Our Littlest Water Soldier

Eli loved our water fight. He was not the least bit afraid to get water in his face! His favorite part was throwing water on Mommy and Daddy!

Friday Night Water Fight!

The Refueling Area

Friday nights are Family Night at our house. We had nachos for supper, and then the children wanted to have a water fight with their Daddy. Being the great daddy that he is, he agreed. I kept a camera in my hands, so I was exempt (a pretty good strategy, if I do say so myself!). Isaac filled up our wading pools, and they were all set!

Each of our children have different water fight personalities. Isaac took it very seriously! He was very focused on dumping as much water on his daddy as possible. Bailey preferred to act as a refueler, helping all sides in the war. Olivia acquired a high tech weapon (also known as a pool noodle, that she used to blow out water at her dad). Anna Grace splashed around most of the time. Eli walked around with a measuring cup of water. He ended up dumping it on his own head most of the time. He did not get the memo about not getting the picture taker wet, so I ended up with some wet legs!

We had fallen into a rut of watching television most Family Nights, so it was nice to do something different. Cheap fun and the grass got a drink at the same time!

Johnson Men

I snapped this picture of the men of our family during Bailey's birthday party. They wisely chose to stay outside with the other dads and brothers during most of the party. There was too much "girl stuff" going on inside!

Bailey's Birthday, Observed

Little Party on the Prairie

The Birthday Girls


Quilt Cookies

The Birthday Cake

Yummy Food

Bailey turned eight back at the beginning of July. We had a family celebration then, but we celebrated with friends this past weekend. Her friend Mary Anna turns eight later this month, and they both like American Girl Dolls, so we decided to have a combined party for them. The girls both have a Kirsten doll, so we had a prairie party. Thirteen little ladies came to help them celebrate.

As the girls came in, they each decorated a square sugar cookie. We put all of the cookies together, to make a cookie quilt (which was eaten later, of course!). The girls then made handkerchief dolls and decorated wooden spoons. Next on the agenda was square dancing, which was a hoot to watch! Mary Anna's great uncle played the fiddle.

The girls had worked up quite an appetite, so it was time to eat! The menu included corn on the cob, sandwiches, chips, strawberries, raw veggies and dip. For desert we had the birthday cake (decorated beautifully by Mary Anna's mom Melissa), cookies, old fashioned candy and homemade peach ice cream (my favorite food of the night!).

The girls recieved lots of nice presents, and had a great time with their friends. Best of all, they made wonderful memories they will treasure for a very long time! Praise God for friends!

Swim Lessons!

I have not been a good swim lesson mom! In fact, it has been one of those things that made me feel a bit guilty, so I pushed it to the back of my mind! I enrolled Isaac and Bailey in swim lessons several years ago, when Anna Grace was a baby. I dutifully drove across town every afternoon during rush hour traffic for a week. We had a thirty minute lesson, which we shared with our friends Jadon and Jonas. Bailey and Jonas refused to get in the water, so Isaac and Jadon had some personalized attention. While they were in class, I got to chase Olivia and keep Anna Grace happy. I think the experience scarred me, because after that, I shuddered every time I heard the words swim and lesson in the same sentence.

After that I kept putting swim lessons off. My friend Tanya gave Bailey unofficial swim lessons two summers ago when she came to visit. Last winter, the children started asking to take them. It was easy to promise back in January when there was snow on the ground. It started to get warmer, and I kept procrastinating on calling. Taking five children to a pool everyday for a week made me feel tired!

Finally, I called and set up lessons for the last week in July. Our lessons were about 25 minutes away in Cave City. Our teacher was a sweet college student who was great with the kids. We were the only people at the pool, which was nice. There was also a fenced in baby pool, which was perfect for Eli to splash in while the others were in the big pool. We had a private lesson for an hour. Anna Grace got the first fifteen minutes, and she worked on beginning things like putting her face in the water and floating. The others had forty-five minutes. The worked on a couple of different strokes, as well as tredding water and diving.

Overall, the swim lessons were much less painful than I had anticipated. The children learned a lot, and had lots of fun. Maybe I am over my swim lesson phobia!

School Pictures...

How did he get to be in 4th grade?!?

Our sweet 3rd Grader!

I love that snaggle tooth smile!

Our little Anna Grace is in Pre-K!

We started back to school last Monday. I wanted to get a jump on our year because we have a couple of trips planned in the next few months. Our first day went well. Olivia and Anna Grace had been asking to do school for several weeks, so they were very excited to start! Isaac and Bailey were not quite as excited, but they worked hard, without much complaining. Even Eli was relatively quiet on our first day! I bought him some Bristle Blocks as "school work", which entertained him for about half an hour (which is like five hours in Eli time!).

The rest of our week was good, but challenging. I seem to go through an adjustment period during the first few weeks of school. I have to figure out to juggle our school work, housework, cooking, etc. I also have to figure out how to keep the littlest one occupied -- schooling with a toddler is hard work! Usually, after a couple of weeks, we get into a routine, and life gets a bit easier (or maybe I become numb). I know that this toddler phase passes all too quickly, so I try to be patient with my little man.

Even though it is challenging at times, I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to homeschool our children. It is truly a blessing! One week down and quite a few to go!!!

Donuts!!!!

Today was our first day of school, and we wanted to start things off right. We headed to Daylight Donuts for a yummy back to school breakfast! We all had plenty of sugar, and left happy. Thankfully nutrition was not in my lesson plans for the day!