Family pictures

We had some family pictures taken last month. Here is a sampling. I'm super excited at how they turned out. It's so nice to have professional pictures. JCPenney portrait studio just doesn't cut it. I just cherish the last photos Sharon did of the kids, as well as the pictures I have of Belle by Jessica Strickland. It's great to have nice pictures of all of us.

Belle's last day of school

Last week was Belle's last day of school. A little overwhelming to think that it could be her last day of school ever. Well thats exaggerating a little. But she may never go to public school. Who knows, one year at a time.

Instead of a closing program they just let the parents come spend the day with the kids. We went around to different stations and played games. The theme was "Day at the Beach". We had fun and I held it together the whole time. Although I got a little teary when the teachers started to cry. =(









Belle and her teachers Miss Mary and Miss Cathi.




And here are a couple of Ethan and friends Titus and Clayton. Ethan loves "bay bays".

Two Little Fishies

This is our last week of swim lessons. I do believe Ethan will be really sad to see the end. Every week he'll come out of the pool with his teeth chattering "pppppooooll fffuuunn"

I've seen good progress with both kids. Belle still doesn't have the confidence to go swimming on her own. Ethan would love to swim on his own, but would probably sink at this point. His teacher is constantly telling Nic how well he's doing and how she doesn't often see kids his age swimming so well. She could totally be stroking our egos or something, who knows. Today they even let Ethan hang onto the edge and kick off the wall. Something about the way he threw his arms up after he kicked off was impressive. Like he already knew to get into the swim position after kicking off the wall. I don't know, maybe swimming will be Ethan's thing. Although I imagine anything physical will be his thing.

Belle is doing good kicking off the wall and swimming to her teacher under water. They have also been practicing their floating. She's pretty good at going from a front float to a back float.

Neither kid will probably be ditching the floaties this year.

Goal!!!

Belle is in her first year of soccer. I am secretly hoping it's her last. I haven't really been digging the sitting out in the cold and rain for practices and games 2 days a week.

Last Saturday was pretty bearable and really the kids played good. I think they are starting to get the concept. Belle even scored a goal. Well she kicked it towards the goal, the other team tried to get it out but inadvertently kicked it in. Still gonna claim it though.

Such intensity. ha ha

Ethan at 2.5yrs

Something happened last month. My baby seemed to grow up over night. All the sudden I see a big kid emerging. Ethan turned 2.5 back on April 2nd. Here is an update on what Mr. Ethan is up to.

Just in this last month I have noticed so many changes in him. For one, the boy is SO ready to potty train. He wakes up dry from naps most of the time. He'll tell me that he needs a diaper change. And is over all interested in the potty. He really gets excited when sissy lets him flush the toilet for her. =) So as soon as I get Sara's "Potty Training in Less than a Day" book and my peeing doll back, we're potty training this child. I'm ready!

Ethan has also surprised me by being able to recognize about 50% of his letters. I'm guessing that is from our time on Starfall.com while sissy is at school. He'll also sing the ABC song and try to count, albeit he gets about 50% of that right too. Oh and if you ask him a color, it's always green. =) Although just this week, he's been getting blue right along with his usual black and white correct.

Ethan has also started swim lessons with daddy. He's a natural. For real, the instructor said so. The instructor predicts Ethan will be swimming on his own by next summer. Something about he's got good form with his kicks. And I imagine the fact that he's fearless helps. All the other kids in the class are clinging to their parents. Ethan is the only one trying to get Nic to let go of him. He's got all the fundamentals down, except he refuses to blow bubbles in the water or hold his breath.

Ethan spends most of his days playing with Belle. And they really do play well most of the time. He can play dolls with the best of them. Although Ethan has a new fascination with dragons. Probably from the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" that we've watched a zillion times. A lot of his time is also spent climbing on everything in this house. He tries to find new heights from which to jump.

While Ethan is 100% boy, he's also 100% Momma's boy. And I'm just fine with that.

Why are we Homeschooling?

Well I thought I'd get this down on my blog so that I could remember the great way God worked in this situation.

Why are we homeschooling? Well I really have no gripe with public school. I did fine. I was a pretty shy kid and I got by. I wouldn't say it was the "best of years", but certainly not the worst. I do realize that I did what I could to scrape by. And I was good at it, graduating with a 3.something GPA.

