August highlights

Here are a {few} things that made me smile in August...

We are raising nerds! {smile}

Over the summer, I work on writing goals,

gathering resources, and prepping for the new 

school year.  I pulled a crate full of books

from our bookshelves to use during our

World History - Ancient and Medieval times

study this year ...but Nathan and Grace got

to them first. They even devised a plan for

when they were on different pages!

Nathan and Grace asked to have a sleep out in their

play tent ... which is only big enough for them!

We wanted to give them this opportunity to bond

and build confidence ... so we made a bed on our back porch

after they went to bed in the tent so we'd be closer

than our bedroom.  They didn't know we were

there until the middle of the night when Nathan

woke up, checked the sky, then woke Grace up

to join him in stargazing and identifying constellations.

(Good thing he took his constellation book and headlight

to bed with them! wink!)

We spent a relaxing family day at Presque Isle beach!

Grace and I enjoyed time on our hammock reading.

LOTS of produce to preserve for winter feasting.

Grace and I made 2 batches of refrigerator pickles!

Enjoying homemade freezer treats on a hot day.

(Frozen bananas dipped in pb then dark chocolate 

plus these brownie ice cream sandwiches were our favorites!)

Then in the middle of August came our family trip...

8 days, camping!

First, visiting Cooperstown NY

and the Baseball Hall of Fame ...

family time playing putt-putt after spending all 

day at the hall of fame ...

Grace's reaction to getting a hole-in-one!

a tour of the Cooperstown Bat Factory to 

see how bats are made...

and then on to Williamsport PA for the

Little League World Series!

...meeting players from the LLWS teams AND

from the Pittsburgh Pirates plus St. Louis Cardinals...

our family's two favorite teams!

...finding ourselves in the midst of the Japanese parent section

...cheering right along with them

...and Japan ended up winning the whole thing!

We had a blast ...but we were ready to come home!

And when we got home, it was time to jump right into 

a new school year!

Here are my amazing students...

Grace 4th grade

Nathan 6th grade

...ready to dive into more learning!