Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Chick Fil A appreciation day

It is no secret around here that I love Chick Fil A. They are my absolute hands down fave fast food restaurant. I love the food, the customer service is phenomenal, and the company is based on a Christian foundation. I feel like this shows throughout all they do.

I wanted to pass on this event to every one. Aug 1 is Chick Fil A appreciation day. Feel free to check out the info. We will be going to our local CFA in support and because we love us some chicken!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Summer break

I haven't been blogging nearly as much lately. We have been busy enjoying summer break. I wanted to share a few pictures since I didn't have time to do full posts on all our happenings.

Memorial Day weekend our friend Melissa showed off her mad face painting skills. It was crazy hot and the paint was starting to melt, but we at least got a picture to document the fun.
 My Kindergarten graduate. He is so big and handsome.
Brotherly love.
 Mommy and Bubba
 Little man getting big
Being silly
 Isaac played upward soccer this year, and Daddy coached his team.
Staying hydrated
Me and my boys at my baby sister (in law)'s wedding.
 My brother in law, Tim and I
 Bible Bearer
Mommy and Little Man
 The happy couple cutting the cake.
We also got to meet my beautiful niece. Seriously. Prettiest. Baby. EVER. She is so sweet and I hate that we live so far away. I love, love, love her. It was great to see her parents, too.  :)
Bubba was using his skills with the ladies. He was the ring bearer and he was bound and determined to kiss the pretty little flower girl. :)
Some of our best friends came to visit. We had to get in our picture with all our kiddos. I love this group. I mean, seriously, I have gorgeous friends, and they have gorgeous kids. It was so fun to all be together again. 
Dan and I got the chance to go to camp for senior night this year. We love camp! We weren't able to go for the whole week, but we were able to hop down for senior night. I am so proud of this group. I love them all, and I am so excited to see what all God has for them. 
 We went to MI to visit family for the fourth of July. My Aunt and Uncle have a horse farm on the property my grandparents used to own. I love taking my boys to the farm. It is where I grew up going most weekends. They love seeing the animals.
 My uncle took the boys for a ride, let them help with the chickens, and see the baby calves. They loved it.
 My parents rented a lake cottage so there was lots of swimming. Isaac loved the water. He was in the lake most of the day each day.
 Bubba was a little more nervous of the water. He tried to find other ways to stay cool.
 Building sandcastles
 I babysat Miss Olivia when she was a newborn! Now she is playing with my kiddos.
 Levi with my mom
 They slept well after all the hard playing.
 Catching fish
They loved fishing. 

We've been going to parks. 
Spending time with friends.
Sleeping in and spending a full day in our PJs
We've gone to Cosi
 Had ice cream dates with the boys
We've gone to the drive in
We've caught fireflies
We've run through the sprinkler
We've had lots and lots of fun. 
 
I hope everyone is enjoying summer break. There is only a bit of it left. Have fun!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Christmas in July

Oh, it is that time of year again. School curriculum is starting to arrive! I love opening all the boxes and looking at all our materials. I love organizing and putting everything away. I love all the planning and prepping. It really is like Christmas. This year we have decided to stick with K12 . Isaac will be doing 1st grade. Most of his new materials arrived the other day. I am so excited about some of the fun stuff we will be doing this year. I thought I would share some of the fun stuff we get to use. Please excuse the blurry pictures.
Art: They sent oil pastels, tempera paints, clay, paintbrushes, paper, prints, and come look with me books. Isaac is so excited to have art class since we didn't do it for Kindergarten.

Music:  I am very curious to see what I think of the music program. I have heard mixed reviews from other parents. This seems like it is the least liked of all the subjects.
Science: This picture turned out really bad, but there is a lot of stuff that came in the science kit. There are some fun books, worksheets, seeds, a compass, thermometer, magnifying glass, feathers, graduated cylinder, a scale, and some other fun stuff.
Math: Lesson book, workbook, shapes, Base 10 kit, snap cubes, place value mat.
Language arts: lots of fun readers, Junior reader workbooks, lesson worksheets, and I don't have handwriting in the picture. They send you handwriting without tears books and paper. 
History: Most of the lessons for this are online, but this is one of Isaac's fave subjects. I don't have some of the CDs that are included in the kit in the picture.

Phonics: There is actually more in the kit than is shown in the picture, but a lot of the readers and such are put away. The tile kit is a fun way for kids to work on spelling and sounding out words. 

I decided to try K12 last year mostly because it was free. I wanted to see what it was and maybe get a few ideas. Once we started using the materials we realized it was a good fit for us. I like the traditional schoolwork feel. Isaac loves the computer aspect. I like having a checklist of what we need to know each year. It takes some of the self doubt out of the equation. I love the fact that all the lesson planning is done for me. There is minimal prep work involved, and my kids can move ahead at their own pace. The staff at K12 have been great. Isaac loved having a teacher he got to talk to on the phone. This has been a great fit for us. 

I do supplement a few things. We like to include Bible as a subject. I also have added extra handwriting and spelling work since we seem to move through those types of workbooks extra quick.  

So, that is our plan for the coming year. Any one else getting ready for the school year to begin?

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Cut off her HAIR!!

So, I have been growing out my hair for awhile now. I'm not sure how long exactly, but it is the longest it has been since I got married 8 years ago. However, I was getting to that place where it was bugging me. It was so long I was pulling my own hair when I sat back in a chair or it was in the way all the time so today I made a decision to chop it off. I wanted it to go to a good cause. So, it had to be an all or nothing kind of deal. This morning I woke up with this...

And now my hair looks like this...
I haven't had a chance to play with styling it much, but it sure does feel different. The girl was able to cut off two full ponytails (I have thick hair). So, locks of love will get my hair. I will start growing it out again and maybe in another year I will do this again. My one request was that I could pull it back in a ponytail. The girl that did it must not have hear that part. Oh well, my hair grows quickly. :)