From Life Take 1:
We are just now getting ready to start core 2. More information to come on Core 3 in the next year or so.
Core 3
3 Advanced Readers
Science 3
Lyrical Life Science Vol. 1 & 2 I really like the look of this program. My kids love learning things through music. If we have success with this program this year I plan on following up next year with Lyrical Life Science Vol 3 and Lyrical Earth Science.
Trail Guide to US Geography and Notebooking CD
Come look With Me: Early American Art
Come look With Me: Native American Art
SOTW Volume 3
Usborne Books
Here is the list of Sonlight Usborne Books for Core 3 and Science 3.
Mysteries and Marvels of Nature
Usborne Science Encyclopedia
Supplementing Ideas:
Maptangle -- US version (they also have a world version available)
Sea to Shining Sea: Stories From America
Cooking Up U.S. History
The Harp and Laurel Wreath (Poetry and Dictation for the Classical Curriculum) Has great Poetry readings from Early America.
Our Country's Founders
We Were There, Too! 67 stories of children in early America. Some recognizable some not but provides a lot of detail on life back them. This is a great addition!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Hands-On Ideas from Core 2
From Life Take 1:
The Great Dinosaur Mystery and The Bible
In AZ, visit the Repirian Preserve and participate in their dino dig event.
Audio-Memory Geography Songs
Owl and Mouse
Enchanted Learning
Web Geography For Kids
Discovery School
Geography Games
National Geographic Online
Another Geography Games
Outline Maps
Red Sails To Capri
Create a picture of the Blue Grotto. Use crayons, markers, paints ... whatever you wish but make sure you use only various shades of blue to create your art work.
Draw a map/picture of Capri. What do you think it looks like based off of what you read?
Eric the Red & Leif the Lucky
Leif the Lucky
Vikings
The Vikings
Links
Kids Research Center: Vikings
History for Kids: Vikings
A Viking Childhood
Vikings
Vikings
Explorer's News
Social Studies for kids: Explorers
Kids Konnect: Explorers
Kid Explorers
Explorers
Good Queen Bess
Queen Elizabeth I
Michelangelo
Web Gallery of Art: Michelangelo
WebMuseum: Michelangelo
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Michelangelo Sistine Chapel Jigsaw
Michelangelo Word Search
Michelangelo's David Scramble
Renaissance Artists Word Search
Social Studies for kids: Michelangelo
Leonardo Di Vinci
Leonardo di Vinci for kids
The Inventor
da Vinci's Inventions
Exploring Leonardo
Vinci: The Leonardo Museum
WebMuseum: Leonardo
Art for Kids: da Vinci
Why is Mona Lisa Smiling?
Leonardo da Vinci
Castles and Knights
Castles and Knights
Shields knights and heraldry
The Middle Ages for kids
Castles on the web
Medieval Knights
Maps and Globes
MapMan Game The Aesop for Children
Librivox -- Listen to the stories on you i-pod or mp3 player. They also have lots of other things available to listen to as well. Bookmark this site -- its great!!
The Great Dinosaur Mystery and The Bible
In AZ, visit the Repirian Preserve and participate in their dino dig event.
Audio-Memory Geography Songs
Owl and Mouse
Enchanted Learning
Web Geography For Kids
Discovery School
Geography Games
National Geographic Online
Another Geography Games
Outline Maps
Red Sails To Capri
Create a picture of the Blue Grotto. Use crayons, markers, paints ... whatever you wish but make sure you use only various shades of blue to create your art work.
Draw a map/picture of Capri. What do you think it looks like based off of what you read?
Eric the Red & Leif the Lucky
Leif the Lucky
Vikings
The Vikings
Links
Kids Research Center: Vikings
History for Kids: Vikings
A Viking Childhood
Vikings
Vikings
Explorer's News
Social Studies for kids: Explorers
Kids Konnect: Explorers
Kid Explorers
Explorers
Good Queen Bess
Queen Elizabeth I
Michelangelo
Web Gallery of Art: Michelangelo
WebMuseum: Michelangelo
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Michelangelo Sistine Chapel Jigsaw
Michelangelo Word Search
Michelangelo's David Scramble
Renaissance Artists Word Search
Social Studies for kids: Michelangelo
Leonardo Di Vinci
Leonardo di Vinci for kids
The Inventor
da Vinci's Inventions
Exploring Leonardo
Vinci: The Leonardo Museum
WebMuseum: Leonardo
Art for Kids: da Vinci
Why is Mona Lisa Smiling?
