Our Dapper 'Dood'

Cody, our 17 month old Goldendoodle, has been with us 10 weeks tomorrow...hard to believe. He continues to amaze us each day. He has gotten playful just the past week or so and it's so much fun to see him run around the house! Lionel gets him going and that's all it takes. He runs from one end of the house to the other as fast as he can. Sometimes he runs into the kitchen on his way by, but because we have hard wood floors in there he skids and slides, banging into the pantry doors...poor guy! He thinks it's great fun though and just continues on his way.

This silliness lasts about 20 minutes and then he's done. No matter what you do or say, he's done! He goes and gets himself a drink, then proceeds to lay down on the floor in the living room ready for a nap. He's such a quiet dog most of the day, but somewhere between 8pm and 10pm he's got energy left in him from the day and he's just got to let it out. We're trying to get him to fetch, but he thinks we're just weird for throwing things. He looks at the ball we through and just runs past it! Go figure...silly dog.

He also LOVES going out on walks with us. He has his favorite 'pit stop' where he does his business (fortunately it's in a wooded area and not on one of our neighbor's front lawns. Gasp!) He also looks for his friend Leo who lives down the street from us. Whenever Leo (a yellow lab) is outside, he gets very excited! It's nice to have friends, even when you're a dog I guess.

Here are a few photos from the past few days:

Lionel and Cody on our walk...


A boy and his dog...best of friends!


Someone is gettin' ready to run...


...and there he goes! He LOVES to jump down the few steps into our living room! (Please ignore the paint behind the table...we're testing different paint samples before repainting).


Well, it's getting late and I need to get to bed. Cody is sleeping soundly behind my computer desk chair, so he's obviously ready for bed too. Have a great Monday!

Photo Hunt #108 - Time

First of all, THANK YOU for choosing me for site of the day for my previous Photo Hunt! Woo hoo, what an honor! Thank you tnchick.com!!

My 'time' photo is a classic one...the clock in the middle of Grand Central Station in NYC...probably one of the more recognizable clocks that rate up there with Big Ben.

Thursday Thirteen #14

13 Scotland Castles I've been to:

I'm a bit hard pressed here tonight. I'm not feeling that great, so I'll post an easy Thursday Thirteen - one that doesn't require much thinking. I'm currently fighting a cold. It started with my allergies, but it developed into a bad head cold. Medicine helps, but not as much as time and rest, which is what I'm going to do after this post. Anyhow...

There are over 3,000 castles in Scotland. Wouldn't it be fun to try and visit them all...that's a trip in itself! Edward and I went to Scotland on our honeymoon many years ago, and we fell in love with so many of the castles we visited...some we even got to sleep in!
Here goes:

1. Castle Kennedy - favorite romantic spot in Scotland!

2. Glamis Castle


3. Culzean Castle


4. Floors Castle - Want to live here!!!!


5. Crathes Castle


6. Ardoe House - Slept here! Awesome place!!


7. Eileen Donan Castle


8. Urquhart Castle


9. Edinburgh Castle


10. Lockerbie Manor - Slept here (Had the place to ourselves!)


11. The Old Manor - Slept here


12. Loch Ness House - Slept here


13. Dunrobin Castle

Kindle...to Buy or Not to Buy!

OK, I absolutely love new gadgets and gizmos that make life more fun and generally easier...especially on the homeschool front. I remember when Flic first came out - I was so excited! I purchased it and had a total blast scanning all our books, CDs and DVDs. I highly recommend it for the person who like me, enjoys being organized! It was a good purchase. Well...have you seen this new device?



It's the newest craze for reading books. It's called the Amazon Kindle and it's just too cool! I love to read and having this device would make reading more fun. Of course you have to purchase the books you download to the device, but they're generally cheaper than in the store. You don't need to purchase online time, it comes 'free' with the device. You don't have to wait for long downloads - 1 minute or less for most books. You don't need a computer to use it, nor do you need to be within the vicinity of one to access it. You simply turn it on, search for the book, purchase it right on the device through Amazon.com and then download it. You can read books for days before recharging the battery, and you can read it outside with the special easy to read screen with 6 different font sizes. Amazing huh?!? By the time I can afford to buy it, a newer version will come out, the downloadable books will be cheaper, as will the device itself I'm sure! For now I'll just drool and save my pennies as I remind myself that it's a sin to covet!

Macro and Me

It's that time of year again...macro time! I love spring when the flowers are in bloom because I can take lots of close up photos!! I haven't taken many yet, but I'm anxious to walk around and take tons of photos. I'll post them when I get some worth sharing. Here are a few I managed to take in our backyard the other day.

Flowers from our Pear tree:


Flowers from our Weeping Cherry Tree:




I was playing around with one of the photos on the computer and here is what I came up with. Pretty cool huh?!? Lionel is creating an 8x10 very similar to this one for the up-coming art fair we're having. Hmm, think he takes after me?!? His photo is just below mine.

