View From The Sidewalk

by Steph // Monday, July 25, 2016 // Comments off

After some intense heat and humidity last week and then a full day of pouring rain on Saturday, yesterday was such a beautiful day!

It was hot – but blue, sunny, and slightly breezy!

After I put the littles to bed last night, I saw our stray mama kitty with her four little kittens right outside our barn.

She has been hiding them SO well. We have only had glimpses of them the last two weeks as she takes them into the barn to let them eat the cat food we have out for our cats. The kittens are probably eight weeks old.

I ran back to the office and grabbed the big camera. As soon as I stepped on the porch to take some photos, the four kittens jumped into the raspberry patch in about two seconds flat! Mama kitty just stayed where she was!

I stood on the sidewalk and took some photos anyway, turning to my left, to the front, and then to my right.

Can you believe our Sadie girl?! She is a SUPER SWEET pup, and we are all over the top in love with her! I picture her growing up just a bit more, where she will be laying at my feet all day long – it is my favorite thing about having a dog!

Today is another beautiful, hot, blue day! The swimming pool is calling our name! First – it’s time for lunch!

Happy Monday, everyone!!

Summer School

by Steph // Sunday, July 24, 2016 // Comments off

Our mornings are filled with some school like activities right now, and it is just enough of a schedule to keep the kiddos productive and happy! Here the middles are making catapults.

This past week was “L” week for the littles. We had a lot of fun with the letter L! Making upper and lower case L’s with cubes, making lady bugs, and making a tree with leaves were just three of our activities.

Several times during the day I give Eliza sensory activities. She really liked finding her puzzle pieces in a bin of rice.

We work a lot of puzzles these days! And read a lot of books!

I have some new bins that Tate named the “Daddy bins.” I put all the kiddos finished work in their bin, and then once a week they grab their bin and show Blake all that they have worked on. They get so excited about this simple thing!

I also bought an eBook that is a HUGE resource for what I am doing with Tate and Eliza! It is an organized alphabetical list of ALL kinds of ABC activities and lesson plans!

I am getting ready for full-time school to start. I love planning our school year! We do not have enough room at our school table for all four kiddos and all of our stuff. Chad wasn’t liking the idea of being at the kitchen table by himself this year, so we set up a desk right outside the school room for him.

I have some really fun things planned! Lord willing we will be starting a week from tomorrow! We have a busy week ahead this week, but it still includes some school time in the mornings!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Have a happy start to your week!

Fun Facts Friday!!

by Steph // Friday, July 22, 2016 // Comments off

Well, well!

What a good idea these fun facts Friday posts were! (thanks, honey!)

Then they quit happening!

Welcome back fun facts Friday!

For today, anyway!

I bought Tate these scissors a while back.

His right hand is his favored hand, but it is very weak.

I am working on strengthening it through different school like activities – like cutting.

He still will try to use his left hand to help his right hand cut with these scissors, but with some encouragement, he really will try to do what I ask.

We have cut up a lot of index cards! Good thing they are cheap!

I am in school mode! Planning, preparing, and even doing summer school.

We love books here – even when we are not in school mode.

We have some favorites when it comes to chapter books.

The boys favorites are the YWAM chapter books. We especially like the Christian Heroes: Then & Now series, and the Heroes of History series.

Our library does not have this series. We do not own them all yet, but we usually give books as gifts for birthdays and Christmas, so we might have them all some day!

We also have some favorites when it comes to picture books.

These books written by Carl Sommer are such great character lessons.

Tate and Eliza pick them off our shelf often when they want me to read to them.

We also enjoy listening to stories! Our favorite is Your Story Hour CD’s. They have Bible based stories and history based stories.

This is a great lunch time, snack time, or cold winter day activity. These CD’s keep even the precious boy with the dimples sitting still!

Anyone out there that can tell me why someone designed a children’s picnic table with all these dirt collecting grooves in it?

They should have consulted a Mom! Just saying.

My hubby says he always knows how good I am feeling by how much dirt I see around the house! Ha! That really is a good way to tell!

This is my twelve year old giant. I promise you those size 18 shorts went below his knees when I bought them at the beginning of this summer! A couple more months, and I bet he is taller than me.

The girls and I had a girls’ night out this week! Shopping and coffee, of course. It was the best.

Wish you could have seen us trying to take this photo!! Hilarious.

David was still at work, so Blake and this crazy man took care of Clyde.

You should see Clyde light up when his Uncle Grant walks in a room!!

Clyde is constantly flapping his arms! It is hard to get a clear photo of him!

We are having a heat wave here that is crazy. The heat index is over 100 degrees, and I even heard 115 degrees. This old rambling 3600 square foot farm house has three window air conditioner units. They are doing a pretty good job keeping it livable in here!

Today is FRIDAY!!!! How I love the weekends that always start with date night! Blake and I have been having consistent Friday night dates lately! My love language is time, so these date nights are important! I cannot wait till tonight! Even though it is meltingly hot outside!

Hope you all had a great week!! Have a great weekend!!