American Heritage Girls Family Campout

This year was the first year for a new American Heritage Girls troop that we joined in September. It has been so much fun for both Princess TD and me. Even Little TD is learning a lot when he sits in on our meetings. He just loved learning about airplanes when we did the Aviation badge!

Anyway, the troop planned a family campout for spring. Quite a few of the families had not camped before, and not knowing really what to expect, it was definitely a challenge for Mrs. H to plan! We all really appreciate the hard work she put into planning this campout for us.

We all had a great time on Saturday, but the trip was cut short because of the threat of rain. It seems any time the TD Family is camping, you can count on the threat of rain! We completed our activities for the day, which included working on completing the Hiking and Fire Safety badges.

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We had an awesome time and can't wait for the next campout!

Our Visit with Friends

Back in March when we took our anniversary camping trip, we stopped by to visit some friends who moved to the area. We had an awesome visit and Princess TD and Little TD haven't stopped talking about Mr. James, Ms. Carole, and their kids V, JD, S, and T.

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We had a great visit! They moved into their house just about a year ago, and we hadn't seen it yet. It is a beautiful home made even more beautiful by the sweet family who lives in it. Even though it had been some time since our whole families had been together, the kids just picked up right where they left off, and so did the adults. It is such a blessing to have good friends like that!

Ms. Carole taught Princess TD so much about chickens! She took her out to the coop (Mr. James did an awesome job building it) and showed her the chickens and chicks and explained how the eggs were gathered. Princess TD even gathered some eggs, and then was so proud when we got to bring some home with us! There is nothing better than farm fresh eggs! Here are a couple for comparison: the green egg, a brown egg (both from the ranch) and a store bought white egg.

Just a few short weeks after our visit, Mr. James had an accident on his dirt bike and broke his knee and leg. It was a pretty serious injury that required surgery. He experienced complications due to infection and has spent a little more than the last 2 months in the hospital. He is supposed to be going home this week. We continue to pray for him and healing. We love you Mr. James!!!

Update: As of today, June 29, Mr. James is heading home to be with his family again!!!!

This & That

I have so many blog posts rambling around, but not nearly enough hours in the day to complete them all, I am going to do a quick, bullet point update for everyone.

• School is going very well. Princess TD is reading independently and I am so impressed with her comprehension. She loves our curriculum and the more challenging readers that we are reading. She loves to retell the stories to me, her brother, Mr. TD and really anyone who will listen. I guess she's catching on pretty well to the concept of narration...gotta love Charlotte Mason!

• Speaking of school and our curriculum...I am making the trek up north (to Arlington) to meet the author of the curriculum we use, Carrie Austin. I can't express enough how excited I am to finally meet her and talk about our future plans with Heart of Dakota! I have been planning out my questions and thoughts...I am sure this will be a moment where I say something silly or forget to ask a question, so it is my goal to be prepared! (I am almost as excited as when I got to meet Lisa Whelchel. =))

• Planning my meeting has made me realize how silly and insecure I can be at times, but the thoughts of insecurity were confirmed when I attended the second half of the simulcast of Beth Moore's So Long, Insecurity. (Great book, BTW) I realized that all of the fretting I am doing over meeting "the author" is just plain crazy! I am not meeting "The Author," which is where I should feel humbled and insecure, but another homeschooling mom like myself. I am now praying for His guidance as I ask the questions needed to make our homeschool what He wants it to be. (Oh, and I am still taking my list! I do think He expects some preparation on my part!)

• Easter was so much fun this year! We had some great friends over for lunch after church and then our kids went on an egg hunt. I was amazed at how fast the 4 kids found all of the eggs. We barely had time to get our cameras turned on and ourselves out the door before they had the backyard cleaned out! Here are Princess TD and Little TD after we returned home from church and of the candy swap after the egg hunt. So cute!
  

• I have posted about American Heritage Girls before, and will post about our first camp trip soon, but not much about what we are looking for in the group. Princess TD makes friends everywhere we go, but rarely do we see the girls she makes friends with again. Our homeschool group is so large, that you have to make an effort to connect with another family to ever hope to see them again. We have done that with a couple of families, but we were still looking for a regular connection with the same group of girls. AHG has provided that for us, as well as leading us to another homeschool group. We, and especially Princess TD, enjoy seeing the same girls every week and it is providing her the chance to work on her skills at maintaining friendships. In an effort to promote these relations, one of the AHG moms planned a Tea Party for the girls, where they came all dressed up for a special time together. Princess TD wore a dress that was sent to her by my aunt, and my grandma's (my aunt's mom) china tea cup and saucer. She was so adorable that day and even drank from her cup with her pinkie up (much to Mr. TD's chagrin). Little TD was along for the ride that day and as usual, was a perfect angel. I only hope that Princess TD is just as compliant when he gets to the age where he has his own activities that don't include her! I can hope, right?!? Here's the Princess at her Tea Party!
  
  

Well, that is all for now. Stay tuned for a report on the camp out...it was a blast!

Badge Work

Princess TD has been working on a few badges at home for American Heritage Girls. She has completed several in class, and a surprise two at our AHG Family Camp Out last weekend. One of the ones she wanted to complete at home was the Photography badge. The book is pretty old, and says that all the badge work must be completed on a 35mm camera. Well, I worked with one of our troop committee members to rewrite the requirements for a digital camera. She completed the badge with her digital camera (and mine). She was to take 24 pictures around the neighborhood. She opted to wait for the spring flowers to bloom and took pictures of them at our house, our neighbors houses and at a local park. She did a great job and took some very interesting shots. Here is what she took:

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At our end of the year banquet, Princess TD will receive the following badges: Our Flag, Gardening, Aviation, Outdoor Skills, Cycling, Photography, Hiking, and Fire Safety/Fire Building. She is having a blast with the group and loves going to the meetings.