Leonardo da Vinci
Castles and Knights
Castles and Knights
Shields knights and heraldry
The Middle Ages for kids
Castles on the web
Medieval Knights
Maps and Globes
MapMan Game The Aesop for Children
Librivox -- Listen to the stories on you i-pod or mp3 player. They also have lots of other things available to listen to as well. Bookmark this site -- its great!!
Core 2
From Life Take 1:
2006-2007: My oldest son is moving right along through the cores at a pace of one per year despite the fact that he is a year younger than the SL recommended age. He loves learning and while it is true that he would get more out of it if he were older, I am still satisfied with what he is retaining. We all get more out of something if we come back to it with a little more wisdom and experience in out lives. That's why I continue to learn from the cores as well.
The boys have been anticipating this core for about 3 months now. They are fascinated with knights and castles at the moment. They can't wait to learn more about them.
Each year, I ask my children what they want to learn or what improvements I can make to their learning experience. This year the request was for more hands-on things to do. I am trying to make their wish come true and have added quite a bit of hands-on things.
Core 2
Readers 2 Intermediate I was surprised to see that this level still contained some level readers. SL tends to schedule these books with light reading and then a longer chapter book and then back to lighter leveled readers throughout the year.
Readers 2 Advanced
Sonlight Science 2 I love SL science but some people may have problems with the dinosaur book SL includes with this level. Pre-read it and decide for yourself whether or not this is a good fit for your family.
Classical Writing - Aesop A We are really enjoying this LA program. It is exactly what our family needed. We made 1 slight change though to better fit my sons needed for not a lot of handwriting in one day. Instead of doing the entire writing project on Friday. We space it out over the week. Monday we do the outline, Tuesday the rough draft, Wednesday we edit, and Friday my son types up his final draft and creates a picture to go along with the Fable. This is working great for us!
Classical Writing - Poetry for Beginners A This was originally recommended to be the second semester to Aesop A. The recommendations for this have recently changed and it has been moved to a second semester with Homer. I have not yet decided what to do with this.
Math-U-See Alpha, Beta, and Gamma? We have tried a ton of math stuff over the year. Please see school subjects for more information on why we choose this for this year. Alpha and Beta are both a review for my son and I am expecting each to take him around 1-2 months to complete.
Primary Grade Math Challenge I love this book! This is a great critical thinking math book and I highly recommend that everyone purchase this no matter what program you are using. It is fun for the kids and challenges them in a way I have seen no other book do. There is a follow-up book to this for older children.
The Story of the Orchestra Well... I am finally getting around to this. About time, right? :-) Debra has a great schedule for this. I will have to see if she will let me share it with all of you are not. If not -- you will have to ask her for it.
Art With A Purpose I found this last year at Rainbow Resource Center for about $5. It is a cheap easy to use art program. You need 2 packets. one to create samples for your child and one for your child. This teaches all the basics of art that I never thought of teaching. It also introduces art terminology. We will be using level 2 this year.
Color the Classics - Composers II There is 1 more book in this series that I am hoping to add to our year and then we have completed this series. I really like it a lot! We will also be finishing up the Christmas one from last year.
Prima Latina The DVD is instrumental for my family in using this program despite the fact that the teacher has a Southern Drawl. So far we are not finding the CD so helpful but that may change as the year goes on. Not all the vocabulary words are included with the flash cards. Teachers manual for this level is optional.
Signing Time I have recommended this several times already but just in case you haven't heard yet. BUY IT!! I love this program for teaching young children American Sign Language. They have a series to teach infants as well. There are free lesson plans and worksheets to use on their website. As well as activities. They are coming out with more and more videos all the time and now it is on PBS as well.
The Amazing Pop-Up Geography Book This is a great book! But for an older child who can be very careful as there are lots of flaps, strings, things to spin, pull, push and more in addition to the pop-ups. This is a really fun book to look at geography. Not sure how educational it is but lots of fun!
Computer Basics This book teaches basic computer terminology and parts. A great introduction to the computer. We will be studying more about computers in the future.
The Kids Guide to First Aid This is great! A simple book that teaches kids the basics from what is an emergency to have to clean a scrap. Includes some hands-on activities as well.
