For snack on our first day, we were supposed to have a red, white and blue snack. I've never made a fruit flag cake, so this seemed like the perfect "excuse."

Ryan frosted the cake with white icing.

Allison did all the blueberry "stars." I don't think we had 50. We lost count.

Turner helped slice the strawberries and line them up as the red stripes.

It was SOOO Yummy!! We'll be doing this again. And it was so fun to all work together! By the way, the boys' cuuriculum is mostly American History, this year. Can you tell?

First day - Math

Both boys workin on their math work in the morning sunlight.

Turner, thinking hard!

Ryan, figuring out the right answer!

K-1st Grade

Ryan started school on August 15th, too. According to the state law, he's old enough for Kindergarten this year. He did First grade work with Turner last year, with very little problems, so this year he's doing some Second grade work. He's not doing spelling, yet, and he doesn't do as much writing as Turner. He's doing great!

School started Aug 15

Turner's first day of Second Grade was August 15th.. Wow... that means this is our third year to homeschool, already. Where has the time gone? And no, I don't have it figured out, yet!!

Sat down this morning to do some Bible study, and when I found the page I also found a Lego light saber! May God's force be with me today!

Books I've been reading

Hi... remember me?

This is just a note to share the books I've been reading, lately. A couple of years ago, I read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.I loved the book, and at the time found some more books by her at a yard sale. Those books have been sitting on my shelf until right after Christmas. I finally picked up the first one, and I couldn't put it back down! The books are a series, called Mark of the Lion. The first book is A Voice in the Wind.It was a little hard for me to get into the book. There is a lot (LOT) of character development in the beginning, and there are a lot of characters. But once I was into it, I really couldn't put it down. I jumped right into the second book, An Echo in the Darkness, the same night I finished the first.I cried my eyes out during the second book. It was so uplifting, spiritually and emotionally! The second book was SO SO good, that I waited almost a month to read the third book, As Sure As the Dawn. It was also very good, but the second book is, by far, my favorite!

A couple of weeks ago, at the Library, I found another series by Francine Rivers, The Sons of Encouragement, and I picked up one of the novellas. The Priest.

I am in the middle of this book, right now. And it's all I want to do. I'm also doing a Bible study, loosely based on the Moses leading his people through the wilderness, so I'm really loving that it all ties in together! I told Andy, I've never been so excited to read an Old Testament story!!

Works for me, Wednesday (on a Thursday)

I love reading other blogs with the heading "Works for Me Wednesday". They are usually full of creative ideas for all sorts of things. So, today I'm doing one - on a Thursday!

---

We struggle with too many cups for the dishwasher at the end of the day. It seems my kids have to get a new cup for every drink. The table is always full of cups. Plus, for the most part, they eat dry cereal in cups for breakfast (I have no idea why). So, I've instituted a new one-cup (for drinks)-a-day policy. I took some rubber bands and put their initials on them. Well, the rubber bands were all beige. And the initials were very small. So, yesterday I rethought the idea. I figured I needed to go to an office supply store anyway, so I'd pick up some colored rubber bands, and they would each pick a color. Then it hit me. We have colored rubber bands ALL OVER our house. They're called Silly Bandz!!! (or the generic equivalent) So, now, they place their favorite silly band on their cup in the morning, and hopefully by dinner, they're using the same cup. I'm not expecting miracles, but I've already noticed a lot less cups in the sink!!