Everything Under the Son
Because JESUS is my everything
Spring is here!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Ah, yes! Spring is here and the weather is absolutely beautiful. We have been trying to spend time outside, soaking up the warm weather before summer hits and it is too hot to be out. It's west Texas, so I have no doubts the summer will be full of HOT, HOT, HOT!
We've been busy as usual, living, laughing, and learning together. Here are some pictures of the highlights:
Natalie has a new love....Blue! As most of you know, she rides as much as she possibly can, and recently got to ride Blue. She was immediately in love with this beautiful horse and the way he walks, trots, and lopes. Just look at that smile :)
She turned nine at the end of March...yes, you read that right. My baby girl is NINE YEARS OLD!! When did this happen, and how did I miss it?? In many ways it seems like she was just a tiny baby yesterday, but in other ways she is nine going on twenty. Here is my girl on her ninth birthday sporting her new dress boots, and posing with Elvis.
As a nine-year-old, Natalie loves to ride horses, mow the lawn, hang out at my parent's farm, play with my sister's baby goat (Annie), and read, read, read! I'm so thankful for her love of all things outdoors...she is truly a farm girl to the core of her being. Hopefully someday we will have our own place in the country where she can be wild and free! I am also so thankful for the library. That girl reads so much, there is no way I can keep up with her. Thankfully, the library swoops in to the rescue with a plethora of free reading material. Any clean and age appropriate reading suggestions are welcome...we struggle finding things that are appropriate content since she reads so far beyond her level.
Here is a picture of Natalie at her birthday dinner at Nathaniel's parent's house. Doesn't she look so grown up here??
Levi had a birthday, too! Baby boy is now six, and amazingly smart in Math. No, he did NOT get that from me! Ha! At six, Levi loves all things LEGO, playing in the sandbox, playing at the farm, Annie the goat, work in the garden, and making jokes. He keeps us laughing constantly! Again, an outdoors loving boy has us hoping to someday live on our own little farm, complete with chickens and goats, and a great big garden.
Here is a picture of Levi with his mouse puppet. We were reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and he made this adorable little mouse to help him retell the story.
For both of the kids' birthdays, we gave them the option of a small party, or a small trip. Lucky for me, they both chose the trip, so we spent a couple of days at Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate. My mom accompanied us, and my sister met us there the second night. The kids had a fantastic time swimming and completing the Magiquest games. As you can see from the smiles, a good time was had by all :)
We have also been busy wrapping up our school year. Both of the kids have already finished their math for the year, and Natalie has completed her Grammar as well. Just a few more weeks and we will be finished with everything for the summer. To help motivate us to read throughout the summer, I have made fun Reading Challenges...complete with a challenge board and stickers! The kids will read books (Levi will read aloud to me, Nathaniel, or Natalie and Natalie will have to read books with more that 150 pages for the book to count) and for every five they complete, there is a small reward. Rewards include a sugar free sno-cone, a picnic, a new book, renting a Redbox movie, going bowling, etc. I am figuring they will each complete five books per week, so it won't be as though we have to cash in for a reward every day. The end goal for the whole summer is 50 books!! If they reach that goal, we will head out to the movies, complete with popcorn!
Here are their charts, made differently simply because I had so much fun doing them!! :)
In other news, we are still enjoying our new eating lifestyle...very few carbs and sugar. Several have wondered what kinds of things we eat, so I have taken pictures of a couple of our meals.
Meatloaf Stuffed Bell Peppers, made in the crockpot. These are super duper easy and delicious!
Happy Cow steak (meaning grass-fed, hormone free), roasted asparagus, and sesame brie bites (brie cheese rolled in sesame seeds and baked until seeds are toasty...delicious!!)
I have also been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and I have been walking in the evenings. Not a flattering picture, but here is me just in from a sweaty walk. It's a great time to think or just listen to some tunes without interruption...me time.
Hope that catches you up on the fun around here. There's much more I could post, but it will have to wait until another time. I have a garden to tend to, plants to water, papers to grade, supper to cook, laundry to fold, floors to clean, and a family to love! Blessed...yes, I am extremely blessed!
