♥ Box Day! ♥

It's a happy day around here when the mail lady arrives with a package, but it's a really happy day around here when the Fed-Ex guy pulls up with our Sonlight books!

It's so exciting to see what reading adventures await us for the year!  For those of you not familiar with Sonlight, it is very literature rich.  We spend a great deal of our school time independently reading and me reading aloud, which is my favorite part of homeschooling by the way.  :)

And this year, there was even more excitement.  Gleaning from the years of excitement watching his sister get a box of books and have a love of reading, Luke was thrilled to get his own box of Sonlight books - his very own Core!

And then today, Luke got another box of  extra goodies....educational games and puzzles to supplement our Sonlight through Timberdoodle, which I also love by the way!  This adds lots of hands-on elements to the reading and writing!  :)

Now we've got all our books......we're ready to get this thing started.  Although we just "eased" into school with a subject or two, our first official day of school will be this Monday!  I think I'm ready......yes, I'm ready!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ 3 Years Today! ♥

Three years ago today, we arrived home from China with our newest American citizen just in time for the 4th!

Asleep on the flight home....but don't let this fool you...he might have slept an hour out of 15 hours!

In some ways it doesn't seem possible that it's been 3 years and in other ways, it feels like he's always been with us because he belongs here.

Just home....4th of July 2010

Forever ours.  We are blessed.  We are thankful.  :)

Taken yesterday - July 2, 2013

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Handyman in Training ♥

Our Luke is definitely an outdoor kid.  He loves playing in the sandbox, digging in the dirt, hauling stuff, building stuff, riding bikes.....anything that has to do with outside.  And even when he's inside, he's still building constantly.

And he loves to help....always asking, "Can I help?"    So I figure we better train him well so one day he will be a handyman like his daddy.   His future wife will be most thankful I'm sure.  :)

Pop gave him water and a brush to practice his painting skills first.....

Then he helped me paint the deck some....... and he wasn't too bad at it either.

Learning to handle the tiller.....

He handles this mower like a pro....My daddy (Pop) taught him.  He's pretty proud of him I think.....of how fast he caught on...especially for the type of mower it is.  Pop set up cones for him to maneuver around and everything.  Lol!   I venture to say he could mow our lawn by the time he's 8!

And he loves to help water stuff....but what boy doesn't love handling a water hose?  :)

It takes more time to stop and allow him to help and show him how to do something, but it is so worth the smile of satisfaction on his face and knowing that we're training him for the future....hopefully a wonderful handyman one day  :)

Wild hair man....that's what hard work does!  :)  

Thanks for stopping by today!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

Beware of Snakes

Luckily neither of my boys have ever asked for a pet snake. I have to admit that I've always worried that day might come.   Colt would be the one looking for a snake, but only to shoot.  And Luke is probably just as scared of them as Joy and me.  This is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned  :)

This is the sign I found in the yard the other day designed and placed by Luke. 

That's my boy!  :)

Luckily, we haven't run cross any snakes yet this year in our yard yet.  But then, the chances are pretty good that we will........that's just part of country living. 

Have a great weekend!  :)

♥ Little Boys ♥

If you give a little girl sidewalk chalk, chances are she'll draw flowers, hearts, rainbows and such.

If you give a little boy sidewalk chalk, he takes a different approach.......he draws things like roads, stop signs, traffic lights, railroad tracks, and neighborhoods.   And so my little one did.  :)  He worked SO diligently.

Then a beautiful afternoon calls for getting dirty, of course.  He spent just as long playing with his construction equipment in the sandbox. 

And then what do you think he did?

He brought his mama "flowers" fresh from the yard. 

And of course, that definitely put a smile on this mama's face.  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Luke's Recitation ♥

Our homeschool group has recitation once a month, many times with a theme such as Bible memorization, book reports, musical, etc.  This gives the kids a chance to practice being in front of a group with memorization and speech skills.  Luke has been working on memorizing the Old Testament books of the Bible for a few months now.  We just informally work on it throughout the week and especially on the way to church adding a few more once he has mastered the ones preceding it. 

He was supposed to be able to finally recite the entire Old Testament books at recitation this past Tuesday at homeschool group but we had to miss because of sickness.  And that just happened to be the last one for this school year.

