Working through September, but Backwards.

These popped onto my computer in opposite-chronological order, so that's what we'll go with. 

This amazing drawing by June is called "The Mona Llama". You guessed it, that's the Mona Lisa with a llama twist.

We went to a really fun neighborhood garage sale a few weeks ago. Only in Pennsylvania will you ese a horse and cart tied up outside a garage sale.

Let's talk about how things are going on the homeschooling front. Now that they are behind me, I feel like I can honestly say that the first two years of homeschooling were very hard for me. Lots of amazing moments, but lots of really, truly hard ones. But for some reason, I felt urged to continue. I believe it has taken me this long to figure out my groove. The third year is going swimmingly. We are having so much fun, and I see lots of progress from each of the kids. We have the most amazing friendships from our co-ops, and our area is bursting with excellent learning opportunities. We spend a lot of time at science classes offered by local nature conservations, on hikes with friends, music lessons, sports practices, two co-ops, and at home reading great books. This year we are studying the middle ages and the Renaissance for history. Let me confess here that I'm one of those people who mock individuals who are deeply into this time period. But I've really gotten into it. 

Here we are at an apple cider press class. The absolute best apple cider I've ever tasted. Each kid brought a few apples from home, and the mix from all of the different types of apples was amazing. The teacher, Miss Lisa, was absolutely wonderful. She knows how to roll with the flow of 47 thousand kids. My hero.

Building a dam on one of our nature walks. Pennsylvania is so beautiful. 

Beck has been potty training, and of course he pooped his pants on this hike. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the poop. This is why I love my fellow co-op moms. They each have a zillion kids and are so chill about things like poop. I went to them with my problem, and my friend Lisa (who is an Amish Mennonite) said, "Heather, don't animals poop all over the woods? Just fling it." So fling it, I did. Into a bunch of trees it was flungeth.

Different day, different forest. This was one that was a little more difficult for the kids to do, but once we got to our landing spot, they spent 3 hours exploring. Beck was so happy. The boy does not like being contained by such restrictive modern inventions such as walls and roofs. He is totally one of the lost boys from Peter Pan.

There was a creek separating the two parts of the forests we explored. A brave 8-year-old girl named Abby ran what we termed the "Abby Ferry", helping each little kid cross the water so that the moms didn't have to get wet. Abby is my hero.

My friend Lisa, with a toddler next to her and her newborn baby in sling. She let me hold her baby for awhile, and it was heavenly. Anytime I think a hike is hard, I just look at Lisa, who is doing the same hike in a dress and carrying a newborn and four other kids. Also my hero.

It's Conference weekend. And it's been rainy. This is an excellent combination. Yesterday, we had a nice long morning to declutter and clean. My two favorite things! I was very jazzed about it because I'm 37 and live in rural Pennsylvania. There's no bigger rush than getting rid of toys. I also went through all of the kids' clothing and made a huge goodwill pile. All that plus listening to conference is all I need in life.

We also went out and picked pumpkins and bought mums and started getting set up for fall.

This is from a few weeks ago. My lovelies at their finest:

The End.