White Oak Adventures - Homeschool Blogger

Fall 2009

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:26:00 -0600

Here are a few pictures from this fall. I've been very busy teaching school and preparing for Elijah's arrival and have not had much time to blog. Sorry about that! Hopefully pictures really are worth a thousand words!

These are from our annual FALL photo shoot.

JOSIAH--11 years old

JESSE--10 years old

NOAH--7 years old

REBEKAH--6 years old

These are 3 of the four pumpkins the kids created for Creation Day. Jesse carved a silly-faced pumpkin, but it rotted before I remembered to take pictures!

We don't celebrate Halloween, but instead celebrate Creation. We do various family activities, including a treasure hunt. This year Creation Day was on Sunday, Oct. 25th.

Josiah's pumpkin (Jesse and Josiah LOVE bats...we even went to Austin, TX just to see the bats fly off for their evening hunt!)

Noah's mouse pumpkin

Rebekah's Sun pumpkin

There's room at the Inn!

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 15:12:00 -0500

Elijah has a place to lay his head! We finished clearing out the extra room and painted it. It was my craft room, so it took a while to move everything out. I finished sewing the crib bedding several weeks ago, so now we were ready to borrow a crib from my sister-in-law and set it up. I love the final result!!!
BTW, we are not keeping the crib under the window...it's just there for the picture!! I don't want to needlessly worry anyone.

It's a Boy!

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:48:00 -0500

I had my 20 week ultrasound on Thursday and we were thrilled to discover that I'm carrying a baby boy! Everything looks normal and his growth is right on track. His name will be Elijah Joel.

Elijah is laying on his back, facing up. Head is on the left.

Five little toes!

Noah at Night...an update

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:59:00 -0500

Noah has been dry for the last 5 weeks. It's finally happened! We started this journey with Rebekah back in mid-March and it's just now mid-July. I'm so thrilled with all that's been accomplished in four months. No more wet sheets! YEAH!!!

Celebrating the Fourth

Wed, 8 Jul 2009 23:01:00 -0500

Happy Fourth of July!!!

And I thought the weather was perfect on Memorial Day. It was so pretty on the fourth...75 degrees and sunny. It was the perfect temperature to spend the day lounging with family at the park, which is exactly what we did. Each Fourth of July we get together with two of Ryan's brother's (and families) to celebrate and hang out. This year was especially nice because one of his brother/sister-in-law recently adopted the cutest little girl from Russia. We've only seen her a few times before today, so it was nice to get to spend the whole afternoon getting to know her. Rebekah, as the youngest of the Michigan cousins, is so glad to have a cousin near her age. Liza is 3 and Rebekah is 5...so pretty close! After eating, the ladies hung out with the little kids at the playground and the men-folk played softball with the older kids. Noah had a particularly good time this year because his cousin Cara taught him how to write some letters in cursive! That made a big impression on him. Here are some pictures.

The whole bunch of cousins...ages 3-13.

The littlest cousins

Ryan and I enjoying Liza.

Jesse turns 10!

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 22:56:00 -0500

It sure doesn't seem long for my little ones to grow up. Jesse turned 10 on July 1st and that's a big deal in our house. For most birthdays we don't do "parties" in the usual sense, instead we let the birthday child pick out a birthday cereal (that's a big deal because Shredded Wheat and Raisin Bran is a staple here), plan a "theme", and pick out the birthday dinner. Chores are off-limits for the birthday kid, which is always a good thing. Grandma and Grandpa come over and help us celebrate with cake and presents.

However, turning 10 means having a party...with friends! Jesse really surprised me and just wanted one friend to come and spend the night. He's such a social guy I really thought he'd go for the "big party" scene. So, in the end, it was a small bash...but a fun one.

