September Birthdays and The First Day of School

September is here and brought with it some of my favorite days. My Mom, my sister Missi, our sister Chelsea, YoonJu, Heidi, my nephew Louie, and my boyfriend (I mean husband) were all born in September. I'm pretty sure it's the greatest month ever besides February. We started September out in Florida and got to celebrate Missi turning one year younger than me. Yep, she's still younger than me - or so she reminds me every year.

We got to give Mom a call and wish her a Happy Birthday together on our sister Birthday date as well!

Two days after we got home from Florida we started school.

 CJ started 5th grade.

Cassi started 1st grade.

Capri started her first year of pre-school.

Thankfully we had a wonderful first day of school and we are feeling empowered to have an awesome school year with having such a great start this month!

The same day we started school, Aunt Lalia came to visit!

 She even gave CJ a violin lesson, and serenaded us a few times. A few days later she auditioned for the Battle Creek symphony and earned a spot in the symphony!

 Only a couple of days after Li left we all got to celebrate Chelsea's Birthday!

The same night that we celebrated Aunt Chelsea, Aunt Missi and her family arrived due to Hurricane Irma. Unfortunately, they were right in Irma's path and had to evacuate. But fortunately for us, their first stop was Ohio!

We had a blast having some of our Florida cousins with us and it was so cool to see the kids bond after having already spent a week together in Florida.

Our first day of co-op started while Missi was with us. I'm teaching a history class for the 1st-2nd graders, as well as a character development class for the high schoolers. Both classes are awesome! Here are some of my 1st graders learning about mummies in my history class:

Missi and her family joined us at co-op and then enjoyed an awesome late afternoon and evening outside with us.

Seeing Crew and Cecily together was especially cute. Crew was only a couple of months old when Cecily was born, and he was actually there with Missi in the birthing room the day Cecily was born. It will be fun to see them bond as they grow older!

My little nephew turned 1 while Missi and Marissa were evacuated. I can't believe little Louie is already 1!! Isn't he perfectly adorable? 

Missi's family stayed for two nights and then drove up to Michigan to visit the rest of the family. I had already planned to be up in Michigan that weekend for a race in Lansing. I had bought Chris and his Dad Michigan tickets for Chris's Birthday, so they were in Ann Arbor, while the kids and I were at Mom's. The cousins were yet again all together again and loving it, except well, maybe Crew! Haha!

I stopped at Papa's gravesite on my way to Mom's. Everything is still so fresh so it was hard to yet again face the fact that he's really gone. I still dream about him and wake up thinking he will be there. I still keep his old shirt, and I still cry when I think about him. It's so hard to be left behind. I know Nani, Aunt Debbie, and Dad feel it even more keenly and I can't imagine how painful it is for them. Papa was so well loved.

Mom's house was full, so the kids stayed at Aunt Vicka's and Uncle GJ's while Li and I drove down to Lansing to spend the night with a friend the night before the race.

 Capri adores her Aunt Vicka and loves it when Vicka serves her tea.

The race started at the Capitol, which was pretty cool. My friend, Lauren, ran the race with her 9 month old son while the rest of us ladies ran solo.

This was Li's first race and she did awesome!

Li ran a 5K and I ran a half marathon. No big deal.

Work is in full swing again and here I am with my team outside of the Lucas County Youth Treatment Center where we ran a Film Camp at the beginning of last month. This photo is from this past week when we went back to reconnect with all of the kids we worked with. I love my job and my team!

And now, finally, you're all caught up with our life. This weekend we celebrated Chris--the love of my life; the man I do not deserve and loves me more every day. His Birthday is really my absolute favorite day because it's the day he was born. I don't know how I could've done life without him. He inspires me, empowers me, befriends me, loves me, respects me, encourages me, teaches me, and pretty much builds, fixes, or creates anything I ask him to. And as of tomorrow morning, he will be as old as me and for a good five months I won't feel so old. Ha!

Chris's Birthday weekend has been perfect so far. It began with a day off of work (because our bosses are the coolest). Chris prepared ribs for dinner and bought us a paddle boat. We had Chris's parents over for dinner for the rib cookout, followed by the rest of the family coming over with presents, cake, and fellowship.

