Christmas is Coming

It's that time of year again!

All of us are super excited!

The kids were anxiously awaiting the moment to open their ornament boxes.

Isaac's first time to read scripture out loud was during Advent this year.

He was proud.

Josiah also read, and fixed his hair in a special way for the occasion.

I'm so proud of both of our boys and the love that they have for God's Word. Their daddy is the one they look up to.

This is our Jesse Tree, made by a sweet friend.

I tried to take Olivia's picture by the Christmas tree, but she said it was "too spiky."

Merry Christmas!

Homeschooling Again

Josiah is home with me again. After lots of prayer and talking it through with some wise people, we feel that we have made the perfect decision for Josiah. I do have to admit that the first week back was rough and had me second guessing bringing him home, but a trip to Texas and back and a case of strep could make anyone have a difficult start.

Josiah is so smart and really catches on to every subject so easily. We soar through his lessons which gives him lots of time to play (something he was lacking in public school).

Josiah has proven to be a very artistic little guy. He loves to play the piano, is always painting or creating something, and constantly amazes us at the way his brain works.

Olivia goes to Busy Bees on Monday and Friday, so Josiah is home alone with me on Mondays and alone with both Jay and me on Fridays. He is eating it up. Olivia also loves having someone else to play with when she is here. Isaac seems to really take to being the big brother and leaving the "little kids" behind while he goes off to be Mr. It in 1st grade.

All in all, I'd say that this year has been a year of testing, changing, growing and shaping.

While I know that most families are full of tons of different personalities, ours has two of the same. Josiah and Olivia are so much alike. Of course, this may change as they grow older, but it really is funny to watch them together.

Josiah was photographer of the day.

He also mastered the monkey bars for the first time. Yay!

He makes me smile.

I love that as soon as I started homeschooling him again, he decided to wear whatever clothes he found first.

Sugar Bear

Olivia has always wanted the box that is in the top of her closet. She just knew that it was filled with treasures. Josiah climbed for her and she could not have been more excited. She never even used a pacifier, but I think she would love to be the first to become addicted at 3 years old.

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Thanksgiving 2010

Thanks for not pressuring me to blog. With that said, here I go.

We were able to travel to Texas for Thanksgiving again this year. It's a long, hard drive, but totally and completely worth every single mile. My only regret? That I didn't take my own camera with me. Why? Because I don't have any pictures of Jay's family. That's it. Instead of saving up for the camera lens I've been wanting, I'm going to just buy a point and shoot to take with me everywhere. If not for Mom, I wouldn't even have pictures of my side of the family.

My kids with some of my cousin, Jeff's, kids.

(from my Dad's side of the family)

Dad and the 3 munchkins

This is what I love about my family...we just sit and visit.

Olivia talked Mum-Z into reading to her. He's such an animated reader that Olivia called for encore after encore.

Again...talking and laughing.

My grandma with a lot of her great-grand kids. 7 were missing!

Play, play, crash.

I love this picture of Olivia and me. Thanks, Linds!

My mom's side of the family also came over for Thanksgiving. Granny bought all of the great-grands (and 1 grand) singing reindeer. Cute.

Some of the gals

Mom, Liv, and Me

Love him.

My only girl cousin on my dad's side of the family. We have plenty of stories.

My cousin, Jeff, who is "Uncle Jeff" to my kids, and more like a brother to me.

Well, that's about all I've got. Sorry that most of the pictures include me...maybe that makes up for me always being behind the camera. :)

Girls, Outdoors, and Cameras In Hand

Carving With Dad...er...Mom

Last Thursday was Carve A Pumpkin With Dad day in Josiah's class. Jay was out of town, so I took on the pumpkin carving duty.

I asked Josiah what he wanted his pumpkin to look like. Fortunately, he said "just triangles".

I don't know why I even asked. It's not as if I could have done any kind of detail work.

Josiah wanted his pumpkin painted. It may not have been the best pumpkin carving decision.

Some of Josiah's friends...

Brady, Ethan and Josiah

I think I need to work on my skills. Josiah, however, was very pleased with our work. He even drew eyelashes and made the pumpkin a girl.

Isaac decorated a pumpkin for his class to celebrate Fall and good literature. The kids were to decorate it as their favorite book and talk about the story. Isaac chose to use There's No Such Thing As A Dragon for his pumpkin and presentation. He was super proud of his pumpkin, even though his wasn't wearing a dress, wig, shoes, glasses or hat like many of his classmates' pumpkins. haha