September started off with a school routine, backyard campout, friend weekend for Nathan, field trips and co-op fun.
I snapped a picture of us doing our group time outside one day. We had a group time with everyone everyday where we read history, Bible, some literature elements, and a read aloud. When the weather is nice the kids regularly ask to do our group time outside. Our homeschool days are far from perfect and full of frustrations, impatience, and struggles, but this moment was pretty much perfection- kids playing, enjoying the sunshine, building sibling bonds, and listening to a good book. These moments make the hard worth it!
The kids played with dominoes for a whole weekend straight, trying their best to build the best creations. There were many frustrating moments when the dominoes would fall before they were ready, but they stuck with it and built some cool stuff!
We soaked up some end of season pool time. We headed to the pool one afternoon after we finished school, and I remember looking over at Katherine thinking and being so thankful that she wasn't sitting in a classroom for seven hours a day. Instead she was swimming with her siblings.
Speaking of Katherine, she is loving Kindergarten. She's flying through her math and reading lessons. On this day, she was flipping eggs and reading the words on the back. She thought it was so fun- of the simple joys of childhood.
She's been doing a great job with her daily reading lessons! Proud of her!
These girls have been on a restaurant kick lately. They set up a table with a tablecloth, write out menus, take our reservations with a computer, and prepare the fanciest dessert specials I've ever seen.
Over Labor Day weekend, the kids convinced Matt to camp out in Kidsborough. They set up a tent, roasted marshmallows for smores, played Ghosts in the Graveyard, and slept outside.
I joined them for the smores, and games, and then headed home to sleep in my comfortable bed for the night.
Nathan missed out on the camping fun because he traveled to Texas with his buddy Wyatt for Wyatt's 12th birthday. They stopped in Paris, Texas on the way, and Nathan thought it was the best thing ever.
He spent the weekend riding and driving outdoor vehicles, shooting, paddle boating, and doing all sorts of outdoorsy things.
He even attended a rodeo and participated in a calf herding event.
Another toy that has been well loved this month has been our bin of Duplos. All four kids have been playing with them almost daily. They have built the most elaborate, creative things. Have I mentioned that I love the additional free time homeschooling has given us for them to have time to play?
This creation was an amusement park with a boat ride, bumper cars, tea cups, drop tower, pizza restaurant, and photo store
We have happily enjoyed being back at co-op this Fall. Elisabeth built a rainforest creation in her wild animal crafts class.
We also attended a zoo field trip with our co-op friends.
We saw the new baby giraffe which led to a dramatic zookeeper rescue of a tiny dearly loved stuffed animal that Katherine accidentally dropped in the giraffe enclosure. Every one of her little friends were determined that she'd get her koala back.
Such sweet friends!
The playground is the best part of any zoo trip.
We've also been soaking up the beautiful evening weather. The kids came up with some fun trampoline tricks one night.
We might be missing the easy, carefree, summer days, but these days of school, routine, and activities are pretty great too.
For Elisabeth's ninth birthday celebration, she requested a sleepover with four of her best friends. She chose a sweet group of girls who all are already friends, so it worked out great. She was so excited about her party. She wrote a schedule andd hand delivered it to each of the guests.
The girls arrived at 5:00 and enjoyed some playtime before dinner. Elisabeth received a 3-D pen as a birthday gift from Papa, and it was the hit of the party. All the girls took a turn with it.
Such sweet, excited girls!
Elisabeth asked for hot dogs and cheese balls for dinner.
After dinner Elisabeth opened her gifts from her friends, and then they played a game of Among Us. The boys wrote all the tasks on Friday afternoon before the party started. I don't really understand it, but the girls all seemed to have a good time playing.
Sarah and Elise gifted Elisabeth with a bow and arrow set, so we walked across the street to Kidsborough to try it out.
I had a surprise for the girls, so Elisabeth and I wrote a quiz about how well her friends knew her to earn clues about the surprise.
The surprise was matching pajamas for all the girls! Elisabeth didn't ask for much for her party, so it was fun for me to spoil the girls a bit.
After the quiz, it was time for birthday cake. Elisabeth chose my all time favorite cake for her party. I was more than happy to get it for her.
After cake the girls played ghosts in the graveyard in the backyard.
There were lots of screams.
Then they came back and changed for bed.
It's such a blessing that Elisabeth has such a wonderful core group of friends who encourage and spur her on.
It's not a sleepover without a movie! Elisabeth chose Ice Princess as her pick for the night.
Then the girls stayed up even later chatting and playing games. I finally told them they had to go to sleep at 1:00am.
They were up early the next morning ready to play.
They enjoyed donuts for breakfast and then played some board games until it was time for the girls to go home.
Overall, it was an exhaustingly, wonderful sleepover full of sweet memories.
