Summer camps…

This summer the kids had the opportunity to go to some great camps in the area… One was a “science camp” at the local college and the other was at a worship arts camp at a local Methodist Church.

At the science camp, the kids made leaf journals, did gravity experiments, made volcanoes, had water balloon wars and a lot of fun…

The worship arts camp was great. The activities were all “Christ-centered” learning activities.

Here’s some pictures from their final performance called “It’s Cool in the Furnace” using the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

    Libby playing the kazoo…

    Tommy playing the part of “Daniel”…

  Libby singing a solo…

Already they are looking forward to next summer and the fun stuff they will get into then!!!

 

1st place finishes…

Tommy and Libby both placed 1st in the belt advancement tournaments…
                      
                                 
Sparring buddies…
         
                                                    

Summertime fun in the Smokies….

One of our favorite places to go camping is Elkmont Campground in the Smoky Mountains. It is a rustic campground ~ meaning no electricity or shower facilities, but we love going there because it is in the woods, beside a huge wonderful creek, and we just love it!!
Here’s some pics of the kids tubing down the creek this summer…

Can’t keep a good woman down…

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the sport of choice in our household. It’s an activity that both of my kids can participate in, the classes are close to home, they can compete on individual levels, and it provides self defense training.

My 8yo daughter has been taking karate since she was 4 and has been doing jiu-jitsu for the last 2 yrs. and totally loves it!!!

Here some pics of her last tournament for belt advancement ~

		Belt Advancement 08/27/11 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium…

We had a great time today visiting Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium. Some friends of ours were going and invited us along, so we decided to take the day off and make a great field trip of it… It was great…

They have a herpetarium, a raptor center, a wolf enclosure, and other animal habitats.
We took in the planetarium show about the solar system which was fabulous and also took the pontoon tour of the lake where we got to see some great beaver dams…
And to finish off the day we had a picnic lunch and an ice cream on the way home!!!

Spending time in Ancient Egypt

This week we continued our studies in Ancient Egypt. I have been using a curriculum from Learning Adventures called “A World of Adventures” and we love it. 

The kids have been working on memorizing Psalm 24 and it is a doozey… Very long, but it seems to be coming along nicely. I have it written on our dry-erase board and then we work on it every day and I erase a word a day as they recite it. That technique seems to be working for the kids.

Today we discussed the spelling rule of  :

“Writing i before e, except after c, or when sounded like as in neighbor and weigh. “

This is the first time we have done spelling together and it seems to be working ok ~ I give  DS some harder words and DD seems to do just fine with the more words like chief and reindeer or deceive. Today they had to copy their 20 words and label them with the rule: “i before e” or “e before i".

Then we read Genesis 39-41 about Joseph being sold to Potiphar and then his life from there until he was released by Pharoah and given his Egyptian name and had children with his Egyptian bride. It was difficult for me to explain adultery involving Potiphar’s wife wanting to be with Joseph . But in the end I think using the concept of dating someone other than your husband worked just fine and got the message across.

We looked at the geography of Egypt and labeled a map from “Uncle Josh’s Outline Map Book” (which has to be one of my favorite resources) taking time to talk about the Mediterranean and Red Seas, Thebes, Karnak, Luxor, Aswan, Giza, and the Valley of the Kings.

The kids enjoyed watching a movie on Netflix from National Geographic called “Egypt Eternal”. We watched one earlier in the week called “Flying Pyramids, Soaring Stones” and one called “Egyptians” that discussed the different Gods like Anubis, Bastet, and Re.

Then to finish off our school day, we hit briefly on biomes with deserts and that they are measured based on arid level and learned some new vocabulary words like flora, fauna, and biota. 

 

Getting caught up…

This summer didn’t go as planned. We had a lot of things happen unexpectedly and had to make changes in our lives accordingly.

Some of the changes I have made fit into needs.

I need to be FLEXIBLE!

I need to be RELAXED!

I need to try and stay STRESSFREE!

I need to ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES!

I need to ENJOY LIFE ~ ONE DAY AT A TIME!

I need to be THANKFUL EVERYDAY ~ FOR EVERYTHING!  not just the things I want, but to be blessed by my circumstances. Try and see the colors of the rainbow not just the arch.

The kids have had to adapt and make changes as well. Most of all, I think they have gained patience and compassion. Hopefully, we can incorporate these changes permanently and be a better family as a result.

The beautiful outdoors…

We got some great photos of God’s beautiful handiwork this summer and fall… Here are a few of our favorites…

    How beautiful… Sunset in the mountains…

     Cades Cove

     The Little Pigeon River

My hubby and me…

Here we are… My hubby and me… by the creek… notice the fur growing on his chin… after over 13 yrs. together, I finally convinced him to grow a some facial fuzz… I think he looks soooo handsome…

My own Grizzly Adams…  *LOL*

Tommy’s First Poultry Show and Sale…

Today we went to Tommy’s first 4H Poultry Show. It was held at the Rose Center. Tommy took his 3 best hens in size and appearance. He placed 2nd in the show bringing home a blue ribbon. He was so sad at the thought of selling his hens to a farm, that “I” (and I mean “I” as in “sucker”) bought them back to the tune of $15 and brought them back home.
I never thought chickens would be a pet we would be having at our house, but they have been lots of fun for Tommy and have helped make him more responcible.
Tommy's Hens

                 Proud chicken man!!!

       The Judging Process                                  The Auctioneering