Observations from the first 2 weeks of home schooling...

• My kids are hilarious
• Cole CANNOT hold still or stop talking (I hear it is hereditary =)
• Cooper is amazing at blending sounds...until he is tired, then he just says whatever sounds come to mind...makes me crazy!
• I'm loving the curriculum we chose and Classical Conversations. The kids are learning a ton and so am I!
• Bailey Kate didn't want to go to preschool today becuae she wanted to stay at home and go to "home dool!" She is quite the party animal so I was shocked she wanted to stay home with me!
• I love structure and so do my kids!
• Cooper told me yesterday that I was the "goodest" teacher. Melted my heart (and I took a mental note to work on a little grammar =)
• My sister (who is living with us for the year) is a HUGE help with Jude in the mornings. I don't know how moms do it with little babies without help!
• I'm so blessed to be able to teach my children at home. I love being with them, and though some days I want go hide under the covers in my room, I really have enjoyed my intentional time with the kids the past 2 weeks.
• At the end of the day I'm EXHAUSTED!!! It is so much work, but so worth it!

                                                            A little break at the park

Breakfast the first day of school...YUM!!

Sesame street live!

So, we get to take all the little people to watch sesame street live. I remember watching sesame street while my mom taught Trey. I loved it because I knew that when it was over it was snack time =) Yes, I love to eat! A little fun to celebrate a great first month of school....pics to follow!

Let the adventures begin!

My Sweet Baby Boys!

So, tomorrow we start a new adventure with these two little men! How can they be 5 and going into kindergarten!?!? I am so blessed to be able to stay home with my kids and home school them. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little scared, but I'm super excited too. I was homeschooled from 3rd to 12th grade, and though it may not be a great fit for everyone, I LOVED it and know that it was fundemental in forming me into the person I am today. As Clay and I embarq on this journey with our little zoo I pray that we would be worthy of this high calling. I know that this adventure will "educate" me more than my kids, and by the end of this my hope and prayer is that, above all, we are more like Jesus. Pray for us as we start...we'll keep you posted on how things go =)

I love how my boys love each other and I am so excited they get to go on this journey together!

The Library and Adventures

So one of these days I'll get around to blogging about Jude's birthday in June and Cole's birthday on August 1...one day =) But today I'm going to blog about our afternoon. I have been promising the kids a trip to the library (you can walk to it from our house) for a few days, but since it has stormed every afternoon we haven't been able to go. Today when everyone got up from "rest time" I told the kids we could go to the library if we hurried because it looked like it was about to rain. I was praying it would hold off long enough for our little outing...it didn't! Torrential downpour just as we pulled in.  I told the kids that we were going to wait in the car for a few minutes and see if the storm would pass. Currently, we are driving in a car with no A/C...long story =) so as I sat in our steamy car grumbling in my head about the rain, my car full of crazy, noisy kids and wondering why we didn't just stay home...it would have been much easier for me! But the Lord gently reminded me of how I constantly scold the kids about complaining and tell them to "change their face" to reflect a "happy heart". Clearly I was not obeying the family rules =) So, with a quick prayer for patience I told the kids to get ready for an adventure! We all ran into the rain, got soaked, and went to the library as promised. We read books, played some computer games and picked out our books for the week. As we were walking back out to the car it started pouring again, and by the time we got to our house the flood gates opened. We ran, screamed and giggled through the rain, got inside, put on our warm, dry pajamas and looked through our loot. As they were sitting reading Cole said, "mom, that was a great day, I love you!" Makes all the work, mess, and chaos worth it! Though my afternoon didn't go quite as planned the Lord is so gracious to remind me that I am what my children watch and learn from. I'm so grateful He is patient with me as I am slow to learn. What a treasure my little people are and I'm so blessed and grateful for the adventures i get to have with them each day.

 Jude making a run for it!

Reading through out new books in our dry pj's (BK wanted to wear one of my shirts with her frilly pink skirt...crazy girl! And apparently Jude is doing yoga with his bear =)

Vacation!

So we went on our first family vacation this past week! We had a great time! We went to a close family friends wedding in Virginia, headed to Williamsburg and Yorktown, then headed to one of my best friends house to stay for 5 days. We ended the trip with Clay running a crazy trail marathon. We packed tons in and had a great time! Here are some highlights! Thanks Christa and Darrell for the great time at your house and your wonderful hospitality!