Saturday was mowing day and then we dropped the kids off at Chris's parents, finished up the mowing, floated in the pond, and then had a perfect date. We went to a renowned burger joint and then followed it up with dessert at a nicer restaurant where we listened to live music and watched the Michigan game.

Sunday after church we spent the whole afternoon in the pond with our paddle boat and rafts.

Chris picked out our family movie - Aladdin (his favorite Disney animated film), and I watched the sunset on the front porch while I went through these pictures to post. Tomorrow Chris turns 35 and I have a few surprises for him yet up my sleeve that I can't post here. :-) Along with Chris, my sister-in-law's YoonJu and Heidi also have their Birthdays, making September one of our biggest Birthday months in the family!

September has been a good month full of more summer fun, lots of learning, and even more family fun. September will close with CJ's first performances as young Simba in the community theatre's Lion King Jr.  and quickly followed up by more family in town the first two weeks of October. Life's adventures never slow down over here, but at least when we take the time to float in our pond everything seems to stand still in that moment. 

Hope your summer has been great and the school year has started off with the excitement of Fall in the air!

First Day of School

This post comes to you in the midst of calm. There is definitely adventure on the horizon with an accepted offer on a house (we bought a foreclosed farmhouse on five acres...more on that later), but for the past two weeks, everything has slowed way down and I feel like I can breathe again. A welcome change after the crunch of the past couple of months. In the past two weeks no one has gotten sick, I had no looming exams, no trips, nothing but a bit of a tornado scare last night. This is the perfect way to start a new school year. Refreshed, at ease, and ready to tackle what lies ahead.

My kids could not wait to start school. I had planned on starting late but since they begged, we had a practice run yesterday, and our first official day started today. CJ started 4th grade and Cassi started kindergarten. They both couldn't be more excited.

I can honestly say I still love homeschooling and all that comes with it. Getting to stay at home with my children to not only take care of them, but also teach them--making sure these two get one-on-one instruction from someone who cares more about them than anyone else possibly could, is a privilege I don't take lightly. We started our school year as we will do every school day after--with lots of prayers. We know there will be a lot of bumps along the road, but being together and working through those bumps will be the even greater lessons than our actual academic work.

Here's to school year 2016-2017--God bless!

Holy Week

With how sick we were the week leading up to and for weeks after Christmas, we did not get to do half of those holiday activities I had planned. Thankfully, we have been healthy this week leading up to Easter, so we've been able to hit on a few activities this week. 

First up, The Easter Story Wreath (see here for instructions and printouts). 

Our second project for the week was to paint clay pots. We filled them with candy and brought one (plus, kept one) to a friend that we met up with for a playdate. A cuter idea for painting clay pots can be found here.

The third project was a joint effort with friends. We colored hot Easter eggs with crayons so that the wax would melt onto the egg, forming a type of paint. This did not work out so well with the younger children. I should have waited till the eggs were not as hot! For instructions, click here. 

For our fourth project, our friend brought over the supplies to make Empty Tomb Rolls to make after we colored the eggs. This was a tasty and effective visual for the children to learn the Easter story. For the recipe, click here. 

We were able to attend our church's Maunday Thursday service, which included a foot washing ceremony. This visual really helped to drive home the importance of The Last Supper and the magnitude of how powerful these events really are. CJ was old enough to appreciate it all and has been making the most precious comments about all of the festivities. 

Good Friday was very somber. CJ particularly understood what Good Friday meant and he was very sad. To cheer us up before the church ceremony we had planned to attend that night, we invited the extended family over to come color Easter eggs with us to complete our fifth project for the week. 

The Good Friday service was very moving. The Scripture readers read with such passion, and the candle light and silence throughout the service gave each of us a chance to really think about that dreadful day so many years ago. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. 

But now we anticipate the best day of the year. The day that Jesus triumphs. The day that we see prophesy fulfilled at it's best. The day that promises us eternal life and hope and forgiveness. He will rise from the dead, He will save us from our sins, He is the Spotless Lamb! 

So to celebrate this anticipation, we made little Spring Nests out of Rice Krispie treats and Cadbury Mini Eggs for our sixth and final holiday project for the week to represent new life. We enjoyed getting our hands sticky and creating our little nests and we can't wait to eat them tomorrow for Resurrection Sunday! For the recipe, click here. 

Wishing you all a blessed Easter filled with love, forgiveness, hope, joy, and gratefulness!