books and a new hobby!

these are a few of the books ive read. im now keeping track on goodreads.com. much easier!  

i really enjoyed the chanel sisters!  i didnt know their story and ended up watching a documentary on them! 

i sobbed through 5 little indians. im going to have nate read it as well 

my serious book.  excellent and very challenging 

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Posted by mel at 1:17 PM

animals/may

they spent the afternoon "piercing their stuffies" the girls bought a piercing kit off temu and have marked all the stuffies....and pete supervised 

no harm was done to the live animals.  pete was chilling 

so!  nates sport bike wasn't a good fit for him. it served its purpose....getting him around and teaching him respect for the bike.  hes moved on to this bad boy. i actually feel that its safer!  im not sure what kind it is, or any of those details. i just know that its faster, more powerful and chris wants it! 

and off he goes!

conference 2024!  so these are the only pics i took from conference!  we were BUSY.  this was our last year serving on the HENB board. its been 10 yrs.  time to more on to other things.  i will stay apart of the conference planning committee.  not sure to what compacity.  im getting tired and feeling like id kimnd like to just attend conference.

this yr i was in charge of the teen's on friday from 3-9. i had a full program for them, from recruiters, to entrepreneur sale, youth speaker to coffee shop with live jazz....i was busy.  saturday i helped with food, cleaning, etc...etc....it was the first time in 12 yrs that i did not buy a simple book!  i didnt have time to look. conf was a huge turn out. the highest so far.  our speaker was sonya shaffer but due to her illness we had donna jean breckenridge from ambleside online.  

conf 2024!  

i did attend a few workshops on saturday and it was fantastic to sit with other moms who are where im at in life.  its great that i hang around younger moms' it just worked out that i had my girls older and they are younger....but to be with moms who are my age, with an older kid who is graduating next year and understand the struggles of raising a teen and knowing whats coming round the corner in the next few yrs was like coffee to my veins and made me realize that i need to surround myself with mom's who i can journey through this season with.  i was able to connect and meet up with a new since conference.  

ive felt for awhile that im entering a new season.  you know with kids each yr is always different and most of the time i have no clue whats going to happen...it feels like that with the details. but the over all vision i can see....im just not sure how to set myself up to finish this journey...and with that comes changes

ive changed a lot the last 2 years.  im not that same person i was (thank jesus) my biggest take away from conference is this "if it doesnt bring value to my life, its gone"  im going to be intentional and choosing the next few years in everything we do, where we go, what we read, listen to, who we surround ourselves with, what church we go to, what activities we do and what we do school wise!  meaning homeschool wise!

as i close up nate's gr 11 and plan his final year!  all the mistakes, messes, tears and planning, trials, hours, many, many hours....i am so very glad i choose to home school.  best thing for our family.  i have 1 more year with my boy, then im sending him into the world to adult on his own....but not really alone, ill always be here....its scary!  

typical moment.  im trying to read! haha

driving to another activity!

chris and nate both have bikes now.  ive been hoping on chriss bike and i quite enjoy it! joey doesnt like the bike but ellie does!!!!  

joey with chris's helmet on fathers day 

big bed, little bug. i found this bug a boo in my bed.  i jumped in and joined her for a nap.  a privilege of homeschool! 

 

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Posted by mel at 1:04 PM

capr jourmain!

chris and i.  a rare spotting of us. haha

joey reflecting on life

i booked a visit to cape jourmain!  i have never been there before!  i drive past it all the time. i got us a tour for FREE.  i was thrilled at that!  we ended up turning it into a full day.  we went on 4 separate tours.  we did 2 in the morning lunch and the last 2.  then we had the museum and interpretation center, because i added 3 extra kids to my van i decided to skip the last part because by this time it was almist 4 and i was tired.  by the end of the day we walked over 25,000 steps!!

the 4 tours that we went on were....the lighthouse, the beach, the bird rescue/geo tec and the trail to the islands.   

the restored lighthouse 

it was weather wise, the perfect day!  no bugs! light sun, wind and cool.  it was the trip i enjoyed most this year!

maria taking notes!

beach and the bridge to the island 

we collected shells and other interesting items to show and tell at the end 

gotta say i got into this part!  i found almost everything on the list 

we visited the look off after lunch 

learning about ways to save the environment and bird migration....i spent this time on the phone with nate who was on an adventure with nathan....involving the american border, big plans of sleeping in cars and learning about the law....cough.....

then we took a little stroll to the island area. little as in a good 5 km one way

poor zeke. he was out cold. we did a lot of walking the kids did great.  i didnt know it would involve as much walking...but our group had mostly older kids so it was ok

beautiful afternoon

some of the group.  we had a good turn out. i think there was 30 kids and about 10 adults.  after the hike part we split up to finish touring the cape with your family.  i took my crew home.  im thinking ill book again come fall
 

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Posted by mel at 12:43 PM