Happy 14 months Alex & Jordan

What can be said about you at 14 months?

BUSY!!

You are both so incredibly adventurous and so amazingly sweet and snuggly.

Let it be said, I love this age!

A few more things:

Starting to say a few words.

Jordan: hat, what's that? OOOOOh!, Ma, Da

Alex: what's that? Ma, Da

{Alex}

Happy!

Giggly!

{Jordan}

You still enjoy 2 naps, or 1 rest and 1 nap.

You both still nurse frequently. Not quite sure how I will wean as I have never had to do it. The other kids self weaned.

{Jordan}

You both love to play outside.

You enjoy drives in the car.

{Alex}

Signing: Eat! more, thank you, please, milk

Climbing extremely well.

Running!

Love to give hugs and kisses.

Extremely vocal and LOUD!

First Day of (Home)School

We're back at it again in another exciting year of homeschooling with two official students. Our last year was more successful and enjoyable than I could have imagined so now after a few quiet weeks we are ready to get back into our routine. We have a lot of great activities planned and I am looking forward to seeing the kids move forward and develop.

There is a strong group of homeschoolers up here and it is neat to see how we can come together and support one another. Aiden and Caileigh will be attending art classes this year. They will be learning about proper art techniques as well as about famous artists of history. In exchange for these classes, I will be taking my younger three and another child to a "Tumble Time" class. It will be great for the little ones to have their own time to be active, especially during the winter months. I am also going to be offering Highland Dance classes in the spring for a small group of kids while the moms watch my little ones. I like being able to trade our talents and skills.

I'm expanding a lot of our subjects this year and am hoping that the kids enjoy the diverse range of topics. I've broken the year into 3 terms and besides our core subjects like math, science, language arts, etc., we'll be focusing on different experiences each term. First term includes a world study and we kicked off today with learning about Egypt. We read a little, located Egypt on our large world map, baked Egyptian Cake, prayed for the needs of the country and watched a travel video. Tomorrow we'll go to the library and check out books on Egypt and continue our study throughout the week. I am hoping that this will give the kids a better world view and appreciation for others.

I look forward to seeing where the year takes us!!

A little morning play

Happy 8th Anniversary Sean.

(Thanks for watching the kids tonight Grandma! Dinner was fabulous.)

Yesterday we went on an adventure to visit with a family that I met through the local homeschool group. They live out in rural country and we figured it was about 100 miles round trip. (I know I should be talking in km. but everything is counted in miles around here!) We had a wonderful time getting to feed and pet the chickens, exploring all the little cabins and petting the horses. The kids spent their time pretending they were characters from Little House on the Prairie. Even Ma (Grandma) had a wonderful time

A stop at Green Lake on the way home.

"Jordan the fearless" heading down the slide. Over. And over. And over.

Alex is spending his time figuring out how to go up the slide.

Some More Before/After

Living room Before

Living Room After (forgive mess......didn't bother cleaning 1st)

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

A little bit of today.....

Spring Lake

Back in December, we went to Spring Lake Ranch for Mikayla's 2nd birthday. Today we ventured back for horse back riding. The older three loved getting the chance to ride a beautiful horse named Tex. After their solo rides, the whole family went on a horse drawn wagon ride and got to enjoy the beautiful sights of Spring Lake. After the horse ride we were treated to a hot dog roast at the lake's edge.

We came home and roasted marshmallows and then put the kids to bed in the motor home. We have spent a lot of time and discussion trying to decide if we were going to go camping this year with the kids. Our final decision has involved waiting a year. When Mikayla was still going strong at 10 pm and the boys had each been awake twice, we realized our decision was a good one. Mikayla is now tucked in her room, the boys are asleep in theirs and Sean and the older two are sleeping out in the motor home. I am about to stretch out in our bed and enjoy our night of "camping".

{Photo compliments of Aiden}

Watching the horses with great interest {Alex/Jordan}

Dinner time! {Alex/Jordan}

Check out the horse in this shot!!