Ryan came home early and took Josiah, Jesse, & John bowling. While they were gone Noah, Rebekah, and I decorated for the party. Jesse thought he was going to have an Olympic themed party, but Josiah and I decided to completely surprise him with a Harry Potter party. Both boys have been reading the series since we left for our Texas trip. In less than 8 weeks, Jesse has read 5 of the 6 books. Keep in mind, several of these books are 600 pages. Jesse's come along way with his reading in a very short time.

Thus, the Harry Potter theme. And, yes, he was very surprised when he saw the decorations.
The birthday boy making a wish!

Ryan did a great job reproducing the font from the books.

I hung the book covers on the window as a banner.

Jesse wanted Subway for dinner.

Jesse's friend John (on the left) and Josiah on the right.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Jesse a card that plays the Harry Potter theme.

Gift time!

Some kind of game controller. I never did figure out what it's for.

Happy Birthday Jesse. You're a fantastic son and Dad and I love you so much!

Memorial Day 2009

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 22:44:00 -0500

We had a really wonderful Memorial Day. The weather was absolutely perfect...which always is a plus.

Our children plus several of the neighborhood kids did their own parade. They'd been planning it for the last few days and even had "meetings" to get ready. It was really cute and all of the neighbors came out on their porches to watch.

Here they come!

Our little patriots.

Shortly after the parade, we drove to my aunt's house in Charlotte. We had three new babies this year, Isaac, Kira, & Matthew AND two pregnant mama's...my cousin Marianne & myself. It wouldn't be Memorial Day without cuddling a new baby!

This is just some of the gang.

Rebekah's annual "patriotic" dress. I've been making her one since her first Memorial Day (she was 6 months old).

Jesse's literally STUFFED with food. He had no choice but to rest.

The gang: Jesse (almost 10), Noah (7), Rebekah (5.5), & Josiah (11)

Check out our vacation Souvenir!

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 22:38:00 -0500

The day before Mother's day I got this gift:

Ryan and I are thrilled! Baby #5 is on the way and we couldn't be happier. This is a baby we've wanted for a long time, but seemed out of our reach. I have a history of lots of miscarriages, so we're praying that this little one is healthy and strong.

I'm due January 15th, so it'll be my first winter baby.

Pretty cool Mother's Day gift, huh?

TEXAS 2009

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 22:25:00 -0500

May 5th we left for a two-week trip to Texas. It's a two day drive, so we broke it up with a stop to Nashville, TN to visit the Parthenon. We just finished studying it in History, so it was neat to see it close-up.

While we were in Texas we visited 3 of Ryan's siblings...two in Dallas and one just outside of Houston. It was so nice to visit and get to know all of our nieces and nephews that we rarely get to see. We also drove to Galveston to play in the Gulf, toured NASA, drove to Austin to see the State Capital Building and take a boat tour to see about a half-million bats fly out of the Congress Ave. Bridge. We visited two Houston museums and enjoyed the Dallas Zoo. On the way home, we went to Mammoth Cave. The kids were not exactly looking forward to it, but after the tour they decided it was in the top 3 greatest parts of our trip.

Ryan and I loved spending so much time "playing" with the kids. We weren't in a hurry and made our schedule day-by-day. We did a lot of swimming, putt-putt golfing, archery, & board games at the condo we stayed in. It was a great trip.

Capital Building

Children's Museum of Houston

Inside the Health Museum

Noah biking with his skeleton at the Health Museum.

NASA tour

Galveston

The ocean water was as warm as bath water. FANTASTIC!

The typical mom-forced pose.

Rebekah lost her very first tooth at a Burger King somewhere in Arkansas.

Happy Birthday Josiah

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 22:17:00 -0500

As you can tell, I've gotten behind on my blog. Let me catch you up.

I left off on April 29th, which also was Josiah's 11th birthday. We gave him a "Mario" party which delighted him. The cake design is almost entirely his idea. This was our first attempt at a 3-D cake and I think it turned out pretty well. His favorite gift was a giant Nerf gun and a huge case of Nerf bullets.

Eleven years old! I can't believe time is going so fast. Happy Birthday Josiah....We're crazy about you!!!