It's great to be eight!

Sawyer turned eight earlier this month, and we had a great time celebrating his big day!

Hard to believe it was eight years ago that we brought that sweet baby on the left home from the hospital. He's a little more active these days, but just as sweet as ever.

He chose to have a Lego-themed birthday party this year--quite appropriate since he spends a LOT of time building with his Legos. Of course, we played with them at his party, too, including this "Lego toss game." Here I am showing them how it's done!

I had fun making this Lego cake for him, and he really loved it, though I know he doesn't look so thrilled in the picture. I think he's just concentrating on his strategy for blowing out all eight candles.

He loved opening his presents, of course, especially when 

he saw that he got more Legos!

He also loved these cool snakes that Lee Anna made for him on her Rainbow Loom.

His actual birthday was on a different day, so we did some celebrating then, too. Here's his specially-requested pancake breakfast, on the "special plate," of course.

We love you, Sawyer! So glad you're a part of our family!

Creative Kids

Today was a really fun day!

Daddy is out of town on a little business trip this week, so we've been having lots of good "Mom & the Kids" quality time while he's gone. I decided to make today--our last day before he gets back, and also the last day of our school week--a special day. Yesterday morning, I gave the kids the invitation above, inviting them to "Be Creative Day." It said to wear their smocks for school time and plan to get a little messy creating with me. They were, of course, super excited!

This morning after breakfast, I sent them to their rooms for about 30 minutes while I got everything prepared. I set up different "creating stations" around our living room; there was a painting station, a drawing table, a building station, and a "get creative" station (for everything that didn't fit in another category). I don't have "before" pictures of the others, but here's the building station.

Each station (except the building one) also had a list of suggested projects they might want to try. I walked through the stations with them, and then turned them loose to create. We had so much fun making different things, trying new ideas, and just having fun together. I can't count the number of times one of them told me thank you for having "Be Creative Day."

Here's Lee Anna doing a tape resist painting project. They all three did one of these, and I love how they turned out!

Sawyer took breaks from drawing and painting to do some building (as I suspected that he would). This creation doubled as a jail for some Lego bad guys, and also as a home for some popsicle stick puppets that were created during the day.

One of the biggest hits of the day was this web site, which has simple tutorial videos for drawing lots of different animals. They all took turns choosing animals to draw, and even Sarah Claire was able to do a lot of them. I predict that they'll be visiting this site lots more in the days to come.

We made a couple batches of play dough, and then used some other props to make play dough people and monsters. 

This guy was one of my contributions.:)

When it was time for lunch, all of our tables were covered with "creating" supplies, so we had a picnic on the floor (eating anywhere can be fun if you call it a "picnic!"). 

Then, after some more creating, we took a smoothie break. We are loving all our fresh fruit this time of year!

Here's the completed gallery from the day. They each filled up a whole shelf (plus some) with their creations! They are all arranged and ready for Daddy to admire when he comes home tomorrow.

Lee Anna's favorite drawing was this koala she's pointing to. I'm not sure I have a favorite--they each made so many fun things! It was a great day of making memories, and we all really enjoyed it! I'm guessing this won't be our last "Be Creative Day."

School Days

Tonight I just have a few random photos to share from some recent school days.

One day the girls decided to surprise me by dressing as "twins." Sarah Claire even wore her pretend glasses so she would look just like her big sis. 

 See, they matched from the back, too!

 Here's Sawyer hard at work on a math assignment...

and Lee Anna doing schoolwork in her favorite spot, "her" desk in the corner of the schoolroom. She has become remarkably independent with her schoolwork, which is wonderful since I've got two others who still need a little more attention and reminding to stay on task!

 Here's my little kindergartener having some letter fun with play dough,

showing off yet another completed workbook (have I mentioned she's flying through most of her KG stuff?), 

and posing for a pic after she surprised Lee Anna by reading this book to her at bedtime!

