Jake Skiing:
Judd Skiing:
There is also lots of fun on the boat with all of the cousins:
Jackson 2012: Fun on the Lake
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Summer Lovin’
This summer has been extremely busy but so much fun. one days can be exhausting and challenging, but I will never again have a summer with a 7 year old, 5 year old, 4 and 1 year old. I am also confident that we will look back on these days and smile. I pray that we will make fun memories this summer and that my kids will always remember there first summer in Georgia!
The Baby: Sadie at 20 months
I am SO behind writing this letter. I am tempting to just wait to write her 2 yr letter, but I know I need to keep it FAIR:)
What words do I use to describe Miss Sadie Grace? Crazy. Funny. Spunky. Screamy. Smart.
As of June 11, she is potty-trained and doesn’t have a pacifier. She is very challenging or very funny. I am SURE that the challenging part is just a phase. Right? She screams when she wants something, she screams she doesn’t get her way, and screams “hold you” when she wants to be held. She wants to be held often, and demands it often. Don’t get me wrong, she is the sweetest and funniest thing ever. I can be laughing at her and then all of the sudden, you better watch out!
She loves watermelon, which she calls Nella.
I look forward to her learning to play with Jake, Judd and Anna Kate. There are times that she will play with them if they are chasing her, and honestly, when she’s in the mood.
Sadie is a great sleeper. She sleeps every night from 8-8 and naps for almost 3 hours every afternoon. She must have her “bank” blanket to sleep and don’t try to give her a fake imitate blanket.
She loves to make us laugh. She likes to wink at us and tell everyone her name is “Shadie.” She also takes roll call every morning when she wakes up. Everyone asks me is she knows how to WALK or does she always run everywhere she goes.
I pray everyday that I will remember the fun memories and laughing more than the exhaustion of this little one year old.
I absolutely love this little sport model!
PreTeen Camp
During the month of June, we have been very busy and out of town almost every week. The week of June 26-28 we were blessed to be apart of PreTeen Camp. Jim was the camp speaker and we could go as a family to enjoy the camp together. We spent our time swimming and playing with the PreTeens.
Let’s set the stage for the following picture. When we first arrived on Tuesday, I realized that I left Sadie’s crib at home and Jim’s bag which included the message that he was going to preach in about 45 minutes after arrival and all of his messages for the rest of the week. We were a bit stressed. Did I mention that we had been in the car with Sadie for almost 2 hours? Have I mentioned before that Sadie isn’t a fun car rider?
Moving right along…while we were at Norman Park we stayed in a 2 bedroom “house.” It also included an office area. I decided that we would set up Sadie’s bed in the office so that she would have her privacy to nap and sleep at night. It didn’t take long to realize that Sadie didn’t want to sleeping in her crib that we were loaned. She kept crawling out and LOCKING the door so that we couldn’t get in to get her. Just when I was about to panic each time she would unlock it and come see with a sweet smile. This went on for about and hour. Needless to say, I found a key!
Wednesday we went to Wild Adventures and it was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed the kids and the water park. Jim and I almost yacked after riding several of the spinning rides. I think that we are too old for those rides.
As I mentioned above, we spent time swimming but did I mention that we went swimming at 9:30 both nights. They had a blast pretending they were all grown up.
A Day at Go Fish
This morning I decided to take the kids to Go Fish just a few miles from Mom’s house. We originally went because I thought they were doing a special on turtles, however, the “special” turned out to be a movie about turtles and Sadie was.NOT.interested. Needless to say, we didn’t watch for very long before moving on to all of the fun at Go Fish. We will definitely be returning sometime soon.
We enjoyed seeing all of the fish and other wildlife but our favorite activities were:
- the catch and release pond
- the interactive shooting room
- the interactive fishing and boating simulators
Judd was able to catch a fish while we were there. Did I mention I took four children fishing? It was busy but fun! I was excited that one of them caught a fish.
I kept waiting but they stopped biting. Maybe next time he will catch a one that weighs 10lbs!
The Museum of Aviation and Bowling
This summer we have been busy traveling but when we are in town I am trying to spend sometime going places with the kids and enjoying our new town. Last summer, we went on a field trip every week with a great group of families and we learned a lot about Memphis. This year I wanted to do the same thing. Today we went for a repeat visit to the Museum of Aviation so that we could see Hanger 2 and Hanger 3.
We returned home for a few hours and then went bowling. We are having FUN this summer!
