This last couple of weeks we have hit up our local(tiny!) library and August found a set of books that he loves. They are a bit longer than picture books, but not chapter books either. Each book is about a different person from History and talks about their life and some kind of character trait.
Today we read about Beethoven and giving. Many people invested in his life and music and when he felt like giving up, he persevered and gave back, with his beautiful music.
Afterward I got on youtube and found a couple songs and I said to lay down, close your eyes and dream about what the music is saying.
Well, there was no lying down, but there was plenty of imagining! Zade rushed over to me and said, "Mom, I thought of a new word! Musimovie!" They started creating a story of a man in the desert with a turban, sneaking up to a princess' window and trying to capture her. They went in and out of character and multiple characters throughout the music(about 30) minutes, and came up with a pretty good story! Princess, ballroom dancing, sword fights, poison, the antidote, good guy, bad guy, etc.
I wrote it down as they performed and they loved that even more! I read it back to them and then they chose a couple other symphonies and made up new plots and stories.
The only input I gave them was to try to think of a completely different story and characters from the one before.
It was such a fun hour! We haven't delved into Shakespeare yet, but I hope when we do, they will want to reenact the plays!
We finished our read aloud today also. Ralph Moody's, Little Britches. We all really enjoyed it. There was a lot of great lines from Father to son that I hope sunk into their heads and hearts.
For the summer we kept things really simple. We wrote out 1, 2, 3 John and the kids read 2 chapter books. Zade read Sign of the Beaver and a magic tree house book and Grace read May B. and the same magic tree house book, Dolphins at Daybreak. I wanted to challenge them to read something a little harder or longer than they have been, but in the end we made a compromise of one hard and one easy. Their reward was a date night with mama. Zade and I saw TMNT, and Grace are going bowling tonight.
Other learning happened through planting our first garden and reaping the benefits of that. Also, having a garage sale and making change, lots of life lessons and many late nights with great conversations and movie watching.
We are moving in a week so we haven't started the traditional school year yet. We will move and get settled, spend a good week with long nature walks exploring our new area and then get back to the books. I am looking forward to every part of it!
I will share more as we get into September what books we will be going through, but for now I just wanted to journal a little of what our summer has consisted of.
Enjoying the last of it, for soon enough we will be snuggled up with hot chocolate and tea and gazing at the leaves changing and the snow falling.
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Cultivating beauty: seasonal bounty edition
When God created, He made all things gorgeous and perfect. When sin entered the timeline, death and ugliness came along.
We know all that, but sometimes we forget. Sometimes we are so surrounded by the current news headlines that the ugliness and brokenness overwhelms and brings us down.
But then there are the beautiful moments.
On a walk last night we noticed a neighbor's overflowing apricot tree. He said to pick to our heart's content and so this morning the girls were up early and we rode over in the early windy cloudiness and got us a basket full.
Fact: it does not take a whole day or a perfectly planned out event to cultivate beauty in our lives.
In our case, it was a mere 30 minutes of riding bikes, looking at the scenery of a small neighborhood, laughter from squishy apricots in our toes, challenging tree climbing, tasting the sweetness of orange fleshed fruit, and catching a few perfectly tree-ripened apricots tossed down from mama to child. It was a few moments of enjoying God's creation and it does a soul some good!
When we got home the kids went off to continue on with the story they have been playing out since last night, and I went about taking some pictures of our free fruit; for beauty's sake.
God saw the importance in making things beautiful. I am woman created in His image, so therefore I too am a creator -not THE Creator- but an imitator of what He is, a maker of beauty.
It doesn't take long, but it speaks volumes to our children and the people in our lives, when we cultivate beauty.
What are you doing to create a space of beauty? Are you taking the time to notice all the small things in life that we usually take for granted?
Our daily lives are the sphere for glorifying Christ in all that we do and say. It's a challenge to find the beauty in the mundane daily life sometimes, but a worthy challenge to embark on in my opinion!
In every season there is something beautiful and pleasant to be found; a gift from the Father of lights.
Go about finding those gifts and living in thankfulness for them.
Change the world, one beautiful thing at time.
But then there are the beautiful moments.
On a walk last night we noticed a neighbor's overflowing apricot tree. He said to pick to our heart's content and so this morning the girls were up early and we rode over in the early windy cloudiness and got us a basket full.
Fact: it does not take a whole day or a perfectly planned out event to cultivate beauty in our lives.
In our case, it was a mere 30 minutes of riding bikes, looking at the scenery of a small neighborhood, laughter from squishy apricots in our toes, challenging tree climbing, tasting the sweetness of orange fleshed fruit, and catching a few perfectly tree-ripened apricots tossed down from mama to child. It was a few moments of enjoying God's creation and it does a soul some good!
When we got home the kids went off to continue on with the story they have been playing out since last night, and I went about taking some pictures of our free fruit; for beauty's sake.
God saw the importance in making things beautiful. I am woman created in His image, so therefore I too am a creator -not THE Creator- but an imitator of what He is, a maker of beauty.
It doesn't take long, but it speaks volumes to our children and the people in our lives, when we cultivate beauty.
What are you doing to create a space of beauty? Are you taking the time to notice all the small things in life that we usually take for granted?
Our daily lives are the sphere for glorifying Christ in all that we do and say. It's a challenge to find the beauty in the mundane daily life sometimes, but a worthy challenge to embark on in my opinion!
In every season there is something beautiful and pleasant to be found; a gift from the Father of lights.
Go about finding those gifts and living in thankfulness for them.
