School Year 2014-15 is Here!

It's hard to believe we were in China three years ago… oh we have come so far! Praise God!

We started school a week and a half ago… Here are the students on their first day:

Here are our choices for curriculum, er, curricula, or is it curriculums??? we are starting with (as always, subject to change… probably MANY changes!):

Family learning ~ bible study, KONOS (a unit study curriculum in which the academic units have a Godly character trait focus) which includes history, geography, and science, volunteering with Meals on Wheels, Atelier art, life skills including cooking, and cleaning… also lots of really great read-aloud classics including Shakespeare

Josh ~ Teaching Textbooks math, Writing Strands, Spelling Power, Editor-in-Chief grammar, typing skills, and D'Nealian style cursive handwriting (will use BJU after he reviews and practices a while)

David ~ Math-U-See, Barton Reading & Spelling program, Handwriting without Tears, and some Writing Strands

Samuel ~ Math-U-See (with David), Explode the Code phonics, Handwriting without Tears (with David), and some Writing Strands

Sorry if curriculum-a-ums talk is boring… that is mostly for me to document :)

We will also continue using our workboxes. I asked the kids if they liked them and there was a resounding YES!!! I will do another post to share our workbox system…

Here's to LOVING our life together!

(((hugs))),
chris


“The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

The Kitchen Remodel, Part 2

Here is our new kitchen!

What a difference, eh?

We are so happy with the composite granite sink
and the quartz countertop
I made the soap dispensers out of mason jars ~ perfect for me since I love canning!

Jas did a great job on the moulding on top of the cabinets

The under cabinet lights really light up the workspace on the countertop

We love the stone backsplash!
We know it won't be the easiest to clean but it coordinates well with our fireplace
and we love it :)

The end panels that match the doors on the cabinets add a custom look &
we are so happy we added those

We are super happy with how the floor turned out

The tiffany style lights coordinate well and
I re-covered the cushions on our old stools…
I had to add a feminine touch ;-)

We got our ready-to-assemble cabinets from Barker Cabinets in Oregon. We love love LOVE them and recommend them highly (I'm not even getting paid to say that). Their cabinets have all American made components, the soft-close hinges are included on all drawers and almost all doors (except the funky angle doors like the two-door corner cabinet and the 45 degree cabinet), and they have all plywood construction. We ordered the Westminster style doors because we wanted a simple style door that had a little bit more to them than just the shaker style. I ended up painting our cabinets. It was time-consuming but only cost us a can of primer, two cans of semi-gloss paint, and a few specialty smooth paint rollers. We splurged for the trash can with the ServoDrive and it is sooooo cool :) and worth the expense. You can find them at barkercabinets.com if you are considering a remodel and you need cabinets.

Our quartz countertop is from Cambria which is a family-owned company that sells the only American made quartz. We found they also had the best selection of interesting quartz patterns - more like a granite look where you can see the layers in the stone. A lot of the other quartz companies have very uniform patterns kind of like solid surface countertops, and we wanted something that looked more like natural stone. Our counter does not photograph well, but it is a great mix of brown and black with some teeny silver speckles in it. Just perfect for us!

While we were working on this I kept waiting for something to happen. Ya know, you always need one setback or surprise or delay or SOMETHING. Nothing was happening… nothing was happening… and then I had a breast cancer scare. So far, so good and it probably is nothing. God is so good. I will be retested in 6 months to be sure. I will count that as our surprise during construction.

There's the tour! It seems that we are still married after all this is said & done! Yahoo!

(((hugs))),

chris

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. Psalm 143:10

The End of our School Year :)

We finished our school year by taking a big field trip… to Washington, D.C. and then North Carolina!

We took a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing

We saw my cousin Courtney

And my Aunt Annie

And went on a pirate adventure in Annapolis, Maryland

We visited the Air & Space Museum at the Smithsonian

I love my sister

Aunt Shel and her three favorite nephews

My dog nephew Payton
Ain't he cute???

We saw lighthouses
and we walked up this one

See Josh and me?

My sister brought a bottle of wine in a shark-shaped bottle.
It was surprisingly yummy ~ can you tell she enjoyed it???

We saw wild horses… that was amazing

The boys' coolest sandcastle EVER!

(((hugs))),

chris

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on
praying.

             Romans 12:12

The Kitchen Remodel, Part 1

Aaaahhhh… the kitchen construction project is basically done now, but this is the story of…

The Kitchen Remodel

All my guys hammering and tearing out tiles…
Jas & I tore out the linoleum that was under the tiles
(this took a whole weekend)

And we got down to the plywood!

Jason put in a new window ~ the kids got to climb in and out too!

Me and the first piece of soffit to come down...

Soffits and drywall suck.
Royally, totally, completely suck.
The End.

I am the lovely assistant who held up the drywall.
I think this is a very flattering camera angle for me.

Oy. Watching mud dry.
As exciting as watching grass grow…

About 8 cans of drywall mud, wall texture, and a gallon of paint later…
I flossed the drywall dust out of my teeth,
then took this pic to remember the good times :)

The floor guy came & went…
and after we assembled allllll of the cabinets,
we went to work installing cabinets

Cabinets are in… time for a beer!

We had a deadline ~ the cabinets needed to be in before we went on vacation so the floor guy could finish the floors while we were gone. WE DID IT! Everything came together and the timing worked out perfectly on every step. Yay God! Thank you!!!

(((hugs))),
chris

Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
       Psalm 103:1-2

The End of the 2013-14 School Year

We made it!!!

Our first year of homeschooling under our belt… and we are so excited to continue on next year!

Here are some (ok lots o') pictures:

Mummifying a hot dog while we studied Ancient Egypt

P.E.

Typical school uniform

There was a major flood in our area in September...

Josh made a homemade flashlight

lots of Legos in our homeschool

we studied laser beams

P.E.

we made geodes

the three musketeers wearing their teamGlenn hats…
one of our favorite neighbors Mr. Glenn passed away in November

the kids are all learning how to cook

homeschool field trip to a kids' theater performance
(those are 2 of our friends on stage)

all 3 kids are taking piano lessons now

P.E.

opening a pyramid to find the mummy

field trip to the air museum

Umm… what can I say…
it's a tough job :)

watercolor hangings like in Ancient China

we made stalagmites
or are they stalagtites?

David joined our homeschool full time in January
& what a dramatic change in him!

Fun with math manipulatives

D's first lap book

See??? Complete joy :)

P.E.

P.E.
Daddy being a great example while sledding standing up…
boys so need their daddies because I would never do this

Olympic torches

Cub Scouts

Josh is so "into" Minecraft that he had a Minecraft birthday party
and he took some online Minecraft classes offered to homeschoolers

#3 playing soccer
#1 also played basketball
and all 3 took swimming lessons

AND we started construction on the kitchen
in mid-April

tattoo sleeves made by Daddy

our world puzzle

testing what it might be like to walk on a tightrope

and more Legos of course

We had a super fantastic year! We are so blessed…

all the glory to God!

(((hugs))),
chris

P.S. I will post our last 3 days of school and our year-end party in a week or two… don't be jealous!

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39