Fun Times

We have had a lot of fun the last month.  First up was our Family Fun Night at our church last month.  We had a chili/pie baking contest.  The kids can dress up if the want to.  Of course....most kids want to!  Lulu made two chocolate sundae pies.  They were yummy, yummy.  She won a prize they were so good!  It was a great evening of fellowshipping with our church family.

Lulu went as Princess Leonore from the Medieval Dinner Show.

Monkey went as Padmae when she married Annikan.

Lil went as SuperGirl!

Three very beautiful little girls if I do say so!!!

Next up on our fun list was a night out bowling.  We had never taken all three girls bowling before.  This was Lil's first time ever.  They all had so much fun.  Their Papaw is a big bowler and James used to be as well.  So needless to say they liked it.  They told their Papaw last weekend when James and I were away for the evening that they wanted to go bowling with him.

Last week we had our annual Thanksgiving Feast Day at co-op.  We love our co-op.  God has blessed our group with a terrific leader and with wonderful Christian families.  It is a strength to me to know that I have women at my fingertips that I can go to with questions and for support.  Anyway back to Feast Day... this year's theme was prairie days.  Since my girls love all things Little House on the Prairie this was perfect for them.  I managed to come up with dresses, aprons, and bonnets for all three.  (Not the best aprons and bonnets, but I tried)  We have several stations set up for the kids to travel to and learn about different aspects of living during that time period. 

Lil was practicing a leaf rubbing.  They also did potato prints.

At this station the kids learned about living without electricity and all the luxuries we live with today.  They listened to a story.  How sweet that Lil is in Lulu's lap!

Here is Monkey at my station.  We talked about how hard it was to get food.  The kids got to crack corn, grind applesauce, and crack nuts.  Thanks to James, some of the boys even got to try their had at using flint and steel.

I hope everyone has a very blessed Thanksgiving.  I know that I will.  I am already extremely blessed. 

Couple's Retreat....Well One Couple Anyway

Friday night was a couple's retreat for our church.  Well, it was supposed to be anyway.  We had plans to go to Natural Bridge State Park and spend the night in the lodge fellowshiping with other couples.  Due to various circumstances the other couples could not attend. 

James and I have not been for a night away since Lulu was born.  That's nine years in case you were wondering.  The only time we have spent the night away from home without the girls is when I was in the hospital giving birth to the next one.  So we were  not about to cancel our plans.  The girls were spending the night at Papaw and Nana's house, going out for pizza, and bowling.  So we could not have told them plans changed either.  They were very excited about their night away as well.

So off we went.  As soon as we left our van started sputtering.  It has been doing this for awhile now.  But this time it was much worse.  We kept driving and contemplating turning around.  James pulled over and looked at it.  Once we started driving again it had quit.  So away we went. 

We had a great time just the two of us.  Yesterday morning we went hiking.  I was very surprised at how many other people were out hiking in the snow too.  We found Grey's Arch.  We had looked for this arch three times.  When all the leaves are on the trees it is hidden unless you know where it is. 

Happy Birthday Monkey

Monkey is 7 today!  My babies keep growing and growing.  Her birthday starts the two month spread of all five of our birthdays.

She was excited because she got the day off school.  We ran errands and went to the dentist.  Two fillings is probably not the best birthday present she ever received !  She is used to them unfortunately.  Monkey chose chicken pot pie for her birthday meal.  Her daddy brought her home a little cake for us to enjoy after dinner.  She is having her party tomorrow night with all her friends.  I will update about the party with pictures sometime this weekend. 

Happy birthday sweet girl!  I love you!!!

Time Passes So Quickly

Life sure gets in the way sometimes, doesn't it?  I have so many things I want to share but can never seem to find the time to post.  I have also wanted to change the style of my blog around for awhile now.  I am not sure if I like this new design yet.  I will leave it up for a few days and see how if it has grown on me at all.  There are more changes I want to make.

Anyway...on to the updates.  School is going really well for us this year.  I am seeing big results this year.  Monkey has busted forth with her reading abilities.  She took a reading assessment test this week and scored a reading level in the 9th month of 4th grade.  I am so proud of her!  Monkey is in 2nd grade at home, but she is only 6!!!  I have not given Lulu a reading assessment for a long time.  I will try to do one with her next week and she where she scores. 

Both girls are doing really well in math this year too.  Lulu is sailing through multiplication.  She began division this week along with a more in-depth look at fractions.  She finally likes math.  RightStart Mathematics is a great program. 

