Tiny Talk Tuesday

Elizabeth, dancing around the room: I'm a tango dancer, Mom!
I really don't know where she heard tango.

David, in the car while we were stopped nursing Rebekah: Hey, Mom, the car is at rest.
Mom: Yes, it is. And it will stay at rest until we act upon it, right?
David: Right!
Mom: Do you remember who discovered that?
David: Um... Isaac Newton!
Yep, he knew it after reading his new book just once!

David to Mom: When you disobey, God will send a bad storm!
They've been studying Jonah at church this month.
Sunday, he added this: Hey, Mom, which way are we going?
Mom: We're headed east.
David: Um, hey... that's the way to Nineveh!

Women of Faith 2009

Rebekah and I had a wonderful time at Women of Faith this year! Once again, we were blessed to be able to sit in the box on the Platinum Level of the arena. This was perfect for having Rebekah with me, because we had an assortment of comfortable seating and floor space to lay out a pallet. I took 2 baby slings and the Bjorn and wore her about the conference, getting lots of smiles and "awwww"s and lots of older women saying, "I wish we had something like that when my babies were little!"

When asked what my favorite part of the weekend was, it was so hard to pick just one thing....

The concert by Steven Curtis Chapman rates HIGH on my list. He's my all time favorite artist ever and just keeps getting better. If I'm ever able to see him again, I'm there!

Marilyn Meberg told some hilarious jokes. The personal testimonies we heard were very encouraging. The music was amazing - the praise & worship, Mandisa, and of course, SCC. Getting away from most of the kids was refreshing, too. And then when I came home...

I came home to clean children, a clean kitchen, clean towels, a cleaned out garden, and

a new faucet so I don't have to drag a water hose across the front yard to water the garden & animals, AND

three new raised beds in the garden!!! So I can grow more stuff next year! My darling hubby was quite busy while I was gone, wasn't he?!?! He also added some bracing on this year's beds so that hopefully they'll last another year. All the beds are built with left over materials from the house construction and the 2 I built were just not that sturdy. He started filling them with dirt, too, but lost a tire on the little trailer & wasn't able to finish hauling it.

So, wow, I had a great weekend away and came home to a wonderful gift from my husband. Thank you and I love you, too!

School's On!

I watch my friends being sad today as they drop kids off at new schools for the first time. I know for a fact that if I was dropping off today, I'd be in tears right now, too. I teared up yesterday when I took David down a new hall to his new Kindergarten Sunday School class.

But today I'm not crying. We started homeschooling Kindergarten last week. I know it's not for everyone and that some would like to but simply can't. I am so thankful that I have this chance to be with my children, to shape their minds, to see them grasp new ideas, to help them succeed.

I posted our first day of school pics last week, but here's a brief summary of what we accomplished in our first week:

• We got to chapter 5 in The Boxcar Children
• We discovered that David may be left handed
• David learned why it's day on one side of the Earth and night on the other... in the bathroom, with the lights off, using a globe and a flashlight
  
• I learned that David is very good at sounding out new words
• David & Elizabeth memorized Romans 3:23
• We joined a homeschool co-op
• Dad taught one day
• And more!

And don't you just love EB's new play dress that Grana gave her?

Company Girl Coffee on the Road

I'll have a decaf white chocolate mocha to go this morning, 'cuz I'm on my way to

Yeah!!! I go every year with my mom & sister-in-law and this year Rebekah will take her turn to attend Women of Faith. Elizabeth went with me in 2007 and David went in 2004 before I became a blogger.

I am so excited that Steven Curtis Chapman will be there this year! I have ALWAYS wanted to see him in concert, but this will be my first chance. Stay tuned for pictures when I get home!

Garden Note - I started pulling up the tired plants this week. It was just time.

First Day of Kindergarten

We actually planned on starting Kindergarten on September 1. After the summer of traveling and house guests, we decided that it might be better to go ahead & start setting up a routine. So... we started Kindergarten today!
I like to have pictures of the first day. You can see our first day of Pre-K here. This is our school area:

Of course, we have to have a picture of David with his teacher. : )

And I like to get a picture with the other kids in it, too. These turned out pretty good, I think.

After just one day, I am even more excited about this year! I know we're going to have fun and I'm excited to see what all we're going to learn! Today we started reading The Boxcar Children and David didn't want to stop after chapter 1.

Part of today's work was assembling David's notebook. He was quite proud of it when it was all together.

His Language Arts Readers are on paper that he cut apart & assembled the book.

Then, much to my amazement, he just started reading through the book! My job may be easier than I thought this year...

We also did a gross motor assessment, which David & Elizabeth both enjoyed! Rebekah even got a kick out of it! Here's David hopping on one foot.

After day 1, I can see that his weakest skill is handwriting. He never has liked writing or even coloring. Looking back on the day, I had a revelation... look back up at the photos. He's pointing with his left hand. He's jumping on his left foot. Perhaps he is left handed?

They Just Keep On Growing...

This post is not about my garden, but I just had to include this photo to go with the title:

The effects of gravity on a butternut squash.

Now, this post is about the kids. My niece got married last Thursday.

Rebekah turned 4 months old and started eating cereal.

Elizabeth has moved up to a "big girl bed," out of her baby bed and Rebekah will soon try out the baby bed.

David celebrated Box Day as his final Kindergarten supplies arrived. He can't wait to dig in!

His Lego masterpieces continue to grow.

Elizabeth used her potty chair this week for the first time and Rebekah prefers to spend more time upright now-a-days.

