Aahhhhh

Andrew took this picture of himself a couple of weeks ago.  I thought it was pretty cute.  I always have loved his cute little baby teeth, but they are starting to fall out now.  Bittersweet.

Happy Birthday Craig!

Happy 34th!  We LOVE you!!

Andrew's Birthday

I just pulled out a box of old pictures, most of which are prints. Remember those?!  I now feel the overwhelming desire to look through them all.

Here's a peek at one of them. Andrew on his 1st birthday!

And here is Andrew near his 7th birthday! My how he's grown.

Andrew had a fun few days of celebrating. A few days before, we took him to a local restaurant that he'd been wanting to try, Soda Steve's. It is a really fun place with yummy food, but he was too interested in gifts to enjoy the food much.

He got this Webkinz he'd asked for. I got it for him knowing that his stuffed animal playing days are so limited... They will be gone all too soon. :( So, I'm going to relish in it for the moment. :)

From Grandma and Grandpa he got his first Bible.  He's already getting it broken in, which thrills me.  He also got Toy Story 3, which has been a hit for the whole family.

The next day, Craig took Andrew for the day.  He had an errand to run, which was halfway across the state, so they got to eat out twice and take a stroll through Bass Pro Shop.  I think they both enjoyed that time together a lot.

Then on the big day, we got to go see Nana and Papa, Granny and Grandad.  We shared a yummy meal and the cake Andrew requested, Red Velvet Cheesecake!  Of course, the gifts were a big highlight again.  He got some really cool educational toys that will teach him tons, a solar system model and a microscope.  We look forward to using them in our school studies.

Overall, I'd say Andrew was celebrated quite well this year...

Andrew is still quite witty, and so smart.  He amazes me continuously with his pure common sense.  Something that will serve him well in life.  Oh how I wish I had recorded every little thing he has said!  We are so proud of him!  He is an amazing little brother and best friend to Josh, as well as a wonderful big brother to Nathan.  He would tell you, that is one thing that makes him special.  He has both a big brother and a little brother.  :)  We are thankful to have a front row seat to watch what God will do with and through our precious Andrew.

We love you Andrew!  Happy 7th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Today, our boy Andrew, turns 7 years old.  There is so much more I'd like to post in honor of his day, but my camera and computer are not cooperating.  Besides, I should have even more to share after today...so I guess I will just wait.  I just wanted to be sure and say HAPPY  BIRTHDAY ANDREW early in the day.  We love you so much!

More later......

Robber's Cave (part 2)

Ha!  You thought I would never finish posting these pictures didn't you?  Gee, this trip was only a month ago....  What's the hurry?

We really enjoyed exploring Robber's Cave and would love to go back again sometime.  The thing is...we didn't exactly know what to expect, and I'd say it is not a good place for young children due to the rugged terrain.  When we first went out to explore we had the camera and the baby.  The next day, I didn't take a camera because it was a little rainy, and Nathan got to stay with "Bob" and "Gram" (my uncle and aunt).  I did take a few pictures with my phone, but you know I don't have those uploaded to my computer...... :)  So, I hope you enjoy these 'few' from our first little expedition.  Believe it or not, I have a LOT more I didn't post.

Right after this picture was taken, Nathan stepped in some mud and lost his shoe.  Nice start to our adventure.... :/

These beautiful berries were everywhere.

I believe the portion of the rock to the left in this picture is called "The Devil's Slide."  Not a full picture of it.  If you look very carefully, you can see a couple of climbers near the top.  They aren't ours, by the way...

There are MANY caves and crevices to explore.

When we reached the actual Robber's Cave it was a very steep descent to get to it.  I initially said I'd stay at the top with Nathan and not let him go in, but he wanted to so bad.  Daddy to the rescue carried him down, which made me soooo nervous!  It wasn't just nervousness for Nathan's safety, but I sure don't want Craig messing up his newly repaired shoulder.  Thankfully, all went well.

Ignore the man, boy and dog in the background....we don't know them.  Do you ever wonder where your picture might be plastered because you were in the background of someone's picture?  I would have cropped them out, but who has time to edit, right?

Inside Robber's Cave.

Andrew is exploring a deep crevice found inside the cave.

Do you think maybe someone got tired?

"Bob" waiting at the top.

The view was beautiful, the pictures don't do it justice.

This little monkey ended up way across from us on a different ledge, with The Devil's Slide separating us.

They'd found their way to the rooftop of Robber's Cave.

See...

I got the pleasure of carrying the Littlest Monkey down off the mountain.  All the while, vowing we'd come back without him later.

I love this picture!  I'm thinking about making a refrigerator magnet out of it to go in our trailer.

I thought this picture of Carter, on our drive back to camp, turned out pretty cool.

I'm sad that I was not able to take my camera when we returned the next day.  We saw some really neat rock formations, and it was a lot of fun.  I recommend it for anyone looking for a little adventure.

