I called in sick!!

Whenever I get sick, I mean I get sick! I run high fevers and am bed-ridden!
Recently I had no choice, but to call in and Maximus had to be my fill-in. I was so proud of him as he proved to be such an amazing kid. It felt good to know that he could step up to the plate when he had to. He really helped take care of me, by helping take care of River. He made breakfast and lunch for them and went above and beyond. They took a bath, got dressed and did... SCHOOL WORK! Yep, you read that right! Maximus did his own workbook page and practiced his reading by reading to River. I could hear them, but was too sick to lift my head, but not too sick to smile. It was the sweetest thing I have ever encountered!

Here is a sweet little note left beside my bed,
In case you can't decipher 6 year old spelling... "I hope you get better. I hate it when you get sick and I love you". This was my strength to get better!

Awanas

Maximus and River participate in Awanas on Wednesday night at our church and they love it! They (River repeating Maximus) will ask everyday "what day is it?" wanting to know if its Wednesday or not. This is Maximus's 2nd year in Sparks and River's 1st year in Puggles.
One of the reasons they like it so much is because of all the FUN, activities and theme nights.

Hobo Night!

Backwards night (he forgot he might have to go to the bathroom)!!

River loves to participate too!

I don't have pictures, but they also had tacky day, pajama day and their favorite black-out night, where all the lights were out in the church and the only way for us to see was with flashlights and glow in the dark necklaces and beach balls, it was my favorite too!!

What do you get when you add...

pudding and a... 2 year old??

Some would say "a mess"!

And homeschool mama's would say "Art" :)!!

Happy Homeschooling!!

Football

Well flag football season is over! It was an interesting season with all the rain! There were 8 games in all, they canceled 2 of them and we had 3 make-up games in place of practice, so not much practice either! But I can't complain because its the highlight of Maximus's year as he loves to play!! This is his 2nd season and its so cool to see how much he has grown physically and spiritually. He is an amazing kid!! Go #21!!!

His serious side doesn't show very often :)

Running a fake play! Maximus loved running the fake plays. You should know as it goes with his personality.

Jason coached the team when he could... because of his recent life change, I mean job change, he wasn't able to be at many games/practices, but it was the highlight of his day when he could!

It meant a lot to our family for him to be there!

Raingutter Regatta

For Awana's, Maximus had a sailboat race called the Raingutter Regatta. Each participant had to design their own boat. Maximus wanted a pirate boat, with flames!

Jason putting his "signature flames" on

Maximus is so proud of his boat and can't wait to go to the race!

At the starting line... ready-set-GO!

Yay! Go Maximus- 2nd Place Winner!!

So proud of my baby boy!!

A Fieldtrip...sort of!

We decided to take a break from the books and enjoy a different scene of nature, so we went to a little park in the next town. It was a beautiful day! I wish we could go here every week!

Which trail should we take??

The boys listening to nature sounds.

What in the world is this? Maximus said it looked like chocolate chip pancakes growing from the tree.

Look at these berries!

The creek had rushing rapids!

The water was soo cold!

River is in heaven

"Look at me, mama"

At the end of the trail, before heading home, we thought it'd be cool to pick a favorite fall leave and trace the veins!

Happy 8th Anniversary

Eight years ago today, September 22nd, I married my best friend, the one I laugh with, the one I love. We've been down many bumpy road, but thank goodness for seat belts!
And thank God for grandparents! They kept our boys while we spent much needed time together this past weekend celebrating our anniversary. It was wonderful. We drove up to North GA Mountains and 600+ stair-steps plus the trail, we were at the top of Amicalola Falls. It was very strenuous, but worth every breath. The Falls were breath-taking beautiful and so peaceful. We picnicked at the base of the falls by the creek, then drove the SR home, through Dahlonega, detouring through Helen for a pound of fudge!
We had a great time!
The natural beauty

(Before)

At this point, we were standing on a bridge that sits very close to the fall. It was pouring down rain, but it felt as though we were getting wet from the fall. It was awesome!

(After). I was soaking wet, had already climbed 175 steps to the bridge, and had 425 more steps to go to the top!

Beauty-ful!!

The sounds of the falls were so peaceful

The top of the falls, looking across the mountains. The air up here was so fresh.

Our Family Tree

Maximus is very interested in his family, his generation and his ancestors so I decided it was time to do make his family tree, using a lapbook, of course!
But before we branched out, I wanted him to study a little about himself, so we made a book about him and one of my favorite parts of his book was a page that he dictated about his bedroom. He said 'I love my bedroom because I share it with my brother and we have a boat full of stories' (which he is referring to a bookshelf made to look like a boat). He's already learning "creative writing"!!
Briefing on adjectives, I asked him to name some "feeling words" about his home... and he said safe, creative, love and cozy... sweeeet!!

Inside the door was a picture of all the members who live in his home...

and inside the window is a picture of what you would see if you looked in and he drew a picture of me and him with a big heart... I melted!

We also learned some facts about his home state, Georgia... geography being one of his favorite subjects.

Then the family tree! It was really cool for Maximus to see how generations work and who's who! It always amazes him when he finds out my grandmother is actually my father's mother, etc.

Maximus said he wants to keep going and find out who is ancestors are!!

Sometimes I have to get it out of my system

Since I do not have a girl, in order to get the "girlie" things out of my system, I make things for my niece, Abbie. When I was a little girl, I used to love paper dolls, and its kind of sad to me that you don't see these kinds of things out anymore, toys are so commercialized these days.
So why not? I made some paper dolls for her :)! First I drew a little girl (very plump and old fashioned) and made several copies...
Then the fun part! Instead of paper, I used scrap material that I had and made her some fashion. I am into the 60's right now, so you know she had to have a pair of bell bottoms and a flower power shirt!!

Then I made a Ballerina girl for the example since Abbie is now a ballerina girl. I tucked it all into a girly pencil box and wa la...

I haven't given it to her yet, but I really hope she enjoys it! My boys loved it and want me to make them some paper boys with boy clothes...Hmmm, that's do-able :)!!

Butts Mill Farm

Our homeschool group, Eagle's Nest, had its first annual Family Fun Day at ButtsMill Farm in Pine Mountain, GA. I had never been to ButtsMill, but had heard lots about it. It was a really neat place, a great place to spend family time especially if you have all boys, like me. They had tons of slides and tunnels, go- carts, a train, horseback riding, petting farm, putt-putt, lots of picnic tables and the best part was the creek. The creek had slides on the side, and tubes, but the best-best part was the swings under the bridge for the mama's and daddy's to relax while their kids play.
Well, other than me having a sore throat and spiking a small temperature, River busting his chin open (thank goodnesss one of the daddy's was a paramedic), and both Maximus and River's clothes getting soaked, on purpose, of course... we had a great family day and plan to do it again, a little better prepared however.

The first steps in the cold creek

River lovin' his bluerasberry snowcone!

On Noah's Ark!

The kids loved the barn with the real loft and slide-down pole... that I did not let them do!!