.....another round of lesson plan prepping!  I'm removing the lesson plans from their coil bindings, cutting off the punched holes for said bindings, and sliding each page ever so carefully into a sheet protector.  After completing that I'll move on to basically tearing apart the kids' workbooks so I don't have to tear out each sheet as needed every single day.  I'm hoping that I can store a lot of the kids' work pages in each of their work stations at our new school table, which is currently in the process of being made.

In the eight and a half years we've lived in the Greenville area we have always managed to miss the Scottish Parade and Games.  This year we were able to squeeze in the Parade, but still missed the games due to going out of town. Maybe next year we can block off the weekend for it.

Anyhow, the older kids enjoyed seeing and hearing the parade, but littlest one wasn't too crazy about the loud bagpipes.  My favorite part of the parade was seeing a woman dressed up as Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances, a wonderfully hilarious Britcom!

a rose bush for myself.  I loved my single David Austin rose so much, that I have quite a few of his other roses on my wishlist.  Where will I have room to plant them?  I have no idea!

Anywho! On to the point, which is I bought myself another David Austin rose called Jude the Obscure (link is to Google images).  Sometimes the names of these roses intrigue me almost as much as the plant itself.  I have read wonderful things about the scent the flowers on Jude produce, so I am most anxious to smell them for myself.  Luckily for me, there is already a bud on my bushling!!

(Sorry for the incredibly crummy photo.  I couldn't get my stinkin' iPad to focus on the plant.  The bud is the yellowish-green blob towards the center of the photograph.)

I just potted this little beauty, though, so it may or may not survive.  Time will tell, I guess.

Not really, it's actually a very new tradition.  A "tradition", implemented by yours truly, of my Man buying a rose bush for me every Mother's Day.  We're on the second year of that "tradition". ;P  Last year, David purchased the beautiful Abraham Darby bred by David Austin  for me.  Here are some of its gorgeous blooms:


This year I got sucked down the rabbit hole of old-fashioned roses.  I find myself drawn to the challenge of taking care of roses that are a little bit on the fussy side.  I may find it not worth the time later on, but for now it calls to me.  This year I picked out a rose that was bred back in the 1890's.  I was just so fascinated by growing a rose with that sort of lengthy heritage.  Her name is Mme. E. Veryat Hermanos.


I haven't been able to find a whole lot of information on her, but I also haven't done much more than a scratch-the-surface search.  I fell in love with the look of the bloom this bush produces, which to me looks like an antique flower: here's a link to a Google Images search of the rose I picked.  My bush is tiny and hasn't bloomed yet, so I don't have any bloom pictures of my own to share.

I do, however, have pictures of the ridiculously large raised box I made for her!


I know, right?! She looks so tiny, and all alone.  Mme. Hermanos is said to be in the "house-eater" category of climbing roses, though, so I built a box to accommodate her future potential. I can't wait!!! I've always wanted a great big stonking rose bush!

And don't worry Madame isn't alone anymore; I gave her some spicy friends to keep her company! Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme.  Just kidding! LtR it's: Sweet Basil, Thai Basil, Lemon Thyme (it's hard to see 'cause it's kinda twiggy right now), Chocolate Mint, Chives, and Italian Parsley.

Well, let's face it: it's been a while, three whole years in fact, since I've bothered to post anything on here.  I won't apologize.  I've been busy figuring out how in the world I am going to successfully homeschool three children every day, ALL day!  Well, maybe not all day, every day, but there are some days when that is all that I achieve.  I get my kids schooled and they have eaten three healthy meals, but they may or may not have gotten changed out of their pajamas. It doesn't sound exhausting, but let me tell you, it is mentally and emotionally draining for yours truly.  At the end of the day there simply wasn't enough computing power left in my brain for putting together anything remotely worth reading.

As happens with all children, mine have aged and become a bit more independent and self-sufficient, leaving me with enough resources to press on.  However, this does not guarantee I will post consistently.  I have noticed over time that I tend to be anti-social during the winter months, so don't be surprised if I go into "hibernation" again!

That's all for now.  I'll be sharing more of what I've been up to in the past three years later.

of the kids enjoying their new back yard. 

I had to stop giggling and discuss with her how to talk to her brother when she is upset, but the foot stomping was priceless!