Travel Ban

I'm about to the point of putting a ban on travel in our house.  At least until our children are grown.  Sometimes it seems as if we're living under a curse when it comes to trips.

Evidence:

-Bobby went on a business trip when Sammy was about two years old and Sammy fell off the

 trampoline and got a gash on his forehead.

-One year while on vacation my ear swelled up -like it has a tendency to do.

-The next summer Sammy ended up with a cold & fever while we were on vacation.

-Our trip to Orlando, FL brought the worst stomach bug ever to Hannah, Samuel and myself.

-Our family vacation this year saw Sammy suffer with a double ear infection.

-This year we went to visit Bobby's family at the beach in NC and Sammy ate so much that he ended

  up throwing up (first time that has ever happened to him.)

-Our second trip this year to NC, for our nephew's christening, saw Hannah with a huge red rash on

  one side of her face.

There may be more.  And we've had our fair share of good trips too.  They surely outnumber the bad but tonight all I remember is the bad & the ugly.

Anyway, to the point of this post.  Bobby left Thursday for work training in CA.  Thursday afternoon Amos somehow busted his bottom lip, the inside of his bottom lip and cut his chin right below his lip.  No one saw exactly what happened but we know it involved his metal Tonka truck, copious amounts of blood and crying -from Amos & myself.  No big deal.  I gave him some Ibuprofen and kept an eye on him.  He was still playing and eating fine, his poor lip was swollen and it looked like there were some small blisters on the inside but I figured he'd look better by the next morning.

Wrong.  Friday morning his lip looked like it had doubled in size as well as the blisters.  And they were white & grayish looking.  I ended up taking him to the doctor just to make sure no stitches or antibiotics were needed.  It was comforting to hear that it really looks worse than it is but still.

And if worrying about Amos wasn't enough - my mom's brother passed away very early Friday morning.  He was suffering with many health issues so we knew to prepare ourselves but it still doesn't make it any easier.  My mom has been very stressed and not sleeping very well.  There's only so much I can do to help since I'm home with three kids and my only reliable baby sitters are out of town on vacation.

James 1:2-4 says:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

We rejoice that my uncle had called on the name of the Lord and was saved.  We have the comfort of knowing we'll see him again one day...

The kids & I rejoice that Amos just had a busted lip and didn't need stitches... 

We're working on being joyful in our trials.  We're always working on this but we're just getting a little extra practice this time.  Just remind me of this scripture the next time I'm complaining about our travel related trials :-)

Olaf

This is what happens to roosters that flog our children (as they attempt to do their chicken chores) on a daily basis.  He was beautiful and Hannah loved him and named him Olaf.   It's a shame he was so mean.

BEFORE

 AFTER

(chicken 'n dumplings)

Interview with a 3rd Grader

I can't believe Hannah is in third grade this year!  She loves school and is really doing great.  She reads well, loves math & science and even though she dislikes spelling & language arts she does great in those areas too.  She is really going to be a genius at math like her Daddy.  I can see her mind working so much differently then mine (and Sammy's) as she solves her problems.

I'm also proud that she is once again saving her own money to buy another American Girl doll -though I'm trying hard to persuade her to buy the clothes and accessories for Rebecca instead.  I'd rather not be overrun by AG dolls but it is her own hard earned money.  She takes care of the ducks, turkeys and chickens all by herself.  It's a big job but she works hard each morning and is very thorough.

Hannah is such an artist.  She is constantly drawing, coloring, cutting, painting.  Bobby brings home scrap paper from work otherwise I think she might single-handedly destroy a rainforest.  She's really good too.  We're in the process of looking for an art class that she can take this winter but so far we've found nothing.  Her alternative choice is tumbling so she may have to do that throughout the winter and go to art camp next summer.

She still loves AWANA.  I never have to remind her to work on her scriptures.  She does it willingly and works very hard.  And she's not just memorizing to get her points, those scriptures are truly hidden in her heart and come out at the right moments.  It's sweet watching her help Sammy with his scriptures.

What is your FAVORITE:

Color:  Pink

Food:  Rice and all veggies

Drink:  Sprite

Book:  Berenstain Bear Books

Subject in School:  Language Arts

Movie:  Frozen

Activity:  Art

Person:  every one in my family

What do you want to be when you "grow up":  a teacher for 3rd grade

{Some things just never change!!  Most of these are the same answers from when she was four years old.}

Wordless Wednesday

2014-2015 Curriculum

Don't you love knowing how everyone else home schools?  Or am I the only nosey one?  Really though, I love reading blogs and talking to friends and seeing how they go about home schooling.  What curriculum do you use - or do you even use one?  What is your daily schedule like?  What books do your kids like to read.  I love getting input and new ideas.

I clearly love blog posts that share schedules and curriculums.  So I thought I would share what the C. kids are going to be doing this year and how we go about our day.  Plus I may have no memory left in a few years - with four kids and all- and this will serve as a reminder.

