Anna’s 6th Birthday!

Our youngest daughter Anna celebrated her 6th birthday last week. Her choice for a birthday outing was a girl trip to McDonald’s for lunch and then to the American Girl doll store. Jeff took the day off of work, so that all of the girls could go – Laura, our oldest daughter is our resident babysitter, and she was included in the trip.

Our first stop was lunch at McDonald’s. The playground wasn’t very crowded so she had lots of room to play -

We took a minute to check out Ronald’s shoes – aren’t they great?

After she had her fill of the playground, we headed off to American Girl, stopping by to pick up my Mom, who made our girl party complete.

Once inside the store we spent the next hour running around following Anna and Sarah as they explored every nook and cranny of the store. Anna was choosing a new doll – her birthday present, and Sarah was choosing a new doll outfit. They finally decided on their purchases, we paid for them, and then decided to have a little snack at the Bistro inside the store. I pulled out my camera and took a few pictures while we relaxed and had a bite to eat (thanks, Mom!) -

Here is Anna with her new doll, Elizabeth, enjoying one of her favorite snacks – strawberries!

And here is Sarah with her doll, Mia, who is wearing the new doll outfit that Sarah picked out -

When we left, I took our traditional picture in front of the store -

Dinner that night was Anna’s favorite food – fried chicken (she calls it “bone chicken”), with mac and cheese, cole slaw, and biscuits. She chose chocolate meringue pies for dessert. I found these sweet glittery star candles to put in the pie -

As you can tell, something else was put into the pie, too – David’s fingers, I believe!

Anna is growing up so fast – it seems that she just turned four and now she’s six. She is such a sweet girl and is loved dearly by each and every one of us.

Thanks for visiting! Have a lovely day ~

Blessings,
Nancy

One of the things I love about homeschooling . . .

is this ~

I assigned Laura the book “Calico Captive” by Elizabeth Speare for History reading on Thursday. She was to read one chapter each school day until it was finished. I expected this to be sometime after Thanksgiving.

Thursday afternoon she reported that she was in the middle of chapter 10. The book had caught her and she was a captive herself. Friday morning she announced that she had finished the book before she went to bed the night before.

Did I mention that there are 23 chapters in the book?

I love that homeschooling offers my children the opportunity to fall in love with a book that they never would have picked up on their own and the flexibility to read it all the way through without having to wait for the rest of the class.

Blessings,
Nancy

A Few Snapshots From Last Weekend . . .

Last weekend was a busy one for us, but thanks to a glitch with my computer and uploading pictures, I haven’t been able to post about it until now. But, I have managed to outsmart my computer for once in my life . . . heh, heh, heh (evil scientist laugh) . . . when even the resident tech go-to support people couldn’t solve the problem. It just goes to show you that if you fiddle around and have a little patience you can beat it at it’s (the computer’s) tricks – either that or completely crash it – in which case, the computer has the last laugh. But, not this time. Thank you for indulging me as I digress.

Anyway, like I was saying, it was a busy weekend for us last weekend. Friday night was our annual Reformation Day celebration at church. Costume opportunity #1. Everyone is invited to dress in medieval attire, which means six costumes around here. Thankfully many of these are worn and handed down year to year, and we only ended up having to purchase 2 new ones this year, which wasn’t too bad – especially since we waited until the last week and they were already marked down 30%. Here are a few snapshots we took before leaving home ~

We spent the evening enjoying a fellowship meal, hearing a short talk on the life of John Calvin, and, after the costume contest, the children ran around the church – attending various booths to play games that each, in some way, taught about Calvin’s life. Jeff and I ran the “Authority of the Bible” booth, where the children had to throw balls and knock down every book (cardboard reproductions) except the Bible. It was lots of fun, but I was so caught up in the events that I forgot to take pictures! So, these will have to suffice – and the older girls looked so lovely in their long medieval dresses, too! Oh, well, maybe I’ll do better next year!

Costume opportunity #2 -the next night we attended the Fall Festival that we have been going to for many years back in our old town. It is full of games, bounce houses, ponies, and candy. It seems to get bigger every year and is sometimes a lesson in patience as we wait in line with the crowds for each event. This night required 5 more costumes (now you know what I spent the previous week doing). I managed to get more pictures this night ~

Our group included three clowns, a cheerleader, and Elizabeth Swann -

We played Limbo . . .

Baseball (or should I say “air-ball”?) . . .

Decorated cupcakes . . .

And pet the animals in the petting zoo . . .

