Monday, August 31, 2009

From the Desk of Isaiah and Elijah

Where is the time going? We started our 3rd week of school today. My goal was to get in at least 5 weeks before the baby arrives, so I think we're doing pretty good. Today the kids learned about comets in science. They made a model of their own comet. The comet had to show the 2 parts of a comet. 1. the nucleus which includes the coma and 2. the tail. This involved sparkles and yes they made a pretty good sized mess. But well worth it.


Here they are putting a circle of glue around the nucleus to form the coma.
All done. They both choose to have two tails but we learned comets can have 1 to many many many tails.


Isaiah is doing American History this year. I have waited patiently for this time to come after 2 plus years of World History. American History is my favorite and I feel much more comfortable teaching it. So we've been learning about Native Americans and just finished a chapter on Christopher Columbus. Isaiah made this neat interactive map of his journey. The boats move along the where Columbus took his journey. I taught Isaiah the little rhyme that I remember from school...In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.


Saturday, August 29, 2009

Isaiah's "early" 9th Birthday Party

Since our new addition is due to arrive September 30th, and that being Isaiah's birthday I decided to stay one step ahead of our little new one by throwing Isaiah's birthday party early this year. Isaiah has always wanted a beach party but with fall in full swing on his birthday we've never done it. We thought this year would be the perfect excuse to do it. So with "beach" in mind we celebrated with friends today.

First the weather was amazing. God truly blessed us with warm weather and blue sky. Oh and a special gift for Isaiah ... no bees. Now those of you who have ever been to a Pellerin kids birthday party, you know that it involves lots of fun details, and lots of kids. Since we are just getting to know people Isaiah's guest list was much smaller this year, but the fun details were still there. I must admit this week I have been sad and homesick just thinking about all of our friends and family in Maine that always make the parties so special. But I learned a valuable lesson from Isaiah fearing he would be disappointed. We were talking about his party and I wanted to lower his expectations a bit. And he said "Mom it will be so fun and it's ok, I am happy just to have a party" Yep I remembered "be content with such things as you have" Hebrews 13:5

So we gathered right where we live in Birch Bay, with 6 of his friends and of course the 7th friend being his brother Elijah. (who by the way helped shop for all Isaiah's party things and gifts)
Here are some pics from the day.


Beach themed cupcakes, complete with sand aka brown sugar and sea creatures.
GAMES


Water balloon toss.

Toss the water balloon into the bucket.


Crab race of course.

Craft Time
For the craft we made sand art. I ordered great shell shaped bottles and the kids knew what to do next. They layered different colored sand for a beautiful creations


The Gang

Scavenger Hunt of the Beach
Each kid got a list of things to look for from a crab to seaweed. They took their buckets and went hunting. The tide was in so we didn't find any starfish but all in all they did really good finding everything.
Isaiah and Emma on the hunt.

Elijah making sure he is finding everything on his list.

Isaiah showing off his crab.

Elijah showing off his shell.

Ok so we'll let you in on a secret. We didn't light the candles for two reasons. First we didn't have matches or a lighter and second it was a bit windy. So Isaiah being the actor he is pretended for me to blow out the candles.
Gifts
So of course gift time is always a big hit. Isaiah got lots of great things, Legos, Bacugans, DS game, MONEY, book, games, and a scooter.

I love this picture of Isaiah because he has a real smile. Not a goofy one he so often makes in picture.

I can't believe my oldest will officially be 9 in a month. He seems like just yesterday I was looking exactly the same way I am today expecting his arrival. The time has gone by so fast it's almost too much for me to think about. As we wait the next few weeks for our new arrival I can't help but be reminded that even in this time of pregnancy the time has gone by so fast and that we should enjoy (even being uncomfortable) the remainder of this time. And to savor the miracle of carrying another life inside.
When I think back of when we found out we were pregnant with Isaiah I remember how scared I was. How off the timing seemed to me. Peter and I were only married 3 months. But now I see I couldn't have been more wrong. Isaiah came just at the time the Lord had purposed him to come. Not a day early not a day late. Our lives from that day on have never been the same. Isaiah has brought so much joy into our lives. Watching him grow has been such an honor. He is so smart. He is such a great friend, and never meets a stranger. He is a great big brother. He is sensitive and feels conviction strongly. He loves to play games on the computer, ride his bike, build legos with Elijah and go golfing with Dad. This year has brought about many changes in Isaiah. I think partly because of the move, the new baby and that he's just growing up, but I know all these changes are working together for good. I am so thankful to have him in my life. I know he will be a source of comfort and help after I have the baby. What a blessing to have a little man of the house with me. He know he embraces that role. I can't wait to see what the Lord does in him in the upcoming year.

