I see God’s handiwork in so many things all day long.
I love to stop and praise Him for it ALL!
It keeps my thoughts captive to the Lord I love!
But this….
When I see something like this, it feels more like a smile and a kiss directly from God.
And a little push…urging me on…to finish strong.
Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with such beauty!
I love when you show off for our sake!
I LOVE routine.
And schedules!
We finally are living them both!
Once things slowed down, I switched a few things on the schedule, but it has stayed the same for the most part.
It is working nicely.
So is our little school room!
Tate and Eliza have been working on shapes in Math lately.
We also worked on graphs for a bit!
We have been memorizing Proverbs 16:24 “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”
So we studied about honey!
Tate and Eliza are both doing AMAZING learning phonics blends and reading short words.
I think out of all my years of teaching, teaching the kiddos to read is my favorite!
We were using My Father’s World first grade curriculum for Tate and Eliza, but I feel now that we are part way through it that the littles are not ready to complete it quite yet.
So I switched things up and started on lesson 60 something of an ABeka kindergarten curriculum that I had.
We will pick up with the first grade curriculum when the littles are more ready!
The My Father’s World curriculum included all of the subjects though, so now that I am not doing that I have added FIAR (Five In A Row) to our days.
I LOVE FIAR.
LOVE, love.
I am wanting to study winter, snow, hibernation, migration, etc.
Maybe our first book after Thanksgiving break will be this one!
We have been learning about the seasons the last few weeks.
They LOVE to make crafts!
I have been stocking up on books from the library and we read aloud everyday.
I also have a chapter book I am reading aloud to the littles, and another chapter book I am reading aloud to all four.
Such a sweet time of our day – and spread out in three half hour chunks!
I did some read aloud with the littles about Thanksgiving, of course!
Chad is going to be my challenge!
My Mom always said he was going to be book smart – and, oh boy, is he ever!
I am going to have to up my game with this one!
Lane is doing great in his work too.
These kiddos make my job SO easy!
Well, there’s a small peak into our school days!
I have been a teacher for a lot of years now, and I am still loving it SO very much!
It is not lost on me how the Lord answers my daily prayers.
Prayers to fill me with His strength for this calling He has burdened us with to home school.
Prayers to burden me with the best choices for these kiddos and their days.
The JOY of the Lord is my strength!!
Ask and you will receive!!
Guess whose turned and who’s about to turn two??
The cutest grand babies ever!
Clyde Strength and Ellie Joy!
We celebrated them both with a party their Mommy and Daddy threw!
It was SUPER cute.
Taco Twosday!
The taco spread was yummy, yummy!
A birthday party is not complete without a pinata!
Addie Mae made this pinata!
In the shape of a taco, of course.
We enjoyed seeing some of David’s family, and our sweet Hannah!
Clyde and Ellie did so well with all of the attention!
Especially while opening their gifts.
We sang Happy Birthday to them both!
They were SO excited about their cupcakes!
Clyde was flapping his arms up and down the whole time!
I took too many photos at this party – 71 total!
But I am their NaiNai, so I get a free pass on too many photos!
I worked with Tate and Eliza before we went to the party about what a birthday party for someone else looks like.
They both did so great!
Giving our expectation is our key to success with these two!
Once we were back home and the house was quiet, I might have looked back at old photos of Clyde and Ellie and reminisced just a bit.
Time is flying by!
There is SO much I never want to forget!
These grand babies of ours are just JOY, joy, joy!
Happy, happy second birthday Clyde Strength and Ellie Joy!!
We LOVE you both SO very much!
My sister, who lives in Nevada, was staying with my Mom in Illinois for several weeks…
…so she made the 5 hour trip up here to Wisconsin to see us and bring my Mom for a visit!
It was fun to show them both Twin Oaks!
Since my sister was in Illinois for so long, she brought her pup Zeb with her.
The kids LOVED Zeb.
So did I!
I did not like it when he walked out on the ledge above the stairs though!
Thankfully we got him down before he fell!
My sister was saying “get the camera!”
I was the sensible one quickly getting that chair you see in the corner of this photo!
Eliza has always had a special connection with my Mom – and it is SO sweet to watch!
They are a hoot.
We spent some time at River’s place too, of course!
And took something like a million photos, of course!
Can you even handle this photo??!!
I know, I know….I am the most blessed NaiNai in the world!!
Their visit was only for one night, but it was a wonderful blessing and will be remembered!
Memories in the making for sure!!
