Why I haven't Posted much in June...

I know this.

Several times this past month, I would sit down to write a post, and nothing, absolutely nothing would come to mind.

Now here we are at the end of this month, and I uploaded the June pics from my camera. I figured out why nothing came to mind....

I was pooped.  Just plain pooped!

There were 250 pics of things we did, from just the month of June. Whew!

Here's the gist of it...

We finished our first year of home schooling! Yay!
To see more details on what that included, check out my blog at the Heaslip Homestead.

Here's a pic of the flowers in one of the boxes on my balcony. 

I will post more about our gardens soon.

On Father's Day, daddy took Lucas to his first MLB game. The Toronto Blue Jays. He was especially excited since they took the go train to get to Toronto. The younger two boys cannot wait until they turn 8 to go to their first game!

 

While they were there, the younger two boys and I celebrated Father's Day with their grandpa Jim by going to Safari Niagara and getting ice cream at the Dairy Bar. 

 

They were pretty pumped about trying out the bungee-trampoline ride.

 

We were all excited to spend a whole weekend with grandpa to ourselves.

Then  we had a bunch of random outings...

 Here's a pic of Carter and his best bud at Port Dalhousie.

 We went to a couple BBQ's at my sisters - where of course we had water balloon fights.

 

We hosted a bonfire for a bunch of friends.

 

mmm, smores!

 

Christy, our student from China had her prom. Jodi took the pics, and then her family stayed for a yummy Paella Dinner and we laughed well into the night!

We went to the Drive In with friends to see Madagascar 3 and Snow White and the Huntsman.

I hosted a giant baby shower with my other sisters for my sister Stephanie. A post all about that will be coming soon too.

 I took the boys to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where they enjoyed the giant fountain.

We watched Nick Wallenda's historic walk over the falls on TV, it was way too crowded to brave going the 15 minutes up the road. But my BFF Jodi however had a press pass and got these amazing shots!

Then, Christy had her graduation from highschool. We are trying to work up our courage to say goodbye to her after having her live with us for 10 months. Our gift to her was a memory album of our year. She cried. I cried. That was 2 days ago. She leaves tomorrow... I feel waterworks a coming.

 

Add to that:
+ a bunch of swims and visits with friends 
+ a funeral
+ birthday, poker and summer parties
+ a charity event called Raid my Closet
+ Midwives appointments 
+ veterinarian appointments
+ pickups at the Organic Farm
+ fruit picking 
+ home renos
+ hosting a dinner for Christy's parents visiting from Macau
+ maintaining the homestead


=  ONE TIRED MAMA!!! (no wonder my feet are swollen)


If you don't see another post for awhile.... now you know why ☺


Lot's of love,


Tammara ♥

There's something about a Wedding in May

There really is something romantic and wonderful about going to a wedding in  May. We were honoured to be able to attend Chris' cousins wedding in a little country church and hall in the town of Hagersville. My husband grew up round those parts, so we enjoyed the day immensely and even squeezed in a quick visit with his stepdad and wife between the ceremony and reception.

  I had a great view of the bride just before her grand entrance.

 I love capturing moments like this, you could feel her excitement and anticipation.

 It was a lovely traditional ceremony and I especially loved the vows they exchanged.

They day was truly a celebration of their joy. There was much laughter 

in both in the ceremony and reception to prove it.

It was while I was sitting in the service, I was reflecting on how sometimes I feel like wedding ceremonies are more meaningful and important to the married couples who are in attendance, than perhaps even to the Bride and Groom (excepting the legal aspects obviously ☺). 

I  was reminded of an article I had read in this months Thriving Family magazine by Focus on the Family. It was written by Timothy and Kathy Keller - Living Out "I Do" reiterates that marriage vows are not supposed to be a declaration of a current or present love, but a mutually binding promise of future love, no matter what.

That's why I think it's more meaningful to the already married couples. Because it's an ongoing reminder of the commitment they made to each other (whether it was weeks or years previously) before God and witnesses. A living reminder that at one time they shared a "present" love much like that of the bride and groom before them, however now, they themselves are activity living out their own vows - that "future love" they promised to each other however long ago. 

I loved this wedding because I believe the Bride and Groom share that kind of commitment to each other, and I was honoured and blessed to be a witness of this covenant and also to have the reminder of a May wedding fourteen years ago, when I was the one wearing white and full of the joy of love. ♥

What I Read in May

I read fewer books this month...let me explain.
First of all, I spent a great deal of time researching curriculum changes for next year. That's now complete and I'm happy with my choices. Second we've been pushing to finish our studies this month because it's getting harder and harder for the boys to focus when they (actually we all) would rather be outside playing, gardening, exploring, etc. So we're almost done! Yay!

