Improvement

Today was oh so much better. Prayer and sleep are miracle workers around here.

I updated attendance and completed progress report cards today. 1st grade has about 5 weeks of work left. He is grinning towards the finish line. 8th grade is in the home stretch too. I cannot believe we are getting ready for high school next year. 4th grade is making progress and is in the 8th and 9th units of his 10 units lessons. Whew.

We are also making attitude adjustments that focus on living privileged lives versus basic lives. We are naming and claiming happiness, building relationships instead of walls and changing the desires of our hearts to line up better with His delight. I am pleased that the participants want to do better which makes it easier to support.

Library day tomorrow. We may have to take a bigger book bag as my kids tend to be big borrowers. ~Smile~

Re-Entry

Today is our first day back to school from a rather extended spring break and it was tough. We have had tears and weeping and Mamma praying out loud to get us on track. We had friends over yesterday after church and they stayed past bedtime so that has led to some of the sensitive feelings. We had a great time roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores, but the sugar high of last night caused a crash this morning. I predict an early bedtime tonight will make tomorrow much better.

Vacation Pics

1st graders working on 1000 pc. puzzle, James reading.

Preschooler watching "Big Screen" nature show. He yelled out with excitement for every duck, goose, boat, bird, swan,  and blade of grass that moved!

Napping in sun!

Rut roh....I got caught!

Football with Uncle

He's Eight!

Today is Jackson's eighth birthday. He was so excited to be able to celebrate it while on vacation. I call he and Jeanna, "Twinkies" because they are the same age for 8 months of the year.

Happy Birthday, Kid!!

Great Radio Station

One of our favorite things to do on vacation is listen to music together. My brother has satellite radio that we very much enjoy, but if he is not with us, we try to find a good station that plays great oldies. A great station in this area also has a listen on-line site. The River is a nice family friendly station. We are also enjoying watching the Bald Eagles.

Friday Field Trip

Not free in any since of the word, but priceless just the same. We are at The [Certain} House on a beautiful lake that is full of wildlife and slow moving pontoon boats. We had a very relaxing drive and are just sitting around watching the birds and listening to our favorites old songs. Sometimes 7yr old Jeanna will say, "That's my jam!" and we all bust out laughing. She is such a different child on the days that she is home vs. school days, and just a blossoming flower on vacations. Ever since that first year when we went to Nassau and she had to go to respite care, she makes sure to let it be know that she is expecting to go on family vacation.

Late Blooming

We are finally taking our very late spring break. We wanted to go on vacation for our spring break, but the lake house that we wanted to rent was not available until the last week of April. So today is our last day of school for 1 week as we prepare to go relax in the big ole house. The kids love it because there is so much room and they get to spread out a bit. The house sleeps 18 people and as I mentioned before has 4 bathrooms!

We are planning a "Chopp*d" competition for this weekend where family members will prepare dishes with the ingredients provided. There is already lots of "smack" talk going on. Can't wait! We will also celebrate an early Mother's day as my brother is coming into town and won't be able to come back again in 2 weeks.

I finally found a great set of flash cards for addition, subtraction and multiplication. I plan to take those and an art project with us. Once again, James will probably be the only person that has to do a little school. He just does better with the consistency of plowing through his curriculum without too many breaks in his routine.