Tag Archives: Leah

First Day of School of our 10th Year

I promise it wasn’t this week!! It was September 5th. Even though we homeschool I still have a “first day” of school each year. It’s the day we start new curriculum and it usually comes after some sort of break. This year we took the whole month of August off. Next year I’m aiming for most of the summer!

Samantha is in the 7th grade and 12 years old.

Matthew is 9 years old and in the 4th grade.

Alex is 6 years old and in the 1st grade.

Hannah is 4 years old and is in Preschool.

Hannah likes to pose – had to include it!

Leah is 2 years old and only sits at the table when she chooses. Except for Bible first thing. Then she has to sit there. She complains about it though!

All of them getting ready for our first lesson of our new year -our 10th year of homeschooling!

On a side note, we have always sat wherever at the table. This year I have 2 little girls that were causing some issues, so now everyone has assigned seats for school and for meals – the ones you see them sitting in are not their current spots! I had to put Hannah closer to me.

Big Helpers

Hannah is 3 1/2* and Leah is almost 2*. They are big helpers all the time!! I’m sometimes surprised at what they are capable of doing. They love to help anyone, anytime. Sometimes we don’t want their help…so I really try to make sure that I find “jobs” for them that are age-appropriate.

One thing they can do is take the clothes out of the dryer and put them in a laundry basket. And then drag/push the basket to my bedroom which is where I fold the laundry.

What do your little ones do to help out around the house?

*I wrote this post in Feb 2010. I don’t know why it’s still in my drafts. Hannah is now 4 and Leah is 2 1/2. Besides these jobs, Hannah now also empties the bathroom trash cans, and picks up her own bedroom, puts away her clean clothes, as well as helping whenever I ask it of her. Leah likes to help with anything also – especially cooking. That girl loves to eat!

38th Birthday Bash

That would be me. Thirty-eight. It’s so close to FORTY! This happened in August so I’ve come to terms with it now, but at first I just could not fathom that I, me, Melissa, was in her late 30′s!

Roy was in the field at the time, so I had some friends and their children over and we had a lovely afternoon/evening. My friend Beth arranged for a lady to come and give us all pedicures. We drank wine, played games, had a yummy Mexican feast, and then ate The Best Cake Ever. I’m so thankful for the friends I’ve made here! They spoiled me rotten.

I did make my own cake. But my children wanted to help. I only got a picture of Leah!

And here is a very blurry picture of me before I blow out all 38 candles!

Where are the Shoes?

Each Saturday morning Samantha and Matthew head down to a neighbor’s house to pick up dog poo and mow the lawn. I was still in bed trying to get a little more sleep but listening to them getting ready. Usually when Sam is going outside, like to the mailbox or something, she’ll take Leah with her. But Leah can’t go with them to mow the lawn!

So Leah, who turned 2 in March, comes in and tells me, “Sam…not…shoes….me.” She was very upset. I said, “I know, baby, you can’t go with her this time.”

She stormed out of my room and I could hear her “getting after” Samantha for not letting her go. It was so funny. I love listening to Leah talk. Her language is very clear and purposeful. She pauses a lot in between her words and that does make it easier to understand her. I told her last night that if I had known how much joy she’d be bringing to my life, I would have named her Joy!

A School Day Peek

This was one day last week. Just a little peek into our mornings. Matthew, Alexander, and Hannah sit with me at the dining table.

Matthew is writing a report on the sun.

I don’t let him ask me how to spell things. I just want him to write. Write whatever!

Alex was reading a Bob Book.

I think he was frustrated with me right here. LOL

Hannah has lots of fun things to do. Here she is practicing writing. Some of her worksheets are printouts that I have laminated. Then she uses a dry erase marker so she can do them over again in the future.