experiment #1

we are loving our science curriculum so far!

last friday we conducted our first experiment--

we built 2 gliders from cardboard, clay, straws and tape 

they were built exactly the same except for the wings

glider A had skinny, long wings and glider B had short, wide wings

 

can't remember the last time i've used the word hypothesis

anyway, we flew them several times to see which would fly further

 it was really fun

in case you were wondering---

glider A flew further

love this

sam took the kids for ice cream last night.

sofie and kye had some leftover, so they stuck it in the freezer.

this is what i saw when i went to sneak a bite from kye's.

she knows how her dad likes to "finish off" everyone's leftovers!!!

my little helper

 

school has started!

we've had 2 days now

we are slowly getting back into the swing of things

while we are not liking the 7:30 wake up time that principal sam is enforcing

we are happy to welcome back our not-so-strict schedule

my 3rd grader is loving school and is happy with all her curriculum--

she is currently reading cleopatra and loving it 

my 2nd grader isn't so excited with school yet, in fact she told me she's 'bored' with it--i am excited to introduce more hands-on stuff with her that will hopefully not "bore' her

even with adding 3 subjects i am pleasantly surprised that we are still finishing way before lunch which was causing me some stress the last couple weeks

i am still attempting to fit in speech therapy and lia's riding lessons to our schedule

and how is kye doing...

he wasn't happy at first about losing his playmate--me--

but he is slowly slipping back into his school-time routine of quietly playing cars in the room with us or finding something to do in his bedroom.

i am excited to start doing a little preschool with him 

looking forward to a good year!!

"...but my heart wanted me to"

let me back up and start at the beginning.
earlier this week lia noticed one of our neighbors outside working in his yard.
this particular neighbor is one that she regularly visits.
either to take a baked good, help do yard work or just sit and chat with.
this neighbor recently cut down a huge tree in his front yard leaving a big stump.
he has been out daily trying to clean up the mess that was left.
so lia saw him out and went over to help.
it wasn't long after that 2 neighbor girls came out to play.
she hadn't seen these 2 girls very much this summer.  either they were gone or we were.
but, she kept on sweeping up the wood chips left behind from the saw.
the next day i asked her what all she helped with as i left that night to attend a meeting.
this is what she said--
"mom, i really didn't want to help him when i saw my friends come out--but my heart wanted me to!"
the honesty of a precious child.
just when i begin to arrogantly think that sam and i are the only ones responsible for raising up these children we've been blessed with i am subtly reminded that there is someone much much bigger who is in control.
someone who loves my children more than i.
someone who already knows the plans for their future.
someone who is working in their hearts.
and for this i am brought to my knee's in tears, in complete thanksgiving, in awe that there is a love like that!
thank you God for your love!  
and thank you for using my children to show me how simply and easily it can be shown!

happy birthday and goodbye

so a few weeks ago sam and i came up with the fun idea to throw his parents a surprise 60th birthday party!

so i quick called up his sister, anna, to see what she thought

she thought it was great so the planning began

then, anna and her husband accepted a job in kansas

and will be moving in like 2 weeks 

so then came the idea to include a going-away party

with the birthday party 

we were only inviting family along with a few close friends

so it was the perfect opportunity for anna and her family

to see everyone before they left 

from that point on anna thought she was helping plan a birthday party for her parents

when really she was helping plan a party for herself too

i didn't tell my girls about the party til the morning of

it was quite a secret to keep and with anna's family living in

town with sam's parents and us seeing them daily i wasn't sure they could 

keep the secret 

they were super excited and quickly went into decorating mode

sofie was in charge of the happy birthday sign

and lia was in charge of the good luck sign 

the signs along with black streamers for the birthday party 

and red, blue and yellow (kansas colors) streamers and balloons for the going away party were excitedly packed 

was a fun night visiting with aunts, uncles, cousins and friends

that we hadn't seen in a while 

the weather was calling for storms that afternoon, but it turned out to 

be a beautiful night with not a cloud in sight

 we are sure going to miss anna and noah along with their 4 kids--

ava(10), john(8), esther(7), charlie(2) and their unborn baby due in december

 our hearts are sad for lia whose best friend is cousin esther

 thanks to everyone that came to help celebrate

 the rest are photos taken during the party

happy birthday chuck and susan

and

good luck noah, anna, ava, john, esther and charlie!!