Favorite Times

These are common things in our house…wrestling, sword fights, dressing up.  The kids love to wrestle and play with Daddy.  They are frequently heard chanting…”Daddy wrestle with me”. 

Look Who’s Walking

We went to visit Daddy.  He called the kids to him and said, “You know how you pray for me every night, I wanted to show you how God is answering your prayers.”  (This is big since Daddy isn’t even sure he believes in God.)  He then asked Ari to hold his left hand and he walked all the way around the porch.  It was very exciting!  

My Blog

I just discovered that I am on a top 100 list for Christian Homeschool Blogs...Wow...Click here to see the list. Not sure how I made it there but encouraging none the less.

My 2 Dancing Babies

Today was the first day of dance for both of my kids. They have both eagerly awaited their first day! 

Ryan decided to take dance over gymnastics, karate and soccer.  Though Daddy has mixed feelings of his boy dancing, he feels it is Ryan’s choice what he wants to do.  Ryan previewed all 4 of the classes  (gymnastics, karate, soccer and dance) and he chose dance. Ryan feels music and I told Chris when Ryan was a baby that he would probably be our dancer.  Well that time has come…He has worn his dance outfit every day for the last 4 days. 

Arianna wasn’t sure if she wanted to take dance for another year and waited until mid-summer to decide that she definitely wanted to re-join.  She has been counting down the days since she made her decision. 

At the studio, I was able to sit in the back of Ryan’s class and I took that opportunity to take pictures!  I didn't’ get any of Ari since I was in the waiting room! Ari is in the “Broadway Babies” which incorporates dance with singing and acting.  She enjoyed her first day! She has come a long way since last September!   Ryan is in the Preschool Tap and Ballet class.  He also enjoyed his class and did really well listening and following directions! 

 

Field Trip to Nanny's

My Buddy Beth and I took our gang to the mountains to learn about canning from Nanny (Great Grandma). We left late Monday and arrived in the mountains around 2am. The kids were great during the trip but did not really go to sleep until after midnight. We canned about 14 quarts of green beans on Tuesday (which I didn't take any pictures of). All of our kids enjoyed playing with the playdough that Nanny had made and with the sand that she had gathered from a creek. A wild and rambunctious pup which the kids named Paws joined us while we played outside. Wednesday we went up to Little Pisgah and had a picnic on the top of the mountain. We stopped by the mountain house and the kids loved playing there. Arianna accidentally ran through the screen. She was upset but eventually found the humor in it:) We were excited to see the cows in the meadow on the way down the mountain. We then went walking in the mountain stream. Ari and I tried to catch some spring lizards without any success. We had a wonderful time in nature with one another.

The kids playing a fun game using paint chips. You give them a paint chip and have them find something in nature with that same color. They can then glue them in their nature journals.

The field trip was great! It is so great how well all of our kids get along with each other. I love to share experiences like this with a fellow homeschool Mom which I adore. It was great being able to have full conversations with each other on the trip to and from the mountains.

This is my first time visiting with Nanny without my husband (she is his Grandma). I loved spending time with her and learning more about the simple life and enjoying time together in nature. I am grateful to her for teaching me how to can beans and am excited to try my hand at Canning. I hope the kids remember this experience when they are grown!

1st Field Trip of the Year Part 2

After the zoo, we went to the beach. The kids had a blast at the beach (minus Carden's jelly fish sting). Ryan was a daredevil in the water!

1st Field Trip of the Year...Part 1

We went on an adventure to the beach with our friends last week. On our way, we stopped by this little zoo. They had many exotic animals and though it was neat to see so many different animals, it was also sad because the animals seemed distressed. Ryan's favorite animal at the zoo was the zebra and Arianna's was the "curly horned goat" (aka Ram). I liked the Momma duck and her ducklings because they were free to roam. Some interested facts that we learned are that giraffes have the same number of vertebrae in their neck as we do and turtles and alligators can live in harmony.

1st Day of School

  

Ari looking at her new school supplies…

We did our morning devotional first…

Ryan creating animals

Ari earned computer time (after they complete a workbox, they take off the velcro number (called a ticket), after they have 2 tickets, they can choose an activity from an upcoming workbox).  Every third box is a fun activity such as computer, painting, etc. 

Ryan working on small, medium and big with his dinosaurs.  

Ari doing her Math

Ari drawing a picture of what the poem about Trees made her feel.

Ari doing a paint by number, she prefers to do creative painting…

Our new school room

We moved the school room from the dining room to the former playroom.  Here are a few pics of the new school room…I want to get some children’s chairs..

Ari’s filled workboxes for her first day of school…

Ryan’s filled workboxes for his first day of school…

This is where I organize all of the stuff for the workboxes…I have them organized by type of activity for each child…I have another bookshelf across the room with my curriculum planning books.  Last year, I found that I frequently forgot about activities that I wanted to do.  Now they are easy to find.

This shelf is an old office mailbox center that my Mom bought me from Goodwill.  I use the backside for the pocket chart and the front is pushed next to the table and is used to organize the different types of paper for school.The bins on top are for Ari and Ryan’s finished work. 

The rest of the room is set up in center’s similar to preschool. 

Weekend Adventures

We had a fun and busy weekend…

Mommy went to a Charlotte Mason Discussion Group…

We celebrated Andrew’s 1st Birthday…

 

We celebrated the birth of Jesse Wayne Stephenson…

Daddy worked on the shelves in the garage…

Ryan goofed off with Daddy…

Ari riding the scooter…

Mommy finished planning for the first day of school…

Teeny Tiny Ticks

We went blueberry picking last week and came home with more than we bargained for:)  I pulled 22 ticks off of Ari and Ryan.  They ticks were so small that I had to use a flashlight to determine what was a tick and what was a mole.   I have never seen ticks so small.  Ari has over 40 tick bites. On the fold of toilet paper below, there are over 12 ticks that I pulled off…