And I included this last picture because I don't have any others from our favorite part of the school day: Read Aloud Time. When everyone has completed their written work (math, handwriting, lang. arts, etc.), we all meet up on the couch for a snack and some reading together. Apparently, Sarah Claire had my phone with her during Read Aloud Time one day and snapped this picture of her snack. It may not look special to you, but those mini marshmallows are sent with love all the way from America! We can't get them here, so it's a super special treat when we get to have them!

And that's a little peek into our school day. Maybe I'll give Sarah Claire the camera again soon so she can document some more school day fun!

Say Cheese!

While we were in the states last fall, some sweet and very talented friends offered to take photos of our family. We are so grateful for these amazing photographers who used their gifts to bless us. We'll be enjoying these photos for a long, long time!

There are many more, but these are some of my favorites...

An Educational Adventure

Last week, we had some special visitors and got to take a fun vacation educational field trip to an area that the kids and I have been learning about all year. Mimi and Papaw joined us at our home for a day, and then we all flew together to Luxor, Egypt, where we could see firsthand some of the temples and monuments that were built during the Ancient Egyptian periods we've been studying since September.

But first, before we began our vaca...er...field trip, the kids had a special concert to present to Mimi and Papaw. We called it the "Twinkling Stars Program," since all three of the kids performed Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in one form or another. Lee Anna played it on her violin (after only 3 lessons-not bad if you ask me!), Sawyer played three variations of it on the piano, and Sarah Claire sang it for them. If you'd like to see the videos, they both have the entire concert recorded on their respective recording devices, and I'm sure they would be more than happy to share it with you!

After a full day of unpacking their suitcases and playing with the goodies they brought us, we headed to the airport and made the trip to Luxor. We decided not to use tour guides at any of the sites we visited, since 3-year-olds typically aren't quite as interested in historical details as tour guides would like them to be. Instead, we had a great time walking around and seeing things for ourselves, recognizing shapes and symbols and statues that we've read about during the year, and trying our hand at being ancient Egyptian statues (can't imagine where they got that idea!).

How did we do?

I took this one (above) because Lee Anna knew that the object behind her is the combined crown representing Upper and Lower Egypt. Imagine how big the original statue was for just the crown to be that huge!

After all those silly poses, we didn't do so well at getting a good regular family shot. But you can see the size of the columns inside the Karnak complex. I promise that is not Sawyer's regular face! (click on the photo to enlarge)

Here we're on the tram getting ready to ride out to the Valley of the Kings. We had to leave our cameras behind once we got out there, so I don't have any pictures of what we saw inside.

Sarah Claire and Mimi did a quick study of the guidebook so they would be prepared.

In addition to all of the historical education we got on our trip, we also got a little lesson in aeronautics! We arranged to do the sunrise hot air balloon ride that flies over many of the ancient sites. It was beautiful and a highlight of our trip.

However, to our great horror, just days after our return, we heard the news that a balloon on the same tour we took had crashed, killing nineteen people. We are so grieved at the tragic accident and have very heavy hearts for those who lost loved ones or were in any way involved with the crash.

By God's grace, our trip five days earlier was beautiful and peaceful. Here are some photos that we took while sailing through the sky.

See the balloon's shadow?

There were small holes in the side of the basket--made as steps for climbing in but also perfect for the kids to look out of!

Here we are safely back on the ground at the end of our ride. If only I had known then how grateful we should be! We have been sobered this week by the fresh reminder that we are not promised tomorrow. Every single day is a precious gift for us to enjoy!

While the trip did have its educational moments, we also did a good bit of relaxing. The swimming pools were way too cold for any of the adults to enjoy, but the kids stayed in until their lips were blue! Then they got out only long enough to warm up and jump back in! Our hotel was beautiful, with lots of green grass that was a special treat for us to see (and walk in!), and it even had a small petting zoo with rabbits and donkeys and camels and pelicans. The kids were thrilled with that!

We had a wonderful time and came home refreshed and relaxed and ready to get back to work. Thanks, Mimi and Papaw, for coming to see us and taking us on our educational adventure! It was a treat!