Sweet lunch eater...

No words for this one!

Baxter's First Day!

Baxter started preschool last week! He went last year, one day a week, for the 2 year old class. This year he will be going two days a week for the 3 year old class. He has the same teacher that Owen did when he was 3! We are excited for him to have a place where he will be loved very well, told more about Jesus, and get some of his wiggles out! He's really enjoyed doing some homeschool time with us, but it would be too much for him to hang in there with us every day. He will be home with us on two mornings a week now which is great all around! Here are some precious pictures of our very intense (wether joy or goofy or sad or mad) middle child. We love you Baxter!!!

Overheard at our house...

A bunch of friends have a part of their blogs called "overheard at our house..." to capture sweet things that their kids say. I think I might start doing this too. We'll see!

Here are a few from today.

Me - Baxter, would you like to read your "God books" today during silent reading time?
B - Sure, I love God!

earlier this morning...

Me - Owen, what is your favorite part about fall?
Owen - Leaves, and homeschool

It's moments like those that make this all worth it!

Not so great are the moments that they are kicking and hitting one another or I am speaking in less than soft words...

God is good to be at work in it all!

Couldn't be sweeter!! 9 Months old!

Our precious Lucy is 9 months old! Can you believe it? I can't! She started crawling last weekend in the midst of Hurricane Irene. She is such a sweet explorer. She is very into figuring things out and tracking things down - especially the boys toys! She is as sweet as ever and so fun to learn more of her personality. She has continued her great napping this week which I am thrilled about since we have started homeschool! If only she could take a 1.5 - 2 hour morning nap through the end of may :) She loves "table food" much better than baby food, but she can't quite master it enough to eat much of it. So we're still shoveling the baby food in for a bit longer. Her brothers adore her - even when she comes crawling toward their sorry game or football endzones.

We love you Lucy Grace!

Day 1 complete!

So when we woke up this morning, Owen awoke as a Kindergarten-er and I awoke a teacher. We had our first day of homeschool Kindergarten (and preschool for Baxter) this morning. I would say overall it was a success. It didn't go exactly as I had envisioned it. In some ways it went better, in some ways anti-climactic and in other ways it brought up fears and wonderings I didn't expect.

I wondered if we were going to limit him by keeping him at home. He won't get to be in a class with other kids. He won't get to go to PE or art or music. Are my plans too simple? Why did it only take 5 minutes to complete something I thought would take 20 minutes? I am not trained for this!

He read THREE books to us during our reading time. He and Baxter worked together on a puzzle without fighting. I was able to remind Owen (and myself) that our learning of spelling and writing and phonics is to equip us to know God and to make Him known to others. Lucy took an awesome nap. We had Lucky Charms for a snack. Baxter discovered that a 6 and a 9 look the same depending on how you hold them.

Those are some of the wanderings of my mind from day 1. I trust that this is where the Lord has led us and He will be faithful. I am thankful that we ended the morning with smiles and joy. That is a blessing to me!

Here are a few pictures. I am sure more thoughts will come as the days and weeks go by...

A silly thing I did at the start of the day where we each wore two hats. Our normal hats (mommy, son) and our new hats (teacher, student). I think they got it. Baxter later asked me if he could call me mommy and not teacher. Sweet B.



Owen reading "Ronald Morgan goes to Bat" to us.



First day of school!



First "free writing/drawing" assignment. Yes, this is a picture of a house with stinky things next to it and it reads "My house is messy." Hmm...I thought it was cleaner than it's ever been in preparation for school starting. So encouraging!



Second page of the "free writing/drawing." A heart and a pin that says "I love my pin." This is in reference to a pin he received at Home Depot on Saturday morning from a daddy and me project. That was more of what I was looking for :)

Saturday Bagel Time

This picture is a little snapshot of one of my favorite times of the week. In our house we simply call it "bagel time." Most weeks, on Saturday morning, we get up, get the kids breakfast, and get me out the door. I am generally gone for about an hour and a half. I head to our favorite bagel shop, Cuppertino's NY Bagel and Deli, with my Bible, notebook, a few books. I find a great corner to sit in, order my everything bagel toasted with plain cream cheese and a small coffee, and I sit down to meet with the Lord.

It is a time of refreshment for me. On one hand it it good to be away from my home for a little while - to have a break from the demands of my kids and my home. But most of all, it is good for me to be in the Word and in books that are instructive to things I am dealing with. God meets me there. I am refreshed. It is good!

I am currently reading through the Bible in a year - I have the ESV Bible in a Year. I pick up on whatever day it is. In reality it's the Bible in 10 years, but that is ok :) I am also reading through a few great books:

Praying Life by Paul Miller

Instructing a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson

If you are able, I strongly recommend starting something like Saturday morning bagel time!

Who? What? Where? When? Why?

We are less than 2 weeks away from a new family adventure. One that we have thought about and prayed about and disagreed about and agreed about and wondered about for years. On Owen's Half-Birthday, he will have his first day of Kindergarten...at HOME. We are both thrilled and anxious about what this year will hold for all five of us, but we are confident that this is where the Lord has led us, and look forward to what He is going to be doing!

