Zachary

Zachary's 1st unofficial week has ended and it was great!  We ended the school week by picking up pizza and crazy bread and heading out for a picnic to our new splash pad.  Daddy was off at 5 PM; which was a HUGE shock.......LOL  So, we all got to go together.  I suggested a picnic at the park and Zachary was all over that.  He couldn't wait to tell daddy about it when he got home around 6 PM.  So, we all changed into our swimsuits and headed out.  We had a great time!

This week Zachary worked on tracing, cutting, writing, and coloring.  We will be adding more into our school days once we get back from Chicago.  However, I'm not going to push him at this age, so we'll see how it goes and play it by ear.  I have a learning to read program through Hooked on Phonics, and we're going to attempt to work on this.  We might have to wait depending on if he's ready for that yet or not.  He is still learning what the letters stand for, so we might have to get through all of that; I'm not sure.  I need to look over the program again and see what level Zachary should be at when starting it.  :)  It's so fun!!!

Okay, here is a picture of Zachary's coloring from Friday.  This was the BEST he has ever done.  He took his time with my encouragement.  I gave him a color and told him which part of the girl to color with it.  He was able to follow simple directions.  I was encouraging him to stay within the lines, so as you can see; he did really well.  At least in my (biased) opinion......LOL  :)

 

 

Check out this proud smile.........LOVE it!

 

Here is an up close picture of his work.  He traced the first word one; then I wrote an O; then he wrote an O, etc. through the rest of the "n" and "e".  Above that is where he wrote the number 1 over and over. 

Remembering when......

As I sit here and read all of the FB posts about my friends sending their kids off to school; makes me think of my own 1st days of school.  The year that I remember the most is 4th grade.  Probably because there were a lot of changes.  I was starting a new school in Allen, new friends, etc.  I remember my mom walking me into school; despite just having surgery.  I really wanted her to come with me to my classroom.  My teacher was Mrs. Long, in fact, I still see her around town on occasion.  :)

I remember when I was leaving Reed, the kids were saying," there are rats in the bathrooms at Rountree."  I'm sure they said other bad things, but this was the only thing I ever remember.  When I went to school, I found out that the school was just as clean as Reed and there were no rats in the bathroom.  I had a great 3 years there at Rountree before going to Ford; then onto AHS.  Man, where has the time gone for me?!  HAHAHA  It was 15 yrs that I graduated from high school and I can't believe it at all. 

As someone told me the other day," The days are long, but the years are short."  Man, that couldn't be anymore true!  I am excited about our homeschool journey and to see where we end up. 

Have a great year to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures from Splash Pad

We had a great time!!!!!!!!!!  Well, Zachary and I did..........LOL  Sadie was hungry and ready for a nap, so I didn't get any pictures of her.  She held my hand and walked around and would get in the water some, but mostly just stayed next to me holding my hand.  :)

 

Here is the ribbon cutting ceremony.  They were just walking over to get this started when we got there.  I was glad that I was able to get some pictures of this!

 

 

Here is the ribbon being cut!  Play Time!!!

 

 

Here is Zachary waiting on the big tub to dump over with water.

 

 

It's getting ready to dump - notice Zachary in the middle.....HA!  He's looking up waiting!

 

 

Here's the water splashing down on them.

 

 

Another picture of it coming down on them - he loved this!!!

 

 

The splash pad is actually much bigger than it looks.  I was pleasantly surprised about the size of it.  It should last a good long time for the kiddos to enjoy!!!

 

I didn't get any other pictures b/c I didn't want to get my phone wet and since I had Sadie holding onto my legs; then it was hard to get more.  Hopefully I can get some more pictures at a later time when it's not so busy.  Even though there were a lot of kids; it's so spread out; you couldn't even tell. 

 

Definitely worth the wait!!!!!!!  Now the wait is over........LOL

Splash Pad!

Yay, so excited, our new town splash pad is opening today.  The ribbon cutting ceremony begins at 12 and after that; the kids can play in it............YAY!!!!!!!!  I'll post pictures later whenever I get a chance of the kiddos and the new park.  Another great thing that the town did was cover the playground with big canopies.  That will help keep the kids in the shade and the slides won't burn when they go down them.  I'm so happy about this!!!!!

Here is a picture that I took of the splash pad the other day before it opens today!!

