Happy 6th Birthday, Sabra!

 

Happy to be 6!

 Sabra's tea pot and tea cup cake. It started falling apart before I even finished decorating it.

 Sabra wasn't upset that it fell apart. It still tasted good!

 Dara made Sabra a blanket for her doll.

 Allyn made Sabra some paper dolls.

 Daddy & Mommy gave her new princess gloves.

 Papa & Nana Smith gave her crocs, Polly Pockets, and ordered her some Little House on the Prairie beginning readers.

 Eva made Sabra a pillow for her doll and bought her some princess jewelery.

 Papa & Nana Carmichael gave her a mug of her very own.

 Jerry & Sherry gave Sabra a coloring book and some bath gifts.

I forgot to turn this picture, but she got some play dough play things, a doll, some organic suckers and a purse from the Inglerights.

The inventive mother of necessity

I truly enjoyed this post by Large Family Mothering about the good things that come through hardships.

My Life For Yours: A Mother's Pondering About Her Body

My Life For Yours: A Mother's Pondering About Her Body

Well-Educated Children

I read a well written article about the education of children in a public school compared to those who are homeschooled. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule (parents who don't really teach, exceptional public school teachers, etc), but I agree with the article for the majority out there. Although I attended and graduated from public school and I taught in a public school, I am beginning to see more and more often how public school is not the best for children or this nation.

Delayed learning and the well-educated child

Just Some Fun Photos!

 Martha wanted her picture taken.

 Allyn finally lost a tooth that has been loose for almost a month!

 Allyn's bird feeder.

 Dara's bird feeder.

 Eva's bird feeder.

 Hava looks so cute in this baseball hat.

Jaina didn't want to miss out on the fun of pictures!

A Hair Raising (or not so much) Experience!

Allyn and Sabra took scissors into the bedroom (which is against the rules) and then on top of that, didn't take care of them. Cora found them and decided to cut Martha and Jaina's hair in addition to her own. She barely touched Jaina's hair (so little in fact that most people can't notice, but I can because I'm her mother!) and she didn't get much of her own either, but she sure did a number of Martha. All this transpired in about five minutes time. I tried my best to make it look better, but only made a slight change. She will be wearing a head covering/wide headband whenever we leave the house for a while.

Before

After

Hava Turned 1!

Hava Helen Johanna turned 1 on December 31, 2010. We celebrated with a party with friends and family on January 1, 2011. About 50 people were in attendance and we enjoyed a lunch of turkey and rice soup and then cake and homemade ice-cream. She was honored to also share the party with Micah Burnett (from church) who turned 10 on Jan. 1st. It was nice to be surrounded by so many people who love her. She had a blast and is enjoying all of her presents!

I know I'm a little slow with putting these pictures up. Once again, I let the time get away from me because every time I thought about it, I thought about how long it was going to take with dial-up to load the pictures.I have lots more pictures I could up-load, but I wanted to be able to share a few with you since I don't have a lot of time to wait on the computer.