Jordan's 10th and Other Happenings

So yeah, my little pita pocket turned 10 this week.  I looked through photo albums, got misty-eyed. Thanked the Lord for blessing us with this amazing little person for a decade.  And then I had some cake.

But before that, we had a few other happenings...

Megan donated her hair to Locks of Love again.  She is so happy to have a lighter mane for a while!

My boy convinced me to take him to the beach for some kite flying on a windy day this week.  It was SO WINDY!  We all got our legs sandblasted.

So windy!

Meg and Jackson spotted this Banded Alder Borer.  It was huge!  

These are the Aster seeds that Jordan planted in March.  They are gorgeous!

It's a ruff life.  Get it--ruff?

Spaghetti squash from the garden!  We'll have it with red sauce next week, Lord willing.

Jackson started learning programming from Khan Academy.  He is hoping to get enough knowledge tucked away to be able to create Minecraft mods in the near future.  He is also doing jobs, trying to earn enough money to purchase Minecraft.

Last Sunday's hike to Natural Bridge.  We actually started at the trail before Natural Bridge and hiked through and past, but I don't know the names of those others.

The views were outstanding.  I know that could be said of all views on the coast, but there were a few corners that we came around and said, "Whoa" because of how gorgeous it was.  

*If any of you decide to do this hike, wear long pants!  The first leg of it is not often traveled, and the brush hangs over into the trail.  I must have walked through some poison oak or something and now have two nice welts that are burning their way across my shin.

Who needs roses when you've got a boy to bring you wild bouquets?

We were all tired and it was a long and tricky hike.  On the way back, someone's feet started getting a bit achy, so I sang "Roar" to her--pep song serenade!

This was her response.  Didn't have the eye of the tiger that day, I guess.

She's been counting down the days to 10, and the day finally came!

After picking up a friend, we went to Slugs 'N Stones for a sweet treat in the afternoon.

And later came back home for dinner, cake, and Rio 2.  Then the girls spent the evening drawing with Jordan's new supplies.  We all had a great day.

Here are a few more birthday pictures...

First Day of School 2014!

This year we have 4th, 6th, and 8th graders!

Sillies.

Reflection in the glass.  Rookie mistake.  Cute kids, though!

Really excited about their new math books!!!  Yay for math!  Ha ha.  Poor kids.

Everyone is looking forward to the changes we have made to our schedule, so please pray for us this year!  We are jumping in with both feet!  Here goes nothin'!

Summer 2014: Week 10

Our last week of vacation was relaxing and wonderful!  We went to the river one afternoon, but spent the rest of the week at home.

Still learning about Egyptians in history.  Megan made this clay pull-horse.  She has since taken the wheels off and painted it.  The girls also threw together these little paper pyramids after we learned about them.

I scored some organic steaks on markdown this week, so we had a special dinner, prepared entirely by Jordan!  This was the best steak any of us have ever had, by miles!  We got the marinade recipe on Pinterest, which you can find here.  Didn't use any meat tenderizing powder, but she did hammer it to death!

She was grossed out by the process of cutting and hammering steak, but was determined to do it all her self.

My dinner.  It was such a treat!  Jeff said, "I could get used to this--but probably shouldn't!"

Jordan and Jackson have written a script for a Pet Shoppe movie called, "Mario."  This is the cast.  I'm excited to see the movie!

And speaking of home movies, here is one for you.  Jackson is training to be a ninja, you see.  Enjoy.

On Saturday, we went to State Line Beach for our annual fort-building day.  Jordan and I made a volcano while the others made the fort.

Planning meeting.

The start of the fort.  They got one wall nearly done before IT happened.  IT?  Well, yes.  IT.

Jackson took a break from building to dig a hole (because he always digs a hole.)  He was goofing around and got a handful of sand in his eyes.  It was pretty bad.  He stayed mostly calm, but after about 25 minutes of trying unsuccessfully to get himself to cry (to flush the sand out), we decided it was time to head home.  Jax was bummed to leave early.  :(

I flushed his eyes out with saline solution for quite a while, but couldn't get it all out.  He decided to go lay down and a bit later, he came out SO EXCITED because it was all gone and didn't hurt anymore!  He said that he prayed that God would get it out, and God answered his prayer!  Then he said,

"Mom, when I grow up and tell people about the Bible, this is going to be the main story that I tell."

He was so thrilled that God heard him.

That reminder was a GREAT way to wrap up our summer vacation!

On Monday, we begin a fresh, new school year.  Please pray for us, that we would be sensitive to the Lord's leading and don't lose sight of why we are homeschooling or the enormous blessing that it is!

Summer 2014: Week 9

I cannot remember what in the world we did this week!  I had sinus pressure headaches nearly every day, so maybe that's why the details are a bit fuzzy.  Ha ha.  At least I can rely on the photos that I took to do this week's post.  :)  

The rain came for a day and these two don't like to miss an opportunity to run around in it.

In history, we are studying the ancient Egyptians, and spent some time making our own hieroglyphs.

Megan decided to dye some paper and stamp a secret message on it, then roll it up like an ancient scroll.

We have confused weather here on the coast!  Another day was very warm and Jax needed to cool off in the sprinker.

Jeff made this rabbet thingy.  I'm very happy for him to finally have the time to work on the projects he wants to do.  Just don't ask me what the rabbet thingy does.  (Because I have no idea whatsoever.)

Oh yes, now I remember!  This picture reminds me that my kitchen table was COVERED with crafting items for days!  Jordan spent several days doing different projects, including making Barbie shoes like these.  She and Jackson also built on to their popsicle stick community and Megan made some shadow-shape designs that I didn't get a picture of.

Friday we grabbed a few of the Nichols' crew and went to Fort Dick for another herb class.  This month we learned about red clover and calendula.  The class was wonderful--the kids made calendula infused lip balm and we all picked and tasted the sweet red clover blooms!  They really do taste like sugar at the bottom!  They would be very pretty in a salad, I think.  I'd like to try that soon.  I forgot my camera so no photo of the kids, but here are a few pics of the herbs and links, in case you want to know how you can use them yourself!  

Red Clover

Calendula

Sunday after fellowship, we hiked at House Rock.  It's one of my favorite hikes, and as you can see, Jordy was pretty pumped about it, too!

Posting this with the kids' permission.  They wanted their grandparents to see their amazing crazy faces!

Megan found a good spot to check out the scenery.

And from her vantage point, she did a quick sketch of the shoreline.

This is what she was sketching.  This picture looks foggier than it actually was.

Happy hiker.  I love her enthusiasm!

Jordan snapped this picture.

While we were taking pictures of the scenery and drawing and climbing things, different visitors stopped by.  We visited with families from Utah and Nevada.  It's neat to see how people take in our ocean.  We tend to take it for granted, sort of like, "Yep, that's a beach alright."  I don't want to make too much of it, but sitting there I noticed that people who don't see the ocean often are quieted by how awesome it is.  They just stand there and stare, taking it in--even the kids.  

At one point, the father of the family from Nevada came up the stairs, clearly excited, and said to his wife, "You have got to see this trail we just found!  It's like a library of trees--I can't think of any other way to describe it."  He was talking about the trail that our family had just finished hiking.  We really are blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Just for your amusement.  Or maybe just for my own.  Ha ha.  

I asked Jax to do his best "Captain America" face.

It's been fun and quite fine, but now we're done with week 9!
Only one more week until we start our new school year!