4 Years

Yesterday our oldest boy turned 4! We can hardly believe that it's been 4 years since we became parents! Landon has the sweetest little spirit. He is very caring and always makes sure that everyone is taken care of. We are so thankful for our sweet little boy and pray that he holds on to the gentle spirit God has given him. Tonight we had a small family party to celebrate. I really didn't get many pictures as I was too busy gabbing and eating and then my camera battery died, but I will share what I managed to get! A couple of weeks ago I took Landon to the party store and attempted to have him choose a party theme. However, he couldn't seem to make a decision so I chose Mickey knowing how much he loves the show. What's funny is the only thing he did insist on was a Minnie Mouse balloon...considering I won't be having much pink in this house, I'll take it! :)

A is for Apple

For over a year now our family has been thinking, praying and researching the idea of homeschooling. We have many different reasons for considering this as an option for our family. While we aren't 100% certain this is the direction we will take for our children's entire education, we feel led right now to at least give it a trial run. We have even considered a co-op program once the kids are actually in grade school. This is a type of program where they would go to a school for 1-2 days a week and then complete the rest of their school week at home. Because of his birthday (which is TODAY!!) Landon won't actually start kindergarten until the fall of 2013. So, I have been working on some preschool curriculum to start doing at home. Landon and I started on Monday and have completed our first week. He is really enjoying it and always asks to "play" more school once it's over for the day. Just in the short time I've been working on curriculum and actually starting with Landon, I've realized that this could possibly be one of the hardest things I ever do as a parent. I know everyone has their own ideas about homeschooling or home schooled children. And to be quite honest if you had asked me before I had children if I would ever home school my answer would have been a definite no. However, the Lord has been placing some new things on our hearts about our role as parents. Please understand that this is a very personal decision and not one we feel is best for everyone. If you would like to read more about some of our thoughts and ideas behind this decision, I will direct you to THIS page. I hate to steal someone elses post, but these seem to be many of our exact thoughts, just said much more eloquently than I could say it. Each week will be based around a letter, a bible story and a memory verse.  This week we worked on the letter "A", our bible verse was, "As for God, his way is perfect." Psalms 18:30 and our story was Adam and Eve. Here is a glimpse at our first week.

 Daddy joined us on this particular day...

 We made airplane cookies...

 Landon chose yellow icing for the cookies...

 Taking a break to eat some of the supplies... 

 This particular day we each got our cameras and went outside to look for things that look like the letter A.

Below are Landon's pictures. He actually had 2 more that somehow got erased. One was from a street sign with an A on it. The other was actually a picture of a satellite dish on top of a house. He pointed out that it looked like a little "a". I thought that was a pretty good one!

Computer time...

 Landon's very first family drawing...

 Our playroom has turned into part school room...

The BIG Boy Room

Nesting is in full swing around the McGrew house. Everything must be clean, de-cluttered and organized! After lots of hard work, we have finally finished the big boy's room! It seems not so long ago that we were making this room Landon's big boy room in preparation for Reid. And now it's a big, BIG boy room for our 2 oldest sons! We opted to go with bunk beds in order to maximize our space. Landon has been sleeping on the top bunk for a few days now and has done a GREAT job! He loves his new "really high" bed! We just got a mattress for the bottom bunk and will have Reid nap in there for a week or so to acclimate. Then, we're hoping to make the full switch-over at the end of the month! Stay tuned for Micah's nursery...which we can hopefully get to working on very soon!!

 

 Reid's bed...

 Landon's bed...

 I was hoping to get a sweet brothers picture on the top bunk but the best I got was this cheese pose from each of them...

Fone Pics Friday

We were able to meet up with our friends, the Meltons, a few weeks ago! We had a blast eating dinner and hanging out on the trolley.

It's amazing how quickly our playroom can get this bad...can you even spot my two children trying to enjoy their snack on the only floor space they could find?

The next 3 pictures were done using Color Splash, a fun new photo app that I recently found!

The boys halloween costumes...I planned a little early this year!

Daddy was showing the boys a bird egg we found on a walk.

Since Landon was 8 months old (and we couldn't control his hair) we've always buzzed it on our own. When it started to get a little shaggy this past time, we decided to take him to the barber and see if they could "style" it somehow. It still needs to grow out just a little, but they gave him a cute little cut! So this was technically his first REAL haircut!