"Everyday is a School Day (And That's The Way We Like It!)" is our intended mentality, but our reality includes new back-to-school activities every now and again.
It helps us pretend that we aren't weird home schoolers every day... only most of them.
It also gives us a window of time to measure progress for our required annual review.
One Year Ago:
Now:
I took a lot of photos intending to hopefully luck into a few good ones to share, but to haven't found the necessary time or focus to sift through or edit photos, so here we are, squinty eyes and all...Scroll quickly....
Please imagine for a moment that you are four years old and your mom has recently finished reading "The Meanest Doll In The World" to you.
One fateful day, you walk into a thrift store with her. There, in the midst of clothes, shoes and well-loved toys is a dollhouse as tall as you are. (Remember, you're 4...) But it isn't just any dollhouse, no. It is THE dollhouse. You know this because 'KATE' is spelled across the roof in bright red vinyl. (You can't actually read yet, but you're working on it. Your mom tells you what the letters spell but of course, you already KNEW this was Kate's house the moment you spotted it.)
Your mom believes it must be destiny because... I mean, what are the odds? So she texts your dad, because it cost TWENTY-FIVE dollars!(Twenty five dollars that will prove to be only a small down payment in the grand scheme of things... have you ever looked in a minitures catalog? Those folks are serious.)
Here is what she sends him:
It totally works.
(remember this when it's time to get that pony)
You don't realize it as you take the house home, but your mom is about to go somewhere...else. She will spend many nights bent over this house, clipping popsicle sticks for baseboards or 'wallpapering' the small walls. Her neck will hurt- a lot- and she will need massive amounts of coffee when it's time to 'be the mom', but she will proudly show you her latest work like she wants you to hang it on the fridge or something and you two will scour ebay for dolls and furniture everyday for days and weeks on end. She will smile and tell you stories about her dolls and old dollhouse.
She will have so much fun, it will almost be like she's four, too!
BEFORE:
At first you tell your mom that you want black shutters and a black roof, but you both agree it looks too haunted that way. You give your mom creative license but remind her kindly to " Do what the dolls want, not just whatwewant"
Shelf Paper Wood Flooring
STRIPES!
Under Construction
Construction Zone
The house is a work in progress for a while...a pretty long while. Things in the real house are being neglected. Someone should go buy groceries. Seriously.
Wheels are added to the bottom and a crystal knob that casts rainbows around the room on sunny days is affixed to the door. There's a shiny number four on the front because remember--now we all are four!
We have a friend who builds people houses making a front door and more window ledges.
Meanwhile...
...you're making your way through the rest of the Doll People series... falling more in love with Annabelle & Tiffany, Doll-Kind and most importantly... BOOKS. Books are literally coming to life for you. This makes your mom feel sly; like she served you vegetables instead of Cheetos for once.
You've found the perfect Annabelle and Tiffany dolls to freshen up from eBay Land. You routinely check new dolls for bisque faces. It's amazing the ways that learning a new word like bisque or porcelain affect everyday life, like how slowly and carefully you must now go about your errands with Mom whenever Annabelle decides to tag along in your Dora the Explorer backpack. It is almost like bringing along a newborn baby.
You also better appreciate Annabelle's situations in the books.
Sometimes, as we made dresses or curtains, we could be heard singing "Ailene, Ailene, Ailene, Aiiiileene...please make this fabric stick just because you can!" (Jolene)
Mom had DollyPops when she was a little girl. And now she has them as a big little girl.
DollyPops get some overdue TLC...and paint.
GNARLY
DollyPop Day @ The Ladies' Room Spa
The pink one is our Tiffany
Even though there are still things to be done, your mom wants you to be able to enjoy the house before that number four on the front grows digits in the front or the back. So, finally, she moves it and your vast and quickly growing doll population in to your room.
Remote controlled cabinet lights make the house interactive until we can afford those tiny chandeliers in the catalog ... we've kept the attic dark because you've got to stay true to the book. We are looking forward to Halloween decor coming out in stores soon so that we can add a few spiders too.
See that pink wardrobe? It's NARNIA. Tilly Mae is in her crib. Free carpet samples from Lowes make a soft place for dolly toes.
SplishSplash!
Popsicle stick sofa & perfume bottle-top dolls
Picture frame fireplace with popsicle stick mantel Glitter glue flames are safe for dolls and children alike.
Fresh eggs from HennyBlue, Booster the Rooster helps keep the time, gathered round the table with good friends is always a good place to be.Free linoleum sample squares curl just like the full size version
Contruction projects ensue.
Stories continue to unfold.
But it all started with one story... yours.
Aslan & Pippi too... Cruella DeVille is our stand in Mean MiMi... Bobby & Bailey are having a ball... that handmade ladder may be the proudest thing I've ever accomplished- not counting real live baby humans... Tiffany & Annabelle- BBFF (Bunk Bed Friends Forever)
So, if you can imagine all of that Ms. Ann & Ms. Laura, maybe you can also imagine how much we appreciate your having sent us on such a fun voyage. It's an ongoing adventure and you gave us the fare. We wanted to send you a picture postcard of the fun we're having and say thanks. So...
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Riley would like to add (in her own voice):"The books are awesome and pretty and they are also pretty awesome."
RyeBird tried to recruit her Papa to read The Doll People books too... Reading Rainbow style:
Tonight, I saw an unanticipated result of our current administration's influence on today's youth.
