Start of Soccer Season

This was our first day of soccer games for this year. Wow! It was hot!

Ty is playing in the under 4 league. It was very humorous to watch and as you can see below he has an adoring fan in Katie.
Emily played in the under 12 league. The field seemed huge! This is her first time playing since Kindergarten. She is doing a great job getting the hang of everything. She is #8 in Lime Green.

Ty is getting direction from his coach for the kick off.

Sarah is a faithful supporter and is eager to get as many of the 50 cent snocones as she can! They really hit the spot.

Rollerskating

Emily and Sarah had the best time last night. We went Rollerskating with the Roberts. The girls got skates for Christmas and have been skating outside with our neighbors alot lately. They were so excited to go to a real rink.

Jenna and I had the best time chatting and remembering when we both skated at the same place when we were younger. It is so interesting that we both grew up and did so many of the same things in Fort Myers and never really knew each other. We probably have crossed paths more times than we realize over the years.

We plan to hit Homeschool Skate next Friday and Sarah even wants to have her Birthday Party at the Roller Rink. I guess next time I will have to skate too.

School is in session!

Today the students at Dillehay Christian School happily reported back to work! Yay

We had a great day for our first day back. It makes me happy that our kids enjoy school and are eager to learn. I think we are going to have a wonderful year! We started off with a family prayer time and then headed into the school room. Mark and I had stayed up last night and 'spruced' up the room with new posters, name tags on their desks and set out their new supplies. The kids were excited with the new touches.


Emily is in 5th grade this year. She is taking two courses online with FLVS. She is very excited about being an online student. Emily is a great writer and I always look forward to reading her essays and journals.
Sarah is in 3rd grade this year. We are using a program from Heart of Dakota and I think it will be a great fit for her. Sarah and I enjoyed doing her science work today. She is a good student and loves to keep her work organized.

Ty is very thrilled to be in school. He was so ready to be a real part of our school. I am using a preschool program from Heart of Dakota and we also are working through "Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." He loves letters and is good at identifying their sounds.

Katie is our newest student and is making her presence known quite quickly! She loves to be right in the mix of the things. We plan to have her follow along with some of the things that Ty is doing. Today we used window chalk and that kept her busy for a long time.

Emiy and Sarah hard at work with the globe. Very studious faces!

Ty and Katie working on a matching games. I was so excited about my file folder game, but it took them less than a minute to match them up. They loved it just the same.

I am so glad that I have the opportunity to homeschool. At times it can be difficult to have both of us working full time out of the home and manage homeschooling and other activites we have in life, but I cherish the time we have with our children.

And lastly, You know you are a homeschooler if........

you can wear rollerskates while you do your math!

King's Kids trip to Wannado City

This Wednesday I had the special treat of taking 6 wonderful King's Kids from our church to Wannado City in Fort Lauderdale. The kids had a chance to earn the trip by passing 12 sections in March, April and May. The books are very challenging and sometimes (depending on the book) one section can be 7-8 verses. Each of these kids worked very hard to get to go on the trip. The kids who went were: Emily, Sarah, Brooke, William, Kevin and Ethan. Originally, I planned on going by myself, but Brooke's mom, my friend Jenna, decided to join me. We had such a good time. We talked and talked the whole way there and the trip went by sooo fast!


This was Emily and Sarah's 4th visit, but we still found many new things to do. This is the acting studio. They video the kids and tell them what to do and then we had to come back later to see the video. The video was of them being chased by candy through a candy factory.

We tried to get all of them to do things together, but eventually it was eaiser to split in groups and let everyone pick what they wanted to do. This was our first activity, the fire station.

For lunch the kids made their own pizza.

The Crime Lab was great! Kevin solved many, many crimes during the day. I would definetly say it was his favorite.

Sarah wants to be a cashier someday, so she was thrilled with her position at Publix.

When the kids do jobs they earn Wongas. They can spend the Wongas to do different things. For 60 Wongas they can go rock climbing. William spent alot of money here!

