Homeschool Night and Snow!

Friday, January 29th we had another homeschool night.  Na-naw and Paw-paw (my moms' parents) arrived after dinner and after clean up was finished.  Alexis and Eden had disappeared and soon came downstairs in princess attire!

Eden, Alexis, and Lydia.

Lexi

For dessert, we decided to make one of our favorites...homemade, hand churned (by Daddy!) ice cream!!!  It really is the best.

Of course, I couldn't get by without a picture of the ice cream cranker! 

Yes, it was probably below freezing as Daddy made the ice cream.  I don't think he used a whole lot of ice! :)

Back inside now...

(we were waiting for Daddy to finish the ice cream before we began)

Babies are so cute aren't they? ;) 

Lydia had soon got Paw-paw's hat and was going around with it on.

Fun, fun!

Lexi making the Lydia pouty face.

When the ice cream was finished, we started "the homeschool night."

Caleb played a ryhthm he came up with on his guitar and read some scripture verses.

Eden read a book, sung a memory verse with Josiah, etc.

Seth read us some interesting sentences he made up of each member of the family, played some notes on his chanter, played Jingle Bells on the piano, etc.

Lexi read her WriteShop report and...

...shared some of her art with us.

This is how Josiah quietly plays during our reports! :)

Me.

There's a really funny story behind the picture of me (Kimber).  I had to hand over the camera to Hannah so I could read my report.  Well, I had a speedlight mounted on the camera.  A speedlight is a huge flash that you use to "bounce off" of something like the ceiling.  That gives you the soft look without any shadows behind the subject in the picture - if you do it correctly.  Anyways, Hannah turned the camera sideways for the picture of me and (I think) forgot about the huge flash.  So she focused on me, and FLASH took the picture - bouncing the obnoxiously bright flash off of Paw-paw's head.  Of course it blinded him for a few seconds but otherwise, he was fine.  It was absolutely hilarious! :)  Hannah then proceeded to hand the camera over to Daddy! :-D

Na-naw and Hannah laughing...

Hannah read her WriteShop report...nice face :-)

and then we had ice cream!!

The ice cream counter.

Does that not look wonderful? (from the top looking down)

And for my favorite picture of the night...

Beautiful Eden Rose.

Na-naw and Paw-paw left after eating some ice cream and telling us some stories (one of our favorite things to have them do).  We then went to bed and woke up the next morning to peacefully falling snow!  It was at least 2-4 inches before we even woke up. 

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"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

Psalm 51:7

It never really stopped snowing until Saturday night.  We got about 10 inches.  It's melted a bit with the temperature being above freezing, but there's still a bunch left!  And it's supposed to snow some more with some ice or something this weekend too!  The Lord has definitely answered Josiahs' prayers for lots of snow this year! :)

Sunday morning, I went out and took these pictures.  I was praying that the sun would still be out when I finished my devotions, to get the pictures I wanted and it was! :)

Snow is so beautiful, isn't it?

This is why I wanted the sun to be out!  It was casting beautiful shadows on the freshly fallen snow!

Just to give you an idea of how deep the snow was...

It was deeper than that in lots of places though! :)

One of the beautiful things about snow is that it sparkles like millions of diamonds when the sun is shining on it. 

It's so pure, so bright...just like we should be as Christians! :)

(It's so neat how the Lord uses things in Creation to remind us of how we should be)

Our faithful puppy! :) Carmel

And the last snow picture for today!

Sunday morning after doing a chapter in Balancing the Sword, we all donned our snow gear and went outside!  (Everyone except Mama, that is)  We trudged a bit through our woods but mostly ended up staying directly behind our house where there is a good size hill.  The snow was light and powdery which was perfect for sledding!  The boys, Alexis, and Eden were the ones who sledded the most.  They went out yesterday and the day before that too.  So, we've definitely got our fill of all the snow! 

I'll have a few more pictures coming...Daddy and some of the younger ones made a huge (over 6 feet tall) snowman.  Stay tuned!

Delighting in Jesus,

Kimber :)

Daddy and Mama On A Walk Last Night

"Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it."

Song of Solomon 8:7a

I Thought I Would Have Nothing New to Post Soon...

...until this happened last night...

Now for the story of what happened:  Josiah and Eden were in the schoolroom playing together.  All of a sudden Eden ran in, "Josiah broke the window!"

Lexi was soon on the scene and then everyone got their fill of the damage whenever they felt like it.  The story goes that Josiah had somehow thrown a softball at the window.  Thankfully it only broke one pane so we don't have lots of cold air seeping into our schoolroom!  When Daddy finished his shower he came down and taped everything up for us (along with removing the glass that broke via the vacuum).  :) 

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"The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork."

