Millers on the Move: 2011

I said I would come back and talk about our trip so here we go.

In typical Miller style we drove to Pennsylvania instead of flying. We spent the first night in Memphis, TN and Louisville, KY the second night. We made a stop at Lake Erie for lunch and got to Athens, PA around dinner time Friday night.

It was good to spend time with my dad over the weekend. We had fun just visiting and taking the kids to the park. We found a local book sale and got there about 20 min. before they closed up. They were charging $1 a bag for books! I found several fun science books and classics for Hannah. I think we wound up with four bags of books in all. I love to read, so I was super excited.

My parents were gracious enough to watch the kids for two nights while Clint and I went to NewYork City for a little get away. Clint and I had fun just walking around and seeing all the sights.

We went to Niagra falls and it was HOT! It was 100* while we were there. Now I can say I have seen it, not sure if I would go back.

We had a good time seeing my parents and headed back home by way of Lancaster County. Before arriving in Lancaster we made a stop at Gettysburgh. We did not stay long because a huge storm blew in with lots of lightning!

Lancaster County is know for having a large Amish community and plenty of covered bridges. We did not make it to the Amish area, but we did see a few covered bridges. We also made a quick stop in Hershey, PA to see where Hershey's chocolate is made. Hannah was in heaven!

Monday night we stayed in Gattlynburg, TN. We had a nice view of the mountains and the hotel had a fun kid's indoor waterpark. I think it was the favorite stop for both my kiddos. The last stop was Memphis, TN where Clint walked over to Rendevous for some ribs. The kids and I stayed at the hotel. I was not up for taking them to a little barbecue joint after such a long day on the road.

All in all it was a fun trip and I can't wait to head back east to see more sights.

Monday, August 8, 2011

First Day of School

Well, day one is done. We will do some fun crafts while Jackson is napping, but our book work is complete.

Hannah said she is going to like this homeschool thing.

We are starting slow so mama can get the hang of things. We did our first Saxon Math lesson and a lesson from our reading book. She worked on handwriting, read me an easy reader and made a Bible "keeper" to keep her Bible in. We worked on our Bible lesson and memory verse.

Not bad for day one. It all took an hour and a half. I think I have some work to do over the next week. We will add on some fun "big books" for mom to read out loud and take a few trips.

So far, so good.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Corn

I am a pretty random person and this blog thing is proving to be sporadic at best. I have just a few more days to prepare for the school year. Since I don't know what to expect, I will just jump in and see what happens.

We just returned from another family road trip, but this time we were only gone two weeks. We headed to the north east this time. We enjoyed spending time with my parents in Pennsylvania. I did not realize how many mountains there were out east and also did not realize how rural Pennsylvania and New York were. I would say we enjoyed a break from the heat, but we did not. It was hot the whole time we were gone. Niagara Falls was 100* the day we were there. Despite the warm weather we had a wonderful time seeing family and new places.

I will post more about our trip and add some pictures later this week.

So, about my title.....

Now that we have driven a good 3/4 of the US, I have come to realize how much corn we grow all over our great nation. It is beautiful and strange/scary at the same time. I guess it takes a lot of corn to make all that high fructose corn syrup and who knows what else that is added to our food supply. Makes me want to take extra time to really read labels and see what my family is eating. That said, we had some very delicious fresh picked sweet corn from a farm in rural Pennsylvania. I miss it already :)

Friday, June 24, 2011

Just the beginning

I have decided to go ahead and start with some of our homeschool stuff. We have already begun the lessons in the " Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons" So far everything we are doing has been review since she is already starting to read. I told her it's ok if she already knows what is in the lesson, this is just review and practice. I know she is ready to get going! We are also working on handwriting.
I decided to hold off on Saxon math until August. The book starts the lessons on reading a calender and the first month is August. Clint starts dental school in August so it will work just fine. We are not ignoring math all together. I have some other fun workbooks and activities to keep things fresh in her mind.
I'm still trying to find things that will help us incorporate science and history.
I am also looking into dance, or gymnastics, or something along those lines that is affordable. We are trying to get through the next four years on as few loans as possible.
Let the fun begin :)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Last day of school

We have absolutely loved the time that Hannah was able to spend at GEM Express preschool. The school has such a heart for God and teaching children about God as well as ABC's and 123's. I look forward to the day that Jackson will be able to attend GEM.

For the last day of school they had a birthday party celebration complete with a bounce house, party games, and homemade ice cream. Jackson and I went up to take a few pictures and help watch the kids on the bounce toy. It was wild and the kids had fun.

Last day of school.

Waiting in the carpool line.

Taking her turn to mix the ice cream.

Jackson fit right in and took his place on the rug.

Having fun on the slide.

