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JennGM
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| Posted: July 19 2008 at 9:12am | IP Logged
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All is quiet on the 4Real front this July. What is going on in your neck of the woods? I had a nice post all typed up (one-handed, no less) and lost it all!
Things have slowed down finally. June and the first part of July were a bit hectic for me.
--We've had a hot dry week, and had our first ripe cherry tomatoes and one large tomato. Garden is still doing well.
--Last weekend we had my parents come with us to my mil's to visit. We saw Loretto, PA, including the Franciscan gardens, and sites related to Prince Demetrius Gallitzin, including the Chapel House which we've never seen before. So glad we did! Also attended the Mount Carmel Church Festival, which we enjoy every year.
--Attending a biweekly Home Advantage Plus discussion, which I'm finding so inspiring and helpful.
What's in store?
A few playdates and visits with friends. Dh and ds going to Steeler training camp, ds first time. And my youngest sister having baby #3 in a few weeks. 
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Mary Chris
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| Posted: July 19 2008 at 11:27am | IP Logged
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Hey Jenn! What a fun thread!
We have been busy with swim team. It is finally winding down this week. Today we had the Divisional meet, Wednesday the Relay Carnival and next Saturday the All-Star meet. I'm super proud of Carter he made it into two events for All-Stars  .
My garden is humming along. I see two of my cherry tomatoes turning red. I am so excited! I can see a few Roma tomatoes on the vine, and looks like I might get one big tomatoe. My flower garden I ordered is blooming nicely as it my hummingbird and butterfly garden.
I think I'll be spending the next two weeks cleaning as much as I can. I actually started putting books into backpacks yesterday. I have been using my time during swim team to really look over stuff for next year.
We have a two week trip planned on the Canadian side of Lake Erie. I'm planning on lots of relaxing and maybe even catching up on some scrapbooking.
We'll be back home the last two weeks of August and finish getting things in gear for the school year. Hopefully we will have some fun days at the pool and maybe even an inner tube trip down the Shenandoah River.
Also hoping to get started on next years conference here in Virginia.
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Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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PDyer
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| Posted: July 19 2008 at 11:40am | IP Logged
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Life has been very hectic here. July is almost gone already! I've had several health challenges that seem to be settling out finally. The kids have been swim, swim, swimming all summer. Our huge summer swim meet (670 swimmers! 2-1/2 days!) was over last weekend. Formal swim team will end with the banquet the first week in August. Can you hear my sigh of relief? I'm tired. We rearranged the school room, the sunroom and the great room. The great room and kitchen and foyer (all walls connected, KWIM?) were painted over the last couple of weeks, so I put my great room back together this week. We have to repair our front porch yet (all the spindles are rotted  ). We bought a new car this week. 
ACK!
My extended family is having a week away in mid-August; Matthew goes to school the following Wednesday. School supplies! Uniforms! I have to make sure I have everything ready for the homeschooled child. Oh dear I need to finish my notification for her. Oy.
Where did the summer go? 
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
Life at Home
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insegnante
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| Posted: July 19 2008 at 11:49am | IP Logged
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Next week our 6-year-old is going to drama camp at a local parish. He'll be where we're not for five and a half hours each day for a four-day week, minus the final performance at the end of the last day. Just being somewhere without either parent for that long will be a very new experience for him and for us! I really hope he enjoys it.
I'm 35 weeks pregnant, so that sums up most of the rest of what's going on. We still have plenty of preparing to do. The kids are getting over a cold that I seem to be getting, so I guess it's a good time to just rest and research -- which exact infant carseat, do we need to have different size diaper covers around for our second attempt at cloth since we bought the other ones for a fast-growing slightly older baby, what baby carrier since the sling never really worked for me... Hoping to attend a workshop where I can try out both the Ergo and the Moby Wrap.
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Theresa
mommy to three boys, 3/02, 8/04, and 9/10, and a girl, 8/08
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Mare
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| Posted: July 19 2008 at 1:17pm | IP Logged
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We did our family vacation in May to Philadelphia. Everyone enjoyed the trip.
I've been using part of my school vacation  to do things that have to be done like the annual decluttering of our basement and yard work. The other part is what I call the fun stuff - following the Phillies, reading Jane Austen and doing genealogical research. The fun stuff has been a much needed respite for me. We've been dealing with health issues around here for most of the spring and summer. This last week is the first week that it seemed like a vacation.
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Rachel May
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| Posted: July 19 2008 at 1:25pm | IP Logged
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W've had family here for a few weeks to celebrate Maria's 1HC, and now Bill is learning to jump out of airplanes. One sister will be back next week for a bit before we settle back to our usual ways. I'm hoping to hang out with our local 4 realers some soon.
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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Maddie
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| Posted: July 20 2008 at 10:37pm | IP Logged
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It's berry season here. We're picking, freezing, and canning blueberries and raspberries and making jams. We're raising a new flock of chicks, the hay field finally got mowed, and I'm decluttering the house top to bottom, steam cleaning carpets, and painting my Hoosier.
My oldest begins bagpipe lessons this week and I plan putting together this coming school years curriculum when the oldest 4 go away for a week to visit friends.
If there's time, we plan to dig our toes into the sand on the beach of Lake Michigan for a few days and let the children go fishing and kayaking with Grandpa.
