st. francois

This weekend we went camping at St. Francois State Park. We had a lot of fun. There was a lot for us to do- we went hiking, read, collected treasures, played at the park, the kids scooted, played in the river, we had a campfire AND the kids took a few nature classes and earned their "Explorer Badge" from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

We had a great time!

My kids are now old enough to be "those kids"- you know... the ones who climb on TOP of the play structure. My rule following instincts were thrashed upon (the sign CLEARLY said only to use the play structure as intended). I had to look away...






They made casts of animal prints.

awana

My kids have joined AWANA this year. I am super excited because I grew up in the AWANA Clubs and had such a great experience. When I was a Spark I accepted Christ as my Savior. I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

Everything about AWANA was/is great: memorizing scripture, book time, Bible time, GAME time! :) Each week as we say the pledges and sing the AWANA song it takes me back...

Anyway.... My kids are rockin' the memorization! Carsyn has passed 2 sections (3 verses), Luke passed his first book (Flight 316), got his vest Wednesday and said 2 sections of his 2nd book! Reagan also passed her first book and got her vest AND passed her first 6 sections of her new book! Just to show you what an amazing achievement this is (especially for a 5 year old) I will list for you the scripture she memorized in 6 days .....

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

S is for Savior
1 John 4:14
The Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

P is for Power
Psalm 147:5
Great is our Lord and mighty in power.

A is for According to the Scriptures
1 Corinthians 15:3
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

R is for raised
1 Corinthians 15:4
That He was buried, that He was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures.

K is for keep
James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point he is guilty of breaking all of it.

S is for Saved
Acts 16:31
Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

They have to say the phrase, reference and passage without mistake. They all did an amazing job. And the LOVE it!!!!



They got their vests in front of everyone! :)

They were beyond thrilled!

Reagan earned her rank emblem too...

dining 4 kids

Last night many restaurants all over the city were donating 20% of their proceeds to Children's Hospital. We went to Deweys for pizza. It was fun hanging out with friends (and not cooking on a week night!)

Here is our "babysitter" spot...

fencing

Sunday we went to the City Museum because they had an all day fencing exhibition. Luke had been this summer but he wanted to bring his sisters back to watch. This time they let everyone participate. It was a lot of fun. The kids really got into it...

Dale and Reagan...
Carsyn and Luke...



The City Museum is an awesome place!

the glow

Last night we met up with friends at the annual Forest Park Balloon Race. Friday night is the "Glow"- the hot air balloons are all places in Central Field and when it starts to get dark they randomly glow. At the end of the evening there are fireworks. It is a lot of fun but very crowded. Saturday is the actual race. The balloons are sent up in the air (the Energizer Bunny is first) then the goal is to catch up to the bunny. The race is not as exciting. We have started to solely attend the Glow. It is fun to hang out with friends, eat and play....

There was MUCH traffic. We ended up parking outside of the park and walking...
We had a delicious picnic dinner...

The balloons are starting to rise...
Reagan is enjoying the sun...

We had lots of play time...
There's the bunny!

A good glow shot...





The Maynors and Woods joined us after dark. It was a fun time!

how a home school mom keeps busy

The last 7 days have been a whirl wind of activities. Some of them might place me in that "home school mom category". You know the one I am talking about... jumpers, long hair, matching clothes, farm animals, etc... You be the judge...


Friday my mother-in-law "helped" me cans pears. And by helped I mean she did most of it...
I have always wanted to make my own laundry detergent. I decided this was the week to give it a try... I used this recipe from New Nostalgia (love her blog fyi...).


Dale and the kids finished throwing sand on the patio (after I checked everything for levelness)...


I finally finished a project that has been looming since July! I made 8 colored pencil wallets. I am on again off again with the sewing thing. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it. This time it was fun! Next week I am making capes for 2 of my sweet friends...

Oh and we made another batch of cheese. Did you know it has to be flipped every 2 hours? That's my job...
There were countless other things to keep us busy. I won't get into the nitty gritty but I have decided to start a weekly post about our home school activities (no jumpers though).

Stay tuned...