Difference

The difference between 3 years old...

and 4 years old!

Celebrating Aaron's 4th birthday today! Can't believe my baby is 4!!!

Heart Surgery

I'm a verbal processor. I need to talk or write to sort through what I'm feeling.  Processing internally is NOT a strength of mine. My thoughts get all muddled up in my "to do" list and I can't keep anything straight.

Enter the summer... somehow, we have been "off" from school since the end of May and instead of slipping into easy summer routines we have cranked up the pace many notches. I start the day in God's word and I am very protective of my time reading during room time, but somehow I can't seem to quiet myself enough to have a long conversation with the Lord. Or even find a length of time. And oh, how I'm craving that! He and I talk all day long in little snippets. Sometimes out loud in the heat of the moment, "Oh Lord give me patience. Help me to love this little boy!" But it's never long enough before I'm needed by someone or I fall asleep.

We have had a delightful summer in so many ways, and yet, it has become obvious to me that we need to do a little heart surgery around here. Arguing, complaining, whining, revenge, and selfishness are some of the hot topics we're dealing with. After attending the homeschool convention in June, I was super encouraged by what I re-learned from Ted Tripp about the importance of reaching the heart of my children. It struck me how important it is to intentionally teach the boys what God says about our heart instead of waiting for a moment of correction. And so we began creating a heart notebook that we have been working on three days a week.

I don't think it's an accident that as I sit in this place of feeling unsettled this summer (not finding the time to process with God all that I'm feeling), God is using every little thing to catch my attention. I started this heart notebook with the boys to address some of THEIR ungodly attitudes. 

However, as I study God's word and prepare these lessons for them 

it has been revealed to me that I NEED SOME HEART SURGERY TOO!

 We're moving pretty slowly. It took one whole morning to decorate 

and set up our notebooks. (Which they loved doing!)

 I love these boys so much and I want them to walk away from this house knowing 

the love of Jesus and knowing who they are as a child of God. In order to know that, 

they need to understand the brokenness that comes with being a sinner and the huge amount of grace given to them in Jesus' death on the cross. And the hope that comes with the resurrection!

 Most, if not all, of MY ungodly attitudes and behaviors (being quick to anger, love of self, pride, envy - to name a few) are rooted in me not fully living like I believe the gospel. Not fully living like I understand my identity in Christ. I know I won't live perfectly this side of heaven, but am I quick to repent or do I become nonchalant about the "little" sins?

 I don't thinks it's an accident that I am attending a summer women's Bible Study on "Our Identity in Christ and the Inheritance We Receive." It's all sinking in to me how much God loves me that He knows just what I need when I need it. Can you believe that? This omnipotent, almighty God cares about the little details of my life!?!?! He knows how much I need to repent of my sinful heart and so he uses my lessons with the boys to teach me that. He knows that I need to re-learn who I am as his daughter and so He presents me with an opportunity to learn about that with great women this summer. Truly humbling and amazing.

 As for our heart study, we're still in the beginning stages. Each day we read one verse from the Bible about the heart. We discuss it, the big boys write out the verse for handwriting practice (Ethan sometimes just fill in the blanks of some words), and then we illustrate it. 

Aaron has been mostly content to cut and paste and scribble. 

Sometime next week, we're going to move on to discussing 12 ungodly attitudes of the heart 

and the correlating Godly attitude. I'm hoping and praying that this heart notebook is reaching my wiggly little boys and giving them an understanding for how much God is concerned 

with their hearts. I know He is teaching me.  :) 

The Sneaky Bunny With Bad Breath

This year we planted our first garden in a long while.  Read more about that HERE. 

I can hardly believe that we've enjoyed lettuce, carrots, grape tomatoes, and one cucumber. 

However, we're not the only one enjoying our garden. 

It appears that a little creature has had more then his fair share of our garden treats. 

Hmmm... we need to do something about that! 

Eager to uncover the mystery, the boys kept watch and looked for tracks. 

One morning when they went out to check the garden they saw an extremely cute, 

little bunny rabbit scampering out of OUR GARDEN!  

