Homeschool Field Trip: Fire Station

Monday was the first field trip we attended with the local homeschool group. We went to the fire station in Douglas for a tour and the kids loved it!

Lindsey, Brian, Caleb, and Jacob gave Bo a fireman's suit for his birthday, so it was perfect for this field trip!

Listening closely and looking at the tools the firemen carry on the truck.

The group...Bo and Arabelle are on the left end.

The fireman put on all his gear and they were really making a point that kids shouldn't be scared of the firemen. Apparently a lot of kids will hide from the firemen when they are trying to get them out of a fire. :(

Anyway, Arabelle got scared when he put the mask on and ran to me, but when they gave the kids a chance to touch the fire suit and helmet, Bo walked up to him and hit him right in the head, you know, to test how hard his helmet was. haha!

Fire girl!

 Spraying the water! This was Bo's favorite part.

Watching the fireman climb to the top of the ladder.

We had a great time and learned a lot! We already had a family meeting spot in case of fire, but it was good for them to review what to do in case of a fire. 

Arabelle and Bo's Birthday Party, 2013

It's that time again! Bo is 3 and Arabelle is (almost) 5!

This is the 3rd year we've combined their birthday parties and have always had a blast! We are so thankful for all our family and friends who came to help celebrate Arabelle and Bo!

The kids were up early and ready to head outside to set up. We went out around 9 and they were SO excited. They helped fill up the pools and played happily.

Pre-party wagon ride from Papaw.

Jacob is 9 months old and is SO happy and smiley!

First slides!

Bo was pretty tired by food time. He hug out with Sambo and ate fruit over the fence, then Sambo fed him pizza while he was swinging. Every time he's been on the swing since Saturday, he tells me that Sambo fed him pizza on the swing. He really thought that was funny!

Picnic lunch: Pizza, fruit, and veggies!

Bo's side of the cake was Batman and Arabelle's side was Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.

Talking to Grandpa and eating cake.

Gift time! The kids have played and played with all their new things.

 Arabelle got a lot of princess dolls and toys. :)

After party wrestling.

As Bo would say, "Silly Daddy!".

Papaw and Mama brought out their gifts.....

New bikes!!!

 Our next project....learning to ride without training wheels!

They brought the slide on Friday afternoon and didn't pick it up until late Monday afternoon, so they had 4 days of sliding!

Homeschooling Week 3

We did do a full week of school last week, the 3rd week of officially homeschooling, but I can barely remember what we did, so here's the pictures. haha! 

Fun at the park on Wednesday morning:

Mae had a good nap while Arabelle played. 

Keeping Bo busy on Thursday morning.

Hard at work Friday morning:

I do remember what we did for science on Friday at least. We talked about metamorphosis, which she already knew a bit about from our tadpoles earlier this year. I picked up The Very Hungry Caterpillar from the library and Arabelle painted a caterpillar using marshmallows (and she just had to eat some!) and drew pictures of the food that the caterpillar ate in the book.

The finished product! 

We also made a butterfly using paint. She dropped it on the paper in a V shape, then she folded and rubbed the paper. When she unfolded it, there was the butterfly!

Talking about Metamorphosis and the transformation that tadpoles and caterpillars experience led us to talking about how our lives can be transformed by Christ....that what I've really LOVED about homeschooling. One school lesson can lead us to something else and that leads us to something else and I love seeing how Arabelle's mind works and the connections she makes between things.

In week 3, we also did the following:

• Letter S and blending with -am. Played word games with -am words and now she can read them....ham, jam, Sam, ram, etc.
• Her Bible verse was Genesis 1:3 and we read the creation story in the Bible. We're working on a creation craft that will finish up this week!
• The number 2
• The book of the week was Froggy Went a Courtin', and we talked about weddings and looked at our wedding photo album. She really loved that and said I looked like a princess! :)

I feel like we did more than that, but with all the birthday partying going on, I've forgotten! 

Bo's 3 Year Check-up

Bo had his 3 year check up at the pediatrician on Thursday of last week. I couldn't remember if they get shots at the 3 yr well check or not, but lucky for Bo, there were none!

His appt. was at 10:30 and we didn't see the Dr. until around 11:45, so it was a LONG hour in that little room! We played all kinds of games, like I-Spy, Simon Says, etc., but I finally gave up on trying to keep Bo quiet in hopes that they'd hurry up!

He is growing well! He measures 38 1/4 inches and weighed 32.6 lbs. Both of those measurements fall between the 50th and 75th percentile. For comparison, Arabelle was 40 3/4 inches (SUPER TALL!) and 33.5 lbs at 3 years old. 

Getting a little wild:

We survived and are happy to hear that Bo is healthy as can be. I was also SO thankful that Mrs. Lynn, our Pastor's wife, watched Mae at our house for me. That made it so much easier! 

3 month comparisons

You know I love to pull up older pictures and compare to current ones. Now I'm comparing Mae's 3 mo. pictures to Arabelle and Bo!

So many people say that Mae favors Bo, but I just don't see it. I think she really favors Arabelle more!

Arabelle on the left, Bo on the top, and Mae on the bottom

Arabelle, Bo, Mae

Bo's Big Day

August 20th is a big day around here....Bo's birthday! I can't believe he is three years old!

Monday, he had his birthday party at school. Think he was excited??

Arabelle wore her Batman shirt to match Bo. :)

Just pickin' some boogers during story time.

Saying the blessing:

Cupcake time!!!

His last time going to bed as a 2 year old! These PJs are way too small (size 24 months!), but Bo says they still fit and when they get too small, Mae can wear them. 

Jared made Bo some yummy chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast! 

When Arabelle woke up, he opened his birthday present! 

 I wish we would have made a video of it because he was SO happy! He got a little set of construction equipment. I'm not sure he has put the backhoe down since he got it. :)

We played and played all day (and sang Happy Birthday a thousand times!), then Jared brought home pizza for supper. Bo asked for pizza and fried okra, so that's what he had! Mamaw and Papaw came for supper and to celebrate Bo too!

Decorating his cupcake:

 Arabelle was happy to celebrate too!

For some reason, he only wanted 2 candles this time.

I did a little interview and asked Bo about some of his favorite things at 3 years old:

It was a fun day to celebrate our sweet and energetic Bo! 

*Here's Arabelle's 3rd Birthday