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.

 

Cruisin' For a Bruisin'

Dan and I get along so well, but there are probably five "discussions" in our marriage that are ongoing. I finally won one a few years ago--the argument that would come up every December--and which we would periodically revisit throughout the year--of whether it might have been better for George Bailey to take Mr. Potter's job offer in the movie It's a Wonderful Life. Dan once ventured that George could have taken the large salary that Mr. Potter promised him and reinvested it in the town, while also being able to keep a close eye on Mr. Potter and use his personal influence over Mr. Potter's decisions. WHAT!?!?! Does anyone else remember Pottersville?!?! I was always adamant that there are certain people whose motives are so bad that you can't make any deals with them. Of course, I think there are times when people feel like they can't work with people who just disagree with them. This isn't a Mr. Potter situation at all, but rather one of the most important things we must do--work with people who differ from us. But Mr. Potter was rooted in evil. Eventually, Dan agreed with me, and now you can often hear the phrase, "Don't make a deal with Mr. Potter" in the Jolley household when we feel like there is a sketchy situation that should be avoided.

I don't know why I told you all that except that my ego is such that I must tell you about a time that Dan gave in before I tell you about a time I gave in. Which is how we ended up going on a cruise. For years, Dan has wanted to take our family on a cruise. It seemed that everyone around us was always returning from a cruise, which prompted us to constantly poll friends when we were together. Have you cruised? Did you like it? Is it worth the money? Did you get sick?

Sickness was my main fear of cruising. I'm the type of person that gets carsick just going to the grocery store. I pictured myself stuck on a huge ship, trapped in a tiny bedroom whilst swaying back and forth, back and forth. This caused feelings of panic. But somehow I finally let all of our close friends convince me to try it out.

We left our house for the Philly airport at 1:00 a.m. I kid you not. 

I have a dear friend who cruises often, and she prepped us for the trip. By "prepped us", I do not mean "helped us prep". I mean she did everything. I kept having this mentality that we would just figure it out when we got there, that surely since it was a vacation we could just show up, and it would be fine. Now that we have cruised, I can see we would have had a much harder time had she not prepped us. On top of helping us check in ahead of time, showing me how to get my luggage tickets, bringing things for us to use to help organize our stuff in the tiny rooms, helping me procure the appropriate covid testing  kits required for the ship, helping me schedule out our days, and about a zillion other things, she also made these cute name tag magnets for our doors so that we could find them easier. I'm not the type of mom that ever makes cutesy things for anything, and I gained a huge appreciation for moms who do because it was so helpful and just so thoughtful too.

This is the type of picture you get when a five-year-old takes it.

Which isn't all that different from when I'm the one taking the photo.

We had a lot of fun! The kids really enjoyed all of the amenities of the boat, and I enjoyed not cooking or cleaning. I could have kissed the people who cleaned up our rooms 3 times a day. 

Gwen takes after Dan in the rock climbing department. Straight to the top with seemingly no problems. Looking down doesn't even bother them.

June and I went up halfway and came right back down. I was so freaked out!!!

Dan and the three older kids went the silent disco party one night and had a blast.  

My kids loved taking the stairs to visit this Clifford the Dog every day.

Dressy night on the ship was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Dressing up feels good!

Do you think it's alright if I use this photo for our Christmas card this year or is it too dark? It might be the best I can do.

And worst-photographer-of-all award goes to the nice passerby who took this photo. She took several, and they are all like this but I'm fine with it because I have finally been outdone by someone else with regard to taking bad photos.

One of our stops was to Nassau, Bahamas. A lot of people told us that they just stayed on the boat this day because they didn't like it, but we really liked it!

The best day of all, though was our day at the private beach of Coco Cay. It was amazing.

We were the only ship there that day. It was so unbusy. There were really good tacos with tortillas made from scratch. We saw a shark when we went snorkeling. We had fun at the pool. We didn't have to worry about packing towels, snacks, chairs, etc. I'm such a beach bum--emphasis on bum. I don't like to do hard work to go to the beach. It was amazing.

Overall verdict of the cruise? Dan and the kids LOVED it, and I liked it a lot. I'm not sure if I could ever be one of those people that goes on a cruise every year for vacation. The food kinda got to me after awhile. I didn't think it was super good. I also feel like it's a lot of money, and I'd rather just get to a beach and stay there. Coco Cay might make me take a cruise again though.

The End.

Gwen is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And Harris broke his head open.

 At the beginning of August, Gwen was baptized. It was quite the shindig. Both sets of grandparents flew out for it, and many friends from church, homeschool co-op, public school, sports, and our neighborhood came. It was an extra special day.

Grandma Sandy and June played a duet together. It was the primary song "Baptism". June was pretty hit or miss with the song, and I was more nervous for how it would go than anything else that day. But she knocked it out of the park.

Gwen's primary teacher, Vanessa Henson, gave a talk about the "3 bears" of being baptized. Bearing the name of Jesus Christ, bearing each other's burdens, and bearing our testimony. It was such a great talk.

Grandma Kristi gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. She told a story about when Dan was a young boy at Christmastime. His family was gathered around and singing carols. He turned to his mom and said, "This feeling I'm feeling . . . is this the Holy Ghost?" And she confirmed that it was. So simple and so beautiful. All were touched by her story.

