Quotable Sunday - Memorial Day

“Four things support the world: the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the good, and the valor of the brave” - Muhammad

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” -Arthur Ashe

"Your silent tents of green

We deck with fragrant flowers;

Yours has the suffering been,

The memory shall be ours."

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Yesterday, the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, that those United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States. -John Adams in a letter to Mrs. Adams, July 3, 1776

Eulogy for a Veteran

Author Unknown

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the mornings hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

of quiet birds in circled flight,

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there, I did not die.

Freedom Is Not Free
By LCDR Kelly Strong, USCG - Copyright 1981

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Service man saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a safe and happy Memorial Day! For more quotable fun visit LT at A Day With Two.

Aloha Friday

Happy Friday to all! I'm excited that hubs is back home again, after another cruise, and that it's a long holiday weekend! Summer is here and I'm loving the warm sunny weather. Also looking forward to fun pool days with the kids, trips to the beach, evening walks with the fireflies and lots of yummy bbq's. Some of my favorite recipes are summertime fare with fresh garden veggies or seasonal fruit. It just seems easier to play hard and eat well in the summer ;)

So, my question today is: What's your favorite summer recipe? If you have it posted on your blog somewhere feel free to leave a link. I'll be posting some recipes in the next few days and would love to include your link in my post.

Be sure to visit An Island Life for more Aloha Friday Fun. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Memorial Day Fun!

Memorial Day is upon us. It is one of my favorite holidays. Really. It marks the beginning of summer: warm days, bbq's, trips to the beach, and long evening walks. The holiday itself always gets my patriotic pride swelling with parades, air shows, and lots of red, white and blue. Sort of a prelude to the big bang on the 4th of July.

Although the holiday is marked with ceremonies and parades in nearly every town in the U.S., there are also plenty of online resources to help you celebrate in style. You can take a virtual tour of Arlington National Cemetery, for example. Or, visit History.com's Memorial Day mini-site for the history of Memorial Day, War History videos, and a look at some famous battle maps. You might also visit The Department of Veterans Affairs for information on veteran statistics and memorial sites.

There are tons of online resources for teaching, such as themed units, and coloring pages, word searches, crafts, poems, and USMemorialDay.org.

And what national holiday would be complete without a good old fashioned American barbeque? Check out this site for awesome burger recipes. Don't forget the potato salad and dessert.

If you really want to go big, go here. But, any way you go, make it a fun, fabulous family weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Making breakfast for Mom...

Happy Wordless Wednesday to all!!!
Be sure to stop by these fabulous blogs for more Wednesday fun:

5 Minutes for Mom

7 Clown Circus

Momdot

Quotable Sunday - On Summertime

Ok, I know summer doesn't officially begin for another month, but it's starting to feel like summer around here, and the pool opened this weekend! We were too busy yesterday to make it there, but the new water slides are calling and if the rain holds off today, we'll be splashing our way toward summer!

Here are a few quotes on summer, my favorite season of the year. I hope you enjoy them:

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. ~James Dent

If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance. ~Bern Williams

Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare,
And left the flushed print in a poppy there.
~Francis Thompson

To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie -
True Poems flee.
~Emily Dickinson

What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade. ~Gertrude Jekyll

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way
I have to go to bed by day.
~Robert Louis Stevenson

I question not if thrushes sing,
If roses load the air;
Beyond my heart I need not reach
When all is summer there.
~John Vance Cheney

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. ~Albert Camus

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. ~Celia Thaxter

The summer night is like a perfection of thought. ~Wallace Stevens

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. ~Sam Keen

Oh, the summer night
Has a smile of light
And she sits on a sapphire throne.
~Barry Cornwall

Our Field Trip to Nauticus

This week has been a busy one with sports, ice cream parties, field trips and more. Here are some photos I wanted to share from our visit to Nauticus, a maritime museum. The kids and I really had blast exploring. The highlight of our day was petting a shark...ok, a small shark, but still pretty darn cool!

If you'd like to learn more, check out the for educators and for kids pages on their site. And don't miss the free ebooks.

Aloha Friday

Greeting friends! Thanks for stopping by today. I'm sorry I haven't been around the blogosphere much lately. Life is pulling me in other directions these days. Once things settle down a bit, I hope to get back in the swing of things. I've certainly missed you all!

My question for today: Do you have a summer vacation planned? If so, where are you going?

