Pawty Time!

First you know it's a good party when you only took a handful of pictures. It was such a blast I picked up the camera twice and handed it off. So This is what I got, but I think you'll get the idea. So Hannah LOVES puppies. She loves real one and stuffed ones. But she has ONE favorite and it's a little Dalmatian that my mom sent her for Christmas last year. She has loved him, and loved him and it shows. So of course this year she had to a puppy pawty!

Just seeing the number 2 makes me sad. She's growing up TOO fast.

Her birthday banner

Adopt a pup station. All the kids picked out a puppy, got a certificate and a doggie bag full of treats

Inside the bag, puppy vitamins (gummy snacks) puppy chow (coco puffs) Dog biscuits (sugar cookies)

Dog bowls full of treats

Paw print cookies, made with a junior mint and 4 brown m & m's

Super fun puppy balloons.

This was so fun, balloon garland. It was bright and Hannah loved it. On the table are little puppy pictures that the kids colored.
Pupcakes, with the frosting is Oreo cookie, Hannah's favorite cookie. Aren't the toppers cute!

OH YUMMY

We practiced blowing out the candles before the party but she went right in with her fingers, I blew them our so fast.

Hannah's BFF

Her little "boy" friend

More guests

Present time. She loved the cards "oh a card" she said when she pulled each on out. I tried to open one for her and ripped the envelope in a way that was not pleasing to her, and she was very upset. "OH NO" she said. So I let her open them. It took a long time, but I thought it was sweet she appreciated the cards as well (just like her mom)

Her favorite gift from mom and dad....a Fur Real Puppy. She loves it. Although her trusted pup still made the cut at bedtime.
And for dinner....Hannah's favorite...Grammie's Chili!

We have AMAZING friends who have been like adopted family to Hannah. They have been there for her, loving her and filling in the gap where our families can't be here. We are so blessed to have these people in our lives,to love our kids and to invest in their lives. Thank you friends for coming out and celebrating with us.

From the Desks of Isaiah, Elijah and Hannah

And we're off....homeschool is in full swing for sure. If this week was any indication of how the rest of the year will go I am pretty psyched! We had a great week....lots of learning and a lot of character training! I needed to be reminded this week that the men that are growing before my eyes (and woman) need us to be their covering. As parents it's not enough to teach them to do right, to show them to right, but to a go even further to teach them to correct when it's not right. I won't go into detail but a specific situation but I learned that my kids are a work in progress like us all. They will make mistakes BIG and small. But what they do with those mistakes is just as important as not making them at all.

So here are some highlights and there are some super cute pictures of Hannah.
We studied the scientific method. Using that the boys did experiment to determine which kernels popped the better popcorn, white or yellow.
Elijah thought the yellow would and Isaiah said it wouldn't matter, they would pop the same.
So what else can two scientists do? Pop that corn. Three trials nonetheless!
The white is on your left and the yellow on your right.
Deciding in order to make good popcorn the kernels must pop most of the kernels put into the popper, it should pop big popcorn and it should taste good. They concluded yellow popcorn is better.
Another experiment using the scientific method. Does bigger wrist and thumb circumference help you win thumb wars.
Isaiah said no and Elijah said yes. After measure all our wrists and thumbs and doing three wars against each other, they concluded that the bigger your circumference the better your ability to win thumb wars.
So this one was sort of a flop only because I think they were trying to outsmart the experiment.
Fill 12 glass full of water. Color 6 with food coloring and 1/2 of those with a couple tablespoons of sugar. Ask your taster to tell you if they are drinking punch or water. Some tasters should tell you that the colored water without sugar is punch because your mind associates the color with punch. I was the only one who guessed that. So their hypothesis was that people would be able to tell the difference, and they could.
As promised some Hannah. She went on our field trip this week, and she sort of did her own field trip exploring the Bison ranch on her own. Look how long her hair is getting.
"Look a cow, Look a tree" she kept saying. The cow was the Bison. She loves cows, but every four legged animal besides a puppy always starts off as a cow.
She stole my necklace...little sneak and then proceeded to walk the "runway". She's so cute.
She's feeling the Bison hide. It was actually kind of nice, a little rough but would make a great rug!
Our super great tour guide of the Lone Boot Ranch. Check out his site. There is so much info there.
He had the kids close their eyes and imagine the sound of a huge storm, and that was the sound the pioneers heard when the "Bison" aka Buffalo would come by. There were so many in that day that sometimes they had to wait a whole day to pass because the herd was so HUGE.
To call them out we shook a bottle with sand in it and then he called out. "Come out Come out"
With some help from his wife, they did just that. Super cool animals
Our awesome group. Checking out the Buffalo.
My friend posted this joke on facebook and my boys loved it so much I thought I would share. "what did the mother Buffalo say to her son before he left for college?"......BI-SON!

BIG hairy animals!

You Scream I Scream...

For ICE CREAM!!

Our first field trip of the school year was to Cold Stone Creamery. Coming from Maine (where I don't know of any) this chain is new to us. But oh how wonderful! It's sort of like a high end Dairy Queen.

Here's the first half of our LIGHT group.

Our silly host, teaching the kids some Cold Stone songs.

Explaining the ice cream machine.

And out comes the deliciousness.

And of course a sample!

Did I mention they have chocolates? YUM

It's always better in a cone!

Elijah enjoying the sweet cream.

The BIG boys!

We've been having some "summer weather" here in Washington (finally) so we headed down the road for lunch in the park. It was a super fun day.

Back to School 2011

So our year has begun. I can't believe this is our 7th year homeschooling. It doesn't seem possible. I have been really anxious the past few weeks about starting this year. All I could see is a mountain of things to overcome. We have "tween" on the rise, a middle child, and a super active toddler and all the complications that mixing them together with schooling at home seemed to be a mountain of epic proportion to me, one that I am ashamed to admit I didn't really want to climb. I mean even up to last night praying that all would go well, but just not feeling it. So this morning I took some time before the kids hit the floor running to be still and and lay it all down.

After much refreshing, I am certain of our main goal for this year as directed by the Lord. And it comes from 2 Timothy 3:15

" And from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus"

I have been really convicted lately of our tendency to get sidetracked by THIS life, by things that the world deems as important. And although I love for my kids to learn history, math and science, if they are not firmly grounded in the Word of God it really is fruitless. Since only the knowledge of His word will make them wise for eternal worth. And if we as parents truly believe what we teach that should be our top priority.

I am preaching to myself as I teach it to them. So as I start this year, I am confident that when we put Jesus first, allow the Holy Spirit to empower us and let His word rule our day, all other things will fall into place as we seek to honor him.

On the dry erase board today I wrote

" Welcome back to school. Today we will learn, have fun, honor Jesus and love one another" I think we accomplished those goals for today. So I rate this first day back a success.

Let's try a shot by the window....

"Let's do one with just the boys" Hannah was having NONE of that. It is just a sweet reminder that she IS on this homeschool journey with us.

Hannah's special treat...colored rice. It was AWESOME and she was entertained through 2 language art lessons.