Nov. 5, 2008 - 9 months and FINALLY a good night's sleep!

Well, about a week ago we decided to rearrange our Master bedroom. We were pretty sure that the reason Corban wasn't sleeping through the night was because he could see us and just wanted to visit mama in the middle of the night. We figured this out when we could option1: let him cry it out and he would just cry and cry and cry...or we would Option 2...both of us get up and sit on the couch...minutes later he was asleep! We had suspected it before because when he would sleep in another room he did fine sleeping through the night, but being pregnant and nursing him I kept thinking my milk supply was dropping and he needed the extra feedings. Anyway....so we got creative...our dressers are now in the middle of the bedroom, acting as a "headboard" to our bed...and Corban's crib is on the other side of them. He has his own little area now and he has been sleeping wonderfully! We also upped his bedtime to 7:30. So he sleeps till about 6:00am (when Eric's alarm goes off) and has a "dream feed" eats and goes strait back to bed...until about 8:30-9:00. Then he gets up to start his day. He's eating solids 3 times a day and taking 2 naps...one at 10:30 and one at 2:30...the rule is it has to be alteast 1½ hours, and he can sleep up to 2½ hours before I wake him up. We have also been working on our wake time activity schedule...we started Blanket time training and he's progressing slowly. I've also tried to incorporate some outside time with him since we have had such beautiful weather. He Loves the wind blowing in his face and checking out all the crunchy leaves. He tries to eat them, but we remind him that its "not food" and I think he's starting to learn to not eat them, he doesn't try nearly as often as he did at first! Today when we went out there, we sat in the driveway and he waved at several of the cars that drove by, it was so cute!  I also saw him move from his knees to both feet then back to his knees again for the first time. I think it won't take long for him to figure out he can stand up once he get's his balance. He has been pulling up for months now, and several times a day we see him let go and try to balance for a second before sitting down.  

Nov. 4, 2008 - Pack the Pantry

Guts Church is Packing the Pantry for Thanksgiving this year and Perry decided that he wanted to sponsor one of the 1,000 families Guts Church will be feeding. So, for his special day activity in November, we went to the grocery store and picked up the non-perishable items on the list, which Perry paid for as well as the $25 contribution for the perishable items that the church will add to meal, to make it a real Thanksgiving. I"m so proud of Perry for his generous heart!

Oct. 27, 2008 - Halloween Fun 2008

Well, the Kids informed me that this weekend (October 23-26, we even started a little early on Thursday!)  was the BEST weekend ever!

Thursday we celebrated Aunt Sara's 30th Birthday!

I promise we didn't think it was Christmas...even though almost all of us have on red or green!

Friday, they went to spend the evening with Aunt Cassie, Marcial, Eiley and Hayden while Eric and I worked at the Nightmare outreach at our church. I did make up again this year and Eric was on the security team

Saturday, we went over to our our friends house for a pumpkin carving, chilli-cook off, and bonfire! The kids played with all their friends from my girls night group, Eric carved the pumpkin, Libby painted a pumpkin, we all enjoyed some yummy chili and smores! Corban especially liked the pinto beans!

Sunday was the annual Guts Church Pumpkin Smash....No pumpkins were harmed during this event. The kids enjoyed playing on inflatables, face painting, games  snacks and candy of course! Libby dressed up as a ballerina, Parker was a Magician. Corban wore his costume to the nursery, our little sock monkey!

Oct. 7, 2008 - 8˝ months old....new things are happening!

Sep. 25, 2008 - Corban update

Well, Whoops, where did the past 3 months go? Lots has happened since our last update! I'll be racking my brain trying to think what was going on 12 weeks ago, but thanks to my calendar and my need to share with the world online I can usually piece it together.

Patta-Cake---not quite clapping, but sorta dusting his hands off when we sing the song

Pulling up- He did this for the first time the day he turned 7 months old. I stood him up in his crib to make sure he wouldn't fall out if he did happen to stand up, then he flopped to his bottom, reached back up to the rail and pulled right back up! With in a week he was a pro, as long as he could get a grip on something to pull on.