Times are changing. It's flying by. I'm trying to grab on & enjoy the ride.

Box Day!!!

David was resting when the box arrived on Wednesday. I was either in the laundry room or the bathroom, I'm not sure. You can bet, if I'd seen the big white truck pulling in the driveway, I'd have taken a picture of it!

I went to David's door and announced that his box had arrived!

He was eager to open the box, but I made him wait while I took a picture & then we had to wait for my camera to recharge!

Yeah! Digging through the goodies!

Yes, it does look like a small box for a year of curriculum. But I've been collecting the books for almost a year now. I am thankful that Sonlight allows me to do this! I was able to save a lot of money by getting as many of the books as I could find at used book stores, Goodwill, library sales and eBay. Our box from Sonlight included the Instructor's Guides, workbooks, and the items I hadn't been able to find used.

David's favorite box book was Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion. It's written in comic book format and instantly captured his attention.

Now we're both eager to get started! We also got a globe this week & have already had a few geography lessons looking up where all our family lives. We're going to the library next week to get a few more books, then will start school the next week. Thursday School with our local co-op group will start the first week of September.

Rebekah is 4-months Old!

Boy, how time flies! She's actually a few days older than 4-months now, but today was her 4-month well baby check-up. She weighed 13 pounds, 11.4 oz, which puts her squarely in the 50th percentile. She measured a whooping 26 inches long, which ranked her in the 90th percentile and two inches longer than her last check-up.

She's been rolling back to front for a few weeks and yesterday was the first time I've seen her go tummy to back. She also tried rice cereal for the first time today. She took it surprisingly well.

But I'm not too sure she liked the taste! : )

What a week this has been!

Our wild week began last Friday. I document it here so I will not forget. Dad ran the "airport shuttle" as guests started arriving. First Mark, whom we had never met in person, then Aunt Sissy, Lauren & Jordann, and Maid of Honor Sarah. I made pizza for supper and the good times began!

On Saturday, Grandma & Grandpa & Will were trying to get home from their mission trip to New Mexico. Meanwhile, we went to Glen Rose to the Dinosaur Valley State Park. We saw some dino tracks, a few people went for a swim & we had a picnic.

By Saturday night, more were coming back together and we had Mexican food at our house for supper - Grandma & Grandpa, Aunt Sissy, Uncle Bubba & Aunt Wee, Me & Dad, Mark & Lauren, Andy & Ashton, Will, Jordann, Jesse, David, Elizabeth & Rebekah and Sarah.

Sunday some ladies from Grandma's church hosted a gift card shower for Lauren. It was lovely.

We had grilled hot dogs at Uncle Bubba & Aunt Wee's house. Good times.

On Monday, Mark & Lauren got their marriage license & we had a massive trip to Wal-Mart. I was getting food for the week and Sissy was getting the food for the bridesmaids' brunch, lunches at the church while decorating, and wedding reception. Some of the bunch went to Chick-fil-a for a missions fundraiser. The rest ate a meal cooked by Aunt Sissy at our house.

Tuesday we started cooking reception food - meatballs, German chocolate icing, cupcakes were delayed because we didn't have the cupcake liners yet. Uncle Glenn (father of the bride) arrived by car about mid-afternoon with all the wedding decorations, dresses, cupcake liners! and some furniture for us! Another bridesmaid flew in from Canada. (that was Tuesday, right?) Aunt Wee cooked lasagna & we ate at our house. I finished the flowers that night while Sissy & Glenn went to meet Mark's parents who flew in from Canada.

Wednesday morning, Lauren & Sarah prepared a lovely brunch for the bridesmaids, mothers & grandmas (and me & Elizabeth). The rest of the bridesmaids arrived from California. David ate his PB sandwich in the office & played lego.com games while the ladies ate, visited, and Lauren passed out gifts. Here's the girl cousins:

Wednesday afternoon, the ladies beautifully decorated the sanctuary with green tulle and black & white photos of Lauren & Mark.

Elizabeth practiced walking down the aisle with the two bigger flower girls. She loved all the attention!

The rehearsal dinner for now 35 people from Texas, California and Canada was at our house. I was a little busy & didn't get any pictures. We had amazing BBQ, cooked by a firefighting co-worker of Dad's. Wow. Finished off with Blue Bell Groom's Cake. It was a wonderful night. The guys headed to Uncle Bubba's house for a Halo Killin' Party and the girls stayed here for a Toenail Painting Party.

Thursday morning, was spent getting the fellowship hall ready for the reception. Again, it was beautiful. Lauren had so many unique ideas and it played together beautifully - bamboo & floating candles on each table, a cupcake tier, a candy bar, a well-wishes tree instead of a guest book.

Thursday afternoon Mark was ready to get the show on the road.

Others waited in the sanctuary.

(photo by Uncle Bubba)

Bridesmaids chowed down in the choir room.

Elizabeth made it down the aisle... crying with Aunt Wee helping her. She settled into the pew with her plug, blanket & coloring book and was fine for the rest of the ceremony.

David made his walk down the aisle as ring bearer... but didn't stop. He walked across the front of the church and back up the other aisle! Aunt Wee caught him at the back & then he fell asleep on the back pew!

The wedding was beautiful, moving and humorous. It was perfect.

(photo by Uncle Bubba)

(photo by Grandpa)

(photo by Uncle Bubba)

We are so blessed to have been a part of this week. So thankful that they chose to have the wedding here where we could be this involved. So loved everyone and were equally loved in return. We made new friends and watched as two families (and two countries) merged to form another. It was amazing.