Cake Decorating

Elizabeth took her last fondant class on Monday. I love the fall colors she used for the cake. It was even full of spicy fall flavors. Delicious and beautiful!

Summer Leading into Schooltime

We've had a full summer. 

Camps, travels, school planning, birthdays, outings with friends, breathing time, boredom.

I don't know if the kids are, but I'm ready to start school.

Of course, are kids ever ready to start school? I still have Harrison on my side; he's excited. 

The youth group had a Marvel-themed lock-in last Friday. Elizabeth made a subtle Black Widow costume. She won the prize gift card. 

She had a lot of fun making it (and she let me do her makeup!).

Liz is also taking another cake decorating class this year; it's all about fondant.

 Her roses look pretty real.

We had our first week of school this past week. This year I did my best to "cut back until there is peace". This has to happen in the planning stage for me. I'm not sure I could drop a book that I scheduled for the year. I've never done it. Maybe I should try it one day, just to prove to myself that I can. Anyway, I have a hard time letting go of all the good books that are suggested for each child's grade. But I'm realizing that there's absolutely no way to get through all the books this world has to offer ~ not even all the really good ones. And the more we have scheduled for school, the less all that good stuff sticks in their minds. They're always rushing to get the next thing done and don't have time to stop and mull over what they are on. This is not the way a living education works. 

So I took out a couple books from all of their plans and chose a couple of easier ones to replace some hard ones. I also planned for more time on math and grammar, but decided to alternate some subjects instead of do all of them all year long. Some subjects we'll alternate yearly and some we'll alternate by term. I feel like I might get good at this by the time Harrison is ready for high school. 

He's in Kindergarten this year. My baby. The last year to read Winnie the Pooh to my children. I might read it over the summer sometime anyway. The kids all like to come sit in while I'm reading to him. Winnie the Pooh is fun at any age.

Having school definitely helps the kids enjoy each other more. It also gets their creative juices flowing. They spend more time doing stuff they "have" to do (mostly on their own or with me) during the morning/after lunch, so then in the afternoon and evening, they enjoy one another's company again. Summertime brings out the opposite! And then they also seem to be rejuvenated in the afternoons and weekends to try all sorts of new things: drawing, sculpting, planting, card games.... That makes me happy.

Jonathan's 11th Birthday

Jonathan had a couple of friends over for his birthday this year. 

Elizabeth made Minecraft Diamond Cupcakes at his request.

He wanted to do the ropes course at Natural Bridge Caverns for his chosen birthday activity. This is the third time he's done it. Uncle John and Aunt Kristy started him on to something, I do believe, when they took us the first time!

It's four stories high. But you're harnessed in, and once you get used to it, the heights aren't bad. I saw a girl loose her footing on a rope and the harness caught her just fine.

There they are: Jonathan, Wyatt and Westley.

And what do you know ~ Legos for his birthday. It's like somebody knows him.

Another fun item that continues to entertain the kids.

This isn't from the birthday but from a day we had some fun roller skating.

Alisa and Emily.

Jonathan and William.

Phoebe.

Elizabeth refuses to let me post pictures of her.