a little early and a little late (posting that is..)

We celebrated Christmas a little early with the Swank family. It was fun to be together. The kids always love playing with their cousins!


love this picture... :)










time to change the lightbulb! :)

so thankful

Carsyn:
I am thankful for my family, my house, my friends, toys, and God.

Luke:
I am thankful for mom and dad, my house, my friends, and I am thankful for toys.

Reagan:
I am thankful for my house and my whole family including my brother and sister AND God's beautiful creation.

Dale and I are so thankful for the blessings in our life, God's grace and mercy and His wonderful gift of salvation!

And we are especially thankful to be the parents of these "little" people....


Happy Thanksgiving!

the pilgrim village

The first grade studied the Pilgrims this last month (go figure). Luke and his fellow classmates worked very hard on building a Pilgrim village and preparing for a presentation. Carysn and I went for the tour on Friday. Grandma and Grandpa Swank were here to see it too. Luke did a wonderful job explaining who the pilgrims were and why it is important to know about them.


the village

the Mayflower

my pilgrim

A few weeks ago Reagan came home from school and said excitedly, "I have to memorize a line for a Thanksgiving play". She worked on it for about 15 minutes and knew it by heart.

The next day she said, "Mom, can I be home schooled until after the Thanksgiving play?"

She is not a performer! I know that may seem hard to believe but it's true! She does not like the spotlight at all. She doesn't even like when people compliment her on her appearance.

Today was the performance. She said all of her lines, and did the motions (sort-of). All the kindergartners were super cute! There was much applause!

After it was over she was NOT a happy camper (see the last picture below)...








We are so thankful for our spunky little pilgrim!

sensible Reagan

At last year's school auction I purchased a parking spot.

Yes, I realize that sounds weird.

BUT, everyday when I pull up to the kids school building I can bypass the parking garage and carpool because at the front of the building there is a spot that says: Reserved parking for the Beachys.

It's convenient. Low stress. Less walking/dodging cars. It is truly a beautiful thing (except when someone is rude enough to park in MY spot)... :)

ANYway..

Yesterday Reagan and I made a quick stop at the Starbucks right by the school. We put our money in the parking meter and as we were walking up to the coffee shop she says: "Mom, we really should get one of those parking signs for Starbucks. That way we can park right in front of the store and not have to walk so far. Plus it will always be there for us."

That's my Reagan: always thinking of great ideas...

pott head

The big "thing" in third grade this year is Harry Potter. There is a large group of kids in Carsyn's class who have read some (if not all 7) of the books. One day in September Carsyn said that she would really like to read The Sorcerer's Stone (for those of you who aren't "Pott heads"- it is book 1).

I was reluctant but told her that I would read it to see if she could handle it. Thus began my month long trek into the Potter world. In 4 weeks I flew thru all 7 (I really enjoyed all of them.)

Carsyn is very sensitive though and I wasn't sure how she would do (she gets that from me). I told her a bit about the book- including the scary parts. We talked about it being a fiction book and that every part of it was made up. She decided to think it through before giving her answer.

After a few days she let me know that she really wanted to read it on her own. Thus began her month long trek through book 1. She had a lot of great questions as she read through it. The last 2 chapters I read aloud to her as we snuggled together in the big chair.

She did not enjoy it enough to delve into the second book right away but she did like it. A small victory of you know Carsyn at all! I am proud of her for reading it on her own!

The day we finished I gave her a treat: a chocolate frog...

time to learn

Now that I have all this "free" time - I need to learn PhotoShop Elements...