Lil can recognize A and M.  We are learning E this week.  She knows 1, 2, 3, and 4.  School is a lot easier with her this year.  And I am happy to be able to say that she is not spending her time watching movies.  She is either working on something in the schoolroom or playing with her toys in her room.  I have seen so much growth, dare I say maturity, in her over the past few months. 

I have lots of pictures to post soon.  I had planned on doing that tonight, but my computer will not recognize my SD card at the moment.

We Won!!!

I'm so excited right now!   And so are my girls!!!!

Last month I entered them in a drawing for a FREE American Girl Doll.  They have really gotten into American Girl in the past few months.  Lulu got the Julie series for Christmas from Poppy and Georgia last year.  She is reading through them now.  So her favorite doll is Julie.  Monkey likes Molly.  She has one of her books and checks the other ones out at the library.  Lil says she likes Julie...I wonder why?

Anyway....back to the FREE doll.  For those of you not familiar with AG dolls, they are expensive.  $105! 

The lady called me from the bookstore just a little while ago to let me know that we won the Kit doll.  They were running the contest around the opening of the movie.  I hope it goes to the dollar movies soon.  I'm sure the girls will want to see it for sure now. 

So I'm guessing that school will go smoothly for us today.  They have a great incentive for getting done quickly.

Now I just have to be in much prayer.  How do three little girls share one new doll?

One Week Down

We just completed our first week of school!  The girls had a good time this week and so did I.  It was nice to get back into a routine.  The routine still needs some tweeking and a few things added to it but nice none the less.

Monkey flew through her week of phonics.  She is reading so much better.  I really think all the reading for fun over the summer did it.  Now for Bible her and Lulu have been taking turns reading our selection for the day.  Lulu reads from the Old Testament one day and Monkey reads from the New Testament the next.  It is working out really well.   Math also went well for both girls. 

Lil has been wanting to do her school work each day too.  She has done some of her activity bags, a sequencing page, painting, and handwriting.  Last year when I would try to get her to do some pre-writing worksheets she would just scribble on them.  She had no desire to follow the dotted lines.  This time, though, she did really well at tracing the lines.  She is very excited about her work.  This week we are going to start on the letter A.  I want her to be able to recognize the letters and their sounds.  Lil is going to be making an ABC Notebook this year.   She is 3 1/2 so all of this will be done as her desire stays with it.  If she does not want to or looses interest we will put it away for another day. 

JBQ will be starting soon for Lulu and Monkey.  They are looking forward to it this year.  We have just briefly begun to review the 10 point questions.  Lulu will also be learning 20 point questions this year.  We have to really get started on those.  Their first match will not be until the first of October.  So we only have about five weeks. 

I hope everyone has a great start to their school year.

Three Girls and a Boy

Last week my niece, B, went home and her brother, Junior (as my husband lovingly called him all week),  came to visit.  The girls hated to see B go home.  Lulu told her she could just live with us and be her big sister.  It was sweet.  But as much as they hated her leaving, they were equally excited for Junior to be here.

The first thing they did to the poor boy was do his hair.  I was very proud of him.  Not many 13 year old boys would let three little girls put hair bows in his hair.  Junior just sat there with the occasional "Ouch".  To protect his coolness I won't post any pictures of the outcome...although I do have the pictures for the future if necessary!

We were able to take the kids to the Louisville Science Center.  When we got there we were happy to find out that the Car Art Festival was going on right outside the science center.  There were some pretty crazy looking cars there.  My favorite one was the red telephone.  It was really cool on the inside too.

When we left we saw this great mirror wall.  It was concave in shape with lots of mirrors attached.  The results were some neat echoes and really cool pictures.

This past weekend my Dad and his girlfriend came to visit.  When they left on Sunday they took Junior home with them.  The girls, once again, hated to see him go.  He and his sister do not start school until the 26th, so they have two more weeks of summer left.  But while my Dad was here their hotel had a pool. My girls are really improving on their ability to swim.  Lulu has gotten the freestyle technique down.  She is doing really well.  She also loves to go underwater.  Monkey is the doggie paddle queen.  She is starting to do the freestyle but only with one arm.  She also loves to go underwater.  This is huge for her.  Only about a year ago and she would have a fit if water got on her face.  It was very fun washing her hair the first 5 years of her life!  Then there is our fish....Lil.  Lil can swim the whole length of the pool with no help...at 3 years old.  She loves every aspect of the water.  She has her own technique.  I'm not even quite sure what to call it, but it works.  They had a great time.