A Very Kind Gesture!

Yesterday, my husband came home with these:
What a nice treat at the end of a workday. He also had a very endearing card stating how much he loved me. It's these wonderful sporadic displays of love that I adore about him. I am so thankful to have found my one and only! Thanks honey, I love you.

Almost That Time Of Year Again!

It's getting down to the last few weeks of summer and the boys are not too happy about that! Oh well...summers just don't last as long (it seems). They like school, but they would rather just do their little bit of "summer school" and then get on with their day. Anyway, I have ordered almost all of my curriculum and should be getting it soon.

Braydon is doing preschool/kindergarten this year. We are using Sonlight and Handwriting Without Tears for him. I haven't purchased a math curriculum for him yet...I am still looking into them..thinking maybe Saxon, Singapore, or Horizons. (More research for me!)

David is going to do Sonlight for Bible, Literature/Reading, and History. We are using Christian Liberty Press Grammar and Spelling along with Apologia Science. He will still be doing Spanish and Health (Abeka), and of course, Math (Saxon). He will also be learning his way around the kitchen more and will be building an entire engine with his Dad.

I am excited to see how this year goes...last year was a sucess...so we will see!

Fun Day At The Fairgrounds!

Today, the boys and I went to a 4-H gathering/event at the Texarkana Fairgrounds. We had a blast! There was an entire day planned out of wonderful entertainment for the kiddos and myself. Here is some of the "coolness" we participated in:

• Shooting BB guns
• Flower planting
• Dog Training
• Livestock Showing
• Hunting Simulations
• Photography
• Cooking In the Kitchen
• Horse Maintenance
• Unlimited soft serve ice cream cones (the boys double fisted these at times!)

There were several other activities to participate in, we just were not able to fit them all in. We did have some monsoon-like rain at times, but we did not let that stop the good times! We were served lunch and all of this fun was...FREE!! Can you believe it?? Oh, and I entered a drawing and won fifty dollars....wowweee! Could this day be any better??

We did meet some fellow homeschoolers there and are delighted that they are going to be a part of our schooling experience this upcoming year...such wonderful people! What a blessing from God! The boys met some great new friends and traded emails/phone numbers so they could stay in contact since we live farther away than just down the road.

It was another great day for the Smiths!

Mastering A Couple Of Consonant Blends!

Finally, the day has come! Braydon has figured out the ST and the SM sound...yeah! We constantly were working on this, but it was just not something that was clicking with him. We were in our bedroom the other night just working on saying some words correctly....and BAM...he did it. No more fmell, fmart, fop it!, or finky. (Smell, smart, stop it, and stinky,) Now, we are still working on the TH sound....maybe it will come with time just like the others. He can now partly say his last name. It was Braydon Fis....now we have graduated to Braydon Smif! I will take what I can get.

Other progress for Braydon:

He can write almost all of his letters (uppercase only)
Writes his name by memory (mastered this at 3...it is just looking nicer now!)
Knows almost all of the letter sounds
Can write a few words from memory: (all uppercase)
Mema
Pepa
Papa
Mommy
Daddy
David
Nanny
Fargo
Jax
Hammy

He has asked so many times to write these out he has just remembered how they are spelled. I am in the process of teaching him how to read two and three letter words...so I will keep you posted....not too shabby for a four year old!

The Melodious Moments On David's Birthday!

Here are David and the singers at Papa Pablanos...he was quite embarrassed, but that is why we did it!!

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday...#13!

Happy birthday to our newly turned teenager! I cannot believe that David is thirteen already. It seems the time just flies by so quickly....but it has been great times. David is such a blessing to our family. I cannot imagine a day without seeing his smile or hearing his contagious giggles.

He is going to buy a laptop with his saved money and the birthday cash he has coming in. He is very excited and he already has his comparison shopping list written out so he is able to find the best bang for his buck. I hope he finds what he wants!

Happy birthday, Squisheroo! I love you bunches!
Mom

First Swim Of The Season.

We had already been swimming for quite a while last year, but all of the high volume rain put a damper on our aquatic adventures thus far.

We finally were able to take the plunge on Saturday after fixing all of the chemicals and getting everything else into working order. It was a blast of fun. Has anyone ever realized how non-relaxing swimming with three boys is?? Well it is, but we had fun watching the goofballs indulge.

Check them out: