Back to School

I wanted to share some of our fun back to school traditions, though I realize that like many of posts of late, this one is not so timely.  LOL  Life is just in a very busy season.

We enjoyed going to Wal-Mart for back to school supplies.  Everyone was able to pick out some thing that they wanted or needed.  

Or just something fun.

Can you see Eliana's back to school necessity?  Chips!  

Added to these things were some books and supplies I had purchased at our homeschool conference, as well as other places.  I put out all of our new things on our school table.  

They were excited to see these new things.  Well, most of them. 

 Back to school breakfast.  This has been a long standing tradition, but it is made more challenging with our need for gluten free foods.  We ate at home this year with some favorites - biscuits and sausage gravy and orange juice.  Note that the girls got the special plates this year - one for her first year of official schooling and one for her last (*sniff, sniff*).

 Then it was time to go outside for some pictures.  One of each child and their grade.  Aren't these cute signs?  Its a download that I got here.  This year Daniel's schooling includes Five in a Row Volume 4, MathUSee, Handwriting Without Tears, Apologia Worldview and various readers.

 My beautiful senior!  Rebecca's studies include World History and World Literature (Notgrass), PreCalculas (MathUSee) and possibly a 2nd math course, Physics (Apologia), French (Rosetta Stone), Worldview (Summit Ministries).

 Isaiah will be doing a unit study on the World Wars (I'm putting this together with a variety of resources), MathUSee, Life of Fred, Apologia worldview and All About Spelling.

 Joshua is also doing the unit study on World Wars, Rainbow Science, PreAlgebra, Spelling, and Worldview.

 Hmmm ... this way for the photos sweetie.

Not the photo I was hoping for, but an honest reflection of her feelings.

Here's my sweet girl smiling.  Eliana will be doing a variety of things including Before Five in a Row, reader from Down Syndrome Foundation of Orange County, Handwriting without Tears and many things that I've put together from different places.

 My students for this year.

 And another one with me.

 And one of all of the siblings together.  I love these people so very much!!!

 Helping (or not) to get Christopher packed up to move back to State.  Testing out his carpet options.

 Just a cute picture.  The guys help load things up and then then all took Christopher to get him moved in.  The girls went for a visit a little bit later in the month.

Our first field trip of the year has been to Pullen Park for many years.  Its a sweet tradition.  And such an amazingly fun park!

Its a great place to hang out with friends!  These girls have been friends most of their lives!

 Fun playground equipment.

And rides!  So many fun rides!  The train goes around the park.

 Carousel.

 Eliana's friend George goes many places with her (as you can probably tell).

 We gather for a picnic lunch.

 Rebecca loves holding babies!  :-)

 Girl on the run!

 These two have a sweet relationship.  Eliana often comments "I like Isaiah".

 Joshua having fun on the ripstick around the empty paths.

Late in August, Roger and the boys made a trip to NE.  (They drove back in a car that would not hold all of us which is one of the reasons that it was just the 4 of them.)  They went back to visit with and help his family.  They had a fabulous trip and we all look forward to being able to go out there again soon.

 While the guys were gone, the girls had fun too.  Both girls got haircuts.  This is a picture of how long Eliana's hair was.  She had about 8-9 inches cut off!

 I think her new style is really cute and I also think it makes her look older.  What do you think?

 Rebecca has a beautiful  new haircut too!

We also visited Christopher one day.  We spent some time hanging out and he also gave us a tour of NC State.  

 The girls also went to Charlotte to visit my family.  One night we went to a Mexican place to eat and it was delicious.

 And to our delight, had a full gluten free menu!

Time with friends is always a treat.  

 Boys making a room for the caterpillars they have found.

 Guys enjoying a garage sale find.  (Roger is great at finding things at these!)

 August was a sweet month filled with family and friends.  Filled with new beginnings.  It was a wonderful way to start our year.  Hopefully I will post more again soon.  I'm trying.  I hope your year is going well too - whether it be school or work, old or new.  There is always blessing to be found in being with those you love.

Blessings
Leslie

Summer wrap up

So many fun pictures.  I tried to condense by combing some of them in collages.  Just wanted to share a peek at the rest of our summer and then will dive into back to school, field trips and more.

For the 4th of July this year, we were split.  Rebecca was in an acting camp that performed Pride and Prejudice.  She was Jane Bennett for those who have ready the book/seen the movie.  She did an amazing job!!!  The play was delightful and we all enjoyed it.  

Roger and Isaiah were on a Civil War trip - serving as hosts.  Isaiah got so much positive feed back for his servant attitude.  They even gave him an unexpected gift at the end of the trip.  He loved the whole experience and has been talking about the Civil War non-stop!  Any of you Civil War buffs recognize this spot?  

Christopher was working at Camp Oak Hill, so it was just me home with 3 kids.  Can I tell you how odd that felt to have just half of them with me?  We wanted to have fun too, so we met some friends in Apex for their fun town celebration.

There were games, inflatables, food and more!

This was such a cute and clever game - and the kids loved it!

After playing outside in the morning, we ate lunch and then headed to the movies to cool down.  We saw Despicable Me which was great!  And crowded.  Lots of people with the same idea.

We did some sparklers and small fire works at home later that night when Roger and Isaiah returned.

 We were a part of our church's VBS, "Kidsweek", again this year.  Eliana for the first time went without either Rebecca or I with her.  (Rebecca was going to be with her and was moved at the last minute.)  One of Eliana's wonderful Sunday school teachers was with her class and Eliana had a great time with Ms Allison!

What else did we do this summer?  

Played games.

Went for a bike ride/walk.

Worked on a kilt.  (Part of the Highland Games at camp)

Spent time with friends.  (Two of the boys were in the Apple Camp and made movies)

Took swimming lessons.

Despicable Me 2 again.

Played dress up

Cooking (and being silly)

Went back to the beach again.  One last time before school started.  Had to include the picture of George who goes everywhere!

 Just like this picture.

 We celebrated my birthday.  Don't you love this card from my sweet boy?

And I got a photo with all of my children.  It was just what I wanted!

I had envisioned this being a summer where I got a lot of my projects done and my house cleaned and decluttered.  Didn't happen, but I did have fun with my family.  I hope you did too!

Blessings

Leslie