Natalie’s Dance Recital

 

 

Enjoy the Dance Video!

Natalie had so much fun this year in her first official year of dance class. She took ballet with Mrs. D of the Decatur Park District. Mrs. D is a wonderful instructor and has so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much patience with these chitty chatty, energetic, easily distracted, fun loving little girls! Natalie enjoyed the whole experience of learning dance, meeting new friends, dressing up in her dance outfit weekly, and don’t forget the beautiful recital costume! 

We counted dance class as part of physical education, classical music time, and the arts for homeschool.

These ladies worked so hard this year and had a lot of fun! We look forward to all of this next year!

Simple Pleasure Thursdays

 

   

These little ducks brought a happy time to us one evening. The kids enjoyed feeding them bread and chasing them around our “front lawn” at the time.

These little visitors came to see us while we were living in North Carolina back in 2007. It was just a simple evening of hanging out at home, grilling on the grill, and playing outside. The ducks came pretty often and we would feed them.

We were a family of four at this time with Natalie at 3 and Adam at 18M, these two little ones enjoyed laughing as they got to see the ducks come closer and closer to them. The ducks would “quack” and the kids would repeat!

This is a simple pleasure of our family. It brought us a great memory.       

What brings your family simple pleasures?

Easter Celebration

                                                 

Jesus’ Resurrection. Death is crushed to death. Finished. Risen. The tomb is empty. Jesus is ALIVE! He has risen.

We have been talking a lot about the resurrection of our Lord. I am so excited because the kids understand what Easter is all about. I mean beyond the Easter Bunny, coloring eggs, and candy. They KNOW the real meaning! I love this by far! If there is anything that we want to instill in our children with teaching them at home its that we want them to KNOW their Lord and Savior! We can not emphasize this enough to them. Knowing their Lord is a lifelong relationship. I am so glad that my children are learning this at such a young age, I wish I had known Jesus as my Lord as a child and had the relationship my kids are gaining at their young age. I am blessed enough to have a relationship with the Lord at my age now and since my late teen years! I have learned so much and walked on his path for a long time and don’t plan on ever leaving it!

We began our week talking about what the cross meant, what Jesus did for us and why he did what he did! We had four easter eggs filled with different objects, verses to go along with each egg and lesson. We did one lesson, verse and egg daily. One egg had a cross, one had a nail, another had a cloth, and the final one was empty.

On Good Friday we went to church for service and then headed to Culvers for some yummy, well deserved ice cream!

On Saturday morning, Easter Eve we headed to an Easter Egg hunt at a local church here in Decatur. (We also go here for a playgroup on Tuesdays.) The kids had a blast searching for eggs and ended up with so much candy, the Easter Bunny didn’t even bring any!!

 

 

Natalie and Bella all ready to get some eggs………

  

                                   

Travis had a complete technique…he would pick up a ball (egg) and say ball, then decide where he would put it, maybe in someone else’s basket, maybe throw it, or he might bring it to Daddy and put in his bag!! He had a great time and was even happier when he found out there was candy inside of them!

                                    

And then there was Adam…he was very reluctant to go and get the eggs. He wanted me to hold his bag, maybe he had a technique as well.

Mom holding bag+two hands free to get eggs=2x as many eggs

And then the candy…. 

   

 

Easter Eve…..we colored our eggs….does this count as art??

     2 dozen boiling eggs…

  Table set for decorating eggs….

 

 

                                           I think it took all of 15 min to color all the eggs…everyone was a little disappointed when we were all done.

Easter Morning…we started our day off with our traditional Easter breakfast..our hardboiled colored eggs, bacon, and toast. Then everyone got ready for church. One of my favorite days of the year is Easter, I absolutely love going to church on this day, especially! I love going to worship my Lord and sing praises to him. I also enjoy seeing everyone in their very best, I mean there is a special feeling in the air on Easter Day. It almost seems as Easter comes, there also comes a new, refreshing feeling of Spring. There are bright colors, the sun was shinning and people had a “hop” in their step!

Here we are all glammed up…..

     

                            

                                       

Travis enjoying his smoothie

 

Our Easter would not be complete without worms……

HAPPY EASTER!! HOPE YOU ENJOYED!

BLESSING, JACKIE

Surgery- A character building lesson.

 

Nene laying in the hospital bed.

On Tuesday, April 19, Nene (Mary Ann, Grandma) had a total knee replacement on her right knee. We have prayed for this day, and sent many prayers the day of her surgery and are still praying for a great recovery. The surgery went beautiful and she is doing well with recovery. Still in a lot of pain almost a week after surgery, but is walking around with a walker and is having physical therapy.

