Happy Birthday, Aunt Jill!

We had a great day with Aunt Jill today. We started it by going to Kent park and walking the trail around the lake. The girls love Jill's dog, Ellie, and had a great time walking with her.

Here are some pictures:

After our walk and lunch, we pulled off a little surprise birthday party for Jill. Most of her family and some friends were at our house when we got back and we celebrated. The girls LOVED being able to yell "surprise" when she came in the house and probably enjoyed it even more than Aunt Jill! Happy Birthday, Jill. We love you!

Back to School...ummm, I mean Home!

Happy first day of School!! We started a bit early (Thursday, Aug. 9th), but that's the beauty of homeschooling...you make up your own schedule! We were ready, Craig was at volleyball practice all day, so why not go ahead and start! Plus, we do better on a routine and summer was starting to get to us.
(Can you tell the sun was shining brightly in the picture below?  Sorry, girls.)

Ashlyn is in 1st grade this year. It will be interesting to see how she does with school this year. I'm hoping she can work a bit more independently, and I think she's off to a good start (at least what I've seen from the first two days).

Jaclyn is in 3rd grade this year. I've already noticed a jump in expectations for her within her curricula. More problems to do and smaller print! But that's o.k., she can handle it!

And Kendall is still 2! She's such a joy, but some days she makes schooling hard. She so much wants to be involved in school, so I'm trying to help her by getting ready some "schoolwork" that she can do. Problem is, she still needs help with a lot of it and she's done in 3 minutes, so it hasn't yet worked out quite like I'd hoped. That's o.k., we've only had 2 days. Hopefully we'll see improvement.

Homeschooling is certainly an adventure! Some days are great and some days are hard, but I've no doubt that this is the plan that God has for us right now. I'm looking forward to the year and what all of us will learn in the process.

High Divin' Fun!

I really didn't think they'd do it.

Jaclyn has been talking about going off the high dive ever since she passed the little swimming test and went off the regular diving board about 2 weeks ago. Of course, Ashlyn followed directly behind her sister, passing the swimming test (mostly by dog-paddling) and also jumping off the diving board. She said she was going to go off the high dive too, but I really didn't believe her. Well, last week we went to the pool and right away both girls went over to the diving boards. Sure enough, Jaclyn jumped off the high dive. And, once Ashlyn saw Jaclyn do it, she did it too! Ashlyn did a little bit of a belly flop the first time, so I wasn't sure that she would do it again, but she did!

I'm very proud of both of them for their courage!!

Sewing Class #1

Jaclyn and Ashlyn were able to take a sewing class last week and loved it!   Three sweet grandmas were there to teach them and they had a great time making these pillow cases and practicing stitching.  Hopefully we can do this on a regular basis.  Of course, now they're asking for a sewing machine.  Oh my!

Cousin Time!

THIS is the most wonderful time of the year....

Yes, for my girls, this is the highest point of their summer.  They absolutely LOVE their cousins, and we are very blessed that they continue to visit us year after year. 

We had a great week full of swimming, shopping, and playing the Wii!  It usually takes the girls a couple days to recover, but it's well worth it.  :)

4th of July, 2012

Happy 4th of July!

Boy, was it HOT!! We endured the heat and went to the parade anyway, and it actually wasn't too bad. Thanks to our friends, we had a spot where we could park the van along the parade route and have a little shade, so that worked out wonderfully. Add the joy of dumping water bottles over your head (not mine, but the girls') and you have a pretty good time! After the parade we cooled off with ice cream and swimming, so it was a great day.

Summer Piano Recital!

Ashlyn had her first piano recital this summer! Both of the girls participated in a June recital and did very well. I was very proud of them.

Ashlyn got right up there with no hesitation and performed her songs.  She continues to thrive at the piano and loves to make up new endings or parts for the songs.  Her teacher is very patient and encourages creativity, so we are very thankful for that!  She allowed Ashlyn to add a harmony part for one of her songs, and she did a great job with it.  You can get a glimpse of her excitement in the 2nd picture.  It was fun for me to watch her.

Jaclyn also did a fantastic job! She is learning more and more all the time and starting to get into more challenging songs. Challenges can be difficult, but there's no better way to teach perseverance (a word that we use a lot in our house these days!).

Congratulations to both of you on a job well done!!