Lydia Grace.......

Lydia: a very sweet girl, has turned 7!

We are so thankful for our dear little Lydia!

Lydia is the first of our children to be born since moving into our house.  This is the only home she has ever known.

Lydia loves helping mommy with the many tasks of homemaking. She loves to cuddle, and she loves being with her family. Lydia has a natural knack for math and is learning to read. She enjoys school and is an excellent student.

Lydia loves. 

Lydia is having a tea party today in celebration of her life. She is very excited!

She has also ordered cinnamon rolls for breakfast, omelets for lunch, and tacos for dinner (since Saturdays are our family's taco night {her words})

The menu for her tea party is: scones, cake balls, Belgian chocolate cookies, grapes, strawberries, and tea of course! Served alongside friendship and fellowship!

So, a very Happy Birthday to a very precious girl. Happy birthday to Lydia!!!! We pray your spirit will shine bright for the years to come and that you will love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. We are so blessed by you, our dear little girl!!!! We Love You!!!

A New Addition.......

We have a new addition to announce! Naomi has a blog!!! Check it out at Naomislifeinwords.blogspot.com

Where Can I Find Her?!

Sometimes I'll be looking for Selah, and these are some of the places we can find her.........

 In a suitcase..........

 In the kitchen drawer...........

 Between her sisters kisses............

In her Daddy's arms.......

Or in tiny little chairs made for princesses.....

Seriously?!

My two year old HATES potatoes!

A very sad boy who was watching the potatoes being put onto his plate. He begs and pleads for us to not give him potatoes. What kind of a weird child am I raising anyway?! I love potatoes!!! But, he LOVES brussels sprouts! We were teasing him with giving him seconds on his potatoes...(I know, we are sooo mean, but thankfully he was just sad and he didn't throw a fit or my teasing would have back fired!) Then we brought out the brussels sprouts and his whole face lit up!

He was so relieved to not have to eat more potatoes and he thought he was extra special to get more of the sprouts! Well, all I can say is: at least the sprouts are healthier!!!! 

No children were harmed in the creating of these photos.

School Lunches....

There has been a lot in the news lately concerning school lunches. It seems there have been complaints as well as outright boycotts against the newly "nutritious" and "low calorie" meals that are being served in the public schools across our nation. Well, you'll be happy to hear that though we are not public schooled, we still try to maintain a nutritious balance in our lunch system. Never mind the bleached flour and high fructose corn syrup used in the hamburger buns that have been smothered in protein rich peanut butter and berry loaded jam (I mean that's still healthy, right?) The cheese sticks and fruit cups must make up for it at least, cough cough. Okay, to keep the boycotts down, I gave yummy Oreo cookies to all who finished their healthy lunch, though my two year old decided that the delicious cream filling was all that was worth eating! The beverage was vitamin water from Costco....low in calories and filled with, what else? Vitamins of course! So, happy lunch eaters all around today. No boycotts, no health officials on my case, but then again we do homeschool. You know, if parents packed their kids' lunches then nobody could tell the children what they can and can not eat. And since a lot of the complaining students that are also qualified to get free school lunches already get free groceries via food stamps, we could save the government a bit of money...kill two birds with one stone, no more complaints at what's served for lunch and the government saves a bit too!                          Hmm. Now that's food for thought!

Kinda looks like a school cafeteria, doesn't it?

Lunches all ready for the students

Say "Cheese"! (okay, that was cheesy, I know!) Lol

Who doesn't love an Oreo?

I mean the cream filling is the best part!

And just because I couldn't leave the cute baby out of this post!

Back to "Normal"

Yep! It's that time again! We are busily ironing out the wrinkles of our daily routine as we are on day #2 of the second week of school. What an exciting time! I am very happy to say that we have made it over a week on our new schedule! (Last September we only made it one week before all chaos broke loose!) ;-) I have ten diligent students....Naomi is in her last year of "official" school, while Zeke is doing basic preschool stuff. Selah is the class clown with her silly antics, always wanting mommy's undivided attention, always wanting everyone's attention for that matter! It's a juggling act, to say the least, trying to divide my time amongst each child and the house work on top of that. But, for the most part, I am keeping my sanity! I am already making plans for a field trip to the pumpkin patch next month. This has me really excited! It's always fun to go on field trips!!!

One of Our Favorite Places....

This is one of our favorite places to be as a family..........

The boat house overlooking Blake Island and the Seattle skyline

Dear friends of ours own this amazing little boat house and let us stay here annually. We have been truly blessed to have this opportunity to get away without having to totally get away. (We missed out last year as I was getting ready to have Selah!)

At ground level

a view of the cabana and white sand beach

the front view from the beach

Boiling the crab

A feast to behold!

Enjoying the food and fellowship

Cleaning out the crab.....

Working for our food!

Just hangin' out

Kayaking is always a hit!

Boating to Blake Island (phone in a plastic bag)

Ready for the boats!

Enjoyment!

The boys rowing to Blake Island

Some big brother/little sister time

Just look at that face!!!!

We always enjoy wading, beach combing, kayaking, row boating, playing in the sand, vegging on the hammock, eating fresh crab, and just being us in a quiet and beautiful place!

In the very meaning of the word......... Selah

So thankful for this time!