When I started thinking about Belle going to school, I just had huge anxiety over it. Not the actual going to school part. I knew I'd have no problem sending her. It was the simple fact that she'd be one of the youngest in her class and there are differing views on holding a kid back. I was hearing all sorts of advice and had NO idea which way to lean.

So where does homeschooling come in? Well I was on the internet and saw an ad for K12, the online public school option. A lightbulb sort of went off in my head. I thought she could do Kindergarten at her own pace, at home, and even have a teacher to help me. It seemed perfect. And for some reason friends were starting to homeschool and whenever I heard about it, I'd get a pang in my heart. In the back of my mind I came to realize that someday homeschool may be something I'd have to consider. And I thought that God may just be preparing me for that fact down the road. Way down the road I thought. =)

That was probably a year before I started considering it for real. When it just kept creeping up in my mind I decided to talk to some people. I met with a couple friends and got lots of good information. I then met with another gal from church who used a curriculum I was interested in.

Oh the conflict that was raging in me. I had no idea what to do. Why in the world was I even considering this craziness? I had told Nic from day 1 that homeschool was NOT on the table at all.

I spent the next several months praying and crying, praying and crying. I just had no clue and I wanted GOD to smack me upside my head with the answer. Probably about 6 mos before all this started, I'd feel God impress upon me "you are mine" when I prayed. No I didn't audibly hear God, but it just popped in my head from time to time as I prayed.

In the midst of all this inner conflict my friend Ariel gave me a keychain from a conference she had attended. She gave it to me because it had an Isaiah verse on it and she knew I was studying Isaiah at BSF. The verse was Isaiah 43:1
But now, this is what the LORD says—
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; YOU ARE MINE.

Lo and behold we were studying that very chapter at BSF that week. At this point my ears are starting to perk up and I felt like God might be trying to say something to me. (Ya think? =) Another verse that jumped out at me during my BSF studies that week was this verse.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16

I think that sealed the deal and I felt like God was telling me that he'd show me the way. He knows I feel horribly inadequate to do this job and completely clueless as to whether or not I can actually teach my children. But somehow He will figure it all out.

Fast forward some more and I'm actually to the point of considering curriculum. I am checking out some older curriculum from the gal at church. Guess what the first memory verse in the curriculum is? Yep, Isaiah 43:1. Freeeeaky. =)

All of this brought back that second verse to my mind. I think God really is leading the blind (me).

Easter morning

The kids woke up to their Easter baskets that they had to find. Ethan is on sort of a dragon kick so he got some dragon books and a stuffed dragon. Belle got a unicorn along with a couple more Usborne books. Oh and candy of course.







Then it was off to church. We weren't sure if Ethan would be able to go this week, with all his coughing. But he had been really good the past couple days. Of course after church he went on a huge coughing spree in the car. Hopefully he just saved that til the car and didn't cough in church. **eye roll** The ride home from church now consists of Belle telling us how bad Ethan has been in sunday school. The two year olds participate in preschool worship now and the two year olds must stay in a marked off box on the floor. I'm sure Ethan is one of the youngest since he was kicked out of the nursery before they had an actual 18mos-2yr class. I can just picture how this plays out with him. It'll be July before we can see how he really behaves with our own eyes.

Easter Egg Hunt

Oh my poor neglected blog. Its harder and harder to update.

We took the kids to the Franklin Easter Egg Hunt. It was in the Rec center because of all the rain we had. The only reason we were able to go to this is because Belle's soccer game was canceled for the same reason.

We've never been to anything like this, so we had no idea what to expect. Apparently they threw 3000 eggs on the gym for the kids to have a free for all. Easy enough. It was pretty entertaining to see the parents get all hopped up about it and try to jockey for position. We had a very laid back attitude about it which was good because the gym wasn't all that big.

Ethan decided he wanted to meet the Easter Bunny, but got scared once we got there. Belle was scared all along so mommy had to get in the shot.


Here we are waiting for the whole thing to start.





The one and only shot I got of Belle during the easter egg hunt. She was off and running, shoving fist fulls of eggs into her basket.


This one on the other hand took his time and was in no hurry.


Here is their combined loot. Not a whole lot, but they had fun. Belle even got a pool day pass.


