Noah J turns 11!

We finally got to a have a belated birthday dinner to celebrate our Noah J turning 11!  We were on vacation for his actual birthday and he was so, so sad to miss our normal celebration routine.  So now that things settled down and we were available we finally got to have some fun!

Of course the morning started with name pancakes and his favorite Orange Julius.  Even Owen ate a pancake which is not his fave.  He was super excited about all the decorations!

And then we had everybody over to eat dinner and open gifts.  You know I let them choose the birthday dinner without any interference.  So this year his choice was buttered macaroni noodles with cut up sausage in it!!  Yup.  His idea of gourmet!!  Homemade cornmeal crescent rolls, fresh fruit with dip and some Mist Twist topped it off and he was one happy boy!

Of course he had already gotten his gifts from us and from my parents on the trip so he only had a little bit but he was still thrilled.  He was super tickled with the stash of Star Wars themed origami Joseph made for him!  And then the big daddy of a new PS4 remote topped it off!  I think you can tell how darn tickled Owen was with that remote!  We had quite a time keeping him away from it cause he did not want to give it up after he got his hands on it!

We rounded out the night with some gaming, balloons, and of course some Star Wars masks.  Grandma makes the best wookie!!

Oh, and chocolate cake! He insisted he did not get an awful store bought cake, but a scratch made double decker chocolate cake.  So that is what he got! 11 years in and I know how to make this boy happy!

I adore him so much!  I constantly want to run my hands through his shiny hair and smoosh his little freckled face.  I'm so thankful he is mine to love!  I never dreamed that such a difficult little toddler would grow into such an understanding and precious young man.  I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this boy!

God's Little Girls Pinning Ceremony

Annie had the best time in her God's Little Girls group this school year!  We met twice a month and had show and tell, devotions, crafts and lots of fun!  Since we are surrounded by boys it was super important to me to find a special place for her to get some girly attention and this was perfect for us.  The boys stayed home and watched Owen (Josh was here too!)  so it was truly girl time!  They work on projects all year and then have a ceremony at the end to receive the pins they earned.  She was super nervous (which is a new thing for this girl!) but so, so happy!  Check out her outfit she picked!

Don't you love the one red glove with the ring?  I feel bad cause I might have made her feel too self conscious about it because after we got into the chapel; I noticed she took it off in front of her friends.  Note to self:  No longer make even slightly joking comments about her choices in clothing and accessories!  I want her to always have the confidence she has now and I want to make sure I'm not one of her stumbling blocks.  Anyways, like I said, she was nervous!

You can see it in her face here.  I even heard her tell the leader she didn't want to go up on stage!  It is so surprising to me because even just a few months ago she wouldn't have thought twice about it.  We  always love to remind her that she is "Brave Annie."

But she did it!  Love her little impish smile!  She cannot wait for next year and neither can I.  We had quite a crazy year and weren't able to focus as much attention as I would have liked on earning pins but we shall remedy that next year.  So much fun and such a blessing for us  both!

First big boy haircut!

So I have been cutting this kids hair since he was just a few months old but after the last fiasco I decided it was time to get it professionally cut!  I don't know why but his hair is just to hard for me!  It is so very straight anything you do looks crazy intense.  Every little cut shows up!  So now our one year old gets $20 haircuts and I just have to accept that.  Eeek!

Well, he did great.  He screamed and cried for about 1 minute and then just watched the TV the entire time.  He really, really loved that he could turn the wheel on the car to pretend he was driving.  I think the whole situation of being in the hospital just a couple of weeks before really prepared him for having strangers touch him.  Before that he would freak out if a strange woman touched his head.  But he just accepted it.  As a matter of fact he didn't want to leave!

Here he is just standing and staring back into the store.  And in typical Owen fashion he didn't want to get a good pic for me.  Here is he is later in the day.

Oh, and I musn't forget Annie also got a tiny trim.  She was thrilled beyond words that the lady let her pick out her own butterfly clips to put in her hair!

