JR and the Rest of the SA

JR is SA President of HUGSR. Last night during a meeting, he asked me to come by and take some pictures.

(Since this is my family blog, I'm featuring the photos that feature my husband.  I DID get shots of everyone.) :P

First Day of Pre-K 2/4

Yesterday we began our school year here at home.  While everyone else was snapping pics of their children with new back-backs standing up against their front doors headed off to preschool or kindergarten, we were... still in our pajamas.

You see, life has been crazy busy the past few weeks.  JR and I were both in class this weekend, and all of us slept in till 9 Monday morning.  Needless to say, this did not set us off to a great beginning.

But we plunged a head as scheduled (just about an hour to an hour and a half off).

We followed our schedule with the additions of taking our own in-front-of-door-first-day-of-school pics:


As you can see... these didn't turn out so great. :)













But don't worry...


Since the shaded front porch was "too bright" we went under a tree:






After we did our "photo session" (which were not edited), we headed back in to read our "BFIAR" book.


We followed my lesson plans fairly well. We are getting into a new routine. (I'm really loving working in our Bible reading, exercising, and cleaning into routine.)

I'll leave you with a few more photos of the kids at work drawing what they would wear (in response to "Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?")

Excited!

A few weeks ago, I upgraded from my first dslr (a Nikon d40... as basic as you can get) to a Nikon d700. This is a monster of a professional camera. AND I LOVE IT!!!

I've been working on a project with HUGSR with it, but aside from practicing, I hadn't used it for a portraiture session in my "target demographic". Until yesterday...

I am so excited about the session yesterday! Check out my web-site (or facebook) and I think you'll be able to see the difference too.

(And, for those of you who know my family well, you may be able to tell who the cutie is.)

-Daisha

Preschool Plan

We will begin our preschool this coming Monday, Aug. 23.

When I finish with this post I will have a few crafty things to make in preparation, but we are all getting really excited about this, and I'm more ready than I was last spring.

Drawing from the Charlotte Mason ideas about early childhood education, we will be focusing on establishing good habits that will be with the kids throughout their lives.

Here is our basic schedule:
*Wake up
*Breakfast
*15 min. of independent Bible reading (I will read from my Bible... the kids will have their choice of their picture Bibles to look through on their own)
*15 min. of light exercise (dancing to music, push-ups, sit-ups, stretches)
*Get Ready-- get dressed, brush teeth, hair, make bed
*Morning Meeting (discuss the plan for the day as well as Bible verse for the week and work on calendar items, ie days of the week, months, ect. and weather)
*READ our Before Five in a Row ("BFIAR") and other books aloud
*Cleaning chore for the day (This summer I gave each day a specific chore and it's been helping me keep on top of all the chores better)
*Table Time (craft, coloring, cutting, writing)
*Game Time
*BFIAR activity
*FREE TIME (while I make lunch)
*Lunch
*Chapter Book Reading
*Naomi down for nap while Gideon gets a reading lesson



It sounds like a whole lot when I type it out, but each segment should only take about 15 min. There is a lot of play involved. A lot of reading... and my kids LOVE this kind of thing. In fact, today, Gideon wanted to "play preschool" and he was the teacher. He structured our lessons around Jesus. After our "circle time" he had us draw pictures of Jesus while we listened to Seeds Family worship. Then he put on a "show" for us. Then we went back to the "craft" area and he had us draw pictures of the cross. He was very complimentary of my drawings, and hung them on the fridge. :)

In addition to working on good habits, we will be working on obedience and our attitudes.

Also we will be changing our before-bed routine. During cuddle time we will be reading through the DK Illustrated Family Bible.


I have the first 3 weeks already marked out in my great planner. I'm on top of things this time, peeps!

I plan to give detailed reports each week to keep me accountable and organized, as well as documented. :)

Dinotopia: The World Beneath

The kids LOVED this book. There are enough pictures to keep them engaged. In fact, the kids made a game of being the first to identify the picture in the story if it was featured on the cover. (They like to "make a match".) Plus, the illustrations are beautifully done.



