Fall 2010

Obviously, Fall is not over yet and I'm sure there will be more to blog about with Thanksgiving and holiday activities fast approaching (if I ever get around to blogging about them ;) ). But for now, I'll update on the many things we've been doing so far this Fall.

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween:


Kids designed their own pumpkins:

Making a Halloween gingerbread house:

Alex and Nathan were knights for Halloween and Amy was a Renaissance Queen:



Renaissance Festival/Amy's Birthday:
We had Amy's birthday party the Saturday before Halloween and then on her actual birthday we went to the Renaissance Festival. Hard to believe she's already 5!!!

Wizard of Oz Birthday Party:


At the festival, getting a picture with a creepy knight:

The birthday girl with her extra large drink:

Couple of sword-fighting knights:

Amy in her new pajamas (that match her Bitty Baby's PJs) at the end of her special day:


Nathan's Birthday Party:

We celebrated Nathan's birthday last weekend because we'll be camping with the cub scouts the weekend of his actual birthday. Of course, to Nathan, camping on his birthday makes for the best kind of birthday!

Nathan's 7th birthday party was all about tools...




My little Tool Man:

TKD Party

Once Alex was promoted past the beginner white belt, we were able to move him into the homeschool taekwondo class. This class is offered earlier than the regular classes and is only homeschooled children. It is such a refreshing experience; we've all connected and even had our first "TKD party" at one family's home. Everyone chipped in and rented a blowup water slide - actually, it was a huge, DOUBLE water slide. We had a potluck lunch and just relaxed there all afternoon. The kids had a blast! Alex and Nathan couldn't get enough of the slide, though my little Amy wasn't too fond of it. She did eventually go down a few times once Bill and I became adventurous enough to go down with her. :)

Fall Ball

Alex is playing Fall baseball again and is really enjoying it. This season he is on the "Fighting Irish" Notre Dame team. They lost their first two games, but the kids are having fun and I have noticed so much improvement in Alex. He throws better and seems to understand the game better this year and is much more engaged. He no longer seems to be interested in the dirt and weeds growing in the outfield. :) Nathan is just a spectator this year. He opted to do tennis instead of baseball. Amy hasn't asked to participate in any sports... yet. I'm sure it's coming!

Alex, ready to play:

Nathan:

Amy:

Taekwondo Promotion Test

Alex has been taking taekwondo for a couple of months now and loves it. On Saturday, he took his promotion test to obtain his yellow belt. He appeared tired and told us afterwards that his tummy hurt, but despite all of that, he did awesome! We are so very proud of him!!!







He received his yellow belt in class today:

New School Year

We are starting our fourth year of homeschooling - I can't believe it!!! I now have three students: Alex is in 3rd grade, Nathan is in 2nd grade, and my little Amy has started Kindergarten. So far the year is going well - we are on our third week. It is much harder to homeschool three; we are hard at work starting at 8am for breakfast (when we do the Bible lesson) and continuing through about 2pm. We have one day a week that we have to finish earlier due to Nathan's tennis lessons, so we have to make up any unfinished work on the other days. I'm still trying to figure out how to work in more crafts, art, and learning games. I'm sure in time I'll get our new schedule more organized and we'll be able to make more time for these activities. But all in all, I'm pleased with how our year is going!

Here are some pictures from the first day of school and from our family field trip to Space Center Houston to celebrate after the first week of school:

FIRST DAY:





SPACE CENTER HOUSTON:

Summer 2010

We had a very busy summer this year. We took a good part of the summer to finish up school, and we still had our usual activities, plus VBS and other summer events, a trip to Ohio... It was full and fun! Here are some highlights:

CUB SCOUT TWILIGHT CAMP

Nathan, hard at work:

Bill, the happy camper:

Alex, in the background (yellow and green ballcap):


OHIO TRIP












AMY'S SUMMER BALLET






I'm sure there are other Summer things I should post about, and as I think of them I will try to update. :)