planning

Whew- it has been a busy, busy week. I have been in the midst of making final arrangements for our trip and trying to get a basic skeleton for our homeschool this year. Moonpie has made it clear that she would like more of a school feel to our learning time, so I'm doing my best to attain that.

I am so excited for our huge road trip! We have a basic itinerary set, and it blows my mind to think of how much road we will cover in such a short amount of time. Here's the plan:

Leave central Texas and drive to

Little Rock, AR

Nashville, TN

Yellow Springs, OH

Pittsburgh, PA

Youngstown, PA

Lewisberry, PA

Baltimore, MD

Washington DC

Richmond, VA

Colonial Williamsburg, VA

Virginia Beach, VA

Brevard/Asheville, NC

Atlanta, GA

Birmingham, AL

Lafayette, LA

HOME

Can you believe that list?!? As you can see, we are going to be visiting areas that are rich in our nation's history. To prepare we have been reading all sorts of books on American history. I would like to say that has been brushing up my skills, but honestly, I'm learning things that I have never known. It has been so fun for all of us! We are reading:

The Magic Tree House: Revolutionary War on Wednesday

If You Grew Up With George Washington

If You Lived in Colonial Times

America: A Patriotic Primer

and my favorite- Little People Who Became Great

There have been other random books here and there from the library, but these have been returned to several times.

I am really enjoying using the Magic Tree House book as a springboard. I am definitely going to be using them this year. Really, you could design an entire week's worth of lessons just off of one book. This week we are going to be viewing George Washington's crossing the Delaware, mapping the Delaware river, making colonial hats, painting the colonial flag...all because of this book. We will be revisiting this model when we learn about the ancients this fall. Can't wait!

Oh- I have been forgetting to update you all on the RV status. Some very generous friends have offered us the chance to use their 5th wheel AND their daily driver pick-up to haul it! We have been so blown away by the generosity people have shown us as we prepare for this trip! We cannot wait to get going, meeting and having conversations with people as we go.

the gifts...

We had such fun celebrating Buddy's birthday yesterday! Thank you for your well wishes for him!

There was some home made love being shown here yesterday and I wanted to share.

Buddy finally got his robot, the one he picked the fabric out for last year (he received 'Spaceboy' for Christmas). He was more relieved than happy, I think, to finally get it! Robot man was promptly tied to the back of the monster truck trike and taken for a ride around the house!

And now on to the stars of the birthday present show. Moonpie made him a race car track with four race cars ("because he's turning 4, mama"). She left it blank so he could color it himself. I was so touched by her creativity and thoughtfulness. Truly, the most perfect present for the birthday boy.

And then- the nesting dolls! Buddy loves to play with nesting dolls at his Grandma and Grandad's house, so I thought to get him his own set. I found some plain wooden ones on Etsy, and John painted mustaches and wooly eyebrows on them! Buddy loved them! Who wouldn't?

for the birthday boy

Hey Buddy-

Guess what...

I love you more than you love blueberries.

And you know as well as I do-

that's a whole lot.

Happy birthday

my big ol' 4 year old!

just for me

Moonpie took some pictures of me out working in the garden today.

And I feel silly posting them, truly I do. In real life I am more comfortable giving attention than drawing it to myself. But after reading just a little snippet on this post, I began thinking about remembering. And I decided that one day I may want to remember these days. At this point in my life, I have never felt stronger and healthier than I do now. And I think it might be ok to put it in print. Just in case I ever need to remember.

letter #2`

Dear Summer,

Your extra long days have given us a new girl. One that swims, reads, cleans, snaps, and loses teeth without any input from Mama and Daddy. She is so independent and clever. And she is loving mysteries- "the spookier the better" she says.

She adores the snails and mushrooms that all of your unseasonable raininess has brought on.

And we adore her. Her hair all streaky gold and her skin, sun-kissed.

Her spirit courageous and bright.

Love,

Mandi

sending out a S.O.S

Remember our God. Family. Skateboarding. tour I told you about last week? Well, we have our itinerary set, skateparks found, churches lined up, the stage at the purple door fest set, now we just need...a RV!

If you have a friend of a cousin of a grandma that has a RV, please, hook us up! We need to either borrow one for the three weeks of August 8-23, or rent one (for hopefully a lower rate than commercial rental places). Or, if there's someone out there that just wants to unload one that may need a little work, we are a non-profit. You can get a tax write-off for your donation! We need a true RV, not a trailer- we don't have a truck to tow it behind.

Thank you for helping us think on this!

God. Family. Skateboarding.

We're going on a trip!

I'll let my good lookin' husband (and his mistress- the GMC) tell you all about it in the clip below.

(For some reason it's loading kind of crooked. If you'd like a different view you can go to it on YouTube.)



What do you think?

Pretty exciting, right?!?

Check out our website:

www.middlemanskateboards.com

***big thanks to Clover for his mad video skills!