Carson's 12th Birthday Party

We celebrated Carson's 12th birthday on Monday with a gathering of friends for some pizza, football, cookie cake & ice-cream. I love the simplicity of boys and watching them have fun together! Carson is blessed with some good buds!  We really loved having our nephew Kolson here to celebrate with Carson! 

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College Fall Getaway

This past weekend we headed to the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, NC for the College Fall Getaway. This year we combined fall getaway with other partnering Pillar Network churches which was fun. I believe our total number was 175! Matt Rogers was our speaker and he did a great job teaching from John 10. I was encouraged and blessed by his teaching. 

The kids are getting easier as they hang with the group. They have a lot of independence and freedom to roam around, head to the dining hall (and fix their OWN plate!), and participate in the group activities. I'm so thankful for these college students and how they love on our kids. What a blessing it is that our kids are growing up with the godly example of college students who love Jesus! 

SkyTop Orchard

We enjoyed a stop at SkyTop Orchard on our way to the college Fall Getaway in Black Mountain, NC. We all enjoyed our apple cider doughnuts and filling our bucket with apples! 

Clemson Football

Our little college town changes a lot this time of year with college students back in town and Clemson Football! We enjoyed watching the tigers play against South Carolina State. 

Jeremy's sister, Allyson, and her kids were there too so it was fun to see them during half time.

Go Tigers!!

August Recap

Other than a great time at the lake and the college leadership retreat and starting school, here are some other things that went down in our world during the month of August. 

Jeremy's grandfather, Papa Simmons, passed away and we celebrated his life on August 23rd. It was good to reflect on God's grace in his life and be with family.  

We've been learning about the Early Settlers and Native Americans in history (hence the feather headdress). Jeremy and Carson have spent a lot of time in the yard this month, which I really love and  appreciate! We also celebrated Jeremy's birthday on a really busy Sunday. And Spencer finished the reading book which marked a major milestone! 

I also went into major project mode in August with painting furniture (and bedrooms which I may blog about later). I love the Annie Sloan chalk paint color Provence for the girls' rooms. 

We enjoyed dissecting owl pellets with our friends at our house one afternoon.  Fascinating!

And another big milestone this month was cutting Spencer's hair!  He looks so much older! 

It was a fun, full, and fast month!

Learning to Read

It was a little over 8 years ago that I first learned about the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Carson was 3 at the time and upon the recommendation of an older homeschool mom I started the book with Carson when he turned 4 and, by God's grace, we now have 4 readers who all used this same book.

There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.
Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him. –Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

I'm so thankful for the recommendation to buy this book and get started with teaching my preschooler to read. I've followed that same pattern with all 4 of our kids, seeking to start this book with them before they start Kindergarten.

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”— Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”

I have to admit, there were plenty of times the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons was more like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Painful, Arduous, Gruesome, Taxing, Difficult, Trying, Laborious Lessons with each of our kids. But I can honestly say that if I had to go back to 2008 I would do it all over again and use this great resource to teach our kids to read.

“There are many little ways to enlarge your world.  Love of books is the best of all.” – Jacqueline Kennedy

One of my favorite things about using the same tool to teach them to read is seeing their different personalities come out as they learn to read. They are all so different and I'm so proud of each of them for working so hard to learn this great milestone!

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller

 If you are wondering what to do with your preschooler to begin teaching them to read, or you have a struggling reader in early elementary school, I highly recommend this resource! As you can see, ours has been well loved over the last 8 years! I'm not sure whether we should frame it or burn it!

"The whole world opened up to me when I learned to read” – Mary McCleod Bethune

2016-2017 School Year

I'm pretty late posting this but hey, better late then never, right!? We are in full swing with our 2016-2017 school year! We continue to enjoy My Father'sWorld Curriculum and this year we are studying Exploration to 1850. For science we are learning about animals and plants.  We continue to use Math-U-See for our math curriculum and they all seem to do well with that. We also enjoy using All About Spelling and IEW. We use other materials here and there but aside from this we stick with the recommendations of My Father's World curriculum. I'm learning so much right alongside my kids! 

At the beginning of the school year I like for the kids to fill out a questionnaire just for fun. So following is each kid, their grade, and their answers to the questions.

