This morning we got to go to a friend of a friends little farm and enjoy riding horses, feeding animals, and watching her husband fly on the dirt bike. Kiley and Eli both had a lot of fun. Our first horse rides... Eli liked the horses but when he saw the dirt bike flying over the ramps he was loving it and really wanting to ride it...he at least got to sit on it for a picture. I was pretty impressed myself...

Today was Eli's first day of Providence. I did not get any great pictures but at least I have a couple. It is about 20 min from our house so he had already eaten his oatmeal but wanted to have toast for the drive too.

Brian has had a project going for the last couple weeks. He has been working on a tree house for the kids. Stage one is complete and we are planning to work on stage two when my parents come down in a couple of weeks.

Even in the heat (I know we are in the 60s for #of consecutive days over 100) the kids have began to enjoy the tree house.

There was a house fire down the street just before lunch today, which had everyone a little on edge b/c we are SO dry here. Anyway, the smell is horrible and as we are sitting down to eat Kiley says, "When I am old I am going to inbent(invent) a nose cast so I do not have to hold my hand on my nose all of the time." I thought is was pretty creative Eli, however, after a couple of seconds say, "Kiley you probably should rethink that a little. If you really have a cast over your nose how are you going to breath? Did you think of that?" This was followed a couple of seconds later (quietly, almost to himself) "Well, I guess you do still have your mouth so it really wouldn't matter..."

The doctor is in...

Dinner is served...

This is what you get when you give full freedom in the kitchen to a six year old.

Kiley came out of her room today very proud of herself - dressing in a baby gown that her and her brother both used as babies - she had it on with her cowboy boots but by the time I got the camera the boots were off...

Eli has read his way through the magic tree house series this summer and has really enjoyed them. It often sparks his interest in the topic or time in history and he wants to learn more about it which is great. He also loves to use his imagination and act out the stories or just make up something similar. Kiley is usually always a willing follower and they have spent hours 'visiting' places this summer as we spend hours indoors avoid the 107 degree days outside...
Yesterday they were passengers on the Titanic but when it sank there was only a couple of kayaks for the passengers to get to safety on so he and Kiley went up and down the hall for probably an hour rescuing other passengers and taking them to safety...

It is hard to believe that it is already August. August always means back to school. Eli had a great year last year in Kindergarten with a wonderful teacher. However, he did get very tired and with him in bed so early (often by 6:30) I did not feel that we really got to have any family time. So, after praying and thinking through things, this, along with many other things, lead us to decide that for this coming year we are going to do something different. Eli will be going to a classical christian university model school for the coming year. This means that he will be at school on Tuesday and Thursday for a full school day and that Monday, Wednesday, Friday will be a full home school day. The school is on a university calendar and he has 10 kids in his class and will be able to move as fast as he needs through the curriculum which will be nice. I am both nervous and excited about this year and this new adventure. So we are enjoying our last couple of weeks of summer and I am attempting to get my things in order for the school year. I just got one of my big boxes in from Amazon w/more curriculum so while the kids are resting (or in their rooms at least) I am going to go through my treasures...