Cousins

Isn't this the sweetest picture? This is Savannah with her handsome cousin Noah. I was trying to take a picture of him with his Spider-man face paint, and she hopped in the wagon. Sometimes the best pictures are the spontaneous ones. :)

Progress!

Well, after getting discouraged about the "school thing", and taking a little break, I started the "BOB" books with Savannah and Isaac on Monday. They LOVE the BOB books! I am so happy! These books are very simple, very short, and VERY entertaining (to a four year old).  I've been working with them individually for just a few minutes everyday.

Today, October 19th, 2011, Savannah and Isaac read their first book. I am over the moon excited. OVER. THE. MOON.  It was a very short book. Very simple words, but they read it.

Now, I know they have a long way to go before they can be labeled as "readers", but this is a huge breakthrough for us, and I just have to rejoice over it for a little while! ;)

Officially, the twins are in preschool. But the great thing about homeschooling is that you can do what they are ready for when they are ready for it. So I'm not going to push them or rush them into anything. I am just so happy that I've found something that they both like and respond to, because their learning styles are so drastically different. Anyway, I just had to document this breakthrough moment, so please excuse the shameless excitement!

Here is a link to the books I'm talking about: BOB Books

A picture of the twins Saturday with their cousins & Mimi (at the Pumpkin Patch). L-R: Gavin, Noah, Savannah, Isaac. This is a quick cell phone pic, right before they went on the hayride. They got their faces painted & had so much fun! So Cute!

Happy Wednesday Y'all!

Cell Phone Picture's from the Pumpkin Patch

This past Saturday was opening day at our local Pumpkin Patch! I usually don't go this early in the season, but my sweet sister Jessica and her husband Daniel were here visiting, so we went together. This was Jessica & Daniel's first time to go with us, I'm glad we had this opportunity! Jessica, we love y'all!! ;)

Isaac was kind of a stinker. He laid out in the wagon and got Savannah to pull him around. She wanted to at first, but after a few minutes concluded that he was just too heavy.

She took the pumpkin picking business very seriously!

Being goofy!

We are so looking forward to visiting again soon! Mimi? Grammy? Are y'all ready?

In other news, I have had a bad cold this week, and haven't felt much like posting. I also cannot find the SD card to my camera, sad day! This is an item that I haven't lost before (amazing), and it has irreplaceable pictures on it. I hope I find it ASAP.

But on the positive side, I am so glad it is Autumn, and I love this cooler weather. I am looking forward to even cooler temperatures! :) :)

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday!!!

Rainy Day Cookies

Well, as the title of this post states, it rained today, and we baked cookies. I should say, because it rained today, we baked cookies. There is nothing like being stuck in the house for a long time with two energetic 4 yr. olds, or kids of any age, shape, and size. Including adults sometimes. So, we made these Brown Sugar Cookies from Joy the Baker (love her!), and read "Night Noises" by Tony Johnston while they were baking. Yum!

  

Yes, my table was a mess, and I used fake vanilla :(  Still turned out good though!

Doesn't he look sweet?

:)

Last Pictures from Our Vacation (hopefully)

 I thought it was about time for me to finish with vacation posts, even though I have many more pictures! You know me and the crazy picture taking. This is an old Texaco Station in Reliance TN. We stopped in Reliance to have a picnic by the Hiwassee river.

 Always beautiful! Joe swam and we waded. The water was really cold!

 These pictures are from the Pumpkin Patch Playground on Signal Mtn.

You can tell they were on the move the whole time!

I am looking forward to posting some pictures from our local Pumpkin Patch. It opens soon, and we love going there! Right now we are loving the cooler weather. This is my favorite time of the year!

A few more vacation pictures...

Once again, I don't have a lot of time, so I'm just posting a few more pics from our vacation. These were taken at Cades Cove.

Cooking Fish...

Well, here it is. I seasoned each fish and wrapped them in foil, individually. Then we cooked them on the grill.

 Savannah & Isaac, waiting for their fish dinner.

 Cooked fish.

This picture is a little deceiving. They didn't like the fish. Really, none of us liked it, not even Joe, who loves fish.  Joe has had trout many times, but only because he didn't want to waste his "catch".  He prefers catfish, and now I know why. No offense to trout lovers, but we are used to catfish, and I didn't expect the trout to have such a "mealy" taste to it. Oh well, we ate it (Joe & I did), and it was all about the experience of catching fish! :) Next time we might just catch and release.