Agent L lost his FIRST tooth!

I know it's been said over and over "I can't believe he's this old".  But for real!  When did my baby Agent L get to be old enough to loose his tooth?  By the looks of things there will be another one to follow shortly.

Agent L at five years 1.31.14

Feeling Loved

I think someone (ahem, Agent H) slipped out of their bed to sneak this onto our pillow one night last week after we had gone down to watch a movie.  Yes, that says we rook (AKA: rock).  I love how he taped 50 cents to it and wrote "one for each of you". Feeling loved.

Welcoming Papa Home

Papa is home!  Not from some long trip, just home from a day at the office.  He is loved.

Service Projects

Agent H's curriculum inspired us to seek out service projects this year.  We have found a couple of ways to pursue this . . .

1.) Head to church and help out with organizational projects in the children's area
2.) Make a list of people to pray for
3.) Make a batch of bars to put in the freezer at church to be used for those in need
4.) Send an encouraging card to someone

I have a few other ideas in mind:

An idea I picked up from a friend is this one about writing letters to those who have been jailed for their faith in other countries through Prisoner Alert.

And then there's working with these local missionaries and friends at cru.

I can't believe we haven't made it to Feed My Starving Children yet this year, going to need to make that happen.

Project Life - Week 8

This week's photo assignment was "everyday adventure".

I'm a homebody to the core and thankfully my kids don't seem to mind so most of our adventures take place at home in the simple things.  Here is an everyday kind of occurrence.  Agent L was happy to have his big brother (Agent H) join him for a few minutes of playing cars and dog-fighting airplanes.  Agent E (the knight/Union soldier in the background) was doing his math.  Have I blogged about how much we love our math program this year?  I could write them a love letter for how they have transformed math time at our house.  Thank you Teaching Textbooks!

This was Agent L's spot in the boys' room.  Since he moved over with Shortcake to share a room I wanted to capture a quick photo of him and the ABC train he worked so hard on last year.  It was hard to snap a shot in-between all his ninja moves!

Project Life - Week 7

It all started with Math.  Agent E likes a little head massage while he's thinking through his multiplication tables, so I obliged him.  Shortcake wanted to show some love too so she found Agent H's head while he studied his AWANA lesson.  She has such gentle hands.  And then Agent H returned the loving act.  I love how Shortcake's eyes are closed and she is just resting in his tender hands.

Valentine's 2014

A belated Valentine's Day from all of us!

Shortcake's valentines were created/printed on our computer and then stamped with the bear to be colored by her.  It's cute how she mainly just colored the feet of the bears.  Agent L's came from Simple Living Mama.  They were a free printable color-by-number.  I shrunk them so I could fit four to a piece of card stock.  Agent E's we found as a free printable at Over the Big Moon blog.  I'll warn you that they are in pink over there but we were out of color ink (again) so we just printed them in black and white and they were fine.  He actually doodled his own Mine craft pictures on a lot of them but then he had 44 to make for our co-op Valentine's party so he started just putting smiley faces on them.  Agent H spent a ton of time cutting and pasting his together.  Around number 40 of 44 he said "Mom, why didn't we just print these out on green paper?"  Yah, that would have been smart kiddo.

Valentine's day came on a Friday night which is our regular pizza and a movie night so we ordered heart shaped pizzas from Jets, drank sparkling juice, watched How They Do It on Netflix, and wrapped the fun up with a scavenger hunt and some chocolate.

Ski Trip 2014

Here's some more on that ski trip!  Most of these pictures were hijacked from Facebook, thanks ladies!

Last year, was my first year to tag along on this luxury ski trip for women planned by my SIL (EH's sister).  I love that woman!  Somehow she creates luxury out of an economy budget.  

Favorite Memories:

Piling on our bed in the loft and reading in the sunlight

Eating fabulous food that was prepared for us, no cooking for three days!

Having your eyelashes grow little ice crystals on them

Chocolate covered berries

Conversations with ladies I know and now know

Finishing an entire book (it was short)

Chair massage by the fireplace

Homeschool encouragement from some vets and my friend K

There's a certain vision in my head of a place we skied by (sunlight streaming through the trees, surrounded by forest and meadow kind of vision)

I came home with a bruise the size of my son's foot and I fell more times than I'd like to admit, but I did successfully plank a few hills and I skied about 7-8 miles.  Thanks to Christmas gifts I now own my own skis and snow pants.  Here's to hoping for more practice between now and next year's trip.

Project Life - Week 6

The assignment this week was "Special".

 This week's photo is me and one of my bosom friends on a recent ski trip. Yes I just said bosom friend. Thank you Anne of Green Gables (or rather L.M. Montgomery) for coining that phrase.

Mom, I Love You in . . .

I left off washing the kitchen floor when Agent L came in from outside and showed me Shortcake's winter boot.  Meaning it's 13 degrees and she's outside without foot cover and her foot is probably covered in snow.  Brrr!  I bundled up quick and waded my way through last night's 12 inches of snow to the backyard.  Norah was reclining on the plain of snow, Agent H was holding her foot above the snow with his own hat wrapped around it. Bless his heart. Her sock was drenched.  I wish I had thought to bring extra socks.  Back into the house I trudge.  Two layers of dry socks and a boot back in place and mission accomplished.  The boys have named their rescue team B'nF Rescue (Backyard and Frontyard Rescue).  I love their imaginations and the thrill they get at helping others.  When all was said and done Agent L looked at me with sparkly eyes and said "Mom, I love you in your snow pants".  Never mind the below freezing temps, my heart melted . . . again.

Flowers in my Heart?

Shortcake has been overhearing her older brother, Agent L, lamenting "My heart is broken!" when he doesn't get his way in life (I'm talking toys, bigger snack, etc). So tonight she tried out the same words. I looked at her and said "No honey, your heart is beautiful". She thought about it for a little bit and asked "There flowers in my heart?" "Yes honey, there are flowers in your heart."