Where Chris was last night........

Chris and Dr. Farmer were able to attend an event for Mike Huckabee in Mason last night. Chris thought to buy a couple books at Joseph Beth on the way, so now he and Dr. Farmer each have a nice autographed copy. I stayed home with the the kiddos....I wasn't sure how interesting it would be for them. I was glad he got to go.

From "Happy Fall Days".....

to Merry Christmas!!!




The kids and I put the tree together Monday evening, and I FINALLY got it finished this afternoon. I haven't spent all that time on it....I've just been searching for some lights that work. There are a couple things that I wish someone could explain to me.
1. If you put Christmas lights away after Christmas, and they're working, then....
WHY do they not work when you take them out of the box the following year???aaaagh!!!
2. And when you buy new lights at Target and get them home, WHY do they not work??? Yes. $10 a string lights. aaagh!
Those are just a couple of the reasons why it took me a whole week to get my tree done. Once, when I got the tree all covered in lights, 1 string went out. So, it was easier to just take it all off and start over again rather than try to replace just one string.
Anyway, I'm very happy with my tree this year. I might actually be able to sit and enjoy it. I love decorating the tree and although the kids want to help, I explain this is "MY" tree and then I send them off with their own trees and boxes of ornaments. Maybe I'm a scrooge, but for me to be able to enjoy my tree, it has to be just like I envision it. (I know, I'm weird) I'll have to post their trees later. They are really cute.



I also decorated the home school room. Most people will probably be bored by these pics, but my family wanted to see the decorations. The kids get so excited when I decorate and change things in the school room, so it's always worth my effort!

Our fall tree and village.
My aunts, who have taught for years, have given me lots of classroom decorations. We are so grateful. Thanks!



This tree was decorated by the kids last night. I used a pre-lit tree I had in the basement and spent $2.50 on ornaments at the Dollar Tree, and made a "happy" little tree....at least that's what the kids and I call it. It's simple, but they're happy! They decorated it while Caleb was playing in the bathtub last night. As soon as he got out, we took him into see it and he started screaming and dancing around and clapping his hands! It was SO fun. That's what I LOVE best about Christmas......seeing your kids have fun! It makes Christmas SO much fun!
Well, after a hard day of decorating, I'm off to find a cup of hot chocolate! See ya!

Happy Fall Days!

Happy Fall! Yes. I'm way behind in blogging again I know. We've just been busy with the usual things...school, outings, housework(ugh) and unfortunately, blogging just doesn't rank very high on my list of priorities. Rather, it seems to be falling lower and lower.....but I'll try to do better :) maybe!



One of our last nice evenings outdoors, Chris asked Caleb to "jump" off the wall into his outstretched arms.

Ready to jump!

One of our play days with some good friends. (Brianna, Warren. Daniel and Bethany)They used to work here at GBS, but recently moved. We became good friends and the children have spent MANY happy summer days together. Since we home school, I try extra hard to make sure I schedule fun days with other home schoolers such as this to break up the monotony a little. I'm always happy to get together with friends and chat as well!


Last Tuesday, I took the kids down to the gym and "taught" them about the voting process.
I tried to let them help me as much as possible.









Dressed up after church.





Today as we were walking to the park, I decided to take advantage of the neighbors beautiful yard full of leaves. This should bring back memories for some bloggers in SC. :)













Headed down the path into the woods...I am one blessed Mom! I am so grateful for our three healthy, growing, learning children!






The Farmer's beautiful tree.



After walking home from the park, we noticed that our neighbors had their puppies out....all 17 of them! The kids had a blast. It was really fun for them....and my two older ones used to be scared of dogs. But I think today changed that! BTW, our neighbors buy these pups to resale at a profit, so we are enjoying them while they have them. They are some kind of Terrier....not sure of the name.

Look who turned 18 months!

Fall/ School Days

Yesterday, while walking home from lunch at the dining hall, we (I) decided that the day was just too pretty to enjoy without some pictures! So, Chris happily trudged home to get the camera! The kids found this large mushroom in the south lawn.


This is the blue sky that prompted the photo session! :) Picture perfect day!


Caleb turned 18 mo. on Saturday.



Caleb is saying "me". Usually we ask the kids things like "who wants to go get some ice cream?" To which they all shout "me " and raise their hands. Well, while the two older ones were saying "cheese", he thought we were taking a vote again!



Having loads of fun!

Little "Miss GBS"

Last week I made homemade Stromboli, so I let the kids play with some left over dough, cheese and ham. They decided to make their own pizzas. They had worked the dough so much that the pizzas came out of the oven with a texture like "crackers". But hey, they had fun and made a big mess, so that's all the counts!!


Lauren proudly displays their pizzas.



Home school Present......Caleb "hiding" with the pencil sharpeners.




A very studious Michael.



A very clownish Lauren.....




Caleb LOVES to color at his desk and pretend he's really in school. He hollers "DONE" (like the big kids) when he makes a scribble, and then he gets a sticker on his page.



Home school Past.........We've come a long way since the first day of school, though. His favorite past time then was standing on the desks!



Lauren and Michael trying to teach Caleb.



Like I said, we've come a long way ;) The first couple of days I wasn't sure how I was going to home school with the distraction....called a little brother. Lauren and Michael have gotten better at tuning him out and he's gotten better at occupying himself!
I have to say homeschooling has become something I enjoy immensely. I have decided to teach them myself, and hold off on DVD or satellite till they get into the harder grades. I was a little apprehensive about starting school this year....I knew we'd have the distraction of Caleb and I also had to tackle Kindergarten with a boy this year. I'd heard that boys were more of a challenge than girls. Well, so far I'm not finding much of a difference. Michael seems to love learning just like Lauren did and it's been an absolute joy to watch him take off in reading. He is always amazing me with what he can sound out and read. They seem to really enjoy being in school together.
The added blessing has been having a home school room this year. I might not always be so fortunate, but some days I enjoy closing the door on the mess and dealing with it "tomorrow"!