Kristie's house and one night even one of my cousins and her son stayed there. Kristie and her family sure did have a house full, but it was so much fun! They were very gracious hosts! I think one night it was 14 people. We did have a blast!!

It will be hard to move across the country, even farther away from my family.
I love being with them.

On Friday my 11 year old niece Tori helped me make the reunion cake. We worked on it together, but she did at least half of it!

Here is a video of the reunion...

(FB views and some feeds, need to click HERE to view)

Rose and her 3rd cousin Jacob having a good time at Gpa and Gmas farm

Gma and Gpa's back porch.....the most peaceful spot this side of heaven. Ahh, I love it back there.

Kristie relaxing on the porch swing

Gma, me, and Gpa

Rose and her cousin Tim.

Join us in our......Drive Across America

2011-07-19T15:14:00.001-04:00

I wanted to give you a heads up about next week. It should be fun to come along!!

As you know, next week we will be driving across the USA!!! Georgia to Nevada, as we move to Reno! And you can join us .... virtually that is :0)

View Larger Map

This could be a fun geography lesson, if you want the kids to help track us!

I will be doing a whole travel series......each day updating with where we are at, what sights we are seeing, what adventures we come across, where/how we are lodging, and maybe even what foods we get to try out along the way.

I hope this is fun for everyone.

Although we do have plans for each day we are NOT making advanced reservations, etc. This way we have a plan, but do not have to adhere to a schedule and can change our minds as we go along! You are welcome to leave comments and suggest places for us to go see.

We are hoping to visit:
Indian Mounds
American Rose Society Gardens
Cadillac Ranch
Mesa Verda
Grand Canyon
Hoover Dam

We leave Atlanta on Saturday evening July 23rd and we think we will be arriving in Reno on Sunday evening July 31st.

We hope to visit 11 states, stay in hotels, cabins, and Bed and Breakfasts, take interstates, highways, and back roads....lots of variety and lots of fun!

Let me know if you plan on following along!

Time with dear friends

2011-07-19T09:00:00.009-04:00

We were able to visit the Davis family. You know how much I love them, as I have talked about here, here, and here....and more I am sure.

They graciously hosted us for a night at the end of June.

The girls playing...

The grown-ups chatting....

( I LOVE being with this family so much!! )

Rose and Lilly all cute...

now with silly faces.....

I threw this one in to point out how similar their expressions are...

Daddy's playing Jenga with the girls (while the mommy's were gabbing away, I'm sure) :0)

Samantha always makes us delicious and healthy meals! Here she is making us yummy french toast with her fresh homemade bread. She is so kind and sweet. (I wish YOU could spend 15 minutes with this Godly young woman, you would be so blessed)

Rose and Lilly Kate

Me, Samantha, Rose and Lilly Kate...the sweet version.

Now the silly version...the girls are in this phase were they think it is so fun to do a silly version of every photo...so we all joined in on the fun. For some reason I really like this picture...I am thinking about getting it framed...seriously.

Chad doing a puzzle with Lilly

The girls playing....

This pic looks so precious to me....

It is hard moving so far away from our dear sweet friends. Here in Georgia we are only a 4 hour car ride away....
I hope Lilly likes to fly in the airplane! And Samantha doesn't get air sick like she gets sea sick! We are expecting lots of visits!!
Love you all bunches.

Keepers Club Tea Party

2011-07-18T08:35:00.001-04:00

In June we hosted a tea party for our Keepers At Home Club.

Party favors for the girls...
Over Christmas when I was sewing and crafting with my friend Sara in Fargo, ND I started the photo clip project with giving them to these girls in mind. I thought they turned out cute. There is a photo on the front and back with all the girls. On one side they are holding their prayer journals, on the other they are showing us their "Starry Starry Night" art project.
The China was my mom's....but I don't recall her ever using it. I love the pink rose pattern. The dishes are dear to me since they make me think of my sweet mom and precious daughter.

The girls enjoyed the tea party. Precious, precious girls...

and then we did some crafts....

We will miss these sweet girls and our wonderful club!

It has been a joy and a blessing to do Keepers at Home Club with this group. We will miss you all.

More days at Stone Mountain

2011-07-17T07:05:00.001-04:00

I was able to take Rose and her friend Elisabeth to Stone Mountain a couple of times in June.

Here they are on the Sky Hike

The rock climbing wall

It was very HOT. Thankfully they had ways of staying cool.
They were picked to be participants in this very wet play...

Next we were going to watch the Yogi movie but since they were so wet.....we decided to stay in the sun. So we played miniature golf.

Yogi Bear in 4D

Rode the train.

Another fun play...

Elisabeth with my sunglasses

Other ways of keeping cool in the heat...

Rose on the little ropes course...

Some of June's happenings......

2011-07-16T14:35:00.001-04:00

We are starting to pack for our big move across the country. But we still have lots of stuff going on. This post and the next three posts are from June 2011.

We are at the pool almost everyday. Rose joined our local swim team. They have practice 4 days a week, plus she likes to go to the pool at different times to just play around.

She is pretty good at sorting socks.....and if you do sock puppets during it....well, it is just that much more fun! (By the way...I didn't ask her to sort socks. She was looking at the sock basket on the dryer and asked me if she could sort them.) She has great initiative!

Remember our pet Honey Bunny? When we saw this rabbit in our backyard .....Rose decided that it is Honey's child and she comes to visit us, since Honey told her fabulous stories about our family.

