Sweet Summertime

I was doing some cleaning the other day and found a baby bottle. I gave it to Kaderick and he looked at it so strange (he has never had one) so I told him, " It's a bottle." He repeated the word back to me, "bottle" and then looked real puzzled, reached back and pointed to his little backside and said, "bottle?" Poor baby, I think he got the words bottom and bottle mixed up!

Kayla had a classical CD on for a music class she is taking and Kammy told me that, "Classical music scares me--it sounds like Halloween!"  She really summed up my thoughts exactly. I know it's supposed to make you smart, but we are having too much fun being dumb country girls. Smile.

Kaderick is used to his sisters sighing and saying "Uh oh!" When he gets up in the morning, so the other day, he came bouncing out of the bedroom and said, "Uh oh! I up!"

He really likes that word and he likes to cause uh ohs. Anything that gets a reaction is good, whether it's turning chairs upside down or climbing on the table, or eating dirt or pulling hair or walking straight off of steps, or riding his horse standing up. He has a high pain tolerance and expects everyone else to as well.

We were getting ready to leave the house not long ago and suddenly Kaite said, "BRB (be right back) mommy, I have to to potty."

You could possibly tell from the picture above, that Kaderick and Kaite are only a few pounds difference in weight. Kade is at the top of all his growth charts! He has been having almost daily reactions the last couple of weeks, but it doesn't slow him down. I'm not sure if it's spring allergies, or due to us pushing a more varied diet.

Kammy wrote me the above note last week after her horse Annie threw me off. I thought it was quite sweet.

(Minor concussion and a busted rib--I'm gonna live.)

It's almost birthday time at our house again.....actually, today is MY birthday, but day after tomorrow our Kayla will be Sweet 16!

Awards Ceremony

Each year we try to celebrate the end-of-school with a special awards ceremony. This year, it happened to be on Memorial Day Sunday which made it that much more special. The children homeschool through ACE's Lighthouse Christian Academy and this kind of celebration is highly recommended. We all really look forward to it. Our theme scripture this year is from Psalm 27:3-4. When the days get long and trying, as they sometimes will do, I try to remember that our highest aim--the reason we do what we do, is because, in the end--when it is all said and done, we desire for our children to live in the house of the Lord forever.

Although Kaderick is not officially enrolled in school yet, he is already busy learning. He works on language and expression skills daily and he has learned to recognize the signs when he is going to have a masto reaction and will take us by the hand and lead us to the kitchen pointing to the cabinet where we keep his medicine and scratching at his ears. He's also quite accomplished in the school of mischief making. Smile.

The following picture is a little accumulation of all the things we did/learned during the school year. It was quite a stack! Our main subjects included, math, english, social studies, science, word building, literature and creative writing, art, geometry, world geography, music, health, life of Christ, physical science labs, piano, PE, coloring, counting money, telling time, baking, list and menu making, cooking class, babysitting, first aid, how to take a pulse and blood pressure, how to sort laundry, ironing, planting, canning, weeding, cleaning house, scripture memorization, personal hygiene, daily devotions, poetry, and changing diapers.

It's a big job and one I couldn't do alone. My students are self-motivated (up every morning at 6am), disciplined and hard working. My husband is a supportive provider. This homeschool teacher has a crush on the principal. Wink. 

We began our little service with a pledge to the Bible.

Following that, were pledges and history on both the Christian and American flags along with the meaning of their colors. A story was read of William Driver the sea captain who coined the term "Old Glory" in reference to our country's flag. 

A special song was "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb" by Ray Boltz.

We passed out completion certificates and awards were given for the efforts of our students. 

Kayla has completed the 10th grade with a gpa of 94.4%

Kalli has completed the 6th grade grade with a gpa of 94%

Kammy has completed the 3rd grade with a gpa of 98%

Kaite completed a loosely structured pre-school program this year. She learned letters and numbers and can write her name and ABC's. 

They all worked hard and we worked hard to help them learn the material, not just get a passing grade. If you think I'm proud, you are right--I am!

Our activity for the night was "Story Rocks." Small rocks are decopauged with random pictures of people, places and things and placed in a jar. The jar is passed around the room and a story is started. Each person adds a little more to the story using the photo on their rock as their inspiration. As with life, you're never quite sure how the story is going to end. The Bible lesson continued here....while we are never sure the details of tomorrow, we can always know that with a goal of dwelling in the house of The Lord, our ending is secure. We can trust "The Rock."

My students and I are ready for summer! 

Our celebration table.

Patriotic trifle.

Cherry Limeade.

And because I couldn't resist, here are a few cute kid/Memorial Day photos. They are a bonus for your viewing pleasure. Smile.

Kaderick saluting.

Side note: The little fire truck was Rick's as a boy. Kade loves to play with it and I thought it looked quite parade-ish and American in this little vignette.

It's fun to dress up, to decorate, picnic and to BBQ, we love to wave American flags and act patriotic, but on Memorial Day, and every day, it's important to remember the sacrifices so many have made for our freedoms. 

As said by Dave Meyer:

We have been entrusted with a rare treasure

 God ordained it 

Our fathers fought to establish it

And more than 1.3 million men and women have died fighting to protect it