Happy New Year!

Praising the Lord that with the new year will come a new life. Little Duck #5 should be arriving some time in July! Happy New Year!

Fall 2011

By my absence, you can only assume that life has been full around here.

We've thanked the Lord for the abundance He has given to us.

We've celebrated 7 years of married bliss.

We've refreshed our wedding vows with a simple, lovely ceremony on the beach and celebrated with a night away at the beach.

We've grown a lot in 7 years, in more ways than one!

We've hunted the perfect tree, prepared for the coming of the Savior

and today snapped some pictures of a little guy who is becoming a big guy.

On top of all of that excitement we have had our daily fullness of school and cleaning, time with friends, celebrating friend's new little blessings and a fresh cut for O.

It has been a wonderful and full fall.

I've been crafting....

I've been crafting. Our front door has had a makeover. Albert did the painting and I made the wreath. Take a peek:

Here is a close up of the wreath. It is made out of a styrafoam wreath form and fabric scraps. What could be more simple?

Doesn't it look cool from behind? This is what I get to see from inside.

I saw this: and tried to recreate it.

Here is a close up.

I actually finished this one today, but have not taken another picture. It is hanging over the drapes in O's room and is really pretty. I am very happy with how it turned out.

Who could resist that sweet face?

Road trip

Well, as I am sure you can guess, we have been busy.

This summer was a big one for us! We had twin cousins born in May, Albert turned 30 in June, Carson turned 1 in August and Canon turned 5 in August. To celebrate all of this, we headed out on a big road trip. We knew it would be a lot of hours in the car, but you just don't know what those hours feel like until you've sat through them. I was able to move around the most and my legs were aching by the end! So, anyway, our adventure brought us to Dallas. There we visited Albert's uncle, aunt and cousins,

my cousin, and her husband and kiddos

and Albert's sister. Our time there was SO encouraging. We loved every minute and were off to a great start on our journey.

Next we headed a tinge north to OKC. It was so exciting to be back! We drove through the base and saw our old home. The one that we brought three little ducks home to. The home where we grew so much in our faith in the Lord. The home that I couldn't wait to leave, but cried as we pulled out of the driveway. I almost cried driving by that day. I was happy to see that little house on the prairie. From the base we hurried to visit our dear friends. The Ks are more like family than friends. Mrs. K is the one who has taught me everything I know about homemaking. I love her so dearly and have truly missed our face time. Our kiddos hit it off and played beautifully together. The time was entirely too short. The next morning was our fellowship with our previous body of believers. It was so neat to be back and I cried a few times. It just felt like we were home, and I didn't realize how much I missed those people. Albert did the children's message while our littles roamed the platform. :{ We had dinner with my Sunday school teacher and soaked up their mentorship and love. I really did not realize how much I missed the prairie.

From there we spent a night in Salina, KS and surprised Albert's parents with an early arrival the next morning in CO. Our time there was short, but full. We spent a couple of days playing at the grandparent's and Albert and I squeezed in a date. We camped in Estes Park, went hiking and horseback riding. Grandpa saw a bear, but we missed it.We had a photo shoot with all 8 cousins, 5 and under. We had such a fun filled time. I know I am missing a lot of details, but we spent a lot of time enjoying the beautiful weather and playing.

On our way home we headed back to Dallas for the Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate C and CJ's birthdays. We had a blast. We just spent one night, but were able to play in the water park the day we got there and the day we left. I think that was just long enough for the age of our littles.

We decided after playing in the water park on the last day that we were ready to be home. So, my awesome husband drank a little coffee and brought us on home. I was so happy to sleep in our bed that night, not have to be in the car the next day, and be at home for the boy's birthdays.

So, now that a month has passed since our over 50 hours in the car, even more has happened. We were home for two weeks before heading to Georgia for a Navs conference. It was great, as is expected, and we left very encouraged and refocused on the vision. They didn't have childcare this time, so I was able to get a lot of time with the other moms and the littles were able to play, play, play.

Since then we have picked up a cold and are trying to figure out how to do school with a relaxed mentality.

Whew, it's been a busy month and a half!

June and July

Well, we've been busy again! Between blueberry picking, friends visiting, weddings, a pending road trip, a night away, a couple of dates and a couple of big birthdays coming up, it has been a packed summer!

The picture above was before a wedding. The big boys were ring bearers. The groom and groomsmen were in military dress uniforms, so it was fitting for the boys to wear the groom's work uniform. Everyone got a big hit out of their flightsuits and they did a great job of not behaving in a way that drew attention to themselves. It was a beautiful wedding and so fun to celebrate. I have never left a wedding feeling as excited for the couple as I did at this one. It was truly amazing!

Some of our friends from flight school stopped in on their loop out west. We haven't seen them in over a year and a half, so it was really great to touch base again!

The Red team came down to house hunt and spent the day with us. We are so excited to have them living close by before the end of summer. We were neighbors in OKC and our boys get along great. Hopefully the friendship will endure more than one playdate!

