In Christ Alone our Hope is Found

The first day of Gems and Cadets. Siah is excited that he gets to go as well. It's a short walk across the street! (:  Grace is saying, "Faster Siah, faster!!!" It was funny, but boy can hardly hold her up.  (: This is what happens when you have a big rider and a small horse!(:  We went to Art Prize. It's a highlight of our year in Grand Rapids. The kids were THRILLED about a bus ride downtown! Here are Grace and Siah waiting for the bus. That is Natalie's excited, but trying to hold it in face! (: This was so cool. It was a room of 3D boxes. Micah has stuck his head in one side and I took a pic from the other. They were very well done! I love this one like crazy! Ken stuck his head in really far and it made for a cool picture! (: In front of the Gerald Ford Museum. (Josh was home doing homework) This is weird, but it appealed to my weird mind! (: Grand Rapids is so beautiful. I couldn't resist as few...

Labor Day is MY January 1. Since I started Kindergarten, I have lived on the school calendar. When I was done high school, I lived by Ken's university schedule. Then once Ken was done University and we got married, he started teaching. Now that he is done teaching, he has become a student. I suppose it's also because I have had kids that have been school age for 12 years too! (: September signals back to school, new routines, new habits and simply a fresh start. A fresh start to me is like smelling crayons in the box. Delightful! Did you just read that last sentence and say, "What?" I know, I am a little cray cray for crayons! (: We did a little school throughout the summer. I just wanted them to keep their core fresh. We have done about 30 lessons in math and reading.  It's a great head start that didn't take much effort and we have eliminated the days of trying to recapture what they forgot over the summer. I have always wanted to do it, but it just n...

We are home. We have been gone for 13 days. I think that is the longest we have been away from home. To be honest, it felt like much longer and that is a good thing. Thirteen days to be together as a family and almost completely logging off the computer and not answering the phone was a rest that we really did need. Walking into our house actually felt foreign yesterday afternoon. After a few hours of being home I realized I actually have to start doing 'work' - dishes, wash, thinking about school etc. SHOCKING. (O: We went on holidays with our Pennings family for a week and it was amazing.The place we stayed was crazy beautiful. Grace walked in and said that it was a gigantic house and that it was gorgeous. (Her two new words.) She also kept getting lost. She would keep asking me if I could help her find the big red door. We had the whole Inn to ourselves. Each family got 2 rooms. There was a pool and playground. We were right on the lake. There were horseshoes, shuffleb...