Do you see the nibbled up lettuce in the background of this picture?

 Our little furry friend ate the foliage on our carrots, the rest of our romaine lettuce, our brocolli plant, some spinach, some of the leaves on our green pepper plant and some garlic??? 

what? That's quite a sophisticated palate little bunny!

Thankfully, our sneaky bunny doesn't like our cucumbers which are growing like crazy up our trellis.

 He better keep away from my tomatoes. :) 

Math Fact Fun

This summer we've been playing math fact games every day (M-F) for about 15 minutes. We're working on solidifying Luke's addition, subtraction, and multiplication skills while at the same time building Ethan's addition skills. At the homeschool convention, I spent some time at an educational game booth asking questions. When the nice man was finished demonstrating several great math fact games, I realized that I was too thrifty to pay $20 per game when I knew I could make something similar at home. With a few supplies, we've had lots of fun.

A generous friend gave me these three game boards when I first started homeschooling. I'm sure you could find something similar at your local parent/teacher store or make your own!

 We've used colored pom poms, counting bears, match box cars or anything clever I can find as our game pieces. I make up the rules each time. (Sometimes at the spur of the moment)

 What I love about these game boards is that I can have each boy answer questions based on the skill they need to work on. For example, after they answer my question correctly they can move the allotted spaces shown on the die. I might show Aaron a letter and ask him to tell me the letter sound. Ethan will work through a stack of addition flash cards and Luke will work through a stack of multiplication flash cards.

The boys enjoy using the large blue die below for these game boards. And of course, why would you just roll the die in front of you when you can throw the foam die across the room? It's much more exciting to bounce it off the walls or off your brothers head!

 The next game we play a lot is using the hundred number board as our game board. 

Sorry I couldn't get the picture to rotate. 

With this game you could similarly use the stacks of flash cards, OR you could use these handy dice below. There are three dice numbered 1 through 6, three dice numbered 7 through 12, an addition/subtraction dice and a multiplication/division dice. 

I usually have them roll these dice more controlled in the blue container seen below. They'll get three dice to roll which tells them the math fact to solve. Then when they get it right, they roll one of the other dice and move the allotted spaces. And to throw in a little more fun, they have to say the number they are landing on before they can put their game piece there. For Aaron, I'm working on number recognition. I only have him say the numbers on the dice and the number on the square (if he knows it). Although, its not unusual for him to wander off and play alone when this game is out.

 And the last game, which I LOVE is seen below. I bought wooden disks from Michaels and pulled out two dice from a game we already had. If you do addition use the blue disks. For multiplication use the red and blue disks and if you do subtraction, you'll need some of the blue disks and the zero disk.

I introduced it to them yesterday with only the blue disks. They each took turns rolling the dice and then adding the two numbers. Once they said the math fact out loud correctly, then they could take the corresponding disk. Then the next person goes and they alternate back and forth. Sometimes the disk they need has already been taken, so it's the other persons turn. Once all the disks are taken, count up to see who has more. I'm sure there are other variations on this game too. Be creative!

So, that's what we have been doing. I have a few more ideas from friends 

that I hope to introduce as the summer progresses, but for now this has been a good start. 

So, what's your favorite math fact game at your house? 

Any other great ideas you can share with me?

Summer Fun

Here are some snapshots of our summer fun. 

Running races... definitely a favorite if it is not too hot. 

A great opportunity to practice humility as well as being a good winner and loser

Ethan shocked that he is edging out Luke for the win in this heat!

 Park visits:

Tree climbing BEFORE the hornet episode. 

 Slip n' slide:

This was super fun for about 30 minutes one hot afternoon. 

However, I'm disappointed to say that in only 30 minutes the sun was so hot that it completely burned out the grass under the slip n' slide. I was quick to remove it from the grass as soon as we were done, but by then the damage was already done. So... grass lovers beware... we have a rectangular patch of grass in the lovely shade of yellow to remind us of our 30 minutes of fun.

