Baby Shower for Maria and baby Emmitt!

Today we enjoyed a baby shower for Maria and baby Emmitt. We are anxiously awaiting his arrival in October. It will be so much fun to have another baby in the family. The Darnell family graciously offered their home for the party and about 25 women attended. Mom Norris wrote a beautiful poem for Tom and Maria that she shared with the women. Maria enjoyed the afternoon and was so grateful for all the adorable gifts.

Hail, King Fluffy!!!!

Our laundry room has become a royal palace,the kids are in their royal robes and King Fluffy, the cat is on his (actually her) throne. The spy who resembles Batman is annoying the royal attendants and trying to steal the King. All true battles end in tears and this one was no exception. A battle wound to the back stopped the spy in his tracks! The royal mommy misses the royal daddy as he is in Boston, but at least she has some comic relief.

Family Work Day, Life Skills and Family Fun Night!

Every Friday, we take a break from the typical school day and have our "Family Day". At 7:30am, Jason and I take turns taking one of the kids out to breakfast for a "date". We then begin Family Work Day. Jason always does a short devotional on working hard as compared to being a sluggard. Then we do our little Baker chear, "Every day in every way, we get a little better, Hey!" Work day consists of all indoor cleaning and outside yard care. This takes us about 3-4 hours. If my children grow up and don't know how to care for their homes and yards, we have failed at one of our goals. First and foremost, we want them to love the Lord, but we also want them to have good work ethic and be able to take care of the things God gives them. After Family Work Day, Jason works with the boys and I work with the girls on other life skills. Provi is still learning how to knit. The boys learn a varitety of skills. After, all these things take place, Family Fun Night begins. It is tradition to have pizza (homemade or bought), then we watch a movie or do other fun activities outside and then kids sleep in the living room.

Musician in Training!

Brayden and Dallas will be taking guitar lessons, starting in October. I think Brayden has "the look" covered, now he just needs the training.

Riding Lesson!

Providence started horse riding lessons on Wednesday. She is learning English style and her teacher is excellent. The horse (Cosmo) is quite a bit larger than any that Provi has been on before and she was intimidated at first. However, it didn't take long for her to realize that Cosmo is extremely gentle and well-trained. This is just one step closer to us becoming true "Country Folk". The boys are starting Western style lessons next Tuesday with our neighbor.