Five-Years-Old

These sweet girls turned 5 today!



We had their party Saturday and Aunt Jody continued the tradition of making special cakes for them!

I am so thankful for the privilege of being their mom.  I feel so very blessed.

 

Free Stuff

We were blessed with some free things last week!

A lady in our homeschool group had a room full of educational items she'd gotten from a school that had closed down and emailed everyone to let us know we could come look through it and take anything we wanted.  We got a bunch of paper, stickers, books, rubber stamps, math manipulatives, and more.

Some Video Clips from April

This Fall

This fall the girls will be attending Enrichment Classes on Fridays as part of the local homeschool group we recently joined.  They will be taking 2 classes: Beginner Spanish and Around the World, where they will learn about other countries, geography, make flags, etc.  It doesn't start until mid-September so I haven't told them yet but I'm very excited about it!  There are 44 families in the group and they get together regularly for park days, field trips, etc. 

We also have a group of friends that we see regularly at the library story hour and sometimes we get together afterwards to play at the Burger King playzone, or have a picnic at the park.  If they were to go to public school, they wouldn't start Kindergarten for another year and 3 months so this upcoming year would be their preschool year.  I think we'll have fun!  =)

Here is our beloved Miss Shawn, who leads the story hour, reading to the girls afterwards:

Library friends:

I went to the statewide homeschool convention a few weeks ago and was amazed at how many people, and how many different types of people, homeschool.  The amount of curriculum choices are overwhelming.  I walked around for 7 hours, visiting most of the booths, picking up free catalogs, and just being amazed.  Jody watched the girls all day so I could go by myself (thank you!) and I really enjoyed it.

Current statistics say there are more than 2 million students who are homeschooled, which is a 75% increase since 1999.  Homeschooling is definitely not what it used to be.  There is SO much available.  Unfortunately...none of it is free!  I did win a free bag of books though!

So, our biggest reason for wanting to homeschool is just that...we want to.  It sounds very appealing to us, we've already been doing it somewhat for the last year and I enjoy teaching them, I like the flexibility and increased family time...it just seems like it would be a nice fit for us.

I'm not against public school.  I don't think everybody should homeschool.  Our choice to homeschool does not mean that we think everyone who makes a different choice is wrong...every family is different and this is just what we truly want to do!  I don't think it's for everybody but it seems like it would work great for us. 

=)

Conversation with Ava

Last night at supper Ava asked, "Mom, when I'm a grown-up like you, and I have children who are this many (holding up 4 fingers)...will I be able to drive?"

Me:  "Yes, you will."

Ava:  "What kind of van will I have for my family?"

Me:  "Well, whatever kind you like.  You could have a silver one like ours or a different color."

Ava:  "Maybe my children could sit in the middle and I could sit in the back, and you could drive...if you want to."

Me:  "Sure, I'd be happy to drive."

Ava:  "I could sit behind my children and fix their hair."

Gracie:  "Yeah!  We could both sit in the back and fix our children's hair!"

Then they decided that they would each have their own van.

Ava mentioned again that I could drive...if I wanted to.

  

Talking to Grandma

Mother's Day 2012

 

Makes Me Smile

The other night we had gotten home late and I told Ava I was too tired to read them any books before bed.  She said, "I could read one!"  By the time I made it into the living room, they had each picked out a Bob book and were both reading.  Makes me smile!

Nature Walk

We went on a picnic out near the lake with John and Jody.  The girls had a great time throwing bread to the geese:

Trying to catch butterflies:

 

Blowing the fuzz off a dandelion:

Walking the trails:

Watching their dad climb way up high:

Doing their own version of rock climbing:

 

 

 

 

 

Fun evening!

I'm Baaaaack

It's a good thing I don't try to earn money by blogging, considering how inconsistent I am!  Sigh...it just requires time to sit down, think of what to write, gather pictures from various folders, upload videos, etc.  I definitely want to keep at it because it's nice for me to look back on and also to keep family, and a few friends, updated on our lives.  Anyways...

My mom recently had a major back surgery so Matt and I drove up for 5 days.  It was great fun to surprise everyone!  Definitely should have videoed the reactions!  We got to help her come home and a spend a few days with family before heading back home.  I'm so thankful for Jody, who came to the house each morning before Joel went to work and took care of the girls during the day!  She even fed Joel a couple of meals.  Joel did great taking care of the girls and even managed to boil some eggs for them!  He had to Google how to do it, but he did it.  =)  
It was strange to be away from them for so many days but it was also a blessing to be able to go home for a few days and it would have been harder to do that with the girls along.  My mom has a long, painful recovery ahead of her but hopefully it will all be worth it in the end!