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~Maddie~
Wife to my dh and Momma of 9 dear ones
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folklaur
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| Posted: July 20 2008 at 11:39pm | IP Logged
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Dh's birthday is on Tuesday. I always make a themed cake and was stuck for ideas this year - but decided on an Egypt/pyramid cake. I am still not exactly sure how I am going to do it yet....
The kids start Homeschool Bowling next week. They are excited.
And oldest dd leaves for college in less than five weeks, and I am kinda in a state of denial about that. 
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monique
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| Posted: July 20 2008 at 11:41pm | IP Logged
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Maddie wrote:
It's berry season here. We're picking, freezing, and canning blueberries and raspberries and making jams. We're raising a new flock of chicks, the hay field finally got mowed, and I'm decluttering the house top to bottom, steam cleaning carpets, and painting my Hoosier.
My oldest begins bagpipe lessons this week and I plan putting together this coming school years curriculum when the oldest 4 go away for a week to visit friends.
If there's time, we plan to dig our toes into the sand on the beach of Lake Michigan for a few days and let the children go fishing and kayaking with Grandpa. |
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Okay now that sounds like a fun summer to me!
I'll be planning for the next year, helping with Cub Scouts, doing volunteer work and helping my children finish up some loose ends regarding their home education. I've also been busy doing some decluttering and deep cleaning. I still have my closet left to do as well as the children will be doing some wall scrubbing and some painting because they have been putting graffiti on my walls.  So I decided they will be the ones cleaning it up!
I'm also trying to recover from burnout so I'm taking care to do a few things for myself, especially while Grandma is here for the next couple of weeks.
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Monique
mom to 5
Raising Saints
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 12:58am | IP Logged
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We finished our cross-continent trip and I'm busy trying to put our house in order. We are doing a lot of yard-saling on the weekends to replace stuff we had to leave behind due to lack of room. I have nearly everything I need now except for more bookshelves. But there is never enough of those!
Dh has had to work a lot to make up for time lost during the move, so not much vacationing going on. We did take a quick excursion to Denali National Park, which was beautiful, of course. But mostly the kids and I have been acquainting ourselves with our new surroundings.Fairbanks is a quirky, but nice city and I am enjoying discovering new things about it all the time. There is a wonderful farmers market full of vendors selling produce proudly labeled "Alaska Grown," as well as such fares as Elk steaks and reindeer sausage. There are two fantastic locally-owned bookstores with used book sections to die for. And the University of Alaska Fairbanks has a gorgeous museum which we enjoyed visiting and can't wait to stop by again, along with their botanical gardens and research herds of musk ox, caribou, and bison which we intend to tour soon!
Last night we attended the finals of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics. What a sight that was!Very different than anything you'll see at the Olympics in China this year, that's for sure, with events like ear pull, stick grab, high kick, seal skinning, and blanket toss. I will blog about it soon, as it was just a fascinating cultural experience for us all and I want to share it with you ladies.
And I think dh has a fishing trip planned for ds who has a special birthday(13!!!)coming up soon.
Very soon our lazy days will end and the work will begin preparing for the winter, with much wood chopping and stacking in our future!We have committed to heating only with wood this winter. Prayers appreciated!LOL!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Maryan
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 7:07am | IP Logged
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Posting after Theresa's summer activities is... anticlimatic.
So far we've just had viruses here. 
Told you I was anticlimatic. BUT... there is no one sick today OR recovering.
So let the summer begin! All five weeks that are left.
ETA: And definitely prayers so your fingers stay warm enough to keep telling us about all your activities!!!
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
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Matilda
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 8:13am | IP Logged
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We have been working on our house. Scraping, painting, wiring, rearranging, cleaning out, and waving goodbye to the Salvation Army truck which now makes regular stops by our house. While it has been wonderful to get some things done that desperately needed to be done, there is always the frustration of what is not getting done in some other part of the house or outside the house. And illness has taken it's toll on us. July has been a month of somebody being sick everyday it seems. Anyway, I am always excited when the summer seems to fly by. It is hot and more hot here. We will be being our school year here in the next couple of weeks with an eye to taking some time off in the spring. Next year, I want to start in the June.
Thanks for the fun thread Jenn!
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Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11, 10 , 9 & 5) an even split for now
with bookend boys and a double girl sandwich
Waltzing Matilda
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Carole N.
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 10:27am | IP Logged
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We have been settling into our terraced home over here. But ... we are on our way to the states this Friday. We will visit family in Philadelphia area and celebrate dd's 13th birthday. The boys will be off to Philmont on Monday. My dd and I will travel to Virginia to visit with Jenn. We've been planning that for awhile.
Then off to Wichita to the Midwest Family Conference stopping along the way where Laura wrote all her books. Down to Texas to visit family and friends, then back to Oklahoma to pick up the boys, visit a few more friends at our old homeplace, then a marathon drive back to Newark.
I am excited. And I have to drive again. I haven't driven since last December! It is not my favorite thing, but hopefully it is like swimming and you don't forget. 
And for the past few weeks, I have been in such a planning panic trying to find books for next year. I am bringing a lot of books back with me, so we are taking empty suitcases and packing them up while we are there! I love to shop.
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Carole ... in Wales
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Summertime Happenings
