Saturday Midget Football

I was blown away when I saw Number 27 along with these other guys leading the team out to play Saturdays game.  Wait a minute.  Garrett is one of the captains for the first game.  As parents, we were thrilled.  This is such a great example of character.  This means that the coaches see great leadership in him.  We talk about character traits all the time.

 

My heart sank.

Shaking hands with the other captains.

He even lead warm ups on the field.

A homeschooler, first time ever playing football and he is rising above the norm.

We are so proud of you Garrett and what you are striving to stand for each day.

You are becoming a incredible young man

A young man that even gives his mom hugs and kisses without asking.  Gotta love that.

Training - Big Miles

Jeff is running his first marathon in November.  He has been training for about a month and a half.  So far his training has been nothing he hasn't done before - miles anyway.  Saturday was a big run.  He got the idea that he wanted to run from our house to church - 14 miles

We left home at 5:34 am

Since he was running country roads, in the dark, with loose dogs, and miles he had never done before, I told him a I would the pilot car - I would ride along beside him - encourage, give water, and just be sure he survived.

I think this is funny.  See the field in the back ground.  We are in the country.  At this point is was finally daylight - around 6:50 or so running mile 8 or 9

This is what Garrett did while Jeff was running.  He wanted to go with us.  The Fire Department in Marshville (the town where our church is) serves a big breakfast on the last Saturday of the month.  He opted for getting up early so he could go eat breakfast.

This donkey is almost in our backyard at church.  Jeff really got this donkey unnerved.  He was Hee Hawing so loud as Jeff ran by the fence.  It really helped Jeff - at this point it had been 2 hours and about 15 minutes - mile 13.8

He made it to our chuch.  14 miles - he only walked about 8 minutes of the entire run.  Country roads have some incredible hills. 

Everytime I think about how dedicated he is running  He amazes me.  I am so proud of him.

Bigger miles to come in the weeks ahead. 

Just  a reminder that a marathon is 26.2 miles  - running for about 4 and half hours

Football Weekend

The 7th Grade Piedmont Middle School Football Team

Jeff and Garrett went to the High School game on Friday night.  This was the first time he had on his game jersey.  My oh my - my heart sank when I saw him.  He is growing up.

In the game - Whoo Hoo!  Like to see him play

Ha The huttle - taller than everyone- look at the little guy to Garrett's left - it is amazing the difference in height in middle school

now on defense

Stand him up

Individual pictures yesterday.  He is bending because the picture is only waist up but I love how "Grown up" he looks.  I wanted to include this.  It is still amazing me that my son is becoming a young man.

This was Garrett after the game.  It is amazing how boys sweat.  He was dripping wet.

So proud of him.  He did a great job for his first game every.  He played offense and defense.  Lots of playing time.  Way to go.  Like his dad is now saying "We have a football player".

Welcom to 4th Grade - Seth

It is hard to believe that Seth is a 4th grader.  Garrett was in 4th grade when we started homeschooling.   I feel like I have this grade handled.  Well at least it feels familiar. 

Seth starts his day the same as Ella.  After family devotion and prayer, Seth begins his day on his weekly sheet.  I have all of his assignments written out for the week.  He knows what order to do his work and when he needs me. 

I am so glad I captured this face. He is my perfectionist.  So when things don't go just right, this is what I see.  On top of that, he couldn't believe I was taking his picture. 

So he does a Reason for Handwriting, Analogies, and English (from Bob Jones). 

He looks like he is really working.  Ha - remember the picture before this one?

English again - better attitude this time. 

Yeah  a smile - his favorite part this year - Math - Teaching Textbook math program is all on DVD/computer.  He is loving it.  He jumps right to this.  This has freed me up to work with the others ones. 

Spelling Power - he is calling out Garrett's spellind words - then Garrett calls out his.  Love when they work together.  It was so funny to hear the sentences they came up with for each other.  Never knew spelling could be so fun.

To his room to read.  He is reading Sonlight 4 books.  American History themes.  This ties into our History  -American History part 2.  For science, we are studying Astronomy.  Remembering building the solar system? He builds one the end of next week. 

He is still doing TaeKwonDoe.  We are signing up for piano that will start in September. 

Seth is very intense with his work.  He likes to get things perfect.  He enjoys working but gets very frustrated and frustrated quickly at that.  Seth gives lots of hugs during the day.  He loves being at home.

Thanks for such a blessing

I know I have said this before but everytime I look into this child I see YOU!

She is such a blessing to our family

Pslam 100

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,

Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs. 