When we were sufficiently worn out, we headed to my mom’s house (an annual tradition) and the kids dumped and sorted their candy – always a highlight of the evening – especially since the rest of us can sit down and relax finally!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend – ours is gearing up to be another busy one, but at least no costumes are involved this time!

Blessings,
Nancy

Keepers Cake Decorating

Last night was our monthly Keepers of the Faith meeting. The girls spent the evening in the church kitchen, decorating the cutest little pumpkin cakes I’d ever seen.

They were made in mini bundt pan molds and then the girls decorated them with orange, brown, and green icing. There were many different variations of pumpkins that resulted ~

The girls also made fruit kabobs which they used to decorate a pumpkin for a centerpiece, which turned out just lovely ~

It was a fun evening, but the best part of all, in David’s opinion, was eating the cakes at the end ~

Blessings,
Nancy

A Trip to the Pumpkin Farm

Monday found us with a beautiful Fall day just perfect for our trip to the Pumpkin Farm. After our morning studies and a quick lunch, we packed in the van and headed for the farm. It was a lovely drive, down country roads lined with farms and Autumn trees.

We arrived at the Pumpkin Farm and were greeted inside the front gate by many friendly (and hungry) goats. Thankfully, they were behind fences! We had been given cups of feed when we entered and the children started feeding them while I started taking pictures -

In addition to the many goats, there were also sheep to feed -

And a few Longhorn steer, too – in classic Texas style -

Next we took advantage of the abundance of Fall decorations and pumpkins around the property for a few posed pictures -

We spent some time climbing on the hay bale spider, one of several neat hay bales around -

The next part of our adventure was the hay ride, always lots of fun -

Finally, it was time to hit the pumpkin patch and pick pumpkins. Each person was allowed to pick one small pumpkin from the patch to take home (part of the entrance fee). It was fun wandering around the field looking for the ones we wanted -

We did a little more socializing with the animals before leaving -

And took this group picture – they really did have a good time, even if they don’t look like it! ( I told Jeff it looks like a mug shot!) I think they were just a bit tired by this point – I know David was -

And speaking of David – did you notice how many pictures of David are in this post? Can you tell he’s the baby of the family? Well, here’s one more, for the road, because I’m a mother and I just can’t help myself (again) -

Blessings,
Nancy

Because I’m a mother and I just can’t help myself . . .

Ryan and Matthew were in a friend’s wedding last weekend, and being their mother, I was snapping pictures of them the whole time. But then, how often do you get to see your sons dressed in a tuxedo and a new black suit – not often enough, I say, so I rest my case.

So, please humor me by allowing me to share my pride in my two boys, who just yesterday, it seems, were little guys running around the house, and now are all grown up and wearing suits.

Mattie leaving the house for the wedding ~

Ready to begin ushering ~

I didn’t see Ryan until the ceremony, as he was hiding out with the groom somewhere (probably hiding from my camera!). There are a few fuzzy pictures of him during the ceremony, which I won’t force upon you (remember I’m still learning with my new camera). At the reception, he spent some time dancing around with David on his feet – so cute ~

Mattie having a quick snack from the reception table ~

And I just have to share this one – I think it is so lovely of Laura (don’t tell her I posted it!) ~

And I really love this one, even if it is a little blurry ~

There was dancing, too, but I won’t share those as there are a lot of others in the pictures that I haven’t cleared it with, but I can share these two little ones, who enjoyed the music immensely ~

Oh, and the cake was wonderful, too ~

Okay, one last picture . . . because I’m a mother and I just can’t help myself ~

Blessings,
Nancy

You know it’s time to dust when . . .

the children start using the furniture to practice their handwriting. Guess I let it go a little too long!

Blessings,
Nancy

A Frequent Sight at Our House

For about the last month or so, David has been spending most of his days with a crayon or pencil in his hand. He asks us to print out a coloring sheet for him the moment his feet hit the floor in the morning, works on them all throughout the day, and at bedtime, I have to pry him away from the table where he is working on yet another page. When he can’t persuade someone to print one out for him, he will pull out a coloring book, or sometimes he takes to drawing his own creations – usually adorable potato people that he says are Teletubbies. This particular day he was copying numbers that I wrote on his paper -

All of this handwork that he has been doing has had the result of an amazing ability to control his fine motor muscles. We are continually amazed at the detailed coloring he is doing, mostly staying within the lines. Here are a couple of samples of his work this week -

He has also had an increased interest in working puzzles lately, neither of which I can complain about – nice, quiet, brain stimulating and I don’t have to be constantly checking to see what he’s into. I hope this phase lasts a little while – it’s been a welcome break for Mom!

