A Party, Pictures, and a Puppy

On Saturday Calen graduated from Kindergarten. We had grandparents, aunts, and uncles come to celebrate the occasion with us. What's a party without a theme? Calen and decided this called for a beloved author-Dr. Seuss. Yeah, that's Calen on his last day of school, still in his pj's (just one of the perks...) I was still in mine, too, as were Jax and Riley. Hehe.

We munched on Green Eggs and Ham biscuits, pigs-in-a-blanket, chips and goldfish crackers served in a goldfish bowl. We also threw in some pesky veggies. To round out our celebration-a Cat in the Hat hat cake. YUM-O.

Calen was presented with a diploma while wearing his snazzy cap and gown. We enjoyed looking back at his accomplishments over the past several months. He entertained the family by reciting most of his Bible verses, reading poetry, and reacting a Little Bear story. I shared some stories from his writing journal.

Here are the books we read- all 68.

Here's a shot of our other future graduate.

Here is a sample of the most recent pictures of the kids.




For some reason Riley always has a look of concern and uncertainty on her face when with her "bubbies."

And, as promised, pix of Hunter.

In other news. My dad is doing well. We are very thankful that he wasn't seriously injured. For those not up to date: Two weeks ago he was in a tractor accident. He and my brother and some friends were getting hay bales out of field. The tractor started sliding, and when my dad jumped off the trailer jack-knifed and pinned his left leg. He thought he had lost his leg, but he didn't. In fact, it wasn't even broken! Talk about a blessing. He still has a lot of work ahead of him since he did suffer from extensive muscle damage, but hopefully PT will help with that.

We are in monsoon season here in the mountains of TN. The heavens are just dumping water right now. Yesterday morning Danny went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee around 6:30. At 7:00 he was getting ready to leave for work when he stepped in something wet. The floor was covered in standing water and there was a bulging bubble in the ceiling. Some shingles had blown loose, and our roof was leaking. We will have to have the entire ceiling and some drywall replaced, as well as some light fixtures. I hated the light fixtures, fan, and chandelier in the eating area so I get to get some new ones. Might as well paint while we're at it.

We Did It!

We're ringing in a new month with new milestones. Calen completed his kindergarten curriculum and his first year of homeschooling- two weeks early. He is now officially in first grade. Over the "summer vacation" we will continue to read everyday and do math and phonics two or three times a week to keep his skills fresh.

We have had a wonderful time learning together. I asked Calen what he thought of our first year of homeschooling and he said, "I think it was a success." I agree. Before we began our year, I asked Calen what he wanted to accomplish during that time. He said, "To learn to read better, to learn more about numbers, and to learn more about Jesus." He is reading chapter books. He can count money, add, subtract, and can tell time just to mention a few. In November,Calen accepted Jesus into his life as his personal Savior and was baptized. Yes, I agree, it was a success-more than I can have ever imagined when we began. I can't wait to begin our next curriculum and am looking forward to doing it for many, many years to come.

Jax is now 21 months. He is an adorable ball of fire with a killer smile. He loves all things boys: cars, trucks, trains, tractors, blocks, balls, animals, mud, puddles, dirt, sand, climbing, swinging, running, wrestling. He is quite the problem solver and has the "where there's a will there's a way" attitude. Jax as a taste for all things red meat, sugary sweet and starchy. He's the ultimate meat and potatoes, sweet tea and homemade pies man's man type of boy. You can't turn your back on him for a second and he'll keep you on your toes.

He is climbing the rock wall on the playset and getting faster everyday. He insists on walking down the stairs like everyone else. The other day he climbed out of the shopping cart at K-Mart. He'll lock or unlock the doors, and he loves to climb in the car before anyone else and get behind the wheel. At the table his plate and fork has to be just like ours. Everyday his speech is improving and his vocabulary is growing. He loves to "...go outside, play." He loves to draw, just the other day he discovered the joy of murals. Thank goodness for Magic Erasers. We are also in the beginning stages of potty training.

Riley is now 7 months. I can't believe we are in the second half of her first year. She has grown by leaps and bounds this past week and a half. Up until then she was still exclusively nursing every three hours. She refused a bottle and any type of food in her mouth. She loved to watch you eat and drink, would try to grab your cup or plate, but as soon as it hit her tongue- out it would come. When we had to get her a new pacifier a few weeks ago she wouldn't take it for a few hours. The only difference was that it had a silicone nipple, whereas the old one was latex.

As of today, she will take a bottle at night and is eating a full serving of cereal and fruit for breakfast and a serving of cereal and vegetable at dinner. She may not be petite for long at this rate. She is still wearing 3-6 month clothes. Also, in the past week she has begun to sit up independently and is trying to get into crawling position. It won't be long until I'm chasing another one.