Cruising in bed and playpen- with in a few days he decided he can get around a little bit as long as he's holding on. He's a brave boy, most of the time he only uses one hand at a time!

Says Ma-Ma

bouncing on bottom  and bouncing when standing ( not doing seat drops quite yet!)

CAN sleep through the night, but doesn't usually. He needs his own area where he can't see Mama!

Eating Solid food- we tried a tiny bit of cereal around 5 months and Corban wanting nothing to do with it, so we waited. We tried solids again at 6½  months and he did much better. I did some reading up and we decided to start with  Avacado thined with a little breastmilk and he did really good. Next was  Sweet potato, Banana, Apple Sauce, Rice Cereal, ground organic Old Fashioned Oat Meal, Old Fashioned Oatmeal,  and Pumpkin. He Tried a pickle and LOVED it, but he got sick that night, so I'm not sure his tummy was ready for it!  We are also making his baby food at home, instead of buying the stuff in the jar, and I think its a lot yummier!

Uses Self Feeder (mesh holder)- Apple, Pear, Kiwi, Cantalope

Crawling- September 9th, crawled for daddy, the next day he crawled across the room for mama and he's been chugging along since!

September 13th, started waving Hi and Bye Bye, sometimes he says this at night-night time, we are working on the sleep sign but he hasn't caught on yet.

Recognises  his name, and even stops to look when I call him.

 Play "Boo" with Big Brothers laughs and squweals. He just started doing this after the kids got back from Montana on September 14th

Plays independently for up to 1 hour in the playpen

8 months old and no signs of teeth!

Loves to hang upside down and he sure loves to try to eat daddy's shoelaces! Sometimes I wonder if is more of a monkey or a puppy dog....instead of a baby...but no...I still do not believe in evolution, haha.

Here's a little slide show...I love the background, but unfortunately it just randomly shows the pictures and sometimes it takes several times to get around to viewing all 4 of them. So if you want to see them all just be patient!  

Jul. 6, 2008 - Dance Camp and the daily drive

Libby attended a Dance Camp a few weeks ago, she got to try out several different kids of dancing. She decided that she likes Tap best, then Jazz and Hip-Hop. Ballet didn't make the list, but I'm thinking maybe it was just what she's always done and is ready to try something new.

Since dance camp was 5 days plus a performance day we did a lot of extra driving. Libby pointed to a beautiful place and said everyday that was where she wants to get married. Unfortunately, although it is beautiful, it is the Memorial Park Cemetary. She doesn't seem to care though, there was no convicing her that it wasn't the perfect place.

Here is her picture of her in her Noah's Heart costume for the recital this year.

Jun. 25, 2008 - Corban is 5 months old

Splish splash, Corban loves taking a bath! He will kick and splash as long as I will let him play, he loves being in the water! He can roll over from his back to his side, and from his tummy to his back. He is so sweet when daddy puts him down to sleep for the night. He can't wait for daddy to give him his blankie he smiles and kicks around, then cuddles up his blanket and has been rolling to his side to sleep.

Here's his photoshoot slideshow taken yesterday!

Feb. 2, 2008 - Corban Joseph has arrived!

Our Birthstory, written by Daddy...