Change the world, one beautiful thing at time.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
30/52
Last week I wanted to focus on Grace turning 10 so I didn't post any of the boys. This week is nothing especially fancy photo wise, but as a Mama, these photos are precious to me.
Enjoying the summer in all it's fullness:
Enjoying the summer in all it's fullness:
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Double digits.... whaaaaaa?
Our first born and only daughter Grace, AKA Katelyn, AKA Sister, has turned 10!
We had a fun swimming party last week and some friends over for pizza and cake.
I have wanted to take some pictures celebrating her big birthday (ten is a big one to me!), but hadn't made much time until I snapped these this afternoon. I bought a 20x28 inch black foam board while doing errands this morning and put it to use straight away.
Loving the black background and LOVING this girl even more!
She's silly and sweet and outdoorsy. She's a softy for her baby brother, a hard worker, and big dreamer. She's the spitting image of her Daddy, generous like her mama, and a bit ornery too! She also does not wear glasses! These have no glass in them!
This is our daughter in a nutshell of a blog post. We sure are blessed to have her in our lives!
Happy 10th birthday dear daughter! May the next 10 years be full of love, joy, growth, and more love.
We had a fun swimming party last week and some friends over for pizza and cake.
I have wanted to take some pictures celebrating her big birthday (ten is a big one to me!), but hadn't made much time until I snapped these this afternoon. I bought a 20x28 inch black foam board while doing errands this morning and put it to use straight away.
Loving the black background and LOVING this girl even more!
She's silly and sweet and outdoorsy. She's a softy for her baby brother, a hard worker, and big dreamer. She's the spitting image of her Daddy, generous like her mama, and a bit ornery too! She also does not wear glasses! These have no glass in them!
This is our daughter in a nutshell of a blog post. We sure are blessed to have her in our lives!
Happy 10th birthday dear daughter! May the next 10 years be full of love, joy, growth, and more love.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
You will be jolly
Micheal comes home happy pretty much always (one of the many reasons I love the man!), but tonight I could tell a load had been lifted.
He was at the bread depot after a long days work and one of the guys he works with told him to not even bother putting his truck up for sale, he would buy it. !!!!!!!
This has been one of the harder things we have been trying to figure out. He needs the truck until his last day of delivering, but we can't afford it after we sell the business, nor do we want a vehicle payment in general, but there won't be any more than a week to try and sell it before we move. What to do? What to do?
He came home and told us all the news and we couldn't help but send praises up to God and thank Him for this small (but really big!) miracle! With the kids looking at us with huge smiles, we shared with them the joy of praising God when He does the unexpected, the amazing, the miraculous.
"Every day you will see things and you have the choice to give praise to whom it is due, or not be moved and think it no big matter. But the more you see and realize that God is moving and working things out all the time and always making the sun rise and set, always giving us air to breathe, always making beautiful things, you will be jolly!"
We both feel completely over our heads with this life. We don't have all the answers. We don't have all the money. We don't have all the connections.
But we have life, because of Christ. We have the answers we need when we need them because of our God. We have all the money we need when we need it and not a moment before then, because of the provision of our Lord. We have all the connections we need, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
So we rest and know that all things will work out, in His timing and in His way.
And we rejoice when God moves in our lives!
How fun is it to live this life with Jesus?!!
It's the best kind of fun I know!
He was at the bread depot after a long days work and one of the guys he works with told him to not even bother putting his truck up for sale, he would buy it. !!!!!!!
This has been one of the harder things we have been trying to figure out. He needs the truck until his last day of delivering, but we can't afford it after we sell the business, nor do we want a vehicle payment in general, but there won't be any more than a week to try and sell it before we move. What to do? What to do?
He came home and told us all the news and we couldn't help but send praises up to God and thank Him for this small (but really big!) miracle! With the kids looking at us with huge smiles, we shared with them the joy of praising God when He does the unexpected, the amazing, the miraculous.
"Every day you will see things and you have the choice to give praise to whom it is due, or not be moved and think it no big matter. But the more you see and realize that God is moving and working things out all the time and always making the sun rise and set, always giving us air to breathe, always making beautiful things, you will be jolly!"
We both feel completely over our heads with this life. We don't have all the answers. We don't have all the money. We don't have all the connections.
But we have life, because of Christ. We have the answers we need when we need them because of our God. We have all the money we need when we need it and not a moment before then, because of the provision of our Lord. We have all the connections we need, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
So we rest and know that all things will work out, in His timing and in His way.
And we rejoice when God moves in our lives!
How fun is it to live this life with Jesus?!!
It's the best kind of fun I know!
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
28/52
What we have done this week is what Summer is all about;
swimming, parties, cold drinks, relaxing, sun kissed hair and eyelashes, exhaustion from too much fun.
We are thoroughly enjoying each and every day and while we may not be getting much done, we are soaking in the lazy days. Soon enough we will be back to a schedule and busy with books and chores.
Seeing my kids smile and explore, try news things and getting better at what they already know is like a blind woman getting sight.
It's all exciting!
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
26/52
Big brothers share this week's photo and little brother gets two. Family unit working together to get the job done! ;)
The year is half over. Just sayin'.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Summer is:
Fidgety reading,
a spoonful of honey,
building a fort and spending the afternoon in it with your brother,
eating blueberries and tickling toes,
eating salmon for dinner one night and frozen pizza the next,
watching a movie and deciding you must be a flying dragon or at least try to be one,
realizing your Dad wants to fly just as bad as you,
and potting beautiful plants in orange pottery.
That's what the first weekend of Summer looked like for us.
What are you up to?
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