Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!!!!

Grandma turned 90 this weekend and it was an honor to celebrate her!

She is beautiful and strong and she loves her family.

And since teal is obviously a stunning color on Grandma, we decided to go with teal and coral for colors.  

My cousin and I got to decorate the tables.

It was special to contribute in that way.  

It was hard not to miss Grandpa.  

He would have loved a day all about his lovely Bride.  

Nothing on this earth that he loved more than her. 

Some fun facts about Verna Maye and world news from 1927

It was especially sweet to watch all her Great Grandchildren running around on the beach.  

Makes one think a lot about legacy.

And it feels like just yesterday that I was running around the same beach with my, now grown cousins.  

Showered in love and gifts.

You are adored by many!  

Thank you for all that you've been in my life Grandma! 

I love and admire you. 

Our homeschool year...Science

We kept science really simple and really hands on this year.

I chose Apologia's Botany as our curriculum but the work load was little too heavy for us.

But our very very favorite thing about it was the copy work connecting the study of Botany to the Creator God.

Beautiful coloring pages and beautiful words to mediate on!

We also learned so much through getting our hands dirty and working in our own garden.

Life Cycles are always fun and we touch on them at some point every year.

We loved the picture book called, "Are you a lady bug?" to help us learn all about the process. 

(Creating lady bug life cycles out of molding clay)

Nature Study!  

We enjoyed observing, sketching and labeling as part of our science time this year.  

(Ant farm)

(Drawing and labeling! I just love their artwork)

We were able to purchase these neat simple machines for a little unit.

Inclined planes, pulleys, levers and screws.  

These were so fun for learning and continue be used for play!  

So many countless, amazing hikes and field studies this year too.  

Is there a better way to learn? 

We are so thankful for homeschooling and for the opportunity to learn about science together!  

Bedtime

I love bedtime!  

Everyone is sleepy, cuddly, and clean :-)

Books, songs, and prayers 

And sometimes, giggles, silliness, and monkeys jumping on the bed.

Busy Bees

The name of the game this time of the school year is...

Simple!

We are all feeling a little tired of our curriculum and ready for the change that summer time brings.

So I strive to find lessons that apply to all my kids ages and abilities.

We've been studying pollinators this week and bees in particular.

I don't know why it still surprises me, but every time I loosen the reigns a little bit on our daily school time, the more we truly learn.

This was a super fun little unit and we all learned a lot. 

Also, I wore my bee shirt...

Blueberries

Our first harvest from our little blueberry bush!

We picked this for our backyard because it's such a productive producer.

And beautiful

 And delicious!

Blueberry smoothies...yum! 

From the Garden...

We are enjoying all the outside time we can get before the brutal summer heat kicks in.

(My sweet-girl helper)

We have some new flowers popping up, like these Bachelor Buttons...

(They are so fun!)

These flowers are tiny but the plant is HUGE.  We had to transplant them because they were taking over our garden box and I'm not sure if they will survive but we shall see.  

(Love this handsome guy!)

Single Stem Sunflowers taller than the boys!!!

The heat may take out my sweet peas soon so I will enjoy them while I can.

(So many colors!)

Strawberries...yum!  And blueberries coming soon!

(He is so diligent checking on these strawberries.)

And that's all from the Garden!