We've been busy as usual, living, laughing, and learning together. Here are some pictures of the highlights:
Natalie has a new love....Blue! As most of you know, she rides as much as she possibly can, and recently got to ride Blue. She was immediately in love with this beautiful horse and the way he walks, trots, and lopes. Just look at that smile :)
She turned nine at the end of March...yes, you read that right. My baby girl is NINE YEARS OLD!! When did this happen, and how did I miss it?? In many ways it seems like she was just a tiny baby yesterday, but in other ways she is nine going on twenty. Here is my girl on her ninth birthday sporting her new dress boots, and posing with Elvis.
As a nine-year-old, Natalie loves to ride horses, mow the lawn, hang out at my parent's farm, play with my sister's baby goat (Annie), and read, read, read! I'm so thankful for her love of all things outdoors...she is truly a farm girl to the core of her being. Hopefully someday we will have our own place in the country where she can be wild and free! I am also so thankful for the library. That girl reads so much, there is no way I can keep up with her. Thankfully, the library swoops in to the rescue with a plethora of free reading material. Any clean and age appropriate reading suggestions are welcome...we struggle finding things that are appropriate content since she reads so far beyond her level.
Here is a picture of Natalie at her birthday dinner at Nathaniel's parent's house. Doesn't she look so grown up here??
Levi had a birthday, too! Baby boy is now six, and amazingly smart in Math. No, he did NOT get that from me! Ha! At six, Levi loves all things LEGO, playing in the sandbox, playing at the farm, Annie the goat, work in the garden, and making jokes. He keeps us laughing constantly! Again, an outdoors loving boy has us hoping to someday live on our own little farm, complete with chickens and goats, and a great big garden.
Here is a picture of Levi with his mouse puppet. We were reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and he made this adorable little mouse to help him retell the story.
For both of the kids' birthdays, we gave them the option of a small party, or a small trip. Lucky for me, they both chose the trip, so we spent a couple of days at Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate. My mom accompanied us, and my sister met us there the second night. The kids had a fantastic time swimming and completing the Magiquest games. As you can see from the smiles, a good time was had by all :)
We have also been busy wrapping up our school year. Both of the kids have already finished their math for the year, and Natalie has completed her Grammar as well. Just a few more weeks and we will be finished with everything for the summer. To help motivate us to read throughout the summer, I have made fun Reading Challenges...complete with a challenge board and stickers! The kids will read books (Levi will read aloud to me, Nathaniel, or Natalie and Natalie will have to read books with more that 150 pages for the book to count) and for every five they complete, there is a small reward. Rewards include a sugar free sno-cone, a picnic, a new book, renting a Redbox movie, going bowling, etc. I am figuring they will each complete five books per week, so it won't be as though we have to cash in for a reward every day. The end goal for the whole summer is 50 books!! If they reach that goal, we will head out to the movies, complete with popcorn!
Here are their charts, made differently simply because I had so much fun doing them!! :)
In other news, we are still enjoying our new eating lifestyle...very few carbs and sugar. Several have wondered what kinds of things we eat, so I have taken pictures of a couple of our meals.
Meatloaf Stuffed Bell Peppers, made in the crockpot. These are super duper easy and delicious!
Happy Cow steak (meaning grass-fed, hormone free), roasted asparagus, and sesame brie bites (brie cheese rolled in sesame seeds and baked until seeds are toasty...delicious!!)
I have also been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and I have been walking in the evenings. Not a flattering picture, but here is me just in from a sweaty walk. It's a great time to think or just listen to some tunes without interruption...me time.
Hope that catches you up on the fun around here. There's much more I could post, but it will have to wait until another time. I have a garden to tend to, plants to water, papers to grade, supper to cook, laundry to fold, floors to clean, and a family to love! Blessed...yes, I am extremely blessed!
posted by Anne, 3:48 PM
2 Comments:
Looks like y'all are having fun! I have been thinking about you! Thanks for posting the pics of your meals. All look yummy! I saw an adorable little girl and was trying to figure out why I thought I knew her when it dawned on me -- she looked just like Natalie! Miss you guys!
How are your kids so big? Seriously. Tho Natalie has been working on being 16 for some time now. :) Love you guys.