Dan baptized Gwen, and June and my mom were the witnesses. Dan also conferred the gift of the Holy Ghost on her. After the ordinances were finished, June ran up and gave her a big jumping hug. They were both so excited that day.

Many of our friends were able to stay for lunch. I had friends drive from hours away to see us and also to help. It was one of those amazing days where I just couldn't fathom why we have such good friends. We are pretty weird, and yet people love us anyway.

And also, Harris broke his head open. He and Beck were pushing each other down the stairs in some cardboard boxes, and his head crashed into the floor and split clean open.

I took him to the ER, and they stapled him up with four staples. A couple of weeks later, he went in for oral surgery to get his tongue tie clipped. He also had to get new glasses. He's scared of everything and always gets injured, whilst Beck has no fear and rarely gets hurt. It's just weird.

The End.

Camping Heather Arrives.

We went camping this weekend. Meaning, I also did. I, Heather Jolley, am a camper. I am one who camps.

When I was 12 years old, I went to Girls' Camp for the first time and slept in a tent and hated it so much and cried every day and night and whined and begged to go home. One time, my leaders thought I was asleep but I wasn't and they all talked about how terrible I was. I used to think badly of them for doing that, and now I am older and I get that I really was being pretty terrible, and they just needed to vent about it.

Anyway, somehow I, being a majorly indoorsy girl, married my husband Dan, who is one seriously outdoorsy guy. And slowly over time, I have become more outdoorsy, and I realize that I have been missing out. 

We had a great time camping. We went to World's End State Park, about two hours from our house. We set up camp, wandered around, cooked dinner and went to bed. The next morning, we completed a 2-mile hike. It was short enough for the kids but also challenged them a bit.

 At the end, we met this beautiful waterfall.

We came prepared to swim but the water was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing. Dan would not be deterred though. 

Dan also made some amazing grub in his dutch oven while we were there. We had chicken enchiladas, smores, french toast casserole, and hot dogs in the short day that we were there. Everything was delicious.

There were some rough moments. Namely, the nighttime. Beck was so excited not to be in his crib, and he would not go to sleep. He loved walking around and poking all of us tired, cranky old people who were trying to sleep. Dan took him to the van and tried to get him to sleep out there, but it didn't work. Dan got crazy angry at him. This also didn't work. Beck always wins. 

There was a great swimming creek by the campsite. It was much warmer than the waterfall we tried to swim in on our hike. At the swimming creek was a small waterfall/natural slide the kids love going down. The kids' bodies would fly down the waterfall, zipping past every single rock until they cascaded down the bottom. Dan begged me to try it, so I finally did. Except with my mother-of-four-hips, there was no zipping. No, no, zipping was quickly replaced with BONKing. I felt my bottom hit every single rock down the waterfall. 

They kids cried when we left the campsite, begging to know when we would return. "Soon," I promised, because I actually enjoyed myself. Heather the outdoor enthusiast! Just call me Bear Grylls.

Fun Heather Decides to Stay Awhile.

We all wore red, white, and blue to church today for the Fourth of July tomorrow. But, we did not sing the national anthem, and I was disappointed. Every Sunday following New Year's Day should include "Ring Out Wild Bells" and the Sunday before the Fourth of July should include "The Star Spangled Banner". 

Summer funnnnnnnnnnnn: Every year, my kids attend a Vacation Bible School. Or two. Or in this year's case: THREE. The first one was this week. June brought home this picture of her class, and I couldn't locate her for several minutes. Because she looked SO WEIRD for her photo. I cannot stop laughing. What is she doing? She said that the flashes from the camera really freaked her out. I was out of town last week for Linz's wedding (separate post forthcoming), so her hair was wild like a banshee. And there's a wet spot on her dress because . . . do I want to know? No, I do not.

More fun: Chocolate World. When Dan found out his company was only sponsoring a virtual "Take Your Kid to Work Day" this year, he asked for permission to plan an in-person day for his kids and for the kids of the people on his same team. Permission was granted, and voila! Dan planned the best day ever. All of the kids were able to go on a tour of Hershey headquarters, as well as go to Chocolate World to build their own candy bar.

When I would shadow my dad at his law firm, he would make me do loose-leaf filing.

We had a break in the middle of the fun and went to eat at our favorite local eatery, Lisa's Cafe. It's full of old people and comfort food, my kind of place.

Library Programs: If it's free, then it's for me! We have continued with all sorts of free library programs. including this special event where my kids took turns reading to a therapy dog. My kids really want a dog. I have qualms about this. I feel like my hands are really full taking care of the most wonderful and yet supremely nutty kids, so I don't know if adding a canine to the mix is something I need. But an hour where my kids can read to someone else's dog? Sign us up!

We have also had a couple of farm days. We live in rural Pennsylvania, and we have many friends who live on lots of land and have many animals. My kids love feeding chickens, collecting eggs, running around with dogs, chasing goats, and petting bunnies.

Back to those free library programs, here is a picnic we had after one of our many adventures with Go Lebanon!, the county-wide scavenger hunt.

And we have spent many, many days at Hershey Park!

I don't love amusement parks, but Dan and the kids really love Hershey Park. They love long lines to ride on swings that we have at our local park. But whatever--they are happy, and that makes me happy. Plus, everyone sleeps really well after a day at Hershey Park.

Fun Heather has had an extended stay. But! Yesterday, we cleaned all day. And I decluttered several rooms. I am starting some new projects this week. Makes me feel like myself again.

The End.