A day in the life of Owen and Baxter

I thought I would write a post about a "day in the life" of Owen and Baxter. Here is a picture of each boys "work boxes" that I put all of their work it. Owen's Thursday work:

From top to bottom... --Journal - this was like pulling teeth last year, but he loves it this year! He typically draws a picture or two and writes a sentence or two. I have very little "rules" about this time. He is pretty much able to do what he wants. --Math - we are using Saxon 1 for math this year which has been way too easy for Owen, so I'm trying to skip ahead to the lessons that will challenge him and also not miss anything I assume he knows. We will take a break from Saxon tomorrow and do a word problem page instead. --For writing we are using "Writing With Ease" and he does some copywork and some narration (we read a short story together and he writes down one or two sentences (with proper capitalization and punctuation) about something he liked in the story. --We are using Explode the Code Book 3 for phonics/spelling - he does about 4 pages. Tomorrow he will also do a word search I made online HERE with some of the words from his lesson. --First Language Lessons is his grammar book - tomorrow he'll draw a picture of our family and label each person's common and proper noun (mom, Mommy; brother, Baxter) to work on capitalization and such. --Story of the World Volume 1 is our History curriculum. Tomorrow we will use Playdoh to make a "tablet" with either cuneiform or hieroglyphics. We are studying Ancient Egypt and their first writing practices. --Our last box is for science. Tomorrow we'll read about a specific family of mammals - the burrowers - and make a rabbit paper bag puppet. Baxter will join Owen for the puppet project. --After all of these, Owen does silent reading for about 15 minutes. --Somewhere in there we will take a snack break (the highlight of the morning!) and I generally read aloud one chapter of a book, we are currently reading "Mr. Popper's Penguins." We love it! Baxter's boxes...

--He will read a BOB book and use the magnets and cookie sheet to spell some of the words he read. --A "hidden letter" sheet for the letter of the week - D - where he colors lowercase d's one color and uppercase letter D's another color. --Counting practice - he has to count the dinosaurs on the page and use the dot marker to dot the same amount of dots (if there are 5 dinosaurs he does 5 dots). --Since O gets to play with Playdoh, I set some out for B too! -- He does Get Ready for the Code working on letter sounds. I thought he'd do 1 page a day, but he loves it so much he often does 3 or 4! --Writing practice for the number of the week - 4.

Fall

Fall is ALMOST here...we have been counting down the days! It is by far the favorite season for our whole family! What's not to love? Pumpkins, chili, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin muffins, leaves, etc. etc. One of the things we'll be doing this fall is watch how this dogwood tree in our front yard changes. Owen will be taking a picture of it either every other week (every other now, every when it changes more noticeably). This will be a great science lesson on seasons and change and such, but I am just realizing it will also be a great spiritual lesson as well. There are times that we are full of life - brimming with good fruit (summer) - and there are other times where we are being tried and shedding some layers of sin and bad fruit (fall) - other times where it seems there is no life and no fruit at all at work in us (winter) - and then the wonderful season where signs of new life are all around us (spring). I need to remember that - I tend to get discouraged by the falling leaves or the seemingly barren tree branch, forgetting that God's power and work and love are coursing through that barren branch, ready to produce something wonderful and good and beautiful!

Three

These three take so much time, energy, food, love, patience, joy, etc etc etc. But I am so thankful for them!

Soccer

This past Saturday was the first of many Saturdays spent on the soccer field for the Purdy family! It brought me back to my days as a soccer player starting in elementary school (I even bought the boys Gatorade water bottles, the old green kind, to reminisce!). The boys looked so grown up and so precious...I mean tough :) in their uniforms! They had a blast. Owen is on the VULTURES with some friends from church and his coaches are two dads from church. It was as much fun to be a fan (with the other mommys and daddys) as it was to watch Owen play! It will be a treat to spend Saturday mornings with these other families! Baxter is on the KANGAROOS. Here are some really neat things about Baxter's team. 1. My first soccer team was also called the Kangaroos! 2. Baxter's head coach's name is Baxter (he goes by Trip). 3. There is another boy on Baxter's team named Baxter! (son of Trip). 4. The assistant coach on Baxter's team is Matt. Matt really enjoys getting to help coach B's team - he says it's like VBS only it's on the soccer field. Lots of chances to love the kids and encourage them and cheer them on! I look forward to getting to know some of the parents on B's team as well. It was a joy to see the boys run out on the field and work hard and have fun! Also, Lucy enjoyed some time with Grams and Grampop on the sidelines...I might have to line up some Lucy helpers all season long, it was a real treat to have them helping with her! Thanks Grams and Grampop! Here are some pictures of before we left, we'll take some action shots in the coming weeks, I'm sure!

Some days...

Some days I feel like this! Tired, cranky, overwhelemed, anxious, etc. I'm pretty sure that the Lord knew that when He said, "“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV) Thank you, Jesus, Amen!