Happy Easter & Outdoor Growing

HAPPY EASTER....He is Risen!

Most Sunday's you will not find us at church, but at our home, taking care of each other, taking care of our animals, spending quality time as a family and reading God's word out loud with each other. We praise God, learn about God, sing to God and are thankful for all of our many blessings even if we do not always do it in a 'church' building with others on Sunday's. We strive to live our lives every day as God wants us to.  So, on this Easter Sunday, we praise him, saying our prayers, thinking of our family and 'dad', 'husband' who are away from us this day as well as Grandpa who joined our Lord this week. We are blessed, we are thankful.

 

 Outdoors, Growing Fun, Simple Easter Goodies....

 Yummy Strawberries soaking up the sun...

 Camouflage children

 Potato roots...

 My grandmothers crochet's chickens..hiding Easter eggs...

 Simple baskets from my childhood holding a few special goodies...

 Simple burlap bunnies

 Happy Easter, many blessing to  your family from ours this special day.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Linking to Soule Mama

Family

Listening to a little music, missing family out of state, family gone to heaven but always remembering they are here in spirit, always seeping into your daily life, in each decision  you make, as you remember the influence they have had on you, the role models they've been to you, the love between you, the support shared the advice given.

Family is a bond, a love that never ends.

A Wonderful Man has gone to Heaven

My husband's father after a battle with lung cancer has gone to heaven to be with his wife who lost her battle with cancer several years ago as well.  Its hard not to question why at times even though we know God has a plan. Its hard not to wonder about this thing called cancer that seems to seep into every family somehow, somewhere with someone. I know on my side of the family it has taken both of my grandmothers. To our children we voice Grandpa would not want them to be sad, only happy that he is finally with their Grandma, and at peace, no longer suffering, no more pain. He is happy now. Comforting words that don't make the sadness go away completely but hopefully lessen it.

He was a wonderful man, father, grandfather. From the daughter in law perspective looking in....he was incredibly kind and loved his family and his church and friends so much. So many lessons he left with my husband to pass on to our son. He was a great role model and I am blessed that my son will get the same great lessons and grow up to be as wonderful of a man as his daddy and his grandpa. As we lived with them in the same home for many years, our children were never in the way or burdens- he always included them, seeked them out to do things with him, to help him, be with him. I loved that about him. My children love him dearly. He will be greatly missed, such a great man.

And when my son went to bed last night he asked...'What do you think Grandma and Grandpa are doing in Heaven right now?' and I answered, 'Hugging and smiling in happiness' and my son smiled and said 'I like that'. 

I do too.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

Linking to SouleMama

Seaworld Day 2...Schooling

Day 1 of Seaworld the kids deemed as the 'fun' day and Day 2 they decided would be the 'school' day. I told them I thought we were on vacation and my very smart son informed me 'Mom, we can never be on vacation from homeschool...we LEARN all the time!' So very true, a love of learning they do have. So, Day 2 we set out with sketchbooks in hand and picked just a few animals to visit...the Sting Rays, the Fresh Water Aquarium and the Penguins.

Another wonderful day, spent together, learning, having fun, enjoying eachother.

Seaworld: Sea Turtles, Sting Ray, Whale, Starfish

Exploring, discovering, watching, loving......

Fun and Learning

Happy Birthday my 8 year old!

Really his birthday is the 23rd, but his due date being the 17th and my daddy's birthday being the 17th, we spent a quiet day with grandparents, a few presents to enjoy each other. 

Family is the most important thing in the world. I cherish I have such a strong wonderful close relationship with my parents and appreciate them that they were such good mentors, mom and dad to look up to that I may be just as great of a mother to my own children.

Jordan is 8! Nearly...every year seems to go by faster than the last and I want to grab hold and pause or at least slow it down slightly. With each year I enjoy the new moments and cherish so greatly the past times. Jordan is extraordinary. A love of math and science he continually tells me he wants to be a Robotic Engineer or some kind of Engineer or wants to blow things up when he grows up. Either way, it goes right along with his love of figuring things out, putting things together and just the way his mind works. He's a fun boy, loves wearing his boots, playing in dirt, getting dirty, making tree forts in the yard and loves his chickens with a passion! He looks up to his sister like no other and is slightly growing out of his momma's boy stage..enjoying fixing things and being with his daddy more and more. I'm so very proud to be his momma and teach him, learn with him, guide him, be with him.

Enjoy each year, each month, each day and each moment with your child...they grow so very fast.

Spring...Ducks hatching Eggs, Duck Prayers

As I read through several of my favorite blogs and see everywhere that Spring is sprouting all around us it brings joy as we see our sleepy tree's awakening from winter with little green buds on their branches, flowers coming up in the yard, more sun and warmth throughout the days and more wild life and babies scurrying about.

