Grapes Galore

 We were so excited when our friends called and invited us to come pick grapes at their house.  We love them!

 
I think we probably ate double the amount we picked!

 The green ones are my favorite.  So sweet!

 We came home with a huge tub full and even made some jelly.  Soo yum!!

Quarters for Bibles

 It is always a blessing to hear Bro Cham McMillan preach!  We were so excited when it worked out for him to come to VSIBC for a Sunday!  Patrick promoted a couple weeks ahead of time that Bro. Cham is also known as the "Quarter Man" and that we were going to take a quarter offering to give to Bro Cham for Bibles.

 Everyone came in jingling with quarters!  It was exciting!

 Patrick chose these 2 cuties to be the ushers for the quarter offering.

 What a great day in the Lord's house!

School Year 16/17

 Shortly after our vacation, our school year started!  I love homeschooling my kiddos and am so blessed to have this opportunity!
My Brenna is a senior this year.  sniff sniff.   (Here we go again.  Sappy posts on time going too fast and kids growing up too quick!)  Brenna is taking several courses using ACE curriculum.  We have loved using ACE for our older students.  She's off to a great start and graduation plans are in the works!

 My 3 little ones start the day with A beka Bible video.  They all watch Mrs. Chappell's 2nd grade class and absolutely love it!  I love all the things they learn in one class!  They start the day with prayer, say the pledge and talk about the importance of patriotism, memorize Bible verses, learn Bible stories and sing great songs.  What a great way to start their school day!!

  My Silas is a 2nd grader this year.  He's doing very well and enjoys reading the most.  He's already half way through his 2nd grade reading material!  He does A beka streaming for Phonics, Spelling and Writing. Then, he does his Math using ACE Paces.  This is a new thing for us this year to use Paces for the younger grades.  So far they love it!!

My Callie is in 1st grade this year.  And like her brother, she loves reading and has read ahead.  She's halfway done, too!  She loves being able to be the teacher and grade her Math work!

 I guess you could say that my Micah Roo is in K4.  But, really, he's just a four year old enjoying life!! ;o)  I'm not real big into schooling my kids early.  I feel like when they are ready to start kindergarten that they are at the right time to really soak everything in and jump head first into schooling.  Before that time I have always been relaxed with my littles and let them progress as they wish.  I did buy Micah a K4 book that he does a page in everyday.

 I also started him doing busy bags.  He is loving all the little activities I have prepared for him!  There are bags with matching, counting, threading beads...all sorts of fun stuff!

 We are also trying out a new-to-us curriculum for Science and Social Studies.  It's called the Prairie Primer and it uses the Little House on the Prairie book set.  I'll have to post on it soon.

We are off to a great start and are enjoying being on a routine again!  We love summer, but when it's schooltime, we are ready!

Staycation/Vacation Last Post

For the last day of our vacation we headed over to the east coast of Florida.  We had heard people telling us about Fort Matanzas and that it was historical, fun and free.  Perfect!  After checking in, we rode the ferry over to the island where the Fort is.

The boat ride was relaxing and fun.  I love the smells, sounds and sights of the ocean!  It always brings back good memories of going out on my Dad's boat.  

It really was fun to hear the history behind the fort.  The kids loved looking around and seeing the sights.

 Never a dull moment with this boy of mine...

  ...or with these girls.  They know how to aggravate their brother!!

 Then, we went over to the beach.  It was a perfect day for it!  It was very hot!!  The tide had just gone out, so it created little pools of water that were perfect for my littles to play in!

 We built sandcastles, collected shells, jumped the waves...

 relaxed plenty...

and, of course, wrestled...my boys favorite past time!

What a great week we had.  I know there were many posts, but my intention was to show that even if the budget is low, you can still plan plenty of fun for yoru family!  Be creative!  Make memories!  Time just goes way too fast.

Staycation/Vacation Part 4

Our week at home for the "staycation" portion of our vacation was so fun.  But, then it came time for us to get out of town for a bit.  As soon as Josh came home from work, we hit the road!

Love our family time!!

We booked a hotel in the town of Palatka, Florida.  The kids were so excited to be in a hotel!

The hotel was on the beautiful St. Johns river.  Such a pretty area!

My Sweet 6!!

Then, it was off to dinner.  Our little ones were so excited to eat at a "real restaurant."  Ha!  We had been telling the kids about Corky Bells and how good it was.  They were excited to try it.

There was so much food!

Micah: Momma, I don't like this green stuff on my plate.
Me:  You're not supposed to eat it, it's just decoration.
Micah (with a horrified look on his face):  They put a decoration on my plate!!!??!!

Then, we decided to go letterboxing off of Main Street.  We have loved doing this over the years and have made so many good memories!

We found it!

The blind mosquitos were so bad.  They don't bite.  They just fly around and drive you crazy.  I tried to get a good pic of the kids, but they were swarmed!!

Since the mosquitos were so bad, we had the pool to ourselves.  Just call us brave! :o)

We finished the evening with Crazy Uno and ice cream.  What fun!