Last trip to the Beach

Well actually, it was our only trip to the beach this summer, but finally after living here for 6 years we have some pictures of our family at the beach. We went with our friends Richard and Tina, and we all had a great time. The weather was perfect, and the water was nice. It certainly was a needed get away. To top it off we went out for ice cream after- Yum!

Oh the heat we feel!

Summer is just hot here in NC. July has seemed a little cooler than June, but it is still humid, and hot. We seem to be spending a lot of time in a swimming pool, in our tomato patch, or in the house. Summer evenings are nice, and I am ever grateful for all of our mature trees. They keep our yard about 15 degrees cooler than other places.
The new baby chickens arrived about 2 weeks ago, and the kids are loving them. they moved outside today and I am so glad! There is nothing like having your kitchen smell like a hen house. Last night we went blueberry picking, and went to the branch swim party. The boys did their first jump from the bridge, and unfortunately we didn't have a camera. The Baldwins park their boat at the bridge, give the all clear sign to jump and then the kids jump swim over to their boat. It was certainly a highlight of the party. The girls spent the time in the pool, instead of on the river.
I've included some pictures of all the things we've been up to- Swim team, Princess Hannah, The Promised Land Pageant, our cool tomatoes, and hand feeding the chickens.

Testing, Testing 123

Last week we completed our end of grade tests, and officially finished our first year of home school. What a great year! We learned so much , read tons of books, made wonderful new friends, and developed talents and hobbies that we didn't know were in us. I must admit it is nice to be winding down and nicer to have the required standardized testing done, and done well. Aside from school the boys had horse riding lessons which they have loved, especially the trail rides. Hannah and Em love the horses too and are waiting to be old enough for their turn! We also had fun with 4H, scouts, piano and our Home school co-op.

The girls are gearing up to attend the Methodist Pre-school next year and both are very excited. Emily had to go to pre-school at 3 in order to keep her vision and mobility specialist, and we didn't want Hannah to miss out on the excitement so we applied for scholarships for the girls and were blessed to receive one for each girl.
We are going to fill our summer with swim team, The Promised land Pageant, a dance camp for Hannah, and a Scout camp for Marshal, and lots of time to play and read-. I'm sure we'll also fit in a trip to the beach as well as yard work, picking tomatoes, and raising a new batch of baby chicks!

Hopefully next year we will be posting exciting news of our summer plans to visit our family and friends in Utah!

Princess Party

The girls and I had a Princess Party one night when all the boys were gone. Hannah and Emily love being princesses-as well as cow girls, chicken chasing girls, and garden girls.

Hannah had recently gone to a Princess Party held for the girls at church, where they learned they were daughters of God and proper etiquitte, as well as a host of other things like good posture, smiling, and walking like a lady. She absolutely loved it and wanted to re-do it at home. She has already requested another one when the boys do Father and Son campout and she is so excited!

Happy Birthday Marshal!

Tomorrow, April 16, is Marshal's 10th birthday. I have never cried about a birthday before, but I just can't believe how fast time passes. And so here I sit typing with, yes, a few tears in my eyes. What a blessing Marshal is to our family!
I love you buddy and am so glad I am your mom. Happy Birthday!!

The Chicken Eggs

This is a video of our chicken eggs. By Marshal Groves, hope you enjoy.

CHRISTMAS BELLS ARE RINGING

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! We love this season when we all celebrate the birth of our Savior and reflect on events of the past year. We love you all and miss you. We hope you are happy and well.

Our kids are growing up and I continue to be amazed at how old they are getting. Porter turns seven tomorrow and Marshal is almost ten. Hannah will be four in two months and Emily is two. We are so blessed to be their parents.

We still live in our little white farmhouse and are slowly but surely becoming farmers? Who would have known. To date we have 28 chickens(although seven roosters are set to be turned into dinner tomorrow), two dogs, one cat, and plans to buy a milking cow this year(if we can find the right one for the right price).

Tyler continues to design Emergency Vehicles, but his real passion is farming and building Timber Frame homes/barns/buildings etc. I have been taking a children's writing course which I love and am working toward publishing articles and a book.

This year we also decided to home-school our kids and it has been such a positive experience for us all. The kids have learned so much, they have made great friends from co-op's we are involved in, they are much better friends with each other, and I have discovered that I really love to teach.

I think our favorite subject is History (we are studying ancient history this year), We've read lots of books-some favorites were: Tom Sawyer,The Swiss Family Robinson,Lad a Dog, Pippi Longstocking, Redwall and Moby Dick. And of course we cover all the other subjects too: Reading,phonics,grammar,spelling,math, biology, handwriting,writing,piano and we will start Latin in January.

Since many of you don't get to see the kids for years and years here is a little peek into their interests and personalities

Marshal loves-Dogs,Chickens,Horses, reading, whittling and is dying to get a hunting rifle and a hunting dog( a black mouth cur to be exact). He also enjoys scouts and 4h. He has a lot of self discipline and drive to accomplish his goals. He love playing jokes and laughing too.

Porter loves-Horses and riding them, building anything, math, planting the garden and drawing. He is super funny and genuinely interested in people and helping them. He is really good at doing service and he is very one track minded. He also likes 4h.

Hannah loves-horses and ponies, princesses,coloring, reading, singing and listening to other people sing. She loves all things girl but she can hold her own with the boys too. She looks out for us all and is very loving.

Emily is such a joy to us all. She loves swimming, climbing, jumping on anything, books, music,animal sounds and drums. She amazes us with all she can do and the way she sees the world is so refreshing. She has no fear, can verbalize anything and she has a funny sense of humor.

Finally a little word on the picture- Two of the teachers that work with Emily planned an activity so we could all experience what being blind was like. We had the cool goggles on and then one at a time we drew a paper out of a box. On each paper were household tasks that we needed to accomplish. We snapped a picture when we had all accomplished our tasks successfully.

We hope next year we will be able to give you all real hugs but until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from North Carolina!