Jacob's 4th Birthday

It's hard to believe my littlest baby is already 4 years old! Jacob is the comedian of the family, always smiling, always making us laugh. He is silly most of the time and rarely gets upset, except maybe when he gets hurt. He is super smart-- he knows all his letters and can count up to 20. He constantly rhymes words-- even if they are nonsensical. He is stubborn when it comes to potty training, and I'm honestly not sure what his hesitation is in that area-- he is almost afraid of using the potty. He enjoys going to preschool and looks forward to seeing his friends at church.

He gets excited about anything his brother and sisters are excited about. He still loves lining his toys up and "organ-zizing"  things (in his words). He loves Paw Patrol, even though he really hasn't seen many episodes, and cars and marbles. He is still a little picky when it comes to food, and will only drink apple juice, but is venturing out more and more. He is my constant shadow around the house-- he loves to follow me around and narrate everything he's doing. He loves to watch videos on the IPad but really doesn't get into TV. He loves coloring his school pages. I really can't imagine our family without him in it!

We had a small party with just our family for Jacob's birthday. I put a lot of work into this Paw Patrol Lookout tower cake and it's one of my favorites yet! The tower part is inedible-- just paper around a soda bottle. 

He had been asking for Rocky and Zuma for weeks, in order to complete his collection of Paw Patrol characters. Every time he played with them he would say, "I'm going to get Rocky and Zuma for my birthday." So he was sure he knew exactly what was inside his gifts before he even opened them! He was a birthday pro-- he knew just what to do.

Fall Fun

September has brought cooler weather, but not too cool to still enjoy being outside. It's been a really busy month!!

First we had our annual Fall Festival at church. The bounce house is always a hit, plus cotton candy, games, and fun.

Abi had her first sleepover the night before the Fall Festival, with Bailey, a girl she went to preschool with. She lives literally next door, so we figured it would be a great first sleepover, since it would be easy to come home. She did great and loved it! She even brought Bailey to Fall Festival.

Jacob didn't really like the cotton candy, but he still really wanted to have some, and he didn't understand why it kept disappearing. He carried it like this until it all disintegrated away, and then had a tantrum because "someone ate his cotton candy."

We took a little hike as a family on a path behind our house just to see where it would lead us. We walked through a huge open field to two trees we always see from our living room window. It was a fun adventure.

We went to a friend's birthday party at a corn maze. We didn't make it all the way through the maze, but we had fun trying, and we also enjoyed the corn box and the hay ride.

More fall fun to come!

Wrapping up the Summer

When you only get about 4 good months of really warm weather, you try to soak up every last minute of them! And that is what we did this summer. Here are some more fun memories we made:

We don't get Chick-Fil-a very often here in Vermont, so when a food truck comes to a local church and sets up shop, we make the trip! There were at least 100 people in line, and we got there early enough to be at the front! We still waited forever for them to show up, but it was worth it for "God's chicken."

We got a free membership to a local museum in Burlington on Lake Champlain and went as much as we could.

Our first experience with a broken bone! At our church's end-of-summer Labor Day picnic at the lake, Leah was helping Jacob on the playground and got her arm stuck in one of the bars of a jungle gym. She heard it snap and when she came to us, we could see that it was visibly bent. Brett took her to the urgent care where they just wrapped it and put it into a sling. The following Monday we headed to the orthopedics, where they told us she'd have to be put to sleep in order to correctly set the bone, since it was bent like a twig. Leah was pretty anxious about her first "surgery" (although no cutting was involved) but took it like a champ and came out with a nice pretty blue cast. 

Jacob had his first dentist appointment. He was such a big boy in the chair I just had to take a picture. He opened his mouth and followed all the instructions like a champ. He didn't like the sound of the tooth polisher, so she didn't get to do that part, but he had no problem with the dentist looking at his teeth.

Abi had such a great time in the local rec dept. gymnastics class last semester that I found a larger gym in another town to enroll her year-round. It's a 45-minute drive and much more expensive, but she really seems to have a talent for the sport and I really want to give her the opportunity to grow and learn as much as she can. There is much more equipment at this gym and she has more of a chance to advance. We probably will still only do every other 10-week session.

Brett & I attended our annual Pastor's Retreat, this time in Manchester, Vermont, only about an hour away from home. It was a really nice hotel and always a fun getaway with great food and fun meeting new people!

1st Day of School 2019-20

I am so excited to be starting our 8th year of homeschooling! Wow, we have come a long way since the days of a preschooler and a toddler. This year we tackle middle school! What an exciting adventure we have to look forward to. The kids always talk about how they wouldn't like to go to public school and they're glad they get to have free time at home and learn what they want to learn.

This year we'll be studying Ancient History as a family, and I found a wonderful curriculum that incorporates the Bible into history, so we can see how the Old Testament world weaves into the world of Ancient Egyptians and Greeks and how God was at work throughout all time. We will also incorporate good quality classic literature from the time period, and even try some book discussions and reading comprehension this year. I even hope to incorporate science into our history studies, learning about scientific discoveries in the order they were discovered in history. I am excited to learn right alongside these kids this year!

Leah has been doing Latin for two years and now Andrew will start his Latin studies. It has been so helpful for learning English grammar and a great jumping-off place for other languages. Andrew will also work on his writing skills this year.

Abigail will be concentrating mostly on learning to read this year, as she's still not able to do much on her own. I hope to work with her a little every day, reading simple decodable books so she can become more fluent. She is already great at math, and enjoys writing, so we will add in a little basic grammar and probably some reading comprehension, but primarily focus on learning to read!

And this little guy started two-day-a week public school preschool today, at the same school Abi went to as a preschooler (although the teachers are different). He went in boldly and confidently, with no tears, and though he didn't tell me much about his day, he seemed to like it. He loves to do coloring and sorting and things at home and plays really well independently while we are doing schoolwork, so I'll be slowly introducing some preschool concepts to him when he's home. He is super smart and an eager learner.

Leah's 11th Birthday

This girl is turning into a young lady right before our very eyes. She is already as tall as me. She's into make-up and dressing nicely and doing her nails. She feels passionately about anything she does and has big emotions. She has best friends and feels truly sad when they don't include her. She is sensitive to others and always looking out for them. She will give in in an argument with her siblings if it means keeping the peace. She loves dancing and her favorite TV shows involve dancers-- no more cartoons or kid shows for her. She's a romantic but not really interested in having anything to do with a boy quite yet.

The big thing she asked for for her birthday was a Caboodle box to hold her makeup and nail polish. It was a simple request, and I even included some of her own makeup, although I'm sure she doesn't really need it at this point. She had her friend Jocelyn over for a sleepover and a trip to get ice cream at Goodies. They stayed up giggling most of the night, making up "quizzes", playing Barbies and dancing.

She didn't have any big requests for her cake this year, and didn't even really know what she wanted. She suggested maybe a Mermaid tail, so that's what I did. Turquoise is her current favorite color, so turquoise with sprinkles and a Mermaid tail.