Kicking Off The School Year - 7th and 5th

Wow. It is so crazy to be typing those grades levels! How did my kiddos get so big!? I know I say that every year...but seriously.

The older I get the more I find life just does not like to go according to my well-thought-out plans. That is the case again this school year. I know that we are making the best choices we can and God is going to bless whatever way our kiddos are going to learn this year. 

SO, that being said, this year, Lorelei will be back at GCA. I'm anxious to see what middle school looks like now that it is not a Covid year. I'm praying it will be much smoother than last year but I also just do not know what to expect. We are working on figuring out the healthy way to balance the expected emailing of teachers and my desire for her to be on the computer the least amount possible. This is probably what I am most anxious about this year. When talking to Lorelei earlier this summer, she mentioned GCA is one of her favorite places. This makes me smile and also motivates me to push through my frustrations with some of the expectations I don't love for middle school. She is nothing but excited for 7th grade and has quite a few new classmates this year.

Makin will be homeschooled this year. This is basically what we did last year, only this year it is much more intentional! He liked the flexibility it provided for him last year, and while he liked going to GCA, he doesn't really have any classmates there anymore that would motivate him to go. While I sure did love having a couple of days to myself, I am also ok with him choosing to be home for many reasons. I do hope that by high school he would like to go back, but he says it is way too early to decide on that yet. ;) This mom is trying to be ok not knowing what the future will bring! We are excited to do some novel studies for reading, dive into some interesting history of our choosing, and a few different things we tweaked this year.

Another hope I have for this year is to fit in more Fun Fridays/Field Trip Fridays. It has gotten harder and harder as they have gotten older, but I know it'll be even more difficult in future years, so I better do my best while we can! This likely means Lorelei may have to do some school work Saturdays so we will see how it goes.

Now of course, picture time!

Summer Fun - Ant Farm, Urban Air, Solar Oven, Lake Time, Pool Time, The Cove, The Falls

 Ant Farm

This mom is a sucker for some hands-on learning, even in the summer! So, when they asked about an ant farm, I couldn't resist!

Urban Air

Most weeks we try to fit in one special summer activity, and then keep the rest of the week with free fun, with an attempted balance at to-dos. :) One request was Urban Air. They had a great time!

Solar Oven

Ice cream cone s'mores for the win!

Lake Time

While we don't fit this in as much as I would like, I sure enjoy it when we do! We snuck in a nice early morning trip to the lake before the crowds got there. :)

Another morning we made it to the lake (and the zipline park) with the Scotts.

We snuck in a family lake visit before Brad went to work one morning. The kids decided to make drip castles.

Pool

Sheaden and Christi joined us for the pool throughout the summer. Lexi also joined us for pool time some days.

The Cove

This was another special request for this summer. This recently opened up near us and we enjoyed going with the Scott's one day. We bought a 30 day pass so plan to head back a few more times!

Turner Falls

We headed back to enjoy the falls with the Scotts on our last day of summer vacation. 

These pictures are from one of the falls areas. We also went to a second area that has a slide and a diving board going into a natural pond. I was in the water most of the time so it is harder to get pics! :)

We had a great day!

Summer Fun - Weekend trip to Oklahoma, Lor's Week at the Farm, OKC Meet Up

Lorelei SO looks forward to a chance to stay at Nana and Papa's place over the summer. Makin decided again this year that he would rather stay home, so Lorelei sure soaks up having that 1-1 attention and fun all to herself! Thanks again for having her Nana and Papa!

We drove her all the way this time, so it was a family weekend visit.

Lorelei had many adventures while she was there and her highlights were: lots of reading time, Papa's farm tour, swimming, driving, and visiting with Uncle AJ and Aunt Heather.

Yahtzee Queen!

Meanwhile, we decided this week should be somewhat of a treat for me and I did minimal cooking! Woo hoo! I also fit in some more downtime for reading. :)

Brad's request for the week was eating pizza while watching a movie. :)

Heather took Friday off and she, Mom and Lorelei had a fun day exploring. They also enjoyed getting back out for some fun Saturday morning.

Amazing glass displays at an art museum!

We had planned on a full Saturday meet-up in OKC with Heather, but Brad, Makin and I caught some kind of virus around the end of the week. The boys stayed home to rest and I went to pick up Lorelei and did my best not to spread any germs. We enjoyed a yummy lunch out and a short visit before Lorelei and I made the drive home.

Spicy Mac N Cheese On A Burger. Yum.