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through

all generations

Ella you are such a blessing to our family

We can't wait to see what an incredible young lady the LORD has entrusted in our care.  May you always use your gifts and talents to glorify the LORD.

We thank the Lord for you.

Welcome to Kindergarten

 A couple of weeks before school was about to start, Garrett kept asked Ella if she knew who her teacher was going to be in school.  It was funny to hear her.  UHHHH!  I don't know.    It is hard for her to understand the concept of school other than being at home.  She was too little to remember "school" when the boys went to public school.  She has been very excited about Kindergarten. 

Every morning we start with devotion, breakfast, brush, bed, responsibilities, and then family devotion. Ella has chores now that she has to do as well.  To begin our family devotion time, we first have a jam session.  We turn the music up loud and sing praises to our God.  Wow is this fun.  As a family we are studying catechism.  These are simple questions and answers that teaches and develops a biblical knowledge which in turns develops into their Christian worldview.  Very interesting conversations with this.  We also begin our day with Manners Made Easy. There is a verse from the bible to back up the manners that are expected of kids. 

My favorite part is prayers.  We all hold hands and each child prays.  Youngest to oldest.  I smile with joy to hear the hearts of my children each morning. 

Ella sat with me yesterday during family devotion time

Onto Calendar, Weather Graph, Explode the Code, and Story time with Seth.  Nothing like learning when you are teaching someone else.  After this they play for awhile until I am finished with Garrett.

Time for Saxon Math, Making Words, and Hooked On Phonics.  She is actually "reading" a few books.  Way to go Ella.  She is beginning to recognize words.  So cool to teach a kid to read.  A few frustrations come as well but to hear all the hard work finally pay off  - - is incredible.

Journal time with Garrett  while I work with Seth.  Boy do they have a fun time.  The noise that come from this couch during journal time. 

Then a little read aloud with mom.  We are taking a book then pulling out SS, Science, Art, Language Art Elements.  The program is called Five In a Row.  It is a whole language approach to learning.

So Ella is well on her way to figuring out this school thing.  The hardest part is getting her up and not wearing her PJ's.  I still consider her "little" but oh she is far more than that -she informs us she is "big" now that

she is 5. 

I will post some of her big 5 year old photo session next.

Happy 2011-2012 school year for Ella

179 days left

Year 4 of homeschooling.  What a journey we are on but yet still have to go. 

Garrett - Welcome to 7th grade

Seth - Welcome to 4th grade

Ella - Welcome to Kindergarten

The pictures below are from the previous years of homeschooling.  It is amazing to see how young they looked compared to how they look now.

The picture in the middle is from year 1.  The bottom picture is year 2.

So our morning rountine - get up, devotion, breakfast, help clean up breakfast, bed, teeth, change clothes, responsibilities ( or chores), then meet together for family devotion.

These are the pictures once we got started with family devotion and prayer time.

We had a guest today.  Seth was thrilled.

Seth and Danny helped Ella with Calendar, weather and read her a couple of books while I worked with Garrett.  Then Ella time with mom.  The last pictures are Garrett helping Ella with her journal while I worked with Seth and Danny.

Throughout this week, I will highlight each child and their school schedule.  Now that all three are schooling, my post would be 10 pages long.  Ha. 

So what is your favorite school memory? Leave a comment.  It is amazing the wonderful memories that the kids are making. 

One of my favorite memories and still a fun thing for me is picking out new school supplies.  I love new notebooks, crayons, highlighters, sharpies.  Ahhh!  I could spend all day in Office Max.  I have other but I get so excited when it's time to pick out new school stuff. 

Lots of New at our House

Seth started TaeKwonDo a few months back.  Thanks to the Karate Kid Movie.  He really wants to learn karate or TaeKwonDo.  He had his first belt test on Friday.  He earned his stripes to test several weeks ago but with vacations and his uneasiness to test, we just now were ready.

He is now a High White Belt.  This is his teacher Master Surendra.  What a wonderful teacher Master Surendra is.  He is stern but at the same time can make them laugh.  He pushes them beyond themselves.  Seth is grinning all during class.  We are proud of Seth for earning his high white belt.  He says that his goal is black belt.

We started football with hitting on Saturday. Full Dress pads, helmet and hot. It is crazy how hot it is for football practice at 6:30. I think he looks so grown up. I am beginning to see a young man in that skin. Wow. I have looked at him all day and kept thinking how "grown" he is beginning to look. How responsible he is beginning to act. How his features are changing. His shape/form is beginning to change.

