Life the past few months according to Matt's phone...

When Matt got his iPhone this summer, we started to use his phone when we were out and about to take pictures instead of hauling our big camera. Because of this, there are a lot of things that never appeared on the blog. I'm going to try to add some of them to the blog, but for now, here is a random assortment of our life via the iPhone...more to come another day!

Look at the legs!



Swim lessons - what a long week!





Owen's first hole in one this summer at Patterson Golf Park here in Richmond!



Owen and Baxter's 1/2 birthday - dinner at Moes with 1/2 cupcakes :)



Daddy project day at Home Depot - a free program they run for kids and parents the first Saturday of the month! They made a white board that looked like a play board you'd have for sports...perfect! They were hard workers!





We bought a coupon for the Mosquito Authority on Groupon this year. It was awesome! 3 or 4 weeks of NO mosquitos!! Here was dinner on our porch one night...bug free! (Honest side note - getting all of the food and accessories and children to the porch was not one of our finest moments. We are creatures of habit and enjoy eating dinner at our indoor table!)



Together again! Matt had the privilege of doing the wedding for some friends in Richmond this fall - we went to JMU with the bride. Our great friends Michael and Laura were in the wedding. The guys had played music in some weddings together right out of college. Michael was our best man. We were both in their wedding. It was really fun to be together again for Am's wedding!



The same day of the wedding, we took Lucy to the hospital where she was born, St. Mary's for a NICU reunion. It was great to see some of the doctor's and nurses that helped her for those first 4 days when she was in the NICU. We were also able to see one of my favorite nurses from the antepartum unit - the unit I was on for the week before she was born. Afton was the nurse who came in bright and early on December 7, 2010 to tell me that I got to have my baby girl that day! It was great to see her again and to let her see Lucy all big and healthy!!

More Lucy :)

Just a few of Lucy today. She is pulling up to a stand a lot on things...not quite cruising yet. She brings a whole lot of sweetness to our home!

School IS cool!

You know that old saying, "School is Cool" ? Well, I would have to say that it is true! We have been having a really great couple of weeks. I think we are more in our rhythm and routine as a family and this new life of homeschooling. The days are still long and tiring, don't get me wrong! But there is just more peace and joy in the midst of it too. I have visions of capturing all of the various parts of our day in pictures and recording it on here, but that just doesn't seem to be happening this year! And I"m ok with that! But I did want to share a few things that we have been up to so that you can have a little window into our world. So here you go...

We are using the Kindergarten Saxon Math curriculum. It is REALLY easy for Owen. BUT, we are really committed (at this point) in keeping "on grade level" so that if and when he goes to school he is the "right" age (among other reasons). Even though this is a really easy thing for Owen, he seems to enjoy it and is not bored. This day he was simply counting pennies and putting them in cups (1 penny in the cup numbered 1, 2 pennies in the cup numbered 2, etc). The picture below where he is smiling is where he has just figured out that he has 55 pennies (I think)... the boy LOVES numbers! It's neat to watch the joy in learning right up close!







Owen has a penpal this year! His sweet cousin Anna Rose lives in Connecticut. She also started Kindergarten this year. Owen and Anna have written a few letters back and forth so far. It is a GREAT day when we go to the mailbox and there is mail from CT! In this most recent letter, Owen had asked Anna if she likes football. She sent her card back with "girly" (according to Owen) stickers and said she liked soccer. She then asked Owen another question for him to answer in this next card. Precious!!



Today was apple taste testing day. We had red delicious, golden delicious, and gala apples. The boys had to taste each one and then pick the one that they liked the best. The both decided that golden delicious is there favorite. I always buy gala...hmmm...

10 months - and all girl!

I am about a week late in posting that our precious Lucy is 10 months old! Last year at this time I was one month into bed rest...enjoying the fall weather from a lawn chair on our back porch, hearing updates of field trips and watching my husband scurry around like a crazy man. All for this precious little girl. Oh, Lucy, we love you! You are well worth that whole crazy time!