Oh, and by the way, these pictures were taken with my new camera – the kids helped me and we managed to figure out how to get them off of the camera and onto the computer – yay!

Blessings,
Nancy

Updates

Just wanted to share a few updates from around our house.

I have officially decided to cancel summer camp plans for this summer. I have postponed it a number of times already and the next possible date to have it would be into late August. I will be well into thinking about back to school by then (already am!) and the time for summer camp seems to have come and gone. I am packing up my notes and supplies so that I’ll have them ready to go again next summer – hopefully in June, which is when I get most excited about camp plans. Having just come off a week of VBS with a camping/hiking theme kind of filled our camp tank anyway, so we’re not too sad about canceling it.

I have a new camera. It came about that I needed a new camera one day when my old one was returned to me with the words . . . “I don’t know what happened, but the screen isn’t working quite right.” Upon further investigation, “not working quite right” meant that there was a big slash across the screen and everything in the background was black . . . obviously it had been dropped. Now, I won’t mention the name of the culprit, but maybe you can guess from these pictures (taken previously on the old camera) -

How’s this for evidence? (especially since these were the last pictures I found taken on said camera) -

And finally, we have a picture of the lovely lady herself – now how can I get upset at a beautiful smile like that?

So, about a week later, my knight in shining armor came home with a new camera for me. It has been an adjustment as this camera is different from the old one and I wasn’t sure for awhile that it was going to be allowed to live here – I’m still not totally sure, but we’re getting along a little bit better. I think that it’s true that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks – or at least the old dog doesn’t like to learn them, but I’m not calling myself an old dog, you understand.

I haven’t actually uploaded any pictures off of the new camera to my computer, so you haven’t gotten to see them yet. It’s because I don’t know how to do it – more new tricks to learn and I haven’t had the courage to try haven’t had time to read the manual and decipher how to do it. I must force myself to do so soon, because I’m running out of old stock to include with my posts.

I was going to update you on the gardens, but I think I’ll save that for it’s own post (maybe with pictures?).

I’ve been spending much time pouring over my notes and websites making a plan for our new school year. I have been drawn for many years now to the teachings and educational philosophy of Charlotte Mason, and have implemented many of her ideas for different subjects into our homeschool over the past 5 years or so, but am feeling the Lord leading me to include even more of this gentle approach to schooling into our days. I will hopefully post more about this in the near future, as I think that I’m closing in on my final plans for the year. Can you please pray for clear thinking for me and the Lord’s will to be clear to me in this area? He is the center of our homeschool and I only want to go where He is leading us.

Well, I think that’s enough for now! I am being called to the kitchen – to make cookies and to carve an apple doll for Anna. We read “The Apple Doll” by Elisa Kleven last night before bed and she asked if we could make an apple doll today – we will carve the face and let it dry for about a week. Guess I better take my camera to the kitchen with me.

Have a lovely day!

Blessings,
Nancy

Cowboys and Cowgirls for a Day

Our Keepers of the Faith Club last month was all about horses. We met at the home of our friends who have three horses and were given a lesson in horse care, grooming, riding, and history. The boys club joined us for this one and they all had a turn on the horses. Here are a few of the pictures I took throughout the evening of my kids ~

David was dressed for the occasion, donning his cowboy boots ~

When we first arrived, we spent some time just admiring and interacting with the horses through the fence ~

After a brief talk on the history of horses, they were brought outside the fence so that the children could learn how to groom them, and were given a chance to brush them down for a bit ~

Two of the horses were then saddled up and it was time to ride. One was a Tennessee Walker and the other was a Quarter horse – their gaits were so different! I had not realized that there were differences in horses’ gaits. Each child got a turn on one or both of the horses ~

David patiently waited for his turn . . .

. . . but right when it was time for him to ride, he heard that there was something even better being offered over by the fence ~

I have pictures of Laura on the horses as well, but have been forbidden to post them, which I wouldn’t dare go against as she would most surely retaliate with pictures on her own blog!

When it was time to leave, we had to practically pry Sarah away ~ she loves horses so much ~

It was a fun time, even if the evening was a warm one. In the end we rode off into the sunset in on our 15 passenger van horse, enjoying the air conditioned transportation that we so rely on here in Texas!

Blessings ya’ll,
Nancy