We've Moved (again)!

This post has been a bit overdue - but is the reason I am so behind on blogging. We spent our (what seemed like a very short) summer packing, selling our house, finding and buying a new house and moving. Ugh!! Moving is so much hard work!! 

We had been thinking of moving for awhile. Our house, though very nice, was in a neighbor hood where we could just about step from our roof to our neighbor's roof. This was just too close for a man who spent the first 30 years of his life living on 12 acres. Not only that, but Byron's commute to work took close to an hour on a good day of traffic (which there aren't many of) and  we lived on a busy street - so busy that we felt it unsafe for the kids to play in the front yard or ride their bikes on the sidewalk. So we started looking for something with a little more land that would be a better commute for Byron and with a safer play area for the kids. 

We put our house on the market at the end of June and then the kids and I headed to Belton to get out of the house for showings. The first 2 days we had almost a dozen showings! We had a contract the day after we put it on the market. 

Sadly, that contract fell through. We came back from Belton and the house went back on the market. After a week we had another contract!! 

We were able to find a house we all loved and started the process of buying that house. It is on an acre and a half, has a creek that runs through it, and is heavily treed.  

We closed on both houses on August 23rd and moved in on Sunday, August 28th. 

The kids have been enjoying the freedom and safety of being able to ride their bikes on the road.

It is much more quiet and peaceful! 

We even have a tree swing!

I like the tree swing, too!!

Mig can climb trees.

We are starting to get settled:

Have made some cookies:

and are spending a lot of time in the backyard.

And we have met the neighbors. 

Not to mention the wildlife. On our first morning here, I almost sat down next to a baby water moccasin! We have seen countless frogs, an armadillo, scorpions, deer and a bob cat. 

These roses came from our bushes. 

We aren't completely unpacked, but it is feeling more and more like home everyday!

Dinosaur Fossil Tour at our Church!

Our first field trip of the year was amazing!!

On August 29th, our church (Denton Bible Church) had a dinosaur fossil tour guided by Creation Scientists from the Institute of Creation Research. It was incredible!! 

This is a T-Rex skull fossil (replica). 

Amazing to see it in our church!

Dr. Tim Clarey was our guide. He is a geology and dinosaur expert. 

This is not a T-Rex, but a smaller dinosaur (I am horrible at dinosaur names). 

This fossil actually shows this ichthyosaurus giving birth! She must have died during childbirth and her babies with her. 

A pre-historic buffalo head skull beside a present day buffalo skull.

We bought a book that Dr. Clarey co-authored and he signed it for the kids and agreed to a picture! Faith was SO excited to meet him! (Not really - I'm not exactly sure why she was smiling so big here! HA!!)

If you have seen the newest Jurassic Park, this is the skull of the water dinosaur right at the end that "saves the day". 

A Triceratops.So cool!! 

The coolest thing is that rather than refute the Bible's accuracy, each of these fossils actually point to Biblical Creation. If you haven't heard of ICR, go to their website: www.icr.org and look around. They have articles beautifully written on each of the areas of science and about evidence of creation. They are all written by real scientists with real degrees, yet easy to understand. Check it out!! 

The First Day of Home School 2016-2017

Our first day of school came early this year! We started on August 3rd, less than one week after choir camp. 

This year Faith is in Pre-Kindergarten! Last year we called her school "pre-school". This year, it is a little more structured and I really want her to do a little work every day. Her biggest goal is to learn to stay at her desk and work - just during our morning school time. She is working through the Alphabetti books on www.progressivephonics.com as well as doing some math workbooks and handwriting sheets. Isn't she the cutest Pre-Kinder you have every seen? 

This is Gabe's first official year as a Middle Schooler! WHAT?!?!

Here is his curriculum:

Math: Saxon 7/6

English/Grammer: Rod and Staff Progressing with Courage

Writing: Writing with Skill

Foreign Language: The Fun Spanish and Espanol para Los Chicos y Grandes

Logic: The Fallacy Detective

Mig is now in First Grade. 

Math: Saxon 1

English/Grammar: First Language Lessons book 1

Writing: Writing with Ease book 1

Foreign Language: Espanol para los chiquitos and Salsa

Selah is in 4th grade! 

Math: Saxon 5/4

English/Grammar: First Language Lessons book 4

Writing: Writing With Ease book 4

Foreign Language: The Fun Spanish and Espanol para los chicos y grandes

Logic: The Fallacy Detective

We do Science, History and Art together. Our text for Science is a Christian World view book called Science in the Ancient World by Dr. Jay Wile. Our History is Mystery of History book 2. We are covering the early church to the Middle Ages this year. 

Cutest class EVER!!

I am so blessed to be able to teach and raise these kids each year! (Many thanks to Byron, who makes it possible!)

Summer of 2016 - part 8 - Harry Potter Party

On July 30th, our public library hosted a Harry Potter Birthday Party! 

It was a costume party with a costume contest. Faith dressed as Doby the House Elf, Selah as Luna Lovegood, Gabe as Neville (complete with Trevor the frog) and Mig was a dementor.

Gabe's friend Geoffrey was there as Harry Potter!

They even had the platform 9 3/4! 

There were crafts, a sorting hat, wand making and duels, along with some really fun Harry Potter inspired snacks! 

GiGi came up to watch Faith during choir camp and was able to attend the party with us - which is so fun because she is a big Harry Potter fan, too!!

It really was SO MUCH FUN!! We bought the new book the next week - The Cursed Child - and Gabe read it in ONE DAY! 

Happy birthday, Harry!