Flashback

A little over 4 years ago, I posted about our yummy project for studying Nests in My Father's World Kindergarten.  Last week, with a new set of littles, we revisited the fun!  Of course, the big kids had to join in... and it amazed me when I compared the "then and now" pictures.  When we did it the first time, it was just Isaac, Ezra, and Joel (and they were so little!). This time there were two (actually, three, but she didn't get a nest) extra participants!  Wow, how 4 years changes things!  Here's some pictures of the yummy messiness:

Nathan, Joel, Ezra and Isaac, waiting to start!

Rachel got to try a chocolate chip.  She didn't like it!  I'm not sure whose daughter she is!

And it begins!

One of the completed masterpieces!

Judah loved the mess (and the chocolate!)!

7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 14

I have some wonderfully exciting news!  See this adorable couple here?

That's my sister and her awesome husband.  They're celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary this month, and they are expecting their first baby this summer!!  I am over the moon with joy and excitement for them!  Because of a few health struggles each of them has had, they actually didn't think pregnancy was at all possible... but the Lord had other plans!  It's such a neat feeling to watch my little sister go through the transformation into mommy.  I can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew!

We have hit birthday season at our house.  Last month, Isaac turned 11!  That's weird, to think he's only 2 years away from teen years!  *gulp*  Here was my sweet little boy back when he was little...

Here he is now!  He's exactly 5 feet tall now.  By next year, he might be my height!

Please excuse the lollipop stick hanging out of his mouth!

In the next two months, we have four more birthdays coming up!  Excitement abounds!

I've always heard stories of younger members of larger families learning to read on their own, basically through just absorbing what their siblings were being taught... and I am AH-MAZED to announce that Nathan (almost 5) is one of those examples!  We've been doing basic phonics work (Explode the Code Get Ready for the Code books), and he plays Reading Eggs once a day, but I have not done any formal "this is how you sound out words" type of instruction with him at all.  I almost cried when one day a few weeks ago he came to me while I was cooking dinner, asked me to sit on the floor with him, and read me a Bob Book... one that hasn't been read outloud to him, ever.  He sounded out each word, only needing help with "and".  Totally out of the blue! He then read me three more! I was so proud!  Of course, I still plan on doing formal instruction with him, but he's definitely got a head start and a good foundation.  I'm still in shock!

We passed another awesome milestone in our house - Judah is officially potty trained!  Phew!  I think I've expressed before how much I dread potty training.  It was surprisingly easy with Judah, though.  I had tried a few months ago and only got frustrated because he just wasn't getting it.  Waiting those few months made all the difference!  In the month that he's made the official switch to underwear (I don't use pullups), he's had maybe 6 accidents total?  It is SO nice having only one child in diapers!  And just because I adore this picture of him, here's the little man:

 

I have to recommend a wonderful book - it's called "Loving the Little Years" by Rachel Jankovic.  It has blessed me so much through it's encouragement and very practical helps for dealing with all of these little people God has placed in my charge.  I have been kind of burned out on Christian motherhood-themed books, because often they either aren't very helpful, or can almost be discouraging in the "picture perfect mother" ideal they present.  "Loving the Little Years" is none of those!  I walked away from it feeling refreshed and with new ideas and insights!  I can't recommend it enough!

To get a feel for her heart, and enjoy some wonderful encouragement, be sure to watch her series "Motherhood and Work" - there are 4 in total, all are less than 10 minutes long, and are chock-full of wisdom!

• The Vocation of Motherhood
• The Conservative Tendency to Over-Romanticize Motherhood (I love this one!)
• Cleaning House and Cleaning Hearts
• Too Many Straws in my Milkshake (I love her simple statement here: "Just pour!"  I have to admit, I had never, ever thought of it that way!)

I've posted a few of the pictures we had done as a family over Thanksgiving, but I'll go ahead and share a few more.  I love the ways these came out!

Yes, they had a portrait done by a disc golf basket.  Very appropriate!

All of us with my parents, and my sister and brother-in-law!  I love this picture!

A little while ago I was reading in Romans and a verse stuck out to me (I love how that happens).  I had to mull on it a bit before I shared my thoughts about it, but I think I've gotten them coherent enough now.

Romans 1 talks all about those people... you know, the lost ones.  The ones that have no excuse but still harden their hearts to God?  The one I used to be but am not anymore. (Thanks be to God and His merciful grace!) Right?  I always thought that, until verse 21 stuck out to me:

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Wait, they knew God?  What was it that caused their heart to be darkened?  They did not honor Him as God, or give thanks.  That stopped me in my tracks!  How many times do I go through my day to day life, not only not giving thanks, but even grumbling about various minor inconveniences?! How many times to I allow my thoughts to give into worry, instead of honoring Him as God and trusting in His sovereignty?!  I know God.  I believe His word. There is no denying there is an all-powerful, mighty God!  Look at His creation, it gives amazing, beautiful evidence of Him!  Just like Romans says!  But, if I am not honoring Him as God, nor giving thanks to Him... is my heart becoming foolish and darkened?

