A Day With Thomas

Thomas chugged into a town nearby. Caden had to go see him and jump aboard!

Cheez.
Wow, I know Thomas will go soopa fast.
This ticket must be magical.
I bet that engine goes soopa fast!

Choo Chooooo

Look we're back at the station!

Thanks Sir Topham Hat!

School at Home...

So far, homeschooling has not been the drudgery I was worried it may be. We are actually having lots of fun. There's something rewarding about being a integral part of your children's learning and growing. Now, not every moment is rosy, but that's part of learning right? For me and them. This embarking year we are using Sonlight (Core B) curriculum. It's really great! Here's a rundown of what we're doing this semester (it is all laid out for me in a scheduled lesson plan).

Read-Aloud Book list:

Children's Everyday Bible

A Family Treasury of Little Golden Books

A Treasury of Mother Goose Rhyme

Eric Carle's Animals Animals

Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science and Nature

The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book

My First Picture Dictionary

Things People Do

(RED-these are my kid's FAVORITES)

Math (Horizon)

Handwriting (Handwriting Without Tears)

Language Arts (Sonlight's program)

Kumon workbooks - these are SO CUTE! Perfect for preschoolers. They have cutting, tracing, mazes, coloring, stickers & more books. Here are some finished products.

Extracurricular:

Piano
Gymnastics

Fall Field trips: Buffalo farm, Orchard, Zoo, Harvest

The Students:

waxing sentimental

My good friend and old college roommate, Micah (MT, Micah Toddy, Mickey), turned 30 a few days ago. Micah, 30 is the new old if you were wondering.

so here are a few tributes and memories...

First to Micah and his parents and grandparents- some of the most generous people I know. They were family away from family, friends, and oh so generous. Delinda, why did you ever pay us each $500 bucs for the worst paint job your house ever saw? and free living in Botswana for two years thanks to the Church/Humphrey family. and "the bus" and prelude. loved the prelude despised the bus - but my car was a bike so whose complaining?

I'll never forget "John the jars brother", our next door neighbor in the OSU dorms. A guy most people avoided at all costs because of his extremely annoying behavior, namely running into our room at 1 am with his guitar asking Micah to check out his new moves, and literally demanding Micah to take him to McDonalds since MT had the only car. But of course MT's patience won the day.

How about blowing up catfish with the shotgun? That was a highlight. or walking the farm at night with a flashlight and shotgun looking for coyotes. or camping in the mud. and snow. and rain. and more camping. and more. caving, canoeing, raquetball, running, "mountain" biking, jamming on the gee-tar. MT taught me the guitar, how to play "everything I do" on the piano, and introduced me to Rambo.

And the best for last - our first year of college Micah and I went out to the farm and buried, close to the old tire swing by the creek, a committment we wrote out on paper to use our college years for the Lord's glory. By the time we pulled up the cheap plastic container and its contents 3 and a half years later, the words had rotted but the commitment never did. those were intense years of learning, studying, debating, and praying together.

thanks mt.

for all you moms out there...

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/223/popup/index.php?cl=4274384

OK, alright, it's October 1st+.
So here are the finished projects from this post.

#1 Bible verses decoupaged on a 5'x2' window. We have wanted to put Scripture in our house forever, but nothing ever caught my eye. I was going for a clean and earthy/organic look...There are a few things that may need altering on this, but for now it's done. I'm sorry that the photos don't allow you to read the verses. Habakkuk 3:17-19
Act. 4:12 & Romans 6:8
Revelation 5:12-13
Micah 6:8
It hangs on a wide wall above this couch. It was hard to get a good picture with all the reflections.

#2 Simple pillows. I only made a cover with a zipper, that way they are easy to wash and can be swapped with a different cover when desired. (The two couches face each other.)