I know that G and N didn't understand the extensive vocabulary in the book, or the scientific terms, but they did understand the story. And they saw me have to sound out words (which I'm hoping will be an encouraging memory when G struggles with the patience required to sound out words when learning to read).

Not only is the story exciting, the chapters are short enough that the kids would often request more than one chapter at a sitting. Also, each illustration is accompanied by more background information as well as maps and charts. (very educational)



We love this book!

"Feuding" with the Neighbors

The kids newest play-mate is Sydney. She's an adorable one year old whose back door opens up to our back door. Whenever the kids see her outside, they rush to put on their shoes and go and play with her.

Even in the extreme heat, they cannot wait to play with her. And yesterday Sydney's parents were both out. "Mr." Jared and "Ms." Laura are great fun to play with. Jared and Gideon had a sword fight. A comment was made that Naomi needed a helmet after she was hit in the head, so she ran in and got "danetet" as her helmet. Then Sydney and Gideon ganged up on her. :)

They all had a blast! Here's to many more opportunities for impromptu feuds (esp. as the weather cools off.)

Where did these kids come from?

This morning the kids climbed in bed with us. But since they were talking JR told them to go play in their room so we could sleep until our alarm went off.

As the kids were making their way to the end of the bed we heard:

Gideon: Naomi, you are so bootiful.
Naomi: Tank too, Deeden. Dat is berry nice of you. (pause) You are tool.
Gideon: Thanks!

JR: (to me) Where did THAT come from?!

Be-lated Birthday Gift

For Gideon's 4th birthday back in May his Grandpa (JR's dad) sent us money to buy Gideon a bike.

He's been very excited about this. However, since we have no toys that peddle, G didn't really know how. We've been practicing when we see bikes and trikes in stores, but when we went to get his bike earlier in the summer, things didn't go too smoothly.

But yesterday, while the kids and I were out getting some school supplies, we came across the bike area once again.

Gideon started out with a really cool retro Radio Flyer tricycle with a bell on it. (I'd have loved to get it and use it for a photography prop.) He was peddling so well on it that I encouraged him to try a bicycle. We tried the 12 in. and it was too small. So we moved him up to the 16 in. And he did great! He was even able to navigate turns around the aisles.

And since we found one on sale that included a hand-brake (which gives my little first-born control freak more control) he LOVED the bike.

We bought it and surprised Daddy when we picked him up from the library for lunch.

Gideon has been very diligent about practicing his new bike-riding and peddling skills. He even made sure to knock on all the neighbor's doors to share in his excitement. (It's a good things the people around here love him.)


 Here's our big kid on his new bike:

Naomi is 2.5!

Today Naomi is 2 and a Half.  I can't believe it's August already!  Last year at this time we were wrapping up our time with JR's side of the family (15 of us living in a 3 bedroom house) and our trip to the beach where Naomi knocked her head on an end-table and we had our first ever emergency room trip with the kids.

(She has since fallen on her head and knocked off the scar she got from that incident... which I didn't know was possible.)

So... what is Naomi up to these days?
-Talking non-stop
-Making the dolls, ponies, action figures around her have conversations with each other
-"Cooking" (usually for Gideon) in her "Chitchen"  (her play kitchen)
-Imitating Gideon
-Doing EVERYTHING "by myself"
-Giving out back rubs
-Enjoying Spicy food (she is her father's daughter)
-Singing along with EVERY song she hears
-Knowing a lot of scripture thanks to Seeds Family Worship
-Still wearing the same clothes she was wearing at this time last summer... but they are looser on her now
-Being the most amazing little girl we could ask for!

Here are a few quick shots from this morning.  It was already 100 degrees so, since she takes after me and doesn't like to be hot... we didn't push a long photo session.  Notice her toys.  They are always in conversation.

Happy Half-Birthday, Naomi!  We love you SOOOOO much!