Friday Favorites

This was a very, very busy week! I feel like we haven't even had time to breathe this summer between baseball and summer camps and VBS and speech therapy and football workouts and church activities! This week was no exception, but I honestly do think that next week will be the start of a slow(er) July.

I put Zeke in swimming lessons this week, every day from 11:00-12:00. He was in a class with two other kids, and there were three teachers/helpers, so it was basically a one-on-one class. Zeke really surprised me and did such a fantastic job! It was fun to watch him learn a new skill and thrive in a new environment. 

Monday, I dropped Titus off at the Ag Center to go to 4H Camp. This is his second year going, and he had a blast. He did watersports as his elective, and he learned how to paddleboard! I think I'm going to buy one for our pond.

Tuesday, I took Eli and Silas to Monroe for Eli's birthday and to take care of some business. My mother-in-law took Zeke to swimming lessons for me, and then he went home with her for a few hours. They also got pizza for lunch! My mom met me halfway and picked up Zoey for the night. We had a good time shopping and eating pizza - Eli's choice! 

I came home and got some stuff done, including working on Gendeling's stocking for Christmas (fingers crossed she'll be able to be here by Christmas). This is my second stocking to make - I made my granddaughter Mikenna's last year! My mom used to make these stockings for all of her daughters, their husbands, and the grandchildren, but she passed the baton on to me last year. It's so much fun, but very time-consuming. I do feel like I'm much quicker and more efficient this year, though. 

Wednesday, I woke up early as usual. I baked a huge (11 x 19) lasagna! Our Children in Action group at church had a service project. We invited a group from the Mary Biggs Day Developmental Training Center in town, which is a program for developmentally challenged adults, to come to the church for a meal and a craft. The kids served the adult students a lunch of lasagna, green beans, salad, garlic bread, and several yummy desserts. After we ate, the kids led them in the making of a craft - contact paper and tissue paper sun catchers! It was such a good morning! The kids were blessed, the students were blessed, and I was blessed as well! It's definitely something we want to do again.

My mother-in-law took Zeke to swimming lessons and Silas to football practice for me. Then I met them in town and headed to Tallulah to pick up Zoey from my mom's. She lives about an hour from me. I also took my niece, Laylah, and nephew, Liam, with me and left them at my mom's for the night. On the way, I got a call from camp that Mercie was running fever over 100, so I called Eli and asked him to run and pick her up for me. It was only about an hour's drive, and now her throat is hurting really bad.

Zoey had a blast at Nana’s! She got to swim, get her toes painted, and was the center of attention the entire time!

We stayed at my parent's home and visited for a while, but there was a potentially big storm coming our way, so we headed home to beat it! We got home, stopped by the church for the leftover lasagna (I left it in the fridge), and came home. Zeke had picked out a new toy when he was with my mother-in-law, and Zoey really, really wanted it. He told her, "I bought it for us to share!" They had fun playing together for a while, but she's pretty bossy, so it didn't end well. 

Thursday, I made Mercie a doctor's appointment because she still had fever and was coughing pretty bad, as well as her throat being really sore. After her appointment, she picked up Titus because he returned from camp. I took Zeke to swimming lessons, and Zoey came with me. Zeke did such a great job, even jumping off the diving board! He doesn't like his head going under, but they worked on that, and he finally got to where he would very quickly pop his head under and back up. Zoey and I watched Zeke and then we walked around the property a bit. It was actually a nice 81 degrees - compared to the 95-degree weather we've been having, it felt so nice. 

I took Zeke and Zoey to eat pizza after swimming lessons, and then we came home and played outside since the weather was just too nice to go inside.

Zeke has his last day of swimming lessons tomorrow, and then I think our summer will finally slow down just a little bit. I'm ready for some rest! 

Eli Turns 19

It's so hard to believe Eli is now 19 years old and a married man! Gendeling, his wife, is in Nicaragua right now, still waiting for her I-130 to be approved. He is going back in July for a month before his college starts back for the fall quarter. It's looking like February will be the month it's approved, but hopefully it will be a little quicker. 

Eli had to go get some more passport photos taken for supplemental documentation for the application. He already has a passport, obviously, but they needed some more photos for some reason. So we had to make the hour and a half drive to Monroe again (I just made this trip last Thursday) to the Walgreens to get the passport photos taken, and then take them by the lawyer's office (also in Monroe). 

Funny story - he was wearing a white t-shirt, so he had to swap shirts with Silas! They just changed right there in the middle of Walgreens - boys crack me up.

We decided to go ahead and get his birthday gifts while we were there since it was his actual birthday. He asked for some new jeans (since the kind he wears cost $80 a pair - Ariat) and some new t-shirts. He wound up getting two pair of jeans, five t-shirts, a new phone charger, and a huge bag of Mike and Ike's (his favorite candy). 

I told him we would eat wherever he wanted to. He wanted to go to the mall for Sbarro's Pizza (of all the places we could have eaten, he wanted pizza...). I decided to get some, too, and it was really good! 

