Herrington Manor

Some things never get old.  Like the beautiful drive from here to Oakland, Maryland.  And like having your own little family all to yourself without any distractions.  Or spending plenty of time out in the fresh outdoors, the cool fall breeze blowing through your hair.  Or watching your kids develop deep relationships with each other.

I think it's possible that the kids would never get tired of the special time with their Dad.  Or the fun visits from Grandma and Grandpa Malone.  Or the endless games of Uno.  They could spend days just hunting for salamanders, cooking s'mores, and exploring the woods.

Too bad it was only for a weekend that we went to our favorite cabin in Herrington Manor State Park.  I'm pretty sure we could've been happy there for a long, long time.

Catch Up

The Saturday night before school started, our neighbors threw a party for all of the kids in the neighborhood.  Our contribution was the slip-n-slide.  See all those boys?  That's maybe half of them.  Still worried about my kids' socialization as homeschoolers?

 The girls huddled in the playhouse for privacy.  Why are girls like that?

 We started homeschool!  We've only done it for 7 school days now.  Here are my first impressions:
1.  I'm very surprised that I haven't yet felt sad that I don't get to send my kids off to school.  I expected to long for my free time.  Not yet...
2.  It is so rewarding!  I love being involved in their education.  Matt has been able to help a little on Tuesday mornings and he loves it too.
3.  My kids aren't sad about staying home, but they also aren't "converted" to homeschool.  I wonder how they'll feel by the end of the year?

 Norah absolutely LOVES having the kids home all day.  She is in heaven!

 We took the kids to DelGrosso's Amusement Park on Labor Day.  It was a perfect day.  We all had so much fun.

 Hazel was a total angel the entire time.  She never cried once!

 This picture is CLASSIC!!!

Hope you're all having a great start of the school year, too!

One Eyed Hazie the Pirate Baby

 I didn't notice anything unusual about Hazel when she was born.  She was tiny and cute and had all of her fingers and toes.  I was thrilled with my cute baby girl.  She was a couple of days old when I noticed that only one of her eyes was opening.  I took her to her first appointment and was reassured when the doctor told me not to worry.  Apparently, lots of babies sustain injuries to their eyelids in birth and are born with one or both eyes swollen.  It was supposed to resolve itself in a couple of weeks.  I didn't think her eye looked swollen at all.  And I couldn't help but draw conclusions based on my previous experience with Merrody.  So, when things didn't resolve in two weeks like the doctor had promised, I knew what to expect.

Ptosis.  It is basically an underdeveloped eyelid muscle and can be repaired by surgery.  Not exactly my dream scenario for my sweet little baby, but we've done this before and Merrody has had no further eyelid issues, so we are grateful it's not more serious.  In the meantime, Hazie has to wear an eye patch on her good eye to help the other eye continue to function.  She is so darling in it (although she hates it).  We call her "One eyed Hazie the Pirate Baby".