tree tales

Once again I am back to tell a funny story about Caeden. This past Saturday, Chris took Owen and Caeden to the park for Owen's art lesson. His lesson had him drawing things from nature. So, Owen and Caeden would run off and find some things (like acorns, seeds, tree branches, etc.) and bring them back to Chris so Owen could draw them on his paper. The lesson also had Owen find an interesting tree to draw. Well, at one point, Owen found such a tree and yelled this back to his Daddy, and Caeden quickly replied, "Yeah, but I can't pick it up and bring it to you!" Chris assured him that it was okay to not pick up an entire tree! The things 3 year olds say!

is it fall yet???

I love fall. My first 26 years were spent in Michigan where the colors are beautiful, the temperatures mild, and no snow! I don't care a ton for hot weather so fall is a welcome relief from the suppressing heat, especially here in Louisville. As I write this it is 95 degrees! 95 degrees at the end of September! So needless to say, I decorated my house for fall a few days ago in the hopes the that temperatures will start reflecting my decorations soon!!

Here is my fall wreath. It is actually a Christmas wreath and I just add fall berries to it to make it look like a fall wreath. There is no way I am buying a wreath for all seasons!

And here is my table runner (that I made) and some pumpkins with berry wreaths candles (that I made)! I love this decoration but it never makes it to my table because my table is never clear enough or not being used by crazy boys to have decorations on it! Oh well, maybe some day!

This year I made a couple of these paper circle garlands!

This is my fall banner. I have made these for every season/holiday.

bunk bed boys!!!

This past weekend my parents came to town with bunk beds in tow! Owen and Caeden are absolutely loving their new bunk beds! We've only had a couple of falls off the ladders :) We are so thankful to have them! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Michigan for driving them down, helping to get the mattresses, and putting them together!

a little sewing...

I took a sewing class my very last semester of college. I honestly left there every time with an atrocious headache. I think I spent more time ripping seams than sewing them, but I am so thankful now that I had an opportunity to learn the basics. I love trying my hand at new things so this past summer I made myself a purse and some other fun things to go in it!

Here is the purse. I will probably never be making these to sell but it was fun. I was able to find fabric in my favorite color combination orange/turquoise!

Here is a wallet and checkbook cover as well. I have a stack of fabric to make checkbook covers with to sell but once again, I am not so sure about the wallet. It was a fun challenge but I made some mistakes and I 'm not sure it would ever look good enough to actually charge people for it!
Here is a picture of the inside of the wallet and the beauty of all my mistakes! The zipper is crooked and the credit card pouches are not quite right! One side is a little big and one side a little small!
Here is a picture of some zippered pouches that I have in my purse. One is for gift cards/coupons, another is for receipts and the last is for miscellaneous stuff that I don't want floating around my purse like chap stick and a pen and so on!

And here are a couple of pictures of some zippered pouches that I have for sale! Each one measures about 5" by 7". They would make a great make-up bag or change purse or one of the uses I mentioned above.

Each pouch is fully lined, has a coordinating ruffle in the front, and has a square bottom so it stands up. I am charging $8 each. Any questions please email me at crbuttons@hotmail.com.

happy birthday!

We celebrated Chris's 30th birthday on Tuesday!

This is a picture from our vacation (just the two of us!!!) to the Red River Gorge back in May for my 30th birthday. We had a great date Tuesday night out to P.F. Changs! Thanks Matthew and Annie for watching the boys!!! We had also had a family party over the weekend with Chris's mom (who was in town for the weekend) and his brother's family.

I am so grateful to God for my husband who loves me and our boys so well! I love you babe! Below is a picture of Chris and the boys taken last fall and is probably one of my most favorite pictures of all my "boys" ever!

If I were bacon...

This is Caeden and he has been known to say some of the funniest things. The other day I was cooking some bacon to go with a meal. I was standing a little bit away from the stove but the bacon suddenly popped and grease literally "flew" straight into my eye. Of course I screamed in pain. But Caeden with a very serious face says, "Mommy, if I were bacon, I wouldn't do that!" How sweet is he?

Homeschool Update

Well, we have been offically homeschooling for a month now so I thought I would take a minute and do a little update. Overall, Owen is doing great and enjoying learning and our schedule seems to be working out well with the other boys as well! Praise the Lord!

Phonics/Reading

We have been working on phonics for about a year and a half now and Owen seems to be making some good progress. In general, he is able to read faster even though he is still at the point of sounding out letter by letter. This month in particular he has learned some digraphs (i.e. "th" sound, "sh" sound and "ch" sound) as well as continuing to review consonant blends. We will be getting into long vowel sounds this next month so we will see how that goes!

Math

This is Owen's first time really studying math and he is doing great! We did a very little amount last year for his preschool. Before we started he could count to 10 well and then got all jumbled up with the teen numbers. Today he counted to 100 with practically no help from me at all! He has really enjoyed the hands-on aspect of math and I think it is helping him to grasp it more easily. He can also write all his numbers now and knows the days of the week and can distinguish between his left and his right, which I have found to be so helpful!

Handwriting

We are working through a workbook which is teaching him the correct way to make his letters, which he is doing well with, but I am trying to make that transfer to when he writes all the time and not just during his handwriting lesson which has a tendency to be a little more difficult.

Art

Chris is doing art lessons with Owen once a week, because he is artistic and I am really not! (Owen has had a love for art/drawing since he was probably around 3 and spends the majority of his free time drawing or coloring.) They have done two lessons and I was hoping to scan them and post them, but my husband needs to teach me how to work our scanner, because I can't seem to figure it out! So hopefully I can post them soon! Owen has really enjoyed his lessons and I think he loves having that special time with Daddy!

In addition to these official subjects, we try to have a individual Bible time every day as well as read through a book series called the "Book of Life" which is a summary of the whole Bible. We also to a read-aloud time before Elliot's nap. Right now we are reading the Chronicles of Narnia and we are on book #4 Prince Caspian. Yes, our days are full but it has been a joy for me to be teaching and instructing our sons, not only in school but also and more importantly in the Word of God and how that speaks into their lives as boys who will, Lord-willing, one day grow into young men!