weekly reviews (I guess I got behind a tad;)

September seems to be a crazy busy month for us....we have a few September birthdays in the immediate and extended family; like in our household alone 50% of the people were born in September, and 50% in January. Add to that: siblings, parents, cousins, nephews, nieces...and we travel for these birthdays...twice, so it gets kind of crazy in September.   But, to help take some of the stress out of the craziness, with more travels coming in October (at least for the hubby;), we decided to forgo our annual camping trip to the Smokeys this year, and camp more locally.  Other than the horrible mosquitos, it was fabulous!


Scenes from the last three weeks of craziness:


bridal shower for my nephew's fiancee':
 


my medicine cabinet, plus Reiki, after I stepped into a fire-ant hill....my foot seriously healed very quickly!

my new nature-inspired jewelry line!

 
celebrating my mom's 69th Birthday, Hilton Head Style:

cool sea turtle sand sculpture:

my container garden update (not much survived...but bell peppers and Meyer Lemons did!)

camping on the beach, cool sun rises (since I had NO excuse not to wake to go see it, since I was literally right on the beach)

our birthday girl turned 11! there was camping AND horseback riding!

oh how quickly they grow:


scenes from our Hunting Island State Park camping trip (one hour by car, 3 miles by boat;):

lots of cool driftwood!

 
me and my mommy and the puppies:


camping in a maritime forest with the ocean just yards away: 


perspective:


 regular visitors to our campsite:


and then there was this time, when J and I kind of took a wrong turn on Hilton Head, and landed at a new rum distillery tour and tasting....ooops:

and a great time was had by all, full of joy, beauty, and adventure! 

weekly review:

boating to Sea Pines with kids:


My new Vitamix!
 


Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hermines:

J's birthday!
 

past birthdays collage:

realized I can make the hummingbirds' organic nectar right in the new vitamix! 

boating with friends and dolphins:

weekly review:

time sure does fly when you're having fun! 


it's been an incredible summer, embracing family and our coastal life-style:

we even boat a tube for our boat!
  
and the deer and wildlife which surrounds, never disappoints!

and my Etsy shop, now four years old, continues to grow and thrive...and the heart-felt connections and reviews just make it all worth while...so grateful!
 


 

Homeschool Writing

I am SO excited about homeschooling this year! Not only are we continuing with Moving Beyond the Page (LA) and Life of Fred (math)...but we are starting a fabulous science program tomorrow called Supercharged Science....and now I just ordered a new writing curriculum that looks like it will be a blast, called---Cover Story:
"Create Your Own Magazine in One Year!
Cover Story writing curriculum takes middle school students on a guided tour through the universe of Story as they create content for their own magazine in one school year.

In this exciting curriculum from Daniel Schwabauer, the creator of the popular One Year Adventure Novel, students are led, step by step, on a fun, thought-provoking journey of exploration and creation.
Your student will write poems, short stories, non-fiction articles, letters, and many other short pieces. They also learn to notice and record their thoughts and ideas by following the creative structure of The Remarkable Journal of Professor Gunther Von Steuben.
A 12-lesson optional grammar component is included with purchase.
Cover Story also allows students the freedom of choosing a theme for their magazine, and a subject for each assignment. This approach gives the structure and guidance they need to understand the principles in each lesson, but allows them to create from passion rather than pressure.
This one-year program is appropriate for grade levels 6–9."
I plan on participating not only as their teacher, but as a student myself, and creating my own Magazine this year. I've had all these writing ideas, but so little opportunity to truly just sit and write..but now I found my opportunity!
If any of my homeschooling friends are interested in viewing or ordering "Cover Story," please consider ordering via the link below; will save you 10% through a homeschool buyers co-op; and give my family some "points" toward our next purchase. This is a fabulous website for learning about curricula options and saving some money.
link for Cover Story:
https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/cover-story/…
link for Supercharged Science:
https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/Supercharged-Science/…

Homeschool Science

After spending hours and hours and hours (over the last few months) doing research for a new homeschool science curriculum, that would not only be a really good quality program, but one that will prove to educate, engage, and excite my girls; I am thrilled that with the girls' input we have selected a very well-designed progam called Supercharged Science! We're all very excited about it! I ordered through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op, which gave me a nice hefty discount from the retail price. If any of my homeschool friends are looking and interested, please view through the link below. If you decide to order, please consider ordering using the link below, which will give us some points towards our next co-op purchase.

Thank you

p.s. I'm not a science-techy mama, this is a program that is designed for the girls to work independently!

https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/Supercharged-Science/?source=235315

our weekly in review:

Celebrating 16 years of Marriage:


My parents took the girls for the day, and J and I set out on my absolute favorite adventure....our beloved boat, Little Sea Hunt!  But first, we headed out to Stacks for brunch, so he could have a seafood omelet.  It was nice...a breakfast date with my hubby...I can't remember the last time we did that.  It was definitely BC!  From there we headed to the boat landing preparing to take the boat over to Daufuski Island where we were going to rent a golf cart and spend the day...only we made a slight detour to a different boat landing in Old Town Bluffton...you know, because J wanted to see a seafood recipe book down there (notice a seafood theme so far....the poor guy must be feeling some deprivation being a prisoner to a vegetarian wife and all;)  Anyway, as I mentioned we took a slight detour down the May River to go see his book.  Yes, we easily could have driven or ridden our bikes there, but isn't this fun? And interesting to note, when you arrive via boat, instead of land transportation, you see things from a whole new perspective.  We spent several hours talking to local shop owners, walking around and seeing the sights, some of which have been there since before the Civil War!  And with J's nudge and encouragement, some of my Dragonfly Inspirations Creations may be in a couple of those shops in the very near future!!!!  SO excited!  J and I sat on a patio for awhile and just hung out, and then we headed back to the boat.  We were kind of procrastinating a tad, as the weather was iffy....but as it turns out, the storms stayed west of us..like they missed us by a mile or two, literally.  And trust me when I say you do NOT want to be out on these open waterways during the storms...even if we don't (or rarely) take the boat right on the ocean, we are pretty much almost on the ocean, and it's all connected....been there, done that! Anyway, when we returned to boat, we were slightly hungry, so we sat on the boat for a snack...and then a police officer came down, and we actually just wound up chatting with each other for probably a good hour and a half to two hours!  At that point, we had to leave or we were going to lose daylight and be unable to go out for our anniversary dinner via boat....but we found a restaurant and dock on the way, and stopped at Buffalo's on the very beautiful Palmetto Bluff.


We enjoyed, perfect weather, and breezes, and dolphins, and sunset....amazing and beautiful day together!  Wow time flies, 16 years, 19 together!


 



Fairy Girl making pancakes from scratch:


Perfect night! Good music, good food, good scenery, good people!  Palmetto Bluff!

About a year ago or so, some of you may recall when I applied primer to the dark cave of a tiny half bath (dark wine...was like that when we bought the house five years ago.). The primer was such a relief, I just let it stay as is. But now tired of plain white, and I literally despise painting bathrooms (after two bathrooms in our WI house where I had to tear down wall paper)....so my compromise, a cute inspirational/coastal border. NOW I'm happy