Celebrating our first week of school . . .

About half-way through the week, I decided that we needed to start a tradition of having a Friday night family time of sharing what we did in school each week. This particular week, I made a blueberry pie and homemade icecream sandwiches to celebrate our "first" week of the school year. Martin recited his memory verse for the week: And then he sang his Bible song, and he recited the poem(complete with hand motions) that he learned this week:Aaron recited his memory verse, and sang his Bible song: Jonathan shared that he learned the letter G this week: (okay so it was really the letter A that he learned. . . but at least he's not too far off! LOL)
Once they did their recitations, we walked around our dinner table and got to look at all that they did during the week. I put out all their worksheets, art projects, history timelines, journals, copy work, and handwriting samples. It took up the entire table. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it. I'll have to do that next week. It was a challenging week for me to juggle schooling two of them while also tending to the spirited two year old, and a nursing infant, but once I put everything out on the table and saw all that we accomplished in only one week . . . WOW, it was rewarding! So, I think I may just have to lay it all out like that each week, just as an encouragement! I love our new curriculum. It challenges them to think and has lots of fun hands on activities to engage their minds. I am so thankful that I found this gem!

Once we were done with the presentations, we enjoyed a yummy treat of homemade ice cream sandwiches. I'll be posting how I made those later this week!

More pool fun . . .

While in Virginia, we were at my sister's house almost everyday playing in her pool. We had so much fun! Here are a few more pictures of the fun we had. We all had to take turns swinging them. . .it was Uncle Wes's turn!

This is Lauren . . . she only came up for air . . .and then it was back down again. It was hard to get a picture of her because she would only come up for a second and then she was back down again.

I was able to catch her real quick before she went back under water!

She takes great pictures when there is no water nearby!!

Martin writes a list for me. . .

Rich was making a cheese and egg english muffin the other day, and Martin overheard me tell Rich that I wanted to watch him make it, so that I could learn how to do it. Then I got busy taking care of Rosalie and missed the most important part. Martin overheard me say that I missed it. So, he got a piece of paper, and made a list for me with instructions on how to make it.
The list said:
1. cut cheese.
2. make eggs
3. Put cheese on muffin.

I don't know how I ever cooked without him!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Last week was my mom's birthday! She turned 58 years young.
I was able to be in Virginia for her birthday. My sister and I planned to have a picture taken of all of our children together for my mom's gift. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get me and my four children out the door (my mom's door) without mom knowing where we are going? She was TOTALLY suspect of me! She knew something was up. . . but played along with it. It didn't help that as we were walking down the stairs of my mom's house, Martin asked me if we were going to get the picture taken now!
Anyway, I met my sister at the mall and we took the children to The Picture People to have the picture taken. It was a challenge to have a picture taken with 7 children. However, 6 of the 7 children were cooperating just fine. If you follow my blog, you might be able to guess which child was not cooperating! Jonathan loves to have his picture taken at home. . . but when I take him to a studio he does his VERY best at trying NOT to smile. I did just about everything I could think of to get him to smile . . . I even bribed him with fast food. (you have to know that's a big deal for me. . . since we generally stay away from it!)

Nothing was working. . . UNTIL . . . I spied a red airplane. I asked if we could pull that out. Once we pulled the airplane out. . . Jonathan was all smiles!

This is the one we chose for my mom

This is when we gave her the picture . . .she was surprised that we didn't coordinate outfits. . . it looks like we did!

She loved the picture!!

Rosalie is 6 months Old!!!

Hard to believe it, but she's 6 months old today! She is just starting to sit up unassisted. . . but with plenty of padding nearby to catch her when she loses balance. She has two bottom teeth. She is a happy little girl and we all love her so much! She is a blessing and I can't thank God enough for her!!

The First Day Of School with a TWIST . . .

Today was the first day of school at Holland Family Homeschool. It was a very exciting day for us because we started a brand new curriculum. . . that we are all excited about, AND it was Aaron's first day of Kindergarten!
I wanted to take the typical "first day of school" pictures with my children. . . you know the one where the child is sitting on the front porch with the back pack on . . . and a new outfit (Okay, so no new outfit, but he picked one of his favorite outfits)

walking away waving to me. . .

And here they are walking into their "school"

Happy Anniversary!

Today is Rich's parents' Anniversary!!

This picture was taken July 19, 1997

Happy 46th Anniversary to you! I hope that you both have a wonderful day celebrating 46 years of marriage. We love you both!