Seriously?

Is it mid-May already?  Would life please slow down?  We have LOTS of things going on around here. 

I’ll try and provide a brief picture re-cap:

First of all, we found out about our new addition…our own tiny miracle.  Expected around October 4th.  We cannot even begin to express how excited we are about this baby…a baby I doubted would ever come.  What do I know, right?!?

Then Luke reached a big milestone…FIVE YEARS!  We celebrated with our close friends and family at the park.

In mid-April we took an overnight trip to Atlanta with Nana.  We went to the aquarium and the zoo and had a wonderful time together. 

 

Aaaand….please excuse this hideous picture of me!

(Notice Luke’s beluga….we went to the aquarium with a pre-determined love for belugas and left with an even greater affinity.  That beluga is like a member of our family now.)

The gorillas were quite a treat at the zoo and we couldn’t believe how close we got to the biggest one!

 

One of our main goals at the zoo was to see the komodo dragon since Luke and I had just finished a short study about lizards.  He did not disappoint!

Next up was Easter:

Mother’s Day:

 

More big news for us–a week and a half ago we put our sweet house on the market…we need more space!  We are sad to leave our very first home, though.  Spread the word!

 

And last, but not least, we found out we are having another BOY!  Apparently, he’s face-planted in the womb, so we actually get to have another ultrasound so they can see his profile.  This one seems very calm so far…a different world for me!!!

Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well.  Psalm 139:14b

 

And that was the longest post ever….

Catching Up

Have I really not updated since November?  While the blog is being put on the backburner…and rightly so because there are just more important things going on…I still want to keep it updated and keep friends and family in the loop with what’s going on in this family!  So here’s a rough view of what December was like around here, and I’ll try to do a bit better this year!

Callaway Gardens/Fantasy in Lights:

Church Christmas Pageant:

 

Cookies for Santa and our Christmas morning:

 

 

Happy Belated New Year!!

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

Since November began we have been learning about the pilgrims and their journey to America.  Luke has loved learning about this adventurous part of our history and we have been able to get together with our dear friends and make lots of crafts. 

We made a Mayflower.

First, we painted.

  

As we waited for the paint to dry, we measured the estimated length and width of the Mayflower.

  

The completed project:

  

When we sit down for dinner every night, we have been writing down things we are thankful for and then we fill  up our Mayflower.

 

We also made turkeys.

 

Luke has learned this verse.  We used the Thanksgiving song from Songs for Saplings to help us learn it quickly and ,hopefully, more permanently.

 

Tonight we will be performing a Thanksgiving play with our friends…put on especially for our daddies.  They even got invitations.

Luke will be proudly playing the part of Squanto.  Pictures to come of our exciting performance!  Until then, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Fall

I’m having a hard time even figuring out how to write this post since I have so many different events/pictures to share!  I can hardly believe it is almost Thanksgiving and just a few weeks away from Christmas.  Wasn’t it just New Year’s Day?

The beginnning of October came in with a bang……literally.  Luke fell out of his bed one night and gashed his head open…many tears and much blood, but after several weeks of doctoring we were left with a lovely scar on the back of his head that will most likely never be seen.  The bedrail went back up that night and as far as I’m concerned it can stay there forever because I never want to go through that again.  He is a wild sleeper!

We had fun at the pumpkin patch again this year and picked out a little pumpkin just for the Lukester.

We lovingly carved a “Mater” jack-o-lantern this year…our first carving with Luke.

Halloween was full of muscles for us.  We had a festival at church and Luke basically walked around all night like this:

…ready to save the day.

 

We’ve spent lots of wonderful time in our beloved Auburn.

Don’t they look like they’re in love???…what great pictures we will have one day if  Luke and Bethany do get married…and according to them they ARE getting married.

 

We threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my dad…

 

Whew!  Just writing that wore me out. 

Next post: what we’ve been learning about in school!!  I know you’re on pins and needles. 

It’s been a while

It seems that I am constantly in survival mode.  How is that????

We have been up to a lot these days.  Traveling, house work, and the beginning of homeschooling to name a few of those things.  More on the travel, the house stuff, and other things later…

…this post is solely dedicated to homeschooling.  Luke is only four, but we decided to go ahead and begin this year and see how it goes.  We are really enjoying it!  We only have school three days a week for a total of 1-2 1/2 hours a day.  Luke is really having fun which is a total answer to prayer. 

Here is Luke on the first day of school (with his carefully chosen first-day outfit):

We have been learning all about apples this month.  I love teaching by theme because 1) it seems easier to relate everything back to one main idea, 2) it seems to be more interesting to kids, and 3) I’ve done it before! 

Luke started a personal dictionary of words that he can read and write on his own.

We sprouted apple seeds (actually, we’re still watching these).

We learned about Johnny Appleseed (aka Mr. Appleseed–Luke had trouble remembering his first name) and celebrated his birthday by making apple fritters and apple cinnamon pancakes.

Here he is with a letter he wrote to his best friend (who moved away in July).

We’re very proud of our not-so-little-anymore guy and thankful that he has such a desire to learn and that God has placed him in our lives.  Stay tuned!

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; He gently leads those that have young.

Isaiah 40:11