Happy Birthday Hannah!!!

My little baby turned 9 today! I can't believe it. Where on earth has the time gone?? The one thing about remembering when she was born, is that it also brings back sad memories of my Mom dying. Hannah was born only 2 months before my Mom succumbed to cancer. So, part of me wants to remember the excitement and happiness of our little blessing from 2001, but part of me wants to forget 2001 'cause of losing my own Mom. It was quite a year for us!

That being said, I am so very proud and blessed that I have two beautiful children.  Hannah has grown into such a beautiful young lady over the past year. I am very excited to see what the future holds for her. Here she is through the years:

2001 - A few hours old...all 10 lbs 2 oz of her!!


2002 - 1 year old


2003 - 2 years old


2004 - 3 years old


2005 - 4 years old


2006 - 5 years old


2007 - 6 years old - Kindergarten homeschool graduation


2008 - 7 years old


2009 - 8 years old


2010 - 9 years old!! My little girl has blossomed into a beautiful young lady!!


"Happy birthday my dear sweet girl! I love you beyond words. May God continue to guide you and bless you as you grow. Always keep Him in the center of all you do. Love Mommy"

Zachary's Violin Recital

Zachary played Vivaldi's "Winter" for his recital piece this year. He did an amazing job...even had it memorized!! We are so very proud of him!!!

Photo Hunt #156 - Bubbles

Hannah LOVES blowing bubbles, so it was easy finding photos for this topic.







Here's an old one I took of Zachary a few years ago. One of my favorite photos!!

Scenic Sunday - #17

My favorite photo from happiest place on earth!!! We recently got back from our vacation there. I'll be posting more photos soon.




















(Click on photo to enlarge for a much better view!)

Photo Hunt #155 - Memorial

The word this week is "Memorial". It's not only an appropriate word for this weekend, but because Zachary has decided he'd like to join the Air Force when he graduates high school in 2 years. He hopes to go to the AF Academy out in Colorado Springs to become an officer. Here are a few photos from our recent vacation, where we happened to stop to visit an Air Force Museum down in Georgia.

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

25mm

Aperture

f/14

Exposure

1/800s

ISO

1600

Zachary's dream is to fly...to become a pilot. If he doesn't get to fly while in the Air Force, he still wants to get his pilots license and fly privately, but I'm praying he will get to live out his dream and fly for our country!


My handsome son Zachary...I'm so very proud of him!!!


Take the time to remember those who have given their lives up for our freedom in this country. One of the saddest funerals I ever attended was for a friend whose 21 year old son was killed in Iraq while serving as a US Marine. A big thank you to those who are in the military serving our country. You, and those who have gone before you should be honored this weekend.

Fun with the 'Light & the Glory'

Hannah and I have been enjoying her history this year! Currently we're reading through "The Light and the Glory...Discovering God's plan for America from Christopher Columbus to George Washington." by Peter Marshall & David Manuel.




The reader (on the left) is fantastic! I love that each chapter begins with a Bible verse that is applicable to what you'll be reading, and that there is an activity book (on the right) to go along with each days work. We are finishing up the sections on the Puritans and are just about to start on the Great Awakening, but to complete this section Hannah put together and is painting a log cabin. As you can see, she loves the hands-on activities that go along with each lesson.


The best part about these books? They are from a Christian point of view, and they have wonderful thought provoking questions in the back for each chapter. This helps you not only learn the material better, it shows how God's hand of providence is always with us!! The Pilgrims, Puritans, Indians and others mentioned in the book experienced so many blessings and miracles when going through tough times!! Those who followed God were truly blessed...a great lesson for an 8 year old, don't you think?!?

Scenic Sunday - #16

(Click on photo to enlarge for a much better view!)

Earthworms are icky!

Well we dissected our first specimen, the earthworm. It wasn't as bad as we thought, we actually had a great time identifying all the body parts. Fascinating stuff!! It's amazing how small these little critters are and how truly amazing God's creation is!!!

Here is Zachary opening up the package containing the earthworm...

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

45mm

Aperture

f/4.8

Exposure

1/50s

ISO

1600

He was very brave and didn't complain once! He actually said he had a great time dissecting it and can't wait to do the other specimens.


Cutting open the worm...


Pulling the Setae apart in order to open him up...


Here he is...


Checking out the details with a magnifying glass...


Our 'mad scientist'...


Hannah decided that looking at the worm wasn't as much fun as drawing one, so she left the room and created this masterpiece...


You can see the black intestines running down the length of the worm....by this point he was pretty much mangled inside, but we did find many parts, some very very small!!!


All done...now it's time to dispose of this little guy and lay him to rest...
and in case you're wondering...we're getting rid of the worm, not Lionel!! =)

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

26mm

Aperture

f/5

Exposure

1/60s

ISO

1600

Our next dissection will be the Crayfish. That should be fun as it's a bit bigger than the worm. Look here for more photos if you dare!!! Now...I've got to go see about how to get this smelly formaldehyde smell out of my nose. Eeww!!!!

Dissection Day!!

We're 'finally' getting around to dissecting our specimens for Zachary's Biology class. These critters have been sitting in their packaging on the floor of our dining room for a couple months now. Don't worry, they're sealed up very well...so our dining room isn't contaminated. ha ha

We've set up 'shop' on the kitchen island...covered it with garbage bags and laid everything out so it's all organized. Now we just wait until Daddy gets home and we start the process...slice and dice! Mmmmm...lunch anyone??

I'm not sure if you all have memories of dissecting specimens in high school or not, but the memories I have aren't all that great. I vaguely remember the actual dissection process, but what "jumps" out in my mind (pun intended) are the times the boys in class threw frog guts at all us girls. It was so disgusting!! The cow's eye was even worse. Then, when I was in college, we had to work on an actual cadaver, which totally creeped me out!!! The memories...they still haunt me. Fortunately my kids won't have to worry about those things. They will dissect their specimens and enjoy the learning experience without flying frog guts or cadavers.

Our 'lab'...or operating room...whichever you prefer:


Zachary isn't too sure he's ready for this!! Some of the specimens are pretty big!


Our dissecting tools:


"Wiggles"...our earth worm:


"Mr. Snippy"...our Crayfish:


"Slime"...our Perch:


"Prince"...our frog:


I will post photos in more detail once we're done with them all. It should be fun...minus the smell and slimy feel. I am excited to be doing this with my kids though, most parents only have memories like I do from dissecting animals; this gives me a chance to make new ones. Even Hannah is interested in getting in on the action. When it's her time to dissect, she'll be a pro at this! Time to get to work....