These thoughts have given me a whole new perspective on the discipline of giving thanks, and of simple faith.  I'm not trying to get into anything deeply theological (I am hardly qualified!), but I did want to share how the Spirit worked in my heart through those verses.  Have you stopped and given thanks to Him today?  Are there ways that you are allowing fear to shove out faith, or even worse, anger to shove out His love?  It's worth a little bit of thought!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is off to a blessed new year!  Thanks for stopping by!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - First Album!

I completed my first Scrapbook Album!  Recognize the story line?  (Hint: It's from this post!)

Judah's Park Adventure - how to create a free slideshow

Wordless Wednesday - Homeschooling Boys

Wordless Wednesday - Venerunt, Vindirunt, Vicerunt

They came

They saw

 

 

They conquered!

All You Ever Wanted to Know (and Probably More) About Disc Golf

I've mentioned a few times that Disc Golf is one of the family activities we participate in.  Let me clarify - it's an activity that Michael and the boys do. I don't.  It's a bit hard to play while wearing a baby, nursing, or pregnant, so that leaves me out most of the time.  However, it really is a great family sport!  All ages can participate, and it's really inexpensive.

Our two oldest boys have participated in several leagues and one tournament, and are quickly making a name for themselves among the local disc golf crowd.  The littler kids are up-and-coming - even Judah can toss a disc pretty well!  We have a practice basket in the back yard, and the kids spend many afternoons out there "putting" around!  It's a slight obsession among a few of us... to say the least!  I won't name names, though.

What is Disc Golf, you ask?  Let me share this video!  It's pretty informative, but I like it best because there are some good scenes of Michael, Isaac and Ezra playing.  :-D 

See if you can spot them - Michael wears a red hat, has a beard, and his typical "disc golf" outfit is a blue shirt with tan shorts.  Isaac and Ezra are the only non-adults shown playing, so they're easy to spot.  Sometimes Joel, Nathan, and Judah make appearances, too, but you've got to be on the look out for them!

Here's my guys... and a lot of information about the wonderful world of Disc Golf!

Seven Quick Takes Friday - Volume 11

I didn't do any Quick Takes in August, so I have to start out with a little celebration!  Ezra turned 9 last month!  It was a very fun day, as Michael surprised him by taking the day off so they could spend some one-on-one Daddy/Son time.  He tries to fit in a special day with each of the boys on their birthdays, but usually it has to wait for the weekend.  It's a fun tradition that they all look forward to and makes their birthdays even more wonderful for them.  Here's the happy birthday boy!

His presents consisted of a new Disc Golf disc, and legos galore. He said it was the "best birthday EVER!" but I think he says that every year! 

And of course, in the last month, Rachel passed her 7 month marker!  She's starting to think about crawling - she can get to hands and knees pretty quickly, but is still figuring out what to do other than rock back and forth.  She'll be getting it soon, I can tell!  She wants to be on the go!  It also seems like she's getting a tooth in... there's been a lot of swelling, bubble blowing, and more nighttime wakings, so it seems like it is on the verge of popping out!  She's also started solids - she isn't all that interested, however, so I'm just taking it slow and letting her have fun with it.  She likes the spoon more than the food on the spoon!

Rachel's first time on the swing!

I wanted to share some beautiful handiwork made by my friend, Amy.  She hand makes custom picture frames, and they are goregous!  Here's the one she made for Rachel - I gave her free reign to do what she wanted, and it was absolutely perfect.  I'm still having trouble deciding what picture I want to use in it!

And here's one she did for Judah when he was born!

You can see more of her handiwork at her blog!  These make wonderful gifts, for all sorts of occasions!

Check out this super cool video!  It's really awesome, and convinces me ever more so that life was truly created with such intricacy and detail by an incredible creative and amazing God!

This week, we finally finished up the last of Sonlight's Core D!  We had finished it a little unevenly, as we got ahead of schedule in some areas and behind in others... but now everything is complete!  It was a great year, and I love Sonlight as much as I did when we first started, a little over a year ago.  We're going to take a week to get organized and then we move onto Core E!

I have to confess, my "getting up early and exercising" progress has fallen totally to the wayside.  A number of circumstances (including a loss of air conditioning for 2 weeks, followed by house guests for another week) really threw me off. So I'm a little nervous about getting back into my running plan and seeing how far behind I've fallen.  Will I have to start from scratch again?  I guess there's only one way to find out... and that's to just give it a go!  I'm mentally preparing myself to get on the ball starting next week.  I'll also admit that I'm not totally excited about it!  But I know that I always feel better when I'm making that time.

