Fun projects we have made for School

 Since we are studying Egypt, we are learning a ton of stuff about Ancient Egpyt Papyrus boats.  One of our projects was to make a reed boat out of the grass in our yard..so here is our closest imitation of a reed boat...unfortunately Kodi got a hold of them and destroyed them...so is the story of our life.

 Caleb and Toby built a Pyramid out of legos...since Egypt has pyramids where they buried their Pharoahs.

 This is a diarama of the Nile River. The longest river in the world with flows North and is desert all around it.  It provided life and still does for the people in Egypt. We made a clay river with sand and dirt on the sides.  Every year the enundation came (flooding of the Nile) and brought all the silt and dirt to form a rich Delta.  I think I am learning more than the boys.  Fascinating stuff.

 Our Nile River desert.  Ice Cream covered with Choc cookies and Vanilla cookie crumbs (dirt and sand).  The River is made from Blue Jello.  We did realize that you shouldn't freeze this.  Eat it as soon as it is made.  Frozen Jello is not that good.

 A Painting activity.  Homeschooling has been fun, but it is not been bliss.  We are very busy and have learned to like being around each other...most of the time.  We are so blessed to have wonderful neighbors with awesome kids and lots of homeschool oppurtunities for the kids.  There are so many things to do it can be overwelming.  I am not sure how long I will be homeschooling, but hopefully the kids will have fond memories from the time we have spent together.

 We made a trip to Patterson Farms with several other families who homeschool as well for the Fall.

 The had 4 day old piglets....cute!

 Leisel on the wagon ride.

Scarecrow making.

Small and Big events

 Leisel gave soccer a try!  It was not what we thought it would be.  She was VERY defiant and had to have her bunnies with her on the field.  She wouldn't listen to the coach.  She looked really stinkin' cute out there, though.  We didn't finish the season, but we may try in a few yrs.

 Ken had his birthday.  It doesn't look like we celebrated much and I will tell you the cake was a challenge. I started homeschooling the week of Ken's birthday and that was a silly thing to do.  Poor Ken got the shaft this year.  We do always like to take a labor day trip.  This yr we took a trip to the Virginia Creeper- a 17 mile bike ride down hill.  It was so much fun!  We used our pop up camper and Caleb rode his bike, Toby rode a tandem bike, & Leisel rode in a trailer behind me.  I will have some pics of our trip on another post.

 Toby lost his first tooth!  It was on our way to swim lessons.  We take a homeschool class and he lost it in the car!  So sad he is losing his teeth.  They aren't babies any more....sniffle sniffle.

Homeschooling

 Our first day of homeschooling was August 27th.  It has not been an easy transition.  Most people told me we would have good days and bad days and that is the truth!  after about 40 days of teaching we now have more good days than bad and I can see some benefits.

Doggy Love

 a neighborhood fort the kids built this summer.

 Kodi is a crazy dog!  It's hard to train a puppy with kids!  I don't reccommend it.  Dogs are trained more easily before there are children in the picture...

 My first child, Elliott, has been diagnosed with mouth cancer.  He has had a tumor in his mouth removed.  I noticed he was bleeding a lot out of his mouth which after surgery the vet told us that he has mouth cancer.  I have been very upset at this news as he has been such a wonderful part of our family.  I didn't think it would upset me so much, but  it has.  He is such a wonderful pet.  He does not like Kodi and keeps him in line with a growl or two.  He no longer catches the frisbees, but he will still try!   He doesn't have the best joints.  We love you Elliott!  We hope you are around a lot longer, but if you aren't we want to enjoy every bit of it!

Elliott and Toby are the best of friends.  Elliott sneaks up to the boys room at night to sleep in their room...He loves them and I must quit writing before I start crying....might be too late for that.

Caleb becomes a 9 year old

 We thought we would take a few boys down to the trampoline park in charlotte.  Well it was about 9 in addition to Toby and a friend his age and leisel.  They had a blast and then after that we went to fuel pizza and opened gifts...we are still trying to recover from this event!!!!!! 

 Can't believe 9 years ago I had a 9 pound baby boy and he changed my life forever.  Caleb you have been such a blessing!  It has been a joy to see you grow and become the young man you are.  You are so smart, kind, thoughtful, helpful, a good brother and son.  We love you so much and hope you will always be an important part of our lives when you grow up. 

Outer banks, NC vacation

We had the best time in the outer banks this year!  We have lived in North Carolina for 10 yrs and had never made it to the outer banks.....about 5 islands off the coast of NC... It was so relaxing and fun.  We stayed in our pop up camper that we borrowed in a very nice campground.

We went to the wright musuem and to Jockey Ridge Park-which is a really cool sand dune not far from the wright brothers musuem.  This is a great place...the birthplace of flight...something North Carolina is very proud of.

 Jockey's Ridge sand dune

 a little oasis in the desert.

 The kids were surfing in the sand!  Our kids could not get enough surfing or wake boarding.

 On top of Hattaras lighthouse!

 You can sorta see the lighthouse...we went to this beach to swim near the lighthouse.  We stayed on Hattaras island...nice and quiet.

 Top of the lighthouse.

 At our Campsite.  The kids loved camping this summer.  We are planning on going back in July for about 10 days...Can't wait!