This is the story of how our son Corban came into the world.  Let’s set precedence by sharing what Erica and I have been in faith for since before we became pregnant.  There is a wonderful book called “Supernatural Childbirth” by Jackie Mize which is full of testimonies as well as scriptural references, evidences and a guide to having pain free childbirth.  Sounds crazy right?  You might even be thinking, it’s supposed to hurt or it’s impossible considering the physics involved for that to actually happen.  I mean let’s face it, it hurts to poop sometimes and those little guys never weigh 6 or 9 pounds.  Well, thank God He left us a book that shows us exactly what we can expect from His word, and that if we trust in Him with all our hearts and never lean on our own understanding, how we “feel” or what makes sense in this world as we know it we can have exactly what it promises because if you are a follower of Christ you are in this world but not of it.  Understand if you have made Jesus the Lord of your life and thus are a follower of Christ, you are redeemed from the curse of the law that came through sin because of the price God paid with the life of His Son and the only thing left is the new and better covenant He promises us and it’s nothing but blessing if you’ll only walk in it.
 Erica and I met at the women’s health clinic to see Dr. Nilson for our regular weekly visit to check up on Corban to see how and what he was doing.  We waited for the usual thirty or forty five minutes to get called back.  Once we were in the room Dr. Nilson came in and checked the ultrasound and he got really quiet when usually he’s pretty goofy and fun and told us the baby had his head down in the correct position which we had been waiting for.  We had a couple visits close to her delivery date and the doctor said he didn’t need to check her until he was in the right position; his head was more to one side both times.   Erica asked Dr Nilson to go ahead and check her so he did and she was already dilated to a four and hadn’t even had any contractions so we were surprised to say the least.  The doctor told her to get dressed and come talk to him in his office.  We never go in his office for anything; he always talks to us in the room.  At this point my stomach was turning and the best way I can describe my excitement is to say my spirit was literally dancing wildly inside my body while I was forced to sit still and pretend to be calm.  He said “so are you ready to go have a baby”?  She said she didn’t know because we we’re trying to wait until February (don’t ask).  He said he didn’t think we’d make it to the hospital if she waited until she thought it was time to go and I would end up delivering the baby myself.  Gulp!  He said think about it and told us he was on call that night.  We left the office and talked about what we wanted to do and decided we wanted to go ahead and go to the hospital and try to have him on the 23rd since the 23rd is the date of her birthday in December, her sister’s birthday in October and my sister’s birthday in June.   So we went home and started packing our goodies to take to the hospital.
We left home for the hospital at 6:47 p.m. on January 23rd.  We joined hands and prayed over Erica and the baby that God would put a hedge of protection around us, that as God offered us the opportunity to raise this son, He would give us the wisdom to walk in His ways and raise him according to His Word and that Corban would be a light to the world like a city on a hill.  I was excited and a little nervous although confident God would honor His word.  I couldn’t get settled down for most of the drive and then the hospital came into view and I suddenly focused on what my job was and that fear was not a part of it.  The moment I realized it I became strong for her and an amazing peace came over me and I knew God was with us.  We arrived at the hospital at 7:23 p.m.  Erica walked to the door with me after we parked the van.  We went to register her and filled out some paperwork and sat down.   After just a few minutes they admitted us to a room and got us settled in and Erica changed into a hospital gown.  I was so excited I could barely sit still so I wandered around the room asking questions about every piece of equipment and trying out every chair and then bouncing back up again.  I took my long sleeve shirt off because I was burning up and I emptied my pockets of all the contents (while still at home I had gathered about eighty dollars worth of change to put in my pocket and four packs of chewing gum).   I went down to the van to bring up our suitcase, blankets and pillow we brought for comfort during our stay.   Cassie, Erica’s best friend showed up and boy was I happy to see her, she kept track of everything that happened during labor and delivery and offered a ton of support both emotionally and spiritually.  Ryan Pickle, our nurse came into the room and checked Erica’s cervix at 7:58 p.m.   She was dilated to a 4 and her cervix was 50% effaced.  She received an I.V. for fluids at 8:01 p.m. (Aunt Cassie called this “Gatorade”).  Ryan asked if we wanted to have Erica’s water broken to start the process and we said yes; so at 8:57 p.m.  A resident doctor came in and broke her water and the amazing spiritual journey began.
