Jon & Amber- B.C.

B.C. 

as in Before Children

Yes, once upon a time...long, long ago in a faraway land...

Jon and Amber had been married for 6 years without children.

I almost can't remember those years.

Fun on the Farm

This morning, we made a visit to some friends' farm, on which they raise chickens and a couple of calves.  The had a blast, but they also learned about the animals a bit and even had the opportunity to feed the calves their bottles.

S'mores and Friends

The kids were super excited all week for our plans to have friends over Saturday night.  Every day, Brilee would ask if it was Saturday yet, and every day I would have to show her on the calendar how many more days until Saturday.  

Fury

This guy is super proud that he rode Fury at Carowinds yesterday!  

Weaving in the Rain

I have found nothing more relaxing lately than hanging out on the back porch with my kids.  

Drinking my morning coffee, of course

Curriculum for 2015-2016

*Update 7.24.15- We have set up a new blog at www.mY5crew.com which will serve as a platform to write about our home school experience to a wider audience.  We will keep this blog for our personal family updates that we do not want to be shared with the wider public audience.

We are quickly approaching August, which means school is quickly approaching.  Jon and I decided to start our homeschool around the 2nd week of August, and are trying to get everything finalized for curriculum and planning a schedule for the kids.  

Surprise Fire Pit

After cutting down trees this past weekend (If you missed that post, click here to hear all about the yellow jacket attack that ensued)

Jon continued clearing saplings and some brush in the woods last night.  Our plan is to clear a lot of the thick leaves in most of the space back there so it's safer for the kids while playing.  We don't want them to stumble on snakes or other critters that can hide in the leaves and decaying stumps out there. 

We're planning to put up a tire swing from this tree.  Isn't it perfect?!?

Fallen Trees and Yellow Jacket Attack!

Jon and I have plans to thin out some of the smaller trees from our woods and seed more grass in the fall to have less "woods" and more "lawn" in the back.  Since one of our trees fell into the neighbor's yard during last week's severe thunderstorm, it was the perfect opportunity to borrow his dad's chainsaw, cut up that tree, get to know the neighbor better (and let them know we're a responsible neighbor!) and cut down some of the smaller trees.

Jon had the best helper!  Sean drove around the tractor for him all morning and absolutely loved it.  Good driving practice.

BUT- before I took all these pictures, Jon and all the kids except Jack and Luke were attacked by yellow jackets!

Welcome Home Sean & Lilly!

Sean & Lilly have been gone for the week staying with Nana and Papaw while attending VBS at their church for the week. It is for rising 1st and up, so Brilee will be able to start going next year.  Brilee was so sad when they were leaving she gave Lilly a picture of her to remember her by <3

And, the sweet heart that she has, she told me Friday that she wanted to throw them a "welcome home" party!  I told her that was a great idea and that we would make signs and bake cookies for them.  Here is what we put together:

Luke Thomas- 7 months old

Somebody tell me it's not really the 17th of the month again already.  I feel like if someone pinched me I would wake up again in December with just a tiny baby.  Mr. Early Bird was awake at 5am so I went ahead and snapped these pictures of him after drinking my morning coffee on the back porch.  

But here he is a whopping 19.2 pounds and on the verge of crawling.  He's my chunky monkey and has the sweetest smile- especially when he sticks his tongue out because he's so excited.  He reminds me of Brilee in that way.

Come to think of it, I feel I could wake up on Dec. 29th 2006 with my very first tiny baby.  My how the past 8 1/2 years have flown by.  I went from 27 to now staring 36 in the face.  I feel old but more so, I feel blessed.  

Unplugged

Yesterday morning we (the youngest 3 and I that is, since S & L are gone for the week at Nana's) were getting dressed for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick fil A.  We always like to go for breakfast because I do not like crowds, therefore, I do not like the lunchtime chaos!

Anyway, we were getting ready to go and I went to take a picture of them before we left and my camera wouldn't turn on.  I thought, "That's funny, I had it charging all night.  Maybe it wasn't plugged in all the way.  I'll charge it in the car on the way and take a pic there."

So, I got everyone loaded (the hardest 3, mind you- it's no easier having the older independent ones who are also your helpers gone) and went to plug in my phone and it started flashing the google start screen...then it turned off and flashed it again without my touching it...over, and over and over again.  I unplugged it and nothing- no flashing.  Plugged it back in, google flashing.  Weird.  No time to deal with it now, let's just go get our free chicken ;)  

We had a great time and our great church friend, Mr. Stephen took a pic of us for me 

We had so much fun and enjoyed a mostly quiet time there since it was not crowded at all.  More like a typical morning there any other day!  So glad I went for breakfast!  

So, we got home and I called Jon about my issue.  He talked me through taking the phone apart with his special tools and unplugging my battery, but it didn't help.  So I just stayed unplugged yeterday.  And it was really nice.  I took pictures of Brilee with *gasp* a real camera that I haven't used in over a year.  I watched her roller skate in the driveway and didn't look at my phone once.  Because it was broken.  And it was good.  And fun.  

 I talked to a friend on the (home) phone- something I haven't done in months.  And it was wonderful.  And intentional.  Something I want to do more of.  I've realized lately that I have no idea the struggles friends are facing, or what is going on in their lives.  So, these have been a great couple of days being unplugged.