CARSON

Carson - 6th Grade

Some of my best friends: Bryce & Will

My favorite thing to play: football

My favorite color: orange

My favorite book: The Hardy Boys

My favorite TV show or Movie: Star Wars

My favorite food: Ribeye

When I grow up, I want to: be a farmer

Something I really like: hunting & fishing

Something I really don't like: school

Something I want to do this year: shoot a buck

BRYN

Bryn - 4th Grade

Some of my best friends: Molly, Ava, Reese, Madeline

My favorite thing to play: capture the flag, softball, volleyball, football

My favorite color: teal

My favorite book: The Boxcar Children

My favorite TV show or Movie: Star Wars

My favorite food: Sushi, crab legs

When I grow up, I want to: be a mother, animal doctor, and a Christian

Something I really like: my family

Something I really don't like: olives

Something I want to do this year: go sledding

LYDIA

Lydia - 2nd Grade

Some of my best friends: Ivy, Willow, Thomas

My favorite thing to play: outside, in my room

My favorite color: red

My favorite book: Boxcar Children

My favorite TV show or Movie: Paddington, The Cat & the Hat

My favorite food: pizza, all breakfast foods

When I grow up, I want to: be a nurse and a momma

Something I really like: I like flowers and I like my cat and hamster

Something I really don't like: broccoli

Something I want to do this year: I want to go apple picking

SPENCER

Spencer - Kindergarten

Some of my best friends: Nathan, Henry, Riley, Easton, Noah, Willow & Katie

My favorite thing to play: computer, my kindle, with Chewie and with Tiger

My favorite color: black, red, and orange

My favorite book: First Steps

My favorite TV show or Movie: Star Wars, Chima

My favorite food: crab legs, bagels, sushi

When I grow up, I want to: be a farmer

Something I really like: Nathan

Something I really don't like: when people are mean

Something I want to do this year: play in the snow

Praying for a rich school year and above all the academic learning that the Lord would grow us closer to Himself and help us trust in Jesus more! 

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College Leadership Retreat - Lake Keowee

We love the college leadership retreat at the Freeman's house every year the weekend the new college freshmen move in! It's a great tradition and we are so thankful for the Freemans and their small group for the way they generously serve the college leadership team! It's such a fun time to gather as college ministry leaders, plan and strategize for the upcoming semester, and have fun on the lake! Then we all head to campus on Saturday to help the incoming freshmen move in! Fun times in Tiger Town! It's so fun to see our kids dive right in and enjoy this time with the group. So thankful for these students and the way they love God and others! 

Lydia's 8 year old Birthday Questions

1. What are your nicknames? LuLu, Lidka, Liddy, Luey, Ruthie, Lu, P2

2. Where do you want to go on vacation? New York & Boston

3. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Volleyball & Paint

4. What is your favorite color? Red & Teal 

5. What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday? Go to SkyTop 

6. What is your favorite restaurant? Papa Johns & Tokyo

7. What is your favorite toy? My stuffed animals & art set 

8. What is your favorite fruit? cherries & nectarines & peaches

9. What is your favorite TV show or movie? Star Wars & Paddington

10. What is your favorite outfit? gym shorts and a t-shirt for playing

11. What is your favorite food? I like sushi & pizza

12. What is your favorite game? volleyball & capture the flag

13. What is your favorite animal? pandas & tigers & lions

14. What is your favorite book? If I lived in Colonial Times

15. What is your favorite song? I don't know

16. Who do you like to spend time with? my family & friends

17. What do you do really well? art & read 

18. What makes you laugh? my little brother

19. What do you like to do with your family? go apple picking & go hiking

20. What do you love to learn about God? His creations

21. What is your favorite part of each day? I like after school and after lunch

22. What is a place you want to visit? Venice  

23. What is your favorite holiday? Easter & Christmas

24. What is your favorite drink? Root Beer & Shirley Temple

25. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Christian and a Momma

Last Hurrah at the Lake

After a great time in Boston we were ready to get back to our kids! We had a few days at the lake before heading home. It was the last hurrah of the summer at the lake for us. So thankful for this fun place to see family and enjoy the summer heat! Thank you Mom and Dad for your hospitality and generosity! We love you!

Boston

This year the summer link teams came from their various locations to Boston for a debriefing at the end of July. It was fun to hear of God's faithfulness in each location from all the groups. Jeremy and I went without kids (thank you mom and dad for keeping them safe and having a ball at the lake!) and we really enjoyed that time with each other. It was also fun to see Jon & Leigh's house and be around their family while we were there! So thankful for these people and their love for the Lord and labor for His kingdom!

Thankful for a great time in Boston seeing people, enjoying my hubby, and God's beauty in creation!