October 2017 - Montana!!

Spearfish, Wyoming, on our way to see Abbie & James in Montana!!

Co-op classes with TEACH

House in Bozeman before Eva & Jack's wedding....so close to the mountains & so beautiful

My people

Ben, gopher hunting

Betty Boop making pancakes in her sweet kitchen!

Hiking on the rims, Billings

Custer State Park, so gorgeous! James taught Ben & Josie how to fish for trout - and Ben caught one!  He cooked it for dinner, too ;0)

Pictograph Caves

Our gorgeous grown up girl!

Drove through the amazing Badlands

Random pic of Mom & Dad's beautiful flowers & a rainbow

Spelunking (sp?) in Devil's Icebox (Missouri)

Rock Bridge at Rock Bridge State Park

Hiking behind our house

Blue Heron Orchard, one of our favorite local places of all time

Free swap was at the Kroc Center this year - great venue & a great turnout!

September 2017

Cousin Nathan got married!

The last few kayaking days....

Quiet train play

Learning those multiplication tables

Dance class at co-op with the Bounds girls

Josie played volleyball with the Homeschool Saints!

Outside art!

I love how Josie & Ben have names for certain places all around

Zach & Julia posing with Malachi at Nathan & Betsy's wedding

Learning to pull his weight!

Some artsy doodles

The Good & the Beautiful

Here's a free booklist from a company that is quickly winning me over! They offer their beautiful elementary language arts curriculums FREE as a download, or you can order it in print very reasonably. I've downloaded their 1st-4th grades & all of them are lovely- I'm planning to order their 4th grade in print bc the artwork & geography book is so amazing! 

Their typing program is also just what our 9 year old has been asking for, so it's also on my wish list- but I think the most awesome thing they offer right now is their history program. For 15 years I've raved about Story of the World & how easy it was to combine all ages for history, literature & geography...but this may change my tune!  Check out the website for details & watch @saltytribeco on YouTube or instagram for super detailed descriptions. 

I'm hoping to place a decent sized order asap!

http://www.jennyphillips.com/good-beautiful-book-list/

Enjoy!!

August highlights

I know August isn't quite over - but if I don't get to what I've got now I won't ha ha! We had a great time w/ Daddy in Nauvoo this year - he hadn't been since he was in high school & we all loved the county fair :0)

Corvette car show in Hannibal - sooooo cool

Funny people

First & last sink bath

Last day at Countryside for the summer - so much fun with bikes!

Goodbye trusty big ol' rollin' turd!  We will miss you!  I always liked driving my living room around....but it is nice to have a much newer (& cleaner!) car!

Lake Life!

Mac got his own fishing pole at the fishing derby this year (like Curious George...it had a wall hook not a real hook!).  I have a bit of an issue with fishing in general - so we stayed FAR away from everyone else!

One of the nearby families brought this awesome water slide to the lake & shared with us - so fun

Homerun Derby at twilight

Papa J & I got an overnight get-away thanks to Zach & Julia! Happy 25 years baby cakes!

All in a day's pickin'.  Ben washed everything & we made it into a delicious tomato sauce for dinner

My boys - some with more teeth than others.....

Some Countryside Playschool fun - looking forward to starting up again next week!

Summer Fun

Honey Bunches (Abbie!) was here for a visit in June - we miss James but someone has to work ;0)  It was heavenly to have all the chicks under my wings again....and see those yellow boots? They've been worn by all of our children!

Blue tailed skink - tail intact - which is hard to do when catching these guys!

All the floaties

We didn't get Abbie's hubby this visit, but we did get two of his brothers!  Ray & Elijah drove down for a visit to see all their Quincy pals

Countryside Playschool fun & learning

Taking after big brother - talented toes tying a bow tie

We realy have a fantastic group at Countryside - I am loving getting to know each of them! It's also been a joy to work with Zach & Julia :0)

MUD MAN

Abbie enjoying the wilds of Montana

And there's our James!

Sword fighting 101

Making window stars at Countryside

Chalk is my new favorite!

Mac has been into McDuff lately, so we made vanilla rice pudding with sausages on top

Ben is super fashionable

Chalk is so easy to blend & beautiful to work with

Other than the obnoxious Raisin Bran box, a lovely picture! This one reads constantly - and loves to reread favorites.  This is the Grade 5 Pathway Reader.  She just finished Little Women so we're on the lookout for Little Men.

Ooops this is sideways, but anyway, our watercolor lesson from a couple of weeks ago - the liquid watercolor wasn't as strong as I would have liked so we went with the cakes.

Summer is here!