Birthday Take 2

We made a last minute decision to take a day trip to VA to so that we could be with GraceAnn for her birthday celebration. Since GraceAnn and Jonathan were born within days of each other we made it a double birthday party. 

The cousin twins

Minecraft cake!! 

And we have more legos! What else would you get an 8 year old boy?
Fun times!

Hillridge Farms

This was my 11th year in a row going to Hillridge Farms. The first year we came Martin was only 2! 

Fun at the duck races. Aaron won every time.

I insisted that Martin play like he's never played before. He's starting to pull back from playing because he's getting older. I understand it, but at the same time…I want him to still be a kid! He had a great day! (until he lost his leatherman tool…but that's another story - no worries, though - there is a happy ending)

What can be more fun than playing in a house of corn?

We had another fantastic day at Hillridge Farms! I am one blessed Mom!

Jonathan's 8th Birthday

I cannot believe my 3rd child is 8! Please stop the clock! These precious children are growing up so fast! Jonathan is such a spirited little guy. He is strong willed, stubborn, full or energy, and he loves reading the Bible. He has a wonderful 8th birthday and here are some pictures of what we did that day!

Of course - we opened presents as soon as everyone was awake! He got lots of legos, a new dinosaur, and a new Bible. His old Bible was barely hanging on even after repairing it with duct tape. He was so excited to receive a new one!

Camouflage is Jonathan's favorite thing to wear and he got this very awesome camouflage jacket!

Martin lit the candles of the cake that Jonathan helped decorate!

For those of you who follow our family traditions…
This year, Jonathan chose to have a birthday breakfast instead of birthday lunch with Daddy. He went to the Waffle House. He also chose Ravioli and Sauce for his birthday Dinner at home. 

Homeschooling Co-op

On this super rainy October day, our co-op painted pumpkins. 

We also had group piano time!

Our smallest member of co-op!!

Such creativity in our group!

Homeschooling Moments

We are 13 weeks into our homeschool year and I am very happy with our progress. I have been taking pictures here and there of the things that we are doing, so this post is a collection of moments that we've had over the last few weeks. Martin and Aaron do a lot of their work independently now, so I am spending a great deal of time with my younger two and giving them a good solid start. Rosalie is learning how to read. She loves handwriting and anything hands on. She loves the art projects that we do the best! 

Jonathan is doing very well in the 2nd grade. His reading has really taken off this year. He enjoys the hands on projects as well. His favorite part is doing the experiments that go with our science lessons.
I'm so thankful for these two!

A Family Trip To Busch Gardens

We had the opportunity to visit our VA family in September and got to go to Busch Gardens for the day while we were there. We had such a fun day!

Rosalie and Jonathan

Aaron and Lauren

We went on a Friday toward the end of September - we hardly had to wait in a single line! It was fabulous!

We call these three the triplets. Jonathan, GraceAnn, and Rosalie are inseparable when they are together. I love how much they love each other.

Homeschool Co-op Fall Leaves

We started a homeschooling Co-op this year that we are absolutely loving!  The purpose of the group is scripture accountability, community, and worldview. We are working through a worldview book together, studying scriptures, memorizing scripture, and building friendships. We also do crafts, P.E., and fun field trips. This week we made a fun fall craft in addition to the scripture and worldview study.

It was fun to see how different each of the leaves turned out!

Some of them contained detailed patterns like the one above.

Some of them started out with a detailed pattern and then just threw a bunch of glue in the middle and dumped beans down on top of the glue. 

And there were some that finished really quickly. They glued a few beans on and saw how time consuming it was and then called theirs done! It was a lot of fun! And it certainly wouldn't have been fall unless we included a fun fall treat. We had pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!