Congratulations Wes and Rebecca

Wes and Rebecca (picture taken 11-07)

My "little" brother Wes called me on Sunday night to tell me that he had asked his girlfriend Rebecca to marry him! I am so excited for them!

Family Bonding

Mamaw Johnson and the gang!
Nanna and Bailey
Uncle Bo and Olivia
Grand-Bob loving on Isaac

We drove to Mark's Mom's house in Gray, Tennessee for the weekend. We had a good time visiting with her and spending time at her house. The children enjoyed playing with some of Mark's childhood toys. Mark's mom arranged a family get-together at a park on Saturday night. There were about 48 people there, and it was great to visit with everyone (as much visiting as you can do while chasing four children!). The children ran around on the playground with their cousins, and we all went home tired! It was a great night!

We stopped to have lunch with my mom on the way up on Friday, and then we stopped today to have lunch with my parents and brother on the way home. They were short, but sweet visits.

I am so thankful for our family! What a blessing!

Our First Week of School

We finished our first week of school today. Our first "official" days were last Saturday and Sunday. The state of Alabama requires that I keep attendance, so I decided that two field trips (the aquarium and the museum) were a great way to start the year!

We started our curriculum on Monday morning. We are continuing to use Sonlight for history, geography, Bible and read alouds this year. It has a four day program which allows us lots of flexibility. We are also sticking with Math-U-See, which seemed to work well for us. I am returning to Handwriting Without Tears after a year of A Reason for Handwriting. I am trying out a new program for Science. We are doing Chemistry 1 from Noeo. It uses children's literature to teach the concepts, and includes pre-packaged experiments that correlate with the concepts. I am also adding in First Language Lessons to work on beginning language concepts.

I have been thinking a lot about how I wanted to teach reading to Isaac and Bailey this year. I read Reading Reflex, which I am going to use a lot this year. I am also adding in some activities that I did when I taught first grade. We will also use the readers from Sonlight and Explode the Code workbooks. I am going to really focus on frequently used sight words for the first part of the year.

Olivia is not one to be left out! She demands her school, so I have been spending a few minutes working with her before I get to the others. That satisfies her, and she will entertain Anna Grace for a little while during some of my teaching time with the older ones. We are working through the Handwriting Without Tears preschool book, which includes some manipulatives. We are also working through an early math book and doing a few other activities. I do it for as long as she is interested, because she is too young to push. So far, we have learned about E, L and F this week. Anna Grace sits at the table with us, not wanting to be left out.

All in all, our first week went well. I am a bit exhausted from getting used to our new schedule. It is a challenge to do school and keep the household running, and the first few weeks seem to be the hardest. I am glad that we are starting so early, so that we can get into a routine before our new little one arrives. It also gives us the flexibility to take a few weeks off after his birth.

Anna Grace Versus the Sun

Anna Grace and the sun do not get along very well! Actually the sun annoys her to pieces, especially when we are driving. She can not stand for the sun to be even close to being in her eyes. It is not unusual to look back and see her with a blanket over her head. She was aggravated on Saturday morning, as we were driving to Chattanooga. She cried, "The sun is looking at me!" A little while later, she happily said, "Its gone Mommy! I have it in my hand!" She held out her hand to show that a ray of sun was in her hand. Apparently she felt victorious! What a cutie!

Stopping to Smell the Marigolds!

Bailey's Garden

Bailey was very excited to harvest her one carrot this morning. She had four spaces, and she planted flowers in three of them. She seems to have a green thumb!

A Family Get-Away

We took a short (one night) family "vacation" to Chattanooga, Tennessee this past weekend. We left early Saturday morning and headed for the Tennessee Aquarium. Quite a few other people had the same idea -- it was packed! The children had a good time looking at the sea and river animals. The penguins seemed to be the children's favorite animal of the day. I was very impressed by the leafy sea dragon. God made some amazing animals! We had lunch at the aquarium, and the children splashed a bit in the water outside.

