March 31, 2017

Five Things for Friday: birthdays, new in the shop and loving everyone.

1) I drive by this sweet little church multiple times a day and I’m always excited to see the new postings on their marquee. This one was good enough that I had to stop and take a photo.

Love everyone. The end.

2) Call us a little slow, but we just realized that Edith and Jason share a half-birthday/birthday. Edith turned 6 months on Sunday and Jason turned 39. How blessed we are to have little Edith in our family. She is just delightful. So content, so sweet, so happy. She does well being carted around all over the valley to the older kids’ activities and lessons. As Ellie aptly described her the other day, “She needs three things to be happy: a dry diaper, a full tummy and people to smile at.”

Jason’s birthday was underwhelming, I’m afraid. We made his favorite dinner and a delicious chocolate cake. He got to read a book while the rest of us cleaned up the kitchen. We tried to watch a movie after the kids were in bed, but both of us were falling asleep halfway through. It actually took us three nights to finish the movie because we’re old and tired now.

3) New in the Shop!

The “Don’t Forget to Pray” embroidery pattern is now available in my shop!

With a variety of stitches, this pattern is a really fun one to make. And it comes together fairly quickly (unlike the one I’m designing now. It’s taking for.ev.er. to make any progress. I had hoped to finish the stitching this week, but I’m only about halfway done.)

4) A reader.

What fun it’s been to see our Ethan developing into a reader. He’s always loved listening to stories: both audiobooks and read alouds. But he’s just venturing into the realm of reading for fun and it makes my Mama heart so, so happy. Just check out that stack of books he brought home from the library yesterday. Swoon!

5) Homeschool clubs are where it’s at.
At the tippy top of our list of favorite things about homeschooling are the many opportunities for clubs and groups. We meet monthly with a variety of different groups. One of our favorites is Culture Club. Each month we get together with two of our favorite homeschool familes to share what we’ve been learning about various cultures. We’ve heard presentations including anything from US History/Hamilton lyrics to manners during the Middle Ages to how birthdays are celebrated around the world. And many, many fascinating things in between.

We also enjoy chess club, park group, interactive book clubs for both my big kids and a nature group. I highly encourage you to join at least one group like this if you are a homeschooling family. We are deeply inspired by interacting with other families who love learning together and who love sharing what they’ve read and learned together.

PS– the blog will be quiet for the next week or so as the kids and I are off on a little adventure. Happy Spring break!

Heidi Hillman