Once again we're using My Father's World.  I love this curriculum.  Everything the kids do -from science to geography to language arts- is based on Scripture.  This year Hannah is in 3rd grade and Samuel is 2nd.  Thankfully once your youngest child hits 2nd grade, MFW has them join the curriculum of the oldest child.  This year we're "Exploring Countries & Cultures" with Hannah and Sam doing the same work for Bible, Geography and Science.  Their Math and Language Arts are separate since they are at different levels.  This has made our lives - and school days- so much easier!  Plus MFW has a good schedule but they encourage flexibility and skipping lessons that may be too hard for your children.

Our schedule is fairly flexible and suits us perfectly.  After we wake, and remember we're not morning people, we eat breakfast then start chores.  Make beds, dishes, laundry, feed our multitude of chickens, vacuum.  You know, whatever needs to be done.  After chores we start with Bible.  This includes reading Scriptures and Hero Tales which has short stories about different people from history that really exemplified Biblical character (example: Dwight L. Moody.)  Then we move to Science and finish the morning with Geography.  We stop for lunch and a 30 to 45 minute break.  In the afternoon one child works on Math while the other works on Language Arts -they are using the same English book so we have to flip flop.  We finish with their 15 minutes of Book Basket time where they can chose any book they wish and read/look at it for 15 minutes by themselves.  We're normally done by 2:30 in the afternoon but always by 3 o'clock.  

Amos is so sweet and, other than being a bit of distraction for Sammy, is well behaved while we work.  He normally gets out his little Bible, unprompted, and sits with us during Bible time.  He loves to look at their Science and Geography books too.  He'll play with blocks or Matchbox cars while we work and in the afternoons he'll watch a movie so Hannah & Sam can concentrate on spelling without him chattering and being in the way.

So far this year is going smoothly.  The kids are working hard and have such a good attitude about their work.  My prayer is that this will continue -especially come January when we start back up with a tiny newborn!

I love when everything is organized and easy to find.  I spent the better part of an afternoon, last month, organizing the school books for this year.

Sammy is using the Complete Book of Math.  Hannah is going to be scientifically/mathematically minded like her Daddy.  She placed out of the first group of books and into the second group for Singapore Math.

The kids filled out their passport applications so they can visit the different countries this year.  They have cute little passports that we'll add country flag stickers too as we learn about a country.

You can see how this cute little guy would be a distraction.

A Chick of a Different Sort

Yesterday was my twenty week ultra-sound.  We got to see our sweet little chick growing and squirming.  Squirming is an understatement - Bobby was able to feel kicks on August 2nd.  

Bobby was able to tell the kids that they're getting a BROTHER.  They were all excited.  We're all excited.  Shocked for sure.  Hannah & I did want another girl so, truthfully, we were disappointed.  But I initially wanted a girl with Sam and then Amos.  Now I look at them and can't imagine my life without those little boys.  Hannah and I agreed we feel the same way about this little fellow.

He was so squirmy that the ultra-sound tech was having to "chase" him to check everything she needed  to and then he kept putting his hands around his face so we didn't get a good profile picture.  Otherwise he's growing & developing right on schedule and everything looks healthy.

We left the doctor office and headed to Walmart to pick up a few odds & ends that we needed.  Of course we ended up in the baby section looking at blankets and clothes.  I don't need a lot since we've got most of Amos' things but I feel like all babies should have some new things bought especially for them.  We picked out things we wanted to add to our registry and wrote them down (since you can't scan stuff in-store to add to your registry, how lame is that!)  We're getting ready!!  I'll let you know as soon as we're definitely decided on a name.  We have one in mind but were more sure about the girl name than the boy one.  

Chicks

This past Sunday afternoon, Hannah went out to feed & water the big chickens.  We had a hen sitting on some eggs but we weren't too hopeful because this has happened in the past without success.  So I was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes when I hear Hannah yelling and see her running through the yard.  She bursts into the house and excitedly tells us that we have a new baby chick.

We all drop what we're doing and run out to the coop to see.  There was actually two tiny little chicks that had clearly just hatched.  I'm so glad the kids got to have baby chicks that were born at home rather than being ordered.  I had those experiences growing up and I want our kids to have them too.

Yesterday Hannah & Sammy helped the baby chicks get out into the chicken yard and the Mommy just followed right along.  We stood around and watched as the Mom enjoyed the fresh air & sunshine and the babies ran around her pecking the ground and exploring.  Later in the evening I was throwing out old bread for the chickens and decided to give a piece to the Mom since she wasn't out in the big yard to get some.  I opened the door to the coop and threw in a few chunks.  One of the little chicks picked up a piece that was almost as big as itself and ran off with it!  They are too cute.

Fingers crossed that the survive!