S is for Sun

We finished up our Creation week review a couple weeks ago and last week we went through the first 5 days of the first unit: S-s-sun!

The words to remember for the week are "Jesus is the light of the world." Evalyn and I spent a little bit of time each day talking about how Jesus is our light, He helps us see with our mind and our hearts. Just like a light, He shows where to go and how to live.

Our letter was S, our number was 1 and our theme was the sun. Evalyn learned a lot about the sun! We did some hands on activities and read quite a few library books about the sun. We both enjoyed the first unit.

Coloring her Picture Cards which she later cut out and put inside the letter envelope. We did several activities using these cards during the week.

She practiced writing her uppercase and lowercase "S" in salt.

We put these grapes in the window and have been checking them everyday while we wait for the sun to make them into raisins.

This activity I found here on Pinterest. It's a Sun in a bottle! It's just oil and water with red food coloring. When you swish it around it resembles the look of hot gases like the sun is made up of.

It was hard to get a good picture of how it worked.

We had sun themed snacks, this day was an orange.

And little brothers joined in for that part!

Another tactile letter activity was using yarn and glue to form the letter "S" on her paper.

We made a sundial to observe how the sun moving through the sky can help us know what time of day it is.

**We are using My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum.

Baby #4

Now that I'm over half way through it, I figured it's probably time I blog about this pregnancy.

Ahem. Sorry baby #4.

We found out mid-September that we are expecting our 4th baby! We were planning a fourth so it wasn't too much of a surprise when I peed on the stick and it showed 2 lines. But, as any mama would know, the certain confirmation of life growing inside of her is a thrill.

I'm trying to patiently wait until May, when this baby is expected to arrive in our arms, and doing my best to savor each day of my last pregnancy. As easy as it is to complain about all the discomforts, I know that I will look back down the road {years.... down the road} and miss the feeling of having my babies so close.

Right now I mostly feel like this pregnancy is a means to the joy I'm anticipating with all the excitement I can bear, to the day we are in the hospital meeting, holding and snuggling a soft, sweet newborn. For the last time. I want to rush to that moment and at the same time hold it off as long as possible, because I know once it's over it will stay only in my memories.

So far this pregnancy has been a mixed bag of all the past pregnancies rolled into one. On top of the over-the-top emotional response to every.little.thing. I have been remembering the past three pregnancies on a daily basis. Flashbacks flood at the slightest hint of a scent, emotion, or quiver of nausea. The fact that this is the last pregnancy I will ever experience creates unique feelings I have to process.

So far the symptoms I've had most resemble my pregnancy with Evalyn. I was convinced it was a girl. I was so sick the first 14 weeks, I laid on the couch from getting up until Brandon would get up {he worked graveyard shift last year} and then I would go straight back to my bed. The only thing I could keep down was juice and nutrition shakes with the occasional cracker here and there. I was miserable and dreading how long it would last. I hated being away from my family so much of the time, but I had to do what I could to take care of my body and the life growing inside of me. It was a growing time of letting go of control. God used those weeks to refocus my trust in Him, and Him alone.

During that time I was so blessed and loved by my servant husband and my mama who stepped in and took on a lot of the caring for the kiddos and household tasks. I couldn't have made it with out them.

Finally, the fog started to lift around the second trimester and I seriously felt like a whole new person. I had moments were I forgot that I was pregnant. I could not say that about the first 14 weeks. Since then I've had mostly good days and I can eat again. There is still the occasional wave of nausea and of course all the other lovely pregnancy symptoms that come along for the ride. But I've been able to enjoy the pregnancy much more lately.

I'll tell you one thing though, second trimester "energy increase" every one talks about is SO much different taking care of three littles as opposed to none or even one. I.am.exhausted. all the time. I am actually looking forward {for now} to the newborn exhaustion, instead of pregnancy exhaustion!

I'll wrap it up and share my belly pictures so far...

I'm 22 weeks now.

I have my next appointment at end of the month. We had a gender reveal party with a confetti cannon to find out boy or girl...

Ready or Not!

We are jumping head first - into kindergarten!

Evie will be for 5 in July and it might seem a little early {not to mention odd} to start her now {and in January}, but we are going with it! It could be a total flop and we will need to revisit key concepts later on. I'm ok with that for now.

Her and I both are feeling a little restless when it comes to 'school stuff' for her. She is eager to 'do school' and I like to have the directed, intentional time with her. I just struggle to plan and execute those activities with her.

As a family, we have chosen to homeschool - at least for now. Knowing we can always re-evaluate and make changes as needed. At this point it seems right for us.

