Firestation FUN!

Our first field trip with our homeschool group was a fire station tour!  The kids were so excited!  We made the firemen muffins to thank them for the tour.  We got to see where they slept and a firemen dressed up in his gear.  The kids learned to not be afraid of how they looked in their uniform.  We saw the fire truck and ambulance.  The kids and I actually got to sit inside the ambulance.

Labor Day

We went out to my aunt's house for Labor Day and had a great time!  My cousin and his family were in town from Tennessee.  We hadn't seen them in like 2 years so it was great to see them!  We had fun swimming it up and working with the kids on learning how to swim... we'll get there eventually. :) 

Taylor became more comfortable this time in the water and asked for her floats off.  We worked on some swimming.

Daddy having fun!

                                                                 Jackson caught a gator!

It's a toy ;)  He loved this thing though!  The kids would put it in the pool and take it out and water would leak out of it.... they would say "Ewww he's peeing!"  (the gator not Jackson)

Evander, He is 4 and fearless!

My mom and Aunt Chi-Chi

Payton's Birthday

Payton has been so ready for her birthday!  She knew exactly what to do and what to expect after her 2 big sister's birthdays.  After dinner we sang to Payton and had brownies for dessert.  We gave Payton her presents.  

Look how excited she is :)

The kids have a hard time understanding this is birthday day... and then we have party day...  They want it all in one day.  Payton had to wait the longest for her party, 4 days...  It's not my fault her birthday was on a Tuesday! LOL  She was very sweet and patient though.  I think it was Addy who asked me the most... when are people coming?

Our Curriculum is here!

So... now that the money was provided I had to make a decision.  I decided on My Father's World (MFW) for 1st grade and Kindergarten.  This curriculum is a good mix of hands on and literature.  My kids are more hands on learning.  The girls were super excited when our curriculum came in!

Here is Addy playing with the rods that came with her math.  She made a hammer.

Taylor's 1st Grade curriculum came with blocks too... She made a giraffe.

Here is most of our curriculum!

 Now I had to spend the next week organizing everything!  FUN! ;)

It bled over to our dining room too... lol! 

I am so thankful to God for hearing our prayers and caring about the things that are important to us.  I am also thankful to my friend for being obedient to God.  We are truly blessed!  To God be the glory!

Homeschooling

This is me being real... I hope this post encourages someone who is facing something that seems impossible.  I pray that they find that impossible, possible with God.  I also want this to be documented for my family to read for years to come and see how God provided for us and be a testimony, a monument if you will of God's faithfulness and keep encouraging us to trust Him.

We did virtual school last year for kindergarten for Taylor.  The curriculum was pretty good.  But I didn't like having to report to someone and taking Taylor in 3 times for testing was not an easy task for her.  I really wanted to get a Christian curriculum for this upcoming school year.  We kept planning and talking about it and I researched to find what would fit our family best.  I fell in love with 2 curriculums, Heart of Dakota and My Father's World.

This year has been tight financially... I swear each month something has come up and we would be down to pennies.  I am very thankful that we have a roof over our head, dependable vans to drive and food on the table.  However with things being tight there was no extra money for this wonderful curriculum that I fell in love with.  I was devastated... heart broken really...  So I was going to fall back on to virtual school again for Taylor and Addison.  It really wasn't that big of a deal to do virtual.  But in my spirit I just knew that isn't what God had for us.  But still we did not have the money.  I asked Nathan to pray with me and believe for the money that was needed.  THE VERY NEXT DAY was crazy busy... I was working on the application process for virtual school for both girls and was realizing how much I had to do and needed it done ASAP. (I was doing all this the first week of August) School with FVS (Florida Virtual School)started August 13th!  I was in a tizzy about everything when my phone ringed... it was a dear friend to me.  ( You know one of those God connection relationships)  We don't talk often but wish we did.  I answered the phone in my tizzy... and she listened to me like she always does.  At the end she asked me why are you doing virtual?  I thought you didn't like it.  I told her that is what we have to do this year and plan better for next year.  She immediately felt led to bless us.  She felt from the Lord that this is what she was suppose to do.  Now don't get me wrong... it was very hard for me to accept it.  But I knew this was from God.  We prayed the night before for God to provide a way and for us to know.  God used them to be a blessing.  I am so thankful to them for being obedient to the Lord.  I know and pray that God will bless them for their hearts. 

So I now got to plan my school year and do exactly what I wanted to do!  AMEN and to God be the Glory!  He is good!!!!

Jackson's New Haircut

I LOVE Jackson's hair.  We wanted to shape it up more cause well it's just craziness...  Nathan said let me do the largest guard and just buzz it.  I said NO It will look horrible... Nathan said No it won't.  Well guess what?  It looked horrible.  It was about 7 in the evening.  I freaked and said let me take him to mom's (she does hair & only lives across town)  Nathan said nah let me do a 3 guard, which is what he does on his head.... so yeah that's how it went down.

I miss his hair...

I cried...

It will grow...

But he looks so big...

I cried some more...

So here is the before

Here is the after... get ready...

Of course there was horse play

Don't get me wrong he is cute!  I miss my baby with the long hair though.  So I'm pretty sure it will be growing out. 

The next day we kept asking Jackson, "where's your hair?"  He would touch his head throw his hands up say   "Uh-no! It hide!"  Poor thing :(  hee hee  so cute!