As a way to kick off this new adventure, I thought I'd answer a few questions that you may have about this adventure...

Who?
Owen (5 1/2) is starting Kindergarten - 4 days with mommy and 1 special day with daddy. Owen and Matt will get to spend Tuesday mornings together. I will continue to attend our women's Bible study at church while Owen and Matt spend Matt's day off together!



Baxter (3 1/2) will be in preschool 2 days a week and home 3 days a week (1 of those days at home will be at Bible study with me)



Lucy (9 months) will be napping for most of our school day - 9-11am - and hopefully playing peacefully for any other times we need to work on school.



What?
"To know Him and make Him known." I read that in a book recently and it has become our focus as we think about doing school at home with our boys. That is our goal. As we learn and as we teach - to love learning in order to know God more. And to use what we learn to reach the world with His gospel.

We are basing a lot of our thinking and planning off of a great book called "The Well Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer. She recommends keeping it fairly simple for the Kindergarten year. I am thankful for that - it's helped me to say no to a lot of ideas and just stick with the basics. We can always add to it as we go!

Math - Saxon Kindergarten
Phonics - Explode the Code
Spelling - Words Their Way
Handwriting/Writing - a journal for free writing/drawing and a "heart notebook" to keep verses on specific areas of struggle for Owen.
READING - lots and lots of reading - silent reading, mommy reading aloud and Owen reading aloud.
Bible/Church History - we'll be reading through Genesis and John as well as reading about various men from church history (including John Owen!)

Where?
Right here in our home!






When?
For 34 weeks of this next year, starting on September 6th, from 9am-11:30am.

Why?
A number of reasons, most of which are hard to express. First and foremost I clearly see that this is where the Lord has led us. That is the main reason. We have been discussing this since Owen was 2 years old. We really feel strongly about having our kids be at home for the majority of their time while they are young. For us to be the main influence and main teachers of character and the main ones to walk them through their sin and God's redeeming of them through the cross. I have seen a slight increase of brotherly love - and love towards Lucy - that has come out of more time at home together this summer and I look forward to them developing that relationship more and more this year. I also know that there are going to be hard days - more fighting - less mommy time- lots to balance - less peer interaction. We are seeking to trust the Lord with all of those things and watch to see Him provide abundantly for all of our needs according to His glorious riches!

I am thankful that this is where we are at this fall and expectant for the Lord to be at work.

GAP Beach Trip 2011

My brother Brett realized this week that our "Gillan And Purdy" beach trip should have been sponsored by GAP (Gillan And Purdy!). So clever! We had a really great week at the beach - I keep telling people that it was even slightly relaxing! Go figure! A beach trip with three kids can be relaxing. The key to that was our sweet Lucy. She napped pretty well on the beach every morning for her morning nap. When she was napping in her little tent and the boys were playing in the ocean or on the sand with cousins and daddy and aunts and uncles and gramma and grampa, I could site near Lu and read a book! Crazy I know! I even finished the book I brought with me (Left Neglected by Lisa Genova...neat book!).

We were very thankful for our time as a family at the beach as well as time with family. It's neat to see the cousins continue to develop friendship with one another and for us to get some time with my brothers and their wives and my parents.

After our week in Corolla with the GAP clan, we headed south to Kill Devil Hills (I think) to spend a few more days with Matt's family. We were thankful that the weeks overlapped so well. We got to take the kids to ice cream and we went to "the dunes" at Jockey's Ridge.

I think that pictures tell the story the best, so here you go...a LOT of pictures of a great week and a half!

Pre-Beach

We are headed to the beach!! It's amazing how much needs to get done to pack up FIVE people. Yikes!! 'm hoping for a sweet time with family, SOME rest, good sleep and lots of fun! I am certain it will be a busy week! Can't wait to introduce Lucy to the ocean and the sand :) Thankful God is good and He goes with us!!

Here are some sweet pictures of the last few weeks. They make me feel thankful for our kids. Though there are many moments of the day that are long and hard - where my sin and their sin mix together for many non-photo-opportunities (is that even a word/phrase?!), these pictures remind me that God is at work to rescue and redeem.

COW DAY 2011

This is our third year of dressing up like cows to get FREE Chick-Fil-A. It is always such a fun event - this year the boys were both WAY into it and loved getting their spots on. If anyone talked to Baxter, all he would say in response was "MOOOO!" This year we went for both lunch AND dinner - to two different stores of course. I'm not sure my tummy was glad for that decision, but it was fun! And FREE! Each year we have done this we have seen the same four families at lunch - I love it! Thank you CFA!!

7 Months Old - sweet as ever!

Lucy turned 7 months old last week. She continues to be such a joy - she is by far our most content and sweet child. She gets fussy when she is tired or hungry (or if the boys get too intense) but other than that she sits up and plays with toys, watches and smiles at her brothers, enjoys eating oatmeal, yogurt, fruits and veggies, just rolled over for the first time today and has just about mastered sleeping through the night. We love her dearly and can't wait to watch her grow and get to know her more and more as the weeks and months go by!