Robber's Cave (part 1)

Last weekend we had the pleasure of going camping along with my aunt and uncle and their grandson, Carter, who is one year older than Josh.  We had plans to visit Natural Falls State Park, but when we called, they said their park was full for the days we planned to stay.  So, we headed for another nearby State Park that we've been wanting to visit, Robber's Cave.  When we arrived, we found that our only option for camping side by side was in the Equestrian Campground, and even that was iffy.  We drove around until we found the last two side by side spots, and finally got set up facing each other so we had a nice little shared outdoor area.

Our trailer is on the right and their motor home is on the left.  At one point, we had both our awnings out, but since our fire pit was directly underneath, we put one back in.  : )

There were MANY horses literally in our back door window.  Here are a couple of them.

I'm not kidding about "literally" out our back window.  This picture was taken from inside our trailer without a zoom.  We actually felt quite at home with the smell and number of flies in the air. 

Just a cute shot of Andrew tying his shoes.

The first night, we had a campfire and made s'mores.  Nathan thought that was quite fun.

Needless to say, this camping experience was not as primitive as some of our previous trips.  "Bob" & "Gram" brought the i-Pad, which was a hit with the big boys.

I have a lot more pictures to share of the actual "Robber's Cave." The leaves were beautiful and it is definitely a fun place to visit. More next time.....

It's Math-U-See

As I have mentioned before, Josh is starting a new math program.  It is called Math-U-See and is right up his visual alley, so to speak.  As the name suggests, it is math you can actually see, hold, and touch with manipulatives.  We have backed him up quite a bit further than he might have needed to go in hopes of giving him a good running start into the more difficult operations.  These pictures show how they (Andrew is using this program too) are learning place value.  The green boxes represent units (or ones), the blue bars are tens, and the red squares are hundreds.  So the first picture shows 165.

Both Josh and Andrew are very much enjoying doing math this way.  There are other blocks that we use for addition that include color coded bars for 2-9 as well.  Won't they become dependent on the visuals, you ask?  I hope not.  The designer of this program assures they will not, since we always Build, Write AND Say each problem.  We take in as many senses as possible, even making up creative stories to help the material sink in.

 Because we are doing pretty easy stuff right now, it's hard to say how effective it will be in the long run, but I have a good feeling about it.  All I know for sure, is that they LOVE when it's time for math now.  Before, with Josh, love was the furthest thing from his mind when it came time for math.  Happy kids make for a happy teacher/Mama!

Look Who Turned Two!

Our sweet boy, Nate, is officially a two year old! Of course it is hard to believe how big our baby has gotten. He is truly a joy to everyone he meets. He enjoyed Elmo cupcakes on his big day, and a couple of his favorite gifts include an Elmo puppet and a toy microphone. I still would really like to be able to post a video of him singing on here, but I'm just not too good with the video technology. I know I need to get with the program!

As you can probably tell from these pictures, Nathan is quite a little ham. Though, he does have a mean streak! He can tackle his big brothers and get them in a choke hold quicker than you can say mercy. Okay, not really. But he can play pretty rough at times, which is new to us, because the older boys have never been overly physical. He also has a very sweet side and gives great hugs and kisses.

He is still VERY attached to his paci and blankie (which go together at all times). I am planning to work on the big break away of those soon, but have not nailed down a definite time yet. He is showing some interest in the potty, so we have a little glimmer of hope for an early trainer in that department!

What a delight Nathan is in our home. How did we ever survive without him?! It's been a fun two years and we look forward to many, many, many more!

Happy Birthday Nathan! We LOVE you!

Catching Up With the Latest

I have had several inquire as to why I've stopped blogging. I technically haven't stopped, but just happened to have not blogged in a very long time. Nothing is wrong. We are all fine and I'm sorry to have concerned anyone. The truth is, I guess there are more people out there reading this than I realize. You see.....if you all would leave comments to let me know you've been here, then I MIGHT be more motivated to write more. Just sayin'...... :) And those who DO leave comments, thank you!

[sidenote: For those of you who still don't know that you can leave comments HERE on the blog, just look underneath the bottom of this post and click on the word 'comments'. This will open a text box and you can leave the comment there without signing up for anything by selecting anonymous. Just be sure to put your name in the text box so I know who you are. :)]

I have sat down a couple of times and tried to blog. Writer's block I guess.... And I don't want to sound like a broken record with excuses for how long it's been. But....I'm still doing that I suppose.

Maybe the best place to start would be with a general update on life....

Yes, we are in the throes of homeschooling, and it's true that has kept me away from the computer and blogging quite a lot. My last post was about school starting and my nervousness about that. Some of my fears were realized on the second day of school when Josh and I both ended up in tears. I went through a little miniature crisis of faith in what I was doing by homeschooling, but thankfully the crisis ended quickly. I did some research and praying. God answered, and we were able to meet up with a former high school classmate of Craig's, who's degree is in brain development and learning theories. She's just the kind of professional help we needed! We confirmed what we really already knew, that Josh is very bright, has an AMAZING memory, and is extremely visual. We learned that our current curriculum is great for him in all subjects EXCEPT for math. We're now doing a new math program called Math-U-See and so far, so good! Even Andrew is doing it with us and is loving it.

