First Day Hooray!

Our first day of school was full of excitement! The boys were thrilled to finally begin! A knocked on our door fairly early to say, "Happy First Day of School!" That meant that I needed to get out of bed and take a shower. :)

Our first activity was to have devotions on the carpet during our circle time. Little B loved this! We sang songs that she knew and she got to sit on my lap. Happy times. The boys decided to give both of us bunny ears while daddy took the picture. Silly boys!

We then headed to the table to realize that we have A LOT of ironing to do... No, we didn't do laundry...we just have a lot of kinks to iron out! :) So, I may have some advantages in homeschooling, since I have taught in the classroom, but it is a different world! A dear friend told me that I will learn more about myself this first year than my children will learn. That is a SCARY thought! But I'm ready...Lord, what do you want to show me?

Ready or Not Here We Go!

Well, the countdown is about to end! I can't believe that we only have one day of summer left. We officially begin our homeschooling adventure on Monday, the 25th. We picked up all of our textbooks 1 1/2 weeks ago. My sweet A said, "Mommy, can we start tomorrow?" I love his enthusiasm! I politely requested that we begin on our actual start date so mommy could get ready. :) Z agreed wholeheartedly. He is not quite ready for his relaxing summer to be over.

Little B keeps saying, "We're having school at home?" "Yes, B, we are having school at home. Won't that be fun?" :) I don't think that she gets the whole idea yet. I pray that she will adapt well as our daily schedule is about to change (A LOT)! :) She wants to have circle time and sing, "Who's at school today?" - a song that she sang daily at preschool last year. That's a great idea! So, my poor fourth grader will be sitting during circle time singing preschool songs...the funny thing is that both boys will love every minute of it!

My prayer requests are that we will settle into a great routine...that B will adjust to having some independent play time...that I will be a blessing to my sons as we spend so much time together...and that the Lord will use this amazing opportunity in our lives!

I had to add a few fun pictures too! Enjoy!

B really likes to wear her brothers' swimming goggles...in the second picture she was trying to make a funny face...after I took the picture she said, "Let me see!" with a huge smile on her face.

B loves to apply lotion...just ask her great grandma...daddy was not too happy about this one, but mommy just had to take a picture! Later we found lotion on the headboard of our bed and on daddy's night stand. :)

I realize that in BOTH of these pictures Z is making the same silly face! :) What a ham!

Final Summer Fun

I am in shock that summer is almost over! The schools in our town are all set to begin this Wednesday! Yikes! Fortunately, we have two more weeks of relaxation to look forward to. We are starting to gear up though! Pencil boxes, crayons, glue sticks, scissors, and pencils have been purchased and we will receive our curriculum this week. We are ALL excited, but anxious to see what this will exactly look like for our family.

I promised an update on our VERY seperate end of the summer vacations...here you go! Unfortunately, I only have pictures from the Oregon trip to share with you though.

M returned from Mexico last night at 9:30. He was so glad to be home and we were thrilled to have our daddy back! Z and A kept saying, "We are FINALLY a whole family again!" Little B just threw her arms around her daddy's neck and gave him kisses. M had an amazing time on his 10-day journey. He learned a lot about himelf and interacting with highschoolers. He had wonderful experiences. I struggled with not being able to talk to him while he was away...whatever did we do before cell phones? :) I had sent a stack of letters down with my dear friend. She had her boys deliver one to M each morning at breakfast. M said he began to expect them and was thrilled to "hear" from his wife along the way. Thank you, dear friends, for making this possible!

The boys had a ball at First Mommy's. My sweet A lost a tooth while he was there and then another one the day after I picked them up! He is a little bit toothless right now and the tooth fairy has been VERY busy! Z had fun with his baby sister and learning how to advance in a game cube game. Oh to be 9 again!

Little B and I traveled all over Oregon during our nine days away. We first journeyed to Eugene to visit my beautiful cousin and her pets...that was B's favorite part! See two of them (fighting for their lives it looks like)!

Another stop in Eugene was with dear friends. M's mom has wonderful friends in Eugene and I could not imagine not meeting them myself! We have been emailing back and forth since M and I got married, so I felt that I already knew them! B and I went for a visit and had a great time. My only regret is that we did not get a picture. What was I thinking? We love you K and G!

We then headed down the coast to finally arrive at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house at the OCEAN! B has been talking about it for weeks now! "We going to the ocean? Right?" When we finally saw the ocean, B said, "Oh my goodness!" It is so fun to see life through her eyes.

Some of her favorite activities at Grandma and Grandpa's house were reading a farm book with Grandpa and wearing his socks!

We also headed back up the coast to Bandon to a Wildlife Park. There were animals roaming around and others in cages to view. Little B was able to hold a baby lioness and an opposum! This was probably the highlight of her whole trip!

Finally, on our last full day at the ocean we actually went down to the beach to play for a while. The weather was so cool that we wore jackets and did not even think of going in the water! :) B had a blast visiting with doggies, digging in the sand, and finding "cute" rocks and shells.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for an amazing last hoorah!