Miss Helen

Today was the funeral for a precious dear lady who LOVED the Lord with all her heart.  She was an awesome example of how children of the Lord are to behave, treat others, etc.  Thank you for your example, Miss Helen.

While I was not able to be there in person; I did watch from home on the computer.  So happy for the advancement of technology!!!  I had planned on going, but then Sadie wouldn't go to sleep last night and just kept playing in her crib IN THE DARK and then got up early this morning.  She was sound asleep by 12:30 and slept 3 hours!  It would have been a disaster and just easier to let her sleep in her bed and take a good nap.  She is awake now and very happy!  YAY!

Have a great weekend!!!!!!

Ready for School?

It saddens me that people are READY NOW for school to start.  Do we have rough days, of course, but it doesn't make me want to send them off and not see them for 7 hours a day or whatever it equals too.  I love being around my kiddos, maybe I won't always feel this way, but right now, I miss them so much when I leave them to go have time for myself..........HA!!! 

I am excited about homeschooling them, but totally NERVOUS too!  Glad we can start withe easy stuff and see how it goes.  :)  Public school is so different these days, not saying all districts are bad, but I don't like where our society is going. 

The part that's going to be the hardest part for me is being structured!  I'm such a spontaneous person and don't "do" schedules that well.  LOL

Are we going to have bad days, of course and I know it's not going to be easy, but I at least want to try to do what God instructs us.  Do I think people who use public school are not obeying the Lord??  NO WAY, who knows, it might just me in a few years.  ;)

Anyways, just had to get this off my chest.  :)

Have a great weekend and do something outdoors, it's beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swimming Fun

The kids and I had a ball this past week swimming.  Yesterday, we had company while swimming!  We went to The Splash up in Sherman and had a really good time.  We had daddy with us this time and a long time friend of mine, Kristy and her daughter, Ava.

They had a really fun time and here are some pictures from yesterday:

 

Here are the 2 big slides and the lazy river is in the back left of the picture.  The open aired slide was REALLY fast and maybe just a tiny bit scary.......LOL

 

Here is the slide that empties into the deep end along with the diving board.  There is also a basketball goal type thing in the water that you can play with.  You can see the people in the bottom of the picture playing, but I didn't get the goal in there.

 

Here is the entry to the toddler area.  There is a splash pad, dumping cones, and a fun little toddler slide underneath the dolphin and wave.  Zachary LOVED the slide.  The main pool area that we played in is to the right of this picture, but you can't see it.  Zachary and Sadie had fun jumping off the sides of the pool into the water.  Sadie was going under the water by the end of the day when she jumped and was having so much fun.  The wave pool was REALLY strong and the kids loved going round and round.  HAHAHAHAHA

 

Here are the 2 kiddos on the way home after about 3 hours of playing in the pool, swimming, and jumping!  We all had so much fun and no griping expect when we decided it was time to leave.  It was getting pretty hot even in the water and the pool was getting a little bit more crowded.  Overall, we had a GREAT time and so glad that daddy was there to enjoy it with us. 

 

We're so blessed and I thank God for all the fun that we have and the opportunities that He gives to us.  I pray that we continue to give All Glory to God b/c He's the One who takes care of us and gives us what we have.  May we never take any pride in anything we have, but focus on the One who gives to us.  Father, may we pass onto our kids our love for You and that they will also call you, Father.

Jumping in the Pool!!!!

What a summer it has been.  It's been fun, fast, and fairly cool.  I'm so not ready for these HOT temperatures to stay without a break till probably the end of the month.  :)

We went swimming 2x today and had a blast!  We went this morning first by ourselves and then Mimi called after we had had lunch and asked if we could take her to our neighbors house too and swim again.  Of course, we went!  LOL  So, the kids are sound asleep and just waiting on them to wake up.  They are both gaining so much courage in the water and I'm so proud of them.  Zachary definitely challenges Sadie because she wants to do whatever he is doing.  So, while Zachary was learning to jump off the side of the pool into the water by himself today; she decided she was going to do that too.  She had help, but she was having a BALL!!!!!!!

Check out the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuoRQw-gOnk  (Sadie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhlg4nGNWxk  (Zachary)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcSsmd_CRCs  (Sadie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=279oFY8um9c  (Zachary)

The kids had so much fun and I can now hear Sadie waking up and calling my name.  So, hope you enjoy the videos of my sweet babies growing up too fast and loving the water!!!!!!!!!