March Picture Update

Last Saturday was a busy and fun day for the kids. After the Pine Wood Derby Race ended, the church where we meet hosted a free lunch and Easter egg hunt for the kids. Here's how Caleb walked around before the hunt began. He also got to hit a pinata. Anyone else think it's wrong to take a bat to a cute white bunny?

 My greatest discovery bringing much joy to this mom and home school teacher is that I learned that Caleb know how to read.  He learned this past fall as a 4 year old.  I don't know how he did it but I suspect it was all those hours playing games on the Ipad.  I'm not complaining even if I have to change the kindergarten curriculum that I will use for him. I caught him at 10:30 pm reading Jamberry with a flashlight.   I was tempted to tell him to go to bed but I refrained.  We're a homeschooling family.  We get to sleep in every day and awake when our bodies tell us to not when an alarm goes off at 6:30am.  So I let him read as long as he wanted to and I went to bed. 

Hannah fell asleep in my bed obviously with the IPad and Netflix.  What a cutie pie.

February pictures update

Sorry, I haven't been posting much lately. I've been posting on facebook but I forget to post here too sometimes. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to this month.

Andrew's sweet writing assignment that he wrote about me as a surprise.

Hannah FINALLY learned to tie her shoes. 

Hannah's new best friends: the Arnwine sisters, Daisy and Lily

Snow hit my new flowers at the front door.  :(

Jason gave me tulips on Valentine's Day.  

The kids in their Western attire for Ethan's Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. 

 

Snow day

Finally, we had a snow day. It rained for 5 straight days flooding our city, then the temps finally dropped and brought us snow and ice. Schools were even let out early Thursday and closed Friday for a 4 day weekend. You can just feel the excitement in the air.

Hill Academy was still in session on Friday though because we took off on Tuesday for Caleb's birthday. I wasn't a completely mean teacher. We tailored the curriculum to learn about snow, make snow cream, and make snowflakes after getting our language arts, math, history and science done.

It was an overall great school day. My favorites are the ones where they are happy and learning at the same time while having fun as well.

Circle G Ranch

For Caleb's big activity for his birthday, we headed over to Circle G Ranch.  It's a wild animal safari and park with petting zoo on 105 acres in Strawberry Plains, TN.  They have a 3 mile drive through the park where every animal comes out to meet you and get fed. It's both thrilling and frightening at the same time.  Your car is covered is slobber by the end of the trip and our tires covered in mud since it had rained over the weekend.  We said it was like our own Halloween scare house.  Hannah saved Andrew by screaming hysterically to watch out just as a big cow was sticking his huge head in to lick him. That grey tongue was huge and so very long!

During the drive through, which we did twice Caleb and Ethan jumped in the trunk to stay away from the animals.  Of course, Jason would tease us by lowering the windows down and then locking them open.  Torture!  It was torture!  

The big water buffalo, deer, zebras and llamas all are smart enough to know how to treat the cars.    They've learned to block the road and cut you off just to get you to stop so that you will feed them. We nicknamed one cow Little Red and his big brother, Big Red aka Dentyne.  They both could cut in front of the car quickly for food.  The little piglets and rabbits in the petting zoo were the cutest.  We came home talking about rabbits and searching on craigslist for them.  One day we'll get a bunny.  Jason even found a cute orange and white one for $15.00. We will have to see if it's litter trained.  Then maybe we'll get one. Maybe.

The birthday boy

A zebra meeting Jason

Creepy emu saying FEED ME to Andrew.  Do you even see Andrew in the seat?

Bambi's Father

Bambi

Wilber and his sister

Ethan hiding in the trunk

Getting chased by a llama

The Little House on the Prairie

The kids and I have started reading the Little House on the Prairie book series.  We try to read one chapter every night before bed.  Some nights, we end up reading two because they are so good that we can't put them down.  After finishing our first book, I checked out from the library the entire first season on DVD from the original tv show.   We have been engrossed with everything Ingalls.  We sometimes talk like Ma or Pa and we talk about Jack and the girls or the Indians.  It has been so educational.  I just love it!

After watching a few episodes one night, the kids decided to have a mini "sleepover" on the sectional couch upstairs. All 4 kids loaded up on the couch and slept for hours together, even Molly joined them later. Can you spot the orange cat amidst all the colorful blankets?  She's at Andrew's feet and Caleb's head curled up in a little orange ball.  We just love her so!  We have 5 more full seasons to watch and enough books to read that it will take us over a year to finish.  I can't wait!

Great Smoky Mountains

We spent Saturday in the Smoky Mountains spotting all the wildlife there and seeing all the fall foliage. It was gorgeous.

We saw horses, deer and bear while traveling through Cades Cove. This was the first time we were able to use Jason's truck and let the kids sit in lawn chairs in the back. They were loaded up with bags of popcorn, licorice, and drinks: happy little campers.

