Malachi's Year in Review

It's hard to watch and believe that this kid is growing up so fast. Sometimes I just look at him in awe that he isn't my baby boy anymore as his face looks more grown up and his legs won't quit growing! He has grown and changed so much this year, becoming less of a little boy and more of a big kid! He turned 7 this past year and it won't be long before he blows out candles on his 8 year old birthday cake.

And somehow I blinked and I have a 2nd Grader!

Something I like about Malachi is his willingness to try new things, even if he ultimately doesn't enjoy them. That was the case this year with track and basketball, but that is okay because he at least gave them a go and now he knows!

Something that has continued to grow and develop in him is his enjoyment of cooking!

 

We had some really fun trips with this kid this year, including Whistler

And a fun Mommy and Daddy only trip to Chicago! I had a blast seeing all the sites with him while Daddy worked. 

And a very special moment this year was getting to reunite with a special friend whom shared the same city, same orphanage, cribs side by side, and came home together 7 years ago!  They hit it off right away! 

He also gave fishing a try for the very first time and caught the biggest catch of the year (but no way he was going to touch it)!

There's so much to like about this kid. He's funny and silly, he's always up for a good time.  He lives life big! He is also kind and caring and a wonderful big brother!

 

We celebrated 7 years with him in our family! 

Another fun thing about Malachi is his love for music. He loves to sing and dance and recently started piano lessons too!

There are a few sports that he has decided to continue with. He loves playing soccer and he loves taking swim lessons.

Malachi is a great kid, he's smart and funny and loud and entertaining. In the year ahead I look forward to teaching him more as he can be a fun student to teach. He will start 3rd grade - wow! I look forward to spending more time with him in the kitchen, I look forward to laughing with him. I look forward to teaching him more on the piano and I can't wait to see anything new that peaks his interest! 

What do you want for Christmas? Legos

What are you looking forward to about next year? New Years Day

Foster Pups #53 and #54 - Sherman and Slinky

Right after Thanksgiving we were able to pick up two special boys that we had heard so much about. These guys were born premature and had to be tube and bottle fed. But what was amazing is that they thrived and grew to be so healthy and adorable! We couldn't wait to get our hands on them and got to enjoy them for almost 2 weeks! 

They were such sweet boys and I have to admit I was a little bit sad when we had to return them. Fortunately there were enough friends of friends to the rescue that they didn't even have to be advertised. They are little miracle pups who the rescue workers worked so incredibly hard to save! I love this organization we work with! 

Eli's Year in Review

Mr Eli continues to grow into a fun little boy. When I say boy, I really do mean that because this kid is ALL boy! 

 

He started out the year trying a new sport and did great. It is fun to see how natural sports seem to come to him. He's determined and has a blast!

Eli also had a blast in Whistler. He's always pretty fun to do things with so every aspect of Whistler was a blast!

Another one of Eli's favorite things is playing games. He loves any chance he can get to have someone sit down with him and play a game. He thrives with quality time and this is one of the easiest ways to get that with him. 

He also developed a love for baseball this year. This does not come as a surprise if you knew both sides of his DNA. He often asks when baseball season is starting again and we look forward to watching him again in a few months!

Remember what I said about all boy? He loves guns and soldiers and knights and pretty much anything he can make into a toy gun or sword! 

Another fun milestone this year was completing Kindergarten and moving on to 1st grade. School still isn't his favorite thing, he'd much rather be off playing with soldiers but his attitude has really grown and changed in 1st grade and he gives everything his best shot with a good attitude. He has come so far and we are proud of him! 

Hiking, Fishing, Camping, these are a few of the new things he got to try doing this year and really loved all of them.  Next summer should be fun as I am sure he will have the opportunity to do all of these things more! 

 

Another favorite sport seems to be soccer. We were very proud of him this year as he had to play up with 2nd graders to make the schedule easier and really did pretty good with it. It will be fun next year to watch him play with kids his own age. He is also currently taking swim lessons.  In the year ahead, the options are endless for activities for him but he seems set on wanting to continue with baseball and soccer and swimming. We shall see if he wants to try something new though.

I love Eli's willingness to try new things and find ways to have fun no matter what we are doing. He's always up for an adventure and that makes him a pretty fun person to spend time with. He can sometimes have a tough outer shell but inside is a sweet and very sensitive kiddo! He's growing up and changing so fast and I can't wait to see what adventure he finds in the year ahead. 

What do you most want for Christmas?  A Huge Playmobile Set

What are you most looking forward to about next year? My Birthday 

Year in Review for Sabrina

This was another fun year of life for Miss Sabrina! She doesn't look like she's changed much in the last year, but she has although she's still the adorable, silly, fun girl she's always been!

 

One of the highlights of this last year was our trip to Whistler. Bina was a ball of fun as she loves the snow! She loved sledding once she gave it a try and loved trying to ice skate for the first time too! 

Miss Bina turned 5 years old the spring!  She started the year out as a shy nervous to try new things girl, but lately that has really changed! 5 years old is a very very fun age! 

And completed the Awana Cubby program and became a Sparky

One of the most exciting milestones of this year was that she started Kindergarten! She loves school and is learning to read and write in cursive. She will often be found in her free time painting or coloring. A little artist in training!

As I already mentioned, she has been a bit shy as a kid, but this year she was brave enough to try a few new things like soccer and gymnastics!  She wants to continue on with gymnastics in the year ahead and is looking forward to swim lessons too. 

 

And one of her crazier moments is that she kind of gave herself  a mullet. We gave her a first hair trim but she wanted it shorter. She ended up winning that battle as she took the scissors into her own hands!

