1st Day of School 2018-2019

My sweet girl is starting 4th grade! She absolutely loves school! She is such a sweet student. I'm so thankful to be her teacher! She is doing Heart of Dakota Preparing Hearts for His Glory. She loves math. I love that she loves math and I hope that will continue!

Jonathan begins his first year of middle school! Jonathan will be the first to tell you that he doesn't like school. While this may be true, there are things that he actually does enjoy. He has always enjoyed science and history. He's always been quite good at math. He is absolutely loving have a desk in his own room. He sits at his desk is able to work without being disturbed.

This is Aaron's first year of high school. HIGH SCHOOL! I have two in high school this year. How did that happen? Aaron is taking World Geography, Earth Science, Algebra, Logic, Spanish, World Religion and Culture, and Literature/Grammar/Composition. This year should be quite a challenge for him. He says that his favorite course so far is Logic.

11th grade, people! What in the world? Martin is taking English 11, Geometry, US History, Bible, Spanish II, Chemistry, Economics, and Finance. He doesn't particularly love school, but he's an excellent student. He is meticulous and conscientious about his work. He is becoming more and more responsible every day. Rich and I both rely heavily on him and he never lets us down. He is learning to drive and is very close to getting his drivers license. I'm praying that all of my children will grow in knowledge and wisdom this school year.

The Lava Tubes

Living out west in the great state of Arizona brings with it lots of opportunity for adventure! Before Rich started at GCU and after we got mostly moved in and settled, we decided to take a daytrip to Flagstaff for a fun family fieldtrip! We left the Valley and headed north. We were amazed at how a short 2 1/2 hour drive north brought us to a completely different climate and ecosystem! We left the desert for the gorgeous northern Arizona mountains and forest! It was 35 degrees cooler in Flagstaff!

Our adventure for this day was to explore the lava cave!  The cave was completely dark. We had to have plenty of flashlights!

We had so much fun! The cave is about a mile long. We rested several times along the way. The path is fairly rocky and wet in some areas, so we had to be very careful. It was about 42 degrees inside the cave! That was a nice break from the 110 degree weather we had been experiencing in the desert!

Several times we rested, took pictures, and turned our flashlights off to experience darkness.

We had so much fun exploring the cave. None of us had ever done anything quite like this before. I'm so thankful for this family of mine. The children were thanked us repeatedly for bringing them on this little day trip. (I love a grateful heart!) And it was just fun to be together!

The views on the way and back from Flagstaff were incredible! The landscape of Arizona is so different than anything we've ever known. What a joy it is to experience a different area of God's creation!

Spring Baskets 2014

For those of you reading about our tradition of Spring Baskets you may want to read my previous posts about Spring Baskets. We give out Spring Baskets on the first day of Spring instead of giving Easter Baskets on Resurrection Day. I started that tradition on the first day of Spring in 2003, when my oldest child was almost a year old. I'm so glad that I did. It's such a fun tradition!
Other posts about Spring Baskets:
Spring Baskets 2011
Spring Baskets 2012

I can't believe that even my almost 12 year old hasn't tired of this fun Spring tradition!
I'm so thankful for these 4 children. They are such a joy to me!
Happy Spring to all of you! It's been a long winter!

Bricksburgh

Our boys never tire of legos. They have collected so many  legos over the years that they are now forming new creations out of them and building entire towns.

This town is called Bricksburgh

I'd much rather they build with legos than stare at a screen!

Busy, busy, busy

It's been a ghost town here at Holland Happenings! We are fully in the swing of the 2013-2014 school year and we are staying busy! We are already 13 weeks into our school year! It's flying this year. Everyone is doing well with their school and so far attitudes have been great too! Jonathan has finished a full phonics program and has now moved on to emerging readers and I'm so happy with his progress. He has struggled a great deal with learning how to read which is completely unlike my first two boys. Jonathan and I both have had a learning curve with this reading thing!  

She can make me crazier than all three boys put together  - and yet she can have me laughing and crying tears of joy within 10 seconds. This girls is a truly a bundle of joy. She can hold her own with the boys and can play soldier games like none other - but she is as girly as they come and tenderhearted to boot. She is quick to challenge me when she doesn't what to do what I ask, but is just as quick to say how sorry she is for how she acted. I'm so blessed that she is mine.

This is a normal day at my house, folks.

I'm so thankful. 

This is just a bonus picture...because she's just so darn cute.

