Weekly Report??

We kind of took some time off. We went to Ohio for the Holiday. That drained us! :)

4 kids and a dog in the back of a Dodge Neon.

We had Christmas with my mom, she lives in TX and neither of us are making the trip to OH in December.

This is the tunnel at Cumberland Gap. The kids LOVE going through here.

Wordless Wednesday

This was a couple of years ago.
(mascara, in case you're wondering)

Wordless Wednesday

Graphics provided by MySpaceAnimations.com

The Death of a Great Man (Week 11)

We had a very important lesson on death this week. Our Pastor from Ohio died last Friday. I started going to his church in November of 1997, so it's been 10 years. Wow, time flies. My husband and I met at church about a year later, when he started coming. In August of 1999, Rev. Lonnie Lyle married us. His health started to deteriorate about a year after that. In February of 2004 he was rushed to the hospital with an infection in his left leg. He woke up only to discover that it had been amputated not too far from his hip. He never fully recovered physically. Mentally, he was fine.

We moved to TN this past April, and we just didn't have the money to go up to Ohio on such short notice. I'm sad that we couldn't make it to the funeral. He was a big part of our lives. Our kids called him Papaw Pastor. He had just turned 51.

We sat the kids down and said, "You know how Pastor's been sick a lot? Well, he just couldn't get better this time. He went to Heaven to be with Jesus." B cried. C was sad that Pastor died, but happy that he could run now. :) I still don't think that T fully understands.

Later, B said, "Mommy, Pastor is taking care of the baby now." And I started bawling. (In Jan 06 I had a miscarriage. A couple months later I got pregnant with my littlest guy.)

So, that's what we did this week.

Week 10 Report ~ begin Term 2

Ok, this week was crazy. Daddy started a new job, he went from 2nd shift to 1st shift. I found that we get more accomplished when we learn in the morning!! I also had to prepare for our Thanksgiving Feast. (Which we just finished.) I still feel that we got quite a bit accomplished, though.

T ~ K4
This week we concentrated on learning to spell and write his name.

B ~ grade 2
I didn't have her do a spelling pretest, we worked through the lessons. She did perfectly on the final test. Math went a lot better this week. She's always struggled a bit, but this week subtraction just seemed to "click."

C ~ grade 1
He completed Explode the Code book 1 and started book 2. He wanted to finish so bad, that he would VOLUNTARILY work through about 10 pages at a time. His handwriting is improving with practice, and his math skills are unparalleled.

Andrew Johnson Field Trip

We planned on taking this week off. Daddy was on vacation this week so we decided to take them to Andrew Johnson's Home and Museum.

I had such a hard time choosing pictures so click here to see them all.

This is the family tree taken at "The Early Home" across from the Museum/Tailor Shop. Andrew and Eliza had 5 children. None of the 3 boys ever had any children of their own.

This is the original Tailor Shop. In 1921-1923 the State of TN constructed a brick building around it. This is now the Museum.

"What would you wear in Andrew Johnson's day?"


Andrew Johnson's bedroom on the first floor.


AJ's bed. The shirt was actually worn by him.


This "invalid's chair" was in Eliza's room (his wife). She had Tuberculosis.


Also in Eliza's room. This is a piece of wall with no wallpaper showing where the Confederate Army wrote/scratched nasty messages to AJ on his walls. This one says "Andrew Johnson the old trator" an 'i' was written smaller between the 'a' and 't': showing where fellow soldiers corrected the spelling. :)


These "toys" were in the grandchildren's room. The little furniture were actually samples that salesmen would bring to show customers.


The middle picture was Robert "Bob" Johnson. He died of TB in this room.


Andrew Johnson Jr. was called "Frank". He was 19 years younger than the next youngest sibling. His sisters had sons and named them Andrew Johnson (insert last name) as well. They all lived in this house. He died of TB as well. I believe he was 23.


Frank's room used to be a dining room and this doorway was where the kitchen used to be. I took the picture to show the "cage" where we were actually allowed to stand in each room.


Here is Sam Johnson and his half sister Dolly Johnson with her children. They were slaves. After they were freed AJ paid them for all the time they worked for him and kept them on as paid servents.


The kitchen was moved to the basement and in doing so, Dolly and her children had to move into a house on the grounds with Sam.


Entrance to the basement/kitchen.


B asked TONS of questions.


"IN THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED HUSBAND"
AJ was buried (at his request) wrapped in an American Flag with a copy of the Constitution as a pillow.


The cemetery was a miniature mountain in itself!! This is the family plot, not too far from the Homestead.