What We've Been Up To: Part Three

And now pictures from Beckett's second birthday. We did a frog themed party and we had a ball. Unfortunately dh was bit by a nasty, nasty tummy bug in the middle of the night before the big day so the party moved outdoors (It was late May in Houston and already over 90 degrees and 90% humidity. Ick!) and Daddy had to miss the festivities.

Cheese!

Opening his favorite presents - figures from the Cars movie!

Signing, "Thank you!" for all his gifts.

This face just cracked me up! Look at those blue eyes. Wow!


And yet another silly cake! :)

What We've Been Up To: Part Two

Now for more Mommy brags! Here are a few pictures of Haddon's first t-ball season. He has been in love with balls since he was eighth months old and talked about playing baseball since he was two. It was a joy to see him enjoy his first season so much.

It took me until the last game to be able to capture both him swinging and the ball in the same frame!

Playing in the dirt is always so much more fun ;)

Ready to bat!

I made it to first base.

I love t-ball!

What We've Been Up To: Part One

I can't believe it's been a month since I've blogged. We've had so much going on that I wanted to share some of our joys before I got back to the homeschool stuff! In the past two months we've celebrated three birthdays (dh, Thatcher and Beckett), our 12 year wedding anniversary and our ten year anniversary serving at our amazing church. Thatcher lost his first and second teeth, we finished up a soccer and t-ball season, Thatcher was baptized and we went on a family trip to the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Whew! It's been busy around here for sure.

Here are pictures of Thatcher's first lost tooth:


And here are a few photos from Thatcher's 7th Tranformers birthday party:

(Tranformers Cake: The Autobot Mask)

More to come very soon!

Heart of the Matter

Take a look over at Heart of the Matter and learn more about our family! If you have never seen HOTM, take some time and look all around their site. I think you'll be blessed; I know I am each time I stop by and visit.

I have lots of posts all swirling in my brain that I hope to post soon - mostly reflections on this year and plans for next!!!

Hope to see you soon.

Learning How to Think

I have mentioned Thatcher has truly enjoyed his Mind Benders books. He still asks to do them first every day! We have also started reading the Encyclopedia Brown series. Both of these have been great starts to our study of logic.

Getting any seven year old to slow down and pay attention to details can be tough but add in the extra challenge of ADHD and it can get comical at times. Still I have seen improvement in the past few weeks as he is slowly learning how to think - to be more active in the learning process instead of waiting for me to spoonfeed him. It's been such a fun journey and has given me an exciting glimpse into what it may be like to teach an older child. :)

Here are two more resources I wanted to share that I feel have truly helped our Thatcher in this same vein...and they are super-fun board games! Guess Where is similar to it's sister game, Guess Who, but it is more complicated for older ones. The goal is to find what family members are in what room. You can simplify the game by just using a few family members or throw in the whole bunch for a more challenging adventure. Some of the reviewers on Amazon rated the game down because there is not a way to keep track of your guesses but to me that is actually a strength because it forces us to focus and be more deliberate.

Clue Jr. was recently added to our game collection at Thatcher's last birthday party. He loves being a "detective like Encyclopedia Brown!" In this game all the regular clue members are present but this time you are trying to discover who ate the cake, at what time and with which drink. Unlike in Guess Where, Clue Jr. provides a sheet to keep track of the clues you gather which is a great skill in itself. I don't know how long Thatcher will remain interested in this game but for only ten dollars it's worth it for us!

If you have any other board games you like, please leave a comment. I'd love to make a few more purchases for our summer break!

Fairy Tales

I read this quote awhile back and wanted to share it here.

Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist.

Children already know that dragons exist.
Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.
-G.K. Chesterton

I know there are widely varying opinions on the role fairy tales should take in a child's life and education, but I came across a few more quotes worthy of consideration while researching.

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.
If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.
-Albert Einstein.

And yet one more from arguably the most brilliant man of modern times:

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me
than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.
-Albert Einstein

We have so enjoyed our readings of Aesop's Fables this year. I have learned as much as the boys as I was only exposed to the most common of these in my own education. I am looking forward to reading and learning from fairy tales next year! Please leave a comment if you have any favorite collections/versions or other resources you would like to share.

Surprise!

How do you like the new look? Two big events (for me at least) are coming up soon: my 100th post and my one year "blogoversary", too! The plan was to have those events coincide and launch the new look at that time. Well, dh and I just got too excited to wait! That and he'll be out of town quite a bit in the coming month. He had time to do it today and the creative energy, too! Thanks, Honey!!!! I love it!

We'll be tweaking things for the next few days/weeks so keep checking back to see how things progress!