We've had a busy couple of months. School is intense this year in the amount of time required of me. It's good, though. It's so very good. I do have days that I wish that I did not have to teach - and we have plenty of days when attitudes are not the best. I struggle with my own attitude on days like that and I have urges to chase the school bus down, so that someone else can assign them their dreaded work. All that said - when my attitude is as it should be - I am always so grateful that my children are at home with me.  They are the blessings ... I am the blessed.

Age Appropriate Chores

One of the reasons that our last school year was hard for me - was  because I was so overwhelmed with the insurmountable to do list that I had each and every day. So many of my hours each day are spent schooling the children. Now that all of them are doing school, I spend a dedicated 5 hours of school each day, going back and forth between the 4 children. So, I developed a chore chart with age appropriate chores for each child. I put the chore chart in a clear dry eraser folder, so that after the children complete the chore they can check it off the list.

They all seem to be a little like me in that they enjoy checking things off the list.
It has already made a huge difference in how our day goes. I don't feel as rushed to get everything done nor do I feel as tired. The children are learning important life skills and responsibility. Win-Win.  So far, they are all responding well to the new responsibility - even though the list may seem extensive the chores are spread out throughout the entire weeks, so it never takes them very long to complete each task. With 4 people helping out around the house it sure does make my day easier!

They have a list of chores to complete each day with some of those repeating and others are once or twice a week type chores.

The age appropriate chores are as follows:

Rosalie - (4 years)  make bed, brush teeth, get dressed, brush hair, clean room, clear table after supper, clean table, set table, clean under bed, tidy up the shoe shelf in the garage, clean baseboards

Jonathan - (6 years) - make bed, brush teeth, get dressed, sweep floor in kitchen and living room, unload dishwasher, clean baseboards, put laundry away, set table, collect and empty trash cans on trash day, clear table

Aaron - (8 years) make bed, brush teeth, get dressed, clean the trash can, load dishes in dishwasher after lunch, load dishes in dishwasher after supper, unload dishwasher, wipe down toilets, wipe down bathroom counters, collect and organize recycle bin and take to the curb on trash day, laundry - wash Rosalie's and his clothes, put them in dryer, fold, and put away, dust end tables and piano, vacuum as needed

Martin - (11 years) - make bed, brush teeth, get dressed, unload dishwasher, wipe down toilets, wipe down counters in bathrooms, check trash daily and take out as needed, mop floor, load lunch and supper dishes in the dishwasher, laundry - (his and Jonathan's) wash, dry, fold, and put away, vacuum the living room rug, vacuum the couch and under the couch, vacuum the stairs, vacuum other carpeted rooms,

Oh Yes I Did!

Last week, Rich went out of town for a few days. I had some errands that I had to run, so we were out all afternoon before we had to go to our church small group that night. I told the children that I would take them somewhere for supper and that it would be the silliest supper they have ever had. I told them that it was so silly that they were going to want to take my temperature when we got there.

I took them to SweetFrog Yogurt shop and we had frozen yogurt for supper. Yes. I did that. Crazy. I know! Sometimes you just gotta have dessert for supper. So, we did.

We are having a fun summer.

Not ready for it to end.

Trip to Kentucky

My Mom grew up in the beautiful Northeastern mountainous part of Kentucky.  I grew up spending every vacation my Dad ever got traveling to Kentucky to visit all of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Since I got married and moved away from all of our family, I've only been to Kentucky a couple of times. Understandably, whenever Rich and I have the chance to travel, we travel to where our parents are. The older our children get, the harder it is to go away. So, my children have grown up not knowing their extended family. My Mom has been wanting us to go back to KY with her for a long time...and we finally made it happen!! We spent 4 days visiting with extended family...and it was an AMAZING 4 days! We had such a great time! We stayed with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Jeff. (My Mom's sister. She is 13 years younger than my Mom and only 9 years older than me) She has 3 teenage daughters that are 14, 16, and 19. Mariah, Madison, and Mackenzie were incredibly with my 4 kiddos. From the time we got there until the time we left they paid so much attention to my children that all four of them did NOT want to leave! The girls played with them in the pool, taught them card games, gave them their phones so that they could play games on their phones, and so much more!

Mariah works at a yogurt shop and we had the opportunity to visit Mariah at work and enjoy some frozen yogurt. My children had never gone to a frozen yogurt shop, so this was a brand new experience for them and they could not believe the buffet of toppings that they had to choose from to put on their frozen yogurt! 

