Saturday, August 20, 2011

First Day of School 2011-2012





The FIRST day of school!!!  We had a great first week of home schooling this week!  This is our second year to teach the kids at home and we are still loving it!  I think I'm mostly excited about our curriculum this year and what the kids and I will be learning about together!  We studying countries and cultures from all over the world!  Fun, fun!  This will include geography, land forms, animal habitats, ecosystems and the animals that live there.  We'll also be studying each continent by learning about their dress, cultures, beliefs and just their way of life.  This will mean lots of fun costumes and ethnic cooking for us this year.  The very best part of it all though is that we will be studying the different missionaries for past and present to these different countries.  I'm excited for our kids to get to learn about God's big world and how beautifully diverse He made it!




Here is the table set for our first day of school breakfast.


Homemade donuts for breakfast...yum!!!  Not exactly brain food, but the first day of school is supposed to be fun, right?  Not too strenuous YET!!!!  HA!!





Cait on the first day of 3rd grade  (actually 2nd/3rd grade transition year)


 Benjamin on the first day of 4th grade (oops, the eyes are closed!!!)





That night after our first day we had a fun dinner and a special rice crispy cake to celebrate a new year!  We're so excited!!  Pray for us if we come to mind, because we could always use it!  Hope you have a great year too!

My Girl's 8th Birthday Celebration

The day started out great with the baking of the cake!  Cait LOVES to help in the kitchen and loves licking the spoon too!  Her request was chocolate cake (of course) and vanilla icing (pink).  She also picked out the three meals of the day.
Breakfast:  pancakes, mini ones
Lunch:  macaroni and cheese (of course!  Her all time favorite food that she would eat for every meal if we let her)
Dinner:  Chicken penne pasta, green beans and bread





Mmmm good!!!



This day was all about preparation for the big day!  We went shopping and I let Cait pick out an outfit, we went to lunch at Chick-fil-a....



And then we went to Sweet and Sassy where she got her ears pierced!!!!  Here's the before.  She was SO brave!!


AFTER!!  You can't really see then but she picked out little pink studs and they look adorable.













Next she got her nails painted....


















Her hair fixed....

And a glittery face.  So lovely!!

Lastly, we picked up her friend Lilly and brought her home with us for a birthday celebration.  Cait's dinner of choice, by candlelight and apple juice in fancy glasses, with cake, presents and a movie to follow.

Birthday dinner!!
The big 8 year old!!
Here's the little cake I made and the napkins and plates Cait picked out.
The cake was sweet and yummy, but it was so hot that by the time got home form the movie, the top layer had slid off and was laying on the counter!!!
Present time....

Sweet buds!


New jump rope that she had to try out







This is the sweet little outfit Cait picked out at J.C. Penny.  I thought she did great!

Happy birthday to you!






Here's B and Paul fighting over Cait's new ball. 










  
Dad wins every time!!!!!!