First Week of School

Well, we survived our first week of school! Jaden did great, really they all did. They had fun and learned a few things too. We are focusing on creation for the first two weeks, so our activities were centered on that. Jaden reviewed his letters, learned to recognize all of the lowercase letters he didn't already know, reviewed some basic math things, sorting, matching, counting, recognizing numbers etc. He also went through the first 5 days of creation and learned what happened on each day. He memorized Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." As well as the first 5 books of the bible. Hearing Aubrey say "Deuteronomy" is one of the cutest things ever. =) Baylee is going through a bible study for little girls, and a preschool book learning basic things to prepare her for Kindergarten. Aubrey just hangs out and wants to color and cut. He does well with the little kid scissors and has fun making huge messes of confetti and crayon marks all over the house. So far so good!



Jaden working hard =)

Recess!

Getting the Wiggles Out!

I think Jaden won even though he was running like a penguin. He finds ways to make it more interesting. ;)

First Week of School 2

Aubrey loves to be a big boy!

Baylee working hard on her Pre School book

The boys loving "bible time!"

Aubrey loves to color, including but not limited to: the floor, walls, himself...

First Week of School 3

Singing time!

The Schedule Sabotager, fell asleep during video time.

Fun activity I thought of to keep the little ones busy while J did school.

The inevitable result.

Just to Compare...

and of course, to make myself cry...

First Day of Pre-Pre-School at Stockdale Christian

First Day of Pre-School in our Co-op

First Day of School!!!

More on this later, I'm very tired! It was a great day though and the kids did awesome. Jaden is officially a Kindergartener! =D Also, if he keeps growing at the same rate, he will be above the mantle next year. I'm not sure I'm ok with that.

Quote of the Week

A true faith in Jesus Christ will not suffer us to be idle. No, it is an active, lively, restless principle; it fills the heart, so that it cannot be easy till it is doing something for Jesus Christ.

George Whitefield

From my CF card

I have been so lazy with my "from my CF card" and "quote of the week" posts. Not that anyone notices except me. I am going to try to be more diligent with those, mostly because they are fun for me. =) This is Jaden on his second day home. I love this picture.

A few more...

Some cute pics...

I thought I better snap a few cute pics of the kids... with all of their clothes on... matching... even wearing shoes.

Because lets be honest, all too often... this is what it looks like at our house: ;)

I love this picture...

It's really not a very good picture, she isn't looking at the camera and it is a little blurry. But it's of my girl, she looks adorable in that dress, her hair looks awesome, and she is doing her absolute favorite thing... jumping off of Grandma and Grandpa's wall. =)

For Lisa =)

Awhile back I posted about making my own detergent. It has been the perfect solution for Tony's skin issues and I love doing it. I am currently on my third batch. =) I would highly recommend it for people who have sensitive skin, or who like to do things like that. My sweet friend Lisa left a comment asking for the recipe, which of course I didn't notice until a few days ago. Sorry Lisa! Here is the recipe:

2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
1 cup Baking Soda
1 Bar of Soap
Essential Oil (optional)

Grind the bar of soap up in the food processor until it is very fine. I like to use Tom's, but you can use any soap that you like, just keep in mind that you will smell like it! Mix the rest of the ingredients together with the soap and use 1 TBS to 1/4 Cup per load. It is that easy. They say that it is much cheaper than buying detergent, but I have never actually calculated it out. I just know that when I use Tom's soap for sensitive skin, I have a happy family. I have never used the essential oil, but maybe in the future I will experiment with it.

Also, a big Congratulations to Mike and Lisa who are pregnant with baby #2! They are friends who used to come to our church but moved to Sacramento. Their blog is called Baby Steps, it is over on the sidebar. It is hysterical. It is also private so you have to ask them for an invitation if you want to look at it.

Happy Soap Making!

Some Random Things...

We have been a little out of sorts since coming home from our trip. Everyone is trying to get over this cold we have and our schedules are quite off. Aubrey is the worst off, still a little sick and very grumpy. Especially at bedtime, he got used to sleeping with someone at the Lake and wants nothing to do with his crib. Fun times. =) Anyway, here a few silly pictures of what has been going on since we have been back. And forget about catch up blogging, I have no idea what I was going to blog about, my memory is fried!

She may not seem that impressive to you, but this is one smart chicken! She escaped death for the second time and disappeared for an entire day and came back home into our side yard where she would be safe from the killer canine. (Yes, we lost another chicken the morning we got home. =( ) She manages to escape every time she gets out and find a safe place. We didn't think she was coming home this time, but Tony went to take the trash out and came back holding her. He secretly thinks she is very cool.

Matty-Man crashed out on the couch today in the middle of the Tuesday morning chaos. I couldn't believe he could sleep in such conditions, but I guess he was just that tired. He looked so cute that I had to take a picture.

This one's cuteness is wearing off. He has been the biggest grump since our trip and is really coming into the "terrific twos". =) He found a little jar of paint and managed to open in and spill it on the floor. This is why I don't have carpet! I still melt when he comes running in and says, "Uh oh Mommy! I made a mess!" (Yes, he really does say all of those words, it amazes me.)

Lake Almanor

We just got home from a fun trip to Lake Almanor, way way up north! We went with a group of friends and had a great time. We had to cut out a little early because all of us got sick, especially Aubrey and Tony. We still got a lot of fun things in, here are some of the pictures. I'm sure more will be coming but these will get us started! ;)

Jaden got to drive the boat on the way back across the lake after breakfast. He LOVED it!

Baylee wasn't so sure, but she liked her pink vest.

Aubrey and Tony were relaxed as usual, even as Jaden did daredevil turns and tried to flip the boat.

Here, he is looking back to see if he ran over the ducks he was aiming for.

feeding the ducks at the pond in the park

CJ being adorable

Hayden was not so sure about that otter pop!