Life Skills for Kids This is one book that I wish I had purchased when my kids were still PK age. Well --2 of them still are but I wish I had it when the oldest was in PK. It has a lot of tips on how to help your children to grow up to be independent in a variety of different ways. Includes suggestions for chores for toddlers.
History Odyssey - Grammar Stage Middle Ages This is a history program that combines CHOW and SOTW along with some hands-on things. Since if it is not in a schedule then it probably won't get done -- I needed this for all the things I plan on using this upcoming year.
Equate A math version of scrabble. We spend a week using this as a review during our math time prior to moving up to the next level book.
Scrabble Junior We are using the junior version with my three year old to teach blending, recognize letters, etc. It is an interesting game we made up. My older one does spelling with this. He could use the regular version but alas -- I went with this to combine them.
Ant Farm We ordered our ants with the coupon we got from Insectlore but never received our ants and we have been waiting for 2 months now. I emailed the company and I got the ants within 3 days of my email. About half died within the first day, the rest died within 4 days. In other words -- our ant far was a big flop!
I Dig Dinosaurs This is so much fun! We got the t-rex version. It took us about 3 nights to un-dig all the bones. Another night to put it together and paint it. I used several books about archeology with this and we recorded our findings using a grid sheet. Guessed how we might put it together and what our dinosaur might look like. We used this along with the first 2 weeks of Science 2 when we were learning about dinosaurs. We ran out of paint. It you are planning on painting your model only 1 color - you will need to buy more.
Hands and Hearts History Kit - Middle Ages Love this, love this, love this! I only wished I had used it last year when so many people on the SL forums recommended it. It is worth the money I spent and more!
and.............
Usborne Books
Here is the list of Sonlight Usborne Books for Core 2 and Science 2.
Usborne Living World Encyclopedia
The Usborne Book of Knowledge
Science Activities, Volume 3
Time Traveler
Usborne Book of World History
Teacher Resources I used for the year are:
These are the books that I purchased for me this year. To help me learn more about homeschooling and to become a better teacher.
When They Rise Up
Generation Joshua
Life Skills For Kids
What Your Third Grader Needs To Know
The Latin Centered Curriculum
Other Supplements:
100 Things to Know about Knights and Castles We got this from the library as an introduction to our new core book. It was great! It has a good overview of the middle ages, quizzes about things covered, and some simple activities to do.
Usborne Supplements:
You can purchase these from you local consultant, retailer, or me!
The Great Castle Search Along the lines of an I spy book. Not a lot of learning is going on but it is fun for the kids and sometimes you just need some fun! The Great History Search Along the lines of an I spy book. Not a lot of learning is going on but it is fun for the kids and sometimes you just need some fun!
Uncle Pete the Pirate (Young Puzzle Adventures)
Uncle Pete's Pirate Adventure (Young Puzzle Adventures)
First Encyclopedia of History (IL)
1001 Things to Spot Long Ago Along the lines of an I spy book. Not a lot of learning is going on but it is fun for the kids and sometimes you just need some fun!
Puzzle Journey Through Time This is a fun book to do but not much learning is happening.
Puzzle Castle This is a fun book to do but not much learning is happening.
Puzzle Dungeon This is a fun book to do but not much learning is happening.
The Usborne Castle Jigsaw Book This is a great book for those who love puzzles!!
Castle of Intrigue Stories of Pirates
Treasure Island (Young Reading CD Packs) My boys love listening to things on CD and these stories are no exception. I tortured my oldest son (according to him) by making him read the book before listening to the CD. : -) The much rather just picture it in their heads without the book.
Gulliver's Travels (Young Reading CD Packs) My boys love listening to things on CD and these stories are no exception. I tortured my oldest son (according to him) by making him read the book before listening to the CD. : -) The much rather just picture it in their heads without the book.
Knights (Young Reading CD Packs) My boys love listening to things on CD and these stories are no exception. I tortured my oldest son (according to him) by making him read the book before listening to the CD. : -) The much rather just picture it in their heads without the book.
Pirates (Young Reading CD Packs) My boys love listening to things on CD and these stories are no exception. I tortured my oldest son (according to him) by making him read the book before listening to the CD. : -) The much rather just picture it in their heads without the book.
The Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor (Young Readers 1)
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (Young Readers 1)
Stories of Knights (Young Readers 1)
See Inside Castles This one comes highly recommended from several people I know. If you want to buy a book about castles -- this is the one to get! This is one of the books on my wish list as well.
Aladdin and his Magical Lamp (Young Readers 1)
True Stories of Pirates better for Core 7
Stories of Pirates (Young Readers 1)
The Story of Castles (Young Readers 2)
The Story of Ships (Young Readers 2)
Tales of King Arthur (Young Readers 2)
Treasure Island (Young Readers 2)
Robinson Crusoe (Young Readers 2)
Gulliver's Travels (Young Readers 2)
Make this Model Trojan Horse
Make this Model Medieval Castle
Stories from Shakespeare
King Arthur
King Arthur's Knight Quest
Tales of Robin Hood
Tales of King Arthur (Paperback Classics)
Elizabeth 1 (Beginners)
Castles (Beginners)
Knights (Beginners)
Knights (IL) (Discovery)
Who Were the Vikings?
What were Castles For?
Alexander the Great (Famous lives)
Florence Nightgale (Famous Lives)
Victorians
Viking World
Castles (IL)
Knight's Handbook
Explorers (Famous lives)
2006-2007: My oldest son is moving right along through the cores at a pace of one per year despite the fact that he is a year younger than the SL recommended age. He loves learning and while it is true that he would get more out of it if he were older, I am still satisfied with what he is retaining. We all get more out of something if we come back to it with a little more wisdom and experience in out lives. That's why I continue to learn from the cores as well.
The boys have been anticipating this core for about 3 months now. They are fascinated with knights and castles at the moment. They can't wait to learn more about them.
Each year, I ask my children what they want to learn or what improvements I can make to their learning experience. This year the request was for more hands-on things to do. I am trying to make their wish come true and have added quite a bit of hands-on things.
Core 2
Readers 2 Intermediate I was surprised to see that this level still contained some level readers. SL tends to schedule these books with light reading and then a longer chapter book and then back to lighter leveled readers throughout the year.
Readers 2 Advanced
Sonlight Science 2 I love SL science but some people may have problems with the dinosaur book SL includes with this level. Pre-read it and decide for yourself whether or not this is a good fit for your family.
Classical Writing - Aesop A We are really enjoying this LA program. It is exactly what our family needed. We made 1 slight change though to better fit my sons needed for not a lot of handwriting in one day. Instead of doing the entire writing project on Friday. We space it out over the week. Monday we do the outline, Tuesday the rough draft, Wednesday we edit, and Friday my son types up his final draft and creates a picture to go along with the Fable. This is working great for us!
Classical Writing - Poetry for Beginners A This was originally recommended to be the second semester to Aesop A. The recommendations for this have recently changed and it has been moved to a second semester with Homer. I have not yet decided what to do with this.
Math-U-See Alpha, Beta, and Gamma? We have tried a ton of math stuff over the year. Please see school subjects for more information on why we choose this for this year. Alpha and Beta are both a review for my son and I am expecting each to take him around 1-2 months to complete.
Primary Grade Math Challenge I love this book! This is a great critical thinking math book and I highly recommend that everyone purchase this no matter what program you are using. It is fun for the kids and challenges them in a way I have seen no other book do. There is a follow-up book to this for older children.
The Story of the Orchestra Well... I am finally getting around to this. About time, right? :-) Debra has a great schedule for this. I will have to see if she will let me share it with all of you are not. If not -- you will have to ask her for it.
Art With A Purpose I found this last year at Rainbow Resource Center for about $5. It is a cheap easy to use art program. You need 2 packets. one to create samples for your child and one for your child. This teaches all the basics of art that I never thought of teaching. It also introduces art terminology. We will be using level 2 this year.
Color the Classics - Composers II There is 1 more book in this series that I am hoping to add to our year and then we have completed this series. I really like it a lot! We will also be finishing up the Christmas one from last year.
Prima Latina The DVD is instrumental for my family in using this program despite the fact that the teacher has a Southern Drawl. So far we are not finding the CD so helpful but that may change as the year goes on. Not all the vocabulary words are included with the flash cards. Teachers manual for this level is optional.
Signing Time I have recommended this several times already but just in case you haven't heard yet. BUY IT!! I love this program for teaching young children American Sign Language. They have a series to teach infants as well. There are free lesson plans and worksheets to use on their website. As well as activities. They are coming out with more and more videos all the time and now it is on PBS as well.
