Our School Room

As most of you already know, we (I) home school our children. This is the second year for us. Luke did K-4 last year. This year we have two officially (and one unofficially) in school. Luke is in kindergarten and Mac is in K-4. Last year was hard between my health issues and doing the schoolwork at the dining table. I hated having school stuff hanging on the wall or side of the fridge. For this school year, I moved Rhiannon into the boys room. We use her room now as the school room. This has worked out so much better for us. It has made a tremendous difference for us. Yes, the bedroom is tight with four kids in it, but they are rarely in it. The school room is used for school and play. They are constantly sitting at the table coloring or using their books. I think they love it almost as much as I do. I wanted to use a gray chevron as the "theme". I could not find gray chevron paper anywhere in town. So, I went with Simple Stories SN@P! Color Fusion paper pad. It at least has gray chevron in it. I enjoyed redecorating the to use as a school / play room. There are still a few things that I need to finish. The fabric stools need to be recovered when I find material. I still haven't decided about curtains. I may use blinds instead. I also want to make two cushions to go on the benches under the window. Eventually, I will replace the baskets with toys in them to match better.



 

We use the bulletin board to hang every body's papers for the week. They like showing their Dad their papers every night when he gets home. I used two rolls of cork from the organizing section at Lowe's. I just realized that it looks lumpy in the picture. It doesn't look like that in person.

 

 

(I promise I am working on my picture taking skills. In my defense, I'm pretty sure I have the worst camera on the market.)

 

 

This is our school room. The room where we now spend a good portion of our day.

 

Christine

Mac turned 4

Mac is 4. Time is flying by with the kiddo's. Mac is the funny one in our house. He is always making weird noises and talking in different voices. He can take a beating from his big brother and give a beating when he wants to. He's also the most loving out of all the kids. Someone (who shall remain nameless) threw our camera into the mop bucket. That was a sad day especially when we realized how many pictures we lost. Pictures of his actual birthday were lost. Here's a couple recently of our Mac.

Mac and Jax last week. Our boys always have a stick in their hand.

Celebrating fall Alaskan style. Attempting to make a snowman.



At my sister's wedding. They don't really like to officially "pose" for pictures.
 

Christine

Luke's birthday

We celebrated Luke's 5th birthday last week. It's hard to believe that we have a 5 year old. He's  very hands on type of kid. His favorite thing to do is take apart stuff. My Dad gave he and Mac tool belts with hammers the last time he was up. Needless to say, he wears them all the time. He loves building things and is always looking for a" job" to do.  He likes to figure out how things work. I went out the other day and he was taking apart the lawnmower. When I ask him what he could have possibly been thinking, his answer, he just wanted to see what was in the engine. He thought it would be okay because he knew how to put it back. It took him awhile but he got it and it still worked. He is turning into quite the little gentlemen. He opens the door for me getting into the car, and always runs to open doors for us going into places. He even steps into the aisle at church if I need to get out. Most importantly though he has a tender heart for the Lord and the things of the Lord.

Luke, we love you and pray that you always follow the Lord's will for your life.

 

 He finally got his .22. He was beyond excited.

 

Jax had to get in on the action.

 

Luke was one happy birthday boy that night.

 

Christine

 

Our Labor Day Trip

I am finally posting some pictures from our trip to Seward, AK, on Labor Day. I will warn you that there are quite a few pictures. We drove down to Seward Sunday night after church and then came back on Monday night. The kids were so excited to go and spend the night at a motel. We also went to the Sea Life Center (something we do every time we go down there).

Hope you enjoy all the pictures!



Waiting for Dad to get the motel room.

So excited. They were checking out everything.



 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids had a great time. This was Jax'x first trip to the ocean. I am a little behind on some of my posts. Hopefully, in the next couple of days I will be showing you what has been going on here.

 

Christine

 

Rhiannon's Room

Rhiannon's room is partly finished. The curtains are finished and most of the decorations. Still trying to figure out the best way to store her little bit of toys. I also have some material that I am going to make a headboard out of. Most importantly, I need to find a bedspread for her bed. I've gotten two, brought home, hated them and promtly returned them. After putting up the pom-pom's and hanging the pictures, I think I need to paint it white. I have added that to my never ending to-do list.

Here's a sneak peak of her room -

I made this picture by cutting out butterflies from scrapbook paper.

I covered the back of a picture from from leftover material from
her curtains. Then painted the letter R and glued it to the glass.

I stapled wire to the back of this old window pane, and
painted it. Excuse the missing trim around the window. We are
having our windows replaced and had to measure.

This is the material for her headboard.

 Since this post is about Rhiannon's room, I thought I would post a couple pictures of her that were taken recently. She is getting so big. She'll be two in October. A few things about her - she loves her babies and their blankies, she doesn't like to get dirty, she loves new clothes and shoes, she always wants her hair fixed, she is quite the tattle tail already, VERY bossy with her brothers, and LOVES to do whatever I'm doing.

Her first braid.

One of her favorite things to do, look at books.

We are so blessed to have her and will be even more blessed when she can do the dishes. :)

Christine

Family Visit to Georgia

Every year for the Fourth we are able to visit my sister, Rhiannon, in SE Georgia. This time it was especially exciting because she was going to be the first one of my family to meet my little girl....who, by the way was a TROOPER when it came to the 14hr car ride:) 

Lyla on the trip down

Charlotte

Claira and Will

My nieces and nephew are just too cute...and sooo much fun! Claira ( the oldest ) has such an amazing personality:) She made me laugh so much while we were there. And little Will is such a stud:) Charlotte is so precious and such a little joy!

Lyla enjoyed the pool. This was one of the first days we were there, by the end of the week I'm pretty sure she wanted me to let her go! Splashing and kicking like crazy:)

 Our visit wouldn't be complete without a trip to Chick-Fil-A ( sorry Chris )
Although I think Ben and Lyla could have done without it because we ended up being there for about an hour and a half at least....hahaha...the looks on their faces say it all!!

seriously, we aren't done yet?

The babies really enjoyed each other. They got to play together quite a bit. I could write at least 2-3 more post just on the pictures I have of them playing together!!

the babies, we live 14hrs apart but still manage to buy the same things!

The Fireworks

We always go to St. Simons Island for fireworks and this year was no different, except we had to carry a lot more "stuff" than in previous years:) Good thing Rhiannon had the double stroller!!

Ben manning the stroller

Rhiannon and Grant

Lyla was mesmerized by all the activity going on around her....there were so many first for her on this trip. It was so much fun for me to watch her soak it all up!

Lyla and I waiting for the action to start

Will does not enjoy fireworks so he was getting ready with his earplugs, poor little guy!

Uncle Ben got fudge 

Charlotte didn't know what was going on...haha

Family photo during the fireworks. I don't know if Lyla liked them or not. As long as I kept her ears covered  she would watch them but jump and grab for me every time one went off:)

sisters and cousins

Rhiannon and I with our little girls at Grant's birthday party

Lyla loved Will

We had such a good time together and I just loved watching my little darling play with her cousins! It was an amazing feeling to watch that.

We can't wait to see them again, I miss those little kiddo's already!

I hope ya'll had a great holiday week as well.

Mary Elizabeth