Matthew is ONE!

Here's Matthew on his new John Deere ATV. ( I can't figure out how this formatting works. All the pictures are added to the top and I can't figure out how to move them. Anyone want to give me lessons on this?)

Here's Matthew eating his cake. I didn't really think about how the red frosting would stain! Thankfully, he cleaned up pretty well

This last year has been the fastest of my life! I can't believe Matthew is already a year old! We had his party at Lion's club park. As you can see it had a St. Louis Cardinals theme. (I don't think his sisters will be happy unless he plays baseball!)

School days

We are two weeks into school and so far so good. Jenna is still finishing up Biology from last year, but she should be ready to start Chemisty by the first of September. We're doing American History this year, with Jenna doing sonlight 100 and Clarissa and Rebecca doing 3+4. I love our "together" time at the beginning of the day. We tend to get way off schedule due to our lively conversations--but I figure that is why we homeschool, good family discussion on important issues!

Matthew will be one next Sunday. He is walking more than crawling now--and climbing a lot too!! He's climbing up the step stool as I type, but he knows how to get down too. Not true for the stairs. He LOVES climbing to the top, but he doesn't know how to come down. Therefore we try to keep the gate closed---but we do forget quite often! He's learning to wave bye bye--and can almost say it. His favorite word is "gish"--it means "fish." The fish are part of why he likes to climb the stairs--they reside in Rebecca's room.

Mini Vacation

Our "Mini Vacation" to St. Louis on July 22 and 23, 2008

Our trip started with a tour of the Fabulous Fox Theatre with a group of about 40 homeschoolers. The coolest thing was the backstage/dressing area. Each show that's been there has painted it's logo on the wall somewhere and everyone involved in the show has signed the wall. Jenna even got to sing on stage--well, with the rest of the group, and they just sang, "happy birthday." We got the hear the theatre organ man play. He asked for requests, and Phantom of the Opera was the song! We found out later that he loves Phantom, but it's not requested very often and he was thrilled to get to play it for us! After the Fox and some lunch, we toured the St. Louis Basilica which is decorated totally with mosaics--very cool!

That night, we went to a Cardinals game. It was a sad game--after a great start, they lost in the last two innings to the Brewers. Matthew loves baseball! He had been crying in the car and while walking to the stadium, but as soon as we got to our seats, he looked around the stadium and started laughing! This was his fourth game to attend.
On Wednesday, July 23rd, after spending the night in St.Louis, we met my sister and her daughter at Six Flags. Matthew didn't get to ride too many things, but he did learn where the handicapped entrance is for every ride. We did lots of "baby swapping" so that I could ride too.