The Amazing Pop-Up Geography Book This is a great book! But for an older child who can be very careful as there are lots of flaps, strings, things to spin, pull, push and more in addition to the pop-ups. This is a really fun book to look at geography. Not sure how educational it is but lots of fun!
Computer Basics This book teaches basic computer terminology and parts. A great introduction to the computer. We will be studying more about computers in the future.
The Kids Guide to First Aid This is great! A simple book that teaches kids the basics from what is an emergency to have to clean a scrap. Includes some hands-on activities as well.
Life Skills for Kids This is one book that I wish I had purchased when my kids were still PK age. Well --2 of them still are but I wish I had it when the oldest was in PK. It has a lot of tips on how to help your children to grow up to be independent in a variety of different ways. Includes suggestions for chores for toddlers.
History Odyssey - Grammar Stage Middle Ages This is a history program that combines CHOW and SOTW along with some hands-on things. Since if it is not in a schedule then it probably won't get done -- I needed this for all the things I plan on using this upcoming year.
Equate A math version of scrabble. We spend a week using this as a review during our math time prior to moving up to the next level book.
Scrabble Junior We are using the junior version with my three year old to teach blending, recognize letters, etc. It is an interesting game we made up. My older one does spelling with this. He could use the regular version but alas -- I went with this to combine them.
Ant Farm We ordered our ants with the coupon we got from Insectlore but never received our ants and we have been waiting for 2 months now. I emailed the company and I got the ants within 3 days of my email. About half died within the first day, the rest died within 4 days. In other words -- our ant far was a big flop!
I Dig Dinosaurs This is so much fun! We got the t-rex version. It took us about 3 nights to un-dig all the bones. Another night to put it together and paint it. I used several books about archeology with this and we recorded our findings using a grid sheet. Guessed how we might put it together and what our dinosaur might look like. We used this along with the first 2 weeks of Science 2 when we were learning about dinosaurs. We ran out of paint. It you are planning on painting your model only 1 color - you will need to buy more.
Hands and Hearts History Kit - Middle Ages Love this, love this, love this! I only wished I had used it last year when so many people on the SL forums recommended it. It is worth the money I spent and more!
and.............
Usborne Books
Here is the list of Sonlight Usborne Books for Core 2 and Science 2.
Usborne Living World Encyclopedia
The Usborne Book of Knowledge
Science Activities, Volume 3
Time Traveler
Usborne Book of World History
Teacher Resources I used for the year are:
These are the books that I purchased for me this year. To help me learn more about homeschooling and to become a better teacher.
When They Rise Up
Generation Joshua
Life Skills For Kids
What Your Third Grader Needs To Know
The Latin Centered Curriculum
Other Supplements:
100 Things to Know about Knights and Castles We got this from the library as an introduction to our new core book. It was great! It has a good overview of the middle ages, quizzes about things covered, and some simple activities to do.
Usborne Supplements:
You can purchase these from you local consultant, retailer, or me!
The Great Castle Search Along the lines of an I spy book. Not a lot of learning is going on but it is fun for the kids and sometimes you just need some fun! The Great History Search Along the lines of an I spy book. Not a lot of learning is going on but it is fun for the kids and sometimes you just need some fun!
Uncle Pete the Pirate (Young Puzzle Adventures)
Uncle Pete's Pirate Adventure (Young Puzzle Adventures)
First Encyclopedia of History (IL)
1001 Things to Spot Long Ago Along the lines of an I spy book. Not a lot of learning is going on but it is fun for the kids and sometimes you just need some fun!
Puzzle Journey Through Time This is a fun book to do but not much learning is happening.
Puzzle Castle This is a fun book to do but not much learning is happening.
Puzzle Dungeon This is a fun book to do but not much learning is happening.
The Usborne Castle Jigsaw Book This is a great book for those who love puzzles!!
Castle of Intrigue Stories of Pirates
Treasure Island (Young Reading CD Packs) My boys love listening to things on CD and these stories are no exception. I tortured my oldest son (according to him) by making him read the book before listening to the CD. : -) The much rather just picture it in their heads without the book.
Gulliver's Travels (Young Reading CD Packs) My boys love listening to things on CD and these stories are no exception. I tortured my oldest son (according to him) by making him read the book before listening to the CD. : -) The much rather just picture it in their heads without the book.
