cucumber sandwiches?

Silly kiddos! They LOVE cucumbers and have recently started making themselves 'cucumber sandwiches' Simple pleasures:).

skating queen:)

Cailey asked for roller blades and sunglasses from Nonny and Poppy this year for her birthday and has LOVED them ever since! She wore them outside on the first day but it was so hot that we just had her skate around the house. She's pulled them out a lot since then and just has so much fun with them! She's pretty timid and scared that she's going to fall..and super slow BUT she's having fun and doesn't want to go fast just yet. The many pads have helped her on a few occasions from scraping her hands and knees on the hot asphalt. I've never taken her skating before but now I think it's time to go try it out! Skates (or blades) have come a LONG way since I wore them...did you know they were adjustable? SO cool:).

Last Couple of Swim Meets

home meet...waiting....'diving'......getting a pep talk from the coach

best part of the meet...snacks!

waiting for her relay teammates to show up

the last (our 6th) meet... the championship

sibling spectators who have been SO patient!

Swim team was a great experience for Cailey and she really loved the swim meets! She always wanted to know her time and improve on it at each meet. Her favorite stroke is freestyle with backstroke coming in second. Cailey improved a TON over the season and especially loved the relays. We are SO proud of her for always trying her best and never giving up! Way to go, Cailey!

barbour family visit

chad, michelle, brian

kinsey, ellen grace, courtney, ephram, braden
(all the grandkids except for cailey)

Uncle Chad, Aunt Julie, and Ellen Grace came down to North Carolina for the first time in three years and we were so excited to see them! Aunt Michelle and Courtney joined them and came for dinner one night while Cailey was at Camp Aunt Laura. We had a great time catching up and look forward to seeing them again next year.

My Budding Artist

'winter tree'

Last Spring Braden took the sketching class at New Life Camp and LOVED it! He's a great artist and loves drawing. I was amazed every week when he brought home his work and immediately hung it up on our art board. This week I finally took it down and wanted to do a post about it because I am just so proud of him!

'apple'

First day of School 2010/2011!

Today was our first day of school at Seoul of Hamilton Academy! We had a great start and it's going much smoother than it did last year. For some reason I had a really hard time getting back into it and it seemed to take so long. This year I am trying to be more laid back...at least for now:).

Having a baby in the mix has been a bit of a struggle but I'm hoping it'll get easier with each day. He still takes a morning nap which definitely helps but I'm not sure what's going to happen when he drops it! Ephram loves to be where we are which is awesome but hard when he's talking/babbling, etc. while Kinsey's trying to do a lesson or the others are trying to concentrate. Cailey and Braden don't have a lot of 'down' time when I'm teaching because they learn together and Ephram tends to FREAK OUT even more when I send Kinsey in to play with him. It's gonna be interesting!

Kinsey LOVES school and is up the earliest so I've been able to teach her while the others are eating breakfast. Kinsey's doing math, phonics, and journal. Sometimes she'll sit with us for History and Science but I am taking it SUPER slow with her because she's won't be 5 until October and I don't want to rush it!

After we had the kiddos spring testing done it was suggested to catch Braden up to where Cailey was and teach them together. (Technically he'll be doing third grade this year.) I did my best to get through the grammar book and the rest of 2nd grade math with him (he was 1/2 way through it) this summer. It didn't go as planned and I still have about 50 math lessons to go but he's sitting in on Cailey's math too so that when he finishes his they will be together. Braden is THRILLED to be doing everything with Cailey and continues to soak it all in. It's actually been a lot easier teaching them both together since we were already doing it for History, Science, Drawing, etc. One thing I didn't think about was that I need TWO copies of books that I hadn't planned on getting. Sharing a dictionary and an English book slows things down a lot since they do it together so I've got to get another one:).

