Her Style

She looked so adorable in her crazy outfit tonight at soccer practice! You just gotta love orange soccer socks ;)

Party Girl

Megan decided this afternoon to make me stew ;) She was cracking me up with her apron (adult size) and all her pots and plates. Then we she came to me doing this:

Yes, she is banging on the pot with a wooden spoon calling me to dinner! Let me assure you that I do not call my family with a pot and spoon ;) She got that part from Tom and Jerry ;) Still, she was adorable so even though I was up to my eyeballs in school planning, I took a break and had stew with that sweet, little cook :)

Here's her set-up:

She wrapped our "silverware" in paper-towels!

Thank you, Megan, for the stew and the laughs :) They were both much needed today!

A Glimpse of Our Week

We've officially started school! We aren't doing all subjects yet, just having a warm-up week. We have never started before Labor Day, but since co-op also states that week, our first week has been stressful right from the start. This year I wanted to easy into school; start during a week that would give us plenty of time to, well, take our time ;) We still had plenty on our schedule...boyscouts and soccer and Megan started her ballet class this week as well, plus we had an open house for our co-op members to see the new church were we are meeting. Even with these things, the pace has been perfect! We've had plenty of time to get through our work.

Big changes for our school this year. We have a new student! Megan is "officially" at our schooling table now. She's thrilled to have work to do along with her brothers! Her work is similar to last year's with the addition of Alpha-Phonics and more math.

Here's some of our week:

There's not one picture of Brandon at the table! He just takes his work everywhere :) He's only at the table while I'm teaching him his lesson then he's off to a cozier spot ;)

Happy First Week of School to us! Tonight, it's a movie and pizza ;)

Our Classroom

We have a new classroom! This is our tenth year homeschooling and we finally have a room I'm excited about! We tried setting up in the basement several years ago. Since it's finished, it seemed like the perfect place! Put the mess downstairs! However, I'd forgotten how much I really hate being somewhere that has no windows; no sunshine. I'm a sunshine junkie ;) We lasted two months down there. After that, we moved back into the dining room. Our dining  room table is big and we could put our books in the bottom of the hutch. This worked for a while, but we quickly out-grew the hutch. Every year, we added another little bookshelf of some sort to try to contain our stuff. Eventually, it didn't look much like a dining room, it just looked like a mess!

All along the perfect room was right beside us :) Our living room! Part of my reasoning was that we didn't really have anything in the living room that resembled living room furniture but we do have dining room furniture. So we removed the sad couch that was in there and moved in!

Part of my inspiration came from these:

My mom is cleaning out her house and gave me these two bookshelves! Yippee!! Thanks, Mom!

Several coats of paint later:

There's still alot of work to do in here. The picture is left over from when it was a living room ;) It's on it's way out to make room for a calendar, some file holders, and a couple of maps. The bookshelves in the middle were moved in from the dining room for now, but I'd like to have a long table there for a couple of computers. All in good time! For now, it's perfect! I'm able to have most of what I need right there and there's lots of room to move around and lots of sunshine streaming in! I think we'll be very happy here :)

Enjoying the Rest of Summer

We are starting school next week! We never have started before Labor Day so this is new for us. We started our summer a little early this year so really, I think we're ready ;)

But...

That doesn't mean there isn't fun to be had still!

Yesterday, we went to my aunt and uncle's to swim! It was really good to see them too :) My mom and Aunt Willa stopped over to visit as well, so it was a little party!

First we (they) swam. My uncle's pool isn't heated and it's in the shade, so this mama wasn't hopping in! ;) They're having a big tree removed today that shades the pool most of the day so hopefully it'll be a bit warmer!

Then we (they) climbed:

That flash of orange way up high is Brandon! And he was on his way down!

Megan wanted so badly to be in on the climbing :)

Then we picked berries! Yum! My uncle always has some yummy fruit for us to pick!

My uncle can't resist giving out samples :) And our kids can't resist eating them!

It was a great afternoon! We stayed way longer than I had planned which means I didn't get ANYTHING done around this house yesterday! But it was so worth it :)

A Favorite from Today

Are You Ready for Some Football?!

It's that time of year around here when thoughts turn to football. We heart our Bengals and never miss a game! We even go to some games. But regardless of where we are watching the game, we are majorly cheering Bengal's fans :)

I wasn't always a fan. I enjoyed watching them in person, but not really too much on T.V. Until I met Todd that is ;) I resisted a bit at first, but resistance is futile! I soon found if you can't beat them, join them is my motto! Now I love it! I look forward to Sundays spent making chili and hanging out in the family room working on lesson plans while cheering our team :)

Here's a glimpse of what Bengal fever looks like around here:

Go Bengals!

Tie-Dye!

One of the things the kids really wanted to do this year was tie-dye. Even though it didn't make our summer list, I was planning it. Until I saw that one of the VBS's they went to was planning it! I'm off the hook! Or so I thought. It turned out that only Brandon's grade made them. So it made a reappearance on my shopping list. But! Our church has had get-togethers for their first through fourth graders once a month this summer. They played water games and some other outdoor games. We hadn't made it to any yet, but for this last one of the summer, they were tie-dying too! Nicholas was begging to go. So I took him ;) When we got there, they asked Megan if she wanted to stay too. YES! (Brandon was at home or he probably could have stayed as well) They had a ball playing and, of course, loved doing the tie-dye. Megan won one of the dodge-ball games :) She threw the ball and got the other person out. Nicholas was really excited for her since she was on his team ;)

So here they all are enjoying their tie-dye shirts!

Megan really wanted to hold Brandon's hand:

Brandon was not in a hand-holding mood ;) Look at that face!

Then they started cracking up!

Cuteness!

Soccer Pictures

This past Tuesday was the day for Megan's soccer pictures. What a rotten day for outdoor pictures! Not that anyone could help it. But still...It rained right before the scheduled time so the field was wet and the humidity had to be around one hundred percent. And it was hot. And sticky. UGH...

We stood in line for an hour waiting her turn. That was a really long hour ;) She was tired. And bored. And hot. She wanted to hang on me. Um, no. She wanted me to hold her. No again. I was really glad when it was all over :)

I took my own pictures. I started while we were still waiting in line as a way to entertain my hot, tired baby. It worked!

Check out those freckles! So stinkin' cute!

We had some fun with that :) Then it was time!

Let the Games Begin!

Megan had her very first soccer game last Saturday! Due to not checking the schedule carefully, we arrived one hour early. GAH! Like we don't have anything better to do than sit around a soccer field watching other kids play! As luck would have it, they have a pretty nifty playground ;)

Then, finally, it was time! Megan did really well. A little tentative at first, but she soon caught on that the best way to actually get to kick the ball is to get in there and get it! Toward the end of the game, she scored her very first goal :)

G

Go Megan!