Persevere

Don't you just love the English language?  I do.  I love words.  They're so intriguing.  Look at the root of the word 'persevere'.
 
Isn't it
so telling? 
so appropriate?? 
so...validating???

Persevering has been deeply on my heart lately.

Big Weekend!

   This was a fun, long weekend for our family.  Friday morning at 7:30 Ryley took his Boy Scout Swimming Merit Badge test at the Palmer Pool.  The test took about an hour and a half and was quite rigorous.  He was also required to write a test beforehand, which was checked by the counselor.  This is his second Eagle-required badge to have earned.  
    Later in the day we went up to Mr. Moore's house (our Scoutmaster) who held the annual Turkey Shoot.  The boys camped overnight with the boys from their troop, as well as another troop who joined them.  Saturday was the day of the big event.  Isaac, Anna and I got there at about 10:00 so I could help Mrs. Moore with the food and prizes.  The events in the contest were: Archery, Slingshot, Tomahawk, Big Bore, Shotgun, and .22.

There was a winner of each event per age group.  Josiah was the winner of Big Bore for his age group. There was also a Runner-Up and a Grand Champion.  Ryley was the Grand Champ. for 2011!  This is no easy feat, as there are some sharpshooters in our troop!  Mr. Moore has been holding this event since 1995 and Ryley is the youngest scout to win the whole "Shootin' Match".  It's quite an honor, as, in addition to the prize he won (including, yes, a turkey!), he also won a trophy and the privilege of having his name inscribed on the plaque Mr. Moore has with the names of all winners from years past.

 Isaac and Anna were also invited to participate.  I didn't get around grabbing pictures like I wanted to, but I had to snap this one of Anna.  She threw the tomahawk, worked the slingshot and fired the .22.  She marked a near-bullseye on the .22 and tallied up the points in the tomahawk throw, but I like this slingshot picture best, not only because she landed the marble in the hanging can, but because she is wearing "make up".  Her baseball coach painted this on her at Friday night's game and she wanted to leave her make up on to show her biggest brothers. 

Pretend Play

I love that my 9 year old son and 7 year old daughter have not outgrown pretending.  Today, after our family book-learning time, I found them "working".  Isaac is the banker and Anna is the mailwoman.

Oops!  I was mistaken; he's not a banker, but has a much cooler profession. He's a secret agent.  How did I miss the sign on the door??

Now, Why Didn't I Think Of That?

Each Spring we enjoy planting little bitty seeds and watching them sprout inside plastic trays filled with soil.  The whole process is quite cumbersome, actually, as I scour the house looking for flat surfaces which I drag over to the sun-lit areas and wrestle plastic wrap in the attempt to keep those trays covered so the soil won't dry out too quickly.  This year I decided to change all that.  For a mere $50 I am now the proud owner of one of those ugly indoor greenhouses.  Spring will be transformed from here on out.

I also stumbled across an article which suggested planting seeds inside egg shells!!  WOW!!

 We eat a lot of eggs around here so it didn't take long to save quite enough shells and cartons. This beautiful, sunny afternoon we planted some seeds inside them.  After they sprout and the soil in the garden is ready for planting, we'll take the shell, soil and plant, all-in-one, and plant it directly into the soil.  The egg shell will provide nutrients to both the roots and the soil. 

                                     Now, why didn't I think of that??