Graduation

My oldest baby graduated from preschool a few weeks ago. I have always thought preschool graduation was silly, but it is cute and makes for a fun memory. They did a little program and then had a ceremony complete with cap and gown.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Baby Steps

Well, we are on our way to getting our plans in order for homeschool. Hannah is excited most days, other days she says she wants to go to school with her friends. That usually lasts a little while then she is back to being excited about homeschool. She does want a "real" school desk and I found one on craigslist for $15. I will post pictures when I get the chance.

I ordered her books yesterday. We landed on " Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons" for reading/spelling/handwriting. I ordered Saxon level 1 for math. They had a handy dandy test you could give them to determine which books to buy. I'm glad we did the test or I would have wasted my money on the Kindergarten books and she would have been board to death.
I also ordered a book to help with Bible stories. It comes with music, games, and craft ideas.
We also plan to start piano lessons with Mimi. I will do my best to help her practice. I should be fine at first, but I have no doubt she will surpass me quite quickly. As far as history and science go we will be doing some reading and hands on things as her interests stir her.

This will be a whole new ball game for me. I am not a planner! I am a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal. I am doing my best to get things lined up and in order. I will be enlisting the help of my wonderfully organized , planner of a mother :)

I plan to join a local christian homeschool group so I can have support and we can do field trips with other kids. They meet up in one way or another every week so that will be nice. You can do as much or as little with them as you wish. I am anxious to meet some other families with kids Hannah's age so she will have some playmates that know what she is up to everyday.

The adventure continues. I look forward to seeing what God has in store for the coming school year.

Monday, May 2, 2011

We chose....

We finally chose what we will be doing with Hannah next year. Clint and I talked a few days ago and we decided we will try homeschooling Hannah for kindergarten. We will see how it goes and play it year by year. I think my greatest challenge will be keeping on task and making sure Hannah gets out of the house enough. I am hoping to get a piano in the house to start lessons on a real piano instead of the keyboard we use now.
I am leaning toward Singapore Math, but not sure yet what to use to help teach reading and spelling.
Let the journey begin.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Easter

It is no secret that taking pictures of my children makes me crazy. I am not gifted with the camera and getting those wonderful shots so many of my friends seem to capture is not in the cards for me. I feel blessed if I get a hand full of printable shots, so this was a good day for me :) I got about 6 or 7 I would print and frame.

In other news, I feel like I am the only mom around that does not do the "Easter Bunny" thing. My parents did it when we were kids, and it was fun. I just have felt like we can make things fun with out adding a bunny in the mix. Clint and I have been trying really hard to keep Christ the focus on Easter and Christmas. It feels like it's an uphill battle these days. Try feeling like a good mother when the checkout lady at Target says " Are you ready to see what the Easter Bunny is going to bring?" and your child says " What's an Easter Bunny?" The looks from people are not very nice.

I feel like we had a good weekend even without "The Bunny". We went to the Saturday service at Watermark for Easter. Hannah's class made Resurrection eggs. I was glad they made some, because I was meaning to and just did not get it done. Sunday morning we drove to Durant to attend church with my parents. We then had a wonderful lunch with family and friends. We let the kids hunt eggs after lunch. Hannah even got to help me put candy in the eggs. She felt so big getting to help with that. It gave me the chance to explain why people hunt eggs on Easter. It is a fun thing to do, but not the focus of the day.
We had to change them into play clothes because it had been raining and the yard was quite muddy. The kids had fun looking for the eggs and chasing the chickens. Jackson did not know what was in the eggs at first and he was dancing around with them, and shaking them in the air. When one fell and the candy popped out it was on.... he would look for the next egg and then stop to eat what ever was in it. All in all it was a good weekend.

Hunting eggs

After Church in Durant

After church in Allen

I love his face, "What?"

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Camping Part 2

Turns out I forgot a few things.
1. I did take a few more pictures with our other camera, but not many
2. I left out a " growing experience " God put at the beginning of the trip.

Let me back up a few days.....
Clint and I put the Yakima rack on top of the car to hold the chairs, tents, sleeping bags, etc. on Wednesday before our trip. We got that all loaded so we just had to load the back of the car with coolers, tables, and food on Friday.
Turns out Clint had to work and then go to Baylor Dental School for a few things, so I got to load the car. When Clint got home he changed clothes and we hit the road.

Thank the Lord for remote entry garages! We forgot to get the key to the Yakima rack and did not discover this until it was time to set up at the campsite. Clint was excited that we were the first ones there and could have stuff set up before dark and could then help others set up when they arrived.
We called one of our friends that was still at home and they were gracious enough to go out of their way to go by our house and retrieve the key. They then headed up for the camp out, but wound up having to go home, because their baby got sick that evening.
God was definitely teaching us patients and humility that day!

Here are a few more pictures from the trip :

Millers on the Move

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Halloween

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Food!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Happy Birthday Jackson

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Summer trip recap