Field Day 2012

Loved being at Field Day with my boys!  It was HOT outside.  Addison got to have a playdate with Kinsey so I could get over to the school and help out.  It was a great day! 

Jackson did NOT let his boot slow him down!

 Harrison's class talked their teacher, Ms. Grzesik into playing Tug of War with them.  She was a very good sport and the kids LOVED that she played with them!

Cookies & Crafts

The boys were great helpers with the Christmas cookies this year. We always have a good time baking and EATING all the fun holiday treats! :)




I also had picked up a couple of crafts at Michael's to do during our break. We pulled them out one afternoon and enjoyed working on a snow globe for Jackson and Santa's sleigh for Harrison. We did a Gingerbread house the first week of December. I won't make that mistake again. We'll wait until closer to Christmas and I'll take pictures. The boys put it together and my camera wasn't charger or something. The next morning when I woke up it has been completely destroyed. They had eaten it to death. Wish I had a picture to show off their handiwork! :) At least they enjoyed it, right?

my little students

here is a little peek into our school room. we're in our 3rd week of school now and it's going GREAT! so thankful for that. we love it. we really love it. seriously! :)

First day of 2nd Grade - Homeschool!!!

Harrison - 7 years old

Jackson - 4 years old

am i blessed or what??? i get to spend EVERY day with these cuties! :)

TODAY was our FIRST day of home school! to say i haven't fretted, worried, or stressed about this day would be an understatement. i did, however, spend MUCH of the summer in denial. it's how i cope. when people would ask me if i was ready or planning or thinking about the upcoming home school adventure i would just say NO. i truly did try to keep from thinking about it. there would be times i would catch myself and then i would just have to STOP. i had all of my curriculum ordered and ready and there just wasn't any use in thinking about something i couldn't start for months. too much stress for this brain! :)

well, finally...the summer had come to the end for us and August 24th was the 'day' i had set aside to begin. the Lord allowed me to come down with a stomach bug over the weekend which kept me from worrying about today. i'm trying to think of that as a blessing. :) especially after today...THE DAY...where i realized there was nothing to be worried about!

it was GREAT!!! Harrison LOVED it which was surprising to me. i thought it may take him a while to warm up to it. i wondered if he would miss the big classroom environment. he may still, i guess. it's early. but today was wonderful! he was excited, i was excited, and it was just what i needed...to see that spark in his eye again about learning. he had lost it last year. i saw excitement in his eyes today and an eagerness to learn and do his best. what a blessing! he kept saying how FUN it was and how much he LOVED it. (i'm writing this all down so i can remind him when he decides he'd rather NOT do school) :) and the best part of all you may want to know???? do you want to know??? huh??? :)

we started at 9am and we were finished at 10:45!!! he kept saying, "we're done? we're really done"? i had saved his reading for after lunch but he and i decided that since we were ALREADY done we would go ahead and do it then. he was playing by 11:15am and we were out the door at 12pm so i could run at the YMCA. in the future it may take a little longer and we'll probably save his reading, awana memorization, and a novel that i will read to him until after lunch. STILL...a GREAT start i think! and it felt like we had our whole day left...to do whatever. so strange. tonight we celebrated our big day with a yummy Jason's Deli dinner!

in case you are interested, here is what we'll be working on this year. most of our curriculum is based on suggestions from The Well Trained Mind with a few variations:

Bible: Proverbs, Character Training, Bible Stories, AWANA memorization
Math: Right Start Math
Spelling Workout
Handwriting: Cursive - Zaner Bloser
Copy Work/Dictation
Phonics: The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading
Grammar: First Language Lessons
History: Story of the World - The Middle Ages (includes projects and map work)
Science: Fall - Exploring Creation through Astronomy (includes projects); Spring - Earth Science; Mudpies to Magnets - Science for Young Children (experiments)
Writing: Just Write, letters to Family & Friends
Reading: read aloud 20 minutes per day - chapter books; i will read aloud each day a couple chapters from classic novels we choose for the year; additional reading from library books about History and Science topics we are studying for the week.
Music: Music Ace & Piano Lessons
Arts and Crafts
Generations/Legacy Co-Op
Field Trips

