Our home school update.

I apologize for no pictures. I will try and add some this weekend if we really do get snowed in. Another 2 feet has been forcasted, and we already got a foot last weekend! Fun for us since we have a steep hill in our backyard!

Life is in fast forward these days, so I am so behind on my journal keeping (which includes blogging.) We went to Idaho/Utah for just a few days short of a month over the holidays. It was really great to be with family over the holidays. I think the kids were very good with the long trip. Mom wore out pretty easily. As grateful as I was to go, I was happy to come home to the routine and surroundings that I am used to. I had no idea I was such a home body! :+) We did love the trip though, and will miss everyone.

My main focus is always kids and home school. We have a full schedule this semester. The snow days that public schools have had off (3 so far this week) do not effect us, much to my kids dismay! I don't feel bad for them, we just had a month off!!!

We are in a music class this semester, prepping them for band and orchestra which they can join this fall. There are a lot of homeschooling kids at this music academy, including some families from our church. It is nice for more ways to socialize. They all love the class, and are learning to read music and play the recorder this month. They will move on to trying a lot of other instruments.

We also have our PE class 2 times a week. All 4 kids have a class to go to. They have made some really great friends this year, as have I. I used to only have the church as an outlet for socializing. Another bonus to homeschooling is building friendships with families out of our church. I have met such great people here. Moms with really strong Christian values, strong family ties, and some of the nicest kids I have ever met. ( unfortunately, even better behaved than most of the kids in our ward.) They were in a volleyball unit, but are now in floor hokey. Logan is very good at this!

We are still loving Nature Days at Motts reservoir. It is sooooo fun doing this Earth Science class with the kids. I am so thankful that I was talked into signing up for it. There are 3 other families in my ward who go. I love nature, and this lady is wonderful at teaching all about the earth, and animals. She has catchy songs for the kids to remember things, and the most interactive activities. We all really look forward to it.

We also are thankful to Grandma for our Science Museum pass. We try and have a field trip once a month, and the kids LOVE this place. We have already been 2 times, and Spencer wants to go again on his birthday. They have the best planetarium show I have ever seen. I also love all of the exhibits. There is so much interaction for the kids that they learn so easily, and talk about it for days!!

OUr curriculum is going very well. I love it all!! Spencer and Logan are now moving onto the next grade in Math. Madison is getting there, and doing very, very well in Math this year. I love our English program, but I had been looking for a supplemental writing program. I was thrilled to be turned on the INstitute for Writing in Excellence. The program is astronomically high, but we were able to get a hold of it through another homeschool family that is done with it. It is off the charts awesome! My kids will have the best writing skills around! He makes it easy to understand and fun to do. There is a DVD that goes with it, and so even Mom can teach this!!

I am actually getting excited about going to my first homeschooling conference in May. The man who developed this writing program will actually be there also! I will have 2 days of learning and I am VERY excited!!

Other than that, the kids are still in piano. We have soccer coming up that even Aiden is going to do this time! We have scouts, and Activity Day girls keeping us active as well. Oh, also the kids have completed a reading program that will get them into Six Flags for free! They had to put a lot of hours of reading in, but they love to read so it wasn't hard.

Thanks for all of your support! We love all of you! Heidi & gang

Aiden's 4th birthday and Halloween

Sorry for the picture jumble, I am trying to get these on here at long last. Aiden's b-day was celebrated 3 times. First time was on Oct 22nd, the day before I left too go to Utah. Uncle Shane was visiting us, and we went to the pumpkin patch. We then opened presents, had cake, and carved the pumpkins. On Aiden's actual b-day, Oct 27, I was in Utah (with the camera, so no pics) but Dad spoiled him. He had donuts for breakfast and Taco Bell for dinner. His actual party was on Halloween. The kids all came in costume and we had fun Halloween games. Our friend Luke from NC has come up every year since Aiden's first b-day. He went trick or treating with us. It was raining that night, but the kids still got some good loot!

Elder Harmston

Mom and I were privileged to take Elder Harmston to the MTC on October 28th. He is going to the West Virginia Charleston Mission!
I love this Murel in Salt Lake.
We went site seeing and we got caught in a snow storm in October! It was so BEAUTIFUL though!!

Brenden was so excited to go. He drove us crazy as the hours drew closer for him to go. He was very sweet to Mom though even though he was ready to leave. It was so rewarding after all of his hard work to get here to see him go. I know he will serve the Lord with all of his heart and might. We look forward to hearing all about it!!

This scared me to death when I saw it, and then I remembered it was only a few days from Halloween! There was even a CTR ring on it! It was in the MTC parking lot.

A great way to measure kids growth!

We live 30 minutes from Paramount Kings Dominion. The last 2 years we have bought season passes, but we have really gotten the most use this summer. First I will start with apologizing that these are not really photos of my kids. I wanted to show the rides to go with my story. We started going in April and the first thing you do when you get to the park is get the kids measured to see what rides they can go on. Taryn was under 36" and thus limited to about 9 rides. That was fine by her, she loves all of the rides. Well over the summer she grew. We kept "measuring" her at the park and she never quite hit 36". Yesterday, it finally happened!! Right on the line! So that added the Log Ride (one of my fav's) and the kiddie roller coaster. What a look of pure enjoyment on her face!!!
The next one that had a major change yesterday was Logan. He finally hit 48" which lets him go on all of the roller coasters and the water slides. He has been upset all summer being left out of what Madison and Spencer could do. "This is awesome!" (His exact words.) He also is finally tall enough to "drive" the antique cars. He has been waiting all summer, and he was on cloud nine driving Mom around!
The next person who had a growth change this summer was Mom. No I did not add some to my height (I wish) As of yesterday, I have lost 42 pounds since May 1st. I had a wake up call back in April when I came and tried to get on a roller coaster and did not fit. I love roller coasters, but the saddest part was missing out with my kids. I got right to it, and joined a gym and weight watchers, and what a difference!! I had the best day! I have been going all summer, but too chicken to try. I am down 4" on my stomach so I thought I should give it a try, and everything fit just great! I need to loose more to be a little more comfortable when you are thrown around in those tiny seats!! It felt so awesome to be on rides with my kids! I tried 5 new roller coasters! What a rush!!


This ride... oh too scary! I chickened out at the last minute along with Logan and Spencer. Madison, however, hopped right on! You should see this ride, spinning you around and around upside down, dropping you over fire even! This was right up my alley 20 years ago. I need to get brave enough again to try it! I just had to give kudos to Madison for doing it alone!

All in all we got a lot of mileage out of our pass, and we still have until November. We have been about 14 times this summer because I was brave enough to try with the kids alone during the week, and I had a friend with a pass who would come and go with us. We have had a great time! We then have fun here with Dad on the weekends. We hope to branch out to some of King Dominions sister parks as we travel next summer! (Like Kings Island & Worlds of Fun!) Lots of fun ahead!!!