Little River Cheerleaders

It has been such a joy for Debbie and I to work with the Little River Cheerleaders. These sweet girls are passionate about Jesus and have worked so hard learning cheers and chants in hopes to share that passion with others. They were ecstatic to have that opportunity on Family Day. 

Thanksgiving 2014

Our little Native Americans and Pilgrims.

We had a little playdate with Kanani a few days before Thanksgiving and made turkey hand puppets and woven placemats. The kiddos even put on a little play about the Pilgrims met the Native Americans. Finally, we ended with a delicious a mock Thanksgiving dinner.

The presence of limber and flan in our home is a true sign that the holidays are here. 

Gabriella helping me make flan.

These two really love helping mommy in the kitchen (we're making limber here). I actually think they like being my little helpers more than they love limber. 

I can't come to an event with just one flan. There must be two so that if any one wants seconds (or thirds or even leftover flan for the next few days) there's plenty. We were blessed to attend three family gatherings for Thanksgiving and I made two flans for each gatherings.

Flan, yumm! 

The first of our stops was at Nana's and Pop-Pop's. We always have the best time there. Gabriella was eager to show Nathan the "Again" book she checked out from the library the week before. It was an adorable book about a dragon, and Nathan loves dragons. He loved the book. 

Rarrrrrr

After all the fun we had at Pop-Pop's we headed over to Aunt Brenda's for more fun and even more food. What a feast! 

Although I don't have any pictures of our get together at Grandma Cindy's, I did catch this adorable picture of Mikey and Uncle Andy. Mikey loves him some Uncle Andy! 

Though we missed being with all of our family in Connecticut on Thanksgiving, we are so blessed to have had the chance to spend the day with part of our family. I pray we never take any chance we have to be with family for granted, no matter the day.  

My Little Seamstress

My sweet Gabriella, you have been asking me, for sometime now, to teach you to sew. I hate that it has taken this long for me to make that happen but am so glad it did happen. Time finally provided itself for this on the first day of our Thanksgiving break. I stayed quite busy for the majority of the day trying to catch up with laundry and cleaning, seeing that it was the first (week)day in quite a while I've been able to do so. After lunch, somehow, quite miraculously Mikey and Josiah both laid down for a nap. That never, ever happens and I couldn't thinking of anything better to do with that time than to spend those few moments of uninterrupted time with you, my darling, teaching you to sew. 

I'm still not too sure I know enough to teach anyone anything but I took a shot at it. You were so incredibly excited. 

I discovered, while making your Ninja Turtle shirts for Halloween, that sewing felt is super easy and (I'm not sure this next statement makes any since but) it feels good to sew. Given so, I decided having you make a little pillow of felt for your stuffed animals or dolls would be a great idea. Sewing two square pieces of felt together then stuffing it with a little stuffing seemed manageable. And it was. You did so awesome! 

We talked about the upper and lower thread, the bobbin, the presser foot and the pedal. I also showed you how to lower the needle and where to keep your hand while sewing, emphasizing how important it was to keep it far way from the needle (which you stated you already knew because you've been watching me do it. :))

That is pure excitement radiating from that face of yours! 

Having grandma share this experience with us was just priceless. She really enjoyed watching you and listening to your exciting remarks. It was a surreal moment for me. 

My little seamstress! 

Pinning...

Stuffing...

Talking with grandma :) 

Sweetness...

Trimming excess thread. 

Way to go, big girl! 

You've asked everyone you've shown your pillow to, if they'd like you to make them one. Of course their answer was a big, big YES! You now have a list of about five friends and family of whom you need to make little felt pillows for. :) You are so sweet! I can't wait for our next project together! 

Growing Up, Against My Wishes

If I can't keep you from growing up, then I'll do everything I can to savor every moment. 

Is it crazy that sometimes, when you're sleeping, I want to wake you up just so I can tell you how much I love you.

Book Pile

What an eventful evening! And believe it or not, this was all Josiah's idea.  :)

Big Sister

Mikey is pretty uncertain about leaving my side to participate in any sort of class at church. On the way to church one Sunday night Gabriella and I spent time talking with Mikey about how much fun it would be. Once we got to church, she took him by the hand help helped him bravely walk to class. 

 

A Pair of Each

I am so blessed to get to spend everyday with these two superheroes 

and these two princesses.

Fall

My favorite, favorite season and three of my absolute favorite, favorite kiddos. 

Using their sticks to chop leaves. 

A sweet boy and his leaf. 

What an inquisitive little face! 

The rest of the pictures may seem repetitive but there is something to be loved and adored about every single one of them and for that I just couldn't part with not even one.

...Gabriella's lean towards Michael, Josiah's fingers...

...Mikey's eyes, Gabriella's arm bent around the tree...

...Mikey's hand on Josiah's shoulder, their ascending/descending order...

...Josiah's lips, pronouncing the "ch" in cheese...

...All three eyes on me, Gabriella's ballerina pose...

What isn't there to love?

Native American Lesson at Lake Rim

We met with our homeschooling friends this morning at Lake Rim park. Ranger Mike taught a thorough class on Native Americans. Although we hated to miss our weekly story time we all had a really great time. 

Alyana got chosen to help demonstrate how the women disassembled the deer then cleaned the skin for multiple uses. Here she was using a sharp razor like rock to scrap the yuck off from the skin.

Isaac helped to show everyone what the Native American men wore. 

How handsome!

Another friendly helper show us what Native American women wore. 

\

Ranger Mike ended our class with sharing about how the Native American's payed their respects to each member of their family who passed away. 

Moments

For the four years (and even during my season of student teaching) I had many moments. Moments that were irreplaceable. Memorable moments. Moments that stopped time. Moments I yearned to sit and write about. Moments where I knew I had touched lives. Moments of success. Moments where a difference had been made. Moments when things just seemed to fall in place. Unforgettable moments. 

Those were the moments I lived for, the moments I taught for. Those moments made all of my hard work worth the while. 

It feels so good to be having some of those very moments right here in our own home with my little group of five. 

We have completed roughly nine weeks of homeschool thus far and seem to be trucking along. We (meaning I, of course) have a few kinks to work out but most importantly we are learning and having fun while doing so. 

I just wanted to document a few pictures from our journey so far. A few moments, if you will.