Erica’s contractions started light, she spent most of her time lying in the bed with me walking around constantly asking her if there was anything I could do, she typically smiled at me and calmly said no, I’m fine.  We talked about what we were expecting and believing for and Cassie and I prayed over her while laying hands on her and massaging her shoulders and neck.   At 10:15 p.m. the nurse came in and checked her again and she was dilated to a 6 but the cervix was still about 50% effaced.  Ryan brought in a birthing ball and Erica began to bounce on it to help get the baby in position and help things along a little bit.  I remember thinking how cute she looked while bouncing on that purple ball with her adorable belly poking out in front of her and her hands on her hips so I walked over and started helping her bounce; pressing down on her shoulders and dribbling her like a basketball.  The contractions came on a bit stronger and Erica’s legs began to shake, I came and held her in my arms and prayed over her, reminding her of what we were believing for and speaking the Word and Gods promises over her.  Erica took a journey to the restroom while Cassie and I trailed along rolling her I.V. rack behind her.  At 11:15 p.m. Ryan came in again and checked her cervix and she was still dilated to a 6 but she was now about 80% effaced and the baby had dropped into position.  I asked Ryan if she could feel his head and she said yes, I remember feeling both excited and tingly on the inside and we had been praying continuously, all three in agreement in prayer and it was amazing, I felt a lightness and there was a tangible presence of God in the room, I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced it that strong. 
The most powerful moment in the room that night was when Erica sat on the edge of the bed facing me, I pulled a chair up to her and she put her forehead on my shoulder as Cassie and I massaged her back;  we started speaking the word over her and taking authority over her body, claiming God’s promises,” we are redeemed from the curse of the law” and “only blessings remain”, “God put us over all the works of His hands”, “ we lay hands on the sick and they recover”.    “God is fully able to perform what He promised and He is always watching over His Word to perform it”.  There is a supernatural anointing that comes over our hands when we raise them to God; they become Holy.  Her contractions were strong but as we continued to pray and stand in faith a tremendous peace came over the entire room and I found myself feeling very light and completely at peace knowing God was prepared to be faithful to our requests and His promises.
Ryan came in and checked Erica again at 11:49 p.m. She was dilated to a 7 and was fully effaced and the baby was fully engaged and daddy was becoming very excited; I was going to meet my son soon.  Ryan called Dr Nilson.  Erica is doing great at this point, her legs are shaky and her contractions are very strong but she remains at peace and in control, I remind her to stay focused and never left her side again until Corban was born.  Dr. Nilson arrived at 12:05 a.m. (Darn, we missed our 23rd date, oh well; Corban will have his own special day).   Dr Nilson washed up, sat down at the edge of the bed, looked up at Erica and said “push and you’re gonna have a baby”.  Cassie left to go announce to our family in the waiting room it was time to push and everything was starting.  I held her head in the crick of my arm with her head pressed against my chest and whispered in her ear “are you ready?  It’s going to be amazing and quick, just relax and stay focused.”  Erica started pushing and then altered with her breathing, she kissed me as I held her and it seemed to bring an amazing peace over her even when the pushing became very tiresome.  I said come on baby, you can do it, and we grunted together each time she pushed as I was trying to encourage her to push harder and stronger.   I could see the top of Corban’s head crowning and he was faced the wrong direction but just at that last hard push, Dr Nilson helped turn his head slightly; the first thing I saw were his eyes which of course were closed and then he turned over and slid the rest of the way out into the Doctors hands.  They cleared his mouth and nose and handed him to momma.  Erica looked amazing the first time she laid her eyes on him, I’ll never forget the love in her eyes and the happiness evident in her heart because it filled my entire world with joy, I will never forget that moment the rest of my life, it was amazing.  They called me over to cut the umbilical cord and then the nurses came in to clean him up a bit and to check him out.  Everything was perfect.  We had a truly amazing experience and we can offer no other thanks other than to God and His truthful Word full of the promises we can walk in every day of our lives if we’ll only stand.  Erica, Cassie and I stood that day, we never faltered, we never gave up on Gods word and He brought a perfect boy into the world in 8 minutes without tearing a single part of momma; she was in perfect condition after his birth.  

