Snack Time!!

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Anyone who knows the kids know that without fail at around 10 am my students start asking what’s for their ten o’clock snack. The answer is always fruit but it doesn’t stop them from asking. Usually while they take a break from school and eat their snack I tend to our garden. The weather has been beautiful lately where they can take our snack outside. If you look closely, Abigail is wearing her swimsuit and rain boots. And yes, Caleb is still in his pajamas. Yet another great benefit of home schooling, no peer pressure to wear a certain label. I just care that they are in clean clothes before Jon comes home!

Uncle David's Visit

Uncle David came to visit us! He came in from Arkansas to spend a few days with us. The kids performed all their LTC events for him :)! We also took in a few area attractions including the Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine. The kids love watching the fish and ducks, and seeing all the wild animals. It was great to have him here and we hope he makes it this way again soon!

5:30am Calisthenics

With the kid’s education, Jon is responsible for Math! He wakes the babies up at 5:30am every morning. They either run three miles, or if it is too cold they do sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks etc., anything to get blood flowing then they move on to math. While they do math I prepare for the other subjects. This morning I just happened to have the camera nearby!! They were thrilled to have their photo taken!!

Home School Group

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Our home school group has 200+ families. Beginning July of last year I joined the Board of Directors as the Communications Director. I put together a monthly electronic newsletter, along with a weekly electronic flash. It’s a lot of work and my family puts up with me having a computer on my lap for 8 to 10 hours a week, while I do my volunteer work. Our family benefits so much from our home school group, from field trips, great friends, and a lot of opportunities we wouldn’t have otherwise. One of those benefits was having Mr. Tim Lambert speak at our March meeting. Mr. Lambert is the President of The Texas Home School Coalition. He keeps Home Schoolers up to date on political events.

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Tonight different home school symphonic ensembles performed. We opened with the boy scouts doing the flag ceremonies.

Making a Joyful Noise

This is our 3rd-6th grade small chorus. Ms. Vyneta has been their coach each year. She is a veteran Sweet Adeline and enjoys teaching the kids new music. There are very few choruses that perform with actual four-part harmony, but Ms. Vyneta pulls it off each year with our kids! Aren't they cute!!!

Jess’s Birthday

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Granny brought Jess with her on her visit this week. Jess turns 13 on the 29th of March. Bobby drove up from Houston to celebrate. We enjoyed watching him open gifts and sharing his birthday cake.
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Abigail, being Abigail, caught Uncle Bob napping (and snoring!) so she snuck up behind him and pinched his nose close! I pretty sure if it had been one of the other kids Uncle Bob wouldn’t have been so nice about her orneriness!

Braces for Caleb

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Last week at the orthodontist appointment, we were told it's time for braces. This morning he had braces put on top and bottom. Sweet little man! He didn't fuss or complain. There was a quiet "Mooommm" when I took his picture in the dentist chair. He should be in these for the next 16 to 18 months. He should get them off just in time for Abigail to get hers!

Studying for Bible Bowl

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I thought I would give everyone a look at Bible Bowl practice at our house. It isn't just send them to their room and tell them to read. One of my favorites is like the 52 card pick up. The kid wrote the chapter headings from John on 3"x5" cards. I mix the cards up and throw them up in the air. The kids compete to see who can put them in the correct order first. Today, the winner selected our lunch menu.

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If the kids know the order of the chapter headings it helps them eliminate selecting the wrong answer.

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Immersed in Activity

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Oh, I am so behind in posting! Our lives seem to center around school, baseball, softball, gardening & LTC. Somewhere in there Jon works; I work part-time; volunteer as the Communications Director for our homeschool group, maintaining the website and weekly e-newsletter; freelance design work for political candidates; we teach the Sunday night 3rd - 6th grade class; I teach the Sunday afternoon Nationals teams.

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When I write it out, it seems crazy! But we manage to get it done, somewhere in there is sign language, piano, & Latin!

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Astronomy Class

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Our church homeschool families met this week for our monthly co-op class. Ms. Carina led us in a great class about Astronomy. Each of the kids gave an oral presentation about an assigned planet. The younger kids used fruit to represent the planets and their proportionate sizes.

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Studying for Bible Bowl

Admit it, there is nothing sweeter than photos of sleeping babies! Admittedly, 8 years old isn't generally considered a baby, but this is one of my babies. After a busy day of school and softball, Abigail stretched on on the couch to read the book of John and review study questions. Caleb was on the other couch doing the same, when I looked up and Abigail was sound asleep! She wants to keep up with brother, but is still a little girl. You can still see the blue earphones to her Mp3 player in her ears where she is listening to the Bible on CD while studying questions. So sweet! When I pointed out to Caleb that she was asleep, he went over, took her book gently away and but a blanket over her, without being prompted! Sweet brother!

Home Depot Classes Pay-Off

Seven years of Home Depot classes have finally paid off! The other day I picked up two shelving units for the girl's room. Today I gave Caleb and Abigail the boxes and told them to build them. The kids read the instructions, and built both shelves. No fingers were hammered! No tile was broken! No grumpy voices were raised! I'm so proud, . . . next I think I'll look into roofing classes!

The Babies are Growing

Yes, you are at the right blog! I decided to change up the look. The other photo of the kids that was in the old layout was over a year old. The kiddos are getting older, so I wanted the blog to reflect that. Evidence of their growth is both need new cleats for Spring ball. Caleb can't even get his foot in the cleat he wore in Fall ball.

Thursday night is ball practice for Abs. She is loving playing catcher. She takes it very seriously. Coach gave her specific squat exercises to build her leg strength. She makes sure she does them daily!

Jon was off Tuesday & Thursday night and attended practice with each of the kids. They love having Dad at practice.

Busy Times

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I thought today I would give everyone a glimpse at our Sundays!! We left the house at 7:30am for morning service and Bible class. Following services we had acquired two extra kiddos, Caleb's friends Blake & Richard. The boys played Playstation after lunch. At 1:00, Abigail had softball practice. The boys took the outfield to shag balls for the girls.

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When Abigail's practice wrapped up at 3:00, Jon headed to work and I headed to the church building to teach my Nationals Bible Bowl Teams from 3:30-5:30. At 5:30 our evening services began. It was a continuation of our Mission Forum weekend. At 6:30 was LTC Sign Language class, then from 7:00 to 8:00 was LTC Drama practice.

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The crazy thing about today, as busy as it was I only had to teach one Bible Bowl class today (normally I teach two classes). And today our chorus practice was cancelled! My girlfriend Pam, refers to this as the busy time, until the kids can begin driving themselves! Busy, busy, the kids ate dinner and were in bed by 9pm.

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I best get to bed, because tomorrow morning it starts all over!