The knee after surgery and 31 stitches.

Michael having fun with his mothers pill cups, nope he didn’t take the meds in the cups, but by looking at the photo’s you may have thought so!! AHHAHHA!

Oh the hospital humor..

This event has served as a great learning tool for Natalie and Adam. We have visited her everyday since her surgery. We went to the hospital three days in a row and since she is now home we have been there the past few days as well. The kids have learned that we are to take care of people when they need it. They have been a great help at helping their Nene get “better”. They have assisted in grocery shopping, making sure she is comfortable and also helping in cleaning up after themselves at Nene’s house so she won’t fall on the toys.

Just at out visit today, Easter Sunday, we all enjoyed seeing Mary Ann walk with a walker. We are glad to see she is doing well and are excited for her to be able to walk further and get around better without being in pain all of the time.

blessings, jackie

Our weekend….

We had an exciting weekend. We have learned that as people leave the heart grows fonder and when they return we are excited to see them and realize how important they are in our lives. I say this because Michael went to North Carolina for a Men's Retreat based on the book Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. He left early Thursday morning, drove to NC and had stayed until Sunday morning, drove back home and got to see us before the kids went to bed!

He was gone for a total of four days and in that time we did a lot of missing daddy. We knew this would be a trip of a lifetime for Daddy. He enjoyed himself very much, learned  a few new things about the Lord we serve, and grew some as well! He also got to have some great worship, catch up with some people he hasn’t seen in a while, eat great food, and bask in the glory of the Lord. I believe God spoke measures into his heart! I am so glad he went! Although he is so tired, I don’t think he can see straight, but he did get up and go to work this morning!

As for us that were holding down the fort at home, we kept busy! On Thursday, Natalie had dance class in the evening. These next few weeks are very crucial for practice, we have the recital the last weekend of April. We cleaned up some of the house and I mopped the floors upstairs! Whooohooo! On Friday we did a few errands and then went to see HOP in the theater! This was a great time for the kids and quite a cute movie about the Easter Bunny! We also had a few special treats of popcorn, candy, and sodas! SSSHHHH, Don’t tell but we snuck in our own sodas and candy. I just can’t bring myself to buy those at the theater, when I am able to buy them at Walgreens for almost nothing.  After the movie the kids were so energetic ( I wonder why?) so we then went to the mall to burn some energy in the play area. This was a great idea,  they ran, ran, ran, ran, ran, complained of being thirsty, ran, ran, ran, ran, ran, ran, cried that they were thirsty, they had to go potty, they wanted to walk around, they ran, ran, ran, ran, and then we walked around some more and got pretzels and a drink. Then I went into the Hallmark store and they complained that I was taking to looooonnnnggg and they wanted to go. So we left and came home to take baths and go to bed! Then came Saturday…okay I was really tired by this day, so we stayed home most of the day and the kids played outside and rode bikes and scooters. I did laundry and some organizing! Later that afternoon we went to Kreckles Dairy Maid! If you live in Decatur you know all about this place! Anyway, this is a wonderful place to eat. We had hamburgers, french fries and Lemon Ice Cream with sprinkles! We finished our evening out with a date to the Scovill playground. The kids played so hard that they slept in late on Sunday morning! I mean they woke up at like 8, when they are usually up at about 6:30 or 7. On Sunday, we went to church, went to Mcd’s for lunch and played, came home and napped, played outside and then went to Nene’s to eat dinner and play Legos and trains. We finished up our weekend by going to the grocery store and coming home to meet Daddy after his long trip! Everyone was glad to see him!

Sayings of the Weekend

Travis: Daddy, Daddy, Daddy (everything was Daddy, he wouldn’t say Mommy or anything of the like)

Adam: I didn’t miss Daddy at all, well maybe a little. (Talking about Daddy coming home, and Natalie says I miss him a lot, but Adam added his 2 cents)

Natalie: Mom, I can’t answer that question right now, this is not a school day. (Talking about Sunday school and her God time card questions, which we do as part of her daily devotion time on school days)

Kids sing in Big Church

On the first Sunday of April, the kids in Discovery Zone sang in “big church”. This is always a fun time and exciting for the little ones from age 3 to K. I teach Sunday School in the Frogs class (3 year olds) and its so much fun to see them learning the word of God! They sang Hosanna and Oh Oh Oh (well that’s what I named them)!!

Waiting “backstage”

Adam and Clayton, they were buds!!