Five Weeks In

I cannot, just cannot believe we just finished our fifth week of school!!

AND – it’s September!

We are still having a blast around these parts!

I just love being with my crew and doing school with them!

The littles learned the letter “O” this week.

There were lots of fun things to go along with O!

We read many go along books, one of them about an owl….

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….and then we made an owl! Using a celery stick to paint feathers with!

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We painted some “O’s” with a cap. I thought this would be hard for Eliza, as there was potential for her hands to get paint on them. Which they did. She didn’t even blink an eye! Thank you therapy!!

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We estimated with some O cereal! Gluten-free, of course! They loved this and giggled as they ate them all at the end!

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We spent a morning learning about an octopus.

Did you know female octopus mate when they are about two years old, go into a den and lay about 200,000 eggs, protect them for six weeks without leaving to eat, and then once the babies hatch the female dies?

I didn’t either!

Everything we read about octopus just shows what an amazing Creator we have!

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We also played a quick, little game of ABC recognition. Tate was seeming to not know what the names of the letters are. But this is not my first day being a teacher – if you know what I mean! So I tested them with cards. If they got the letter name right, they got to keep the card. If they got it wrong, I got to keep the card. Then at the end we would all trade in our cards for chocolate chips! Suddenly, mysteriously, Tate knew his letters. Ahem. Good thing he is so stinkin’ cute!

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We started rowing a new book this week too.

It is called Albert.

It is completely adorable. And kept the kiddos mesmerized!

We have so much more to learn from this book – so we will continue to row it next week!

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Well, there was just a peek into our fifth week of school!!

Minus a whole lot of other normal stuff that happens here everyday!

The weather here has been PERFECT. We have spent a lot of time outside too! I know it won’t be long before it is freezing cold!

Up next – unloading grocery! Addie Mae is working part-time now, and so I have a new grocery crew!!! YAY! She and the middles are on their way back to the farm now. I call her my mini me, but she likes to shop and I do not!

After that – date night! And tonight there is a certain young clone of Blake that gets to join Blake and I on our date because he earned it by memorizing and reciting 30 Bible verses!

Way to go Chad!

Hope you all had a great week too!

Happy LONG weekend, everyone!!

A Birthday Bash to Remember

Yesterday was Addie Mae’s eighteenth birthday!

Today was Grant’s nineteenth birthday!

It has been a FUN weekend!

After Addie got home from work yesterday, we celebrated her with a meal of her choice! Which I do not have one photo of! I KNOW! But I was rocking a very sleepy grandbaby during that meal – important stuff!

We enjoyed fish, a baked potato bar, pan roasted Brussels sprouts, and a big salad.

Just imagine all that yumminess in pictures!

Today after church, we celebrated Grant with a meal of his choice!

There has been a lot of eating going on around here!

We enjoyed steak, shrimp, asparagus wrapped in bacon, fruit salad, and Mexican pasta salad. Yum again!

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Next up was apple pie, ice cream and whipped cream.

And some candles and singing!

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There were gifts to open!

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We quickly did dishes and then the REAL fun began!

Some dear friends invited us over for an adventure at sunset.

We were SO excited!

We got to ride tandem on a paramotor!!

YES – even I took a ride!!

And had the time of my life!!

I took my big camera and forgot ALL about it. So I stole everyone’s cell phone photos! SO glad to have these photos! They really do not do justice to how high we would fly though! Or how exhilarating it was when Ethan would stop the engine and we would just glide with the wing! We were on top of the world!!

Grant was up first since it is his birthday!

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Chad was up after David! Chad did great too!!

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Lane was ALL in!! Brave boy!! He had the HUGEST smile ever!

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My turn!! The views from SO high were AMAZING. Took my breath away! The sunset was SO beautiful! I wish I had pictures from up in the sky!!

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Blake took a turn right at dusk, and Addie Mae said she will have a turn next time!

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What a GREAT birthday celebration!

One that will not be forgotten!

Thank you, thank you, sweet dear friends!!

Happy birthday Grant and Addie Mae!!

WE LOVE YOU!!