It took me a long time to nail down exactly what I wanted to do for curriculum, if I even needed it for kindergarten. While some may be able to cover all the necessary material with out purchasing anything, I am not one of those people! I need simple, laid out instructions {sing this song, do this craft, tell your student this, etc} in order to feel confident that I'm dong what I'm supposed to do.

After looking and looking.... and looking, even trying out a few different options, I settled on using 'My Father's World' and starting with their kindergarten curriculum. I did a lot excessive research, on their site, on Pinterest, on blogs, read countless reviews and really just over analyzed the whole thing! I tend to do that.

But the good news is, I think I have found the perfect fit! So we are going to go with it and see how it goes.

We did our first day this morning and it was a lot of fun. It didn't take long but she seemed to enjoy it. The first 10 days {which I am combining and making it only 5 days} is a review and they go over letter names and the numerals 1-7 while covering the six days God used to create the world and the seventh day of rest. Evie knows the letters names and her numbers up to 14 or something like that. She is really ready to start focusing on letter sounds and more numbers and maybe even start reading by the end of the year! That would be exciting!

We are doing our school year January-November for a couple different reasons:
1. Brandon's work schedule allows him to spend time with the boys while I work one-on-one with Evie. Come next January we won't know what his schedule will be and we'd have to adjust how we do school half way through the school year.
2. We are having our 4th baby in May, and I'm hoping that getting started with school before the baby comes means we will have a better chance picking it back up after we are settled in with a new baby, rather then having to gather motivation and energy just to start. {I have scheduled a nice, long break right around baby's due date and after to give us time to enjoy, settle and adjust!}
3. She's ready, I'm ready and why not!

Here's a few pictures from what we did today... {They are all phone pictures and a bit grainy : /}

She looks so focused in these pictures, but I promise she enjoyed it! Ha!

And we finished off with cookies and milk for snack. :)

I didn't take any pictures, but her and I took a walk around the neighborhood so we could observe, enjoy and thank God for the daytime and sky that He created for us. We just talked about the nighttime and about the sea, since we couldn't observe those.

I'm hoping I can share how the rest of our week goes!

Apple Picking

Last week we made a spontaneous decision to drive up to an apple orchard, about an hour from us. It was a cloudy, drizzly day but we were feeling adventurous! I'm really glad we went because it was so adorable and quaint. It was a small farm with a small orchard and they had horses, donkeys, turkeys, and chickens for the kids to see.

We were told that they have over 125 varieties of apples on the farm! The trees were low to the ground and the kids could easily reach the apples. They needed help actually getting them off the trees though. They gave the kids carrots to feed the donkeys and horses. You could feed them apples too!

Inside a barn they had a little country store where you could just buy apples already picked and they had fresh apple cider and apple cider donuts. And the flowers! The color from all the wild flowers was gorgeous. Because of all the rain we have had (pre-floods even) everything was so green. It was perfect for a little picture taking.

(I LOVE this picture)

1st Day of School

We are homeschooling, starting with Preschool this year. I'll be honest, I didn't think I could do it and sometimes I still doubt myself. Not to mention I have a twinge of jealousy seeing other moms have 'free time' after they drop their kids off at school imagine the possibilities...

But I know that this is right for our family and where we are at right now. No hard feelings. No judgement because we are all different families and people and we know what is best for our families. And we all love our kids, that's the most important part of it all!

So, even though we are homeschooling I really wanted to participate in the 1st day of school pictures. They are really, really excited to be doing school so they were really hyper the morning of our first day.  It wasn't difficult to get a great smile out of them! I'll take it while I can.

Evalyn is starting with a preschool review and then right in to K4!

 Caleb is doing preschool this year!

 Out Takes...

1st EVER Family Vacation, Part 2

Destination:Train to Silverton, CO

It was a 3 hour train ride through the mountains and most beautiful country I have ever seen. It would have taken us 45 min to drive to Silverton. 

We sat in an open car, the fresh air was refreshing. The views were breath taking.

At one point we were riding along a straight drop off with the river running down below. We crossed a short bridge that had a 400 foot drop off on both sides. 

Once we got to Silverton (sorry, only have iPhone pictures) we had lunch and we had planned to walk around the town but it was raining so we shopped a little and then sat under a overhand until it was time to board the train back to Durango.

After eating at a BBQ place in Silverton.... that's supposed to be a pig?!

Watching the rain from under an overhang.

A guy sitting next to us that the boys, especially Eli, became best buds on the train ride back to Durango.