Pickin' Pumpkins

We headed out for our 11th annual trip to a pumpkin patch last month. We have visited patches in three different states, and our trips have changed quite a bit over the years. I remember my very first trip, where I followed Isaac as he toddled around in his little denim overalls. I have snapped pictures of my babies propped up on pumpkins and my toddlers trying to pick up pumpkins as big as them. I have quite a collection of pumpkin pictures that show the growth of our family.

In 2008, we went to pick pumpkins just a couple of weeks before Eli was born. I looked like I was trying to sneak a big ol' pumpkin out under my shirt! The farmer driving the tractor was a bit worried when I got on the hayride. I think he was afraid each bump was going to send me into labor!

We enjoyed our 2011 trip. We picked cotten, explored the corn maze, took a hayride (pulled by a John Deere tractor, which thrilled Eli's heart!), petted animals, played on the playground and spent time picking out the perfect pumpkins. Our front porch now has more pumpkins than I know what to do with, but I love our pumpkin pickin' trips!

Those Johnson Boys!

Our boys have been keeping us on our toes the past few weeks. The day after Halloween, I left Eli unattended with his bag of candy (not my best mothering moment, but we were having great school time!). Not only did he eat almost all of it, but he also managed to put a candy nerd in his ear! I pulled out the tweezers, but I was scared to death of poking a hole in his ear drum, so we headed out to the E.N.T. It took the doctor a few minutes to get it out, and he discovered in the process that Eli had quite an ear infection. So, it was a blessing to discover the infection, but it would have been easier for him to just tell me!

Last week was Isaac's birthday, and one of our sweet friends gave him two tickets to the Tennessee/Arkansas football game. His friends' dad also planned an exciting day of tailgating. So, it was to be a fun "man's trip" up to Fayetteville, which is about four hours away. Mark, Isaac, his two friends and their dad made the drive up last Saturday. During the tailgating, the boys decided to play football. Isaac was running (wearing Crocs) and tripped and ended up at a walk in clinic with seven stitches! They had a good experience, and were back by the second quarter (the game was pretty much done for Tennessee fans at that point!). Isaac said it was a birthday to remember! He said he learned three things-- doctors were wonderful, you should not run in crocs, and you should respect rocks!

First Day of School!

We started "tiptoeing" back into school during the third week of July. We just did math the first week, and then added another subject or two the next week. I needed a transition to get back into the groove. We "officially" started full school on August 1. We celebrated with our second annual trip to Daylight Donuts for breakfast!

It is amazing to me that this is our sixth year of homeschooling. It is also my first year to have four official students! We are studying the second half of American History this year, which I am really looking forward to! We continue to use Sonlight as our core for history and literature. We are studying animals in science. This is my first year to use Apologia, so we will see how it goes. Isaac and Bailey are using Winston Grammar and Writing with Ease, and the oldest three are using All About Spelling, which I really like. Everyone but Bailey is sticking with Math U See. I am experimenting with Teaching Textbooks for her this year. It is done completely on the computer, with very little help from me. I am secretly hoping it goes well, so that I can move more of them to it next year. We started the year using the Explorer's Bible study for Bible for Isaac and Bailey. I tried really hard to like it, but we ditched it last week. I really liked the lower level that we used last year, but they did not seem to be getting much out of this level. For now, they are reading through the book of Mark, and I am writing out some simple questions for them to answer. We will see how that goes!

Anna Grace is in Kindergarten this year. We are working through the book, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and she loves it! We are half way through it now, and she is excited about reading. She does math and handwriting (when her arm is not broken), and listens in on science and history.

I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to teach the children at home. It is not something that I would have envisioned myself doing fifteen years ago, but I love it! There are benefits that I could never have imagined when I started. That does not mean that everyday is perfect. My house is never completely clean, my laundry is rarely finished, and I am not always as patient as I would like to be, but it is a great lifestyle for us!

Civil War Reenactment

We headed to Piggott, Arkansas to attend a Civil War Reenactment last weekend. We are studying the Civil War this semester, which works out well because it is the 150 anniversary of the beginning of the war.

Bailey wore her prairie dress, Isaac dressed as a Union soldier, and the rest of us went at ourselves! It took us almost three hours to get there, but we ended up having a really good time.

The girls got to attend a Civil War era tea. The two ladies who served the tea were excellent! They taught them all about the tea etiquette of that time period and about different kinds of tea. I was really proud that they behaved like ladies!

The boys had a great time pretending to have battles and then watching the real pretend battle. This was a very small reenactment, but we really enjoyed it. We would like to attend more in the future!

Colorado Adventure-- Fun with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bill

I love those precious Kindergarten numbers!

Mark with Aunt Nancy


Isaac the cowboy!

Green and yellow are Eli's favorite colors!

Bailey caught a fish! Uncle Bill helped bait the hook.

Mining for treasures!

We had a chance to spend some time with Mark's cousin Nancy and her husband Bill (a.k.a. Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bill) while we were in Kansas City. They work part time at the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead, which is a really cool place. The children were able to do a lot of hands-on activities, which they loved!

They started with mining for precious jewels. The each got a bag of dirt-like stuff, and they rinsed it with water to uncover some treasures. I think this was a favorite for a couple of the girls. I liked it because we read about the gold rush in history, so it kind of felt like school!

The highlight of Eli's day was getting to peddle a little tractor around a track. He chose one of the green and yellow ones of course. While he was busy riding a "Deere", the four older children rode a horse!

Next up was fishing! Each of the children got a fishing rod and a bucket of fat worms. I was a wimp when it came to baiting the hooks, so I stuck to taking pictures. I almost swooned when Aunt Nancy told me that if I pulled the worms into pieces they could fish longer. She is quite a woman! Bailey, Anna Grace and Eli each caught a fish. It was quite exciting.

When the worms were all gone, we headed off to feed the baby goats. Each child got a bottle of goat formula and went into the pen to feed a baby. Isaac loved this part. Anna Grace was a bit intimidated when all of the baby goats charged her, trying to get to her bottle of milk. They were quite the greedy little things!

We ate some yummy ice cream, went on a hayride, played on the playgrounds, saw a one room schoolhouse and saw lots of neat stuff. It was a wonderful day! Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bill are truly a blessing!

Colorado Adventure-- Great Wolf Lodge

We spent a couple of nights at Great Wolf Lodge on our way home from Colorado. The children had a great time playing in the water! Olivia and Anna Grace both rode new slides that they had been afraid of the last time we were there. We were once again impressed by how well the place is run. It is one of our children's favorite places!

Colorado Adventure-- Pike's Peak

We were able to see Pike's Peak on our way out of town. It was truly beautiful!