Kindergarten Graduation!

 It was time to celebrate C's Kindergarten graduation! This was our 4th kindergarten graduation party! It was so fun to finally get to this point since we had been talking to C about kindergarten graduation for a long time and he knew he would get what we call a cookie cake, which is a family tradition, for this special celebration! After talking about picking that cookie out for so long we finally got to go and buy one. We had a wonderful party! We gave him a big, made for the beach, sand shovel for heavy duty sand digging. Grandma and Grandpa J got him a Bible which was perfect. We usually buy a Bible for K Grad but I wasn't on the ball and hadn't picked one out but my parents had! C really likes his Bible and at night he has been bringing it to me and asking me to have devotions with him!! Last night listening to his prayer was so wonderful as I listened to what he chose to pray about. He is so tenderhearted and caring.

He learned so much this year. It is always exciting to see the increase in knowledge and skills by the end of the year. Although homeschooling is not easy (to me anyway) I am very grateful I was able to have C at home for kindergarten. I'll pass the baton to a classroom teacher next year though.

Up From Slavery-By Booker T. Washington

This book was AMAZING and was NOTHING at all what I expected! Mr. Washington had a tremendous outlook on life despite extreme hardship both for him as an individual and his race.  It was fascinating to hear him recount his life, his values, and the principles he chose to teach to those who came through his institute. All his accounts are told without complaining, anger, or bitterness. He allowed the circumstances in his life to make him stronger and better not angry and bitter. I think this is a must read for every person and parent. I know I plan on having my kids read it.

Some quotes:

". . . I think I began learning that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others. This lesson I have tried to carry with me ever since."

Talking of General Armstrong, a man he held very high and the influence he would have on the students . . . "The older I grow, the more I am convinced that there is no education which one can get from books and costly apparatus that is equal to that which can be gotten from contact with great men and women. Instead of studying books so constantly, how I wish that our schools and colleges might learn to study men and things!"

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Lots and Lots of great thoughts, ideas, and attitudes to mimic throughout the book.

It was so funny, I told my dad I was reading this book and he was reading it too!!!! My dad works for a curriculum company and this is part of their reading for high school.

Light of the World . . . Light of My Life . . . So why don't I praise Him more?

We went to go drop some things off to the thrift store and decided to go in and look around:-/ Dangerous when what I am trying to do is eliminate things NOT accumulate!! Anyway, it seemed Providential that I came across a book called The Prayer THAT Changes Everything by Stormie Omartian (The Hidden Power of Praising God) and at 98 cents how could I pass?!

 I know I seek God's counsel and I think I even praise Him when I know things are accomplished and I realize that it is by God's grace alone  . . . but praising Him during a storm I am not so good at so this captured my attention. I have not read the book yet but thumbing through I came across this and LOVED it . . . what a great challenge. It is going to be amazing to read the whole book!

"Once you begin to see God's light in the midst of your darkest times, darkness will never be the same to you. It will never have that same foreboding. It will never bring with it the same fear. You will perceive things differently. When bad things happen in your life, you won't react with the same despair. You will be able to say, "Praise You, Lord. I worship You in the midst of this situation. I know that You are the Light of the World who lives in me, and Your light can never be put out. I know that You are with me now, and You will shine Your light on this situation. Your glory is over heaven and earth, and it is over my life today."

"IN THE DARKEST TIMES OF YOUR LIFE YOUR PRAISE TO GOD SHOULD BE THE LOUDEST {emphasis mine}. It will not only turn on the floodlights, but it will strengthen your faith and let the enemy know you're not afraid of the dark."

Excerpt from The Prayer THAT Changes Everything by Stormie Omartian (Page 152)

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Today as I was sorting through more stuff from our move I came across a postcard I had purchased I believe while we lived in England. The card was a quote from a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins and the following portion of one of her poems was quoted by King George VI in his Christmas broadcast in 1939.

"I said to the man who stood at the gate of the Year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely in to the unknown.' And he replied, Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!"

Such a Beautiful Song to listen to . . .

This is one of the songs "A" has been practicing. I really enjoy hearing her practice.

Dinner at the L's Part 2! Tuscan Soup Has Never Been As Fun As This!

My Mother's Day-Sherwood Forest Plantation

 After church we did our typical $1.50 meal at Sam's Club and then we headed out for a little car trip to go see some history! We went to Sherwood Forest Plantation which was the home of President Tyler. This home has been continuously in use for 400 years which is extraordinary that it predates the United States!! It is still lived in today by one of Tyler's descendants who either was or still is the president of William and Mary College!! Pretty neat!! So nice to get to go out as a family.