This weekend, our marriage will be hitting it's teenage years!  Sunday we will celebrate 13 years!  God has certainly brought us through many ups and downs, and we've (literally) grown up together as we've grown closer to Him.  I am thankful beyond what I can express for Michael and his love and leadership!

Here we are on that day!

And here we are at wedding, just last week:

(Michael was the best man in a cowboy-themed wedding, hence the hat!)

Boy, do the years fly by!

Wordless Wednesday - What Goes Up...

 

Moms of Boys Blog Hop!

The MOB Society (short for "Moms of Boys") is having their first annual Boy Mom Blog Hop!  Seeing that I probably qualify as a mom of boys, I thought I'd jump in for some fun!

If you are new to my blog or joining me from the Blog Hop, let me introduce myself and my kiddos!  I am Erin, married to my wonderful husband Michael for almost 13 years.  We are blessed with 5 boys, and were recently surprised with our first girl in February! (I say surprised because, after 5 boys... I just figured a girl wasn't possible!  It was the shock of a lifetime! A joyous one, of course!) My blog is mostly about every day life, homeschooling, and my faith in Christ.  I also do reviews for the TOS Homeschool Crew.

Well, that's enough about me - now to introduce the boys (and girl, I have to include her - she's the cutest one of the bunch!  Although there are some close runners up!):

Isaac is 10.5, and such a helper!  He is my second set of hands and eyes, and loves being the biggest brother. He's also getting way too big for my liking!

Ezra is going to be 9 years old soon, and he is our class clown!  He loves to have fun and make others laugh, and he is also a wonderful encourager.

Joel is 6.5 and always in motion!  He's a chatterer, too, so there is rarely a dull (or quiet) moment with him around.  He has a tender, gentle heart, is very artistic, and is growing up so fast!

Next up is Nathan, who is 4.5.  He's our quiet one, and is often found off by himself playing somewhere - who knew there could be an introvert in a big family?   But once he comes out of his shell, he's got a fun, quirky sense of humor and it's fun to see what goes on inside that quiet self of his!

Judah is 2, and second star of the "cuteness" show - and he knows it!  He's our resident musician (he takes after my husband) and always keeps us laughing.  He's still in the cuddlebug phase, which makes this mama's heart happy!  The first six months of his official status upgrade to "big brother" has gone wonderfully as he adores his little sister, and I am excited to see how close they grow over the years.

And while she doesn't fit into the "boy" category, here's the little miss of the household, Rachel - she's already stolen Daddy's heart and has the rest of us well wrapped around her finger, as well!

One of the topics suggested in the Blog Hop was a list of my boys' favorite books.  I'll try to keep it brief, although we tend to read a LOT around here!

Isaac loves all sorts of books (he's a bookworm).  He has read the Lord of the Rings trilogy a few times, he loves missionary stories (such as the Christian Heroes series) and stories about martyrs (such as the Jesus Freaks collections).  His top favorite series, however, are The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins (which I also really enjoyed!), and The Terrestria Chronicles by Ed Dunlop.  There are many others, and he has a list over on his own blog, A Full Family, if you want to see more!

Ezra loves books about Indians.  For school this year we studied early American History, which included reading several books detailing the lives of Native Americans, and he devoured them.  He's not really into reading as much as his brother, so it really says a lot when he sits down to read a chapter book non-stop!  He especially enjoyed Om-Kas-Toe and Naya Nuki.  He also read and enjoyed the Underland Chronicles, as well.

Joel is a beginning independent reader, (for which I recommend Bob Books!) so he still enjoys being read-aloud to.  His latest favorite stories are from Make Way for McCloskey - the number one choice being "The Doughnuts" from Homer Price.   Another top-read-aloud among the little guys is anything and everything from the Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics - this collection I consider a must-have for little ones!  Nathan's top pick is always something from A Family Treasury of Little Golden Books - he adores these stories.  Judah enjoys listening in on anything - he doesn't have a favorite book right now!

Life with a bunch of boys is pretty wild!  I only had a sister growing up, so I am learning quite a bit about snips and snails and puppy dog tails - and I love it!  While I am glad to have a little bit of pink in the house now, I thank God every day for the blessing and privilege of raising up men for His glory!  My prayer for them is that they grow to be men who follow hard after God, stand strong amidst adversity, and humbly serve and love those around them.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'd love it if you'd leave a comment to say hello, and please be sure to drop in on the other moms participating in the MOB Blog Hop!