We ate dinner at the Riverside Catfish Restaurant which was very much a Mom and Pop type restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The service was very fast, and the food was good. After dinner, we hit the pool at the hotel. The children had lots of fun playing with Daddy in the pool, and I kept a very watchful eye on our littlest one.

Finding hotel accommodations for a family of six can be a bit of a challenge (especially if you like to be frugal)! Holiday Inn Express hotels have "one room suites", which suit our needs at the moment. They have two double beds and a fold out couch. Everyone had a place to sleep, but it was not the most restful night for Mom and Dad! The children, on the other hand, love the whole hotel experience! Staying in the hotel was the main attraction for Olivia. In fact, when we left our house on Saturday, we had to stop by the post office, which is just a few miles from our house. When we parked, I jokingly said, "We're here at the hotel!" She took me at my word and said, "Who will help me carry in my stuff?" They love laying in bed and watching the television.

We ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed for the Creative Discovery Museum. It was a great fit for the ages of our family. There was a special Clifford exhibit, which the three girls loved. They spent a lot of time there. Mark and Isaac spent time together exploring the museum.

We took a short scenic drive and then had lunch at Taco Bell, before heading home. It was a good weekend. It was a little stressful for Mark and me, which is to be expected given the ages (and number) of our children. Even with the stress, it was worth it. Our family get-away was a success!

The Littles Being Cute!

This was Olivia's favorite pool move!
My future is so bright...

My little frog

I often refer to Olivia and Anna Grace as "The Littles". I really enjoyed these pictures of my little cuties!

Fun with Friends

Bathing Beauties

Discussing world problems at the baby pool!
Looking for bugs.
"I will not look at the camera!"

We had a visit with some Louisiana friends last week. Tanya, Jadon, Jonas and Jesse came to visit for a few days. We had lots of fun eating, swimming and playing together. We went swimming in our neighborhood pool everyday, and that was about as far as we ventured from our house. It was lots of fun to be with our good friends again!

Happy Birthday Bailey!

Bailey turned six a couple of weeks ago! It is hard to believe how fast she is growing up. She chose a family lunch outing to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate her birthday. We spent a couple of hours eating pizza and playing games. The children had a great time celebrating! Bailey chose to have hot dogs and French fries for supper, followed by cake, ice cream and presents. She asked for a scooter and roller skates for her birthday, which are not normal Bailey presents. She was very excited to open them up. She did admit later that she was a little disappointed with her skates. She thought that she would be able to put them on and take off. She learned that it was not quite as easy as she had thought that it would be. Aside from that lesson, she was very happy with her birthday.

Farmer Isaac

When I embarked on my Square Foot Gardening project, I thought that the main benefit would be getting some fresh vegetables. I had no idea how much joy it would bring Isaac. He has really been passionate about his garden! He goes out every morning before breakfast to check on his plants. He has taken over the watering of the plants, which has been crucial during this 90 degree weather. He has "harvested" three cucumbers this week, and he declared them the best cucumbers he has ever eaten (we agreed of course!). He has already made plans to expand his garden next year. I think that he is a farmer at heart!

I started our project, being totally "organic". Nothing was growing well. My parents came to visit in June and Dad told me to go buy some Miracle Grow. I hesitated for a few seconds and then bought some. I can see how it got its name. Our cucumbers, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes seemed to grow over night. I have picked about seven zucchini, and a couple of tomatoes and peppers. The tomatoes and cucumbers look like they will really start producing in the next couple of weeks. We have picked a few beans, but I think that we will have to plant quite a few more plants next year if we ever want to really have a "mess of bean!" The carrots did not do much. Isaac planted some more carrot seeds in a container this morning, so we will see how that experiment turns out.

Bailey's flowers have really done well. All in all, it has really been a great experience, even if it has not provided "food for the winter". I am looking forward to doing it again next year!