Scrapbook: silly faces recreated three years later

I had not planned on recreating this scrapbook page, it just came naturally. Both of my boys love making silly faces. I remembered after I took Jonah's pictures the other day (that he requested I take), that I had done this before. So I started searching my scrapbook archives, and I also found that it was exactly three years ago that Tobin had made the same silly faces! Funny how things repeat with two boys that are so different from each other. Of course Jonah is wearing batman. He doesn't wear anything else, so I had to make a couple thematic changes. I left as much the same as I could get away with. My happy scrappy pages:

 Tobin, August 2010

Jonah, August 2013

First Day of Kindergarten, take 2

Tobin decided on August 6th that it was time to start school again, so we did. I was planning to start the 14th, but the goal is to always keep excited about learning, right?

 We made our first lapbook, a term I have finally come to understand as: a scrapbook in a folder that is folded in a cool way. Sounds like fun, so we made one all about Mr. T. Okay, his name if everywhere, but as I have become homeschool bog obsessed lately, I have seen the trend of calling your kids by nicknames to protect their identity. Guess if I ever have more than 2 followers I will remedy my error.

My boy has grown up a lot in the last few months. When we did our trial run of kindergarten in January, writing anything was torture. Now he knows how to write his phone number and loves to write peoples' names. What is strange is that now he doesn't want to color. Guess I have to take what willingness I can get. We are now on our third week of homeschool, and things are going smoother than I had hoped. I am proud of my 5 1/2 year old. I have other posts to come about our adventures so far....so.....to be continued. 

Celebrating 9 Years of Marriage

     Happy Anniversary My Love!

    We've been married for 9 years as of today, but we have been a couple since the year 2000! We also went to Jr/Sr (that is the Christian school prom) together in 1999. I seriously can't remember life without you, and I don't want to.
    Hope everyone enjoys this video I made for Jonathan. We were 17 in the first pictures, and now (14 years later) we have two crazy boys. Life is beautiful. Thank you God for your blessings!

S is for Sun and M is for Moon

       During the month of February, we studied "S" and "M" for Sun and Moon with our new My Father's World Kindergarten Curriculum. I found it rather ironic to talk about the sun when it was so cold outside (my fault since meant to be studied in September), but we got some warmer days in there too when we went outside and looked at our shadows. One problem was the raisin experiment- you know, put grapes out in the sun and watch them turn into raisins. Well, I let them get to the shrively stage in the fridge, and then we put them in the window sill, and it actually worked! Thank goodness we had some sunny days:).

The left are store bought, the right are our homemade raisins. Now, the book said not to let your kids eat them since they aren't exactly healthy if they get moldy, but ours turned out so well (and I made sure there was no mold) that I let the kids eat them.

 

    We ran into our first hurdle during this unit: my husband's work schedule did not combine well with Monday/wed/friday 9am school days that I had planned on. He works 12 hour shifts during the day for three or four consecutive days, than a couple days off, than three or four nights for 12 hours, than couple nights off, and every month he has a whole week off. Very confusing...  I still can only remember his schedule up to one week at a time. He also works two weekends a month, so my traditional school week ideas were not working. How can I expect my 5 year old to sit and write the letter "S" while Daddy sits at the computer and plays games? It just wasn't fair to any of us. Plus, the boys are going to preschool still on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so those days are taken as well. Thank goodness I don't actually HAVE to homeschool and take attendance yet. We are taking kindergarten extra slow, and only on days Daddy is working.

 

    So all that to explain.... next unit was about the Moon... and since Daddy was working night shift, we had our school at night. (look at me being flexible and spontaneous:) - I soooo... do not come by that naturally). Moon is perfect for night study anyways, so we were all excited. Plus, we had one really beautiful clear night with a full moon that was breath taking! Thank you God.

 

We really enjoyed learning about the phases of the moon too... it was yummy Oreos.....

 

 

We ended with a fun project..... of course there are lots of worksheets and learning things I am not showing. The point is, we are loving learning about God's World!

Looks perfect in their room full of stars

 

 

Our Homeschool Experiment

I call this our homeschool "experiment", because Tobin does not HAVE to start kindergarten until this coming fall. I figure that gives me a couple months to see if homeschooling works for us. Honestly, the idea of me being in charge of what my child learns scares me. Am I really cut out for this? I have done a lot of research, and we have enjoyed the last three months of education. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

 

 

 

We received our curriculum for My Father's World Kindergarten the first week of January, and we were so excited, we started kindergarten the very next week!

 

 

My little man turned 5 in February, and he is so excited to learn how to read.

 

 

He has grown up A LOT in the last year and a half!

 

 

Of course little brother is learning along the way too. He wouldn't want to be left out of course, but the best part is watching big brother go out of his way to include him. Usually, I teach Tobin, then he turns around and teaches Jonah. So sweet.

 

 

 

What better place to start than with the days of Creation?

Tobin loved coloring, cutting out, and glueing these numbers all by himself.

(the "O" at the end is Tobin's addition=our planet.)

 

 

 

Christine Lewis Photography - Family Photos 2012 Scrapbooked

 

So life with two active little men, and a husband working A LOT has left little time for scrapbooking in the last 6 months. Christine Lewis of Christine Lewis Photography took such amazing photos of our family last month, that it inspired me to find time..... *blogging paused to put shark costume on four year old and take floss away from two year old*.....

   I was also inspired to not be so detailed and spend so much time on each page. Lastly, I was inspired to make them look like sunshine by our awesome outfits:).  I'm not going to take the time to tell you what scrapbook stuff I used. If you want to know, I will tell you where I got each scrapbook element/paper. Just want to share my beautiful family, and the fact that Christine Lewis is awesome.... and you will be seeing at least one of these photos on this year's Christmas card if you are on my exclusive mailing list (aka  - I have had your mailing address since our wedding 8 years ago, or I can hand it to you before Christmas day). Do you live in the Chattanooga area and need family photos for Christmas card/christmas presents? Christine Lewis is the one to contact! www.christinelewisphotography.com

Adding "Love" Facts to Christine Lewis Photography

So I saw this idea on Pinterest.... and loved it! I immediately thought of several Christine Lewis Photography fave photos with big open spaces that were perfect for adding personal "Love" facts for each year of my childrens' lives. My plans are to make them into posters for the boys' playroom and also print them for their baby books. Now this isn't really a scrapbook: it's just adding layers of texts on a photo in photoshop (though spacing and blending take time for sure).

I'm sure I didn't remember everything my boys love or loved, but it sure was  fun going through memory lane. It reminded me how important it is to write things down as they happen. Jonah isn't even two yet, and I had a hard time thinking of what he was like when he first turned one!

If you are a customer of Christine Lewis photography (http://www.christinelewisphotography.com/) and would like what your child loves written on a particular photo, just let me know! She is amazing at capturing the "love" in your child's eyes, and her style is perfect for adding the words that go with it!