The one good thing about cool weather

I turned on my oven for the first time in months!  (Ok, there might have been a random bake here and there, but during the summer months we live off the grill, large toaster oven, and stove top only!)

I felt like soup in a bread bowl.  I missed baking bread.

 It is good when you can still eat outside, have fresh tomatoes, and homemade bread!

 I made them on the small side for the kids.

Broccoli and cheese.

 I never know how meals will go over with these kids. 
I know I liked it.

 George and Liv weren't totally into chowing down on their bowls.

Weirdos.

 But they had no problem with dessert!

Cookie pizza!

The works.

 The works with a side of bananas.

Bittersweet

Livia wrote the date on our calendar, as a part of our morning school routine.  She accidentally wrote 12 instead of 21.  I thought of my Mom for a second, as she died 6 years earlier on Sept 12th. 

Well, thinking on losing a mother, my mind went to my wonderful friend who was losing her mother to cancer.  The last couple of weeks the diagnoses went from 2-3 months, to 2-3 weeks, and today she told me 2-3 days. 

The kids were making a busy box for Aunt Martha to read in bed, if she was able.  We talked about sickness, death, and of course Heaven.  How Aunt Martha loved God with all her heart and asked Him to be with her forever, years ago.  How God has never left her and wants her to come to heaven soon.  This led Livia to ask lots of questions, such as, "How do you really know if you will go to heaven?"

I answered all the questions while praying for God's words to speak into their young hearts.  Livia said she wanted to ask God into her heart.  George did too, but his answers seemed more like copying his sister still (he is only 4, but seeds are being planted).  We all prayed together (even Ginnie repeating words!) and I spent the afternoon answering random questions about salvation between playing with toys.

Then Marcy called.  Martha was in heaven that very moment.  Ugh.  My heart still breaks for that family.  Shoot.  It breaks for me.  We all loved Martha.  We will miss her terribly.  But there is no doubting the impact she has left, even on our little family.  She treated us like her family.

I will always remember the day my oldest accepted Jesus, and the day Martha went to see Him face to face.  Bittersweet is the only way to describe it.

Liv cracks me up

I know, the title is not very original.

But it is late.

And this did make me giggle.

We draw on all sorts of things.

Mostly, we love the paper that is packaged in boxes for shipping purposes.  Some of those are LONG and great for murals on the side of the shed.

This one was small, but still good for 30-40 mins of random artwork.

This was on Liv's side.

 I love her animals.  They make me happy.  Like all those trips to the zoo are contributing to something in her education.

But this one really caught me off guard.

Check out the duck.  Ha ha!  

Love those Disney movie Club stickers!

Some Days

I love Home School.

I say, "Go outside and read."

I hear, "Yay!  Can we have a reading picnic???  In our fort???  Pretty please???"

And Liv reads to George and Ginnie.  

Sometimes George takes his own book to browse, but mostly he likes being read to.  

I don't know if Ginnie likes the story, or if she is just there for the food.  

I'm betting the later.

Oh, lovely days, don't go!

Bring on the Science Projects!

We observed catepillars turn into butterflies last year.  This year is something different.  

It was a surprise.  

I'm sneaky like that.  

Or mean like that.  

Maybe the mean part was me dancing around each day chanting, "I know something YOU don't! HA!"  

Whatever.

It finally came!

The kids still didn't know what they were.

I guess I need to work on reading skills.

Our new babies!

Bull Frog Tadpoles.

Oh gosh.  I hate when people refer to their pets as their babies.

Plus, these are gross.

And ugly.

All 7 of them!

I wanted to name them after each dwarf, but the kids just rolled their eyes.

Whatever.

We got Doc, Sleepy, Grumpy, Sneezy, Happy, Bashful, and Dopey settled in their new home.

We watched them for a long time.

We had to observe when we could.  Before Ginnie woke up.

Then we put the little poleys up high out of reach.

This should be fun.  

Will let you know how things go...

Copy cat

Liv wanted her hair cut like me.  Ok, not really.  I mean, she did want her hair cut something terrible, but not because of me.  She has been asking for her hair to be cut in a short bob for a looooong time.  She calls it the Paige, after her Pre-School classmate from 3 years ago!

I talked her out of it last year because she was taking ballet.  She thought she HAD to have a bun for ballet.  How on earth can you be a ballerina without a bun???

This year she said no to ballet.  My haircut just reminded her of her dream of short hair.  But I just couldn't to a bob!  It took soooooo long to grow!  She was bald for 2.5 years!!!  So we compromised.

It is just angled a little in the front to frame her face.  

We both love it. 

Guest teacher

Carlie came over last week to guest teach us YOGA!  She had a lesson plan and everything.  I was totally impressed.  We learned all sorts of animal poses.  George is still creating his own animal poses.

"Look Momma!  I made a sleeping giraffe!"

"I call this one a hurt bunny rabbit." (complete with sad face)

"This is a one legged crocodile!"

I'd take pics of each pose, but they are kind of all the same. 

He is getting pretty good at regular push ups though.

See Ginnie racing to grab Maggie the second I put her down?  If I can keep Maggie alive, I think they will be bestest friends.