Our September

At the beginning of September we went out on a family date to Bernkastle to watch the fireworks along the Mosel river.  I have no pictures of this outing but it was a lot of fun.  We took out the back seat in our van and loaded it up with couch cushions and pillows and headed out to watch the fireworks as a surprise for the boys.  It was a fun family date.

We are anticipating the arrival of little Arya soon.  Any day now would be great.  My parents come in on Thursday and we are so excited to have a home filled with Family.  

On Thursday this last week I taught a CPR/First Aid/AED class for 8 hours with 9 people in it.  That wasn't planned.  It is not something I would pick to do at almost 9 months pregnant, but the occasion arose that at 8:40am I got a phone call saying the instructor had a family emergency and wouldn't be able to make it in and they needed someone to come in last minute....the class started at 9am in 20 minutes.......

 So I scrambles and found my good friend Jessica Jackson willing to take Bridger all day and pick up Gideon from school too.  She is an angel.  So I went and taught the class.

I am really grateful for these opportunities to volunteer in the community and get to know more people.  I LOVE to teach.  I think that is why I would love to keep teaching my children at home.  It is so fun!  

So that was a fun little venture that completely wore me out by the end of the day.

Gideon lost his 3rd tooth.  Well actually I pulled it out because it was sticking right out of his mouth and come to find out there was the big tooth already growing in.

Bridger had to have a mouth picture too.  Isn't he so charming :)

Bridger, our wonder boy.....

Our silly boys and their ideas of going on adventures in the bushes

A video of some fun in September

Personalize a picture slideshow

Daddy got promoted up to a Senior Airmen.  Way to Go babe!!!!..... 2 years down, 4 to go :)

The boys loved going and 'Attacking' daddy for his promotion.  That is the tradition with each Airman but who get's to have 2 of the cutest boys to punch you in the arm.  Joseph is a Lucky guy :)

Joseph also got a new job.  He is still working in the Armory but now he is the second "go to" man.  He works Monday through Friday from 7:30-5:00 and he gets to come home for lunch.  He is in charge of supervising over other armors and makes sure things run smoothly.  He also trains new armors and so far it has been good.  Joseph actually went to church for a second Sunday in a row.....this is the first time in...YEARS.  We are grateful for this new opportunity and we are hoping it goes well for our family.  He even gets to sit down and eat breakfast with us too!!  Love it! 

Gideon loves school and his teacher Mrs. McGrath.  This makes me so happy.  He is having amazing experiences and I feel he is prepared for it.  First off, check out these.  3 weeks in a row 102% on his spelling tests.  Way to Go Gideon!!!

Now some of the experiences he has been having......

This amazing boy of mine prays on his lunch at school.  kids look at him weird and kids even bump him and ask, "what's wrong?"  He just waits till he is finished and then he replies.  I am praying.

  The other day one of his new friends who he likes asked him, "Why do you pray when there isn't a God anyway?"  Gideon just replied  "there is a God".  So even when people tell him not to believe, He still does.  The feeling this gives me as a mother is truly unique and beautiful.  Thank you Gideon for standing up to what you believe.  I love you for it!  He came home and we talked about it and then we talked about how it is sad but OK that Devin believes that there is no God because we come to this world to choose what we want to believe in and that is a glorious gift we have been given to live in a country where we CAN live in harmony one with another while still believing in different things.

The other example was that his friend Devin had a Birthday party and Gideon was so Excited to get an invitation.  We opened it as soon as we got home and as I read it out loud and read the date, "Sunday" on it he looks at me and says, "nope, I can't go, that is on Sunday and I don't do things like that on Sunday."  Again, my heart is filled with Joy when I look at this young boy who is bright and mature beyond his days.  Thank you Gideon for being an example to me for Truth and righteousness.

