Urban Goes Country

Jude turned 10 last week. What a great young man he is turning out to be. Smart, sensitive, talented, and of course funny. :) John is taking the day off work tomorrow to celebrate. He says it is a surprise.....

Happy Birthday my son! Love you soooo much. I'm so happy God blessed me with YOU.

 

I love that the boys are starting to get along well (Aren't they starting to look more alike?) . They have absolutely nothing in common. One is neat, one is messy. One likes adventure, the other likes to play it safe. One likes sports and outdoors, the other likes computers and the weather. Night and day different, but somehow they have really started enjoying each other's company and sense of humor. 

I started homeschooling the older kids  last week, even while the little ones were still home. It was crazy to say the least! I was trying to deal with all the enrollment stuff so I gave the bigger kids an assignment to pick a subject they would like to learn more about, research it, and then write a short paragraph about what they learned.

Haha. I love this! Liesel wrote:

 Why are there always shoes on the road?

There are lots of reasons.

1. Sometimes kids throw them out.

2. People take them off and put them on top of their car and forget about them.

3. Some shoppers wear new shoes home and dump the others on the road.

4. Some kids get chased by animals and throw their shoes at the animal.

The reason I loved this report so much is because I am constantly pointing out random shoes scattered on highways and roads and asking the kids why, WHY, do so many people feel an urge to throw their shoes out the window. Never in a million years would I have thought to actually research the topic. So Liesel did it for me.  Love her!

Now, if you are like me, you will never have to wonder again, why there are shoes on highways.

I loved this sweet moment so much I had to ask Hope to hold the pose so I could grab my camera. She had let Zoya sleep in her bed. Once she was asleep Hope wrote  'I love you' notes, made a necklace out of one and laid the other by Zoya's pillow so she would see it first thing in the morning. I adore these girls and I am so thankful they love each other so much!

Ava, Zoya and Joseph started school last week and I couldn't be happier with their teachers, their classrooms and schedules. They are all doing so well and SO excited each morning to get to school. Zoya and Joseph are already surprising me by learning sight words. Wow, I am so impressed with the teachers and so glad we chose the route we did. Towards the very end of last year we finally broke down and put Zoya on ADD/ADHD medicine, and boy am I glad I did. It makes a HUGE difference in her ability to concentrate and my girl is learning so many new things! I am so very proud of them all.

How fun that J and Z get to share a classroom and even sit together. :)

Tonight, the boys Skyped Oma and she gave them a live tutorial on how to make homemade cinnamon churros. Seriously. How great was this picture moment!

Of course we realized after we got it all mixed up that we are totally out of oil and Crisco (as well as laundry soap, milk, paper towels, and a whole lot of other important things). I guess we'll have to finish the churros AFTER tomorrow's trip to the grocery store. Ooops!