My Favorite Four Plus One!

My heart belongs to these beautiful people~

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Party Time!

For John's belated Birthday we decided to just have date night with some great grown-up friends.  We are very blessed to have wonderful supportive friends from all different walks of life.  We have friends that we have been friends with since John and I were in high school that we still talk with on a weekly basis and we have new friends that we just clicked with immediately that we also talk with and whom our entire family loves to spend time with...Not all of our friends are friends if that makes sense...but we love them all and decided what the heck, just invite our closest couple friends and have fun!  We decided not to worry if everyone knew each other...these are friends that love us, check on us and know what is going on in our family...so we felt confident that it would be a great time! And it was.....at least for John and I! One of John's friends asked for the full birthday treatment at El Jalisco (pictured above and below)...the restuarant was so loud and and busy that it was hard to hear each other at times...but it was relaxed and fun.. 


three of the five gals...the others left before I could ask for a picture (bummer)...I didn't make the guys get a picture together! :)

St. George Island

Last Saturday, we went to the beach for the FIRST time this summer...we have spent a lot of time in the water but not the saltwater so it was time!  I had to check it off the list :)

It was the perfect day...sunny and hot!  Molly LOVED the water and we had to constantly tell her that she couldn't swim on her own.  She just wanted to float and play in the water!  Emily and J.D. enjoyed the boogie board and riding the waves.  Emily wants to surf...most likely because we watched the movie "Soul Surfer."  But she tried and tried to catch the perfect wave!  All three kids got stung by Jellyfish which apparently have been really bad lately...so bad that the park rangers had vinegar at the check in station for sting relief.  We wiped all the kids with vinegar and back in the water they went!  It was a great family day...just the right amount of time at the hot, sandy, beach! John had a hankering for a shrimp po-boy so on the way off the island guess what we got to go!











Book Lover

I think I have said before that I am using a "curriculum" for Molly called Before Five in a Row.  Basically the guide gives you age appropriate books to read to the 2-4 year old and then for the rest of the week...Five in a row...you do an activity or game or read the book again and point out different things, etc.  Last week we did Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear.  She loved it!  Some of the activities that it suggested were having the older siblings and Molly act out the book as Mommy read it...(we did this), read the book and talk about all the ways the paren's of Jesse are showing love, cut out a bear from paper and have the child using scrap fabric to dress the bear, let the child dress like Jesse Bear one day. We did some of these and it was fun.  Molly started praying for Jesse Bear anytime we were praying during the week. 

This week's book is My Blue Boat and today we happen to find a sand toy boat in the garage.  It's purple but it is a cute little boat that looks just like the one in the book.  She loved making her boat do all the things that the girl in the book did with the boat.  At the end of the book, the little girl puts the boat on a shelf above her bed.....and so did Molly.....


I'm learning that the repitition of the book all during the week is just wonderful and she loves it and it is quite Classical of us too!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

John Daniel's Baptism

Sunday was a special day...John Daniel was baptized by Pastor Mark and John.  This was a long process of discussion and prayer since December of last year.  We've prayed with him, read a book about what's next after becoming a Christian and he and John have had numerous discussions.  He also went and talked to our Pastor.  John Daniel said he was ready and that he wanted to "show" everyone, his family, his church family and others that he had accepted Jesus and asked for forgiveness of his sins.  John and I didn't feel like we could tell him no any longer......When I prayed about it and asked God to give me assurance that my son was ready, I felt like God was telling me that it was a growing process, that none of us are through learning and growing and we certainly don't "know everything" about following God's will and becoming more like Christ.  John Daniel has said numerous times and has been persistent in his questions and desire to be baptized so that was that...I've thought about this a good bit...It would be strange for a child like many that grow up in a loving, nurturing home where Jesus and God are talked about and taught about on a fairly regular basis to NOT want to have this assurance and a Savior.  It excites me but frightens me all the same....My greatest desire is for my children to know God for themselves, for Him to be their Savior and for them to depend on Him because they want to and not because that is what Daddy and Mommy say...my job now (I think) is to help them discover this and nurture this as they grow in more and more in love and in knowledge.  One of the coolest things was the week before J.D. was baptized... we read over the story and the events leading up to the Baptism of Jesus as a family.  It was very special and I really truly believe that John Daniel knows and wanted to follow Jesus' example and act in obedience. 













