Hardy and Tirzah's Double Birthday Party!

Hardy turned six on July 14th and Tirzah turned 8 on July 21st. Because we were going to be on vacation during their birthdays, we decided to throw them a double birthday party the Friday before we left on vacation. We decided to have a cookout, and about 35 people came to the party. I made Hardy a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling with two transformer toys on top. Tirzah's was a strawberry cheesecake cake (with real cheesecake in the middle and fresh strawberry filling) with cute little garden creatures. Those cakes took awhile to put together, but they were so delicious--it was worth it. :)

Here Selah and I are in the living room, watching Tirzah and Hardy open up the gifts. After presents, we played some ring toss and then went outside to play to spray silly string over the front yard. It was such a fun night!

Acarith was great at the party. I must admit, I wondered how she would handle Hardy and Tirzah getting blessed with so many gifts, but she was so mature about it. Before bed that night she said, "Mama, I remember my party at the Rice's house and how I got lots of presents."

No doubt about it, we are so blessed. All of our friends and family showered love upon us, and we are so thankful for all the friendships the Lord has given to our family.

Happy 4th of July!

Our Fourth of July was wonderful! Normally we would have lots of people over for a party, but this year we decided to just have it as a family affair. After our barbequed chicken meal, we headed to play at the park. The kids had a blast and were able to play with several other kids there. The weather was breezy and cool--perfect for being at a park. Acarith really wanted to wear her princess dress (she pointed out the colors red, white, and blue are on it!) and I agreed. She is the little fashion bug of our family.

Selah loves to do everything at the park: the swing, the slide, and even just rolling around in the nice green grass! This time it was fun for her because now she can walk and climb the whole swingset play area (much to Ruth Ann's fear at times!). Hardy let her borrow his little blue ball that lights up and she held it almost the whole time while she did everything! She had a ball (pun intended)!

Hardy and Tirzah love playing on the monkey bars. Though they are older, they still really enjoy going to Garrison Park. Now we pack up scooters and bikes for them to enjoy at the park also.

I did Tirzah's hair in this star hairstyle. It was so easy to do and looked so cute!

Tim had a ball too! He discovered going down the hill with one leg on each of the kids' scooters was a blast! He never fell one time in all his daring tricks he tried!

After the park we went to a friend's house and watched the fireworks from his patio. I think Selah enjoyed them the most! She was clapping and saying, "Wow, whee, yay, oohh, ooohh." It was adorable. Everyone really enjoyed hearing her exclaiming over those fireworks! From our house to yours, I hope you had a happy 4th of July!

Having Fun in the Pool

It is getting hot here! We are enjoying our pools. We have two pools: a kiddie pool for Acarith and Selah and then a 10ft around by 4ft deep pool for the rest of us. It is nice to have a way to cool off. In this picture, Acarith, Tirzah, and Hardy had fun dunking their hair!
 
 

Here the girls are, playing with their little mermaids in the pool. Selah wasn't overly thrilled of the pool, but she didn't protest either. I'm sure in a few weeks, she'll adjust! 

Tirzah loves, loves the pool. She would beg Tim to put up the pool. Tim told her when she heard him complain about the heat, she could tell him it was time to put up the pool. He was joking around with her, but Tirzah took him literally. The first complaint that came out of his mouth, she reminded him about his bargain! It was so funny!

Last year, Hardy didn't really get into swimming in the pool, but we've noticed he's different this summer. He especially loves his little "noodle" and is already starting to be very adventurous and more daring. We're going to put all the kids in swimming lessons in a few weeks at the Rec Center, so hopefully by the end of the summer they will be great at swimming. Hope you all are enjoying your summer like we are enjoying ours!

Last Day of School!

Friday was our last day of school! Tirzah completed lesson 170 for her video school from the Abeka curriculum and Hardy finished his workbooks and readers. It was really neat to see Tirzah's class at the end of activity time line up and say good-bye. Tirzah started tearing up; she loved Mrs. Chappell and her class this year. Hardy had no tears; when we finished, he just zoomed outside to play before lunch. 

This is a Christmas card from Pensacola Christian Academy; on it are the pictures of the video teachers. Since Christmas, Tirzah has kept this card pinned on the wall of the schoolroom. Here she is, getting ready to draw a heart around Mrs. Chappell's face.

Sweet, huh? I'm so glad Tirzah had a great school year. We are so proud of her and Hardy; they both do so well in school. Now they will be in the third and first grade next year. Every year at our house just gets better and better!

Our Ladies Tea

We had a good time at our Ladies' Tea today. Our theme was "Cruise into Service." We decorated the main building to look like a cruise ship, complete with hanging seagulls (one was flying--Tim attached it to the ceiling fan!). Tim also put together background music of the ocean and seagulls; it was very relaxing to listen to! The Koontz family once again outdid themselves in preparing a wonderful meal for us ladies; we had the choice of a tilapia or chicken dinner and it was great! The guys looked great as they wore sailor hats when they served us. Selah slept through most of it and was an angel. We really had a wonderful time!

 

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day here in Cottonwood. The sky was clear blue and the weather was perfect! The kids were excited about thinking of Jesus and His resurrection. At church, Tirzah played a piano piece called "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" on the piano. The highlite of our morning was when Lily, a ten year old girl who has been coming to our church with her grandma for about five years, was baptized! Then, Lily's dad had a surprise for her and he also was baptized! It was really special.

Sitting in front of our portable baptistm, the kids were all smiles.

Everyone was asking me if I sewed the girl's clothes, so let me say that I although I have been sewing lately, I did not sew the dresses. We bought the girls' dresses at Wal-Mart, and all I had to do was hem Selah's dress. (I also hemmed Hardy's dress pants--a first for me.) It was sweet to see the girls in their matching dresses and Hardy looking dapper in his new church suit.

Selah is our little sweetie.

She loves to say in sign language "all done" after she eats a meal and then claps  right afterwards. Of course, we're clapping along with her, and she has discovered she loves the attention from clapping! And this past weekend she started blowing kisses, which is so fun.

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday, and now today we are celebrating Tim's birthday! Don't we all have so much to be thankful for?

 

Homeschooling the Kids

I thought you might be interested to see how we do homeschooling in our family. Using the Abeka curriculum from Pensacola, FL, Tirzah, our second grader, does the video school while I get to be Hardy's teacher. (I used to teach K4 and K5 for six years so kindergarten is my specialty.)

We start school with Bible class at 8:30 every morning and finish school around 1:30 in the afternoon. In the above picture, Tirzah, Hardy, and Acarith are pledging to the flag in their Bible class. Hardy and Tirzah do Bible class together, and sometimes Acarith joins for fun. Mrs. Jadine Chappell is Tirzah's teacher and always keeps Bible class fun.

 

Hardy does his schoolwork at a little desk in the dining room. While I work with him, Acarith "babysits" Selah in either her room or Selah's. The roommtime is good for the girls and helps me and Hardy to have some good one-on-one time.

Acarith loves to do school. She enjoys counting, learning her letters, and coloring papers. About ten o'clock she does her papers at the table.

Here is Selah by Tirzah's desk in the schoolroom. As long as she is good and quiet, she is allowed to be in the schoolroom with Tirzah. She plays with blocks, looks at books, and says "hi" to Tirzah. Tirzah loves it when Selah hangs out with her. Ten thirty Selah takes her morning nap and the kids go outside on recess--their favorite part of school!

I love Tirzah's little desk; it fits perfectly into the schoolroom which is about ten by eight feet. Tirzah does very well with her video school and especially enoys having classmates. Our last day of school is May 16th (if all continues to go well), and I must admit, we are all looking forward to summer break!