The picture below you may notice everyone seems distracted and they are. Baby C picked off a big scab from her knee while in the stroller and there was A LOT of blood and Baby B doesn't seem real happy about it.:-) I was notified of the problem and I wrapped a clean diaper around her knee for the bleeding and so she wouldn't pick at it anymore.:-)

I am so thankful for my kiddos and my husband and my God.

J's First Trip to the Dentist!

 J said he was "sited (excited) to go to the dentist.

He did a great job!!!

He liked the idea of wearing his Daniel Boone T-shirt:-)

Brother R snapped the above picture after J's cleaning and exam were done.

 We have an amazing pediatric dentist. 

I told J this dentist is the nicest one I have ever met!

A Dinner at Our House

Sunday Afternoon Stroll in the Woods

Our April was CRAZY to say the least as we were in the midst of a move so this weekend we took some time to breathe again and go do some fun things like take the kids to the park near our new home and then go on a hike near where our old house was. We had a GREAT time and the weather was FABULOUS!!

When we started walking into the woods J said "The woods are awesome!" I told him that God is awesome and that since God made the woods that they were awesome.:-) Later after the hike J said something
like the woods were fun and I remember him telling me the water was beautiful! I am so glad he enjoyed it so much because he was EXTREMELY excited to go hiking in the woods especially after we told him that the scary animals that he asked us about being in the woods were not there:-)

The kids had a grand time exploring and pretending to have sword fights with sticks, etc.

To the left:

My cute J with a Lady Slipper flower. I guess it was pretty special we saw this because my dad said he had never seen one in the wild before!!
J looks pretty surprised too!:-)

The little ones enjoyed exploring too!

My sweet A who has been ready for summer for a long time!

We are almost there!

G liked the way the pattern of this wood was! It is pretty neat!

We LOVE the GREENERY of this state!!

Who would expect to see this on the side of a trail?

So much history! Love it!

My Tom Sawyer, R.

Cau Cau's 6th Birthday

 Cau Cau is what we some times refer to him as since that is what one of the twins started calling him and now it is a name he adores.  Twin C will call "CAUUU, CAUUU, CAUUU, CAUUU" To which he will VERY kindly reply "Yes, C." Then she will babble something to him and he will reply "That is nice C." Very sweet.

This was such a special birthday for him. His siblings really made it the special time that it was. I believe it was Big Sis A and Big Bro R that made his leaf crown and his purple royal cape. Daddy was surprised later to see it was real leaves in that crown. He made the perfect Caesar!!! Then Cau Cau himself requested that Big Bro G give Marc Anthony's speech!!! Unfortunately, due to a phone issue I only got the second half of the speech on my phone. :-( You can watch the second half below. Even I was surprised at how the speech ended!! It ends very dramatically and will be a great memory of his 6th birthday party a long with our foreign student who sang him happy birthday in Chinese. It is so cool of him to do that for our birthdays.

I found out recently that C loves the color red so his cake is bordered in red which he allowed little bro J to have a hand in picking. On C's birthday I took he and R out to pick out his balloons and ice cream and we had a great time doing that.

C is our only quiet kiddo and I have enjoyed so much seeing him starting to really show his personality more lately. He is always thinking, he is an AMAZING big brother with never ending patience for his younger siblings (with his immediately older brother patience can be short but even then those two are great friends), and he has a funny sense of humour and way of looking at things.

 For his birthday Cau Cau got this Playmobil Castle and the kids had a BLAST playing with it! This castle is something that would have been out of our price range but I found it when "A" and I were shopping at a second hand sale awhile back and thought it would be a great birthday present for C.

Above he is wearing a white T-shirt at the suggestion of his older Sis who thought it would look better for his party than the play shirt he had on:-)

 C requested hot dogs and chocolate soy milk. No, he is NOT a health conscious kid he just thinks chocolate soy milk tastes better than even regular chocolate milk so chocolate soy milk it was!! He also picked pineapple and a certain flavor of Sun Chips. Some corn on the cob was boiled and it was a party!!!!!!

 Very happy Caesar C!!!

 Can't tell from the pictures but the candles were special and the flames burned in different colors and that was pretty cool to see!!

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words . . .

 Before Easter we worked some out of an Easter devotional book that prepares the whole family for Easter. We only studied some from it but I would like to do more next year. Anyway, one night it said to ask the kids to draw a picture of what it means to them that Jesus is King. I did NOT give suggestions and almost immediately after devotions C (my now 6 year old) drew this picture. At the top is Jesus and an angel and at the bottom is him. To think of a King's love first may seem strange to most people but not if you know King Jesus.