In 2018 I see a year of fun with this girl! She will graduate kindergarten and become a big 1st grader. I can't wait to see what new things continue to interest her like gymnastics or swimming or something we haven't even thought of yet. I hope she continues to love learning. I hope she is willing to continue to try new things. She's always been a sweet, happy, fun kiddo and I look forward to seeing her shine more and more! 

Questions I asked her

What do you want for Christmas? LOL doll, American Girl Doll

What are you most looking forward to about next year? Getting to play sports 

Year in Review - LB style!

As this last month of the year speeds by, I thought it would be fun to go through and recap some of our favorite moments with each of the family members, starting with the baby of the family. Clearly she has grown a lot in the last 12 months! 

LB is our spirited child. She makes me laugh, she makes me feel like I am losing my mind sometimes. 2 years old had nothing on her at 3! LB's love language is physical touch and she loves to snuggle and hug. If we are sitting down, she must either sit on us or have her hand on us at the very least. She loves hugs and she can often be heard saying "I love you".  She is very affectionate and loving! 

One of the fun times we shared this year was up in Whistler Canada. This is the first time we've taken her on a trip and she's been ready to enjoy with the rest of us. I will never forget seeing this tiny 2 year old blasting down a pretty good sled hill all by herself. 

She is still a very small child just barely breaking 25 lbs but measures in pretty tall on the charts. I am so proud of where she has come. One of her greatest accomplishments this year was testing out of Early Intervention services (particularly speech therapy) and actually testing above average in several areas!  Something we haven't shared too much about her is that we had some scary "what ifs" with her when she was a baby, including a brain MRI when she was 9 months old.  She has overcome them all! A lot of our concerns are completely gone. She is talking and running and jumping and just pushing past all of those scary things!  

 

Little Miss turned 3 years old this year and anyone who has had a 3 year old knows how challenging they can be! But there is so much good too. She's happy, she's healthy, she's funny and entertaining!  It is fun to see her old enough to start having her own interests. She got this random idea in her head that she wants to take ballet and won't let that thought go. She also begs to take swim lessons.  I think she is going to be a go getter who has no fear! 

In 2018 we look forward to her starting preschool.  We also look forward to getting her started in activities, maybe ballet and swim or awana and see what interests her  most. It seems as though she wants to grow up just as fast as she can but I can tell you I want to keep her small as long as I can.

A few questions I asked her:

What do you want for Christmas? Goldie and Bear Toys
What are you most looking forward to about next year? Take Ballet and Christmas

School

At the moment we are on our Christmas break from school. We are taking a 7 week break and while we are focusing on academic skills during the break, we aren't doing any structured school between Thanksgiving and New Years and it was a much deserved break for all of us. Even more exciting, we've pass the halfway year mark for this school year!  I want to remember the journey we are on these days though. Home educating my children is one of my greatest privileges. I love spending my time with them and I love seeing them reach new accomplishments and all of us learn together. But it is also one of the most challenging parts of my life. Trying to help each of them reach their full potential and give them the focused attention they each need in their different grades can be really difficult. There are days that I would love to put them all in school and have some darn peace and quiet, but I know this is the best decision for our family so we press on and this little break is great for all of us!

My greatest challenge is time management.  I try to break it up to where I am working with 2 of them at a time but it can still be very challenging to bounce back and forth between each of them (and we also have a mischievous toddler running around the house). Malachi is probably 80% independent this year which is very helpful but the other two still need a lot of help and instruction from me so it's not uncommon as this picture shows to be doing phonics with one kid and math with another, heck there have been times I'm administering a spelling test at the same time too! I try not to confuse them or lose my patience! I'm a work in progress but I know it won't be long before Eli and Malachi are able to do their school day without much help from mom! 

Malachi is halfway through his 2nd grade year. His strengths are reading and writing.In general he is very smart and a well rounded student. I don't see much that he struggles with beyond just keeping his brain challenged and focused. He's at an age or phase that he likes to challenge me but we work through the hard days and take breaks when either of us need it. We adjust accordingly and my biggest challenge teaching him is just keeping him on task and motivated.

Eli is having a much better 1st grade year than the struggle we had in Kindergarten. He wasn't a fan of structured school last year but he's really working hard this year. His strength is definitely in his math skills. He's come so far though in reading and writing and we continue to work hard on getting better and better in these areas. Adding special sounds this year has really challenged him in his reading and writing but he's pressing on and we are finding tools to help him along the way. I am so impressed with his positive attitude this year!

And then there's Sabrina. She's having a fabulous Kindergarten year and it is fun to watch. She loves everything about learning and is still begging to do school even on break so we are moving forward slowly with our school year, letting her set the pace. She's artistic and loves to color and draw and write, which the boys hate those parts. I'm also so proud of her because she was a late bloomer learning her letters and letter sounds but she had that moment where it all just clicked together and she's taking off now. She also seems pretty well rounded at this point too as I see math clicking in her brain too. I hope her love for learning never fades!

It is always refreshing to be on a break and be able to reflect on where we've come even just in these last couple months.  I'm so proud of  my kids and kind of proud of  myself too because when I'm in the trenches of a hard day it can be really difficult to keep focus and perspective. I second guess  myself a lot, but the proof is in the puddin' and they're all excelling and really doing quite great!  Now to enjoy this fun month of December, do some light education, and enjoy being a family! My favorite part of homeschooling is the flexibility it brings to our lives, like being able to enjoy Christmas to the fullest!