War painting has happened some, though not nearly as much as the boys would like.

Sword fighting on nature walks.

A fun find one morning. Did you know a dog can pick up a turtle? That was a little scary! He is not a new pet, but was fun to watch for a morning.

This beauty took place within a couple of ours from being home from our night away. Toothpaste doesn't wash off very easily! But she did smell great.

This little guy isn't walking yet, but enjoys pulling up on something and standing for several seconds. His biggest brother picked out this awesome outfit the other day and I had to capture it. CJ will really appreciate his brother's fashion sense when he's older!

Kindergarten plan

One friend asked what curriculum I am using for Kindergarten, so I thought I'd share my plan with all of you. I actually spent way longer than I meant to mulling this over. I am really excited about starting Tap.estry of Grace, but I want to wait another year. We've used Son.light for P3/4 and P4/5. It has been really great, but I just wasn't for sure about their Kindergarten. I'm not sure why, I just didn't love it. So, after figuring out a few different approaches and what I think will be enjoyable for my boys, while also being relaxed and purposeful, I came up with this. I'm not going to pull everything together again. It is taking a lot more work and well, I just don't have endless hours to set up my own teacher's manual. It is fun for one year, but I don't want to do the whole thing again.

Math: Saxon 1

We used Saxon K last year and it was great. C learned a ton and I want to keep this ball rolling. Albert and I are both pretty strong in math, so this is a great option for us right now.

Bible: The Child's Story Bible

This was given to us when B was born and is listed in several different curriculum that I am interested in. It is excellent!

The Big Book of Questions and Answers

I am planning to use this like a catechism, doing two lessons/week.

Navigator's Topical Memory system

This is our plan for scripture memory. C and I have already memorized the first 12 verses. We will both start on B pack and B will start on A pack. Is that confusing?

Science:

Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book K

The Burgess Bird Book For Children

Fun with Nature

More Fun with Nature

We are reading one small section of these. We'll work through one book at a time and take walks (hopefully daily) to search for the things we read about and just enjoy God's creation.

Music:

Mozart

Beethoven

Bach

I have one book on each of these and I am going to order one CD of each. We will listen as we do chores and prep lunch. I will switch to the next one after 12 weeks.

Art:

Da Vinci

Van Gogh

Monet

I have a coffee table book of Monet, along with a book about each. I am planning to buy a print or two of each of these greats and display them around our house. I also have a couple of books about teaching children art. I'm not totally sure about the details of this, but yeah, at least I have some good tools!

Read aloud:

I am reading the Little House on the Prairie collection during lunch.

My Father's Dragon 3 book series

Aesop's Fables for Children

A Child's Garden of Verses

The Biggest Bear

Dolphin Treasure

Miss Rumphius

Dolphin Adventure

Mary on Horseback

Thy Friend, Obadiah

Boxcar Children

Winnie the Pooh

Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales

James Herriot's Treasury for Children

Fables

Imogene's Antlers

I am planning to find some more books for reading aloud. We love new books and I think we will get through these pretty quickly.

Handwriting:

Cursive First

Reading:

Spell to Write and Read

We will work on phonograms this year. I am planning to really work on reading next year, after I become more familiar with the program.

Poetry:

A Light in the Attic

Winnie the Pooh

The Llama Who Had No Pajama

B will be doing Son.light P3/4, work on counting in rote and recognizing letters by sound.

We will also work on Habits and Handicrafts as recommended by Charlotte Mason approach. The big thing that I want to be intentional about is spending time observing and enjoying being outdoors. This is bigger to me than crafts. I think we are going to do all of our table work first thing in the morning, then read outside going straight into a nature walk, bike riding and play. We'll see when I get my house clean, but my children should be learning a lot and stretching their little minds.

First day is tomorrow. Pray for us!

May

So, I meant to post a few times in May, but obviously that didn't happen. We went to a Navigator's conference over Mother's Day weekend. Everyone grew a little taller and a little faster.

B asked to go for a walk every single day. On the days that we did not go for a walk he said, "I'm sorry that we didn't go for a walk today mommy, will you porgib (forgive) me?" Such a sweetie!

When I told O to put her hand down, she did this. It makes me smile!

I have a picture of my dad running behind me and we have a picture of Albert's sister running behind him, so excited that C is part of the club! He also asks for walks often, but none of us can keep up with him now!

CJ has cut two teeth, though there aren't any pictures of them..... He loves the beach and has taken two naps while being held in the water. He is such a quiet baby when he's outside, he just loves it!

It has certainly been hot enough for sprinklers and simply living in the water! I guess our cold front is long gone. So much for a cooler summer.

Here is our Mother's Day photo, taken the week after mother's day. No one was really in a photogenic mood when we got home from the conference. We did have a nice time celebrating the next weekend though. I just love these little crazies!