CHEACT Conference

Kora and I made it back last night from the homeschool conference in Austin. Not that anyone in the house noticed though, because we also brought baby Ashlynn home as well. I was greeted with girlish voices telling me, "Oh, I'm so glad you're home, Mama, 'cause I missed Ashlynn!"

Thanks so much for the love.

Because Kelly and I had seen each other a grand total of about 2 hours in the last two weeks, I even introduced myself to him when I walked in the door just to make sure that he remembered who I was.

But the conference went very well. I was a bit nervous about this one because of the baby. She gets very fussy when her tummy hurts and has gotten a little bit clingy at times. But she did wonderfully!

This was our booth in the Palmer Events Center just south of downtown Austin.
Pam, my booth partner, and I were representing Tapestry of Grace, a classical history and liberal arts curriculum.
I have to brag a bit about Kora. She spent Friday and Saturday pushing around the stroller, carrying Ashlynn around, changing diapers, covering her cold legs, determining when she was hungry, and just generally taking great care of her baby sister. When people found out her age they could not believe she was only 11 1/2. She also spent those two days visiting with other vendors, exploring books for sale, listening to some of the performances going on, and making friends with some of the other girls whose families were spending their days up there as well. She told me coming home on Saturday that the conference was fun!
One of the booths at which she spent a lot of time sold fantasy books for kids, and wooden swords that the author made. The fantasy books were set back in historical settings, like the middle ages and the swords were from those time periods. Kora liked them so much that she bought two.
One is a Roman broad sword and the other is a Viking sword.
We were right next to a booth with science info. Pretty cool stuff. Ironically on the other side of us was Sonlight. Not that there is anything wrong with Sonlight, but they are basically one of TOG's biggest competitors. Whoever assigned booth locations has a sense of humor.
Beyond where Kora is standing was a booth which sells Bible story videos. Kora went over there quite a bit (she had many hours to burn) and watched the display television. When we were packing up the booth after closing time on Saturday, the man from that booth came over to me and handed me a video. He told me, "Your daughter enjoyed this so much that I'd like her to have it so she can do the interactive activities." Wasn't that sweet?
Pam and I also had to give a workshop on what Tapestry is and how to implement it. I really enjoyed that. There was around 40-50 parents in there and we had lots of questions afterwards. Last year the authors were in Austin giving all the workshops so this was my first one.

As much as I enjoyed the weekend I am very glad to be home and have my husband home. Hopefully life can get back to normal!

Well, we're off!

We are headed up to Austin for the CHEACT conference. Kelly is home, and will be in charge of the middle four girls for the next 48 hours or so. And I will probably not be blogging until after I get home. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share.

If you are in the area, CHEACT is having some good speakers, including Andrew Pudewa. Rainbow Resource also has a booth as does Children's Books. And of course, Tapestry of Grace. And moi. So come see me!

Hey now, hey now, My boyfriend's back...

Well, not back, back. Not yet.

And not really my boyfriend. More like husband, father of my children, best friend.

My wonderful husband is coming back from his business trip early! He'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Yea!

Just in time for me to say Hi and "Goodbye" before I head to Austin to work in the Tapestry of Grace booth at the CHEACT homeschool conference and bookfair. If you are in the area, it's going to be a good one!

You know you're a homeschooler when...

a UPS delivery is the highlight of your day. Or maybe your week.
This is most of the curriculum for this coming year for 4 kids, not counting the stuff I am reusing with the younger kids. This is grammar, spelling, Latin, math, logic, science, and handwriting. I'll get the rest of my history and literature from another company.
I do have to say that the girls were not nearly as excited as I was. ;-)

Kelly, this one's for you...

Look what I had to do while you were gone!

(Kelly is normally our tooth puller. But with Daddy gone on a business trip I was left to do everything on my own, including yanking out teeth!)

Can't wait for you to get home for your share of dirty diapers, crying babies, bathing little girls, and pulling out teeth!

Oh yeah, and I miss you, too! ;-)

Firsts: bottle

Yesterday Ashlynn was given her first bottle, compliments of her two oldest sisters.

Although I breastfeed exclusively, I like the flexibility of being able to leave the baby every once in a while. So I try to make sure that starting at 6-8 weeks old, I pump once every week or two so that the baby is accustomed to taking an occasional bottle. This way I am confident that, should the need or want arise, I can safely leave them once in a while.

I've had one baby who didn't take a bottle very well, because I didn't do this. Fortunately, Ashlynn takes a pacifier, so she took to it like a champ. But it still is a little weird to watch someone else feed my baby!

A Brush with History

Last week Kora spent a few days with Kelly's brother and his family. They had such a good time, going fishing, swimming, and doing some touring of Austin. One of the neatest things Kora saw was in this building, which is, I am told, on the campus of UT.
Does anyone know what this is?
This is one of 48 existing copies of the Gutenberg Bible. Kora says the book on the left is actually a replica so you can see what the cover looks like. The book on the right is the real McCoy. I had no idea we had one so close to us, or I would have taken the whole family this last semester when we were studying this! Too cool! Anyone up for a field trip?
Oh, and I sure hope this isn't an omen for her future...