We saved money by coming as a Birthday Party. It was a nice break to sit down and have cake.

The girls at the nursery

Ethan as a police officer.

Emily, Sarah and Brooke loved the acting studio. Brooke also was chose to be one of the models for the modeling studio. She did great!

Emily as the rather mean Queen of Hearts. "Off with her head!"

I'm so glad I got to take the kids on this treat. It was nice to reward them for their hard work. I always suggest for people to take their kids here because it is so much fun. As Kevin put it, "This place is like a piece of Kid Heaven."

broken finger

Sarah broke her finger playing (of all things) hide and seek. Apparently, she is quite the agressive hider!

Intially she was excited, but a cast in the summer is not a fun thing. Here she is wrapped up to swim at G and G's house. Mark had bought a new snorkel and mask and Sarah was determined to use it. Of course she had her arm poking up in the air while her head underwater. It was quite a sight!

She is drinking from a Chuck E Cheese cup that we got on Friday. Sarah and I enjoyed a mommy/daughter date. We had planned on going to Miniature golf, but the rain led us to Chuck E Cheese. We had a great time trying to beat each other in tickets. In the end, she won!
We pray that the next 3 weeks go quickly for Sarah.

Emily at camp

Emily left yesterday morning for Venture of Faith Junior Camp in Georgia. She was so excited to go to camp this year. Three of her good friends went too and I know she will have a blast! The female counselor, Nicole, was one of the campers when I went as a counselor to Venture of Faith. We had a great time and I know she will have fun with the girls. We miss her, but glad she is getting the chance to go.

I have great memories of going to Teen Camp, but never had the chance to attend Junior Camp. Mark loves Junior Camp because he was saved while attending Junior Camp at Covenant Hills in Otisville, MI.

I pray that she will be blessed spiritually while at camp and make lifelong decisions for the Lord. We love you, Emily!

Ty and Katie

Ty was so excited when we got the blocks out this week. He loves to build and especially likes to knock them down too. Katie loves to copy her brother!

Matching Towers by mom

I asked for a hugging picture and this is what I get.

This time I said to hug gently. They just think that is too funny.

I tried to get a casual hug, but Ty just couldn't figure out why Katie is looking up. He kept asking her,"Katie, why you looking up?"

Ty showing off his letter T. Katie still in peek a boo picture mode.

birthday and stuff

I had a very nice birthday thanks to my wondeful family! The day before we celebrated with my parents, Grandma June and Tay, Randy and fam. (Keela and William were invited, but they were already busy with a motorcycle ride.) :)
We have really enjoyed our backyard lately. It is so nice in the evening when there is shade enough to relax.
4 generations

On my actual birthday, (no pictures oops) we went to Mark's parents house after church. They fixed a delicious meal. Ribs on the grill, yum! Elizabeth even made yummy cupcakes. We swam for the rest of the afternoon before heading back to church. It was a great day.

We have found our new favorite place to go. Caspersen Beach in Venice.

We have been twice in the past week and a half.

The first time if was just our 6. We brought our boat and the waves were perfect for it. Here Sarah is riding with a boy that became our buddy.

Katie enjoyed the sand. She has a knack for putting sand in every possible place. So special.

Poses by Ty.

Emily loves looking for shark's teeth. She has a great eye for it.

For our 2nd trip, Mom and Dad Dillehay and Elizabeth joined us. After the beach we went to Dutch Heritage for a delicious Amish buffet. Elizabeth bought a huge jawbreaker. It may look big, but it fits! :)

Aunt Mary lives nearby and joined us for the meal. It was good to visit with her.

Ty 's buddy Miciah (Or Ciah as Ty calls him) is moving away. His Dad is going to be an Army Chaplain. We got to have Miciah over to play for a bit before they have to leave. We are going to miss Miciah and his family.

Today we went over to swim at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Chandler and Holly joined us. I think we are off to a very fun, wet summer. Loving it!

Wordless Wednesday