Lately

Here's some pics from the last month.

1st grade

We had a special trip to the store for you to pick out a back to school outfit.  You were surprisingly thorough and looked at about every shirt in 2 stores before you just "had to have" this one.  You asked for a turkey sub sandwich and salad in your lunch and you remembered to make your bed and brush your teeth without being asked.  You let me hug and kiss you like 20 times this morning before finally saying, "Mom, you can kiss me more after school."  You didn't mind posing with your baby sisters and you came up with the 2 thumbs up poise all by yourself.  You were ready to rock and roll this morning.  May the Lord bless you and keep you and shine His face upon you this next school year.  May your love grow towards others, may your mind learn new and interesting things, may you continue to understand how high, wide, deep and great the Father's love is for you.  We are so proud of you.  And yes, I do agree with the angry birds...you are what awesome looks like.  :)

Mud Volleyball

So I finally got to experience what was once only legend.  My small town's July 4th Mud Volleyball Tournament.  Justin, my sister, my dad and some friends were able to share in the joy with me.  It really was a blast.

Big Summer Dreams

So I just completed 10 weeks of lessons and activities for the kids to do this summer.  Let me explain why I am so over the top about actually writing out all the fun stuff I want to do with the 3 kiddos...

1.  I am totally a type A person.  I  love a good schedule, like I love a good nap time...or like I love mint chocolate chip ice cream...or like I love a long shower...you get the picture...
2.  I don't know about you and your kids, but mine starting fighting right about lunch time if all they've done all day is have "free" play.  They seem to do so much better if I have some planned activities sprinkled throughout the day.  The free time goes much smoother that way.
3.  My oldest is in public school (which has done a GREAT job with him this year), but I feel all the more burden to make sure that I'm laying a solid foundation for him as far as Biblical truths, character development, and just making sure he's still challenged mentally. 
4.  Pinterest...seriously, it's been such a great tool to organize myself and find new ideas.  It's real easy for me to see a bunch a neat-o stuff that I would want to try with my little ones but then never get around to doing it.  It's easy for the same old, same old to take over my day.  So, I was like, "Not this year, baby!" 

And that's what prompted me to get extra organized about the upcoming weeks.  Now, I'm assuming most other SAHM's already have a rhythm to their day, and they already have crafts and interesting things they do with their kids.  I do too.  This just challenges me make the most of my "career" choice.  A few years back, I  decided that my mind was turning to mush.  I needed to view this season of my life as a chance to get as good at domestic stuff and child rearing as I could...yes I'm still failing in dusting, interesting meals and having the kids make their beds, but I found myself learning to sew, teaching my son to read and crafting with the kids. 

So what does my schedule look like?
I basically divided the day into morning and afternoon...genius, I know...then I decided that we would try to have playdates at least twice a week.  I made those Tues/Thurs morning although I'm realistic enough to know that will change week to week. 

Then I made Monday mornings:  Bible story or character time (we going to look at Ester, Daniel, Joy, Courage, Respect and so on).  Memory verse and a easy craft or game to tie in with the story.

Wednesday morning:  Memory verse time, library time and another easy craft relating to our Bible story

Friday morning:  Go somewhere time!  Park, Playhouse, Bounce house, Hubble creek, Feed the peacocks, the River, walking trail...you get the picture.  I'll also review the memory verse.

Then comes the afternoons...which have us doing our more involved activities...because a certain toddler will be sleeping!  Ever week is different but each afternoon I try to one of these activities:
SCIENCE: (Most of these came from different kid friendly science experiments found through Pinterest) "Dissecting" flowers, making a solar system, tornado in a jar, making "rain", making your own petri dish and so on
MATH:  About halfway through the year I started saving these math at home sheets Owen's teacher was sending home.  I plan on going though that and doing some money games I've found on pinterest. There are so many easy things to do with this subject.
SCHOOL TIME:   Practicing writing and reading.  I have some preschool and school age books they will go through.  Plus, I plan on having them write letters to relatives, do puzzles and read chapter books together.
BAKING:  Simply picked things we haven't made before and will make it together.
CRAFT:  Anything from making chalk, creating a bean mosaic, making a volcano, coloring pictures to give away at a nursing home to wrapping yarn around Popsicle sticks.  Pinterest is full of resources. 

So, my vision is not to fill the day from 8 to 3 with junk to do, but just to break the day up and to actually TRY all this fun stuff I've been reading about.  We'll have to see how reality plays out with all my grand ideas...or really other peoples' grand ideas...haha!  But, until then, I have high hopes!

Easter

Coloring eggs=controlled chaos

Hunting eggs!

We decorated our eggs with face stickers.

Ellie's been waiting for weeks to finally get to wear this dress!

Sisters!

Easter stud

A more real-to-life kid photo

Little beauty

Cousin friends!

Poppy pulling the girls around!

"Poising" for a pic

After Easter lunch, Kate and Ellie had some much fun with a old bird's nest they found in Mimi's yard.

Summer fun in March...

Vacation!

So Justin and I totally have some sort of mild winter blues...it happens every year...dark, cold and gray months get us living each day counting down 'til spring.  So this year we decided to fight back with a February trip to Florida.  We took Owen out of school for a week (it's only Kindergarten, right??) and packed the van for the 15 hour trip.  After LOTS of car snacks, movies, pacifers, rest areas, our kids "marking" their territory on the side of the interstate, more snacks, Are we there yets???, 1 yr old fussing, Veggitale music, trip prizes, more rest areas...we made it!  :)


Celebrating our arrival to The Sunshine State




Sand castle making at Daytona Beach




One of God's finest creations...the beautiful blue ocean




The big kids loved running in and out of the waves.




Juliet wouldn't participate because the water was too cold for her.




Ellie loved chasing the seagulls as much as the water.  "Caw!  Caw!" she hollered as she ran at them.




Owen spent a lot of time digging in the sand and building a castle that Juliet lovingly destroyed.




And here's our smallest beach babe.  She wasn't too sure of the sand.  It took her a long time before she would venture off the towel. 




She's excited about something.  I love this face!





Finally braving the beach!




On to the Magic Kingdom for one day. My beauty with Sleeping Beauty.  One of the 6 princesses we saw. 




You can't tell it from the picture, but we really were having a good time!




As much as we celebrated getting to Florida, we probably celebrated coming home more.  Yea, to be out of the car!