Holiday Season

We are wrapping up school this week before we take our Christmas break.

These past few months have been nothing short of BUSY!

In November, we got all dressed up for a special night out at the Marine Corps Ball. It's always a special night. They had rooms set up for the kids, playing games, eating snacks. Elizabeth and Abigail even had a bounce house in their room!!

We also got some much needed family portraits done!

This month is only half started and we have been running non-stop! We took a trip to "Bethlehem" with some old friends.

Had our first snow!!!

Christmas festivities galore!!!

And most recently, celebrated Ryan's 11th birthday with lots of fun and excitement!!

This may be how I feel most of the time.......

....but I wouldnt change a thing! Merry Christmas everyone!

Our First 9 Weeks of School

Our first 9 weeks of school this year have FLOWN by! What a busy couple of months it has been.

We started a new curriculum this year: Tapestry of Grace Year 1. The jury is still out on whether it works for us or not. Personally, I like it. I'm just not too sure how much the boys are retaining from it, maybe I need to simplify it a bit. Or maybe we're just all a little burnt out and ready to take our fall break next week. :)

For history, we have studied the Ancient Egyptians and the Exodus, including the Tabernacle and the High Holy Days.  We had a big project, where we made a model tabernacle. This was a great *free* hands-on project I found online.

Last month was Sean's birthday, so we went out to the Renaissance Festival to celebrate. It was perfect fall weather for it!!

Elizabeth got her first pony ride!! She loved it!! A real cowgirl!

 Then we came home and had a triple chocolate cake that that girls and I made for Sean.

Oh yes, and Elizabeth started school this year too! She loves school!! She is working on learning her letter sounds, writing and cutting.  We do her school up in her room, which keeps Abby happy playing with all the toys. Sometimes Abby will stop playing for a moment to come over and sing songs with us.

 

 As I mentioned above, we are taking our fall break soon. All of us are looking forward to some down-time. We were supposed to spend our fall break taking a few days going to a few local National parks including Washington DC. Unfortunately for us the government has decided to shut down all of that so, unless things change, our plans are still up in the air. I'm sure we'll find something to do. :)

Summer, almost over?!

Wow! Where did the summer go?! It has been a very busy, yet very good summer for us! Last time I posted, our school year was coming to an end, now our school year is getting ready to begin again. In between this time, we have visited with old friends; my sister has moved close(er); and we have had one activity after another.

Best news first, both of our boys made a decision to get baptized! We are so proud of them!!

On July 4th, we enjoyed time spent with my sister and her husband. We had a BBQ and enjoyed some impromtu fireworks. Surprisingly, our neighbors put on a pretty good show, too. :)

At the end of July, we were very busy with Missions Conference and Vacation Bible School at church. It was a great time of Christian fellowship, and making new friends.

In August, we took a trip down to Virginia to visit with my sister and her husband. There was an agricultural fair with rides and plenty of animals to see and pet!

A busy summer, now is starting to come to a close. We hope to begin school this week is Mom can get the lead out and stop stalling. HAHA!