Finally, I mentioned last month that I would be reading:

So after reading 1/2 of The Well Educated Mind, I slowed things down. The Author Susan Wise Bauer encourages you to read the classics and to really digest what you are reading...it also says reading a whole lot of books really fast is symptomatic of our society of fast food, TV and the world wide web. (gulp)That we are dumbing ourselves down by not diving into books that require serious contemplation (including FICTION and a different approach to reading scripture). It is one heck of a book with very good arguments...so I've decided to challenge myself to the reading list in the book (which they suggest would take YEARS to complete) Ha!

As a personal note: the below list kind of terrifies me, but many of the books I've always wanted to read, and now I find  so much of our home school curriculum refers to them too. So as terrifying as it is, I'm also oddly excited. PS. I'll still be reading other smaller books as I've always done, but not as many, because I really do want to increase my intelligence and educate my kids in the same way. 


Included in the book are her suggestions of 30 great books to read from 5 genres: Fiction, Autobiography, History/Politics, Drama and Poetry. The books are listed chronologically and she suggests reading them in order. The genres are broken down into 5 chapters with an detail explanation how to read them and a synopsis is included on each title with the best edition to read.

The goal of the mini challenge is to read at least 3 books in each category.  Any book read can be applied to the 12 classics in 12 months challenge.  Listed are the first 15 suggestions in each category, however you may choose from any title listed in the Well Educated Mind.

(Those written in Blue, I already own, and some I've read...so should start there - those written in Purple, I'd like to try next) By the way, this is not a complete list. :) Wish me luck.

Fiction:

Don Quixote - Miguel De Cervantes

The Pilgrim's Progress -John Bunyan

Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy

The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James

Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
The Trial - Franz Kafka
1984 - George Orwell

 Autobiography

Augustine - The Confessions

Margery Kempe - The Book of Margery Kempe

Michele De Montaigne - Essays

Teresa Of Avila - The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself

Rene Descartes - Meditations

John Bunyan - Grace Abounding in the Chief of Sinners

Mary Rowlandson - The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration

Jean Jacques Rousseau - Confessions

Benjamin Franklin - The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Henry David Thoreau - Walden 

Harriet Jacobs - Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself 

Frederick Douglass - Life and Times of Frederick Douglass 

Booker T. Washington - Up from Slavery 

Friedrich Nietzsche - Ecce Homo

Adolf Hitler - Mein Kampf 

History/Politics

Herodotus - The Histories

Thucydides - The Peloponnesian War

Plato - The Republic

Plutarch - Lives

Augustine - The City of God

Bede - The Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince

Sir Thomas More - Utopia

John Locke - The True End of Civil Government 

David Hume - The History of England, Volume V

Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The Social Contract

Thomas Paine - Common Sense

Edward Gibbon - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 

Alexis De Tocqueville - Democracy in America

Drama

Aeschylus - Agamemnon

Sophocles - Oedipus the King

Euripides - Medea

Aristophanes - The Birds

Aristotle - Poetics 

Everyman (14th Century)

Christopher Marlowe - Doctor Faustus

William Shakespeare - Richard III

William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare - Hamlet

Moliere - Tartuffe 

William Congreve - The Way of the World

Oliver Goldsmith - She Stoops to Conquer 

Richard Brinsley Sheridan - The School for Scandal 

Henrik Ibsen - A Doll's House 

Poetry 

The Epic of Gilgamesh 

Homer - The Iliad and the Odyssey

Greek Lyricists 

Horace - The Odes 

Beowolf 

Dante Alighieri - Inferno

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 

Geoffrey Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales

William Shakespeare - Sonnets 

John Donne 

King James Bible - Psalms 

John Milton - Paradise Lost 

William Blake - Songs of Innocence and of Experience 

Williams Wordsworth 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Jennette's post

Maybe dedicating birthday posts was a bit of a reach for me this year, well, just for the month of May I guess, anyways,  Jennette's post is in the works because Yesterday, the actual birthday, I got a nasty case of morning sickness that essentially put me out of commission for the day. I'm using today to catch up on what didn't happen yesterday, so hopefully the post will be up within the next few days.  Happy Birthday Jen xoxo!

Tuesday's Thoughts

I was over at Katharine's Blog today and thought I'd copy her idea for today's post, just to get myself writing again.

For Today...

Outside my window... 

            I can enjoy the flowers, herbs and veggies I planted in urns/ boxes on our back deck.

I am thinking...  

           I should pull out my day timer in case I'm forgetting somewhere I'm supposed to go today  ☺

I am thankful...  

           for the great visit and dinner with friends and their kids last night. mmmm homemade perogies~!

In the kitchen... 

            a plate of muffins is calling my name.

I am wearing...   

             yoga pants and a blue t-shirt, standard home school mom attire.

