Our New Pet

Sophie asked if we could get a hamster for a pet, so I asked my Facebook friends if anyone had a cage we could use. One of our friends had a hamster who was very loved, but their family had too many animals. This is how we got our teddy bear hamster, Lily.  Sophie is extremely happy as you can see! The last picture is a maze that Christian and Sophie made for Lily. The first few times she actually figured out how to go through the maze, then she started climbing over the sides!  

 

Pics of Our Day

 

                   Sophie asked if we could start school early today. Of course I said yes!

                                         I finally learned to knit!

                                                 swinging!

 

Lots of bike riding and drawing with sidewalk chalk today. What a beautiful day!   

   

 

                                         Yummy pizza for dinner!

 

Lego building

 

                                                           
                                          Playing a game before bed

Fun

Some fun activities we did this week:

Bouncing fun at Jump on in!

 Operation Christmas Child packing party

fishing!

Corn Maze and Apple Picking

Thankful Thursday 12/2/10

10 things I am thankful for today:

• I'm thankful for answered prayer!There has been a number of them lately!
• I'm thankful that my husband has started eating healthier.
• I'm thankful for God's word!
• I'm thankful for the Christmas season
• I'm thankful that Mimi treated Sophie and I to see Tangled at the theater yesterday.
• I'm thankful for a brand new Keurig that we got for free!
• I'm thankful for my daughter (and all my kids!)
• I'm thankful for dishwashers!  Mine was acting like it was broken, but it seems like it's ok now.
• I'm thankful that God is still working in me, and he loves me with an everlasting love!
• I'm thankful for our pellet stove!

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Thankful Thursday

10 things I am thankful for today:

• I'm thankful that my husband has been spending quality time with the kids. 
• I'm thankful that Christian started his math today without me telling him to.
• I'm thankful that I'm able to be a stay-at-home mom
• I'm thankful that I've been able to be there lately for two friends who were going though difficult situations.
• I'm thankful for my good friend, Mimi, who makes almost all of Sophie's clothes.
• I'm thankful tfor the time I spent with Sophie today- pushing her on the swing and playing a  board game with her that she chose.
• I'm thankful for our warm house!
• I'm thankful that God "calls those things that be not as though they were"
• I'm thankful for the holidays!
• I'm thankful that I enjoy cooking and baking for my family.

Thankful Thursday 10/28

I've been doing a weekly Bible study with a friend and one thing I've learned through the study is that I need to be more thankful.  I've been trying to thank God for things throughout the day, but I thought that this meme would help me get some these things that I'm thankful for written down. The Bible says to be thankful in all things!

• I'm thankful for a warm, sunny, colorful  fall day
• I'm thankful that Christian (age10) has been so into God and the Bible lately!
• I'm thankful for good friends
• I'm thankful that the first thing my daughter said to me this morning when she opened her eyes was "I love you!"
• I'm thankful that my older kids take time out of their busy schedules to bless their younger siblings
• I'm thankful that I enjoy homemaking and homeschooling so much
• I'm thankful for AWANA at our church, where my kids can play games with friends and learn Bible verses
• I'm thankful that Christian took the initiative to help Sophie learn her verse yesterday
• I'm thankful for our home

Snowman

Science Museum

Today I took Isaiah, Sophie and Christian to a science museum. It was a nice break from the daily routine! Here are some pics of our day. The first pics are of a city made out of Legos.

Pics of the Kids

While the older boys are at snow camp for the week-end, my younger kids have been playing outside, playing with toys and watching movies.

Reading Chapter Books

I am so excited that Christian is now reading chapter books! For Christmas we bought him a Garfield chapter book, and "UP" based on the new movie. Today he started reading both of them! He learned to read when he was four, mostly from following along while I read bedtime stories to him, and asking about words he saw throughout the day.  He loves to read picture books, and will often read aloud to Sophie. Today we had discussion about how the book is usually better than the movie after he pointed out a couple things that made more sense to him after reading it. Yay!

What I've Been Doing

Here's what I've been doing lately:

• Reading aloud to the kids
• Organizing my playroom and storage room- a good friend has been helping me.
• Relaxing more! I'm always moving and doing something!
• Making a scrapbook for my parents for Christmas. It's been great having a couple friends come over and work on their scrapbooks, too!
• Baking with the kids
• Making Christmas crafts
• Started using Facebook
• I've only been Christmas shopping twice! We've become more laid back at Christmastime.

Indoor Water Park

Homeschoolers in our area got to go to an indoor water park for free today! The kids had a blast! What a fun thing to to do when it's cold outside!

Fun Fall Pics

Cute Picture

I thought this was so cute! Sophie fell asleep while Christian was reading her a bedtime story. :)

Hiking and fishing

The kids did one or two subjects for school, then we took a family day and went hiking and fishing. It was so nice to have the whole family with us, lately the older boys are so busy working or at some activity or event. We need to take advantage of these gorgeous fall days!

A Hike to the Falls

Sophie Rides a Horse and Youth Group Band Pics

Sophie has always always loved horses, and today she got to ride on one for the first time. I love this picture-she was so excited!

Here are some pics of the youth group's worship band. Friday night they played for a youth rally, and on sunday afternoon they played for the Church's fall kickoff celebration. In the bottom pic you can see Isaiah playing ocarina, Andrew playing bass guitar, and Charles on the drums.

Answered Prayer

This is the van that God provided!! Andrew went to a friend's off-to-college party the other day and the young man's mother met me half way so I wouldn't have to bring Andrew all the way to her house an hour away. She asked me what I was doing for the afternoon. I told her how we didn't have a vehicle and we were going to spend the afternoon looking. She said that they had a van that they were no longer using and that we could at least borrow it. But when she talked to her husband, they decided to give it to us!! The cool thing is that a day or two before, she just happened to come across the title while she was looking for something else.

So, we have a van now! We have gone most of the summer without a vehicle for 7 of us-including three very active teenagers. I have been been borrowing my mom's car a lot, but it's been very hard. We are still going to look for an economical vehicle for my boys to dive (Charles starts Drivers Ed next week), but now we have a large very comfortable vehicle for the whole family to get around. Thank you, Lord!

Fishing Again!

We had some time before the kids had to go to a youth group drama/band practice today, so we decided to do a little fishing. The kids love fishing and it was so enjoyable to be outdoors by the lake. It was so peacefull, with no masquitos and a refreshing breeze. Got to do more of this before summer is over!