Jackson will be working on your typical preschool things...letters, numbers, learning to write, starting phonics, learning to read and whatever else he's willing to participate in between play times! :)

we won't do all of this every day. some of it yes, and some of it is only 2x a week or less. it's divided out based on how many lessons are in the book. i'm thrilled with what we're going to be learning and very excited about the year ahead! thank you ALL for your support and prayers! i had some sweet notes waiting for me in my inbox this morning and phone calls today that meant so much to me...to know my sweet friends are thinking of us and praying for us is such a blessing! i'll try to update you on some of the fun stuff we do this year!

it's really not that bad

i wanted their hair cut before the baptism. you know, pictures and all! :) Anthony even got one.

i promise, it's not as bad as it looks. :)

duty...doodie

while reading a devotion to the boys the other night this is what transpired...i started with the verse at the top of the page...

Me: "Children, it is your Christian duty to obey your parents. Ephesians 6:1-4"

Jackson: "OOOOhhhhhh!!!! dem (them) said doodie"

a good laugh was had by all and then we started again. :)

Snow Day #2!!!

Checking out Taylor's snowman

As soon as the boys saw Taylor's we had to make one of our own.

You had to sort of pile the snow up. It wouldn't roll into a ball, too fluffy. We made it work.

gathering snow

running and making sure all of the snow had footprints... hee hee!


Here he is...our very own Fireman Snowman! You like the hose? Harrison's idea and I think it was the perfect finishing touch!


Riding bikes...by this point most of the roads were clear and the sidewalks were starting to clear up a bit.

We tried to make the most of our snow...we knew it wouldn't last long and I will let you know that it's supposed to get up to 60 today so I'm sure what little bit of snow is left will surely be gone by tomorrow! That's OK...we're ready for these mild winters we love so much! :)

Snow Day!!!

is it not the BEST feeling in the world to wake up to beautiful, beautiful, wonderful snow...after you've gone to bed with no snow!!! well, if you live in a snowy climate then maybe not but for us Southerners, it is the BEST! i know this picture is dark but I love it! i love seeing their little bodies checking out the winter wonderland outside! i can still remember Harrison seeing his first snow that he could remember at 2 when we were in VA and we told him to look out the window and he peeked out the blind and paused, then said..."Gah"! ha ha ha!!! you think he picked that up from his daddy or Mimi??? he picks up a lot of what he says from his Mimi for sure! :) it was so cute!



it snowed all day, until about 2pm. we got around 4 inches and had a ball in it!

poor daddy! had to go to work! :( we sure wish he could have played with us! i know he doesn't miss shoveling driveways...that was a BIG chore in MI! :)

by daddy! be careful!

Mommy and Jackson

Harrison

Making a snow angel

tubing down the hill on Aidan's froggy pool float. hey, whatever works, right??? :)

oh I could just eat them up!!! aren't they sweet!


look at this little snow bunny! she was only out for about 10 minutes. I had to get pictures of her in her FIRST snow! we were able to play during her naps which made it easier for mommy. :)

snow ball fights with the neighbors

this boy, I thought he was gonna hate the snow the first time we were out. He has SERIOUS issues with being dirty or uncomfortable so he was FREAKING out about the wetness and the "dirty" party of playing in the snow. is playing in the snow dirty??? this is news to me! :) he was a basket case for most of the time and I was pretty annoyed that our snow day was turning out to be no so fun! We went in for some hot chocolate and the boys were asking to go out again within 1o minutes. I said NO, we need a break and we're not going out until I know you're not gonna cry like maniacs! :)

so, when it was time for Addison to go back down for her 2nd nap, we got ready. I was able to put Anthony's socks over Jackson's gloves and then put his coat on so his arm were covered and no snow could get up into his sleeves. after that, he was good to go! he has a blast...we all did...and I'm SO glad! i was worried at first. :)



isn't it just beautiful!

Mommy's turn on the float! it was really fun! made me want to go back to Tahoe and go tubing!

Jackson's snow angel




Daddy finally got home around 4:30 and was able to go out with us for our third time to play. He enjoyed floating down the hill as well! :) he even took Addison for a ride!