We made a stop at Walmart on the way home in an in-between town (I love going to different Walmarts - I'm that kind of rural). He also wanted an Oreo pie instead of a cake, so I picked up another one for him. We had a great day, and I'm so thankful I got to spend it with Eli. I told my husband this would probably be the last birthday I get to take him shopping and out to eat like this, because his wife will be here next year and I'm sure they'll want to spend it together - which is exactly what I want them to do! 

Eli and Gendeling

Silas Turned 14

Last week, Silas was at King's Camp - and since his birthday was Friday, we didn't get to see or talk to him on his 14th birthday! They're not allowed to have or use their phones at camp (which is actually a great thing), but I did hate that for the first time ever, I didn't get to sing to him or tell him "Happy birthday" on the actual day. Oh well - we all survived, he had a great week at camp, and we celebrated his birthday Sunday after church! 

He asked me to cook Baked Ziti for his birthday lunch, and I added corn and garlic bread as the sides. He also requested an Oreo pie instead of a birthday cake, so I picked up two of those from the grocery store. 

His main birthday gift was an iPhone 14. This is his first cell phone, and he's the youngest child that we've allowed to have a cell phone so far. He's been very responsible with it, and he's really doesn't even get on it much! He's not allowed any social media, just like my others, until he's 18. Maybe that's extreme, but I have my reasons! 

We also got him a few T-shirts from the brand he likes - Old Row and Huck. Mercie and I got him a bucket for his horse feed, a box of horse treats, new reins for his horse, and a horse brush. He's been working with his horse, Buddy, recently, and we're trying to help encourage the habit. 

He's really a great kid, and I'm so proud to be his mom! 

Friday Favorites

Titus went back to work with Rod this week. If you don't know, my husband works for the pipeline. We used to travel with him, but the past six years we have stayed home. He's been blessed to be on a job for three years that's only four hours from home. He gets to come home on the weekends! He is the assistant superintendent, so he is able to bring a kid with him certain times. Titus got to go this time! I’m glad for the time they’ll get to spend together one-on-one. 

He’s goofing off in the truck with the radio. 

We made a library trip this week, and I bought library bags for Zeke and Zoey. They're in the middle of the summer reading program, and we haven't made a single event yet! Zeke is filling in his reading log quickly, though. 

Isn't this the cutest design?

I've been reading books by Terri Blackstone and am hooked. She's a Christian writer and her books are all full of suspense and clean romance! I have been flying through them! The Newpointe 911 series is the best - and it takes place in Louisiana (as do most of her books, since she's from Mississippi). If you're looking for a good read, look her up. 

We had Children in Action Wednesday night at church, and only three kids showed up (plus Zoey). The summer slump is real, folks! We had a great lesson anyway, and Mercie dressed up like Moses and told the story to the kids. They enjoyed that! I really hope our numbers get back to normal soon, but even if we just have one child show up, I still think it's worth having.

Thursday, Mercie and I took Zeke and Zoey to Monroe where our mall and shopping stores are before his speech therapy session. It’s an hour drive each way to speech each week, and the mall is only about twenty minutes further. We did some shopping and ate in the mall. It was a fun day! It’s always good to spend some with her! 

Considering how busy my month has been so far, we had a nice and easy week this week! How was your week?

Zeke's Kindergarten Year in Review (in pictures!)

It's wild to think that I'm bringing Zeke's kindergarten year to a close. We had such a fun year this year! We used My Father's World God's Creation from A to Z alongside Abeka Math and Rod and Staff workbooks (the ABCDEFG series). I'm not going to write reviews of the curriculum we used. The fact that we stuck with all of it and finished all of it speaks for itself! I just wanted to leave some pictures and a summary of some of the fun activities we did this year. 

Zeke is reading CVC words now and learning some sight words. He can also count to 100 by 1s, 5s, and 10s. He can write and read any number from 1-100. He can add and subtract in 10. I'm really proud of his skills and how much he learned this year!

The Purple Cow - he loved this poem

He used magnetic letters to make words on his blend ladder worksheet each week.

We still use his kangaroo pencil holder!

Sorting by farm animal and zoo animal

He was so proud of his penguin.

Puzzles were a big part of our school year.

We did a lot of hands-on math activities.

He loves pattern blocks, and we incorporated them quite a bit.

He packed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

More hands-on math with graphing.

He had a Mario birthday party for his 5th birthday.

Fingerprint insects - these were so cute!

Hands-on science lessons!

His handwriting keeps improving.

I made sure to have some fun fine-motor activities to round out his themes.

He loves to play with our magnet set!

He continued in speech therapy this year, and he loves all of their office decorations.

He enjoyed his math journal!

The worksheets from My Father's World are all great.

The Mailbox is a great source of worksheets, too.

He loved his crayon resist zebra.

He made a map of Africa with African animals.

His Rod and Staff workbooks were a favorite.

We also hatched butterflies from caterpillars, but I can't find that picture!

Lots of recess at the park.

Zeke had a fantastic kindergarten year. It's hard to capture everything he learned and experienced, but I tried! I've already received his first-grade curriculum in the mail, and I'll be sharing that soon!