Knights (Young Reading CD Packs) My boys love listening to things on CD and these stories are no exception. I tortured my oldest son (according to him) by making him read the book before listening to the CD. : -) The much rather just picture it in their heads without the book.
Pirates (Young Reading CD Packs) My boys love listening to things on CD and these stories are no exception. I tortured my oldest son (according to him) by making him read the book before listening to the CD. : -) The much rather just picture it in their heads without the book.
The Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor (Young Readers 1)
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (Young Readers 1)
Stories of Knights (Young Readers 1)
See Inside Castles This one comes highly recommended from several people I know. If you want to buy a book about castles -- this is the one to get! This is one of the books on my wish list as well.
Aladdin and his Magical Lamp (Young Readers 1)
True Stories of Pirates better for Core 7
Stories of Pirates (Young Readers 1)
The Story of Castles (Young Readers 2)
The Story of Ships (Young Readers 2)
Tales of King Arthur (Young Readers 2)
Treasure Island (Young Readers 2)
Robinson Crusoe (Young Readers 2)
Gulliver's Travels (Young Readers 2)
Make this Model Trojan Horse
Make this Model Medieval Castle
Stories from Shakespeare
King Arthur
King Arthur's Knight Quest
Tales of Robin Hood
Tales of King Arthur (Paperback Classics)
Elizabeth 1 (Beginners)
Castles (Beginners)
Knights (Beginners)
Knights (IL) (Discovery)
Who Were the Vikings?
What were Castles For?
Alexander the Great (Famous lives)
Florence Nightgale (Famous Lives)
Victorians
Viking World
Castles (IL)
Knight's Handbook
Explorers (Famous lives)
Friday, July 9, 2010
Ray's Arithmetic
So.... it's that time of year again for curriculum planning. Thanks to the every growing wealth of knowledge from my friends and fellow homeschoolers... another gem has been found!
I am leaning more and more toward a classical education (which I have been for years). I love the idea of living books but I am still textbook oriented and I have always believed that education long ago was truly an education. Not the washed-out version that is currently offered by our school systems.
This looks to be an excellent combination... you can get all of the books on CD for $60 or $100 for all the books. It not based on grade levels and goes through calculus. This would be a great fit for my guys! I think we might have found our math curriculum for the year.
For Information:
http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publications.asp?Pub=rays
http://www.dollarhomeschool.com/raysarithmetic/
For Sample:
http://books.google.com/books?id=eopZHDoOTMMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ray's+arithmetic&source=bl&ots=iLLX6HWqa1&sig=AOkbnxz0k8MA-dUVQTUBxW3ct9k&hl=en&ei=Lsk3TKHPMIW-sQP3gv1R&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
US History
Hi all,
I found this great link while searching for a copy of the Declaration of Independence. It is completely free and so far I like the materials. Then again we have only read the introduction. It talks about using stories as a basis for studying history just like Sonlight and we have been doing for years.
http://www.ushistory.org/
Please post your review of thus site in the comments section for other readers. Thanks!
- Posted from my iPhone
I found this great link while searching for a copy of the Declaration of Independence. It is completely free and so far I like the materials. Then again we have only read the introduction. It talks about using stories as a basis for studying history just like Sonlight and we have been doing for years.
http://www.ushistory.org/
Please post your review of thus site in the comments section for other readers. Thanks!
- Posted from my iPhone
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Wedding Vows
Dec 03, 2008
Saying Goodbye to Aunt Shelley Marie was harder than anyone anticipated. Its not just simply the mourning of this amazing woman but the blessings she is still leaving behind for all of us. We have spent many hours counting or blessings and looking at the small things each member contributes each day to our family. As Uncle Mike said "I never realized she cleaned the paste." Its the simple things that we take for granted and that mean so much. All those little things add up and affect our lives more than all the big things combined.
One phrase resinated with us throughout the past few months "Forever and always, no matter what." We saw what these words truly meant and how that love and devotion was displayed between this amazing couple. Dan and I want a marriage like that. One that last "Forever and always, no matter what."
We began to think about our wedding vows. We could use the traditional ones as originally planned. The ones that everyone uses but no one truly means any more. For some reason, this no longer seems adequate to the occassion. We wanted something more. So, after some searching, editing, combing... we found vows that we believe will fit us perfectly. When we exchange rings instead of saying "With this ring I thee wed" we are planning on saying "Forever and always, no matter what." Aunt Shelley, Uncle Mike... we hope you approve of this change.
