September 30

Got Snot?

September 29

Grandpa and Lulu came for a visit this weekend. The Major League of Eating held a pancake eating competition at a local restaurant, so we went there for the afternoon. I always thought I could enter one of these competitions. I still think it would be fun to try, but I am pretty sure I would not win. Patrick Bertoletti (#2 Professional Eater in the World) ate 50 pancakes in 10 minutes. Check out the videos below!

 

 You might recognize Badlands Booker from the Nathan's Famous Hotdog Eating Competition

 

 

  

 We went out for ice cream after the competition. We tried a new place, the Comfy Cow. It was yummy. Although, I don't know that I have ever had bad ice cream. :P

 

Playing games with Lulu

September 28

 We had co-op #3 yesterday

 

 

Lucy got to go play with Aunt Jessica and Abbie today while I took the 3 big kids to see Dr Insecta, the entomologist. He showed us a tarantula, scorpion, & hissing cockroaches.

September 27

 In honor of Johnny Appleseed Day yesterday, we ate caramel apples

 Look who is pulling up!

 Julia lost a tooth on the way to AWANA last night (see Tooth Fairy letter below)

Yep. It got kicked out! She said it was loose already... ouch! And for the record, Kat didn't do it to be mean, they were playing around.

September 26

Big news in our home! And no, I am NOT pregnant!  Although, given our history, I understand why you assumed that. :P  Julia accepted Christ as her personal Savior! We believe that accepting Jesus is the only way to be saved. Being the best person you can be and doing good for others is not going to get you to Heaven. The only way to Heaven is by believing that Jesus was born, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for the sins of the world, and then rose from the dead 3 days later. Julia has been praying about this lately, so we met with our Children's Minister yesterday. He gave her the assurance that if she asks for Jesus to come into her heart, that he will be there.

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20

 We went out for dinner to celebrate!

Clay was not home last night at bedtime, so we used a buddy system for bedtime stories. Aren't they cute?

September 25

The girls each wrote a book for a Young Author contest.

September 24

Happy 1st Birthday Abbie!!!

Saturday we attended Abbie's (our niece) birthday party. I can't believe she's a year old already! The party was at a park and the weather was perfect.

Her cousins were eager to "help" her open her gifts.

September 23

Happy 6th Birthday Kat! 

Update: 

After church we went to Wendy's for lunch (Kat's choice) and then to the mall so she could get a "Glitter Fairy Makeover". Mamaw Pat and Papaw G came over for Kat's birthday dinner. She didn't want cake for her birthday, so we had ice cream sundaes in chocolate bowls. Well, the kids had chocolate bowls. It's a long story, but they were much harder to make than I anticipated (picture balloons dipped in chocolate popping/exploding all over me, the walls, etc).

 

 

Original Post:

Kat is by far my most strong-willed child. She is very loyal, loving, temperamental, smart, silly, and challenging! Oh, and hungry too. Always hungry! Since we've already celebrated her birthday twice, we are having a more low-key day today. Kat got to pick our meals, so we are having fried eggs and sausage for breakfast, Wendy's for lunch, and pasta for dinner.

 Kat at birth

Kat's 1st Birthday

 

 Kat's 2nd Birthday

 3!

 

 4th Birthday

5th Birthday

September 22

Camryn and Mollie came over for a slumber party to celebrate Kat's 6th birthday. Julia fixed their hair and painted their nails. Then we did a craft and watched a Barbie movie. Clay had planned to stay and be a part of the party, but between the silly girl giggles and the fact that Elliott wanted to get his nails painted too, Clay left with Elliott for most of the evening for some male bonding. 

 This morning the girls had a tea party breakfast and Kat opened her special gift from Grandpa and Lulu - the Kit American Girl doll that she has been wanting!

September 21

I am soooo behind on housework this week. Poor Clay had to wear a pair of pants to work today that didn't have a button because it was either that or he would be wearing dirty pants to work- Doh! I have a ton of things to do today and I just keep finding ways to procrastinate (like updating my blog). Guess I need to get started - wish me luck!

Last night Julia and I attended the Secret Keeper Girls Live! Pajama Party Tour along with 1600 other Mother's and Daughters (8-12 years old). It was alot of fun and it was nice to have some time with just Julia. This is a great program, teaching girls about modest/stylish clothing, and also to remember that each of us is specially created and loved by God.

September 20

Today was our second co-op day.

 

 After lunch, the kids can play with Legos if they have time before the 3rd hour starts.

 

 Elliott's preschool class enjoying PE (duck duck goose)

Lucy is on the top right in the "baby jail"

This is a crazy busy week. Monday we had horseback riding lessons, Tuesday was gymnastics, Wednesday the girls had a field trip and AWANA, today was co-op, tonight Julia and I are attending a Mother-Daughter event at church, and tomorrow night Kat is having a slumber party for her birthday.  And as if that wasn't enough, Lucy is waking one to two time each night because she is cutting three teeth! I have started drinking coffee again so I can stay awake during the day! Mama is pooped!

I will say this about homeschooling, there are PLENTY of opportunities to get your kids involved in new experiences and allow them to socialize. There's almost so many opportunities that it's too much. Lesson learned. I am going to try and slow down a bit so we can actually focus more on our lessons.

September 19

The girls had a field trip with some other homeschooled kids from church. They visited the National Weather Service. I babysat two little boys with Elliott and Lucy, while Renee took Julia and Kat on the field trip.