Body Building

It seems so long since we've done anything bookish. But way back then, when we were finishing up last year, we did an awesome project to wrap up our human body unit study. I actually stole the idea from my friend, Kris, and she even sent me her book when I couldn't find a copy to buy. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? But I promised to post pics of the boys with their finished projects. And so... here they are... better late than never, right?

Good News - Bad News

Good News!
I found my fourth grade A Beka books. I've been hunting for the teacher's edition for 4th grade math for months.

Bad News!
Ryan just finished 4th grade and Evan is just starting 2nd. I really need a better system for storing books I want to save for the younger boys.

Good News!
We do not have a water leak!!

Bad News!
We actually used $160 worth of water last month. Our town keeps raising their rates and I'm ready to start digging a well. But I think we'll try shorter showers and less playing in the sprinkler first.

Good News!
We made over $100 at our yard sale on Saturday. That'll pay for Dollywood tickets when we go to Pigeon Forge in August.

Bad News!
There just ain't nothin' bad about $100. :)

Praise the Lord!

VBS was a huge success! Fifteen children accepted Jesus as their savior and seven of them were baptized this morning! One of those children was my niece!! My sister had asked me if she could drop K at my house before she went to work and then could I keep her for the afternoon and bring her to sis' work at closing time?? I so-o-o-o did not want to do all that! Drop off was 5:30 am! And gas prices are high for me to be driving all over town all day long. But I really felt like I should and so I did. And look what happened. Listen to that little voice, Christians! It's a Very Important Someone talking to you!

I am so happy for K! And also a little selfishly, happy for myself. It's a wonderful feeling when you see how God is using you. :)

:)

We're just back from our trip to South Carolina. We visited my parents for a few days and had lots of fun. We spent one day boating, fishing, and swimming at the lake. Another day was spent at the Riverbanks Zoo. They have four lion cubs. SO CUTE! The evening of July 4th, we were sitting in the neighbor's yard watching fireworks. It wasn't a huge municipal display, just a couple of neighbors chipping in to make some fun for the kids - and more fun for the big boys playing with fire! The fireworks weren't as impressive as a professional show, but the sense of community was more than made up for that... and we didn't have to fight any traffic. :)

This week we're in Bible School. Our theme is honor and I can already see it affecting the behaviour of my boys, especially Evan. He still whines a lot, but it's a lot less than it was. Maybe the end of the week, he'll be whine-free?? I'm co-teaching the kindergartners and 1st graders. We had 29 in that class today.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honor one
another above yourselves. Romans 12:10 (NIV)

Football

I know it's only June, but football sign-ups were today. Jeff took Ryan over to sign up. They weighed his skinny butt and said he should have played down a team last year b/c of his low weight! He SHOULD have been on the younger team where we begged them to put him since he only missed the cut-off by two days. They didn't weigh him at all last year. It just makes me grumble and growl to think about it. He could have had a great season but for their mistake. Or, he very possibly could have had an equally bad season... but it definitely could not have been worse. I guess it wasn't too horribly awful, in his opinion, b/c he wants to do it again.

Practices start July 28! Jeff is mad at me for scheduling a vacation in August. He doesn't want Ryan to miss a week of practices. With pre-season, regular season, and play-offs, we'll have three months of football. I doubt one missed week will hurt him.

Middle school soccer starts sometime in August for Adam. Evan will be playing rec league soccer starting in September. Jeff even asked me if we should let Matthew play this year. They do have teams for his age. Right now, it's just calm enough for me to think that might be a good idea. I know Matthew would love it. Somebody talk me out of it!

We still have a month of doing nothing to get us good and bored before the craziness starts. :D

School's Out

Wow - It's hot outside. I guess it seems like it's always freezing, raining, or burning hot here, but that's b/c I only comment on the weather when it's extreme. And it's extremely hot this week. I hate the outdoors with all it's bugs anyway. Matthew got stung by a yellow jacket earlier this week. We found the nest and sprayed it but I'm still scared to cut the grass. LOL

We haven't been doing much schoolwork lately. We're officially on summer vacation until the middle of July. We're getting ready for a visit to my parents house in South Carolina and then we'll have a week of Bible school. After that we're going to work on finishing up our spelling and history books before we go on vacation to Tennessee in August. After vacation, we'll start our 6th (!!) year of homeschooling.

Even though we're not officially doing school, the boys have been reading like crazy. We joined the summer reading program at the library and the boys are determined to win tickets to Camden Park. The more they read, the more raffle tickets they can put in the drawing. The Camden Park drawing is going to be full of my boys' tickets so if you're playing at the Milton library, you may as well enter one of those bug toy or book drawings instead. {wink}

The Next Tony Hawk

How to ride a "boardskate" - by Matthew, brand new three year old and rider of Daddy's old skateboard (he swears it's faded red, NOT pink).

First, give it a shove.

Then, you chase it until...

... you can jump on!

Try not to fall off!

Cause you might get a boo-boo... and Mommy is running out of Spider-Man Band-Aids.