Valentine Photo Shoot

The older boys started out just wanting to do silly faces. So I'll start out sharing those!

 

LOL, silly boys! But I was able to get some nice ones of everyone too....

 

We even filmed a little bit to make a video, which hopefully I will get edited soon. :)

Creative Genius

My son Elijah (age 5) is a creative genius. He took a blank printer paper, drew a whole bunch of writing lines on it (some straighter than others!), then came up to me. "Mommy," he said in the sweetest voice, "Could you please write everything I say on this paper?"  How could a person refuse that? So I sat down and became his scribe. This is his story. (He even titled it) 

Robot Domination

If they zap you, you turn into a robot too. And then you are a part of their team. The robots are bad guys. How to destroy them is to play all the games you love. When robots get destroyed, they cannot get back built again. They were built a long time ago and now no one knows how to fix them. The robot maker has a mustache that looks like a robot. That is why his name is called Robot Builder. He knows how to fix robots too. But, when robots die they disappear forever. 

The End. 

I love how he had a story in his head and really wanted to get it out! I love how he sought me for help. :) I love how the robot maker has a mustache shaped like a robot....how cool is that? And I love the title...WOW, brilliant title. For a 5 year old just learning to read and write, I think this is a great beginning. I hope to encourage him to continue to develop this talent. And I'm glad I was there for him when he needed me to help. 

Come to think of it, his story reminds me a little bit of Reboot! I LOVED that show as a kid. :) 

Future Football Champ?

Hyrum loves being outside. If he sees the front door open- he books it as fast as he can  to try and escape! It was actually a nice warm day just a few days ago, so I let the kids explore outside. Hyrum was carrying a football everywhere with him. It was so cute!

 

 

Yep, my baby boy has some mad skills! And such a handsome boy too. :)

My Little Artist

Elijah LOVES drawing. He likes me to staple pages together so he can just draw a bunch of pictures in a book. I keep papers and pencils in a place where the kids can reach them so that they can sit and draw whenever an idea comes to mind. Elijah is often expressing his thoughts through paper. I love seeing his drawings. And his drawings almost always have a story to them, so I love to ask him what his picture is about, cuz I get a whole cute little story from his very creative mind. Today, he drew a picture and it was a very proud moment for me as a mama. Take a look:

For those who do not recognize this dragon- it is a very special dragon! This is Trogdor, from www.homestarrunner.com It is a really funny, popular website that my husband particularly likes and the kids love to watch the cartoons on it with him.

Here is the original Trogdor as seen on homestarrunner! :) Elijah drew his picture from memory without looking at this one, so for a 5 year old,  I think he did amazing! I can't wait to see where this interest in art takes him? Are we looking at the future Michelangelo? ;)

Why I Love Teaching My Kids

Though there are many reasons I am glad I decided to homeschool my children, one of my favorite things is moments. Moments that are precious. Moments that I wouldn't want to give away to anyone else. Everyone says "They grow so fast! Enjoy every moment". Well, that is exactly what I want to do. Some of my favorite moments, some of the most adorable, quarky things about my kids happen in these teaching moments. Here is a little glimpse of our precious moments.

Elijah likes to be creative with his letters. This is his name written in 'Monster' font. LOL.

Elijah kept adding a little curl to the bottom of his numbers. I asked him if he was writing curly numbers. He then informed me that he was making a 'genie shoe' 3. LOL, I LOVE his creativity. He had 'genie shoe' 7s, 2s, 4s, 8s, etc, all over his worksheet!

While Ellijah does his math worksheets, the younger ones do more playful math learning- patterns, shapes, counting, etc. Here, I told Bria that she had made such pretty flowers with the shapes. She then informed me that they were spaceships, NOT flowers. LOL. :0)

Memphis made a cool beehive.

Then, Memphis was SOOO excited to show me the spider head he made with the shapes....scary! Even has pinchers! But, soooo creative! And well done.

These little moments, these sweet little bits of their personalities are so deeply enjoyed by me. I would hate to miss these moments while they are here....for they will soon grow and in the blink of an eye these moments will be gone. And, I'm so grateful I get to share in these moments with them. I get to praise them for their creativity, encourage their imaginations, and cultivate the future. This is why I love teaching. Moments. Precious Moments.  

Hyrum Walks!!!

Hyrum became very determined to be a walker. He made himself a walker with our kid stools. What a smarty little problem solver boy. He giggles and walks back and forth across the house with this.


Lately he has been really working hard at walking. We went outside to play and I kept trying to hold his hand to help him walk along and he kept pushing my hand away, and then taking steps by himself. He would fall, get up, then walk again. Everytime I tried to offer my hand for help, he would push it away. I was really proud of him for his persistant determination. He kept this up for a good half hour.

I finally managed to get a little video of him taking steps! Just a couple days ago he walked 15 steps in a row....so I think it is official: We got ourselves a walker!!!

Parachute N' Balls

We had a little bit of sunshine today and NO RAIN! So we had to take advantage of that and do our P.E. outside. I pulled out our little parachute and we played some games, though the kids were having too much fun with the ball game...so we mostly played that one.


This was right before I yelled 'Blast Off''

I love Bria's happiness in this one. It just radiates.

They all were having sooo much fun!

The balls look so cool flying through the air...I'm glad I was able to capture the moment.

Probably one of the most fun P.E. lessons we have had!




























Even Hyrum had fun!!! I'm glad we had just enough sunshine to play a little bit out in the middle of winter...we feel so cooped up sometimes!