Work...

I guess they call it work for a reason.  And boy oh boy has it been work.

I've had some epic bad weeks lately.  Everyone is on edge and I finally hit the wall in being the mother hen of the team.  For 10 months I've been holding us all together and trying to smooth out the bumps.  Sure, I've dropped some balls and made plenty of mistakes but it seems like everything has just been crashing down lately.  I'm tired.

Stuff like this is a weekly reward.  I guess it's better than wine in some ways.  Next week I go to Boston for 3 days.  I'll be sitting in classes all day which will be relaxing in many ways compared to the daily work but I'm sure they'll be hell to pay when I get back...

Music to my eyes.....

Baking with Apples

Equestrian Girl and her boyfriend went to the cider mill and picked apples. Lots and lots of apples.  And then they needed to do something with them.

First they baked this really yummy apple cake/bread.  Moist and delicious.

Next was an apple pie.  I'm not sure how that tasted.  They ate it all!!

Barn Kitty

Barn kitties just make me smile....

Growing up....

2009 family picture

2014 family picture

A Most Awesome Morning...

It's not often I have "time" to just sit.  But after a hellacious week at work, that is exactly what the doctor ordered.  So on Saturday morning, bright and early (because God forbid I sleep in), with it raining a cold windy rain outside, I curled up in a big chair with a cozy blanket and a cup of hot coffee and sat down to read a book written by a dear friend.

And I read, and read with only a couple stops to refill my coffee cup.

And then I was done.  And all was good with the world because I had just SAT and read a most wonderful book that is written for older children but was just perfect for this type of relaxing because it was a great story but didn't make me think.  Very entertaining and awesome in that warm and cuddly kind of way.

Thank you, Betsy.  You completed my morning.  

Class Dismissed - homeschooling movie

It's been a bit odd with one school going to public school part time and one still at home but it's all working for right now.

I just watched the trailer for this movie and while the circumstances of why they started to homeschool are different from ours, it makes me really happy we didn't get to this point of kids being so stressed out by school they couldn't cope.  I could have seen that happening with Equestrian Girl especially and Motocross Boy/Man just giving up.  Being at home has given them so much more time to figure out who they are and where they want their lives to go.  AND get a good education by studying more of what they want to learn and what is actually important to learn...