As we stand beside the ocean tide,
I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you,
To comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad,
When life seems easy and when it seems hard,
When our love is simple, and when it is an effort.
I pledge myself to you this day
May our love be as unchanging and dependable as the tide,
flowing endlessly from the depths of the sea.
May my constant devotion nourish and sustain you until the end of time.
I love you.
Saying Goodbye to Aunt Shelley Marie was harder than anyone anticipated. Its not just simply the mourning of this amazing woman but the blessings she is still leaving behind for all of us. We have spent many hours counting or blessings and looking at the small things each member contributes each day to our family. As Uncle Mike said "I never realized she cleaned the paste." Its the simple things that we take for granted and that mean so much. All those little things add up and affect our lives more than all the big things combined.
One phrase resinated with us throughout the past few months "Forever and always, no matter what." We saw what these words truly meant and how that love and devotion was displayed between this amazing couple. Dan and I want a marriage like that. One that last "Forever and always, no matter what."
We began to think about our wedding vows. We could use the traditional ones as originally planned. The ones that everyone uses but no one truly means any more. For some reason, this no longer seems adequate to the occassion. We wanted something more. So, after some searching, editing, combing... we found vows that we believe will fit us perfectly. When we exchange rings instead of saying "With this ring I thee wed" we are planning on saying "Forever and always, no matter what." Aunt Shelley, Uncle Mike... we hope you approve of this change.
As we stand beside the ocean tide,
I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you,
To comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad,
When life seems easy and when it seems hard,
When our love is simple, and when it is an effort.
I pledge myself to you this day
May our love be as unchanging and dependable as the tide,
flowing endlessly from the depths of the sea.
May my constant devotion nourish and sustain you until the end of time.
I love you.
FINALLY ~ Our Song
Nov 04, 2008
Your Guardian Angel by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
When I see your smile
Tears roll down my face
I can't replace
And now that I'm strong
I have figured out
How this world turns cold
and it breaks through my soul
And I know I'll find deep inside me
I can be the one
I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven
It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Seasons are changing
And waves are crashing
And stars are falling all for us
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter
I can show you I'll be the one
I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven
Cuz you're my, you're my, my, my true love,
my whole heart
Please don't throw that away
Cuz I'm here for you
Please don't walk away and Please tell me you'll stay woah, stay woah
Use me as you will
Pull my strings just for a thrill
And I know I'll be okay
Though my skies are turning gray
I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven
[to fade]
Your Guardian Angel by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
When I see your smile
Tears roll down my face
I can't replace
And now that I'm strong
I have figured out
How this world turns cold
and it breaks through my soul
And I know I'll find deep inside me
I can be the one
I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven
It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Seasons are changing
And waves are crashing
And stars are falling all for us
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter
I can show you I'll be the one
I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven
Cuz you're my, you're my, my, my true love,
my whole heart
Please don't throw that away
Cuz I'm here for you
Please don't walk away and Please tell me you'll stay woah, stay woah
Use me as you will
Pull my strings just for a thrill
And I know I'll be okay
Though my skies are turning gray
I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven
[to fade]
Good Morning Beautiful
May 30, 2008
I am not quite sure when this started but at some point Dan began emailing me each morning when he got to work with this simple line "Good Morning Beautiful." Every now and then he mixes it up but most days this is what he says. On the weekends, its usually the first thing that I hear. He hates country music and so does not appreciate this song at all but it reminds me of him so I just had to share it with all of you.
I am not quite sure when this started but at some point Dan began emailing me each morning when he got to work with this simple line "Good Morning Beautiful." Every now and then he mixes it up but most days this is what he says. On the weekends, its usually the first thing that I hear. He hates country music and so does not appreciate this song at all but it reminds me of him so I just had to share it with all of you.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Camping 2008
We went on a family camping trip in August. We invited the whole clan but only my Dad could make it. We are hoping to plan another one here in April.
Our Campsite and the new "condo."
Zac and Kris getting firewood.
Nick (Misty's Dad), Dan holding Zac, Ben, and Kris.
Our Campsite and the new "condo."
Zac and Kris getting firewood. Ben chillin' instead of being on firewood patrol.
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