Jaiden's Room

Thinking back to when I was working on the boys' rooms and realized I never posted a "progress" photo of Jaiden's room and I wanted to do so before we start changing things around and adding things to walls.

We haven't painted much of anything (as in walls) but this year, I'm hoping to just get it done. We will see. So for now, this is what we have.

We painted this old antique bed gray, along with his side table, and if you recall the green bench I had at the old house? We painted it navy to match his Ikea bedding.



Pillow I picked up for him at Target.



And, I was absolutely stoked to find this already made burlap bed skirt at a garage sale last year for $10.



I had to add these letters  my mother in law got him when he was little.



We definitely like to keep it simple for him, but I am working on adding things to the walls, after I paint them of course.

Our School Day: Bible

I'd like to break down different aspects of our day, and write about how we do and what we use for each subject.

This is always the time of year for reflection and figuring out what is working and what is not. It is so nice when most things we use are falling into place.

We start our morning with Bible reading and scripture (plus poetry, days of the week for the preschooler) memorization.

I try to get this in at breakfast (7:30) so Jaiden is able to join us, but it hasn't been happening at that time lately. I'm trying to get back to that though.

We read through the Family Reading Bible together.

I love this Bible. Love it.  We've used it for 2 years. I was wanting to read the actual Word of God with the boys. Although I love the Jesus Storybook Bible for extra reading with Brighton, I just love the way The Family Reading Bible is the Bible. It has plans to read every day, and short questions to get you thinking about the verses you just read.

I have Tristin bring in his Adventure Bible to read along while I read The Family Bible aloud. This has been wonderful practice in his reading, and practice looking up Books and verses on his own. We are loving it!

I also use the Illustrated Bible to give them ideas of what the story we read may have looked like. This comes in handy at the end of the week because we try to do a Bible art project. They take what they remember learning from the week and draw it or paint it into one beautiful picture. They enjoy this project and are so excited to do it.

At the end of dinner most evening we try and do another Bible lesson. This is when I'm trying to include Plants Grown Up. We read verses together, and pick a few of the projects in the book to learn about a certain character trait. We're trying to learn 1 trait a month, to make sure they're getting it. it includes projects like writing out The Ten Commandments and posting them in your room, making your own If-Then chart by writing a list of offenses and then writing the scripture relating to the offense, and a lot of the projects are just digging more into scripture and seeing examples in the Bible.

There is a girl version of this study as well.

That's what we're doing now. There are some times I'll find a devotion or study that I'd like us all to do together. We usually do in in place of our breakfast reading. Right now I'm thinking about doing a summertime study using The Dig. They offer a free lapbook (over on GMG) to go along with the study. I thought it would make a great summertime study, since we normally don't do a lot of activities with our Bible reading.

 I'm considering  including Proverbs Study Guide (series) in next years Bible study.

Next up: Math

Winter Holiday

A few weeks ago we headed to Angel Fire NM for our annual ski trip.
The boys and Dan just love to ski. I, sadly, do not love it.
I am a water, beach, warm weather girl.
I used to enjoy skiing, but took about a 10 year break from going, and haven't enjoyed it since. Since my boys and husband do, it is something I want to work on.



We took Brighton to ski school, and he did fantastic!



I think he looks adorable on his little skis just zooming past us.



I loved hearing about his day every afternoon, and he was thrilled about the jello with whipped cream and the hot chocolate they served him!



Dan and Tristin stayed out all day. They had so much fun, and I think Tristin really adores having dad all to himself! (I stayed in with Jaiden and found Waldo, read, watched movies, and went swimming.)



He even worked on his own tricks!



We had a fine time. We went before spring break and it was really easy going there.

Our "baby" is 5

In February our "baby" turned 5.
I don't like that.
Everything in life is just swirling around 100mph, and I can't for the life of me get these kids to stay little!

Brighton is such a happy and precious boy. He is full of energy and always in to something.
He's sweet and cuddly. He loves to sit on your lap. I feel I need to sit long enough to let him stay on my lap.
Sometimes I just don't sit long enough to let him stay.

I am so thankful he is in our lives!

The traditional birthday donut cake:



We love you B!

Squirrel!

Think the dog that yells squirrel on the movie Up.



I walked in the family room the other day to this.



Oh, but that's not all.



Yup. But not just one, there were two squirrels chasing each all over this tree.
Poor dog. ha

We're Having A Ball

It's amazing how a simple ball can create

a good hour of non stop fun. Who needs the special

amusement parks? 

Waiting for Spring, And a Texas Blizzard Y'all

I has been a very nice winter here in Texas. A lot of the days have been nice enough to go outside for a walk or just to play,  but I'm always freezing. Always.

I'm very ready for the smell of fresh cut lawns, big thunderstorms rolling in, and eating breakfast, lunch, or even dinner outside.

I was looking at pictures from last April, and man it sure got me excited!





Pots ready to be filled with gorgeous flowers!



That will all have to wait a bit longer though. Outside our window is sunshine, but it's melting the 15 or so inches of snow we just had. What a storm it was! The boys are sure enjoying it though.



They built forts in the front yard the first day, and got creative on the back deck steps yesterday. They stayed out for hours! I cleaned house and had nutella and peanut butter hot chocolate hot and waiting for them to tire.