Backyard Silliness

The children LOVE the backyard.  And I love that I can let them just play and play.  They get muddy, they get filthy dirty, they strew stuff all over the yard, my laundry pile overflows on days they are outside, and my dining room (where the backdoor is) is a MESS.  The amount of stuff I sweep up is not for the faint of heart, I tell you that!  But they LOVE the yard, their imaginations run wild, they get lots of exercise, and they sleep well at night when they can play!  I even turned the storage shed into a "fort" for them so they can still be outside in Oregon's ever faithful rain.  :)  Here are a few pics of their outdoor adventures over the last couple weeks. 

Writing 101

Jazmine has always loved trying to write her letters, and basically taught herself.  She came to me one day last year after having written out her entire alphabet.  She asked me if she forgot any letters, and well, I was so shocked I almost couldn't answer her.  After picking my jaw up off the ground I was able to gather my thoughts and help her with a couple backwards letters.

I strongly feel that forcing anything upon a child will ultimately backfire.  I learned years ago that Isaac is his own child, not his sister.  So while he would rather be flooding my bathroom, climbing trees, taking things apart to try to put back together, I do my best to look at the learning in those moments.  (Not going to lie....you can only have a teaching moment with a flooded bathroom so many times before the last shred of patience is lost on that topic...lol.)

Just recently Isaac is finally interested in writing.  He has mastered the letter "I" and writes it on whatever he colors on.  It's absolutely adorable his new-found passion for the letter "I".  For the rest of the letters, well, he will enjoy about 5 minutes a day of tracing time.  I found a couple of cool websites where I can make custom tracing pages for them, and both kids LOVE it.  I write stories for Jaz (like "once upon a time" type stuff) and Isaac just wants to do his name.  Here are a couple pics of the kids enjoying writing time.    

Beach Vacation OVERLOAD

So we took an impromptu trip to the beach a few days ago.  We managed to hit up the coast from Lincoln City all the way to Bandon.  Newport and Florence were our overnight stays, the other beaches were stop offs along the way.  The children had a blast.  We ate at a cute little diner in Florence where the kids got to sit in a 55 Chevy Bel-Air that was made into a table.  They loved it!  (No pics of that, sorry!)  We stopped and did a lot of playing on the beach, hit up the Newport Aquarium, and even stopped by their favorite playground in Bandon.  It was nice to get away for a couple days, though since we weren't planning a trip, I am now busy playing catch-up.  Haha!  TOTALLY worth it, though!  Here are a few (okay, okay, I'll admit it...A LOT) of pics of our couple days away.

Poor, poor, poor blogger!  I was overloading it with all my pics!!!  Okay, here are a few, more posted later, and PLENTY more on Facebook very soon!!!

Jazmine Mae Skye

Yesterday my baby girl turned 5!  I can hardly believe it.  When I was pregnant with her, we were told it was a boy.  We spent 4 months planning on a boy, only to have the doctor say "Congratulations on your daughter".  A mother's heart knows things, and whey they told me I had a daughter, for some reason I wasn't surprised, I think I had known all along.  Maybe that is why I never could write the "boy" name in her baby book while I was pregnant. 

Jazmine is turning into such an amazing young lady.  She is smart, honest, she has the most tender heart, she has a love of the Lord that is inspiring, she is creative and off in the clouds half of the time, yet her mind works so logically and she is so organized and determined and can be so OCD like her mama.  I look at this beautiful young lady the Lord saw fit to bless me with, and all I can think is "Thank you!".
   
Here is a peek at each year for the past 5 yrs.....

School Pictures

My baby girls first ever school pics!!!! :) (*sniffle sniffle*)