The Scripture Sleuth

Bill and I got this series of books when we attended the Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati back in April. Similar to Encyclopedia Brown (the author said he was inspired by Encyclopedia) Concord Cunningham solves mysteries using clues that he relates to a bible verse that helps the reader figure out the solution.

Every summer for the last couple of years we read by candlelight and flashlight on the porch each evening in our jammies. The kids look forward to this as much as Bill and I do.

The original idea was to read a chapter of  The Scripture Sleuth and then read from our other novel. Well we have never gotten to the second book because we all love solving the mysteries that's all the kids want to read! The stories have clues and then a bible verse is given that will provide the solution. Bill reads aloud and then all the kids look the Bible verse up and read it. Then we talk about the verse and share the different versions that all our Bibles have. Then we discuss how that solves the mystery and then we check that with the solution in the back of the book.

I can't say enough good things about these books! They are such a great way for kids to use their Bible and really read and study verses in an interactive way. We bought everything in the series which was five books. The author said that he planned more in the future which is good news for us because we are all hooked!

Dispatch from the Front

Dispatch from the Front - "Battle of the Bulge" Kyle Miller

I am proud to be Kyle's mom everyday but today far exceeded all my pride. He has presented his Battle of the Bulge presentation to other groups and two weeks ago presented it to the Veterans, but today topped

them all. Today he presented all three services to our church congregation. He had both his grandma's and his grandpa at one of the services to watch. His siblings in another. Bill and I sat in the front all morning in total awe that this was our son. He has such an amazing presence, he has always been the type of person that people have been attracted to. He dreams of going into politics, and I don't doubt he will be successful. And you can count on Bill and I always being in the front row cheering him on.

We love you Kyle. You are an amazing person with so many talents you will go far in life!

Thank you Grommy for the boutonniere and for giving Kyle the article that started it all.

After the last service there was a flag retirement. Kyle and his friend from Boy Scouts, Taylor, assisted in the flag folding.

I adore this picture! Like father like son, in more ways than one.

This is my "mom" shirt. Kyle and I each got one when we made the DVD of his Veterans pictures. We took them to the meeting last week and had all the Veterans sign the back of our shirts.

Evenings

A few pictures from our yard after dinner...

We have tons of strawberries coming in!

 Many flowers are in full spring bloom...

Bathing suits are out and it is not even June yet!

Bug catching is in full swing, though this one got away!

We Love You Ethan!!

This is so belated but I wanted to get Ethan's second birthday celebration pictures up for everyone. He had a great birthday party with his family, he was deep in video games later that night! Thank you to everyone for making it such a special day for him. He so deserved a special day!

What a great big brother!

Ethan and his Grommy! And BJ and Whitney.

Nancy and Mimi

Celebrate!

Kyle celebrated his confirmation at church this Sunday. The service was so nice and the kids helped to organize everything including the song and bible verses. There was a breakfast for all confirmands and their families which was especially nice since we are always running late!

After confirmation we ran home grabbed lunch and then headed to the piano recital. This sounds crazy but I had no idea how much the kids had improved! The piano is being played all the time and I don't always know who is playing.

We ended the afternoon with a celebration at home with cake and family. It was a crazy busy weekend but so much fun!

Erin was by far the littlest pianist.

I know this is blurry but I love how Erin is giving Kyle "5" as she runs to her seat!

Dance Party!

Warning - Serious Mom Bragging Ahead!

I am so incredibly proud of my dancing girls. This was Lindy's 5th dance recital and Erin's 2nd and it was a great night.The theme was Dance Party and it was a party. I never get tired of watching them dance! Good thing too, since Lindy was in both shows today. She had an absolute ball, she has found her "thing" and she is good. This year she did tap and ballet both with her competition team. Because she is on competition all the different levels of competition get together to do the finale. Lindy has been working with the other teams over the last 3 weeks to learn the dance and it was a secret. She was so excited to be in on the finale! I am so proud of her, she can keep up with girls who are seniors in High School! She has a "big sis" assigned to her this year and she just loves her. She really feels a part of the "team" and it shows in her dancing.

Erin did tap and ballet and also did great. I was so impressed with her ballet this year. We moved her up a class and she did great keeping up and really has improved. She is right on Lindy's heels, it would not surprise me if she follows Lindy down the competition road.

Paige had a really fun time watching tonight with her friend Rachel. She took the year off from dance but is planning on returning to her tap/ballet/jazz/ classes next year. Lindy is also going to add jazz back in next year.

Bill is looking forward to purchasing 9 costumes next year!!

Lindy you are an awesome dancer, Daddy and I are very proud of you!

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - these girls won their competition 2 weeks ago for this dance and it showed tonight. They have this down!

Erin's ballet piece was Somewhere Over the Rainbow. We love you Erin!

Goochie Goochie Goo means that I love you! Erin's tap ~

The Climb, Lindy's ballet is absolutely beautiful! I cry every time I watch this dance and so do the other moms. There is just something so amazingly neat about this dance.

it could be how they all work together to do this lift, and Lindy is the one being lifted.

Thank you to Miss Sandy our dance teacher. Lindy has never had another teacher and she loves Miss Sandy!

Finale pictures - Lindy is the little one in green!