I was so worried about my morning routine at the beginning of the school year, which I would really like my boys to check off their whole list in the mornings but in reality it hasn't been happening but one things has.  Family Devotional and Prayer.  We put that at priority.  While we eat Breakfast I read aloud from the Friend magazine and we talk about what we read and then we pray together asking for the lord to be with each of us that day.  This has given me the peace I need to be a mom and send my boy on his own.  We start the day out right.

Bridger is loving Pre-School.  WE do a swap with some other friends of ours and I pack him his own lunch and he gets 'dropped off' at school from 10-12 twice a week and he loves it.  He is starting to draw more objects instead of scribbles on the paper which is great.  He drew some 'scary' spiders and webs that looked really good.  I love being able to spend time with this boy, one on one.  He is wonderful.

Can I just say I love being a mom.  Yes, I have rough days where literally I just want to break down and cry because it is so hard but the pro's far out way the cons and it brings me so much joy to be able to stay home and be with them.  I am truly blessed because I am able to do this.

I hope my next post is about our wonderful Arya Sophira Jones finally in our arms.  Till then.  Enjoy each day like it is your last :)

1st week of school

First day of school

getting in the car

waiting for the teachers to come and let the kids in

The line up pole.  All the kids line up in front of this pole before school and the teacher comes and gets them. 

with some new class mates

Mommy and Gideon.... I have a first grader.  Not sure how I feel about that.

Sitting in his classroom at his table

Mrs. McGrath's Classroom

They have a smart board up in front of the room where they do calendar, lunch menu and all sorts of activities.  It is pretty cool.  You can actually move things around on it with your hand.

Gideon had a good first week of school.  It is interesting to start seeing the changes in him.  He loves his class and teacher.  He got to be the table captain this last week for his job in his class.  That is where he got to be in charge of his table and make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing.

I am really looking forward to being involved with him this school year with volunteering my time with his class.  

When we pick him up from school we ask about his day and ask what made him feel happy and what he liked, what made him feel sad and what made him feel uncomfortable.  We have had talks since then that the word butt is not a bad word but a preference.  Some people choose to say it and that is OK and we choose to say bum or bottom because I like those better.  So far a couple of teachers have said them and it makes him feel "uncomfortable".   He also says the little boys get naked in the bathroom for fun..........not sure what is going on there but hopefully not too much. 

It makes him happy to be there at school and I can tell he enjoys it.  He loves learning and is starting to find out the efforts of having friends play with you at recess.  He has prayed on his food at lunch time, he stood up to the boys in the bathroom and he is a good boy in his class.  I am proud of him.  He got to come home early on Friday because he wasn't feeling good.  I think he was tired from a long week and a little dehydrated.  I really like his teacher and feel it will be a good year for him.  :)

earlier on in the week we did this.........  

Made Play Dough 

Molding and creating

This is a Posed angry face that Bridger wanted me to capture on camera so he could see what it looks like......  Pretty intense I would say :)

                                            This is our....darth vador with hearing protection

This is our darth vador being silly and drenching himself with the hose

We had an awesome Primary carnival for our church that the kids had such a great time at.  This is there painted faces the got.  Gideon the wolf and Bridger the love man.....I am not sure where he got that but he was the love man this day :)

Bridger had a good week.  We did a service day on Wednesday.  We went to a friends house who moved to a new house and we helped deep clean their bathroom and part of their kitchen.  Bridger was such a good helper and did a good job cleaning.  He loves to scrub toilets and mop and dust..... I guess anything with some sort of tool he can use.  We then made dinner that night for another family and delivered it.  On Thursday we went to reading time at the library and listened to the librarian read books and then do a craft.  He seemed to enjoy that so I think we will stick with that.  It is different having just Bridger home but good too.  We start Pre-school this week with some friends and we are looking forward to that.  It will also be different when we introduce a baby to the equation as well :)  Less than 4 weeks now.  Wahoo, I think I am ready.  My body is ready at least, ready to have her out.  It is just so uncomfortable these last few weeks.  

I get to teach Pre-school this next week on the human body.  I will post my lesson on here too.  

Hope you all have a good week too.