Weekend Snapshots

Long weekends!!!!

The.Best.

We picked wildflowers on a little family walk.
The boys wanted to save them for Mimi and Auntie.

They're gentlemen alright.

Always making sure the ladies in their life have flowers.

I do need to read up on which native wildflowers are poisonous though :-/  .  

We had a celebration lunch at Ponte Winery.  

My sister finished up school and earned her accounting degree...Yay Erica!

Papa got a wonderful new job...best part...He doesn't have to work weekends anymore and we get to see lots more of him.  

Judson's face in the picture above says a lot about how we love our Papa.

We chose this same venue for our wedding almost 10 years ago. 

I never knew we'd live here, but I guess I've always loved it.

We caught frogs and walked the vineyards.

Beauty!

We completed a few house projects, enjoyed some pretty sunsets, and read lots of books, cause that's what we do :)

Another thing I do lots of is cuddling this one, because she craves it.

This is how she feels love and gives love.

I adore her.

"One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts."

-Pslam145:4

India

Taking a break from our homeschool year reflections...although I think I only had Math left, which I am totally fine skipping.

Meh.

As a family we are always praying for our friends near and far!

We happen to know several families who serve the Lord overseas.

One special family in particular serves in India.

Judson has been mentioning India pretty frequently.

He has lots of questions about the people there and why many of them don't know Jesus.  

So I jumped on Amazon and found a children's biography of Amy Carmichael.

I thought it might inspire him.

We are always looking for ways to nurture things that God might be doing in their hearts.

(I love your heart, Judson)  

We are really looking forward to this family read-aloud and pray that God will use it to open our eyes and inspire us. 

It's easy to get stuck in our routine of life and forget the incredible needs around the globe.

We always want to be teachable.

We always want to be asking God how he would use us where we are.  

Our homeschool year...US History

US History Comes Alive!

This year we took a US history class at Grace Homeschool Classes and we LOVED it!

What an amazing support for what we are doing here at home.

Time to gather with other families who love Jesus and have made the decision to educate their children at home.

(LOL, this picture!  Ava about killed me) 

So this year we read through the A Beka Book, Our American Heritage.

The book tells the life story of different individuals who had a great impact on our nation.

We did the reading and studying at home and, on Mondays, the kids got together to interact with the material through drama, art, and music. 

Some of our favorites to learn about this year were, Abraham Lincoln (Ava is sporting her Abe hat here),  Clara Barton (The students made their own Red Cross first aid kit as they learned about her impact during war time), and Laura Ingalls Wilder (corn husk dolls)

It was a great year of hands on learning in history this year.

So privileged to be able to pour into my children at home each day and thankful for this course that enriched our learning and encouraged our hearts.  

Our homeschool year...Literature

My favorite for sure.

There is nothing like curling up with my children and reading a good book.

This remains the easiest subject to manage while also managing little ones because they can participate.

Our read-alouds happen at the breakfast table, before bed, as well as at the table or on the couch.  

This is a really fun subject and one of my favorite things about homeschooling.  

This year we read these novels for "school" 

The Courage of Sarah Noble

Charlotte's Web

Because of Winn-Dixie (Our favorite this year)

Mr. Popper's Penguins (not completed yet)

We listened to the following Auto-books

The Long Winter

Anne of Green Gables

Frankly Frannie (obviously not a classic, just a sweet chapter book we found on CD at the library)  

We read this list of books for "fun"

Ramona the Pest

Never Girls

I totally love Children's literature and I always have!  

I will never forget reading these precious stories with my precious ones.  

Already compiling a list for next year!

"No book is really worth reading at the age of 10 which is not equally worth reading at the age of 50."

- Gladys M. Hunt

Our homeschool year...ASTRONOMY

Without a doubt, Science was my least favorite subject in school.

I actually still have a reoccurring nightmare in which I find out I cannot graduate college because I never took Biology.

I did wait till the last possible semester to take it.

So, needless to say, I was not excited about teaching it to my own children.

This year we studied Astronomy using Apologia curriculum.  

Umm...hello, Apologia...we absolutely loved this science program!

  

Something beautiful that God did this school year was show me something that my child is passionate about.  

She is passionate about Astronomy.  

Honestly, jumps up and down when she learns something interesting about the Solar System.  

And we really did learn so much.

(Exploring the Solar System in her very own rocket ship) 

And bringing along her little brothers who are equally excited to learn about outer space.

(They want to be astronauts...at least on science days.  Most times they want to be firefighters...I think this is because the word "fighter" is in the title... or construction workers so they can build cool stuff) 

We are thankful for this vast and fascinating universe God has made for us to study.

We are thankful for engaging curriculum and for beautiful little minds that love to soak it all up.

Botany next year...EXCITED already!

Stem Cells Round Two

We are preparing for another round of stem cell treatment for Ava.

We are PRAYING to a faithful God who knows what we need even before we ask.

We are asking that he would use this to improve her function and increase her level of independence.

Gearing up for special diets, restricted activity and a little extra down time at home for the next few weeks.  

"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

-James 5 16b