Happy 8th Birthday to Elijah!

Words can not express how amazing our Elijah is. I know each child you have brings a unique and special dynamic to your family. Elijah is no exception, but super exceeds our expectations. He is funny, silly, kind, compassionate, and determined. He is also so cute. I know he'd hate that but it's true. He is adorable.

Today he turns 8! I keep telling him 8 is great, and it is. A month ago I was praying for Elijah to have more confidence. As I was reading through the one year Bible. I came across this verse in Proverbs and began to alter my prayer for him.

When you lie down, you shall not be afraid: yes, you shall lie down, and your sleep shall be sweet Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes. For the LORD shall be your confidence, and shall keep your foot from being taken. Proverbs 3:23-25

I began to pray that Elijah wouldn't find confidence in himself but rather the Lord himself would be his confidence. The Lord would be his confidence as he does his schoolwork. The Lord would be his confidence when playing with friends. The Lord would be his confidence in all his decisions.

I love being Elijah's mom! It's been an amazing 8 years. I am so thankful for them and can't wait to see all that the Lord has for him.

The little things

PUDDLES! They are super fun to play in. They make a great splashing sound. You can jump, tap, and wiggle in them. When you step out you can make a great trail of footprints.

It's so simple that you might just miss the fun. That's what I love about having a toddler. They really make you stop and consider even the smallest of blessings, which when you really ponder them are not small at all. I have so much to be thankful for.
I know that sounds crazy. But when I sit and consider all that God has blessed me with I can barely catch my breath because I am in awe. It scares me that I am not thankful enough, it scares that I do not show Him how grateful I am. It scares me that there is is that much selfishness in me that I am not continually singing His praises !

	Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
	Serve the LORD with gladness;
	Come before His presence with singing.
	Know that the LORD, He is God;
	It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
	We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
	Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
	And into His courts with praise.
	Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
	For the LORD is good;
	His mercy is everlasting,
	And His truth endures to all generations. Psalm 100

From the Desks of Isaiah, Elijah and Hannah FUNGI MOLD

Wow I haven't posted in a few weeks....why? Because I am crazy busy. I don't even have time to mentally recap what we've done let alone blog. But I have literally 15 minuets to spare tonight so I am going to quickly blog.

The boys and I (yes add Hannah in that too) are way up to our eyeballs with school. It's good but man we have a lot to cover. In January we added a few more kids to our amazing Science learning adventure. On Wednesday we have a few other homeschool boys come over for some experiment fun. It's a blast. They really love it. We finished bacteria and this month have moved on to FUNGI!

Here are the boys writing down their observations to the mold growing on a piece of bread. This mold had been growing in my kitchen for over a week. The things I do in the name of learning!!!

I am not kidding this bread was something to be studied. It was furry!! The boys then took some and prepared a slide to check out under the microscope. Mold is a fungus....it needs something to feed on to grow. My kids are going to try to grow mold on other food items....can't wait!
The next two pictures are the extra bonus our family gets for homeschooling. Here is Isaiah 11 reading to Hannah 2. The relationships my kids have with each other just blows me away. Not to say it's always peace and butterflies, sometimes honestly it's WW 111. But in these moments it just makes me well up with emotions of pure JOY!
Here's Isaiah helping Elijah with his math. I was pulled away trying to get Hannah down for her afternoon nap. Isaiah stepped in to help Elijah. I loved it! THESE are the moments that the Lord uses to whisper to my heart "keep going, stay focused on ME, I am doing a good work" AMEN!

Not to embarrass him but....

So God has been doing some awesome thing in our lives, using us in new and exciting ways since we've moved to Washington.

Peter is a quiet guy. He isn't a social butterfly. He isn't concerned with climbing the ladder at work. He's just a humble guy, who loves God, loves His word, and loves his family. God has honored that by gifting him with an unquenchable hunger for the Word of God, and a desire to and ability to teach it. Sometimes not being the most outgoing person has overshadowed God's hand in this area. But I am amazed what God will do when someone steps out in faith, despite what they see as hindrances.

I just wanted to take a moment to give the Lord praise for the ways in which He is working in Peter's life. I am so thankful that He moved us to Washington. I am so thankful that He is never through working in us and through us. Sometimes when I question His plan, I only have to take a step back and see all that has done, is doing and promises to do to surrender it all again and trust He is in control.

Peter did his second Prophecy teaching at church this week. It was super awesome.

As I watched him from the very back row I was struck by power of the Spirit working through him and speaking through him.

Here's the link to listen.

And since he's Peter he also had an awesome power point presentation that goes along with the study and you can find that by click here

From the Desks of Isaiah, Elijah and Hannah

The weeks seem to go by more quickly each week. It really astounds me. I think I've said to many people this month "It seems like a weeks is a a day to me" It's Friday...AGAIN! With life moving so fast I guess it's easy to loose sight that the kids are growing just as fast as time is passing. It makes me sad, excited, confused and confident all at the same time.