Jon did some troubleshooting last night and figured out my motherboard on my phone has gone bad.  Probably where it got wet since the moisture indicator had been triggered.  But that's ok, because I'm remembering how things were just a mere few years ago when I did my blogging from the computer instead of my phone.  Taking pictures with a normal camera and uploading them to the computer hard drive where the last time I've saved anything here (besides etsy pics) was 2012.  
It's less tempting to share pictures immediately that you have taken with a real camera than with a phone camera on instagram or facebook.  I like instant gratification of sharing the cute things of my kids, because, hey, they're cute and I'm stir crazy from lack of adult conversation by ourselves with only babies/toddlers/kids to talk to.  
And it's less tempting to sit down at the computer every 5 minutes than it is to glance at your phone every 5.  Because a lot of glances equals a lot more minutes. Hard to admit, but it's good.  Took these of the kids this morning.  I realized last night that Luke is going to be 7 months on Friday.  I was here thinking oh, he just turned 6 months, but this month has flown by.  He looks so much like Brilee. 

So, here's to my attempt to stay mostly unplugged from my phone and do my blogging via computer, put down the phone and staying intentional with friends.  It's been quite an interesting few days and though I'm full of mixed emotions, it's been eye opening and insightful.  Reach out to those around you more and find out what's really going on in their lives.  It's 100% worth it, I promise.  

PS- if you're one of those that read this all the way to the end, wow- I thought that was just family.  But, if you enjoy reading my blog, you might want to follow or subscribe because I'm not sure I'm going to continue sharing every single post on facebook.  Kinda defeats the purpose of being more intentional.  

The Lasts

There are certain things in life you remember the "last time" you ever participated in something significant.  The last day of high school, college, jobs, singleness, apartmments, houses.  Those days are etched in your mind forever and usually you prepare for those last days and look forward to them with excitement. 

Then there are those other significant things in life that you do not know will be the last time you will ever do them and they come up suddenly and unexpectedly or even without knowing it's the "last time".  These are the times you have not planned for and might not even realize it was the last time until days, months or years later.  

So, prepare for those unexpected events by enjoying every minute of your life.  Savor those you spend your time with.  Live in the moment.  Carpe diem, you might say.  Sometimes eras come to an end and you will only have memories.   Enjoy them, friends.

Hunter Farms Camp

Sean has been attending a day camp at Hunter Farm all this week and staying with Nana and Papaw for the week.  We have missed him so much!  But, he has enjoyed this camp with only 4 kids there this week he got a lot of one on one time on the farm!  

They had an ice cream social today for family to come enjoy hand churned ice cream.  The first thing Sean did was run up to the stroller, take Luke out and give him a big hug <3

 The kids enjoyed playing corn hole while they waited on the ice cream.

 They also enjoyed the tire swing, but I was feeding Luke and missed taking pictures of them on that...and eating their ice cream, haha.  But I took some more pictures of him loving on his brothers when he got home.  Wonder why the girls aren't loving on him ;)

Park with a dear friend

I met a dear friend, Michelle, at the park yesterday with her daughter and with just the 2 little boys.  (Sean has been at a camp at Hunter Farms this week and the girls are going to a VBS up the road from us in the mornings)  It was SO good to reconnect and chat as though it hasn't been a couple of years since we've seen each other!  I love those kind of friendships where you can just talk about anything.  Facebook helps stay connected out of person too, though!

Then this cutie fussy pants wouldnt let me finish my workout :0

These pics below are from the day before.  

The girls wanted to match at VBS

 At the waterpark with the little boys kept me on my toes.  This was at pool break under the shaded picnic area.

 Luke practicing his crawling skills

Father's Day, Brilee's Bday & Misc from June 2015

I somehow missed blogging Father's Day and Brilee's actual birthday on June 24th.  

Jon with all the kids 

 He got a new drill since his other one only had one working battery that would only last about 5 minutes before dying and new batteries are just as much as a new drill 

 We went out for lunch after church at BT's Burgerjoint.  Luke was asleep and missed the photo op.

 Brilee spotted a snake the next day.  Now we all want a cat.  Except cats are somehow super expensive to adopt.  We went to PetSmart and the adoption fee was $150.  So, saving up for a cat....or two.

 While I was unpacking file boxes in the homeschool area, I came across this folder.  Which happened to be the one thing I couldn't find when we moved from our 1st house in Indian Trail to Matthews 8 years ago.  All our fridge magnets that we had collected on trips we took together and misc. stuff I took off the fridge when we listed our IT house.  It was so cool finding it and seeing these lost things!

 From a fortune cookie I'd had for a very long time= I think from the first year we were married- over 14 years ago!

 Brilee received a birthday card in the mail from grandma and grandpa Hardison

 She was so excited!  $10 for her piggy bank 

 The kids drawing/playing in our homeschool room.  I am forever thankful for God giving this house to us for this specific reason.  No need to clean off the kitchen table for dinner from school work.  Feeling very blessed.  

 Cinnamon rolls on her birthday.

 Birthday message from daddy on our chalkboard.

 Playing with her new reusable sticker book.

 We met friends at Monkey Joes on her birthday, which conveinently was on a Wed. for half price admission :)  This was the only photo I got because Jack was so overwhelming to keep up with.

 Jamberry nail wraps Brilee got for her birthday.  She managed to peel them off the next day.  Maybe in a year or two she'll do better...

 Baking her cake for her party.

More school room photos.  The fridge in the 2nd kitchen is our calendar area.