Yesterday afternoon our son came in to exclaim the ducks have eggs!! Everyone in the house ran out in a hurry shooting off questions, really?, how many?, where?. Quietly sneaking near their enclosure we saw her slowly move off the eggs for a brief moment as we caught a glimpse of 3 small eggs in a several inch deep nest in the straw bedding they have. She went and got a drink and went right back to her nest, settling in, nearly disappearing in the hole herself. Her mate, staying in the opposite corner of the enclosure if on guard. We got close and he just stayed in his spot and watched us. How exciting, the possibility of babies.

Now we wait like patient new parents, all of us, await to see if babies will really appear. The children so thrilled, marked the 'due' date on their calendars. And we had a little sit down that we will hope and pray that she will hatch babies, healthy babies but that we have to also understand that nothing may come of the eggs and they may not hatch. Both children understood but are still filled with hope and excitement. After the first glimpse of the eggs they went outside to take a quiet peek nearly 20 times before bedtime!

Bedtime prayers included one to help keep momma duck strong, calm while she does hard work sitting on her eggs, and prayers for the possibility of life inside those little eggs. Cherishing my children who are so thrilled and sending animals prayers up to the heavens.

Shark Week

As the weekend comes to a close and the new week begins tomorrow we grow more and more excited for our trip out of town to see family on Friday. Excited to celebrate 'Grandpa's' birthday, excited to see family and friends, excited to celebrate my son turning 8! And my daughter and I excited about the surprise my son doesn't know about...a trip to Seaworld! Finishing our penguin study both of the kids wanted  to dive into a new sea animal..and choose Sharks. I love when their interests over lap and they are on the same page even for a moment, to study together, get excited together, learn and share together, it is truly so fun.

4 days this week until our trip, so we'll be able to barely get into sharks before then but it still will give us several days to pursue the interest then come back home and hopefully the wonderful trip will spark more learning excitement and give us even more direction on what we'd like to learn next.

Shark Week

Since the children loved the Seaworld packet we previously printed out and used, we've decided to check out the one they have for 4th-8th grade on Sharks as well here:

Seaworld Teacher's Guide on Sharks 4-8th Grade

They really loved the Penguin packet, with information, species cards, science and math experiments then we filled in with tons of books and a few video's too.
To supplement our Seaworld packet we'll use these books:

Here are the books our son, 7yrs will be using this week:

 And the Shark book our daughter, 12yrs will read (pictured along with her American History book), Our daughter enjoys History so we try :

We will also be learning about the USS Indianapolis, 1945 shark attack:

Reading together the article here: Sinking of the USS Indianapolis, 1945

Watching an interview with a survivor here: Interview With Survivor of Shark Attack of 1945

As well as watching on Netflix, Shark Week has an episode now, "Ocean of Fear: Worst Shark Attack Ever": After the USS Indianapolis sand in the Pacific Ocean during World War II battle, the ship's crew faced horrifying shark attacks.

Which may work well moving us into WWII study....

Its wonderful how homeschooling can direct you where ever your interests lead, the kids soak the knowledge up, have fun, and dive deep into education because they want to and are not 'made' to or 'told' to.

Mapping, Skate Park, Guinea Pig Play

As the weather took a turn from sunny and warm, wearing tank tops and shorts to cool, windy and eventually rainy, we got in some mapping, skate park time and outdoor guinea pig play time just before the down pour came! Then it was snuggle on the couch time, warm under blankets with a movie- Indiana Jones- so fun, the kids both enjoy the series!

Maps, Mapping, Geography

We began learning about maps with our Penguin study and marking where they lived on our big wall map, talking about hemisphere's and the North and South poles. We actually looked at maps earlier on when we marked where we lived vs. where Egypt is when we studied Egypt, Mummies and the Pyramids. Our son especially loves maps. A few books we checked out at the library we read out loud together then we set off to make our own map- this one is of the neighborhood. He came up with his own 'key' of symbols and we started from our home and walked our neighborhood as he drew. Next he plans to make a treasure map and hide things in the yard then give someone a map and see if they can find his hidden treasure! Great plan! Our daughter even 'taught' him about maps, showing him an easy way to remember North, South, East West and talking about oceans and continents.

 His Neighborhood map:

While he and I walked the neighborhood Terynity worked on her computer math for a bit then is working on a self-portrait she is planning on mailing to American Girl Magazine to hopefully get a chance at being featured! She is so creative and artistic, its coming along nicely.

Skate Park Scootering

She then had Ballet class this week and decided to stay longer for a Strength and Conditioning class as well. It worked her muscles so hard after she had been sick for over a week that she stayed only half the time and we left early. But during part of the class, my son and I got away for a few minutes to the skate park....

Guinea Pig Play and Outdoors

With the nice weather a few days, we cleaned animal cages and let everyone -rabbits and guinea pigs have some fresh air outdoors, running about and playing...the kids enjoyed the time with their animals too. With sunny skies and warm air who wouldn't want to soak it up? I moved a chair out and we all just hung out for an hour before starting our studies that day...it was so relaxing to ease into our day with some play time first.

Enjoy the sunshine, fresh air, warmth when you can and cuddle up in doors when the weather turns bad.