First family hike!

 BK carrying her baby on the WHOLE hike =)

Strong girl. That baby didn't leave her sight! (Thanks Nina!)

 Learning how to pull apart the wool to make a tool

 Learning to make bricks

 My little colonial princess

 Best friends, Bailey Kate and Kezia (Christa and I have known each other our whole lives and our girls have known each other there whole life =)

 We took the metro to DC and spent over 12 hours sight seeing. The kids were amazing and we had so much fun!

 We had yummy cupcakes in Georgetown

 Pizza overlooking the river in Georgetown

 Future husband and wife =) Jude and Kaelyn, just 3 weeks apart =)

Daddy getting to run his race

 Waiting for daddy to finish his marathon

 silly baby

 passed our from an amazing vacation

our last stint was 5 hours without stopping...this is how we made it =)

Bailey Kate turns 3!!!

 She is so fun...and ALL girl!

So, for Bailey Kate turned 3 on May 15. Since she LOVES all things princesses we decided to go to Disney and meet the princesses instead of having a big party. So, Nina, Mimi, Jude, Mommy and Bailey Kate packed up and headed to meet all the princesses. I got her a sleeping beauty dress from Target (I couldn't bring myself to spend 65.00 on a dress at disney.) She dressed up, did her hair and make up and we were on our way! It was a really busy day, but we ended up in the fast pass lane by accident and luckily the attendendent was super nice and let us through. It took all of 10 minutes!!! We headed into the room and as soon as she saw the princesses she kept saying, "it's not peetend (pretend), they is not peetend!" She was in awe!!! As mom and I video taped and took pictures Bailey Kate danced, chatted, and generally worshipped each of the princesses. It was a forever memory!!! As I watched my little princess in her own little heaven and marveled at how much I love that little girl, I realized how much my Father in Heaven must loves me. My heart was so full it almost brought me to tears. At that moment I got it! He loves me so much that He would send His only son for me! John Pipers quote, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him," kept repeating in my head, making that day even more special.

If that had been all we did that day it would have been just fine, but we still had lots to do. Bailey Kate danced around the whole park, rode a few rides, saw the castle, and then we ended the day with tea with the princesses. She had SO much fun (but probabley not as much fun as the Grandmas and me =)
It was the perfect birthday for my sweet girl

3!!!

 

Family party at home...homemade pizza and pink cupcakes...All the princesses requests! (don't mind the bandaid, it's just for looks =)

Yum!

Diva!

It's exhausting being a princess!

(the rest of the princess pictures are on a different camera, I'll post them eventually)

10 and 11 months

 Easter 2012...Almost 10 months old!

 Jude loves his "Bubbas"

Practice cupcake for BK's birthday

Stuck in the toy basket...i love those chunky thighs =)

So, by the time I got around to posting about Jude being 10 months he was almost 11 months, so i decided to combine them. I can't believe that in a few short months my baby will be one. The more babies I have the more aware I am of how fast this all goes by, and the more I savor every minute. Here are some stats for the last 2 months

-he is a master crawler...super fast!
-LOVES to climb the stairs (the gates are in full effect!) a few weeks ago I brought him downstairs to start making dinner and the next thing I knew he was at the very top of the stairs. 
-He cruises on all the furniture (and any human around)
-he could walk if he wanted to, but he is my cautious child (we'll see how long that lasts) so when he realizes he is standing by himself he slowly lowers himself to the ground
-can stand for a really long time by himself
-LOVES to wrestle....he thinks he is one of the big kids and gets right in the middle of the chaos
-he can say bye bye, mama, dada, pop pop, papa, Mimi, bubba (what he calls the boys) 
-waves bye bye to everyone
-is developing a bit of a temper (oh dear)
-smacks his tongue when he wants more to eat...or more of anything 
-weighs about 23 pounds and wears 12-18 month clothes.
-is sooooo easy and laid back
-LOVES daddy so much...when clay walks in the room Jude lights up, calls his name and waves. It is so precious!
-eats everything in site and is down to nursing 4 times a day
I'm so blessed to be his mommy and can't imagine my life without him.