Fall Birthdays

Technically its still fall so I'm not too late to post these pictures!

We celebrated three birthdays this fall.  My DH turned 40+ this September. My youngest turned 3 in October and my oldest turned 15 in November.  I guess, also technically, my birthday is still officially fall but I consider it winter and it hasn't arrived yet and even if it had you would never see those pictures unless someone hacks my blog :) .

 Camping at the rental  cabin and playing ladder ball for John's Birthday!

The boy liked playing against his dad. 

 Taylor enjoyed being the ball girl.

Someone liked her birthday gift from big sister Reagan

The happy b-day girl with her cupcakes

 The b-day girl in her birthday outfit from Grandma Schuh!

 Seven's cake with the colors of her choosing

and with the candles of her choosing... no one can say she doesn't have her own unique style

blowing out 15 candles

At Frederick Meijer Gardens for Seven's b-day

Homeschool Art Appreciation

We are very lucky to live in the Grand Rapids area.  Every Sept. there is a huge art competition called Art Prize.  Artists from around the world enter and their art is displayed all over the city.  Thousands of entries!  It is so fun to go downtown and stroll the venues.  The kids get exposed to lots of art for the price of parking and the synthetic rubber on the bottom of their shoes.  (Oh, and the obligatory ice cream treat after spending the day walking all over.)  There are art pieces we marvel at, art pieces we "don't get" and of course the few "why do they think it is art?" pieces.  But the large expanse of creativity is amazing.  We do enjoy being "city people" for the day.

Ocean sculpture made from driftwood.  This sculpture rotated and everywhere you looked there were sea creatures carved into the wood.  We caught the whale on film.

 Gotta love a large toy truck!

"A Conversation With Myself"

This was one of those "I don't get it" pieces.

Tree fish

Iron horse sculpture

Collage

Bowling pin penguins

This sculpture is not bronze but wooden.

Field of flowers made from recycled plastic water bottles.

Carving/sculpture from limestone

Chainsaw wooden bears put all over the fountain at the Gerald Ford Museum.

Electric lightning interactive picture.  It changes colors!

Paper art

Who doesn't love a giant mousetrap?  We didn't test it out though.

You might be a redneck if.... you love fry pan art.  (I do!)

A huge children's sack lunch made entirely out of juice boxes.

I think this was my favorite.  It is a picture of the skyline of downtown Grand Rapids but it is made out of....

 thousands of post it notes!  I wanted to run my hand over it very badly.

Homeschool Rocks...

You might be a homeschooler if....

 You have a giant periodic chart in progress on the kitchen table...

 Coloring pages of frog lifecycles... also on the kitchen table

Short story illustrations in progress...

Studying Roman road building technology by creating our own stepping stones and placing them to form a pathway.

Make soap dishes from seashells for an unit study on oceans.

The Trees Come Down!

Last week we had to cut our two front yard trees down due to septic issues.  It was quite the excitement on the street.  Our Pastor (Sam Hendrickson) heats his home with wood during the winter and is always on the look out for free wood.  Our landlords said if he could take down our trees he could have the wood.  So He and my DH had a very full day of  "logging".  In the picture above my DH and Pastor Sam assess the situation.

 Why did the Pastor climb the tree?  To cut it down for firewood, of course!  Don't worry... he's a yooper.  (That's someone from the Upper Penninsula of Michigan or the U.P.)  They eat trees for breakfast up there.

 The job in progress.

 The job almost done!

 What a mess!

 My naked front yard. :(

 Of course all those branches made for some cool fort building!

7 Is The New 16

Reagan just had her 7th birthday a week ago.  She's all little girl in someways and so growing up in others.  The weather was fantastic and we were able to celebrate outside as well as take a trip to the mall to get her ears pierced and she also got her first pair of high heels.  She really is thinking she's all grown up.

God's Plan For Us

Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done.  Sing to Him, sing praise to him; tell of all His wonderful acts.  1st Chronicles 16: 8-9

Salsa Season!

Tomatoes, onions, cilantro, peppers, garlic, salt, cumin, lime juice... mix it up and can it!  Salsa! Yum!!