On one of the nights that we were there, Linda invited the entire extended family to come over for a cookout. My children had no idea they had so many cousins! It was such a blessing for me to see all of my cousins and get to meet their sweet children! It was so much fun to watch the huge group of cousins play cards and spend time with each other. 

The children enjoyed swimming in my aunt's pool each day. Jonathan went from not being able to swim at the beginning of the summer to becoming a very good swimmer! He swims under water, jumps in, and recently showed me that he can do 3 flips under water without coming up for air! This is the same boy that still didn't believe that arm floaties would keep him from sinking just last summer. This is the same boy that screamed like a girl when a drop of water touched his face last summer. We've come a long way.

I love how all 4 of my children are bombarding my aunt while she tries to relax on a float.

We were so excited to go spend a few hours with my great aunt and uncle. I can't remember the last time I got to see them! Going to see Aunt Ginny and Uncle Gay was one of my most favorite things to do growing up. They are still as fun as they always were and I'm so grateful that my children got to meet them. They still grow a huge garden each year and we were able to eat some fresh veggies from their garden while we were there. While we were chatting Jonathan starting melting down with tears because he was hungry. So I asked my aunt if she had a tomato. Jonathan loves tomatoes. She cut up a tomato for him and he ate every bite! She also sent him home with one. He was one happy little boy! I'm so thankful that we were able to spend those few days visiting family. My children were already asking me when we were going to come back before we even left. 

Trip to Virginia

We were able to go to Virginia early in June and we had a great time! We spent most of the days at my sister's pool!

Jonathan decided that he would swim. And he did. It took me the first almost 6 years of his life to convince him that arm floaties would keep him from sinking. He finally believed me last summer. This year, he decided to take them off and swim, and sure enough he was swimming within 10 seconds. It's so much easier to just wait until Jonathan decides something than to try and convince him!

He may be stubborn, strong willed, and a hot mess sometimes ... but I sure do love this little guy!

Perfection in capturing this little girl's personality. 

We also spent a day at Busch Gardens

The weather was perfect, the lines were fairly short! It was a fantastic day!

The children had so much fun!

We rode pretty much everything that could be ridden! Rosalie rode the roller coaster (for children) and she said, "That was the best roller coaster I have ever ridden!" Too funny, since it was the only one she'd ever ridden! The second time she rode it, she said, "That was even better the second time!"

Martin is my roller coaster loving child! There is not a roller coaster that he will not ride. He was very excited that he was tall enough to ride all of them! I rode them all with him too! We had a blast. I was quite fearful of the one that had a drop that was at 90 degree angle. But I suffered through it, and he thought it was amazing!

Aaron was big enough to ride some of the roller coasters and he loved the ones he could ride. It was so much fun riding those rides with my children!! Mom and Dad came with us as well as my sister and her family! It was a great day!

Strawberry Picking

So let's be real! Why do you think the children really like to go strawberry picking? 

The ice cream, of course!

And how cool is it that we let them have ice cream in the morning? My Mom and Dad were in town, so we all went strawberry picking together!

We actually did get around to strawberry picking ... eventually!

End of the 2012-2013 school year

This was definitely my most challenging school year, but somehow we managed to make it. I suppose it was hard on me trying to juggle Kindergarten, 3rd grade, and 5th grade while also trying to keep Rosalie busy. We also added a few things into our schedule this past year that kept us busy. All three boys were tested this year and are doing incredibly well academically. They are all testing above grade level in most areas.  Aaron finished the 3rd grade!

Jonathan finished Kindergarten! He loves math and he loves listening to me read to him. He does not love reading, but is doing very well with reading too.

Rosalie has learned to write all of the letters and also knows all the sounds the letters make. She is an eager learner and wants to be doing school with the big boys. I am doing everything I can to hold her off a little longer, but she will probably be doing a little bit this coming year along with Jonathan. Mostly, I she will be listening to me read and continuing to do some writing. She really enjoys learning how to write and has excellent fine motor skills.

Martin finished 5th grade!!! I have a middle schooler! It's so hard to believe that I am done with the elementary years with him! He had an outstanding year and I am so pleased with how independent he has become with his work. We had to juggle schedules and distractions but he worked it all out and finished well! He is a hard worker and I am thankful for that! His math skills have drastically improved this year. He went from barely testing on grade level last school year to testing a grade level ahead this year. His reading and writing skills are a couple years ahead of grade level. He's really doing well! His favorite subjects are History and Science.