It is hard to imagine that I used to cut all of their hair myself!  Now the big boys want fancy cuts a I can't do and the two little ones are just too hard for me.  I might have to find a part time job to afford these kids fancy dos!

Back To School 2015

Yes, we started school on the day after July 4th.  Seemed like a great idea when I planned it but the morning of we were exhausted!  It was definitely a late start day!  This year we have a 5th grader, 3rd grader, and a preschooler.  We thought about starting kinder with Annie this year but decided to take our time and enjoy her a bit longer!  We took the kids to the mall to pick out a brand new back to school outfit and they found their stuff at JC Penney.  They thought it was the fanciest stuff ever!   So happy they are so easy to please!

My dear Noah J is in 5th grade this year!  It is so hard for me to believe.  We are doing some new school stuff this year and so far (I'm writing this in August) he is loving it.  We chose Sonlight Core E for him.  This covers the second half of American history and is right up his alley.  One of the books used is his very favorite Usborne book about the World Wars.  It is stretching him and really growing him and we are both in love with it.  We are going back to Teaching Textbooks for math this year, simply so he and I don't argue so much about it!  :)  And then we're continuing with our regular things like Easy Grammar, Apples and Pears spelling, and A Reason for Handwriting.  His favorite part of school is definitely the baking class I designed for him.  He is so excited for Sundays to come since he knows he will get to bake with me!  I'm already impressed with his skills. 

Wyatt is in 3rd grade this year!  Now this is easy for me to believe because so often I just lump the two older boys into the same age in my mind.  Feels like he has been doing school for much longer!   We cautiously decided to do Sonlight Core C with him this year, which is the second half of world history.  He is not the biggest fan of listening ot me read aloud and seems to learn much better with hands on so we were not sure how it would go.  After we figured out that he listens best if his hands are busy we started allowing color counts during Sonlight time and now he loves it!  Begs to do Sonlight each day so he "can go on an adventure!"  Yes, it sounds like a quote from the catalog but it is true!  I am so, so pleased and surprised with what a good fit it is.  He is continuing with CLE math because it is working for him and we are trying out Growing with Grammar this year.  He's also thrilled to be learning cursive and typing this year too.   I'm impressed with how quickly he is picking up the typing!

My little Rosie girl is doing another year of preschool.  We really went back and forth on starting kinder this year but decided to hold off so she has some more time to really master writing.  I feel like I pushed Noah too much in the early years in this area so I don't want to make that mistake again.  Of course she LOVES to "do school" so we are still doing daily lessons with her.  We are going through the Memoria Press pre-k program which she loves.  We also do All About Reading Pre-level 1 and we are reading through as many of the choices from Honey For A Child's Heart as we can.  I can't wait to start Sonlight with her because it is a perfect fit for her as well.  She listens along with to the boys stories and really gets into them.  I'm so surprised at how much she understands at such a young age!

And this little guy is pretty much just being a little terror all day.  The first day of school as soon as I sat down to read to the kids he crawled over and started screaming and sobbing.  He was so used to the kids paying attention to him the entire day he was not happy we were looking at books and not him!  Seems like we might be finally getting into a rhythm with him.  Maybe.

He did not want to cooperate with Wyatt to take a pic but then gave his sister girl a big smooch! 

Well, for a little bit till she took the grass from him so he wouldn't put it in his mouth.  Evidently grass tastes good!

I leave you with my gangsta boys.  Here is to another great year of homeschooling!  Oh so hard, but oh so worth it.  Can't imagine my life without these little guys beside me all day.  The whole concept of sending your kids away to school all day every day is so foreign to me now.   I find it hard to remember feeling like that was what I would ever do with my kids.  So glad God gave me a difficult child who I just knew would struggle in a traditional school.    I remember the first time I saw positive info about homeschooling on the computer and I was blown away.  Also thankful God put people in my life to take the plunge with me so I didn't have to start alone.    Being with these kids makes my heart happy!