 

I told him that I loved his tight pants. He started laughing. Can't wait to start cheering for him in the football game. We have been very proud of him. Lots of learning goes on when your on that football field.

Does he look like Jeff or what?

Okay the little ones love when Garrett goes to practice becuase they have run of the house.  Look what they came up with . . .

 

They have been roaming the house like little spies.

School starts this week.  Year 4 of homeschooling.  We will have a 7th grader, a 4th grader and a Kindergarten.  First day of getting up at 7:00.  Ahh!  where did summer go?

Happy 5th

Well this post is on August 4th not 3rd.  I was waiting to post yesterday after the party so I could include pictures.  I was completely exhausted so here we are today.  (This is a really long post)

Happy 5th Birthday

I know I have said this before but I am completely blown away that Ella is 5.  I kept telling her that I was going to cry when she turned 5.  I didn't cry but I keep telling Jeff.  We have big kids now.  So here is a recap of July 31st (celebration with her family) and Aug 3rd (celebration with friends at Build A Bear)

The pink chair she is sitting in she got when she turned 1.  I think we have used this chair for present time at every birthday. 

I like this picture.  3 of the 4 grandparents Jeff mom and dad and my dad is sitting in the chair. (Noni, Papa, and Papa)

Love the face

We had really talked about presents and how you need to really be thankful once you opened your gift.  We talked about finding the person and telling them "Thank you" before you opened the next gift.  Well on her own she decided to give each person a hug.  So she would open the gift then go to the person and HUG them.  It was very sweet. 

Ariel birthday cake with 5 candles

Ahhh! the birthday cake Yummy

Donnie Ray teased Ella all night about giving him a hug.  At first No hugs, but by the end of the night I think Donnie Ray had gotten about 20 or so hugs.

Gotta love Joseph

Cooper, Joseph, and Ella

So onto August 3rd

we decorated the door

The thought was to trap her in her room and she would have to break out but instead she ended up on the couch.  So she had to break through to get inside her room.

Garrett decided she needed chocolate chips pancakes but the chips needed to be a 5

Candles in the pancake

We decorated the front door so if anyone came to our house they would know we had a birthday in the house.  A birthday wreath and flags.

I love this big girl

So onto Build A Bear.   

The story we will remember about this birthday is that we stuffed our bears by hand.  The stuffing machine broke well stopped working just as we were ready to stuff our bears.  So 6 little people put extra love into their bears. (as soon as the lady sewed the last bear up, the machine started working)

6 Little bears

Marissa, Ella, Allison

Mason, Allison, Cooper

We enjoyed ChickFilA ice cream in the food court after we finished our bears.

Ella,

     God truly knows what he is doing.  Everytime I look at you I have a glimpse into how much he loves your dad and I.  You truly are a daily reminder of "Blessed".  I still continue to look as you and think "I have a little girl".  You bring such joy to our family.  You add a new twist to our happenings.  You love your family.  You check on people and remember to pray for them if they are hurt or sick.  You love your brothers.  You have brought out true sweetness in them.  It is funny what you can get them to do just because you asked them too.  You enjoy playing games, swimming, and dancing.  We watch Ella shows occasionally in our den.  At 5 it is hard to believe some of the things you are doing.  But you have to be big just like your brothers. 

Some things I want to remember about you:

*  wearing your pj all day

*  sleeping on the couch

*  "fire in the hole" nerf guns

*  your friends

*  night night ponytail

*  your light shining the right way at night

*  playing legos

*  the laughter you bring out in Garrett

*  how you play with Seth

*  Getting so mad you go to sleep

*  Hiding your face when you are embarrassed

*  going to your first wedding (Thanks Trisha and Zach)

*  not liking to get in trouble or be in trouble especially from your daddy

*  having to work things out before you can apologize

*  Playing tricks with Mr. Dicky at church

*  always wanting your dad's approval ( especially on Sundays)

* very determined

*  Loving to answer the phone

*  swimming in the deep in - no floats

* jumping off the diving board

*  pulling your first tooth

*  eating enchiladas - chips and hot sauce

*  painting toe nails and fingernails

*  learning to wear head bands

*  making cards for people

*  enjoying getting paid for chores

*  folding your own laundry

*  hanging right in with the big people

You are such a joy to be around each day.  I am so blessed to be at home with you.  I was thinking the other day how you and I have been together at home.  It has been an amazing 5 year with such a caring little girl who is now a big girl.  You bring a whole new game plan to our family.  We are glad you are ours.