Last day of First Grade….and Preschool
Our school year ended months ago, but I wanted to be sure and update about our 2011-2012 school year. It was a great day when we were officially done. When our 180 days were complete. I am not quite sure who was more excited. I regret that I didn’t get a last day of school picture. Oh well! This season of my life is a little chaotic.
It is hard to believe that Jake is no longer a first grader and that Judd is finished with Preschool. This year I continued using Abeka for Jake and I believe that it is a super thorough curriculum for phonics and math. It can get boring an mundane but it is so great for teaching the foundations of phonic and arithmetic.
This time last year, Judd asked me to teach him to read. I told him that we would spend the year learning to read and that is what we did this school year. Judd is now reading and he loves it. He is anxious to learn more during his Kindergarten year.
We have also thoroughly enjoyed Classical Conversations this year. We began with a community in TN, but transferred in January to our new Community in Georgia. It has been a great transition and a wonderful group. CC adds so much to our homeschool experience. I can’t say enough good things about Classical Conversations.
I love teaching my kids. I love having them home with me. I realize that the days go by so fast and at this point I can’t imagine them being gone for most of the day. However, I must admit there are days that I question our decision to keep them home, but I know that God has called us to this for this season of our lives. I believe my main struggle during these days is having my spunky Sadie. I am anxious to see how our next year will flow since she will only be napping during the afternoon.
I am so thankful for and love the relaxing days, swimming, playing, traveling, and the fun of summer. It refreshes my soul.
Potty Training Sadie: Day 2 and a week later
This morning she woke up and started telling me that she had to go potty. Every time she would said “polly, polly” we would run to the potty. Several times she would go but many times it was a false alarm just to try and get a jelly bean:-)
Just before lunch I decided we would take this show on the road and go pick blueberries…
We picked blueberries for about 30 minutes and she went potty on the frog in the back of my car several times. It was a fun outing without any accidents.
Here we are a week later. She is still doing a great job telling us when she has to go. Yes, she still likes to trick us so that she can get a jelly bean. I spend most of my days running from which ever room I am in at the moment to the potty. It is exhausting but I am truly amazed at how quickly she is catching on to this potty training stuff.
One thing that I don’t want to forget is how she will say yucky when she goes number 2…
Potty Training Sadie: Day 1
When do we move ahead and never turn back….
Last week at Beach Retreat, Sadie started telling me that she was dirty and needed to go potty. I decided that I would potty train her when we got back into town. I knew my window of opportunity was open and I better not miss it.
She is 19 months old so we started potty training on June 11. Of course, I am using the 7 days and $75 method once again.
“The general idea is parents stay at home with the child for several days and allow the child to walk around the house naked all day long. The potty is put out so it is constantly available to the child. Parents regularly remind the child to use the potty when necessary. Rosemond argues that children won’t tolerate urine and feces running down their legs, and will quickly learn to go to the potty to avoid accidents. The $75 is for carpet cleaning.”
She woke up this morning and I put her new panties on her and we let her run free with her pajamas on. Her first trip to the potty she didn’t go but she enjoyed sitting on the potty and reading books. I set the timer on the microwave for 20 minutes. When it beeped we ran to the bathroom. She sat and then got up and wet her pants. Set the timer again…she wet in her pants….timer beeped. Set timer….she wet all over the floor! She wet six times before her 2:00 nap time. However, she woke up dry from her nap and went tinkle on the potty. We had several more accidents and then 6 false alarms before success finally came at about 6 p.m. when she was hanging out with Daddy.
She is doing so well. I am proud of her.
Lights are out and I am going to bed. I have to wake up and do this all over again.
Blogging about the Beach
This week we went with Second Baptist Youth to Cocoa Beach, Fl for Beach Retreat 2012. Jim and I were blessed to be able to speak to the high school girls and boys. We were also able to take the kids with us. It was so much playing with them at the beach.
Sadie absolutely loved the pool and the waves the first few days. I did have a video of her playing in the waves but she deleted it off of my phone yesterday morning. It was so adorable! Every time she would hear the waves coming she would say “ready!”
We had an added bonus this beach retreat….cousins! Sunni and Mary Kate went on their first beach retreat this year. We all loved having them with us!
Anna Kate, Jake and Judd loved playing in the sand for hours everyday. The boys would either build sand castles or play in the ocean on their boogie boards.
This is what Jim did for his few minutes on the beach…football!!! However, he did play in the ocean with the girls.
On Wednesday, it was a little chilly at the pool. Of course, my two cold nature kids needed a towel to get warm.
Ahhh….tired babies sleep on the way home…..