The kids came home and we divided the candy evenly and let them go to town. Ethan of course had some left over and it was killing Belle. After lunch everyone laid down for a nap. A short time later a kid walks into our room smelling like peanut butter and chocolate. Apparently Ethan didn't want to sleep and decided to finish his candy instead.

Homeschool Convention

Most of you are aware that Nic and I have decided to Homeschool next year. Well we thought we might as well go to the convention. What better way to get an idea of what all is out there. And to hear some speakers who have words of wisdom to pass along.

We listened to a lot of great speakers, but I think Susan Wise Bauer was my fav. We did't see her til the last day and it really made me wish that I had caught some of her earlier sessions. I loved it when she said something to the effect of that we'll probably screw up our children regardless. That even if we completely mess up, they still have a pretty good chance of being perfectly fine. Ha ha, I'll admit to wondering if I'm going to totally screw up my children by homeschooling. Susan had such great suggestions and was just an awesome speaker.

I was also surprised at the amount of "normal" people there. Ha ha. Count me as one of those people who thought a lot of homeschool kids were weird. I mean I did marry one. =) And he's pretty weird at times. There was just as much variety at this convention as you'd probably see at a public school. Only difference is that the vast majority of those in attendance were probably Christian.

My mouth hung open when I witnessed a boy and a girl, 13-14yrs old have a deep discussion regarding the bible and their previous session. I didn't catch it all, I didn't want them to see me staring. These two kids were perfectly normal looking kids and would probably be part of the cool crowd in a public school. It was pretty cool to witness. I hope my kids will develope that sort of maturity some day.

We ended our Friday with a Tim Hawkins concert. He was HILARIOUS of course!

We came home with some curriculum and probably a little overwhelmed. But I think we're both probably excited to see if we can do this thing. I have debated on starting another blog and documenting our homeschool misadventures. We'll see if I develop the courage.

Fourth row!!

Go Team Dora!!

Belle had her first ever soccer practice this week. She did really well. Especially considering that she had been a sick mess the day before. She is on a team at the church where she goes to preschool. All the 4-5 yr old teams have cartoon names, like Veggie Tales or the Backyardigins. What are we? Team Dora!! There were a few groans coming from mostly the parents of the boys. =) And it's funny because there really are not a lot of girls on our team, only 3. I'm real curious to see if our shirts are pink or something. I say this because I distinctly remember seeing a girl in Walmart last year with a FMCC soccer shirt on that was pink.

Practicing her dribbling.




Devotion time with the coach's wife.


And of course had to keep Ethan occupied.


He would not let me take his pictures. Little stinker.


In other fun news. We made Angry Birds!! How awesome are these! The kids love them and Ethan even wanted to sleep with one tonight. I am however not letting the kids touch my favs, which are the black bird and the yellow bird.



Look Belle even made some!

My Little Reader

I thought I'd document how well Belle is doing with her reading. She's finished her first BOB book set and while at an Usborne Party I picked up this set of 15 books. We have enjoyed a few at the library, but got frustrated when the ones we wanted were never there. So it's nice to have our own collection. She's already on the 3rd book and we just got it Sunday.

She's doing great and loves reading by herself.

Updates

Nic made the comment on how I never update the blog since Facebook. It's the truth. So I thought I'd share some pictures. Truth is that I haven't even picked up the camera much lately.

I think I've pretty much consumed my computer time with either work or researching homeschool. Yes, I've completely lost my mind and we're going to homeschool Belle next year. Crazy, I know!! So I'm researching curriculum and what not.

No child labor laws in this house.




Belle went through a nudist phase for a couple weeks. Here she is working on a workbook and showing Ethan. I was hoping that some of the numbers would soak into Ethan's brain. Im trying really hard not to compare him to Belle at her age. But the good news is that Ethan is trying. He'll count 1,2,3,6,13. . =) And he did recognize 3 letters by sight the other day. I keep telling myself he's only 2.5, geez.



Belle starts soccer practice tomorrow. Stay tuned for cute soccer uniform pics. Belle got outfitted with shin guards and cleats and a soccer ball. Ethan would not stand for being left out. Nic had to take him to walmart so he could get his very own ball. They've been kicking it around the yard during this awesome weather we are having.







They finished the afternoon playing "drive-thru". Ethan ordered "chicky nuggets" and "fench fries".


In other news, Belle has been doing awesome with her reading. She's really coming along nicely. I'm super proud of her.