Another Progress Post

I am so content with teaching Grace. I was a little nervous about it, but I had no reason to be on edge. I love to see her eyes light up when I work with her! I love to give her high fives when she gets something! I love to give her encouragement when she is almost there, but not quite! As of today she has A through H down pat and 1 through 10...most of the time. :) Love it! Can I tell you how much I love homeschooling?

The Waiting Game

We like count downs at our house. Living so far away from family, we have plenty of chances to make new countdowns. We have done everything from clothespins on a clothesline (for Grandma Tucker, of course!) to a turkey losing feathers. This time, however, we have a MEGA countdown going on! Grandma and Grandpa Tucker, Grandma and Grandpa Woods, Grandma and Grandpa Great Great, AND Hannah are ALL coming!!!


So, we are waiting slowly, but surely for all the leaves to fall off our tree and bring some wonderful visitors...and, no, I don't mean snow flakes. ;)

Is this any way to treat a king?

Couldn't resist playing with this picture in Picnik. ;)

Poor Fluffy Boy

If Fluffy Boy wanted to know what it was like to grow up in a house full of girls...and one baby boy who is no less a terror than his sisters...he now knows. It certainly is entertaining, but not a whole lot of fun...for him, anyway. The kids seem to love it!

Yesterday...

...all my troubles seemed so far away.

No, seriously, a lot can change in a year! These are pictures from last September. My babies are growing up!

S'mores are yummy...

...brownies are, too!

Visitors from Afar

Miss Amanda came to visit us for awhile. The girls were thrilled, and John...well, not so much, that she brought her adorable daughter Emmalyn with her.

With all the territorial wars going on John thought that he needed to be attached to Amanda. Of course, Emmalyn thought that was quite ridiculous since it was her momma, and thought that she needed to be attached to Amanda, too.

All the kids enjoyed playing with her. I am fairly sure she got the short end of this stick. ;)

By the time they left, John and Emmalyn thought maybe they could be friends. I'm sure we'll have to start all over again next time we visit with each other.

Dentist Appointment

So, Libby had a dentist appointment today. Well, we obviously don't look in her mouth often because the dentist told us that we needed to be working furiously to get her SOLIDLY IN PLACE baby tooth to fall out since, as you can see, there is a tooth coming up BEHIND it. Any suggestions?

Family Vacation

What is that? We certainly don't take the time for those. Oh, but wait! It is time! Our FIRST family vacation! We went to the Mall of America and had a little fun!

Seriously, I highly recommend it. Libby could have ridden ALL the rides if she so chose and Grace could ride about half of them. The ones that Grace needed an adult for...that person (me) was allowed to ride for free. They had tickets, which were kind of pricey, or you could buy a wrist band for all the rides you wanted. We chose to do the wrist bands, and we chose to do them after 5:00, because they were only $20 a pop then. So, $40 equaled 4 hours of fun and almost 3 times the savings had we bought tickets.

This ride was both girls favorite. It made me chuckle a bit because when Libby was Grace's age she rode something similar and CRIED the entire time. She loved it this time around! So did Grace!

Libby had fun on the bumper cars. Being the little Chris that she is she was most amused with how they ran when she could watch from afar. She thought the sparks they created were the best.

I rode quite a few of the rides with Grace. Unfortunately, she was short enough that there were some rides she just wasn't allowed on...including the roller coaster (very tame!) that Libby dared to attempt. Poor thing! We'll wait a few years before we go back because it will be awhile before Grace reaches the "proper" height.

And poor John? He got to watch. He did an outstanding job! And...although we didn't get a picture, mommy did take him on one ride at the very end. He totally deserved it!

My Son

While I was in highschool I became friends with Jeremy. We, for whatever reason, started calling each other mom and son, and it just stuck. So, this is my son, Jeremy...holding his girlfriend's purse. ;)

Church Sign

Score!

Libby made her first goal today in soccer! Woo hoo!

Progress

I learned a LONG time ago...NOT to compare Libby and Grace. God made these two beautiful girls wonderfully and fearfully and He made them VERY different!

This year Libby is frustrated with school from time to time because instead of me basically "reviewing" everything she already knows...she's learning. How frustrating to actually have to TRY to learn new things. Science is still her favorite subject, but by golly, I have to actually LEARN what binomial nomenclature means (it means "assigned two names" by the way). I might even actually learn HOW the apple tree produces apples rather than just getting to observe it. It's been fun to watch, though, because seriously...it takes her two to three times and she already has the "lingo" down. She gets so frustrated, but doesn't get that other children her name would probably never get some of the things she does. Math is still her least favorite (she cries some) yet she doesn't really have to work at it at all. How interesting! Yep, it is definitely quite interesting having to teach the girl who has always "taught" herself and just taken mom along for the ride.

Then, you have laxidasical Grace who just takes life as it comes. Learn? Oh, I'm supposed to do that? I remember being SO frustrated with her when it took her EIGHTEEN MONTHS to learn her colors...in the meantime, she knew her shapes, and I hadn't even tried in that area. I learned right then and there that she would learn "it" whenever she was good and ready. In the interval, I can just work with her and have fun with whatever "it" is I would like her to know...eventually. That being said, she counted to 5 (with one-to-one correlation) for the first time today. Yea!!! She also has the letters B, C, D, F, O and P down pat. I am so excited as she is starting to put it together.

Yep, God made my girls quite different...and I am SO thankful for that!

This Ain't Your Grandpappy's Equipment

I was quite amused with this picture. Look at all those buttons and the humongous remote in this thing. I've been on big equipment before...but this stuff? The people who spend this kind of money...well, they aren't ready to let a city girl "try it out".