Farther Along

Last week I came across a new to me artist, Josh Garrels.  Right now you can download his album for free (seriously?!) here.  He's unique and not for everyone, but I'm enjoying something a little different.  And I love "Farther Along."  Go listen to it.  If you're in the midst of something you don't understand or find yourself questioning what God's doing...listen.  It's a remake of this hymn (thanks to PWS for that little tidbit) and it just blows me away.

Farther along we’ll know more about it,

Farther along we’ll understand why;

Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine

We’ll understand it all by and by.

Free music and the truth of His Word... be encouraged today!

Elvis and Panera

There's a first time for everything and tonight I crossed two things off the "Never Happened Before"...I was, along with five other ladies, serenaded by an Elvis impersonator while meeting at Panera.

For reals.

I've never been serenaded at Panera before and up til tonight have had minimal contact with Elvis impersonators.  Even better, he came back after singing and said, "You better take a picture or no one will believe you!"  I apologize for the horrible picture, but we were all laughing too hard!

Anything crazy happen to you today?! Bet you can't beat this!

First week

One week of school behind us and a great one at that!  Last Sunday night we had a special family night.  We created a scavenger hunt for the kids with all their supplies (most of which they'd picked out but they were still thrilled to hunt for them!).  We had little meetings with each of them talking about what to expect and what we expected and we gave them their t-shirts and verses.  They were excited about everything!

 Haven was ready to go bright and early Monday morning.  I kept reminding her school didn't start til 8:30 and she needed to settle down already.  Honestly, I love her enthusiasm!

 Working hard on her spelling...A Reason for Spelling...one week in and I'm a big fan of the format already.

Mati wants to do whatever Haven's doing so this mama needed some activities on the ready for him.  Pretty much everything I'm doing with him is from Confessions of a Homeschooler's Preschool Curriculum.

We are going to read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom every Monday to introduce our letter of the week.  I really wanted to buy this Alphabet Tree (seriously- how cute is that?!), but settled for making my own magnetic one for free (and it's pretty cute, too!).

 Oh, Mati.  I settled him at his table with his Alphabet Books and peeked in a few minutes later to find this.  Roller skates make it easier to concentrate I guess.

Wednesday we had our first meeting of Classical Conversations.  Haven loved every minute of it.  We will be using what we learn here as the core of our curriculum.  I am being educated right along with Haven!  Also can't stop singing the silly songs they have to go along with everything.  We are so excited to be part of this community and think it is a great fit for our family.

Working hard on handwriting and getting some use of the t-shirt...ahem.  We didn't get any pics of us working on math, but that's because it's a bit more work for mom.  I think it will take some time to get familiar with everything, but Haven really likes it already.  She'd tell you math is her favorite.  Although, between you and me, I think everything is her favorite!

It was a great week and I feel like I've already worked out a few kinks in our system.  I know it's going to be a great year!

Character Building

Our happy little homeschool begins next week around here and we couldn't be more excited.  I've been praying for the Lord to give me a vision for our year and for what He wants to accomplish in all of us.  One of the great things (and also challenging things)about homeschooling is that you have the chance, by being with your kids all day, to really work diligently on character issues.  I came across an idea last week that I've kind of run with and made my own that we're going to incorporate into our year.

We have chosen a word for each of the kids that is a character trait we believe the Lord wants us to focus on for the year.  We also have picked verses that go along with the trait that will be their verse for the year.  I went to Hobby Lobby and got t-shirts and with the help of the handy-dandy Silhouette am making Haven and Mati shirts with their word on it.  The t-shirts will always be near by and when a child has a day that they need to be constantly reminded to exemplify that trait, they'll put it on. They will literally clothe themselves with that word, which will hopefully be a great reminder for the kids of what's expected of them. I think Haven will respond really well to this and if she's excited about it, then Mati will follow.  I'm hoping this is the first year of a new tradition for our family

Wonder if I should make one for myself that says Patience?!

Sidewalk Paint

A fun and easy activity for these last few lazy days of summer, Sidewalk Paint!  Maybe I'm the last to the party on this one, but it isn't something we've ever made before.  Yesterday afternoon seemed like the perfect time to try it and we loved it.  The colors are so bright and pretty!  Couldn't be easier to mix up, either. Mix together 1/2 cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup water.  Divide into as many cups as you want colors.  We did four and had plenty of paint.  Add several drops of food coloring to each bowl and stir.  That's it.  See?  Easy! We did find that sponge brushes worked especially well after a bit of trial and error.  Paint away!

This and that and the boat

I've been fighting with Blogger all week and I wish I could break up with him.  But, I don't really care enough to do that, so I'll just keep fighting.  I have written no less then 5 posts this week that have disappeared mid-type, never to be seen from again.  One of them I restarted 4 times before I took the hint. I'm a slow learner I guess.  But that has nothing to do with anything really.  Only to say that I really have tried to have something to say, but blogger is trying to shut me up.

It's been a lovely week to live in southwestern Ohio.  We've made good use of the sunshine and have been reminded how nice it is to play outside without fear of heatstroke.  We've had playdates outside and taken bike rides and just lived it up.  We love it.  We got caught up in all the beautiful temps and sunshine and tried to go boating mid-week (What? You didn't know we bought a boat?  We bought a boat!).  Then we broke the boat.  And there were a lot of sad faces around here.  But now the boat is fixed and we can try again.  Cale scored skis at a garage sale last weekend and he's itching to try them out.  But to be honest, that means I have to drive the boat while he skis and that is stressful!  I'm a sit-in-the-open-bow-soak-up-the-sun kind of boater.  Not bare-the-weight-of-responsibility-to-not-harm-someone-while-pulling-them-behind-you-at-high-rates-of-speed boater. But for Cale, I'll do it. The boat was a surprising, but long desired purchase.  A great deal fell in our laps and we felt like this was the perfect scenario to do it.  We are really enjoying being out on it as a family and sharing it with friends. Maybe someday Blogger won't hate my and I'll even post pictures of our boating adventures!

Our weekend is shaping up to be a good one.  Haven and I have a mommy date planned for tomorrow complete with a haircut for her and lunch.  When she starts crying every time I comb her hair I know it's time to chop it off.  That day has arrived!  Since I knew she was getting it cut, I convinced her to let me do pigtails today. I adore her in pigtails. But she's pretty darn cute with her short little bob, too!

Happy weekending to you!

Corn-on-the-cob

I'm not sure that there is anything cuter then a five year old missing her two front tooth, but insisting that she can still eat corn-on-the-cob.  If you look closely at the picture, you can see that she misses every two to three kernels.  She didn't care!

it's wednesday

a few highlights from the day...
-crossing things off the list that get us one step closer to our next big thing (more about that another day)
-cupcakes from a new shop to share with friends in honor of haven's happy-half-birthday
-spending time with friends
-my first trip to the farmer's market and besides delicious veggies, scoring a beautiful bouquet for $4
-above trip dictating my dinner plan and the new recipe we tried was a winner
-homemade bread from the Mennonite lady at the market...i don't know what she puts in there, but we love it
-being outside for more then 5 minutes and not instantly sweating- it was almost pleasant out
-a quick trip to the fountains to round out the day
-an evening with not much to do but hang out with my man
-success in finally capturing a family picture that i don't hate