So, I told him I would video him and he could recite them to blogland.  :) 

Had this been Colt or even Joy (1st and 2nd child), they would have been dressed for the occasion before I would have ever started recording.  But as they say, you get really laid back by the time the third and children thereafter come along.  It's true....Luke had his bath, put on his pajamas last night before we decided to do this, and I'm not worrying about it.   He's reciting in his pajamas, wiggling all the time.  :)

Now it's time to start working on those New Testament books!  Thanks for being his audience!  :)

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For those that stopped by, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?  I've had someone recently and someone a few months ago tell me that they had trouble reading the text on my page....that it was small and blended into the background.  It doesn't appear that way to me or to any computer in my house.  I've asked a few blogging friends and they say it looks clear and readable to them.  So I'm wondering what you see?  Is it clear and readable or are you having trouble reading the text in some way?  (Thanks for your input).  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ The Birthday Boy ♥

From the moment Luke woke up on his birthday (this past Monday the 25th), he was full of himself.  He knew this was HIS day and he let everyone know......and was full of wit and charm all day long.  He kept asking if he was bigger.    The Little Emperor was in charge of the day.  :)  For anyone within hearing distance, he would say, "I'm so glad it's my birthday".   And of course, he got lots of attention.

He wanted a fishing birthday cake, and really the entire party sort of took on a fishing theme (more on that below).  He had a choice of having a birthday party with kids coming over, or going to The Children's Museum during the day and having a family party that evening.  He chose the Children's Museum and the family party. 

So when we got up Monday morning, Joy completed her schoowork in record time and we were off to the Children's Museum.  He was SO excited.  He just couldn't stay with one thing....he was here and there and everywhere, over and over again.  I think it's safe to say he had a good time.  He loved that museum.  When I asked him his favorite part, he said it was the fishing part....and he did spend a good bit of his time there.

Here are some highlights from the Children's Museum adventures (and of course, his Joy was right there beside him because he doesn't go far without her):

Loading and exploring the Fed-Ex plane.....

.
Luke, the fisherman.....you can tell he was a busy little bee here!

Luke the fireman........

Luke the surgeon....

Luke the policeman.........

Luke the grocery clerk and shopper....

Joy had a little fun of her own...... (checking her blood pressure and playing with the green screen dancing)......

Luke the mechanic....

Luke the dentist....

More fun...

Then that evening we had the family party.

The decorations........

The cake.....

The present opening.........

Playing games........

Family............

Playing with his toys.....

He told us he had a great birthday and I think he loves being 5!

And his sweet little sleeping self at the end of a LONG, FUN, and EVENTFUL Day! 

It's still so hard to believe he's already five!  What a blessing he is!  :)

Thanks for stopping by! 

♥ Most Days ♥

Most days around here, if you were to drop by, you’d probably see something like this……..right in the middle of my living room.  Luke's room is too small to stretch his tracks and trains out like he loves.

Again, these pics were taken with my "dumb" phone....not the best quality.....I miss my camera!!!

Jason actually cut these blocks for Luke for Christmas because he loves to build and we gave them to him in a Rubbermaid box. He has spent hours playing with them already.

I really don’t mind the mess. I’ve gotten used to just walking over them…….as long as they’re picked up by the end of the day and I can walk into a freshly picked up living room in the morning. I need at least that much for my sanity.

It keeps him busy while Joy and I are schooling and he can make some pretty elaborate designs.
He loves to makes bridges and tunnels and he narrates as he plays, just like they do on Thomas the Tank Engine. So much can be learned though by being left alone with creative play.

I know one day the house will be clean and quiet, and I’ll miss these days........so if you were to drop by, you’d just have to excuse the mess.  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

{Sometimes Willing} Little Model

As I mentioned in the last couple of posts, Joy has been very interested in photography and has taken my camera out on mini photo shoots.

Well Luke has been drawn into her little photo shoots. Most of the time, he’s fairly willing, although not always cooperative. I like that she captured all those things in Luke’s personality though through her little photo shoots.

Joy has already posted these on her blog and she gave me permission to share them here on my blog.

Luke, the monkey:

He never fails to pick flowers for me when he goes outside.  :)

Well you can't wear a monkey suit without acting like one, can you?

Luke, the farmer boy:

Luke, the baseball player:

He obviously dressed himself....his shirt is on backwards!  :)

Luke, the annoyed:

And last of all, here’s yet another photo by Joy I'm including for Sandra's 31 days of fall challenge.  Maybe I’ll take my own photo soon…..but she’s doing such a great job and letting me borrow them…….. :)  And this one has fall written all over it…..it's that time when we get to break out the boots…..and these are Joy’s new ones!

To everyone that stopped by today, thank you very much! Have a great day!  I hope you’ll join me tomorrow for Faithful Friday. And soon I’ll take you on a little field trip to my mom’s house to see all the good stuff my carpenter has made for her home!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