Classical Conversations.....

...is our co-op for the year.  I'm still new at this homeschooling thing but from what I know, a co-op is a group of families learning cooperatively.  This particular co-op happens to model the classical model of teaching which is a lot of memorization, pouring facts into a child, learning at a fast pace and then if they continue on in 7th grade and up, they learn to sort through the facts as they get older.  There is a lot of repitition through songs and hand motions and experiments and poems.  Their thought is "What can one think critically about if they know no facts?"  The author goes on to say, "For the Christian, absolute truth exists.  His story is unfolding and I want to know who did what, where, when, and why for Him.  I want his word to be a lamp unto my feet.  That means that I must acquire, nurture, and expand my ability to store information, words, and abstract ideas.  I want to be able to repeat truth and think about how truth affects my life.  This requires brain training and habits of character.  I want my children to have the ability to memorize the entire Bible should it be taken from them."  Now that is a grand notion but you get the picture....the founder and author of this "method" of classical education really puts stock in early memorization, they move on to the dialectic and rhetoric stage where you are processing and understanding and using the information in 7th grade.  Honestly, I have no idea yet if this is for us.  It is quite impressive and the kids (the ones that I have had the chance to watch) do seem to thrive (I mean they are really happy) memorizing and feel confident in what they learn and like to spout it out.  Sometimes I go back and forth about the love of learning and if this is just memorizing for memorization sake, and what about exploring information at a deep level and doing a few good things really good, etc.  Who knows, but we are doing this this year...John is teaching a class, we are bartering for tuition (which MANY parents do) and it is only one day.  The point of the whole curriculum is to give you a framework that then, as the parent, you build as much or as little from at home.  Some of the women go way over and above and some do it for soicalization and a fun, classroom type setting.  I find it very cool in that it is all about learning together....some parents want to come and sit in the class and do nothing except learn with their kids, others want to teach a class, others do admin stuff to help offset their cost, others watch the little ones, etc.  It seems to me that everyone brings their strength and it all just works out.  It was amazingly organized yesterday and let me tell you there are a lot of kids and parents...I would say maybe 50 + families participate.  Emily and John Daniel had a drawing lesson, did math facts, learned the latin prepositions, learned a history sentence about Colombus, learned the 4 types of human tissue, did a DNA hands on science experiment, learned 5 states and capitals, started learning John 1, and practiced a grammer rule....and gave a 3 minute presentation...that was all before 12:00.  Emily said, "Wow that was nothing like the first day of school anywhere else!"  I think she meant that they worked and learned....it wasn't just a "fun" type of day.  No, John Daniel doesn't know what he is saying when he talks about the latin prepositions....but he is so proud!  And the point is to come home and then talk about why latin is helpful and what a preposition is.  They got a big kick out of showing my mom what they had already learned today.  It is also very cool because we go as a family and they get the same information!  We will all be studying anatomy and physiology.  J.D. watched a video on the 4 types of tissue today and he totally got it...

My biggest positive on it is that it pushes us into the week full force.  I had a hard time last year getting started on Mondays...sometimes it was drudgery..but this pushes us to start the week with a bang, I don't have to "prepare" like I would if I was starting at home on a Monday and they get a lot accomplished, so even if I have a bad week....they have done a lot already.  Today, we had a GREAT tuesday because we were so excited and pumped up from yesterday.  Emily said, I LOVE our new schedule.  Now we will see if that excitement lasts....we continued with what we studied there yesterday and tomorrow we are doing a science project about the layers of skin.  It gives me a set time period to try to complete things in or read things by...it seems to be the nudge I need right now.....so that is good.  At least that is my take after week one :)





Sunday, August 21, 2011

Musical beds

It is nice to have big kids when you are trying to get a little one to stay in her bed...they think it is cool to have a sleepover in another bed and she wants to have company...it has been a little like musical beds around here the past 3 weeks...tonight everyone is finally in their own bed and went to sleep by their self without too much drama!  The musical beds have made for some cute pictures though....

Sissy and Molly

Molly's nap for seveal days in a row....accidently falling asleep on our bed.
Brother and Molly