Cailey is starting her third grade year. I remember when I was in school it seemed to get much harder in third grade and I took my first real test. (A science one...and I failed...and got in a lot of trouble). We are taking one day at a time but so far it's been great. She LOVES having Braden with her in everything and has had a great attitude about school. I am truly amazed at how much they remember from last year and thankful we haven't had to back track. We are going 'light' this week because next week is our beach vacation and then we'll start for good when we get back.

I have been wanting desks for the school room all summer and found these that we LOVE a few weeks ago. Brian and I had to go on a road trip to get them...and then he had to sand and paint them...BUT we are SO happy with the results! They were only $15 and everything I found online was over $100 plus shipping...EACH! We ended up letting the kiddos pick the colors and painted Ephram's green until he can tell us what color he wants. Cailey picked turquoise, Kinsey wanted 'pink pink you stink', and Braden wanted yellow. The kids LOVE having their own space to work and store their things. We still do group work at the long table but they do their independent work at their desks.

Curriculum (hasn't changed too much from the last two years):
*everything is done 4 days unless marked

Bible- Who is God?
Math- Right Start Math (K for Kinsey and 3rd for Braden and Cailey)
Phonics- Ordinary Parents Guide for Teaching Phonics (for Kinsey)
Grammar- Rod and Staff English (3rd)
Typing- Mavis Beacon Typing (Braden and Cailey) (2 days)
Science- Apologia Anatomy and Physiology (2 days)
History- Story of the World (year 3) (2 or 3 days)
Writing- Just Write (1 or 2 days)
Copywork and Dictation (Cailey and Braden) (alternate days, so 2 each)
Journal- writing prompts (varies)
Art- artistic pursuits and draw write now (1 day each)
Reading- Abeka readers and novels
Flashmaster- (Braden and Cailey)
Handwriting- Zaner Bloser
Spelling- Spelling Power (Cailey and Braden)
Music- MusicAce
Letter Writing (1 day)

I think that's all...if not, I'm sure we do it and I just forgot to write it:).

Summer fun with the Williams

playing animals and wikki sticks

ice cream game and candyland

monkey game and hammering

mr./mrs. potato head...this was right before Toy Story 3 came out

arts and crafts and popsicles on a HOT day

We have been blessed this summer by spending lots of time with the Williams. We've had playdates, pool dates, lots of swim team, cfa kids night, y 'dates', traded babysitting, taught kids how to ride bikes, and more!

These pictures were all taken one day when I was watching their kiddos. Addison and Ephram slept (well) while the other kids had a blast playing with so many toys/games, etc. We are so blessed to have their friendship! The kiddos love playing together (although at times act like siblings:) and the grown ups love chatting.

silly bandz

'In my day' we had jelly bracelets (and shoes), slinky bracelets, and koosh balls. Seems like they've tried to bring those things back a few times but they haven't really stuck...it'll never be the 80's again. (Though they did great bringing Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake back). I wanted to get some pictures of the current version of jelly bracelets.

Silly Bandz. When they first came out I thought they were cute but didn't realize they would be so popular! I had already decided we wouldn't be buying any but we didn't really need to. Our kids have been given so many silly bandz (or gone to Kid's Night at CFA and gotten them) that we don't need to buy any. They LOVE trading them with friends and each other. Whenever the 'big kids' have playdates the first thing they do is pull out all the silly bandz. I forget the count but the kiddos ALWAYS know exactly how many they have and can remember where most of them came from.

Summer fun with the Klicks

picnics at the pool

i love these...Caroline tells her mom and dad that she
wants to marry Braden when she grows up:) (even
when she's given other choices:)

We've had a great time going to the pool and doing other fun things with the Klick's this summer. Many days were spent hanging out in the water, playing in the pool, picnics, kid's night at CFA, playdates, museums, "y" dates, holding sleeping babies, big kids going to camp together, little kids having a 'week' long playdate, and just having fun. We are so thankful for their friendship! I have many pics of Caroline and Kinsey but can rarely get them to BOTH have their eyes open at the same time:).