We were there with thousands of our closest friends also visiting the mountains. Tons of cars were from out of state including Texas, New York and Florida. It was a great weekend to be there.

Cousins

We miss so much living away from family.  It does grieve us.  We long to have family nights where our parents and siblings and all the kids come over for dinner and dessert and we play games or talk until late at night.

Just recently we have gotten a little glimpse of that life.  It's all because of Alex.  Alex is my cousin, Pam's eldest son.  He is now a sophomore at UT.  We are over the top excited when he is able to come over for dinner and hang out.  The kids ask if he can come over often.  We love how he's just jumped into our hearts and we think and pray for him often.

The last time he visited he brought his girlfriend Kelsey with him.  She's a doll and perfect for Alex.  Now, we have 2 college kids to grasp a hold of and beg to come over for dinner and "play time" with the kids.  Here's Alex and Hannah dancing up a storm on the Wii game Just Dance.   He's forever Hannah's buddy now that he danced beside her.  How could we love him more? 

Random Pictures 2012

I've been cleaning my iphone's picture file of 339 random photos and stumbled across some that I forgot to post about. So here's a blog post filled with pictures. Just what everyone wants, right?

January 2012

Caleb buying his birthday Lego sets from Uncle Jason and Aunt Melissa, 

two boat Legos. 

February 2012

The kids played a game with Hannah's scarf.  It was one part Indiana Jones and fighting this grey snake (scarf) and then the other part, fur trader.  It was a very inventive and fun game even for this mother of 

four to watch.  Here's Caleb wearing the fur hat. 

 March 2012

Here's Andrew riding a four wheeler at our friends' farm. The played a great game of follow the leader with Jason leading the way and both the big boys following.  I even rode for a while too and had a blast.

March 2012

Here's Ethan in the 4 wheeler.

March 2012
Here's Hannah with her new friend Macy at the farm.

April 2012

My breakfast one morning after the kids played with it.

Cousin pictures

I had these 2 cute pictures leftover from Christmas that I did not post on the blog but MUST because they are too precious. Everyone is getting so old!

Family Ice Skating Night

We were able to take the whole family out ice skating this week for one of Hannah's American Heritage Girls' troop outings. It was Andrew and Caleb's 1st time skating. All the kids picked it up pretty well. Jason had to take them around the rink the most because I am a horrible skater holding onto the wall for dear life. We all had a blast and got a great work out and came home with no broken bones or sprains. Here are some cute pictures of the kids.

My Grandmother, Mema

Have you ever been looking at old photos and can't remember what happened that day? Maybe you forgot what you were doing or how you felt that day. I can say that this picture is NOT one of those. This picture will be one that I will never forget how I felt and what was going on that day.


It was the day after Christmas 2011. It was the day that my sweet Grandmother, Mema was being moved in to a nursing home. She has dementia now and is needing round the clock help. She's 94. Doesn't she look great for 94? She has lived in her own home by herself since my grandfather died 14 years ago. Her health is great but her mind is going. It's heart breaking to see my grandmother like this but what's even more heartbreaking is to see how it's hurting my mom and her sisters. It's for the best where she's going but she doesn't want to live there. So for all my friends reading this blog, would you say a quick prayer for her? Her name is Brady. We covet all your prayers and thank you for them.

Here's my Mema with her youngest grandson, Caleb. They are 91 years apart in age. Wow! She was so sweet to us that day. She played cars with Caleb, crashing them together making him laugh. She played with Hannah and Hannah's new American Girl Doll, Elizabeth. We changed the doll's clothes and played dress up and Mema kept saying that she wished that she was little again so that she could have a doll as beautiful as Elizabeth. She was actually joyful like a little child, playing games with her great grandchildren. It was so remarkable and I love her even more for loving my children and playing with them that day.

Facebook Post

Here was my facebook post for today.

Hannah cut her finger with a knife deep enough to need stitches. Caleb scratched Ethan's eye bad enough for him to miss 3 days of school. Ethan spun a bowl of soup in circles across 2 rooms on my carpet and couches. Then, Andrew broke my cell phone. I believe I will be hibernating until the New Year at home with all my children wrapped in bubble wrap. Call me if you need me!

Audrey's 1st Birthday

My sweet and precious niece Audrey turns 1 on Wednesday, Nov. 30 but we got to celebrate with her over the Thanksgiving weekend. Amy and Michael planned a GREAT birthday party for the cousins and friends at a bounce house. Here are the best shots that I got with my stinky camera phone. Be patient, I hope to have a new camera as a Christmas present. Then I should have much better pictures for the blog.

Audrey, Michael (her Daddy), and Jason (Michael's older brother)

The Hill Granddaughters, Hannah and Audrey

Audrey eating her cake