LEGO...The Building Blocks of Fun!

Go Fish

My brother-in-law's parents live on a pond. They drained the pond so they could make some repairs.  All the grassy area will be underwater when they fill it back up.

 

Will & Collin. Fishin' Wishin'.

Buoys will be Buoys.  

They had a great time walking through the mud.

Collin & Will. 

I love their reflection in the water.

 A 'reel' fisher(wo)man .

Hook, Line & sinker. Faith's 1st catch.

Faith was so excited to finally catch her 1st fish.

All Skate & Nature's Playground

Our homeschool co-op met at the skating rink for our end of the summer celebration.  (Yes, I know that summer goes until Sept., but our co-op starts in just 1 1/2 weeks.)

Will doing a great job skating.

My kids were to only ones that had been skating.  The other kids did a super job learning to skate.

Audrey & Addy 

Jacob & Faith both did a great job skating.

Cayman & a new friend, Gray, that will be joining our co-op.

Cheyenne skating like a pro.

Collin did a great job skating.  This is the only picture I could get of him, because we were skating together most of the time.

Whit did a great job.  I haven't mastered taking pictures of moving objects with my new camera yet.

After going skating, we went to the park.  The kids found the woods & had more fun building a fort then playing on the playground.  (Some of our gang had to leave before we took this pic.)  This was the 102 degree day & we couldn't stay long.

2 of our precious babies in our co-op. They are growing up so fast.

For the Love of Books

 I love, love books.  Oh to have a shopping spree in a children's book store. 

The boys playing with friends at Barnes and Noble.

:Whit & a new friend with the boys:

Every time I walk into a children's books store (or the children's department in a book store) I feel like Kathleen Kelly in You've Got Mail. ~ "When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does." 

It's about time for me to start watching it.  For some reason, I watch You've Got Mail from Aug. to Nov. all the time.  It's my (a great) Fall movie.

(All pictures on this post are courtesy of Faith)

The Heat is On

Man, it's hot in the south.  Usually, when we met friends at the park, we stay for hours.  Today, we could only handle 1 hr. 15 min & that was pushing.  It's 102 today with a heat index of 116. 

When we came home today & opened the door to go inside, the cool air hit us ~ oh, what a feeling.

Drive In Theater

Last night, the kids, Tony & I went to the drive in movie theater.  We had the best time.  It is cheaper then going to the regular movie theater & a lot more fun.  We go about once a year (because that's about the only time a good decent movie plays).  The funny thing is, we've gone 3 times, all during the dead of summer & it is always chilly.  A cold front has come through each time.  It was perfect weather.

 

The kid's eagerly waiting for the movie to start.

My kids love sitting on top of the van.

They have their goodies hanging in the bags on the side of the van.

Previews of Toy Story.

One thing that I love about the Drive In, is that they play the old commercials from the 50"s. 

So fun to watch.

K5

Faith is loving Kindergarten.

Nothing like school in your PJs.

Love 2 Teach

I love teaching my children.  Growing up, I wanted to be a teacher.  For several different reasons, I did not go down that path through college.  What a blessing that God still used that desire to teach my own children.  What a feeling when you've been teaching your child something that they have been struggling with & then the light bulb goes off.  I love it when all three of  my children are sitting around me as I am reading, I see their faces as they are hanging on to every word of the story or lesson.  Or when I ask them a thought provoking question ~ expecting one answer & get another one that I never thought of & is just as correct.

My kids are figuring out for themselves that evolution can not be true.  As things are pointed out in our Science lesson they begin to ask, "How can people believe that the world just happened?"

I love learning along with them. I learned 2 amazing things. First, we studied about the ocean.  The ocean gets saltier & saltier because the rivers and volcanoes dump salt into the ocean constantly.  It is very hard for salt to leave the ocean.  Because of this, the salt in the ocean keeps rising.  This tells us that the earth is not billions of years old, as some would have you believe.  If the earth were really billions of years old, the amount of salt in the oceans would have been building up for billions of years, making them much, much saltier than they really are.  In fact, the amount of salt in the oceans indicates that the earth's oceans (and the earth itself) are very young. (From page 12 of Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day)

The next thing that I learned is that there were dinosaurs on Earth when man roamed it.  Nothing had died before the first sin from Adam & Eve.

Swimming with Friends

We had a great morning spending time with friends on the lake.

Kenna, Mabry, McKayla & Audrey, along with some new friends.

Faith & Micah playing in the sand.

Cakes for Twins

I had the privilege of making cakes for some special 10 year olds.  At first, I was going to make one big cake, but then I started wondering, how many cakes they had to share as twins.  So I decided to make each one their own cake.  It has been a long time since I made a decorated cake for someone outside the family.  But it was a lot of fun.  Seeing their excitement was such a blessing.

Laura Story Blessings (lyrics)

Happy Fourth of July

We had fun swimming on The Fourth

 Tony is flipping Faith in the water.

Tony Flipping Will.

 

Later on the 4th, we watched an amazing display of fireworks that our friend set up.

Pictures do not do it justice.

Faith with some very sweet friends, Carson & Logan.

Don't you just love memories. Especially memories that are conjured up by food.

My Nanny made the best cakes.  My favorite was her chocolate cake.  On the 4th of July, all of my family would come to our home on the lake & celebrate.  I didn't want my cake after we ate, I wanted it after I swam.  The best thing in the world that day was knowing that Nanny hid a piece of cake away for me.  A big glass of cold milk & Nanny's chocolate Cake.

I've been missing her a lot these last few days.  So for the 4th of July, I decided to make her cake & wait until after we swim in the pool.  Knowing that "her" cake will be waiting for me makes it seem like she's right here with me.

I wish you could taste it.

Elijah Rocks

The boys went to a music camp every day last week.  At the end of the week, they performed a play.  This year, it was a world premiere.

Collin, (3rd from left) playing tone chimes.

:The cast of Elijah Rocks:

Collin's duet. So proud of him.

Will (in purple) the Widow's son.

:Will's solo ~ I am a proud Mama:

The stars of the show (for me anyway.)

Dive - Steven Curtis Chapman