Cracker Case

While picnicking with a friend, I noticed she had an adorable re-usable snack bag that she received as a gift. Since I had extra fabric from the boys sunglass cases, I decided to make three. I did some searching on the web for a tutorial and I liked THIS ONE best. I wanted to find one that had minimal seams inside so there would be less places for crumbs to get stuck.

I'm pretty impatient, so I had to adjust the size of the snack bags to suit the short strip of velcro that I already had on hand. I settled on 5.5 inches by 6.5 inches. I saw some cool interiors made out of a wipeable material, but also saw conflicting opinions about how food safe the other materials are so I stuck with cotton fabric inside and out.

Instead of grabbing a ziplock baggie for snacks when we're on the run, I feel good about grabbing our re-usable snack bag.  (Or "cracker case," as Aaron calls it.) When we're done with our snack, I shake out the case and wash it once a week. (I'm not using them for anything sticky or gooey... that's just too messy!)

Whirlwind

(Okay... lots of words at first, but there will be lots of pictures at the end of this post!)

This past Saturday we loaded up and traveled to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania for a family graduation party. We enjoyed traveling an unfamiliar route and all the beautiful scenery. The boys were amazed by the "huge mountains." Obviously, they haven't been exposed to real mountains yet. :) Someday we'll take them out west.

It was so good to see extended family, some of which we had not seen in over 10 years. The party was held at a local hunting lodge. We were definitely in a small town where hunting, fishing and enjoying God's creation are the primary past times. Wish I had pictures from our stay there, but I left my camera in our room and never got the chance to go back and grab it. The boys enjoyed the huge porch, all the yummy snacks they don't usually eat, the play set, skipping stones in the lake, watching people fish and roasting marshmallows. Ethan was very skittish any time he saw a bee or wasp (and understandably so!)

The lodge had only 6 guest rooms, so all five of us squeezed in one room to save space for other family members. I managed to pull out my camera and snap a photo of "three little bugs snug in a rug."

We brought air mattresses, sheets, pillows and sleeping bags for the boys to sleep on the cement floor. Aaron was already sleeping in this photo, but that didn't last long before he came to join Darin and me in our bed. On Sunday, we had a family cookout at my aunt & uncle's house, which was only 10 minutes from the lodge. Then we were on our way to Allentown Pennsylvania.  Again, another beautiful drive through Amish country, rolling hills and horse farms. It's too bad we got stuck in bad traffic along route 81 making a 3.5 hour trip take almost 5.5 hours!! 

It was quite a scene. At a complete standstill, we began to run out of gas in our van. We shut off the air conditioning and tried to figure out what to do, all the while praying that the traffic would speed up so we could get to an exit for gas. The boys were troopers. Sticky and sweaty in the van, but mostly agreeable. So glad for a portable potty in the car so they could relieve themselves as we sat there on the highway! sorry... probably tmi :) Thankfully, our prayers were answered. The cars picked up speed and we were able to get to a gas station before we ran out of gas. Phew! Praise the Lord. 

We were so glad to arrive at Darin's parents for a warm meal. We had a leisurely rainy Monday morning and then were off to Dorney Park after the sky cleared. It was a perfect weather day. With temp's in the mid 70's, beautiful sunshine and a cool breeze. The amusement park was pretty empty. We had no lines for the rides and had a wonderful time. It was super fun to have Grandma and Grandpa with us. 

Aaron was thrilled by the carousel (notice Grandma in the background)

Because we had Grandma and Grandpa with us, Darin and I were able to ride a couple roller coasters together. Darin was on cloud nine. Wish I captured his smile! 

 I made the mistake of taking the three boys alone on the ferris wheel. Oh my word... that was the most terrifying experience. I wasn't scared for my safety or afraid of the heights, but knowing that I had three little boys in my hands at that great height with only seat belts terrified me. The doors were easily opened, as one boy (which will remain nameless) tested. OH MY!!!  I took these pictures before my panic and prayers kicked in.

View from the ferris wheel. 

On Tuesday, we packed up and headed south. We had a very nice trip, but we are all so glad to be home sleeping in our own beds (and I'm eager to get the boys back on their normal bed time!!) These late nights were tough on them and me.