My photo:


Lionel's photo:


Have a glorious day and remember to take time to look at all of God's beauty around you!!

Calgon, take me away!!

Ever have one of those weeks?!? I don't get those dreaded "one of those days" anymore, I get "one of those weeks" now. It's amazing how things pile up on you before you realize that your plate is full and you can't manage another forkful! That's me right now!!



This week has been busy and is going to get even busier as it goes on. It all started this past Friday. We went away to a homeschool convention to purchase our curriculum, hear some great speakers and just enjoy fellowship with other homeschool families. We spent the day Friday browsing all the vendor tables and purchasing most of the curriculum we'll be needing for the fall. I was thrilled to get it all done during the first few hours. After lunch we were able to really enjoy browsing for 'fun'. We brought the kids this year (quite a different experience than in the past when it was just Edward and I) so we purchased a few items we probably wouldn't have if they were with us. Sweet-Pea is famous for her shopping skills. If she goes with you to the grocery store, it's impossible to leave without purchasing something you had absolutely no plans in getting! Anyhow...

That evening in the hotel room, I received a phone call from the nursing home where my Dad is now living. They told me he was on his way to the hospital. Apparently he fell face first onto the hard tile floor in his bathroom. He was unconscious when they found him and they had no idea how long he'd been laying there. He spent 2 days in the ICU of the hospital and just today he was moved to a standard patient room. They need to observe him for a while as they're not sure if there are any lasting effects from his fall. When he arrived at the hospital his vitals were very low and they said he was very anemic and needed a blood transfusion. They had to give him 2 transfusions before his vitals began to rise. We ended up leaving the convention early, but were OK with it since we accomplished most of what we went for that first day. Besides, it was the right thing to do. ..Dad needed us with him. Fortunately for Dad, he did not scratch, break, bruise or damage anything on his face. From the story the nurse told me on the phone, I was afraid he may have done serious damage to himself. Hopefully he will be able to return to the home someday this week.

Well, that was my weekend. This week will be full...I have to play catch-up with the kids for school as we lost a few days due to the convention among other things. We also have our big Art Fair this Friday evening for the homeschool group that I lead. My kids aren't even half way done with their projects and they're due by Tuesday! I know they'll finish them in time, but I don't like that rushed feeling. I am a planner and when things don't go according to schedule, it throws me way off kilter! I'm learning though. So...pray for us this week. Pray for my Dad...that God will give him peace as he lays alone in the hospital. Pray that God's will be done in his life! Please pray for our family as we deal with the emotions of dealing with my Dad and for our homeschooling - that we'll catch up and that we won't feel rushed or stressed about it or the upcoming Art Fair. Thanks!!

On a side note...Cody is doing spectacularly! He is like a new dog lately. He is playful, doesn't scare too easily and is just all around a loving, gentle dog. We adore him and are so thankful that he's in our family.



I will try to catch up on older posts I missed, but I'm not making any promises!

Photo Hunt #107 Unique/Funny Signs

The sign says it all!

Gettysburg Video

Here is the video I put together with the photos we took on our trip to Gettysburg.
The music is from the Gettysburg movie soundtrack. Enjoy!

Trip to Gettysburg

We were in Pennsylvania for a few days, mainly to go to Lionel's quiz meet in Hershey on Saturday. His team did very well...the upper division came in 2nd, and the lower division (Lionel's team) came in 1st. These kids studied quite a bit all year long for this quiz meet...I'm proud of every one of them! They studied Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon! They know those books backwards and forwards...when the quizmaster began each question, before getting to the 2nd or 3rd word, these kids were jumping up with the answers - amazing!!

Here is the Lower Division team - the one Lionel is on...


Here is Lionel, holding up the team plaque:


Before the quiz day though, our own family decided to have some fun in PA, so we went to Gettysburg. Lionel and I have been studying about the Civil War and we both have found it to be quite fascinating!! We watched both the movies "Gettysburg" and "Gods and Generals" (I highly recommend both!) and Lionel is currently reading a book about Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. He is Lionel's favorite soldier from the Civil War.

I'm going to put together a movie/slideshow with our Gettysburg photos and will post that as soon as it's done. For now, enjoy these few photos...

Lionel posing with a few proud Union soldiers


Lionel and Sweet-Pea posing beside one of the very cool monuments in Gettysburg.


Sweet-Pea, pretending to load the cannons with a big cannonball.


Lionel standing next to the 20th Maine monument - where Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was assigned with his troops on Little Round Top. This is where he was made famous for yelling "Bayonets!!!" when his troops ran out of ammunition. They won the battle because of his wise command!


Enjoying the pool at our hotel after a long day out!

Photo Hunt #106 - Thirteen

At first I had no idea what photo I would use for 'Thirteen' until it hit me...Lionel is 13 years old! So...without further ado...here's Lionel, bowling at his 13th birthday party!