I am going...  

             to my midwives appointment tomorrow. I'm 21 weeks!

I am wondering... 

            when I should schedule the boys' haircuts? Buzzed for the summer!

I am reading... 

            The Well Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer - it's challenging but awesome!

I am hoping... 

            The dirt I ordered comes on Thursday so I can finish planting the raised veggie gardens. 

            It was supposed to arrive yesterday.

I am looking forward to...   

           Chris' cousins wedding on Saturday. I love a good wedding!

Around the house...  

           I need to get the office cleaned and organized, but I'm very afraid...  

                                                                                             maybe we'll go to the zoo today instead!

I am pondering... how to celebrate our anniversary next week - 14 years ♥

One of my favorite things...  a good cup of coffee with a great friend.

Here's one of the better shots I took from the fireworks at the Virgil Stampede on Victoria Day - Happy Summer everyone~!

Andrea

 

So today's post is tiny bit overdue. It is dedicated to my younger sister Andrea as it was her birthday last week. We'll blame it on the fact that I had the flu, then it rip-roared through the house, so though I had intended on posting it last week, I didn't. So here we go. Happy Birthday little sister!

  

Here's the sisters before the youngest showed up. In this pic Andrea was the youngest. Her tenure as the baby of the family was very short lived. I was in grade 6 when she was born, So I actually remember quite a bit of her early years first hand. (aside - Yes I have sacrificed my pride with showing this hideous picture of me in a black velvet pin-striped jumpsuit to show you how cute she was - very) She was all dimply, and happy and quiet and the easiest baby....EVER. She would rock herself happily in her playpen to music only she heard, ALL DAY, with her mouth open - not talking, just open. I barely remember her crying, always smiling and always quiet and gentle.

She's still pretty much like that...

Well, except for the rocking thing, I think.

As she got older, she got sneaky. I think that it was her quiet form of payback to my parents for having my youngest sister just months past her first birthday.  She was very good at being sneaky... and good at lying, and blaming older siblings. 

She has these huge brown eyes that you have to trust, and my parents did. But she was a liar.

Thankfully she grew out of that... I think.

After she adjusted to the presence of the youngest sibling (which didn't take much), they were fast friends. Becca made up for Andrea's lack of talking. When she finally did start talking she couldn't say my name, so she called me Mimi. Dad loved it. It stuck. She also couldn't say Jenny's name - she got Gigi, and Rebecca got Becca or for awhile I think kaka. She couldn't say her own name either, so she named herself Aya. She never had a problem with Steph's name...funny. All the nicknames have pretty much stuck too.

She was the best snuggler, and the had the best baby fat roles to pinch and tickle. They were luscious. My son Carter reminds me of toddler-her a little bit - so kissable.

She developed a maternal streak very early. She loved to take care of our pet cats and dogs. She would dress them up, and "torture" them, but they fell victim to her gentle ways and those brown eyes...

My

Andrea was and is very kind. Soft hearted and loyal. Almost to a fault, if that can be faulted.

People trust her, and they should, her heart is a vault. She's also probably the easiest to get along with of all of us girls. That's the honest truth.

Some of the things people outside of the family may not know about her are some of her favourite past times.

Probably her number one favourite is SLEEPING. If you are trying to call and there's no answer, she's probably sleeping...it doesn't matter the time. She's probably sleeping. She's impossible to wake up too. Here's a pic of her son doing the same thing. She's passed the hobby on. Apparently he even prefers sleeping over eating.

She also loves dressing up. She's very pretty, so who can blame her. It's probably all the sleep.

 

People may not realize She's goofy. We pretty much all are, it comes from my parents. 

Of all of us, Andrea is probably the most legitimately funny. She's very subtle and quiet about it, so you don't realize you are laughing hard enough to pee your pants, until you actually are. It's embarrassing, but she's that funny...sometimes.

 

I have a matching pic. of my dad in these bunny ears to illustrate, but of course, 

I can't find it right now.

She's really tall too, all of my sisters are, just not me. I'm cool with that. She could have been a model I think, look at her in her wedding gown. Need I say more?

She's a really great friend. Some of her best friends are her sisters. This is a pic of her with the youngest  of the 5 sisters. I have a matching one of them on a bed like this from about 20 years ago, but of course I also can't find that one. These three have been inseparable forever.

These are pics of Andrea with her two boys. She's a great mom. All those qualities mentioned before are her strengths, yes even the sneakiness I think, it makes her more suspicious of her boys, and successful. The only time they get away with stuff is when she's sleeping.  J

So, that's an ode to my lovely, gentle, kind, tender-hearted, beautiful sister who I love like crazy. Happy Birthday again! It's only a week and a bit late, 

but at least I got it done before Jenny's Birthday! 

♥♥♥ Mimi