She is sleeping like a champ - 12 hours at night and two 2 hour naps during the day. I wonder when the morning nap will fade away, but we're living it up while it lasts!! That is when we do school, puzzles, games on the ground, etc. She is a very busy crawler and likes to see everything! She is drawn like a magnet to any board game! She loves to play with any toy - especially the boys cars and balls! She is a momma's girl - always within a few feet in case she wants to be swooped up and cuddled (and then toted around, because let's face it, this momma doesn't have hours to spend just cuddling!). Her brothers and daddy continue to adore her, and she them! The smiles and giggles are too much for them to handle! She is a joy!

Here she is...Miss Lucy Grace, 10 months old!

"I do homeschool."

We had our first run-in with someone who put Owen on the spot about school. He handled it so well - I was very proud of his courage and boldness! We were leaving Costco after a quick shopping trip before picking Baxter up from preschool. The lady at the door (who checks your receipt to be sure you're not stealing anything) looked at Owen, and very loudly said to him, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?!" I paused, seeing that he was processing what he was saying. He simply, yet boldly, said "I do homeschool!" She looked and him and then looked at me and said something like "Well, good for you! Have a great day!" I don't know what she was thinking, but she was very kind in response to him.

I was just so proud of him - he does well with adults he knows, but is often very quiet with other adults. He just looked her in the eye and answered her question - confident in how he is being schooled. It was neat!

Thank you Lord for our precious son! May he always be brave and bold for you and your kingdom!!

Owen's first story

I found this idea on a blog that the women who wrote "A well trained mind" (which is what we have based our curriculum off of) had posted. They suggested that your child narrate a story to you, you type it out (or write it out I guess). I thought it would be neat to also print out the story, have him illustrate it, and then staple it together like a mini-book.

Here is what he came up with. It came out of him like he was just waiting for me to ask him a story. So sweet. Can you tell that he's read a book about lost treasure and that we have been reading Charlotte's Web together!! :)

Title: "Owen's first scene: A Spider Web Message"

p.1 "One day, I was walking down the street, and I saw a spider web. The spider web was so big that I could fit in it."
p.2 "And on the spider web was a secret message. It said "Across the sea you will find the last of the lasts treasure chest."
p.3 "And when I found the treasure chest, it was so great I wanted to keep it. And I opened it. And I saw lots and lots and lots of gold pennies. But then, I had to go back to my own home. See you next time. Good Bye! THE END."

About to start week 5!

We have completed 4 weeks of homeschool! It has really gone smoothly, which I thank the Lord for! Owen is really enjoying (most of the time) the work and activities we are doing. Baxter loves to "do homeschool" on the days he is at home. Lucy is still being a super third child and napping for 1.5-2 hours each morning while we are doing school. I am thankful for the planning I did this summer that has allowed the fall to be low stress. I feel a little better about him not being in a classroom with another adult and other children - thankful for the opportunity to see his friendships with Baxter and Lucy grow, thankful for a chance to know him and spend time with him, thankful that when we have seen friends and other adults this week he has interacted very well and with joy.

One sweet thing is that Owen does a journal time every morning we do school. He has to draw a picture and then write one sentence about it. He can either do something that he thinks up on his own or get an idea from the "journal ideas" envelope. This hasn't been a favorite time of his - too vague I think. One day he was super cranky. I had him draw a picture of how he was feeling. He drew a sad face on one page and a happy face on the other. One said "I am sad" and the other said "I am happy." I know that feeling well - happy sad! Since that day, I have not asked him to draw how he is feeling, but he often will do it on his own. He'll do his one journal page from his mind or the envelope and then do a 2nd page with a smiley face that says "I am happy." I am thankful for that!

We're not sure what the future holds, but we are thankful for where we are today! This weekend Matt led a young adults beach retreat through church in Corolla, NC. We left as a family Friday morning - spent time at the beach house, climbing the light house and playing at the beach Friday (pictures will come soon). Saturday morning while Matt was teaching and Lucy was napping the boys and I did our schoolwork that we skipped on Friday. I appreciated the flexibility it allows - we could all go with Matt this weekend and school flexed around that. Pretty neat!

Here are two pics from this past week. One is Owen creating a big D and little d with lincoln logs (he also made a "Hebrew D" after Matt had shown him some Hebrew that he was working on at work). The other is Owen playing with Lucy - it's neat that he is around to know her as she grows this year!