Friday, August 28, 2009

School at the park

The weather has been so nice it's hard to justify staying inside to do school. Another awesome reason to homeschool...we don't have to. So we packed up for the afternoon with books and lunch in tow and headed to the park. We met up with friends who were also doing school at the park. We worked we played, we had a blast.

Isaiah furnishing up his school for the day.
Painting pictures for the baby's room.

HA Elijah's dirty little feet after playing outside all day. He had a bath and the water turned the color of those dirty little feet.


Monday, August 24, 2009

Ace of Cakes

Elijah and I love to watch cake shows together. Ace of Cakes, and Food Network's Cake Challenges, are two of our favorites. It's actually a very cute little bond we share. He's still very much a mommy's boy and I love it. So the other day we were just hanging out talking and he said "I think I will be a firefighter, a police officer, or a cake decorator" Inside I laughed and remembered that song from Sesame Street "one of these things is not like the others" Since then he's been begging to decorate a cake. So late last night when for some reason I had a burst of energy we baked a cake with his little cake pan and I let him decorate it the way he wanted. He wanted white frosting, with fresh blueberries, chocolate chips and sprinkles. Very unique and creative.




Adding the sprinkles.




The final product and the creator.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Super Hero Training

Another day and life of our super hero Elijah. This week he choose to his training dressed as superman. The kids got to climb the rock wall. He loved it. He did really well too. It's not as easy as it looks. But he took on the challenge.

Listening to instructions.
Practicing first with dad.


Although he's wearing the superman costume he looked very much like spiderman.

Opps he let go...look at his face.

It's a long way down.

Flying. The kids got to just swing from one end of the room to the other. Check out the video below of Elijah in action.



Saturday, August 22, 2009

School Week One in review

We started back to school this week. The kids actually were very excited to start and eager to show me what hard workers they are. We had a great week and although I was tired the Lord was so good and blessed me with cooperative kids and just enough strength to enjoy what He's called me to do. Here are a few highlights from the week.


Elijah is practicing his counting. He had to count the pennies in each cup and then match the number card with that amount of pennies.
Gravity experiment. If you drop a ping pong ball and a golf ball at the same height at the same time which ball will hit the ground first? If you said the golf ball you may need to go back to school LOL. The gravitational pull on each ball is the same so therefore they both hit at the same time. Notice the balls in Isaiah's picture bellow.




We are using a great Bible curriculum this year. Part of the curriculum is keeping a notebook of the things they are learning. Here they are drawing what they thing the tree of knowledge of good and evil look like. Notice my poor table...all worn with love.


Back to school party with some friends. Here the kids are looking to see what item is missing from the "school box" once they figured it out they had to put their fingers on their noses.


A nature hunt. My kids love these.


Elijah found "something square"


And of course what party wouldn't be complete without cake. The cupcakes had "ABC" on them or "1+1="
We had such a great time of fellowship and getting to know new friends better. Sometimes it is hard to start over making new friends after you have had friends back home in your lives for years. But we are learning to open our lives and hearts and to be thankful that we have brothers and sisters in the Lord here who are willing to extend the same to us.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Little Golfers

Isaiah had his last golf lesson through the YMCA today. Peter loves to play golf and he's always talked about taking the boys once they are old enough. Apparently today they are old enough because he went out and bought them each their own set of golf clubs. He has big plans for teaching them to play and many "boys" days out to play golf. The kids were very excited. They had to try them out. So using wiffle type golf balls Peter took them out in the yard for some practice. It was cute. I don't know who is more excited...Peter or the boys? I am sure they'll have many years of enjoyment together playing golf but more importantly just hanging out with eachother.


Daddy teaching Elijah to line the club up with the ball.
Elijah testing out his new clubs.

Watch out!!


Isaiah testing his set out.


Swing!

Check out our new clubs. "thanks dad"

Monday, August 10, 2009

BP Anual Summer Picnic

Every year Peter's company hosts a huge company picnic. It's a two day event and jammed packed with fun. There were so many jumpy houses, fire truck ladder ride, horse rides, train ride, mechanical bull ride,face painting, balloon animals and a petting zoo. And of course food, popcorn. snow cones, ice cream, cotton candy,and the greatest cookout food. The kids had a blast and can't wait for next year.