End of School!

Woo hoo! We have completed another year of school here at the Bridges Academy!  Isabella has completed 6th grade & Brook has completed 3rd grade.  It was a much better school year, mainly because of our new curriculum we used for most of our school this year, which is My Father's World. This year's book was called Exploring Countries & Cultures.  It teaches about different countries & incorporates geography, history, & science along with each country.  I thought it was a great choice to prepare the girls for a biblical worldview.  An interesting fact is one of the writers of this curriculum is one of the people that the Lord used to confirm to me 5 years ago that we should be homeschooling our children.  (Yes, that happened 2 years after I had been homeschooling already).  However, it was just this year before I ever used their curriculum.  I am so glad I did & we will continue with this for next year!

I gave the girls a cumulative test last week on what we had studied & this week we completed 3 days of standardized testing.  That completes our school year & we will take a short break.  Short, because we may begin in July due to so much travel this fall. We talked about so many different animals this year, so we took advantage of free zoo day in Memphis (along with thousands others) this week too.  We don't have a membership, so free day is what we do.  Sadly, its been well over a year since we've been at all though.  The weather was nice, so just the girls & I went to the zoo for a little bit to wrap up our science.

Lion

Cheetahs

Puma

Red panda

Baby giraffe born in January 2013

Polar bear (he was fun to watch & photograph)

Cheap Springtime Fun

I love seeing how a nice day will stir up the creative juices.  It started inside for the girls.  Starbucks is pricey, so the girls created their own Starbucks way with their version of a fancy coffee maker.

Next up for fun is the girls have some friends over to play (dear friends who just moved back to Memphis that we have known for almost 10 years now).  They ask for a tarp, soap, and duct tape.  I should have been suspicious, except they asked for these all at separate times.  I did go outside to see what was going on & this is what I found......

They ran the water hose down the slide, which they attached to the ladder with duct tape.  They slid into a tarp with water & dishsoap on it.  They assured me the ladder was also secure with some screws on top they attached to the slide, but just in case, I requested them to hold on to the slide while someone went down.  Good 'ol redneck fun!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all you momma's out there had an enjoyable Mother's Day.  May 8, 1914, President Wilson declared the second Sunday in May to be honored as Mother's Day.  It is celebrated in many countries, including Colombia.  I celebrated as a mom with my sweet girls.  Sunday morning, they gave me cards, which honestly are the sweetest cards I've ever received from them.  They both brought me to tears. I am blessed to be their mom.

They gave me my Mother's Day gift, which they bought with their own money, last weekend on our road trip home. It was a CD of hymns & a few other classics by Steven Curtis Chapman.  I really like it!

Sunday, I celebrated by going to church & a family lunch at home.  Then the girls & I also met up with my mom for an afternoon yogurt treat, which is my favorite.  Avery & the girls camped outside, so I had some quiet time in the house at night.  It was a relaxing day spent as a mom & some time with my mom.  I am thankful for a supportive, prayerful mom & mother-in-law.  I am thankful for how they love my girls.  I am thankful for my friends & role models in my life who are great mothers from whom I learn so much.  I pray the girls would grant me grace each morning as I try to do better at this blessed challenge called mothering!

Yogurt date with my daughters

Mom & I

Good 'ol fashioned card I made this year

We actually started our Mother's Day weekend with a crawfish boil at my sisters.  Fun to see family & friends gathered on the back porch, watching the Grizzlies game too!

Isabella & Brook hanging out in the hot tub with cousin Anna.   

And here's a picture for a laugh!

Vacation, Part 2

Y'all, I'm a traveling girl who loves travel (after all, that was my profession before being a full-time mom), but  the older I get, the slower it takes me to re-coup from a trip! So, just getting laundry done, catching up on mail, school, & work here, makes for a delayed part 2 blog post!  Part 2 of our vacation was fun & lots of photos were taken (enough for 2 more blog post), so sit back to see/read about the rest of our trip.

Brook playing on the neighborhood playground before we headed to meet the Greens.

We met up with the Greens & went to Kiawah Island, SC for a few days.  This was day one.  The girls were enjoying their reunion!

They all ran fearlessly towards the water!

Our ocean creature find

a cuter find on the beach :) 

 

Let the digging begin 

Team work

Moss trees

Making up for lost time/hugs!

Lots of love & sweet friendships here

Day 2 to the beach welcomed us with quite a sandstorm

Taking cover

Staying cool, & well, trying to avoid sand really, but it still got in her eyes.

Lauren, Isabella, & Miller 

Lauren & Laura

Happy birthday to Lauren!

Sitting by the dock of the bay

Brook & Lillian

Isabella & Brook

Me & my girls

A touch of South Carolina

Brook & Lillian got their menu artwork posted on the wall of the restaurant.

We played a really fun game around the table later that night.

Had us all laughing!

Shopping on the island 

Lots of silliness too!

I love how they are holding on to each other in this picture.

The cute old fashioned soda shop

One of my favorite things to do....Avery & I visiting & sharing a meal with the Greens.  A great way to close a fun trip.  Thanks Greens for hosting us & for a wonderful trip!