Psalm 19:1

I was in the middle of making homemade pizza when Lexi ran in and told me to come outside to take pictures of the trees.  There were these dark, threatening clouds behind  the trees yet the sun was shining radiantly onto them casting an orangish-red tinge.

Isn't that neat?

Well, since I was already outside I couldn't just take one picture! :-D  The sky was so beautiful as the sun sunk lower in the horizon.  It created some absolutely gorgeous cloud displays...which are below in picture form! :)

It was drip-dropping as I was walking outside.

Don't you love the way the clouds layer each other!?

Our home as the sun sets.

Of course, while I was taking pictures Alexis wasn't far behind (she always has some creative idea up her sleeve), so I got her to pose for pictures too! :)

By the way - that's the moon above her head.

Soon I had Eden and Josiah following me too.

The whole time I was taking pictures we were on the road in front of our house.  I just absolutely love living in the country.  The entire time we were out there on the street we only had one car pass us and it was like 5:30! :)

Road kill

(That was Alexis' idea...)

Josiah's a great poser along with most of my siblings.

See here in this picture I was laying on the road...once again...no cars! :) 

[I'm really glad none came by as I was laying there...that would've been funny!]

Josiah and Alexis.

The trio.

It was soon getting darker and darker so I went back inside.  (Hannah finished the pizzas for me.)

Anyways, there was a quick scoop on what happened yesterday! :)  A window breaking and lots of beautiful clouds (and siblings)! :)

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And just to give you an "inside peek" at how school looks at 11:30 Tuesday morning...

(I was in the schoolroom taking pictures of the broken window, so I thought some of you might like seeing an example of how a homeschool day proceeds at our house.) 

Delighting in Jesus,
Kimber :)

A Recap and Grandpa's Birthday

"And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women's quarters, to learn of Esther's welfare and what was happening to her."

Esther 2:11

Since I’ve been so long in posting I might as well give you a recap as to what has been going on around here!

Last Friday (the 22nd) our family went to Emily Collins birthday party. It was a rainy day so we stayed inside the whole time and caught up with our friends, the Coppedges and Collins. We had a yummy lunch that consisted of a couple of different dishes (chicken nuggets, mac ‘n cheese, salsa and chips, salad, etc.) and then we sang “Happy Birthday” to Emily and ate some cake! Emily opened her presents after cake and when she finished we cleaned up the kitchen. After saying our goodbyes we left laden with lots of homemade cotton candy from the Collins. It was really good! :-D

Saturday (the 23rd) Daddy, Caleb, Seth, Eden, Josiah, and I went to our auto mechanics house and picked up some manure from their horses. Then (after filling Daddy’s trailer about ½ way) we went and dumped it on one of our gardens! Yum! After lunch (and hot cocoa!!!) we went back outside, finished spreading the manure and then tried to start a fire on some of the brush piles Daddy compiled as he’s cleared the land. Since it had rained the night previously we couldn’t start it despite our efforts. So we then went and picked up the logs that Daddy had pre-cut on our property for the furnace. Then we came back and unloaded and stacked the logs and went inside to take showers! :)  Mama, Hannah, Lexi, and Lydia had stayed inside and done different things like preparing dinner, billing, etc. Our friend, Mr. Johnny came over around 6 PM and fixed us up some deer! He cut it up, put some butter in the pan, added some salt and pepper and voila! He was done! Daddy meanwhile cooked our hamburgers on the grill. When everything was ready we sat down and ate dinner. After clean up Caleb and Seth showed Mr. Johnny their new favorite computer game, Bloons Tower Defense, and Daddy and I popped and seasoned lots of popcorn! :) Once the popcorn was finished and ready to devour we watched Amazing Grace together in the den. When the movie ended we gave Daddy kisses, said goodnight to Mr. Johnny and then went up to bed. Daddy cleaned everything up for us.

(Mr. Johnny went home sometime that night)

Sunday, after church, we drove up to my grandparents house to celebrate Grandpa's birthday.  Of course, there was a delicious lunch when we got there!  After eating and cleaning we watched a little bit of football and then Grandpa opened his presents.

He got a map from Grandma.

A sweat outfit from Uncle Greg, Aunt Amy, and family.

Reading a card.

I love his eyes in this picture!

Grandpa also got a new suitcase from Grandma.  Grandpa urged the little ones to get in which Lydia (and Josiah) soon did...

Closing them up!

Then it was time for cake!!!

Does that look good or what?

Lighting the candles.

Grandma bringing the cake into the den.

Grandpa blowing out his candles after we finished singing to him.

We then ate some wonderful Carvel icecream cake! :)  Afterwards Grandma gave some tips on make up to Hannah and I (Kimber) and we watched some more football, and then piled into our vehicle and drove home.  We got home around 9 PM. 

So, Happy Birthday, Grandpa!  The world would be a very boring place with Grandpa's like you! :) We love you!

Delighting in Jesus,
Kimber :)