Our dear friends from next door have moved 30 minutes away.  We definitely miss having them so close!  They don't currently have room for their big swing set so we are keeping it for now and having a great time using it!

We've also been blessed with a new kitchen table that I brought back from my parent's house, and a set of bunk beds,  with a matching dresser and desk, from John and Jody.  The girls are LOVING the bunk beds!!!!!!  I rearranged the living room and have been getting rid of a few things, which feels great!  We took our old kitchen table and the bed that was in the spare room to Donnie and Rene's ranch for them to use when they are down here, and we're taking the cribs and quite a few other pieces of baby equipment to a friend who is having twin girls in August.  

So we've had lots of excitement lately!  It's always fun to get new things, and fun to be able to pass things on to other people as well.  If you know me very well, you know that I LOVE to get rid of things!  I'm definitely not a hoarder.  =)

Joel has spent many hours fixing our fence and rebuilding the gate that the wind tore off last fall.  It is SO nice to have the back yard enclosed again!

I'll post some pictures soon!  

Moments to Remember

This blog is my primary way of keeping track of things right now so I'm going to try doing a weekly post where I jot down things I want to remember from that week.

Some things I want to remember from last week are:

Ava has become less shy about praying out loud.  She surprised us by willingly praying out loud for our food in front of us and John and Jody.  I asked her if she would like to pray and she said yes, bowed her head and folded her hands, and sweetly said, "Dear Jesus, please pray for our food and please pray for our bodies.  In Jesus name, amen."
Today she prayed, "Dear Jesus, please pray for our food and our bodies.  Please bless us.  Please help us to have a good day.  In Jesus name, amen."
I told her I was proud of her and she confidently said, "I can pray for anybody!"  I'm thinking she meant that from now on she won't be too shy to pray out loud, no matter who is around.

Ava seems to be able to do math in her head.  Last Thursday evening I had given her 3 small slices of cheese and then I went to the store by myself to get a few groceries.  While I was gone she asked Joel for more cheese.  He gave her 1 slice and she said, "Mama gave me 3."  He said, "You want 3 more?"  She said, "No, that would be 4.  I want 2 more."

Today I told her to take 5 bites of her sandwich before getting up from the table.  She said, "I already ate 2."  Joel said, "How many more do you need to eat?" and she held up 3 fingers since her mouth was full.


Gracie informed me, with a giggle, that I was puffy like a marshmallow.  Hellooooo treadmill!  (yeah right)

We've been going to the library on Mondays and getting about 25 new books to read.  This week I got Little House on the Prairie and thought maybe we'd try it.  It has a colorful picture on the front but there are only a few pictures here and there inside, and not on every page.  Gracie had all the books spread out on the floor, looking through them to decide what she'd like to read first.  She picked Little House up, glanced through it, tossed it aside and said, "Mommy, that book had a picture on the front but none inside.  That is NOT a book."

Easter

2008





2009

2010

2011



2012

Outside Fun

The weather has been so nice lately!  After having 3 months in a row of temps over 100 degrees last summer, we are really enjoying the days of 70 degree weather right now.

The grass in the back yard was very long last time Joel cut it so it left piles everywhere and the girls had a great time raking it, filling up buckets, putting it on dirt patches to make it 'grow' over the dirt, etc.

Gracie can pump her own legs to swing now!!  She still requests one push to start her off but then she can take it from there, which is very nice for me.  =)

Grandma Jayne and Grandpa Bob got them scooters last year but they were a bit big for them so we put them in the attic.  We got them down this week and they are LOVING them!!  There is a neighbor girl that rides her scooter on our street quite a bit and the girls always admire her.  Ava even drew a picture of her:

So to have scooters of their own now is very exciting to them.  =)

They have also been riding their bikes quite a bit.  We live on a very quiet, dead-end street with only 8 houses so it is perfect to ride bikes on, especially during the day when most of our neighbors are at work.  

We meet friends at the park by our house about once a week.  Yesterday there were caterpillars everywhere so they each caught one on a stick. 

The girls played with theirs for about 4 hours...at which time the caterpillars gave up on life, having been picked up, dropped, petted, and squished to death.  I saw Gracie petting hers and quietly singing 'Go to sleep...go to sleep...' 

Ava's was tiny.

R.I.P. 

Antlers and Gracie Caterpillar

Home on the Range

We had a great time last week visiting Donnie and Rene's 'closer house' (versus the 'far-away house') as the girls say.

Gorgeous weather.  The clouds were amazing that day!

 

 

 

Triplets!