Jan. 1, 2008 - Pregnancy

Well, I havn't updated in a while and thought I'd send some pictures and updates on the pregnancy.

Here is our  first preggo picture taken at 8 weeks along....

Corban is a good little grower, and a wiggle worm! We get 4-d ultrasounds at every Dr. appointment and it has been so cool to see him grow and change!

Corban at 21 weeks

Here's me, my belly, and my sweet hubby at 24 weeks

Well, we had a bit extra long between appointments this time so our next peek was at 28weeks. He had grown quite a bit, and we were taken back looking at a picture that looked more like a man than a baby...we ended up deciding that he must have just gone through a growth spurt and is awaiting his baby fat!

I'm getting bigger! Only 10 weeks to go!

This picture was taken at the Baby Shower at 32 weeks along

One of the most exciting parts of the Shower was getting to see the baby bedding I designed. We had it shipped to my mom's so it would be a surprise. I love the way it turned out! Eric wanted real looking muscle cars, and I wanted a trendy colorscheme...I think we found the perfect combination!

Here's a wide shot of all the baby furniture, and sister's mirror...it won't fit in the kids room, so for now mama is getting some good use out of it. Pooh bear is trying out Corban's little potty that we will use right from the begininng while teaching Elimination Comunication.

This picture is of of the crib set up as a toddler bed. I had a flat sheet made and made a pillow case for him to use when he gets into his big boy bed.

32 weeks- the cord is covering up his face a bit, but thankfully he's started putting on his baby fat! We also found out he is head down now!

34 weeks- we got several different views this session. He kept trying to put his foot in his mouth and making cute baby faces at us. They measured him and he is weighing in at  5lbs. My weight gain has been suprisingly good...I'm up 14 lbs so far! I think this is the sweetest picture of them all!

Well I am now 36 weeks and we go back to the Dr. in 2 days. Saturday I had my first timable contractions. They were about 4-5 minutes apart, but only lasting about 45 seconds and then after an hour they started spreading out to about 10 minutes apart.  I know that my body is just gearing up for the real thing. Corban had had enough of them after about 4 hours and he would get extremely squirmy in between contractions. I was trying to sleep and ended up waking up often that night until early in the morning. I think it was probably 3-4:00am before I really got any good sleep, and the contractions finally stopped. Since then I've contracted a bit more often than before, but nothing timable. We hope to find out at the appointment Thursday if I've started progressing at all. I am blessed to have had a comfortable pregnancy, and so far I'm not even anxious for it to end. He will get here in God's timing and we will be so happy to finally get to meet him.  

Aug. 11, 2007 - Back to School!

We officially started back to full days of school on July 31st. We are using our new schedule using the Robinson Curriculum method with the AO booklist for now. I have so many of the AO books, and I'm having a hard time finding books from the RC list...and I"m not so gung ho on printing and binding all the books. We made it through our first full week, I think we only need a few minor adjustments.

We did take Friday Aug 3rd off to go up to the river. It's just over an hour drive to the trailer, so we listened to the Magicians Nephew on the drive up and back. We got there around 3:00 and Grandma and Crapaw were already there. We played in the river a bit, and prepared dinner....which ended up taking forever to cook! I don't think we ate until nearly 8:00! After dinner we got ready for bed and played a game of Who-nu and it was lights out early for us that night! Saturday, Aunt Debbie, Marsha, Grannie and Gramps came up in the morning. We played in the river and looked for crawdad's under rocks, the boys went fishing a couple times and caught 3-4 fish each, Libby loved catching baby frogs on the bank and playing with them in the river. We had a wienie roast at lunchtime, and gramps and aunt debbie played a game of horse shoes.

Libby sittin pretty in the river!

Parker reels in a little perch...mama got it off the hook for him...I was surprised I was able to!

 Perry reeled in a big one...he also caught a 2lb catfish the night before! The boys had a great time fishing!

After lunch,  we celebrated Grannie's birthday and had cake. Then, we drove about 2 miles up river and floated on tubes and rafts back to the trailer. Finally it was time to get everything cleaned up and head back home Saturday evening.

Monday it was back to School again! We had a great week!

