You Are My Sunshine

Monday, December 24, 2012

Each year, like most famlies, we bake and decorate Christmas cookies for our family & Santa, of course. This year was no exception. I even had John there with us this year getting in on the fun!
Here are a few photos:

This is Josiah rolling out the gingerbread cookie dough. Look how fast he is! ;)

Patting and cutting out the cookies. Everyone enjoys this part, seeing the shapes come out of the cutters.

Lexi and Jacob make their cookies into artwork. :)

The finished product...We made sugar cookies that taste like the kind you buy in the store, thick and soft in the middle...Yum! Those are my favorite! The gingerbread was yummy, too. :)

They were pretty sugared up afterward and decide to get rowdy!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

I wanted to share a picture of how we re-purposed our

grade level signs that we used for our school pictures.

These binder covers were a lot of fun! The kids each picked their own color and

now I have a permanent memento of their hand print on the printed grade level.

Even the 6th- and 7th-grader loved this project! ;)

You can download them here.

Monday, August 20, 2012

JAKES Day at Mustard Seed Ranch

On Saturday, we took a drive up to Mustard Seed Ranch in Cookeville. What a beautiful place! They were hosting an event for JAKES (Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship). NWTF (National Wild Turkey Federation) was also there. There were stations set up with lots of information on wild animals. One station had a live owl that the kids loved petting! Also at that station was a little corn snake that all the kids held. Jacob was apprehensive at first, but toward the end of the day, held it for a while. :) He is working on facing his fears. Me, not so much. :) We picked up a few brochures and posters with lots of pictures and information on our native animals here in TN. I am going to include it in a study on our beautiful state later in the year. Also, the kids were able to talk with members of the THP, Rescue Squad, fire fighters, and paramedics. They had a petting zoo with an ornery little donkey, a llama, and a baby buffalo, to name a few. AND, a rock climbing wall. They were so busy and had so much fun!!

We were able to tour the girls' and boys' homes. They are beautiful! It is amazing what so many caring folks can do for children who just need someone to love them and show them Christ. Some of these children have never been in church or seen the love of Christ displayed in their homes. The Ranch is working on several projects, including building more homes so they can take in more children. You can check out Mustard Seed Ranch here.

All in all, it was a great day!

Look at the size of those tires!

My boys :)

Jacob being Hawkeye.

Lexi pulled off a couple of Bulls-eyes!

Made it to the top to ring the bell.

Madi's first time shooting a bow!

Looks a little scared. :/

Even Josiah tried it out.


The beautiful owl.

Siah and the snake.

Donkey rides!

We now want to add a Llama to our farm!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

New School Year

We are beginning a new school year this week. I am excited and nervous at the same time. On Friday, my neighbor helped me clean and organize my school room. There is still a little work to be done. I need to paint the walls. I sewed a curtain today for the window and just need to find that perfect paint color!

It's hard to believe my girls are both in middle school grades this year. Lexi is in 7th and Madi is in 6th. Jacob is in 3rd grade this year and Josiah has reached a milestone in his education! He is a Kindergartener this year!! They have all grown up so fast! I can't wait to see how this year will go. I am blessed to be a part of their education. Though the school days at times are stressful, I wouldn't trade them for anything!

Lexi is not thrilled to be holding this sign, but she is indulging me. ;)

Madi is about halfway between excited and mortified. ;)

My boys are excited!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Every year we put together a gingerbread house as a family. This is a fun tradition that hopefully will carry on for many years to come! Here are some photos from today's adventure. : D

Friday, September 16, 2011

Vacation in Gatlinburg

We have been wanting to take the kids to Wilderness at the Smokies for some time now. However, every time we have the time, we don't have the money, and vice versa. We finally decided to just do it! So, I called and made the reservations. We ended up getting a BOGO free rate and spent a little less than we thought we would on the room, which was good. We decided to use that extra money and go to Wonderworks, which is a very cool, very fun science/art oriented museum. The day before we left for vacation, I found out that it was home school week at Wonderworks. We got in for about half the regular admission! That was a blessing. We were able to take the family out to dinner with the money we saved there. Jacob wanted to see the Titanic, so we walked around it, but did not go in. All in all, it was a great trip. The kids behaved very well and had a ton of fun!