More Homemade Duds

Another lovingly handmade skirt from Grandma Cathy that Shaylen wore to church today. She looks so pretty!

And here's the green skirt that paired so nicely with this adorable sweater!

HBC Homeschool Science Fair

The finished product! We had Milky Way bars for fun and "visitors" had to compute their weight to see how much they would weigh on different planets. 

Our Science Fair Participants

Shaylen deliberates over someone else's project.

Will Matthew be shocked at his weight on the moon?

 

Little Emmy trying out her weight.

Paul gets in on the weight action!

"He Leadeth Me"

Oct. 24, 2012 - at HBC

Science Fair Prep - Post II

Today's science fair project continued. They finished painting their planets and then started to arrange how things were going to look on the board. It was a team effort, with very little help from me. I cut the Styrofoam balls, typed up what they wanted me to say on the paper labels, and gave some general advice on placement. Otherwise, this was all their doing!

Science Fair Prep

In the near future, the kids are going to be participating in our church homeschool kids' science fair. Since I am not by any stretch of the imagination science-y, we opted out of the experiment end of the thing, and went with a science report. We've been studying space, and so a big board of fun facts of the Milky Way made more sense.

Here are the kids starting their work on their big board. We took styrofoam balls, cut them in half and then the kids looked at pictures from their science book to determine how to paint them.

Cutest Helpers EVER

This makes washing dishes TONS more fun!

Little Guards

We've been talking with the kids about not just what they say, but how they say it. We want everything that escapes their mouths to please the Lord.

I recently talked with them about what Psalm 141:3 says, "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips." In order to bring the illustration home, I talked to them about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington D.C. We watched a video on the changing of the guard too.

I think they got it! Later, when I looked outside, I saw that they were incorporating my lesson into their imaginations.

Love in Every Stitch

Look at what we got in the mail yesterday! I love these new things that my step-mom, Cathy made for the kids. She puts so much love and thought into these gifts. Check out those culottes, pajama pants and Mariners pillow!

Shaylen's Turn

Not to be left out, or outdone by her brother, it was now Shaylen's turn to try her hand at mowing the yard. I love her look of concentration...

  ...and Taigen's look of "Wow, look what I just got out of doing!"

VBS Prize Redemption Time!

The twins were top scorers in VBS this year; Shaylen (1st place) and Marshall (3rd place). They worked SO hard in memorizing tons and tons of verses to quote.

Marshall won a gift card to Pizza Hut and Shaylen chose a gift card to Hilltop Fun Center. We finally got around to redeeming those gift cards. We did mini-golf and then allowed the kids to do the go-carts. Shaylen was a speed demon, whizzing around the course, meanwhile Marshall putt, putted around like a terrified grandpa. It was hilarious! We loved giving him a hard time about it all.

Annual Trek to the Corn Maze

We have such a wonderful set of families in our church that homeschool. Every year, we make our annual pilgrimage to the local Coppal House Farm to work our way through their corn maze. It is a fun tradition we wouldn't want to miss! I especially love the annual group photo. How time does fly! We see growth in these kids every year, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Children certainly are a blessing!

The Time Has Come

This has got to be a very proud moment for Taigen! How he must be looking forward to the day when he can permanently turn this job over to his son.

Goodbyes

Goodbyes are always hard. I cannot tell you enough how much I love this family. I have the best mother-in-law, and Grandma Rutledge is a gem...an absolute gem that I love dearly. What in the world would I ever do without these sweet ladies? This is the one thing that makes living clear across the nation so difficult: we don't get to spend as much time with them. Our trips are always so wonderful and I'm thankful for each moment with them.

Sweets for My Sweets

We love it when our vacation coincides with the other Rutledges being in town. Ralph and Karen are so dear to us! Of course, they take it upon themselves to spoil all of us rotten, Marshall and Shaylen are no exception.

Today, Karen took it upon herself to take the kids down to Edmonds and treat them to sweets from the candy shop. How can you possibly decide?!?!

After the candy shop, we headed over to the beach to let the kids get out some of their cooped up energy.