Our Little Artist

Our little Jesse Bear is becoming quite the artist! I'm so impressed with these drawings that he's done in the past few days.  He's not quite 4 years old yet.  

I showed Jesse how to write his sister, Allison's name on another piece of paper and he was able to write it on his own on this picture.

 Big Sister, Emily colored in the balloon for Jesse. He did the rest of the picture himself.

 Such creativity!

This is the inside of a card he made for his "girlfriend", Kate. 

 This is the back of the card Jesse made for Kate. 

Home School 2016

We are taking on a new adventure this year...Homeschooling!  Ben and Emily have wanted to try it in the past and I've thought of it as well. This year we decided to do it!  

We are excited about it and I'm also a little nervous about it. I really want to do it well. I think it's a great opportunity to spend time together and encourage the children while teaching.  I'm hoping we will grow spiritually too.  Part of our school day will include Bible reading and memorizing Scripture. 

I'm looking forward to relearning a few things myself and growing with my children.  This year it will be just our twins, Ben and Emily. They are in 7th grade. Jesse's too young yet for official school, but I will be working with him on letters, numbers, etc. as well as practicing his weekly Cubbies verse for AWANA. 

Our curriculum came the other day, a full load!  Excited and a bit nervous as I look at it and attempt to organize it.  We plan to start when our public school starts, the day after Labor Day.  We've joined a Home School group and I think that will be a great resource for us as well as a great place to make more friends. 

If you pray, please pray with me that we will have a wonderful year learning together at home. Homeschooling may not be for everyone, but I hope it will work well for us. 

August 2016

Early in August we went on a camp out with our CMA (Christian Motorcyclists Association) chapter, God's Country Riders. We went to a campground in Irons, MI. One day we went to the Little Manistee River.  We had a fun time looking at the river and finding rocks. We also went to Dublin General Store and got some jerky! It's our favorite place for jerky. They have so many yummy flavors.

I really love finding rocks, especially fossils!

We've been picking blackberries this month.

A bloom from our Rose of Sharon tree.

 My first batch of pickles from our garden this year. I made dilly beans and dill pickles. 

July 2016

In July, Jesse, Emily, and I went to my sister Jen's house for a few days. We got to go to Build-A-Bear and Jesse chose Captain America Bear. He loves Super Heroes, especially the Avengers!

Emily made a My Little Pony Unicorn

One day Jen took us to Warren Dune State Park. We hiked to the top of the dune.

After we got home from Jen's house, we had my friend Susie and her daughters over for a sleepover.  We took them and my Mom up to Manton to Lattitude 44, a neat little shopping center.

This is the ice cream/soda shop where we had ice cream floats.

I have been rock hunting a lot this year at beaches, rivers, and in our driveway. :)

Here I am 5 1/2 months after starting Trim Healthy Mama. I'm 32 pounds down in this photo. :)

June 2016

We got extra creative for Father's Day this year. Here is the Candy Card the kids and I put together for my Dad. 

Since Tim wears overalls almost every day, we decided to make him a card that suits him. :)

Jesse was so happy to finally go fishing. Here he is with his first catch. Daddy was so proud and happy!

May 2016

May was a Super Fun and BUSY month for us!

Mom and I always start May off with May Day on May 1st! We love to make adorable little bouquets and surprise friends with them.

Here is our family enjoying a wonderful brunch that the kids made for my Mom and I for Mother's Day. They did such a wonderful job making everything yummy and pretty. Mom and I felt very special and honored.

We gave Mom a giant frisbee as part of her Mother's Day gift. We had so much fun playing with it!

Jesse and I visit our friends, Kat, Anna, and Thomas one day and picked wild leeks with them in their woods.

My little sweetie likes to pick flowers to give his sisters.

Clara finished her 2nd year of Track. She competed in the Discus throw and Shotput.

Clara and Daddy the morning of her graduation

Mommy and Clara before graduation

Our second child, all graduated!

This was after Clara's Band Banquet.