Libby finished her first level of hooked on phonics on August 7th, and is now on to level 2 and very excited! She has spent this week learning new sound combinations. CH, SH, TH are still giving her a little trouble so we will continue to practice them before we start the workbook. She will have it in no time!She has starting to pick up on her reading really quickly lately.  We read a small excerpt from the bible each day, A chapter or 2 from the Burgess Bird Book, and maybe a short book that she picks out from the shelf. It usually measures out to 45 minutes of read aloud time. Soon she will be buddy reading with me, I can't wait! On Friday (Aug 10th) she finished her Math U See Primer. We didn't quite get it finished last year, and have been working through it a little bit over the summer.  We hit it full speed ahead once we started school. She has been breezing through it! Monday she will start Alpha, and continue to listen the Math U See Skip counting CD each day till it is ingrained in her brain!

The boys are doing 2 hours of reading, 1½ hours of math lessons/drills, 1 hour of copywork, ½hour of vocabulary lessons. We have an hour each day that I hope to use for various activities, like going to the park, a trip to the library, or craft times. the boys read from their bible (1 chapter a day) and a literature selection in the morning. In the afternoon they read either a Geography, Biography, Science or History book. Perry finished reading the Wind in the Willows, and has decided to start reading Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan next. He's really enjoyed reading it the few times we have started it, but we never made it all the way through, but our new way of reading seems to be working much better!  He's reading It couldn't just happen by Lawrence Richards in the afternoon. Parker has been reading shorter books...so he's read Joan of Arc by Joan Stanley, George Washington by D'Aulaire, and he just finished Tree in the Trail by Holling and Doctor Dolittle. He is starting Mr. Poppers Penquins and  The Burgess Bird book, this one will take a while to read through as it is a much longer read!

I'm still working on our schedule to work out the kinks, but all in all I think we have had a great first week of school!

Jul. 24, 2007 - Summer has been here and is almost over...

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged, nearly 3 months! I'm not sure where the time went. The kids went to their dad's for the month of June and are back. While they were gone I spent some time researching curriculum and we are going with the Robinson Curriculum method, and using both their booklist and the Ambleside Online booklist. I enjoy having real books and don't like the extra work of printing and binding. I havn't had much luck finding any RC books in the Library or on Ebay, but it looks like AO has the same kind of booklist, I'm just stuck with doing Vocab on my own. We switched Perry to Saxon Math and are continuing with Math U See and math drills for the others up through Delta. 

Since the kids got back home we have been doing half days of the RC method, which look more like full days compared to what we were doing. Soon I will begin lengthening their reading and math lesson times.  There are days that go by where we are busy and we don't get anything done school wise. We've had a very busy month in July. My sister got Married, the boys just got back from camp. Eric and I celebrated our 1 year since we met anniversary at the river last weekend. We really want to start taking the kids up there more often. My dad grew up going every weekend, and I'd would love for them to have memories about growing up out there too. Once September hits we plan to be going full force. We will have about 6 months to adapt to our schedules and self teaching before the baby arrives. Yesterday the Doc predicted a little girl in our future, but since I am 13 weeks along, I want to give it a bit to  make sure that the stem doesn't show up on the apple next month. I was really thinking that this one was gonna be a boy, so I was surprised, but am very excited!

Apr. 3, 2007 - A new week!

Apr. 3, 2007 - where did the week go?!

I'm not sure what happened to the week, it flew by! Sunday was an awesome day! Eric suggested we drop all methods of BC and allow God to do His work in our life. We went to church and saw the rest of the family. Eric grilled kabobs for late lunch, we got caught up on one of our 2M classes. We spent some time outside riding bikes, skateboarding and on the 4 wheeler. Cassie, Eiley and Haden came to church with us in the evening and it was an awesome service. Eric volunteered to demonstrate how the shield of faith is to work...he got soaked with water and was washed in the word to quench all of those firey darts. Sure it was awkward and a bit uncomfortable but those darts go out when they hit him, instead of him having to fight and protect in his own strength. Stay washed in the word and live in the peace of God instead.

Friday and Saturday, I was working. The kids spent Friday at Grandma's and Saturday with Dad.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were business as usual. Busy with school and taking care of little ones. Wednesday Cassie and Hayden came over for the afternoon and we made an obstacle course in the back yard. We timed the kids as they raced through, it was a lot of fun! The little guys played throw a penny in the pot, they loved it! Thursday was Libby's special day. She was so excited to get her nails polished and play with her make up. The boys helped her put it on, they all had a great time!

