...ninja mosquitoes, bees, ticks, and a new friend...

Since arriving in Rolla we've all been finding mosquito bites on various parts of our bodies. I hadn't even seen any mosquitoes! It's quite possible I just wasn't paying attention. But, nevertheless, they are present, silent and stealthy.

Jason has always been one to make sure the yard looks nice. Even though someone does come mow the lawn once a week the weeding is apparently our responsibility. And, since Jason isn't one for sleeping in, he was up early on Saturday morning weeding the front yard. I, on the other hand, DO like to sleep in but instead I was woken up to help Jason tend to the bee stings he received when trying to remove a weed root ball that housed a bees nest. The little buggers got him four times - certainly could have been worse. Once on his right hand, middle knuckle and three times on his left shoulder. His shoulder seems fine, but his knuckle is swollen, red and itchy. We're keeping an eye on it.

On Sunday, we thought it might be fun to get back into Geocaching. It's been a couple years since we've been active and it's a great way to see new places in a new area. Jason found a couple postings that were close to home. We located the GPS, dressed somewhat accordingly and prepared Chester to go with us.

Within minutes we arrived at the location where we were to park and commenced to our trek into the field and woods. A few feet into the field we found a friend that tagged along with us the entire time, hitching rides on someone's hand or the GPS. He/she seemed to enjoy our company and we returned our friend to the location he/she was found when we left the area.

While on our journey through the woods to find the cache I believe we found the training grounds for the ninja mosquitoes here in MO. They were EVERYWHERE! And, they were biting! We didn't spend long at the cache site when we finally found it as we were eager to leave the mosquito training grounds and get back to the car. Before getting in the car we did a tick check on everyone's hairlines. Then we left.

We'd been in the car for about two minutes when Joelle starts yelling, "Sugar bugs! Sugar bugs! They get on your skin, bite you and take your sugar!" It took a few seconds, but we finally realized that she was talking about chiggers! Jason stopped the car and we all jumped out swiping at our bodies and clothing. The "chiggers" were all over us and poor Chester. Swiping them was futile. We got back in the car and drove home as quickly as possible all the while picking "chiggers" off our bodies and clothing and throwing them out the window. At home, we all took showers, bathed Chester, and washed our clothes. Closer examination revealed that perhaps they weren't chiggers but actually seed ticks. Either way, that part wasn't fun. ☺

We've decided that we won't go traipsing around in the woods again until it gets a little cooler.

Our entire weekend wasn't all about bugs! We also made a yummy cookie pizza! Maybe I'll post pictures and videos later. ☺

...our first week of school...

Well, we finished everything this week! Yay!! Granted we haven't started every subject, but we're still off to a good start. ☺ This year we are using My Father's World curriculum. So, far it is quite painless and pretty simple to use. Joelle enjoys the hands on projects and finishing early in the day.

Here's the curriculum in the box. It's on shelves now, in several different places - that's why there's no "out-of-the-box" picture, it may get moved again. We had planned to conduct school downstairs in the basement, but when we started on Monday none of us felt comfortable down there. We're too accustomed to sitting around the table and lounging on the couch.

(Barry reading Biology; Joelle mapping her bedroom.)

Our focus this year is on Geography. Joelle, Barry and I will be taking an indepth look at our Father's world! One of our projects was turning a "globe" into a flat map. We used an orange. These oranges were from South Africa. So, we talked about where Africa is. ☺ A couple days before the orange project I found our long lost missing biology dissection kit. Sadly, aside from the dissection instruments, the contents were not salvagable. But, the scalpel came in handy!

I really like the "Book Basket" idea. We've added Geography books and free reading books. If we come to a lull - which is usually one child waiting for another child to complete a task so we can continue together - I can say, "Go grab a geography book from the book basket and read until we're ready." Other times I might say, "Free reading time." The kids know to go to the book basket and pick out whatever they want. The books are labeled Geography or General Reading with an approximate reading level.

(the girls during free reading)

Joelle posting a grammar rule to remember.

Examining our environment

(Joelle's - green; Barry's - blue)

This project was suppose to be for Thursday, but I hadn't gotten to the store to get the worms. So, we finished up this afternoon with the "Niche" project. We'll post more pictures as we observe our worms in their new environment. I also didn't have regular sand so we used colored sand that I had on hand. I'm hoping this doesn't cause any damage and will make for an interesting end result.

