Sigh, it felt like home...

I found this store in Fairview, a small town just a few minute away. I can't believe that I haven't made it there sooner, Troyer's Country Store!

I walked in and thought I had landed back in Lancaster! LOL! Imagine my surprise when I learned after several moments of talking with the owner that he is friends with my Dad and knew my Mom. He was at her funeral. I have to say that it felt really good to find those connections. You take them for granted when you don't live somewhere like Lancaster. I admit, in PA it could feel stifling, but to find it again was like a warm blanket. The girls were very excited to find someone who knew Grandma! They were totally into the connection and it was special to share it with them. :)

SO, if you are in the area you MUST check them out! Absolutely amazing! Their wet bottom shoe fly muffins were to die for, and their Chocolate cheddar cheese! OH MY!!! Make sure to check out their organic chicken too!

Don't you just love...

Don't you just love this old movie!? :) Chloe loves it as much as I did back when I was young. I remember watching it with my parents and finding the whole thing so romantic, watching that boy ride over the cliff as the others stood around and watched! I love that my girl is growing up and loves to hang out! :) Wait till she sees Return to Snowy River! :D

Light-Up Sheep Art - Watch more Funny Videos

Saturday Morning fun...

I woke up to a whole kingdom! LOL! The girls got very creative with the paper and blocks. :) I love it when they are creative. There is a sign above it saying, "No touching or getting very near" and it is surrounded by red pillows and blanket to show the proper boundaries. Of course, they did just leave it all and take off to watch a movie in the basement...hmmm. Just thought you may get a kick out of it!

Snow, again!

Goodness, we sure are getting more snow then usual this year. Not that it really amounts to much, but it is still odd. We are sure not complaining though! We love the snow. :) The girls were out in it early this morning, and came in to warm up with hot tea.

Here are a few pictures...

We are studying Japan right now in school. We are doing the vol. 4 Five in a Row book, Grass Sandals, the Travels of Basho, by Dawnine Spivak.

Today we learned about Haiku!

Here is what Chloe came up with...

snow falls from the sky-

it melts when it hits the ground-

it is freezing cold

And from Riley...

the snow is falling-

I play in the the snow today-

I built a snowman-

Maggie funny...

So Chloe, Riley, Maggie and I are sitting on the living room floor playing Uno. I am across from Maggie who is trying to change the color without a wild the whole game for some odd reason. Silly kid. So, I remind her one more time and she looks me in the eye all serious like and says, "I hear you out there!!!.....WILD!" ROFLOL! She is such a funny kid. The girls are all still rolling with laughter! :) I am so thankful we have so much fun. ;)

Trick or Treat!!!

Well, the girls had a great time making their costumes this year. I thought they were very creative! ;) Maggie is a fairy. Riley a sock monkey and Chloe a bat. :) They were so fun! Here is the guilty part...we took them to a friends and dropped them off over night! LOL! So, they wen't trick or treating and Shawn and I had some beloved alone time!

SNOW!

Can you believe it is snowing??? This is SO out of place for this time of year. I just love it! The girls have had their faces plastered to the windows and quickly wrapped Christmas gifts for each other, which they all had fun opening this morning! LOL! I wish I could get better pics, but this is what I have. It's no longer just flurrying, it's coming down! :) Wish you all could come over for for some hot chocolate and a great conversation.

Salsa!!!

Today we went to our dear friends Shelley's house to make a TON of salsa! Shelley is so amazing, her canning has reached mass proportions so we tease her that if there is ever a food shortage we all know where to go to get food! LOL! We did green salsa, hot salsa, mild and Black Bean with Corn. YUMO!!! Here is a few pics of our glorious day!

Of course Maggie had a great time. The kids all made her a crown and set her in the leaves like a princess! LOL, she certainly doesn't need any help in that idea! :)

Happenings...

I finally found some trees with intense color. Of course I took these last night during a break from class so you can't really see the color, but I liked them anyway! ;) I have one more week and I will be done with my Lit class! I am so happy! However, I do have to start economics next. :(

And CONGRATULATIONS to Maggie! She lost her first tooth this past week! The dentist had to pull it for her because she wouldn't let any of us do it. It hung by a thread for 2 weeks! She was very excited to finally have it out. Unfortunately the tooth fairy was not so swift. Maggie came up crying at 6:45 am saying there wasn't any money under her pillow. (blushing here) So I told her the tooth fairy has until 7 to make deliveries and to run back to bed. She did, I crawled and slithered across her bedroom floor as discreetly as possible to make the trade and she came up all excited because she was rich! LOL!

Another typical homeschool day. The girls are working on their math and the dog is guarding us from the evil squirrels. :)

Oreo!

Well, here is our new little dog Oreo. She is 2 years old, Chloe bought her from a rescue. She has had a lot of abuse in her past but is just the sweetest little dog ever. Hey! If she won Shawn over you know she must be special! LOL! ;) We are currently clicker training and she is doing just great. Today was the one week anniversary and we are all very happy with her.

She has become my walking buddy! Today we fast walked 4 miles, hills and all. She just loves to walk and if I stop to get a drink she walks in circles till I start again.