Crazy cousins

My sister Kellie's 4 oldest children spent the night at our house on Sunday night.  They are currently  moving to another state and were in town for a couple of days.  The kids had a great time doing all kinds of things from making up silly skits, dressing up, jumping on the trampoline, etc.  They even talked my husband into playing his guitar while we sang.  I had read about this idea of putting paper airplanes on your ceiling fan blades and then turning on the fan.  It didn't produce the exciting effect that I had hoped but we tried!  I didn't think about it at the time, but it would have been better to tape paper streamers to each fan blade or to make a whole bunch of little paper planes and put them on the blades.  Oh well!
Abigail taught me how to make fabric flowers.  I'm so excited to know how to do this!  She made one and put it on Carrington's birthday present and it was really pretty.  

Our new little ball of fluff

Birthday party

I forgot that I had not posted pictures of Carrington's party!  She had a great time and all of the girls were so sweet and well-mannered.  Carrington doesn't like cake (I can't imagine!), so she asked for a cookie cake.  I gave each of the girls a clay pot to paint.  Then later on, they decorated flower-shaped cookies on a stick.  This was our first experience making these cookies.  The cookies turned out fine except for the fact that they were too heavy to stay on the stick, especially after being smothered with icing! 
I invited one of Clayton's friends to come over to play during the party so he wouldn't feel left out.  They played with balloons, dinosaurs, and silly string.  They had fun spraying silly string in the front yard and on the front door.  I don't mind.  The rain will wash it all away eventually!

Let the Learning Begin!

This is our first official week of school.  It is going pretty well.  I truly enjoy learning along with my children!  This year we are studying My Father's World, Creation to the Greeks.  If anyone can make ancient times fun it is My Father's World curriculum.  I'm really excited that the Science included is Creation based.  We've learned that the earth is actually about 6,000 years old, not MILLIONS!  There is a TON of Scientific evidence to back this up, and more is being discovered all the time. 
One of the things we will be learning is Greek root words.  I'm so excited about this!  I didn't realize how helpful it is for children to learn Greek and Latin words until I read the preface for English from the Roots Up.  It is such a great foundation for all of  Language Arts.  I am continually amazed at how much I have learned since I started homeschooling. 
Every morning we do our Bible time first.  It is so cute to see Clayton run and get his camouflage-bedecked Bible.  We've done Bible reading and various devotionals since before he was born, and he always just listened (and many times didn't listen!).  But this week, he has decided that he wants to help read the Bible verses.  This makes our Bible time go very slowly, but I am not about to tell him that he can't help read the Bible!  I am reminded of  Matthew 18:6, "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."  As far as I'm concerned, parenting is the most important job in the world.  It has eternal implications.  We need to take our jobs very seriously.
On a lighter note........I read a wonderful book a couple of years ago that was extremely helpful in regards to the early elementary years of education.  Better Late Than Early, by Dr. Raymond Moore, talks about not pushing young children too hard in school.  He asserts that it can actually hurt a child in the long run to push him to read before he is ready to.  I wish that I had read his book before Carrington was in kindergarten!  I would have been much more relaxed during her first several years of school!  Better Late Than Early is the most helpful book on homeschooling that I have ever read. 
Clayton will continue to read his verses during Bible time and eventually he will read with ease.  As much as he LOVES for me to read books to him, I know that he will love reading!

Some birthday pics

McKenzie's chocolate cake

Birthday fun with the cousins

So strong and mighty!

My sweet Dad and Aunt Emily

Making a splash

Me, my Dad, Aunt Emily, my sister Kellie

Clayton and me at the mall

French fries and Gyro wraps

I have gotten so behind with posting my pictures!  I have all of my pics downloaded onto my computer now.  Yeah!!!  But being the orderly, perfectionist that I am.........I have to post them in order of occurence.  So here are some pictures from our trip to my Mom and Dad's house, and also some from our outing on Carrington's birthday.
My nieces Madeline and McKenzie wanted to make a cake for Carrington's b-day while we were together at my Mom's house.  They are so sweet!  They made a yummy chocolate cake and then we sang Happy Birthday and had cake right before Marcy and her kids had to leave to go home.  I love the picture of the girls with their feet out of the pool! 

