Peter is 6 Months!

Today our sweet baby boy turned 6 months old!

He loves to smile, go in the Jolly Jumper, army crawl (mostly in reverse), pivot to face any direction his sisters are moving, eat, pull hair, pinch, and put all things in his mouth

He also loves to suck on his lower lip (as seen above), and read stories.

Last weekend the girls went with Spencer to pack some clothes for the upcoming Guatemala trip.

Ella and Juliette started keeping their own gratitude journals. Ella loves writing in hers and already has over 250 things on her list. 

I love Juliette's list. We started these journals on the same day that Juju turned 4 and a half. So she wanted her #4 to be that she is 4 and a half.

The weather has been beautiful so we have had a few lunches outside on our picnic table.

The girls love to draw pictures in their art books as I read to them.

And the other day the girls did rest and read outside as well. They lined all of their books up on the picnic table bench.

Ella has been busy making Uncle a special birthday card.

And Juliette is trying to teach Peter his colors.

We got a couple of new outdoor toys to have in our yard. The girls are thrilled with their "ogobild".

Karis has mastered the letter "t". She spends a lot of her time writing "t"s in every color. She is also very good at the letter "o".

Jolly Jumper

Peter is loving the Jolly Jumper. He often has a little coach by his side cheering him on :)

Late February

We keep our homeschooling days quite simple and uncomplicated. We read, we wonder, we write, we count, we draw, we ask questions, we find answers, we laugh, and we love. We also make mistakes, we hurt one another, we ask for forgiveness, and we start again.

Throughout our days my impatience is exposed. I have had several people tell me that they "don't have the patience to homeschool their kids." Over this past year I have learned that I don't have the patience to homeschool our kids either. I am completely dependent on Him.

But I love these beautiful, simple days that are our life. Our days are joy filled.

Ella loves to do nature sketches. 

Last week we did some baking for the Guatemala bake sale.

We love the view from our backyard and often stand in awe of the way the light shines on the trees.

Peter brings so much joy to our days.

The other night we ran out of time so we did a 4 in 1 bath.

We have made some lovely new friends through Ella's community class. From the left: Juliette, Abby, Sophie, and Ella. Karis and Thalia are playing inside. Abby and Ella go to community class together. 

Ella is big on giving gifts. She has started to leave surprise gifts under our pillow at night.

Ella's community class did a skit to go with the book "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. They presented it last Wednesday. Ella's job was to hold up the names of the animals as they came on stage.

She was proud of her role and did a great job.

She also ran over to us before the play started and gave us each a card and a baggie of waffles to enjoy during the show. "Dear Juju I am happy that you can come watch me on stage today Love Ella"

Our landlords have been very generous to share the spinach that is growing in their greenhouse. We had a fun morning learning about how spinach grows, picking it, washing it, and then eating it for dinner.

Peter continues to be entertained. Sometimes by monkeys, sometimes by princesses... rarely a dull moment.

Ella is working on a new book for Spencer to hand out in Guatemala.