I LOVE having my kids home with me every day. I love that I am part of their lives, not just their mom. I love that even though my 11 year old son is growing and changing he still comes to snuggle and has deep conversations with me about God, sports, and girls! My soon to be 8 year old son thinks I am the most beautiful woman ever. He freely hugs and kisses me. And then my 2 year old daughter who is as strong willed as I have ever seen, is saying EVERYTHING, new words, old words, complete sentences, it's always amazes me the things she says. Right now it's "Mommy are you happy?" (usually when she is doing something that does not make me happy) "Mommy are you happy? Let me see" Adorable!

Having them home all together is the most precious part of homeschooling. Yesterday for an hour the three of them played with couch cushions. The laughed, they squealed, they made a big mess. And there was a little voice inside me that said "ok these kids need to get to their school work" I quickly silenced it and watched them play in delight.

I delight in God's plan for our family!

So here are some fun pictures from our week....

Hannah is our little chef. She made bagel pizzas for lunch. She loved it. Look how precise she is with that sauce.

And lots and lots of cheese.

I think they were a hit!

"oh Mommy sa' good" she said.

I got this super huge ink pad for Hannah. I found some horse stamps at a second hand store over the the summer for .50 Who knew how much fun it would be?

ANOTHER cute find was this adorable Tupperware set. It looks just like the set we have but smaller. I love how Elijah wanted to sit with her and play "tea" party.

She had to line the cups up!

Ok on to some serious science! The boys are studying bacteria. Our first experiments involved swabbing our teeth and taking a look under the microscope...VERY eye opening. Our next was to swab the kitchen sink and the bathroom sink and grow our finds in a petri dish....the result. The petri dish on the left is bacteria from the bathroom sink and on the right from the kitchen sink....again very EYE opening.

Loved Isaiah's reaction!

We've invited some friends who also home school to join us once a week for some fun science experiments. Here's the group watching a video on how quickly bacteria multiply.

We did experiments dealing with how germs spread from hands to surfaces. I ordered this special gel and black light the simulates that process. The kids had a blast with this. The next experiment is in the works. We swabbed three hands. One hand had not been washed, another had been washed with soap and water and the last hand used hand sanitizer. We are waiting to see which works the best, of the three. You'll have to check back next week to find out. I commented to another mom "Science was never this fun for me in school" They all were disappointed when it was time to wrap up and that was over an hour of non stop learning. LOVE it!

SNOW! And lots of it!

Three very happy kids

I got this hat for Hannah a few weeks back but she refused to wear it. Every time I tried she said "no no no" But something about the snow changed her mind.

He he...all bundled up. She's adorable.

Hannah and Mommy

Kind of blurry but look at all the snow. It was great snow for a snowman once the temps warmed up a bit.

Hannah is afraid of the BIG snowman, but a tiny one she can hold is ok.

I love that little smile.

Big snowman....with a shovel. Too bad he doesn't actually use it.

We were outside walking and Hannah kept asking for her puppy. So I had to run inside to get him.

"puppy see the snow"

From the Desks of Isaiah, Elijah and Hannah

So our first week back to school after a much deserved and well received Christmas break went good. I give us a B+. LOTS of work was done, and hopefully some of it was enjoyable! Hannah has really changed over the past few weeks. She may be 2 but on the inside she thinks she's 6 or at least 5. Part of having an enjoyable day with her is not to overlook her desire to be counted. She is talking in sentences and is very clear in letting us know how she feels and what she wants. She's NOT a baby! I have to keep telling myself "she may be "the baby" but she's not "a baby" Now if only her independence and maturity would spill over into potty training!!

Here are some highlights!

Indoor water play is a favorite of Hannah's. Although her complaint this week " I want a boat" Gee!
This little wheel thing is awesome. It works with water, sand and rice!
The boys are studying genetics this week. We read all about Mendel's experiments with peas. Then we took a closer look at a fake family. We determined traits but flipping coins to represent each parent and then figured out what their children would look like.

Our chart

The family. It was super fun.

Hannah and I made my Gram's chocolate chip cookies.

Many chocolate chips were consumed before the cookies went into the oven.

She insisted on scooping the dough onto the pan herself.

After a few tries she actually did get the hang of it...well at least the licking of her fingers.

Perfect every time.

We viewed the "dna" of carrots.

The "ghostly" strands are it.

Hannah has never had her hair cut. It was getting SUPER long, way down her back but the front hasn't been able to catch up, so I decided to have the back trimmed up. She got about 3 inches taken off. She would NOT sit in the chair. The hairstylist tried everything to get her sit. Even putting her beloved puppy in the chair and pretending to give him a haircut. She eventually did sit but only with me.
Mommy and Hannah showing off her new cut. You can't really see it here, but I promise it's shorter. I think she has her mommy's hair because of how fast it grows, so in a few months it will be just as long again.