Still here....

I know it's been a while since I've blogged. Life is busy, but life is good! We've had a good summer. We took a little vacation to the coast right before summer and then most of the summer has been spent close to home. Tom's still working alot with the two jobs so we make the most of the times we are all together and have enjoyed ourselves. Our favorite times of this summer are the many trips to the river with friends and BBQ's together. It's so enjoyable to relax and enjoy each others company. We are blessed!

We are preparing to start back up with school soon. The kids are excited so mommy needs to get started on the lesson plans for the year. They've been playing "school" alot these days which is telling me they are ready to get back into our routine. I absolutely love how unique all four of the kiddos are. They all have special interests and it's fun to watch them teach each other about their favorite things. This morning Tyler was teaching Hallie about many of the Presidents (his favorite subject is History). He has a poster with all the presidents on it and he has flashcards of each of the presidents and he will lay them all over the floor and make up games with it. I'll say...find Ronald Reagan....he'll point to him etc. We have a game that lists several facts about each President and they have to guess who I'm talking about and I'm just amazed at how many of them Tyler gets right. Honestly, he knows more than I do! And he's SIX years old!! =)I love finding the things that they love and finding whatever I can to encourage them with that. It's a joy to watch them love to learn. Ryan loves bugs. If we see a bug...we ask Ryan what it is and he always knows. =) He's a little math whiz too. Bradley's favorite subject has always been reading. We set aside quite a bit of time every day for reading and on the days we've been too busy, he really misses it and grabs a book the first chance he can get. He just finished up another series for the summer. I can hardly keep up with him...I try to keep him all stocked up with good books. He's one that likes to go in order and so I find him a series and he'll work on until he's done before moving on to the next series. I've been blessed to find some great resources with homeschooling where I've found some really great books for him to read. I'm so thankful he loves it so much. Hallie is as cute as ever. She turned 4 in July. It's hard to believe my baby is really 4. She keeps up with the boys and is such a happy girl!

Bradley went to a birthday party last week and was gone for about 7 hours and that was probably the longest the kids have been apart in a long time and it was so cute to see them reunite...I could tell they all missed each other. Hallie had fallen asleep in the van when we went to go pick up Bradley and he got in the car and went straight over to her and gave her a sweet kiss on her cheek as she was sleeping. Melted this mommy's heart. We had taken the other three kiddos to the dollar theater for some special time with Mommy and Daddy while Bradley had his special time with friends. Ryan and Tyler were so giddy talking at the same time trying to tell Bradley all about the movie they saw. He was laughing listening to them explain everything. It was cute! We ended letting the kids have a slumber party in the familyroom that night. They were so happy to be together again. It was precious. It was a good reminder of why I homeschool...I love that they still get so much time together. It's SO worth the work and the hard days!! I will have to come back and read this when those days come to remind me. =)

Hallie will be going back to preschool for her 2nd year. She LOVES it! Bradley, Ryan and Tyler will all get to go to Monday School together this year. Ryan and Tyler are really looking forward to getting to go this year. Bradley will love having them there. I am looking forward to another year of homeschooling. I feel honored to get to stay home with the kids. I really enjoy watching them interact together. We are blessed with four wonderful kids!

I posted a few videos from this year...trying to get caught up....