The big 4-0!

So, I recently turned 40.  My SIL asked a couple months ago what I wanted to do.  I said NO PARTY!  Just a quiet dinner at Ponderosa with the family--immediately family. 
Well, my birthday came in the midst of funerals, as my SIL's in-laws both passed away--just 10 days apart, with my birthday in the middle of them.  My husband's family has always included the families of both their children's spouses in family get togethers, so we were all a pretty close bunch.  One big extended family. 

Anyway, my birthday came and dh said we'd go to Ponderosa for lunch.  Called his parents, but they had already eaten (yeah, right....little did I know!).  Went to lunch then on the way home, dh turned down to his parents.  I didn't think much of it--we're there a lot.  Even when I saw several cars, I just figured folks were bringing my SIL food or flowers for the loss of her MIL.  Even when I saw a dear friend and her family, I just figured she was bringing something for my SIL (my SIL, my friend, and I are all part of the same homeschool co-op, so it made sense.)

Then my husband said Happy Birthday!  Then I realized this was a party! A birthday party for me!  I totally had no clue before that point!  The house was full of friends and family and food!  It was a great time--so nice to see everyone.  I was blessed with many presents, but most of all I was blessed by seeing everyone. 

Oh, and I found out later.....the invitation said nothing about a party.......it was an "Open House."    Guess, for my 50th, I'll have to specify......no party, no open house, no shindig, no celebration, no nothing.   With this family, I'm sure it will go in one ear and out the other.

Love and hugs to all my family and friends.  Thanks for making my 40th so very special! 

And a few pictures of constellations

Psalm 147:4

He counts the number of the stars;
         He gives names to all of them.

Big Dipper

Orion

Sirius

Figured while I was out freezing taking pictures of the eclipse, I might as well take some constellations as well!  Wish I could make them easier for you to see!



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Eclipse Pictures

Last total lunar eclipse until Dec. 2010!  Did everybody get out to see it?  I'd love to see your pictures.









I couldn't feel my toes anymore (it was 5 degrees), so I went it.  So that's all the pictures of the eclipse.

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Going to the dentist.....er, the dentist comes to us!

Today was the day the equine dentist came to take care of the horses.  Yep, a horse dentist. 

Have you ever had dental problems or TMJ?  Well, horses can have those problems, too.  They can have lots of problems.  Sometimes if a horse has "attitude" it's because  their mouth is sore.  If the bit hurts rubs on their wolf teeth, they can break off.  They can get sharp hooks on their teeth which causes sores in the mouth.  They may not be able to chew properly and so their food ends up on the ground instead of in their bellies.  If you're lucky, all the horse needs is to just have their wolf teeth removed.  Anyway, just like it's a good idea to have your teeth checked a couple times a year, it's a good idea to do the same for your horse.

So we had the equine dentist come today.  He got quite a work out.....four adult horses and one yearling.  Here are some of the pictures of him working with DD10's horse, Sunshine.

10yo Vet Assistant!

Have you heard about the homeschooled 10yo who is now a Vet Asst?   (No, it's not my 10yo vet wanna be!)

The article can be found here.  It's three pages, so be sure to read it all.   I love when there are positive homeschooling articles in the news--seems like all we hear is negative!

Exciting news for dd10!!

We recently found out that DD10's artwork of the Phantom Stallion that won her a very nice Weaver Leather headstall late last year is the March / April issue of Young Rider!     (See old blog entry for details and pictures.)  It was just released, so run out and buy it! LOL.  I bought four more tonight, addition to our subscription one. 


Then, tonight, we received this:

Thank you for entering Save Our Wild Salmon’s first ever youth art contest. We appreciate all of your hard work to protect and restore wild Pacific salmon — keep it up!
 
We had an overwhelming response of more than 300 entries. Many of the pieces were truly excellent and we were faced with the difficult decision to pick only 18 of the strongest pieces. I am excited to inform you that your entry will be on display in Washington, D.C. this June and featured in the Save Our Wild Salmon calendar!
 
We are still working out the details and selecting the top three entries. I will contact you as soon as we make our final decisions. Thank you so much for your continued patience!
 
Please visit www.wildsalmon.org for the link to view all of the entries online. Thank you again for your time and creativity. I will be in touch soon!

Sincerely,

---
Emily Nuchols
Communications Manager
Save Our Wild Salmon
www.wildsalmon.org

WOW!  :happy tears:

\o/ I praise God that He led me to homeschool and that He provided a local artist willing take on a young one three and half years ago!!! It is so awesome to be able to allow her to develop that talent!

(See another old blog entry to see the picture of the salmon she drew.)

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Do you like to lapbook? Here are lots of FREE ones!

Most of us are on a tight budget, so we tend to just love getting great freebies.  Does that sound like you too?  Well, I just had to blog (once again!) about the Home School Share website at www.HomeSchoolShare.com.  

Not only does the site have over 200 free unit studies based on some great children's books, but it also has over 100 free lapbooks.   Many of the units have lapbooks (or notebooking pages) to go along with the unit book.  Recently, Ami also expanded to include lots of lapbook templates and several thematic lapbooks.

So, if you're looking for a lapbook for Valentine's Day, or to study the election process,  or to help your student learn phonics rules or math facts, to study about animals, or  to do a poetry unit, or just about anything else.....then Home School Share is the place to go!  And new items are added on a regular basis!

Here's a link directly to a list of lapbooks available at HSS. 

Here is a direct link to lots of templates to help you with other lapbooks you might want to make.

And here is the direct link to "What's New."  

But believe me, you'll want to poke around the site for awhile.....the more you look, the more you'll find.  There's  something for everyone....and it's all free! 

Turn your homeschool into funschool today!