Frogs

This Morning, a 5 min break from school turned into a frog hunting expedition. They were quite thrilled to catch the little guy, though I am not sure the frog was happy about it. It is so fun to live with so much fun wildlife. As summer winds down we are trying to spend more time outside with nature. Yesterday the kids even saw a fox. We praise God for all the beautiful creatures he has made.

We love the birds, squirrels, dear and many others.
The kids recently found the skin of a small snake in the yard. It is always a good science lesson just to step outside.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

For school this week we are reading The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. I have been enjoying reading it aloud to them as I remember the story, having read it myself as a child. Siri, is of course, enraptured by the story. She begs for just one more chapter. Josiah has been slightly less interested, or so it appeared. Today, after our reading, I got out the play dough and asked them to make the Island. I gave some input, reminding them of the descriptions of the different areas. They got really into it. Josiah was recalling all the parts of the story so far and making the wild dogs and the canoes. Then they started to act out the different parts of the story with the characters they had made. It was so fun for me to watch them engage the story...... It is the moments like this that make me LOVE homeschooling!!! I found a great study guide on-line that goes with the story. Here is the link for anyone interested in doing it. http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/islandbluedolph.html

Storms

Yesterday there were a couple of storms tracking towards our area. The forecast was heavy rain, hail, high winds and possible tornadoes. Then at about 9:00 pm, just as we were tucking the kids into bed, we heard the Tornado Warning Sirens. Being new at this whole tornado thing, we weren't sure how seriously to take it. We called some friends and turned on the news and everyone was saying to "GET IN THE BASEMENT"! So we gathered up the kids and the dogs and and a portable DVD player and some snacks, the radio and a few other essentials and headed downstairs. By this time the kids were quite worried and we had a good talk about trusting in our Heavenly Father to protect us. I stayed with the kids to comfort them and David went up and down collecting more things. We started calling out request.... "Hey Dad, what about my Play Station?" asked Josiah.
Siri shouted, "Dad, grab the FISHING POLES!!"
"Honey, Get the camera.... This will make a great blog entry!"
By the time we got everything down there, (the Play Station and Fishing poles didn't make it) the warning had expired. But by then the kids had fallen asleep.

Because there was one more storm that hadn't reached us yet, we decided to just stay down there till it was all over. The kids were sleeping and we didn't want to have to move them back and forth. There were reports in the area of structural damage to homes, golf and baseball size hail and lots of flash flooding. There were funnel clouds that formed in Big Lake but no Tornadoes that we have heard about it. So, all in all, it was an exciting new Minnesota Adventure for us. We now have a better idea of how to prepare and execute a plan in case of an actual Tornado. And Praise God, He did watch over us and our home.

Sidewalk Chalk and other Random Thoughts

I know, we haven't posted in a while.... Not too much going on but here are a few random things....

Today we went to the lake but it turned out being pretty cold so we came home and had fun outside with sidewalk chalk and hula-hoops.

Last night we watched a fun family movie called The Astronaut Farmer. We really loved it. It is the story of a guy who built his own rocket ship and tries to go into space. I won't spoil the story for you but it is worth watching.... There is some mild language so if that if a problem with the kids... be warned. But over all it is about a family that sticks together and works to make their dreams come true.

We are getting geared up for a new home-school year. I got my bi-annual pep talk from our dear friend Trisha Lam so I am feeling more centered and inspired and ready to take this on... again. Thanks Trisha!!

Josiah's 9th Birthday

Today is Josiah's 9th Birthday! Many of you will recall the day he was born.

The picture on the left is him in his first few moments of life. He was born 10 weeks premature and was 2 lbs 6 oz at his tiniest. He stayed in the NICU for 32 days.

I can't even begin to tell you the joy of finally getting to bring him home. Here he is at about 2 months old... home, tiny, but happy and doing well

Oh how the years have flown wonderfully by!

What a delight Josiah is to our Family. It it

hard to believe that he is 9 already. There is

not a day that goes by that we are not thankful

for his presence in our lives

Last night, we celebrated with a small party. Our friends, The Salfrank Family, graciously invited us to celebrate at their home. We invited 2 other families and had a great time.

Daddy grilled burgers and dogs and we had cake and ice cream for dessert. Josiah was delighted to have all his new friends there to play.

There were 16 kids ranging from 1 year old to 16. They all got a long great and the evening was full of card tricks, swinging, skating, toys... lots of messes and.....
A great game of Wiffle Ball. The Salfranks have a playing field right in their yard. It was miserably hot and the Daddies were melting but the kids were hitting and running like the pros. We then had a Pinata that refused to be broken. The string, on the other hand, broke several times and eventually the whole activity required some serious adult intervention to get at the desired result... CANDY!!
Presents were opened, much to Josiah's delight. He got up this morning planning out how he would schedule in all his new stuff to do. But, First things First.... He and Dad went Fishing! But that is another post......