Rocket Boys

We tried what we pinned.
Discovered Pinterest a month ago
and fell in love.

Spotted play rockets someone made for
their young boys
and knew my younger boys would enjoy
them too.

So, we gave it a try...

Turned out great.

They were simple to make.

And easy to wear.

They were the hit of their Halloween parties.

Go here for the original idea.
They have instructions that are clear and easy
to follow. We made only slight changes in making ours.
We used the silver shiny wide tape. We used 2 liter empty
coke bottles, and plastic cheap table cloth cut into strips
for the flames.

Have fun.

Rocket Boys Part 2

Still having a blast with our rockets.

We fly so fast.
We fly so high.

You could not catch us if you tried.
We so fast!

Again, original idea found here.

More October Memories

Smiling inside watching my children
being in awe.
How blessed are we who get to be honored
in raising up children.

Big Brother

Yes, Big Brother I am.

But, also I am me.
Not wanting to be always known
as the Big Brother.

I am a Lego loving, artist creating, and
future award winning writer.
And that is just the beginning.

Just so you know...

Sharing Photos of the Twins

Climbers they are.

Buddies...most of the time.

Fearless with endless smiles.

Forever curious, engineer in training.

October Corn Maze

October just flew by.
Still can not believe it is November.
Have not been able to stop and blog,
living too much.
But, do love to share with family and friends
what we have been up about doing.

Early October always finds us at a corn maze/ pumpkin
patch or two.

Had beautiful weather.

Picking a pumpkin is fun for all.

Looking for that special little pumpkin.

Feeding animals.

Petting animals.

It was a good day.
Many blessings.

Term One Update

My son has excelled, especially

these last few weeks.
He had been frustrated with his reading
and math skills,
shying away from boys in his Cub Scouts
because he felt he was not as smart
as them.
Of course, we reassured him this is not
the case.
But, he has been quite the challenge
everyday with his school work.
So, my husband and I had a meeting with
our 9yr and we talked "school".
It was a come to Jesus meeting for my 9yr.
The three of us discussed goals for
the end of the calendar year.
We formulated a plan.
Thus, the concentration on
language arts and math.

It has made all the difference in the world.

Many blessings.

File Folders

A little file folder fun with our ABC's.

Fun way to start the day.

Even Big Brother gets into the fun.

Many blessings.

Puzzles

We love big floor puzzles in our house.
Just look at that concentration,
tongue and all.

Last piece.

Smiling, like I am shy.

Basketball

Meet the players and the Ref.

He shoots, he scores.

Jump shot. Score is tied.
Who will win?
It is down to the buzzer...

The brothers win!
Hugs all around.

Many Blessings

Being Home

(art by Thomas Kinkade)

It is Saturday.
The twins had their soccer game at 9am.
Then we went home.
Later, did we go out for lunch?
Did we go to a movie or shopping?
No.
We stayed home.
Home.
While many other families are running around
trying to do this and that.
We are at home playing in the dirt,
doing yard work, drawing with side walk chalk,
reading, napping, and light housework.
Yep,
we are doing this and that too,
but we are doing it at home.
Love being at home.

Many blessings.

August 16,2011

Our first day of home school was August 16,2011.
This is our traditional picture.
This year includes the twins.
The oldest is in 3rd grade and the twins are starting pre-k.

Many blessings.

The Orange Shirt

Looking through my pictures and blog post,
something stands out.
It is my oldest and his orange shirt/shirts.
What can I say,
he loves his orange shirts.

Many blessings.

Creative Juices Flowing- Take Two

Not to be out done by big brother,
the twins got to creating themselves.
All by themselves.

I think they did pretty good.
Soon will be giving big brother a run for his money.
Many blessings.

Creative Juices Flowing

My oldest was not seen for hours
late one afternoon in July.
He was in his room creating.
This is his one of many masterpieces.
We love Trio.

My Three Sons

Love my boys.

Battle lines have been drawn.

Men are armed and ready.

No time to run.

The battle has begun.

All fought bravely.

"Mom, can we have a snack?
This battle stuff makes us soldiers hungry?"

Battle halts for popsicles.

Many blessings.

Is it Really September?

Boy! Where has the time gone?
Been away from blog land for two months.
Needed the break.
Sometimes being on the computer can be brain numbing.
I do love blogging though.
It is a nice way for family to keep up with us.
It is a nice way to look back upon little snapshots
of our family life.
I have so much I want to blog about,
so many things to talk about.
And I will,
as soon as I get all our pictures downloaded!
Many blessings.

Why Memorize Scripture?

Simple, but powerful message of why to memorize scripture.
Very inspiring.

Researching and Planning

Planning and Researching for the 2011-2012 year.

My oldest will be in 3rd grade.
The twins are 4 years old, so they are...
well,...
they are 4 years old and everything that comes
with that, smiles.

This is our first year planning
without really knowing what we want.
We just knew that changes needed to be made.

So...
Off to a home school conference we go.
We went with an open mind and a blank canvas.
We had researched lots and now was the time to
question and put our hands on curriculum, lots of curriculum.
Just can not do that over the Internet,smiles.
An expo can be overwhelming, but for
some reason, this year was not.
We took the first day to soak it all in
and look, just look.
No buying.
This can be hard because there is soooo much
out there, soooo much that looks good.
But, we resisted.
If there is one thing we have learned in the 3 years
we have home schooled,
less is more, less is more.
On day two, we made choices that we feel
will fit our family.

This is what we decided on:

Language arts: Rod and Staff- Building English Series
Spelling: All About Spelling level 2
Math: Math-U-See
American history: Truth Quest- Exploration-1800
Science: Real Science 4 Kids- Chemistry and Physics I

We are excited.
Of course, there is Bible, nature studies, hymns,
composer/artist studies, geography, and
reading of books, lots of books.
We love our read aloud
and reading time.

We do not do all of these daily.
Oh no, have learned that lesson the hard way.
And we will not be trying to fit all
of these in our schedule at the beginning of our school year.
Another lesson learned.
Instead, we will ease into our year,
adding things as we go.
With 3 years under our belt,
we have learned to take a slow pace.
There is no rush, this is not a race.
We are not trying to keep up with the Jones.

Bible, reading of books, language arts, spelling, and math
will be our focus at first.
Four days a week.
One day each week will be saved for
field trips, art, nature studies, science experiments,
or anything we fancy.

For the 4 year old twins, we are going to use
Little Hands to Heaven as a guide
with other resources added.
It will be a very relaxed approach.
The twins see big brother doing things
and they want to join in.
This is an answer to that.
It will be fun too.

How will our daily rhythm look when
our home school starts back up?
Not sure.
We are still enjoying the our summer rhythm.
Soaking it all in.