We were able to get together with Andrew Hortman, his mom, and sister for an afternoon, one last time before we moved. Remember Andrew? I watched him and taught him and Rose preschool together.

After our friend, Tianje, heard about Rose going to Chuck E Cheese for her birthday, she wanted to go too. So we all went. Rose and Tianje had a great time. The highlight was when Rose won bonus tickets, getting 250 at one time!

Here is a diorama she made with her Chuck E Cheese clay.

Rose has been enjoying doing sticker books

and hand sewing. She is currently working on a redwork doll quilt.

Oh and I also discovered Norwex cleaning clothes. I have been trying to keep chemicals and toxins out of my home for the past 7 years, already. These make it even easier for me to achieve that. I love these things. Rose loves them too! My friend Connie sells them, if you want to get some. I pretty much have my whole house converted over to them. (I may do a separate post about them later.)

And here I am doing one of my favorite things.......holding a baby. ...Matthew C. at my Norwex party.

More June coming soon.....

Winner - My First Giveaway

2011-07-16T09:44:00.000-04:00

The winner of my first giveaway is......
(I asked Rose to pick a number!)

She picked......

#5.

Congratulations to Samantha! I will be sending you your free copy of Answers Magazine.

That was fun....I think I will be doing more giveaways on here!!

My first GIVEAWAY !!

2011-07-11T12:50:00.001-04:00

I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway!

I have been enjoying my subscription to Answers Magizine, by Answers in Genesis.

I read it aloud to Rose, plus they have a kids insert magazine in each issue that she really enjoys.

They sent me a new magazine of an issue we already had (by mistake). So I thought instead of hoarding it, I should pass it along. How fun is that?

The Kids Magazine in this issue is Yuckology!! A very fun topic.

It is the 2011 April-June issue. I know it is now July, but since I haven't blogged about our June yet....it is all good, right?

$7.20 plus shipping VALUE. Your cost - FREE :0)

To enter:

Leave a comment on this post.

Additional entries: (Please leave an additional comment for each entry.)

Share about this giveaway on Facebook (You may use the easy ‘Share’ button below)
Post about this giveaway on your blog. You must link back to this post. (3 entries, please leave 3 separate comments)
Tweet about this giveaway.

Giveaway is open until Midnight on Friday July 15th.

Other May happenings

2011-07-10T13:44:00.002-04:00

Here are some more things from May (snippets that didn't make their own post).....

Our homeschool group had our end of the school year party and field day.

getting lined up for tug-o-war

pull! This tug was kids vs moms....the kids won! (that's a lot of kids!)

Rose and her sweet friend Lily W.

Rose is a good helper around the house. She does well with the laundry, cleaning, and helping me cook and bake.

My little chef!

~
We sometimes walk over to the little lake in our neighborhood.

Here she is feeding the ducks.

~
We went to another Homeschool Conference this month. Not as big the one last month, but still very nice. Rose did some exploring with her friend Autumn around the exhibit hall and found a Math game she really liked. I think this is the game:
Albert's Insomnia
I am thinking about getting it for her. Have any of you ever played it?
~
Lately Rose has been making a lot of things with her melty beads. She can do it pretty independently, too.

First she places all the beads on the form. She often uses tweezers for this step.

Then she turns on the iron and gets some wax paper. Irons the beads until they melt. Peels it off the form and irons the other side.

Here is a video she wanted to record
(if you are viewing this in a feed, email, or facebook you may need to click HERE to view the video)

~
Daddy walks to the train station and rides the train to work.
On occasion when it is close to time for daddy to be home, we will walk up the street to meet daddy walking home from the train station.
Here daddy and Rose are walking back to the house after we had met him part way.

And that is a peek in to our May 2011.

Anderson Family *love*joy*peace*

Home Between Thanksgiving and Christmas travels (surgery, finish week 15 of MFW, sing, and sign)

Thanksgiving visit to Kentucky

Week 15 of 2nd Grade (with IPad apps)

Week 14 of MFW 2nd grade (with bread making)

Week 12 of 2nd Grade (with Pilgrim Plantation Day)

Week 11 of 2nd Grade (with Soap Making)

I need Jesus...

Week Ten (Pumpkin Patch)

Week Nine (UNR Game)

Week Eight (with a visit from Uncle Cullen)

Week Seven (with sewing)

Week Six (Candle Making and Candy Fair)

MFW Week Five (Reno Air Races)

MFW Week Four (Hot Air Balloons)

MFW Adventures Week Three (Lake Tahoe)

Pyramid Lake

Homesick...

Chad's commute

MFW Adventures Week Two

MFW Adventures Week One

What we are using for 2nd Grade

Ahh.....all unpacked

Moved again

Not quite settled in....

Drive Across America...Day Nine

Drive Across America...Day Eight

Drive Across America...Day Seven

Drive Across America...Day Six

Drive Across America...Day Five

Drive Across America...Day Four

Drive Across America...Day Three

Drive Across America...Day Two

Drive Across America...Day One

Friends

Some more July happenings

Congratulations Dr. Anderson

A visit to Kentucky

Join us in our......Drive Across America

Time with dear friends

Keepers Club Tea Party

More days at Stone Mountain

Some of June's happenings......

Winner - My First Giveaway

My first GIVEAWAY !!

Other May happenings

Anderson Family lovejoypeace