2014 Blue & Gold Cub Scouts Cake Auction

Griffin and Mike made a Minecraft cake for the 'Father/Son' cake auction at the Cub Scout Blue + Gold banquet tonight. Mommy helped just a little by making fondant for the first time.

GES Social - Island Adventurs!

Island Adventures Social for 3-5 grades at GES. Lots of treats, music and fun!

Ready For The Social!

He's all set to attend his first 3rd - 5th grade social after school today. The theme is 'Island Adventure' so he wore a fun Hawaiin shirt.

Warm February Day!

It's 53 degrees outside, the snow is finally melting, the trampoline is full of kids, and there's a batch of PW cookie squares in the oven for the kids to enjoy when they are ready for a snack. Life is good.

Ready For Spring!

I am so ready for warm sunny days, the grass to turn green, the flowers to bloom and to spend lots of time outside with Griffin discovering critters just like this!

Ice Marbles!

Our science experiment during the snow days ~ we made ice marbles!

Dinner & Games

Impromptu dinner with friends. Yummy steaks on the grill, homemade Mac n cheese + carrot cake and all the fixings. Finishing up with a marathon of Duck Dynasty and these 2 cuties are enjoying apples and playing games.

100th Day Of School - Third Grade

Today is the 100th day of school ~ Griffin (with a little Mommy help) made a shirt with 100 puppy paws on it to wear for the celebration!

Griffin & Grandma

Having a 'lady and the grandson' moment while enjoying birthday dinner at Red Robin.

Griffin's 9th Birthday Party ~ Lego Hero Factory

Our son Griffin decided he wanted a 'Hero Factory' birthday party for his 9th birthday

We celebrated at our local YMCA with an indoor swimming party (his birthday is in February). The kids also enjoyed creating sand art in the 'Hero Sand Pit'.

Decorations include custom banners, cupcake toppers,favor tags, confetti, table toppers and invitations

Waking Up The Birthday Boy!

Waking up the sweet 9-year-old this morning!

Why We Homeschool.

This has been on my heart for some time now and I feel it's the time to share. Mike and I are asked all the time, "Why did you start homeschooling Griffin'? Our answer is simple really. Because God led us to. We feel a parent driven education with God at it's core is the absolute best education we can provide our son. I will be honest in saying, I fought it every step of the way. Until, God would not allow me to fight any longer.

I was the mother that felt like I didn't have the patience to homeschool my child. I felt like I didn't have time to homeschool my child. And, quite honestly, I didn't think I would know how to homeschool my child. You know what happened? God showed me I do have the patience, I do have the time and He leads me in the how. Mike and I prayed about it constantly for months. It was a huge decision for our family and we wanted to make sure we were following God's plan. I remember the exact moment I knew it was God's plan. I was driving down 522, I had been praying about it while I was driving and suddenly I just knew it was the absolute right decision for our son. I knew it was His plan for our family. After our decision was already made, several situations at his former school occurred, and we were reassured by our decision.

I'm so grateful we are allowed this opportunity to educate our son at home. It's not always easy. Some days are hard. But, there are far more very good days then the few hard days in the mix. We use a wonderful Christian based curriculum and Griffin loves it. We enjoy hands on learning, we take field trips, we travel, we serve our community, we find ways to learn things outside the box and we have a lot of fun.

It brings us joy to know our son has time to not only receive a wonderful education, but he also has time to be a kid ~ he has time to play, to read, to spend time with family & friends and time to enjoy his own personal interests.

I am so, so grateful God led our family to homeschool Griffin. It is one of the absolute BEST decisions we have ever made!

The Story Of Noah.

In the evening, Griffin will often sit at my desk to draw, cut out and make various things. Last night he was working on some characters and he would show them to Mike and me as he completed them. At one point I remember him asking me where the stapler was, but had no idea what he planned to do with it. When cleaning off my desk this morning I found this. He illustrasted and told the story of Jonah. {squeel} That little boy is such a delight and surprises me at every turn.

Sharing What's On My Heart.

In my adulthood there have been a couple of days I have looked forward to surpassing. I know it may seem unusual, but when you have a mother pass away at such a young age, I guess it may just happen. The day I turned 43 was the first one, that's the age she was when she passed away. And today is another. Today Griffin is the same age I was when my mother died, one week before my 9th birthday. I will continue to do everything in my power to have him remember me and know how very much I love him because I have such vague memories of her and it makes me very sad sometimes to realize he could have the same vague memories later in life of me.

Neighborhood Kids

Had fun spending time with these sweet neighborhood kids today.

His Favorite Song - Our God.

Love the look on Griffin's face when he realized his favorite song was coming on the radio this morning on our ride to school. Once he heard the first few notes of 'Our God' he was beaming! What a great way to start the day ~ rounding the curves in Sandy Hook singing a favorite song at the top of our lungs all the way to school!

Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby

Today was the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby! Congratulations Griffin for best design and 'best car to go in space' for the Bear pack. Well done!

Sledding With Friends

Today we got together with neighbors and went sledding on the big hill!

A Surprise!

Just found this on my desk ~ seems our creative boy is making his own handmade photo props.

Snow Day!

Snow day off from school and it's so much to play in it!