School Begins

We have finally started school.  I usually try to start in the third week of August, but that just did not happen this year.  And if you want to know, the reason is we all need a schedule again.

Here are a few pictures from our first days back. 

I now have a pre-school who actually wants to do some school.  You will see farther down how good he did coloring his letter Aa's.  I'm sorry the picture is fuzzy.  Four year old boys do not sit still well.

The third grader who has finally really grasped reading even though she continues to want me spell words for her.

Our fifth grader who is our girl who loves learning.

This is a look at our schoolroom.

We started the school year with projects partly for the fun factor and partly because I still do not have all of their curriculum.

We made some zucchini cupcakes with caramel frosting.  Oh so good!!

Then today we made family trees.  We are going to be talking about acceptance for our Bible class and we started with talking about our biological family (how you don't get to choose who is a part of it) and then God's family (how anyone can be a part of it).

I think they turned out well.  They were really fun to do.

Here is Luken showing off his ability to stay within the lines.

I bet you noticed the lack of Miss Bailee.  She has actually been doing her last week of babysitting for some family friends this week, so she has not technically started school yet.

Her dunce cap contained some school supplies and little gifts I gave the kids.  I didn't get a picture before they had opened them.

Oh, and by the way, she is a senior this year.  It will be my last year with her in our homeschool.  I'm sad and excited for the new adventure she will be embarking on.

DYW and RCD

 It has been four months.  I cannot believe it.  We have just had a lot going on around here.  The two biggest things were Bailee participating in the Distinguished Young Women of the Year Program and Lewiston High School and River City Dance Spring Recital.



Bailee was so excited that Uncle Josh was able to attend the DYW program.  I'm not sure Uncle Josh was as excited though.  The above picture was taken at around 11pm.  There were 21 girls and it was long.

Bailee did excellent and we are so proud of her for doing it.  She got to meet a whole lot of new girls and had a great experience.

 Bailee asked Jacque King to be her backstage mom and I am so thankful that she said yes.  It just gave me peace knowing Jacque was back there helping her out.

 Brittney is the choreographer for the program, so Bailee got to spend a lot of time with her from January to April.  They enjoyed it.

 Now on to the dance recital.  Ange Movius Photography has been taking River City Dance recital pictures for several years now and they just keep getting better and better.  Above is Makayla and her ballet class.

 Sam and her ballet class

 Bailee and her ballet class

 Makayla's jazz class

 Sam's jazz class

 I'm missing two class pictures.  I will see if I can find them and get them on here, because Luken's is hilarious.  By the end of the year, it was just him and a little girl named Lucy.  The picture cracks me up every time I see.

My goal is to get back to blog, but we will see.

The Valley

Lately there have been some beautiful pictures of the Lewiston Hill on facebook and I thought I would share my perspective.

We were coming down the hill the other day and the clouds were positioned so that half of the valley was cast in shadow.  My pictures do not do justice to what we saw, but I like them anyway.

Bringing In the New Year

This year we stayed home to celebrate the coming of a new year.  Bailee was the only one who went off to be with friends.

I found this great idea online about having a little treat and activity to mark each hour.  We started at six.  It worked great.  It gave us something to look forward to each hour.  Most of ours had to do with praying for people, but we did watch a movie and play the Wii also.

This is use a few minutes into 2013.  Luken had crashed around 8:30, his usual bed time.  Before, during, and after the taking of this picture, a serious case of the sillies was happening.  If you have never seen Leister sillies, you are missing out.

We are looking forward to 2013 and all that God has for us and all of you.

Sam Turns 10. Yes, really?!

If this doesn't amaze you, it does me.  I cannot believe she has entered into the double digits.  I know in a few short years she will be my second teen.  I am praying for preparedness now.  I have to admit I wasn't for Bailee.  I thought I was, but I was kidding myself.  I want to congratulate all parents who make it through the teen years with both them and their teens intact.  

Our Sam is turning into quite the young woman.  She is also very tall.  She has only six inches until she is the same height as her big sister.  

As you can see, her birthday gifts consisted of a lot of money.  With that money, she has bought herself a Kindle Fire.  I will post a picture when it gets here.  She is my reader, so I am very excited for her to have this.  I am also excited to check it out, because right now, I am contemplating buying myself a Kindle Fire or an iPad Mini with my Christmas money.

The picture below was taken by Bailee.  I love it.  And just so you know, she got all those candles out in one puff.