My other concern with school had been handling having a two year old underfoot. Again, God has provided amazingly, and there have been very few times when I have had all three home alone with me. Why and HOW pray tell, you ask, did that happen??

Well.....on August 19th, Craig had rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder after injuring it at work. (He had his left done almost two years ago and we're hoping now he'll be anchored really solid from the shoulders ;) So from that day until September 3, Craig was home everyday and could take care of watch cartoons with Nathan while the big boys and I had school. Then, even after Craig returned to work, he was working evenings and was still home during school hours everyday! Isn't God good that way? This week he has been working some days and we've been on our own a little more, but it hasn't been too bad. :)

In case you are wondering how Craig is doing with his recovery, he seems to be doing well. He has a follow up appointment next week and hopes to be released to begin physical therapy then. He has to keep his arm in a sling when he is out and about now. His previous surgery recovered very nicely and we expect the same from this one.

I do actually have quite a few pictures to share, although I have slacked off tremendously with picture taking recently. I have a feeling I'll get fired back up real soon though, with Autumn in the air. We took a fun day trip to the zoo while Craig was off work, and we participated in the unveiling of his mom and step dad's new swimming pool. Both of these events were well documented, pictorially speaking. Hopefully I will let go of my need for editing every picture I post and just get them up here soon. :)

Here's a little preview:



I thought this would be an appropriate picture to represent my lack of blogging. :D
Don't you think?

P.S. I would like to give a shout out to my niece Gracie. She's 11 years old today! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! We love you!

Sowing Seeds

Seriously....will I ever become a "regular" blogger?

Probably not, although I wish that I would.

I think it could be fun..... It would be neat to expand beyond the regular "bragging on the kids" kind of posts. But in order to do that, I would have to do one of two things a.) Do something of interest to others regularly (key word: regularly), or b.) Be willing to "bare all" so to speak.

In all honesty, I've been too overwhelmed to blog regularly anyway. Perhaps though, if I'd take the time to do it, and open myself up....it would be therapeutic. Maybe...

So what, you ask, am I so overwhelmed about? Many things actually. But to get specific about one area is school.

I find myself daily questioning what on earth I'm doing with the homeschool thing, more so this year than any other. It's different this year. Josh is in 4th grade!! And Andrew is in 1st! And Nathan is soon to be TWO!!!

So I find myself thinking...."but lots of people homeschool multiple children while having littles around... What's the big deal? You can do it. God will equip you."

And I know these things are all true. I know that things don't have to be "perfect."

It's just.....

I hope I'm doing the best thing for these boys. Which I believe I am. {sidenote: That is NOT to say that I think other ways of educating children is wrong. I do not want this post to come across as judgemental to anyone! Is that straight? Good. :)}

It's just.....

I hope I don't mess them up.

It's just.....

I hope I end up reaping more than I am sowing.

So that reminds me.... I always hear that saying, "you reap what you sow." But that's not really true is it? Because somewhere just the other day I read, "you reap MORE than you sow."

Think about it.

You plant a tiny seed. It grows. It makes a huge plant. It produces dozens (if not hundreds) of fruit.

That's just like God isn't it?

All He asks is that we have the faith of a mustard seed. That tiny amount of faith then leads to big, God sized things that only He could do.

To be quite frank... If this schooling thing goes well at all? If these children come through as unscathed, upstanding, God-fearing individuals? It will be testimony to the graciousness of my Lord.

That's what it's all about. He asks us to do more than we alone are capable of, so that He can be the One to do the work and receive the Glory.

Why is this so hard to accept sometimes? It's much easier when I do...
-----------

Well now....that little pep talk wasn't so bad, now was it? Thanks.

While we're still on the subject.......

Here are a few pictures from the first day of school, which was yesterday. You know I couldn't have a post without pictures!

It will be interesting to see when they no longer grow at the same rate. It seems that Josh always stays about a head taller than Andrew.


Bookworm loves to read.


An artist at work. (Does he not have the most gorgeous hair?)

Watermelon, Watermelon, Watermelon Rind

I have no idea where that came from... Was it in a song? An old saying? All I know is I heard it my whole life.

A little over a week ago we went "camping" in our recently purchased travel trailer. I'm telling you....that's the way to camp! A/C rocks! But anyway.....

Craig's dad and stepmom came up for the day and brought a watermelon. The boys were thrilled! It's one of their summertime favorites. And really...is there anything that screams summertime more than watermelon?? I think not, even though I'm not a huge fan of it myself. I still enjoy watching everyone else enjoy it.

Just see for yourself....



Can you taste the refreshment?



Sometimes even a little guy just needs a moment alone with his watermelon.



Ahhh!



Yummy!



This is the life!



Isn't this fun Grandpa?



Uh oh! You know what's coming right?



Yep! Seed spitting.



Precious Memories!