Brotherly Love....

TJ and Ali are hanging out with us this weekend, so the boys have had a male bonding day. They went to the hardware store, auto parts store, and Blockbuster. They've played, fought, made up, grilled burgers, and now this.....

Nuf' said. :)

We are.....DONE!!!!!

Woohoo!!! We are done with school for the year! We have really enjoyed our "Adventure" through the 50 states and we have all learned so much....but it is really nice to be able to say that we're done! :) The last assignment that they had was to write a letter to President Bush. Some of the moms on our curriculum message boards said that every letter to the President gets a letter in return, so we'll let you know if we get one! They both listed some of the things we have learned about, and shared which state was their favorite....Kelsey-Virginia, home of Felicity, and Abby-Georgia....home of us! :) Some of our most memorable state facts have been the silly laws that are still on the books in some states. If you are ever in Kentucky....please remember that it is illegal to carry an ice cream cone in one's pocket....which unless you're my sister and you're trying to sneak a fudgesicle to a baseball game....that one really shouldn't be a problem. (Sorry Ali....I couldn't resist!) Also, if you are ever considering moving to Kentucky, you need to be aware that the law requires residents to bathe at least once a year. Can you imagine how stinky Kentucky must have been for them to take the time to make that into a law?!? Our favorite silly law state was probably Louisiana. It is against the law to rob a bank and then shoot at the bank teller with a water pistol. So, I guess as long as you're not carrying a water pistol...robbing a bank is not a problem?? Also, please be aware that in New Orleans, the law prohibits tying your pet alligator to a fire hydrant. So, feel free to walk through town with him on a leash....just stay away from the fire hydrants! :)

The girls worked on their United States notebooks all year, and they turned out great! They love looking through them to see all that we have accomplished this year.

Happy First Day of Summer Vacation!!!

Uncle TJ Is A World Series Champion!

My brother, TJ, plays for the Greater Gwinnett Christian Barons baseball team. This week they travelled to Pensacola, FL to play in the 2008 HWSA World Series Tournament. After a week of great games, his team won their 6th World Series title on Thursday afternoon. Even though we could not be there, we were able to listen to the whole game online on the Christian Internet Sports Network. We had family members in four time zones listening or watching to the game at the same time! This was TJ's first time to play in the tournament, and he did great! He went 5 for 7 and had THE bunt of the week. Congratulations Barons!!

Recital Weekend

This weekend was my girls' ballet recital. This year, they did Beth Moore's story, My Child, My Princess. After last year's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, this was a piece of cake! :) We weren't there near as many hours for rehearsal or today for the actual recital (although some of you reading this were not quite so lucky today....so sorry!!). It was kind of a strange year throughout the ballet studio. There were LOTS of last minute injuries, sicknesses, and a few families that had a death in their family just in the past two weeks. One girl even danced today with two broken arms! In spite of it all, they all had a great time and danced very well. Here are a few pictures:

This is Abby's ballet class. She is in the pink in the top row.


This is Kelsey's and Abby's Worship class. They are in the middle.



After recital pictures: This is Caleb with his friend Layna. They have been friends since they were born. They play SO well together. He brought her flowers today....they were SO cute together!! :) Of course after he gave them to her, her daddy pulled Caleb aside for a 'man to man' talk!


Abby and Kelsey after the recital.


Kelsey and Abby with their friends Emma and Abbie.


This is both girls in their worship dance. When the four girls come to the stage at the beginning, Abby and Kelsey are the 2 on the left of your screen. Both of these videos are from rehearsal yesterday.


Abby's Tap Dance.

It's Raining....

It's raining right now. It started around lunch time and isn't supposed to stop until late tonight. This is the time of year when my kids spend hours outside, so the thought of being inside all day was enough to motivate me to swap our free time to the morning and school time to the afternoon! So, after breakfast and chores, we headed out. They had a great time playing with and creating a home for a worm family....

Digging in the dirt......

Checking out the growth of the peaches.....

And chasing the cat into the street (bet you can't guess who was doing that!)......

After lunch, we got started with our school work for the day. For the past two weeks, we've been talking about words and Jesus being THE Word. One of their assignments for today was to spend a predetermined amount of time with activities that do not require words or communication of any kind. So....no reading, writing, talking, computer, music, or TV. Hmmmm. It took them a few minutes to think of things they could do, and then we set the timer. The teacher's guide suggested an hour, but we went for 20 minutes in an effort to set a reasonable amount of time for my non-stop talking boy to be quiet! They sat all together at the table with coloring and Moon Sand, and they did great! It was a great way for them to see how often we rely on words throughout the day. As a follow up to that activity, tonight we are going to watch the Miracle Worker. We're waiting for daddy to get home since he's NEVER seen any version of it. So, all in all, it has been a fun stay-at-home, rainy kind of day! :)

An Early Mother's Day

I got an early Mother's Day surprise today. Two weeks ago, I found a refurbished WonderMill on Ebay. I've been using my mom's mill for the past year, but if we're going to commit to this bread baking thing....it was time to have my own mill. We decided to get it, and I told Michael that it would be my Mother's Day gift. We decided to go ahead and let the kids wrap it so they could feel like they had a part in it. So...it came today, and when he came home from work he was super antsy to wrap it and let them give it to me NOW. He kept saying how excited HE was for me to be able to use it. Ok....it's a MILL. I was excited to get it, but I thought it was a little strange that he was so excited about it. So, they wrapped it up, and brought it to me. I opened it and started to take it out. Then they informed me that there was something missing. The next thing I know, Michael is bringing out another large box. He got me a stand mixer too!! I have been wanting one for years!! So here is what my counter looks like now.



That's my bread machine in the middle. I am SO going to need a big kitchen when we move. :)

Sheep Shearing

We recently had the opportunity to attend the annual "From Sheep to Shawl" event at the Atlanta History Center. We watched a ram being sheared, and then we were able to see demonstrations of carding, spinning, dying, and weaving. It came at a great time as we had just finished reading "Mountain Born". Ok, I have to say, out of all the read-alouds we've done this year, this was by FAR my least favorite and the hardest to get through. However, that being said, I am really glad we did it. While we were reading it, we were learning about Jesus being our shepherd, and the book did a wonderful job of painting the picture of what a shepherd actually is and does. It's amazing to think of Jesus taking care of us like that. So, once again, in what was supposed to be a lesson for my kids....mom learned a lot as well! It was a good reminder that even during this time of waiting....He is still leading us and keeping us from the wrong path. SO....back to the shearing. That was very interesting to watch. They sit the sheep up on their backsides, so all their legs are sticking straight out (unfortunately this angle also provided a fabulous chance for an anatomy lesson for my son..."Mom, what is THAT???"). Anyway.....they begin shearing at the shoulder, and if they know what they're doing, the wool comes off in one big piece.



The sheep are amazingly calm and still through the whole process. The blacksmith told us that sitting them back like that, kind of paralyzes them a little bit so they don't try to move. The ram that we saw sheared produces enough wool each year to make 5 sweaters! It was a ton of wool! We finished our time there with a walk through the garden at the history center. We had been through it in the winter, but it was gorgeous this time of year. It was a beautiful day (I'm pretty sure that was the weekend our family in the NW had several inches of snow!!) and we had a great time together!