The Homeschool Family

"Oh, the misconceptions..."

Ava-Rellie, Your Youngest Sales Rep

Lately Jonah and Ava have been watching Qubo, which is a station that plays shows like Veggie Tales, 3-2-1 Penguins, Babar, and more. The funny thing is, the station runs commercials that are geared toward adults, not kids. I was wondering why Ava kept telling me that I need to buy a clip for my cell phone so I wouldn't drop it anymore, or a pot strainer that fits right on the pot, or Space Bags. She is super convincing when she tells me about these products! And she does it at random times, like when we're driving down the road. The entire car will be quiet (for a brief second--yes it does happen) and all of a sudden she pipes up with: "Hey Momma, I think you need to get this little vacuum that can fit right under your couch! It's AMAZING!" I think we see a future in sales for this girl.

Our Kitchen Transformation Thus Far...

The ugly "before" tile

The new wall color with a primer on the tile (the sections of paint on the cabinets are just testers that we are not going with. Jon really wants dark dark blue lower cabinets and then cream uppers)

The shade of gray we chose for the tile. I am still not sure about it, as it seems a little dark, but I think it's just that the cabinets look hideous with it. Next step: paint random tiles fire engine red, green (like on the little cart in the above picture), yellow (same color as the walls), and dark blue. Oh, and paint the cabinets! Then get a new faucet and face-lift complete for a fraction of the cost of a new kitchen. Hopefully it'll inspire me to cook and do dishes without a blindfold on!

All Done!!

Hello my new favorite sweater! (Per this post) I finally finished my shrug on the first day of our trip and personally am thrilled with how it turned out. Let me know what you think!!
(Photos by Jonah)

Last Hurrah of Summer

We met up with all of Jon's mom's family (the Gretsinger clan) up near Cooley City, Washington last weekend. There were 45 of us and luckily it was on a lake because the temps were over 105! We swam at least two times everyday and in between that we all hid in our cabins near the A/C. Poor Brynne had a double eye infection and this was the relatives' first time seeing her--too bad they will always remember her as looking like a baby Rocky.
The kids had SOOO much fun playing with their second (or is it third?) cousins all day every day. Jonah especially had a great time playing with Sarah, who is ten next week.
After the reunion we ventured on to Spokane to visit Steve and Brooke and their kids Addisyn and Paige. That was a great time as well, seeing where they live and antique shopping with Brooke. I got inspired while there and once we got home I rushed to unpack so I could start painting my kitchen and the tile backsplash (I'll post some pictures soon of the before and after). Hopefully it turns out half as cute as Brooke's kitchen!

Almost Done...

I have been working on this shrug style sweater since March! I can't wait to be done and I intend to finish it while on a roadtrip with my family this weekend. We are heading to the Grand Cooley Dam in North Central Washington (where it's going to be HOT!) for a family reunion. We'll be off blogger and email for a while, so check back in about a week. It's going to be a blast!

Just a few more...

This is my serious face..

Strong arms in front of the Oregon City Fire House. The firemen came out and watched us and I was super embarrassed!!

Zary Ora

That's the name of my friend Suzanne's new clothing line. She asked me to model some of the clothes and her friend Sarah even did my hair in a craaaaaazy up-do for the event.

With Sarah's sister Esther who I met that day and may never see again...but we really had so much fun!

Third in the Lavender

We have pictures of all the kids in the lavender at this age--isn't she a Cutie-Boo?

Crunchy Delight Restaurant

Welcome to Crunchy Delight! We serve all kinds of food and today our breakfast special is a happy face french-ty toast sandwich!

Here is the happy chef

Here is our handsome waiter

Here are our lunch specials today: A Terkey Samwich for only $4

Another happy customer!

Disc Golf

Our family went disc golfing (Jon's latest hobby) together last week. It was a beautiful day and the mountain was looming over us as the sour cherry trees were showing their fruit. (Sorry for the poor picture quality--I'm sure you can tell I'm an amateur!) And, yup, those are knobbies in Ava's hair and golf bags Jon and Joe are carrying.