February 2017

This little mommy woke up early one morning and was busy feeding doggies and babies!  It made me smile how Emma filled the dog's bowl with cereal.  

Emma also loves this sweet baby, Korbyn Hannah!

Josiah and Briggs, just two days apart!  I can't believe they are both two now!

My kids don't start every day like this!  But, one of our primary motivators in homeschooling was to strengthen our kids' relationships with one another, so seeing moments like this thrills my heart.  It also encourages me to keep praying and being persistent in prioritizing their relationships.

(Also, I want to remember this adorable stage where Emma wears these purple bat and pumpkin Halloween socks every single time they are clean.)

One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is seeing Isaac make associations across different subjects.  We were working on math one day, and Isaac was entering 900 on his abacus.  The number 900 triggered his memory to one of our Classical Conversations history songs about Russian history from the fall, which includes the year 900.  

(Josiah on the left, Isaac on the right--both at 2 years old)

When you are the second boy, you wear big brother's hand-me-downs, even when the shirt says big brother's name on it!  And, yes--I called Josiah the wrong name all day long because of it.

Dave and I have been working harder to have regular date nights.  We couldn't find a sitter one night, so we had an at-home date and had fun playing Rook (a throwback to our newlywed days).  :)

cuties loving their ice cream at Dickey's!

Isaac and Emma were so excited about Valentine's Day!  Isaac had a Valentine celebration during snack & presentation time at CC, and Emma had a Valentine party at PreK! 

We had heart-shaped pizza and strawberry jello for dinner on Valentine's Day!  My kids loved their new bath bubbles and jumbo click pens from my parents.  They were just BURSTING!  Dave and I laughed and realized that these truly are precious days when bubble baths, pens, and jello bring such excitement!  

We also had a fun morning at the Fort Worth museum. 

Isaac has started making scrambled eggs completely on his own. He calls them "flash-fried eggs," just like his dad.  :)

This silly girl was happy to eat her meal in her doll's highchair!

There's nothing Josiah would rather do than read books.  If you come to our house, I can guarantee Josiah will bring you a book and won't give up asking until you sit and read with him.  It's so special to see Isaac read with him!

We had an incredibly mild winter and have enjoyed being outside so much!

There's a little stream near the bike path, and Isaac calls it "Isaac's Pond." He loves to look for rocks, bugs, snails, & frogs in it!

Isaac's big Christmas gift was tickets to see the Kratt Brothers Live in February!  My parents kept Josiah, and the rest of us left early on Saturday morning to drive to Muskogee, Oklahoma for their show.  (Who knows why the Kratt brothers went to Muskogee, but not the Metroplex, for their tour?!?  Ha!)

so excited and waiting for the show to start!

It was such a fun show and so worth the drive!  Chris and Martin were fantastic and Isaac loved every minute of it.  My favorite part was watching Isaac on the edge of his seat!  Isaac knows a lot about animals (a LOT!), so whenever Chris or Martin asked the audience a question, Isaac was always shouting the answers out (along with hundreds of other kids!).  It was a great day.

Isaac received an award at CC for having one of the best maps of the week.  In the picture on the right, he's giving a presentation about mallard ducks. Before we started CC, I really wasn't so sure about the weekly presentation portion of CC, but listening to Isaac give his presentation each week is now one of my favorite parts of community day.

I heard one of my favorite authors, Sarah McKenzie, speak at the Great Homeschool Convention in Fort Worth in February!  After Sarah's presentation, I was able to talk with her and tell her how much her book, "Teaching from Rest," has impacted me this year.  I look like I am crying in this picture because I was.  Her talk was so encouraging and touched my heart.  She opened with this portion from her book: 

"The builders of medieval cathedrals knew what it meant to work their entire lives to please God without ever expecting to see their work completed.  Many cathedrals would take more than a hundred years to build--more than the span of a man's lifetime.  I once heard a story of an artisan who worked tirelessly for many years to carve a beautiful bird into the wood of a portion of the cathedral that would be covered up.  When someone asked why he was working so hard on something that no one would see, he replied, 'Because God sees.'

God sees your little wooden bird too.  Just as the artisans and carpenters of old built beautiful cathedrals for the glory of God, so do you.  Yes, you--you who work tirelessly day after day over a geography lesson, a math test, a laundry pile, a kitchen sink.  Those are the moments wherein you build cathedrals for God." 

 Right now my life is full of math lessons, laundry piles, and many dishes, which are all signs of the Lord's goodness to me!  Three precious children, a godly husband, strength for each day, and joy in my heart.  So many answered prayers.

Praise the Lord!