(**no worms were harmed in the making of this project. The "extras" were set free and our "helpers" will be set free when we are finished with our project.) ☺

...our "house"...

Since we have moved into the "house" two weeks ago the kids refuse to call it home. If we are out and about in town and I say, "Let's go home." They will usually reply with, "Wow! Mom, that's a looooooooong way." or "We will need to pack first." But, even though they're not ready to call it "home," yet, they do like the house.

Surprisingly, Joelle and Erin enjoy sharing a room!

Backdoor, laundry room, kitchen, dining and living rooms,
garage door, and front door.


Basement! So much potential when we finally get everything out of boxes. We planned to do school down there, but changed our minds. More on that in a later post.

Barry's room

This is one of my favorite "rooms" in the house. It's a large linen closet upstairs!

This is mine and Jason's room. It is upstairs. I LOVE the closet as we didn't even have a closet for the past two years. The bathroom is between our room and Barry's room.

...humor gets us through...

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind! Joelle has made the move fun with her cute sayings. For example, as we were driving away from Virginia she was upset and said, "You guys don't understand how hard this is for me. I was BORN in Virginia, so I'm the only American in this family."

Later in the trip, she felt Barry was being impatient with her so she said, "Barry, Patience is a curd." Erin said, "That's not how you say it." And Joelle responded with, "Patience is acquired." She was close. And, yes, patience is acquired through much practice. After we laughed for awhile I explained it to her. She will never forget that "Patience is a virtue." :)

Since we got here, Joelle has turned out to be my accident prone child. The first night we arrived in town we had dinner at the Hazell's home and the Hill family joined us. After dinner, the adults (and older children) played a game upstairs while the young kids played in the basement. We were close to finishing our game when a loud thud boomed through the house. At first I thought it was thunder as it had been raining outside, but within a few seconds a very familiar cry was heard from downstairs. I ran downstairs to find Joelle had run into a support beam face first! She said her neck and back hurt, but, she was okay with only a bruise and scratch in the middle of her forehead and a scratch on her nose.

The next day she scraped her knee on brick and had a quarter size scab on her knee. There's been a couple other scrapes and bruises and for each of these she adds a band-aid. The band-aids she's been using leave "gick." (Joelle's word, of which we had a nice laugh about.)

Lastly, on the list of Joelle's funny phrases, she was sorting out large hangers and small hangers. Barry came into the room to get some hangers and he asked if she was almost finished. She placed her hand flat in the air, shook it a bit and said, "Ifty-bifty." Apparently this one means, Fifty-fifty. :)

*In my last post I said that some friends had "promised" to come visit. Actually, no one promised, but I hope you all plan to visit anyway. :)

...update on the move...

Thank you to EVERYONE that helped us move! We never could have done it without you! Thank you also to Amy Smith for watching a bunch of younger kids at her house.

The drive out took much longer than I had expected. It's a 15-hour drive in a normal vehicle, but when driving a huge moving truck and towing vehicles it's over 20 hours! :) So, we are thankful that God knew this in advance and allowed us enough time to take 3 days to get to Rolla without feeling rushed.

Sunday afternoon Mr. Hazell had about 10 people come over to help us move everything from the truck to the basement and garage - most of them men. We were finished in 35 minutes!! Amazing! The house has been cleaned and painted. We are now waiting for the carpets to dry. We're anxious to start moving everything in either today (Tuesday) or tomorrow.

Jason's first day was exciting and very busy. He'll be working a lot on implementing HR guidelines as well as several other items. Many of which we are very excited about and hope to share with you all in the near future!

The kids seem to be taking the move very well. God has been so gracious in giving them understanding and patience. We went to the MFW Family gathering last night (once a month event) and were able to meet a lot of people. We all have made friends quickly - especially Joelle! Several ladies have told me to not be shy in calling them about anything.

On Sunday night we met the Hill Family. I can see already that they will be a very special family in our lives. On Monday we stopped at Panera Bread for lunch (and free wi-fi) and guess who we saw there!? The Hill family! We were able to have lunch and chat about the community. What a blessing!

We're excited about this new adventure. I miss all our Virginia friends, but I know you all will be visiting very soon!! I'm holding you to your promises! :) I love you!