It was a great learning week. Perry is getting a lot done with the Switched on Schoolhouse program that we are trying out for next year. We are also working hard to get caught up so they will be finished with the year at the end of May.

Well, there's a week in the Johnson household...and were on to a new on already! ....I've tried to post this a couple times and messed it up...so I hear the 3rd time is the charm, so I'm joyfully expecting it to work!

Mar. 26, 2007 - A new week

Well, Perry made it back from his trip to New York on Sunday afternoon. Grammie didn't seem to think schooling during the trip was as important as I did, so when we picked him up she basically told us that they didn't get much done...but "its all right up there in his head, and he has tons of pictures to jog his memory". That wasn't really my point of him taking school work along with them on their trip, but I guess we will take what was dealt to us, hand it over to God and allow Him to make all things work together for good. This morning, Libby woke up with a slight fever, but she's already feeling better, healed, whole and delivered.

I am considering switching gears from a CM education to a more self directed plan. I'm not quite sure I'm ready for a complete switch of tracks, but i"m checking out Ace Ministries. The boys are working their way through the diagnostic tests to see where they are placed. So far it's looking good. Parker is ready for next year. Perry did well, but has a few learning gaps in English, which we just really started working on in January, so I'm not surprised. I'm finding that Perry's work ethic is going to need some encouraging, he just isn't giving his best. Today he had to re-do his English 3 times because of simple spelling and capitalization mistakes...he was just copying, so it is more of an issue with paying attention to detail rather than a learning issue. His penmanship work is amazing, but when he turns in work from a worksheet, the writing is no where near his ability level.

Mar. 24, 2007 - the rest of the week.....

Wednesday- Well, we had  3 extras today...Trey, Verity and my niece Danielle. We did our Table work, read from Tree in the Trail and also read about Abraham in CHOW and documented it in our Book of Centuries.  

Thursday- Table work completed. Libby used her word cards and divided them up into different categories such as: animals, food, things that are outdoors, and colors. Then she tried to make a sentence, though it was hard with the words we had avaliable. I think we will start back with her hooked on phonics. We read a chapter in our book Beautiful Land, about the Land run of OKlahoma. After lunch we loaded up in the van to visit the Poteets. The kids had a great time! They got to see all kinds of animals. The took a ride on Molly the donkey, pet some goats, pigs and a Llama. They spent the rest of the afternoon jumping on the trampoline and exploring the land. It was a great visit. I dropped them off at Grandma's house on the way home and they stayed the night and the next day. Eric and I had a date night...Outback and mall shopping.

Friday- I worked the kids played at grandma's. She gave them $5 and took them shopping at Target. Libby purchased a polly pocket doll and plans on giving the change she has left in the offering at church. She LOVES to Give! Parker came home with a set of magnets and a jar of marbles. Very good choices! Perry called from Washington DC and talked to everyone. He's having a great time.

Saturday- we are checking out a new curriculum called Ace Ministries. Parker did some assements today and measured up well. He's at 3rd grade math, 5th grade science/geography, and 3rd grade spelling. We still have the English assesment to take. I think I will have Perry start when he gets back from his trip.  We went rollerskating from 12:30-4:30. Eric got his own speedskates as an early birthday gift.

Mar. 20, 2007 - Getting Started....

Well, I thought maybe I'd be able to hold myself a bit more accountable if I started writing down what we're doing each day....or atleast every few days. The day just seems to fly by and before I blink twice it's time for dinner and I didn't get half the things I intended to get done. I kinda wonder if this is just adding one more thing to the mental list or not, but I will see how it goes.

This week will be a bit off anyway since Perry is out of town on a journey to New York and to visit Niagra Falls with his Grammie Benedict. It's spring break for most people, but we are trying to not take a break as they had a long break over Christmas visiting their father.

Monday we went Bowling with the Homeschool group, then came home for lunch. Libby rode her bike about 10 feet for the first time without training wheels!!!!!!