I was hoping to visit my family's cottage again this summer. It's so peaceful and beautiful there, on Lake Michigan, what a treat! But, with baby on the way and hubs traveling, it's looks like we won't be able to vacation this year. I'm not thrilled about that, since I really could use a break from reality! What about you?

For more Aloha Friday fun visit Kailani at An Island Life.

Wordless Wednesday

Be sure to stop by these fabulous blogs for more Wednesday fun:

5 Minutes for Mom

7 Clown Circus

Momdot

Quotable Sunday - In Honor Of Armed Forces Day

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky

When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? ~George Canning

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. ~Cynthia Ozick

Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations, that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided Republic. ~John A. Logan

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
~William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, much later adapted to "So shines a good deed in a weary world" by David Seltzer for the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Where liberty dwells, there is my country. ~Benjamin Franklin

He loves his country best who strives to make it best. ~Robert G. Ingersoll

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all!
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.
~John Dickinson


May God Bless Our Troops and Return Them All Home Safely

Aloha Friday

Greetings bloggy friends! Thanks for stopping by today. If you are new to Aloha Friday, be sure to stop by An Island Life and say hello to Kailini, our lovely hostess.

My question this week: What's your favorite ice cream novelty?

The ice cream man is back in town and I love watching the kids go nuts when they hear the familiar tune from his truck. I'd have to say my favorite item is the chipwich...yum! What about you?

A Thousand Words Thursday

'Da Boys on pizza night...

For more Thousand Words Thursday stop by Cheaper Than Therapy

Wordless Wednesday

This is my girl. The one who tells me my knees are old, I have a big bum and if I wet my bed at night, I can come and sleep in hers. I love this girl. I can't believe she'll be 5 in a couple of weeks! Seems like she was just my baby...sniff, sniff. These days she will tell you, in no uncertain terms, that she is in fact, a BIG girl!

Be sure to stop by these fabulous blogs for more Wednesday fun:

5 Minutes for Mom

7 Clown Circus

Momdot

Quotable Sunday - Happy Mother's Day!

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
~George Cooper

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.
~William Goldsmith Brown

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. ~Author Unknown

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

All mothers are working mothers. ~Author Unknown

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. ~Marion C. Garretty, quoted in A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul

Mother - that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries. ~T. DeWitt Talmage

The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. ~Jewish Proverb

A mother understands what a child does not say. ~Author Unknown

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. ~Abraham Lincoln

My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune. ~Graycie Harmon

Who fed me from her gentle breast
And hushed me in her arms to rest,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?
My Mother.

Who ran to help me when I fell,
And would some pretty story tell,
Or kiss the place to make it well?
My mother.
~Ann Taylor

Aloha Friday!

My question today: Who do you miss right now?

Thanks for stopping by today! Your comments make my day. Be sure to visit by An Island Life for more Aloha Friday fun.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

It has been hot here the past few days. The kids have loved dashing through the sprinkler. I have been enjoying all the sunshine, fresh air and watching my garden bloom.

It feels like summer. And I can't wait for summer! I love the BBQing, swimming, evening strolls, lightning bugs, and late sunsets. I am ready for it all (minus the mosquitoes). And, what better way to celebrate than to dig in to some Cinco de Mayo festivities? Will you be celebrating with a fiesta?

I'll admit that this holiday has been mostly a commercial one, but there are some opportunities for some interesting lessons here (of course, homeschoolers say that about everything, right?) Why not create a festive atmosphere and explore history, geography, and culture? Make your own pinata. Try your hand at home made tortillas. Create some crafty decorations and celebrate in style.

Find some fun lesson plans here.
Cinco de Mayo menu plans here.
Coloring pages here.
More about Mexico here.

Wordless Wednesday

Thanks for stopping by today! If you are participating in WW, please add your link before you go.

Be sure to stop by these fabulous blogs for more Wednesday fun:

5 Minutes for Mom

7 Clown Circus

Momdot

Quotable Sunday

Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.
-Edith Sitwell (1887 - 1964), Taken Care Of ,1965

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
-Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

I happen to feel that the degree of a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.
-Lisa Alther, Kinflicks, 1975

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.
-Martha Washington (1732 - 1802)

A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.
-Patricia Neal

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
-William James (1842 - 1910)

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.
-William James (1842 - 1910)

Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching? ~Dennis and Wendy Mannering

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. -Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want. ~Oscar Wilde

Thanks for stopping by today! Your comments always brighten my day :)
For more Quotable Sunday, visit A Daily Dose of Toni.