Chandler was describing an efficiency report for Fort Stewart that he had accidentally "over-seen" while we were in Savannah recently.
His grandfather, an engineering contractor for McLean, had some reports lying on a desk, in a closed binder in the same room the boys were bunking.
Total happenstance report reading, really.
What Chan was impressed by was the efficiency of the Army as detailed in the report.He was describing how the report listed amount of wattage used per army barrack.
And that's when I spotted it.
He said "Army Buh-Rocks"
Bunk houses by this name would be the current President of the United States.
(And I'm pretty sure he didn't serve...)
We often tease ChanMan about his creative pronunciation skills, and it is a homonym, so, I won't devote any more of this post to something that may embarrass him.
However, it is an ideal time to tack on a little praise-worthy note.
For all the things they are learning to pronounce or spell or do in life, I believe these Brewer kids are well on their way to becoming fine adult human beings.
(May this post serve ever a reminder of this worthy expectaion)
Chandler especially leads the charge in this thing I describe to you now, the others participating with joie de vivre:
They have learned to spot the bright yellow embroidery on jackets, hats and patches denoting a seasoned veteran from aisles and aisles away.
They know IwoJima, Vietnam, Korea, WWII.
They stand on perpetual watch for the tell-tale car tags and camo fatigues of our service men and women.
They are ever-ready and ever-eager to grab a door, extend a hand, offer the respect they feel is due:
"Thank you for serving our country"
And to our local First Responders I often hear:
"Thank you for serving our community"
Even the Coast Guard have met with their appreciation...
...and when they were younger, Mall Security and Citadel recruits too.
(a uniform by any other name still respect demands)
Lazaretto Creek is one of my favorite spots [so far, life is young yet...oh, but not as young as she used to be]
Whether we're headed towards the ocean or away from her, I enjoy crossing over the scenic spot: boats of all sorts to one side, lonesome Cockspur Light on the other.
I enjoy spending time down near the docks even more.
Yesterday's lunch found us creekside @ CoCo's finishing arithmetic [1 Million ÷ 25] over sandwiches featuring melted cheese (there were other ingredients but it is only ever the cheese that matters) and counting our fingers to the rhythm of the music from many decades and genres .
That's all really.
Just a nickel for the Nice Day jar.
Thanks for listening.
Bonus Nickel: I learned more about lazarettos than I previously knew when getting ready to frilly up this post with links.
Double Bonus Nickels [dime?]: I learned more about Lazaretto Creek's unique history, too. And as is often the case, learning backstory plunged me deeper in love.
Triple Nickels: Discovered this song along the way. While I have not been a regular Jack White listener, connecting the rather obscure term to any correlating music is just the sort of thing I'm prone to do. I would probably like this song on that basis alone but I also like the foundation described in this All Songs Considered interview for compiling this song's album [of the same name] in which a bunch of random journal scraps became music.
I guess the song's not ALL that terrible either.
I rather like this line: " When I say nothing, I say everything. "
I recently joined a local band of rowdy homeschooling mommas. Okay, so we aren't really rowdy. We're all rather reserved actually... unless you hit our hot topic or favorite curriculum buttons... then we may have opinions to share... or mildly suggest. But, rowdy or no, we are banded together birds o' feather
(who like to maintain our autonomous natures, thank you kindly.)
The important thing is we are 'banded together' - something I had let go of for awhile
(Sometimes my 'autonomous' overflows and I forget that I'm not an island adrift nor The Lone Ranger.)
It is nice to be back in community with like-minded yet completely unique folks again.
It has been a little while since we were last plugged in with a group.
Between my overflowing autonomy and busy, bustling every day life, it just didn't seem like we had the time. But alas, as is usually the case-some of the best things are things we MAKE TIME for.
Like French Pressed coffee and homemade Croissants.
Worth every second.
This group is one of those things, and we are looking forward to making time for our new NCHE family .
After the first few meet ups, I was so anxious to get to hobknobbing with our new found friends, I created a Facebook group so that we could congregate and well... hobknob.
(Hobknobbing is a top secret homeschooling thing...for initiates only)
I can show you the group, but I cannot let you in unless you are aNCHEinitiate...because we're hobknobbing in there. And we like our privacy.
(If you are a local homeschooling family in need of a group you can joinHERE. Then come over to Facebook, perform the *secret door knock and we will teach you hobknobbing.)
Having the constant presence of the group via Facebook should also help me to interrupt much less at Mrs. Janie's house. But I best not make any big promises... I think of so many things that need to be shared when I get around real life people... and homeschooling folks at that! I'm just not sure I can keep it all to myself--even if I try.
Aside from the happy proof of socialization that yammering on about our wonderful new group provides, I'm also making this entry to save a sample of the group's 'interim logo'. I couldn't find one on our website, so I created a quick one for the time being.
Well, I really should be going now. These lessons won't plan themselves... oh! and it looks like there's a new message in the Facebook group.
(Ha!- not really...but I'm sure the struggle to balance priorities is 'only a day away')
((HaHA! As if I have ANY idea how to balance priorities...I really like to sound as if I have it all together, don't I?))
Come on back another day, when we will talk about Mrs. Janie and The Matriarchs, a very important alpha-flock of homeschooling birds who teach us how to keep our wits & feathers as we tend our modest nests and nudge our fledglings along.
*There is no secret knock, we just check the member roster
