Little Indians

This week in school we learned a little about the Native American Indians. The boys made little Indian feathers to wear on their heads and painted symbols the way the Indians did to tell stories.
The boys have been doing really good in school, I am very proud of them. They both work really hard and most of the time they are pretty good. Next year we'll be starting Bryson on First Grade material since he's doing so well in reading. The program I have does cursive handwriting, so I'm a little nervous about doing that. I guess we'll just see how it goes. I'm not going to push it too hard if he's not ready. Zeke is very close to reading more fluently. He can read now but sounds out each sound. He's starting to blend the words together in his mind and then read them. It has been such a blessing to see each of them learn to read....God is good!

And then there is our sweet baby girl...she's been growing up fast. She's got quite the personality and has been talking a lot. Her most frequent words are "cookie," "juice," "night-night," "stinky." Pretty much her day...eat, sleep, poop :).

Here's also some pictures of AJ waking up from her nap.

What's Your Learning Style?

I thought this quiz was really helpful for those with young children. Since I home school, I think it's really important for me to know what the learning styles are for my boys. I've especially been thinking about this lately since Zeke is starting to read but doesn't learn the same way Bryson does. He is very bright and capable (and only 4). This quiz revealed that Bryson is an auditory learner, that's probably why he likes books so much and Zeke is a visual learner. Zeke will study all the details of the illustrations in books and learned most of his letter sounds through the LeapFrog letter factory video.

Anyway, here is the link, hope it helps someone else like it did me :)!

http://parenting.quiz.kaboose.com/25-what-s-your-child-s-learning-style

Tis the Season to be Busy

Our poor blog hasn't gotten updated in awhile so I just thought I'd write something. We are quickly approaching the holiday season and are already bracing for a very busy season. Every weekend pretty much until Christmas is filled not to mention all the Christmas parties in between. In a way I dread how busy it is because it really is one of my favorite times of the year. I know it's not Thanksgiving yet but we already have the Christmas music playing (the new Casting Crowns Christmas CD is really awesome). The boys of course are really excited about Christmas. They, like the rest of us, like all the presents. I'm praying the Lord will help our family really focus on Him this year. I know that there is nothing we could give God that could ever compare to what He has given us. But since it is the celebration of His birthday, I would like to honor Him as such. If you have any ideas of what your family does to help remember what Christmas is all about, I'd love to hear them. I know we can read the Christmas story and I thought about getting the new Nativity movie that just came out (it is really good too).

Anyway, that's pretty much it from our little part of the world. I'll hopefully post some pictures and stuff soon.

Fall Time in Michigan

Well, for those that didn't know, we are here in Midland MI right now as we are here for my mom's brain surgery that she will be having tomorrow.  We have been up here for a week enjoying the time before my mom has to recover from her surgery.  While we have been here, we have seen friends and family we haven't seen for a while and done some fall things that we miss here in Michigan.  We have gone to the pumpkin patch, and of course our favorite, Baynes in Freeland.  There we ate Cider Donuts and had warm apple cider.  I sure miss the season up here even though it is really cold.  It has hailed a couple times since we have been here but you can just smell the fall time in the air.  I miss that.  Here are just a few pics of some of the fun we have had up here.  Thanks for all the prayers for my mom as she has her surgery tomorrow and her quick recovery.

Bryson's Science Project

We finally finished up Bryson's science project for a science fair I signed him up for in November. He made sugar crystals and then watched them grow. One was "seeded" meaning had been soaked in water and rolled in sugar and the other one was not. Now we just have to learn all the science type stuff of why that happened and so forth and then put the presentation together. I think he had fun with it.

The only other thing going on really is getting ready to leave for Michigan. We got all the sweaters and winter stuff down from the basement. We even had to go buy baby girl a new coat. We are looking forward to seeing everyone. I've been getting a bunch of car stuff together so we can have an unconventional school in the car ont he way there. We might as well since we'll just be sitting for two days :). It will be good to get away for a bit and the fall is my favorite time of year in Michigan.

Keep praying about our house selling. We've had it now for two years and we'll be putting it back up on the market in March since we have renters in it right now. We've had quite the ordeal with our home insurance company so we have to go up and make a few repairs to get it insurance qualified. It seems to be such a burden but everything in life we can learn from. The thing I've learned the most is that God is in control of every situation...He knows our needs and is faithful to supply our needs. I'm so thankful for that today and have to remind myself of that truth as I trust Him for our future.

Backyard Fun!

A few years ago we bought the boys this Power Wheels Monster truck and it is still going.  I had to do a little fixing on it this weekend and it now only goes forward, not backwards, but the boys still love playing with it.  The back of it is just big enough for AJ to fit in it so she just sat in it and let the boys drive her around the yard.  It was really fun to sit back and watch them play.  The weather is getting actually nice enough to go outside without having to drip with sweat.  The nights are really getting nice.  Pretty much everyday now, the boys want to go play in the backyard, which is good for us cause they need to get outside and burn some energy.  

Bryson's New Haircut

Bryson finally got his haircut today. It looks really cool...however the only way we can duplicate it is to put gel in it and blow dry it every time. I never thought about blow drying my boy's hair but I guess that's the cost of fashion!

Update on Zeke

Many of you already know what is going on with Zeke but I thought I'd put an update on the blog anyway. We had his appointment last Thursday to find out the results from the 8 hour EEG test he had done about 2 weeks ago. The doctor indicated that he did not have any seizures during that test but did notice some unusual readings when he is trying to transition from sleep stage 1 to sleep stage 2. So she prescribed him some medication for migraines.

After the appointment both Nick and I had very mixed feelings. To make a long story short, we are seeking a second opinion. I found out on Friday that our insurance WILL cover it (thank-you Lord!) and we have to get it going through the Primary Care Physician. As the advocates for Zeke's health, and as young as he is, we just don't feel right putting him on any other medication until we have more confidence in his diagnosis.

All those prayer warriors out there, please pray. I am praying specifically for a doctor who will take the time and will explain to us in layman's terms so we can better understand what exactly Zeke has. I know God has been teaching me through this whole circumstance. I told Nick the other day that it would be better if it were me going through something, but when it's your child it is really hard. Especially when they are so young and can't explain what is wrong with them. I guess this is just a fraction of a glimpse of what God felt when His only son suffered for ungrateful wicked people such as me.

As a mom I try not to worry and am constantly repeating the verse, "Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6

Will you pray with me? I will be forever grateful!

Memories

Like life isn't busy enough but this year I decided to coach Bryson's under 6 soccer team.  We are the "Thunderbolts" and we have 7 kids on our team.  I have really enjoyed coaching these little kids as I am a soccer lover myself.  Especially with being Bryson's coach, I hope these are times he never forgets.  I love my children so much and thank God for them all the time.  I love this picture of Bryson and I before our first soccer game of the season tonight.  

Future Neurologist!!!

This morning in the waiting room Zeke told me that he wanted to be a brain doctor when he grows up.  I thought it was nice of him to say that and hey, who knows, one day he may be.  He is such a trooper with all these tests and all.  As you are reading this, I took this picture and put it on the blog while we were in the room for his test.  (nice feature of the MACBOOK) He is really tired and he put a little fuss when they started putting the wires on his head, but it is just cause he is tired.  We will be in this room for pretty much the rest of the day.  They want to record about 8 hours worth of brain activity.  Dr's are still unsure what is going on with him and we are pretty much starting over again and just making sure we are getting this right.  Please continue to pray for him as he undergoes these tests.  I am very thankful that my mom is here right now to take care of the other kids during this time.  Plus she really missed everyone so she flew in for a couple weeks.  (Thanks mom)  Thanks for all the prayers.