Georgia!!

So, it took a little longer than we expected.  14 hours to be exact, but we had a great trip visiting family down in Georgia.  The kids kept busy in the car listening to books on tape, reading, playing, and counting license plates.......and, oh, the DVD player we bought right before the trip didn't hurt either. :) 

What made this trip particularly fun was that in school the kids had learned about U.S. geography.  They would get so excited to identify landmarks they had learned about.....the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cumberland Mountains, Chesapeake and Ohio canal.  It's made traveling so much more fun.

Here are some pics from our time together....



Eliza, Rosie and Kaya at the Root House Museum in Marietta, GA





Tour of the historic Root House





Hosanna and Sophia playing peek-a-boo around the well.  So cute!!!





Our attempt at a group shot.  Where's Jackson??  Oh, he's refusing to get in the picture despite our coaxing.





There he is, well, the back of him at least.  But now Sophia has had enough.  Good thing she's cute. :)





Learning about spinning wool.





Headed to a park for lunch after our morning outing. 





Kaya and Rosie were inseparable all weekend.





Birthday Breakfast to celebrate Charles and Dan.





There's my sweet Jackson.



Watching the donuts get made.

Such a fun thing for the kids to get to do!!!

Saturday night we packed up a container of [delicious] pulled pork and some rolls and had a picnic in the park.  Rebecca's dad sings in a do-wop group that happened to be performing that night.



The kids had a blast dancing to the music.  I believe the exact quote was, "That was the most fun ever!'





Kaya, in her element.



The kids were in their glory all weekend playing in what they referred to as "the swamp."  Really it was just the creek that runs through their yard, but it certainly impressed the kids.  And yes, that is my son wearing a polo and khakis.  Don't judge. :)

1-2-3 JUMP!!!!



The Swamp People.....Kaya, Jackson, Ezra, Joseph and Rosie.

So there you have it.  A weekend of fun, family-time.  Hope yours was a great one too!!!!






Kirsten

Hello again!!

It's been awhile....and quite frankly, I've been enjoying the break.  :)

Since my last post, life has just been, well,  really busy.  Here are a couple of the highlights though....

Last year, in the beginning of September, Kaya had decided that she wanted to go for something called, "Memory Masters".  It is a really big honor within Classical Conversations (the homeschool group that we are apart of).  MM is completely optional.  It is an oral exam in which the student must recall from memory EVERYTHING they have learned this year.  This includes: skip counting through the 15's (plus the squares and cubes), geometric formulas and equations, listing all 44 presidents of the United States in order of their terms, recalling a 160 point timeline beginning at Creation and going all the way to the Obama presidency, the periodic table of the elements, human anatomy, 24 history sentences, with dates, of major historical significance, conjugating irregular verb tenses, locating all 50 states and their capitals on a map, locating major geographical U.S. landmarks (rivers, mountain ranges, prominent features such as the Grand Canyon, etc....), memorizing John 1 in Latin and then translating to English, and many other terms to be defined.  All together, the facts that the student needs to recall total over 500.  In order to get MM, students need to be able to answer EVERY question correctly.  No room for error, people!

Well, on Monday morning she went for it.....And......SHE GOT IT.

It was a fun, but stressful morning for all the moms and kids involved.  8 students total from our campus went for it.  There were tears of happiness, anxiety, lots of hugs, shouts of joy and nerves on end.  Each student tests individually with their tutor, with testing taking a little over an hour per child.  But in the end, ALL 8 students achieved Memory Master.  What a celebration we had after!!!  So, SO proud of each and every one of these kiddos.  Sitting in and testing with these kids really gave me an appreciation of our Creator and this amazing brain He has gifted us with for learning.  Truly a miraculous organ!!

Here are Kaya and I last night celebrating her accomplishment on a Mommy-Daddy-Kaya date at the Melting Pot. :)


                           

She's beautiful, isn't she?? :)

In other news, today is my hubby's birthday.  We are celebrating by heading down to Georgia to spend the week with family.  WE.  CAN'T.  WAIT.  Tonight is birthday dinner and packing the car up.  Then, tomorrow, bright and early, we head out.  12 hours. 7 states.  4 kids.  It will be quite the adventure, I'm sure. :)    Either I'm very naive, or incredibly confident in my children's car-riding abilities.  Haha!  Not sure which (probably naive!), but I do love long car rides and am really excited.  We'll be staying with Charles' brother, Dan (who coincidentally, happens to have the same b-day as Charles, just 5 years apart), his wife, Rebecca, and their 7 children.  It's going to be a BLAST!

Lastly, we have adoption numbers for you from last month.  We moved down another three to.....

#73

Seriously, are we cruising or what??!?  ;)

Thanks for all your continued prayers!!  We have been really blessed by each of you along this journey.





Kirsten