A Play Date at the Farm

We have gotten to know a wonderful family not too far from us that run a very small family farm. They have 2 boys that are around the ages of Martin and Aaron and we love getting together with them especially when we can go to their farm and enjoy the farm life with them! They have several goats, a calf that was just born in December, a couple of dogs, and chickens. We finally got to meet their sweet little calf, Cinnamon, last week. Oh, how sweet she is!

She was a little timid at first, but she warmed up quickly and began to follow Rosalie around.

While Rosalie and I were getting acquainted with Cinnamon, the boys were setting up their bases for their war game. 

For awhile, Rosalie had no idea that Cinnamon was following her around ... she was surprised when she turned around and saw the calf right behind her!

We are so thankful to have these wonderful friends and are so thankful we get to roam among their chickens, goats, and calf while we are there. It's so much fun!

(I wish I had a picture to share of the boys ... but they scattered almost immediately upon arriving and stayed busy until we left)

Family Night by the Fire

It took awhile to get a good fire going - most of our wood was damp. We finally got a good fire going, though and we had a great night!

Some of our neighbors joined in on the fun too!

We roasted hot dogs - and had a our meal outside. It was so much fun! I usually make hot dog buns, but the decision to roast hot dogs was too last minute of a decision for me to make them ... and then I forgot to put them on the list. But it just so happened that I had made fresh flour tortillas that day - so we improvised and used those instead! And they LOVED it that way. They liked it much better than using hot dog buns! We had so much fun eating outside and enjoying the spring-like weather! The children had already spent the entire day playing outside - so this was a great way to end the day!

Cloth Diapers for the Baby Dolls

I promised a while ago and just didn't have the time to do it, but I finally did it! I made cloth diapers for Rosalie's baby dolls. I made about 9 of them. It only took about an hour. They were super easy to throw together and I had lots of scrap materials and supplies left over from my real cloth diaper making days.

Now she can get plenty of practice changing diapers!

Preparing for 6th grade

I can hardly believe the title of this post! How is it possible that I could be preparing for Martin to be a 6th grader? I almost feel like a seasoned homeschooling Mom! Those of you who have been doing this a lot longer than me probably got a kick out of the previous line. One thing is certain - each child that you add to your homeschool is like adding a brand new puzzle that you have to work very hard to figure out.
I love gathering books and preparing for the following school year. I usually start in February. It's almost half way through March and I am just starting the process this year. Thankfully, I use Heart of Dakota and I already know what books that I need. For 6th Grade, Martin will be doing Hearts for Him Through Time: Resurrection To Reformation.

This school year has really been outstanding! We've had our ups and downs just like everyone else - but we've had a really good flow for the most part. Martin has had an outstanding attitude all year long in getting his work done. A complaint seldom comes out of his mouth! I am so thankful!

Every year I have doubted my math choices and every year I've looked into other curriculum choices thinking that maybe I ought to switch and every year my wise husband has urged me to stick with what I am doing. I am so thankful that he encouraged me to stick with it because I have always loved Singapore Math (which is what Martin has been doing since 1st grade) and this has been a really good year for Martin. It seems like we've crossed some sort of threshold of understanding. He just gets it. Not only does he get it - but Singapore is so strong in teaching mental math - that most of the time he's able to figure it out before I can get it all written down to check and see if he's right. Good things are happening in Math!

I loved Preparing Hearts for His Glory that I used for Martin's 4th grade year - I loved the fantastic overview of world history from the ancient to the present. The read a-louds that went along with the history study were excellent. I found it hard to imagine topping that year, but Creation to Christ has been fantastic and I've enjoyed it just as much as I did his 4th grade year. I am super excited that I get to do Preparing Hearts again next school year with Aaron.
Jonathan will be doing Little Hearts for His Glory for 1st grade. Rosalie will be tagging along with Jonathan a little bit, but I will not require any written work from her.(although, she's going to want to do it)
One of the many reasons that I love using Heart of Dakota is because of the thorough study of history.  I love that the younger years give a gentle introduction to history that causes my children to love history without all of the complicated details of ancient history, the lofty topics of mythology, and the violence of all the war.
My children love history as much and maybe even more than I do!
We are about 2/3 of the way through the school year and will be finishing this school year around mid-June. We have our annual testing coming up this week. I take them in March each year instead of waiting until the end of the school year. I prefer to take them in March, so that I can get a good look at their strengths and weaknesses and then adjust the final 1/3 of the school year in a way that will help meet any needs that they may have.
My blog has been terribly neglected, but for good reason.

It's Baseball Time Again!

Aaron starts baseball practice TODAY! He is so excited to start another season of baseball. I am excited for him. He's been practicing and he is ready to go!
He had baseball assessments a week and a half ago and he did really well! He hit every ball that they threw to him except for 1 ... and they were really good hits!
He is going to be on the Rangers team this year and he can't wait.

Rosalie's Birthday

Better late than never - here is Rosalie's 4th birthday post about a month and a half late.
Can you believe she's 4?

She had a very special day and got presents from all of 5 of us, plus her grandparents too!!

I made chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting, a few polka dots, and some minnie mouse fun pix to go in each cupcake.

She got this keepsake treasure box that she was able to paint and decorate. She LOVED this! She had so much fun painting and decorating it!
I am so enormously grateful for this sweet girl of mine. She is so full of joy and has brought so much crazy girl drama into our family. 

Point of View Broadcast

Rich was invited to speak about the History of the 2nd Amendment on the nationally broadcasted Christian Radio show called Point of View. The discussion was this past Wednesday! The older two boys and I listened on my computer while the interview was going on! It was so much fun to listen to it.

If you'd like to hear the discussion with Dr. Rich Holland on Point of View then click here:

Point of View Radio Show

He has so much more he wanted to say about the 2nd amendment - but there just wasn't time. Maybe next time they have him on the show he can cover even more important points about the vital 2nd amendment!