The rest of the pictures are from Carrington's actual birthday.  I have a tradition of decorating my children's door the night before their birthday, so when they wake up in the morning they have a surprise.  Carrington requested french toast for her birthday breakfast.  I dressed up the table that day and used the "good dishes".  :o)  Then we went on some errands and shopping (her request).  We went to our local mall and mostly browsed her favorite stores.  Since it was really hot that day, my kids decided to play in the water fountain.  Carrington asked me to run through it 1 time, so I did.  I do a lot of crazy things for my kids.  I want them to remember me doing fun things with them. 

An interesting quote from James Madison

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.....The loss of Liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, from abroad....."      James Madison

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!

Tomorrow is Carrington's birthday.  She will be 11 years old!  Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!  We love you very much!
In honor of her birthday, here are 11 things that I love about Carrington:
1. She is fun and creative. 
2. She is beautiful inside and out.
3. She loves her brother and is very patient with him.
4. She's my shopping buddy, my movie watching buddy, and my pedicure-getting buddy.  :o)
5. She is very helpful around the house and is becoming a great little cook!
6. She adores her Daddy and is very loyal to him.
7. She loves babies and young children.
8. She has a positive attitude about life.
9. She cares about people and has mercy for them.
10. I can trust her to be obedient when I'm not around.
11. She loves Jesus and says the sweetest prayers.
I can't wait to see what God has in store for you, Carrington.  I know He has big plans for your life!

Geneology

Clayton loves his Toy Story toys

My sweet Dad, Carrington, and cousins Abigail and Lydia

My Mom with Carrington and her cousins

My Dad diving in his pool

Carrington on a train car on vacation

A fun restaurant in Memphis with lots of cool antiques

The train car

I have really become interested in our family's history in the last few years.  I want to know as much as I can about both sides of my family.  It is so fun to hear details about my grandparents and their ancestors.  Last week I took my 91-year-old aunt with me to my Mom and Dad's house.  She is my Dad's older sister.  Out of 10 children in my Dad's family, there are only 3 left.   My Aunt Emily and my Dad are in excellent shape.  My Dad is 83.  I had to include the picture of him diving off the diving board.  He probably would not be happy if he knew I put it on my blog, but I think it's awesome that he can still do things like this.  He swims in their backyard pool every day.  Both of my sisters came, along with their children, to my Mom and Dad's house last week too.  We had so much fun asking my Dad and my Aunt Emily about their parents, siblings,  other family members, and about growing up on a farm during the Depression.  They were so cute talking about their childhood!  They both have nothing but good things to say about their parents.  They said that they were both very sweet and laid back parents.  They talked about them both singing hymns while they worked.   I can't imagine how hard they must have worked.  They didn't have the modern conveniences of dishwahers, washing machines, running water, and electricity.  My Dad could only recall 4 spankings that he ever received growing up.  On one occasion, he got a spanking for leaving a gate open and letting the cows out.  When he was older, he got a spanking for smoking.  He said it was rabbit tobacco, whatever that is.  I learned that my Great-Grandmother died during childbirth and so did the baby.  She already had 4 girls, including a one and a half year old!  My Grandma was the oldest, and got married not long after her Mom died.   My Great-Grandfather remarried that same year.  I wonder if it was out of necessity.  After all, he still had a baby at home.  He and his new wife had 3 more children.  The younger children were around the age of my Aunt Emily.  I wish at least one of them were still alive.  It would be so fascinating to talk to someone whose Dad was born close to the time of the Civil War! 

American History is definitely one of my favorite subjects, and the history of my own family is quite fascinating to me.  I'm so thankful that I have so many Godly ancestors.  I will certainly pass down everything I have learned to my own children.  I want them to know the Godly heritage that they have.