Cover Contest Entry

Micah submitted an entry into the Eastside Explorers' 2011-2012 Yearbook cover contest.  He is in the 7 and older group who compete for the front cover.  The theme for the yearbook is: Journey.  Micah's entry is a picture of a little boy walking around his neighborhood (fits our home study theme too) with the verse:  "Love your neighbor as you love yourself" Galatians 5:14.  That is a journey!  Judging was today at the Fall is Fun Festival.

Art Class - Acrylics

Micah attended his first art lesson with Mrs. Whitehouse.  She's a member of Scottsdale Bible Church and has been working with the Bubar boys using acrylic paints on canvas.  I've been impressed with their work and finally gave her a call.  Her websites are:

http://www.amywhitehousepaintings.com/
www.amywhitehousepaintings.blogspot.com

Yesterday's class consisted of Micah & two of the Bubar boys (Joey & Willy).
Micah LOVED it! They did a festive fall arrangement. Mrs. Whitehouse's comment for Micah "he's very teachable."

Neighborhood Party

We enjoy hosting a neighborhood party regularly.  Due to our unit study and the timing of the sermons at church (Grace and your Neighbors), we chose to challenge ourselves and extend our invitation to all 30 houses on E. Williams Drive.  The kids and I used our maps, made our invitations, and walked them to each of the houses.  Our dinner party was Saturday October 15th - 8 homes were represented and it was a wonderful evening.

2305 E. Williams Drive

This is our address:  2305 E. Williams Drive.  How many houses are on 'our drive'?  How many of those neighbors do we know, know well?  We went out today to find out.  The kids grabbed their scooters, and I had the clipboards, paper and pencils.  We made the rounds, stopping at each house to gather our information.  The kids made maps, drew houses, and wrote the house number on each square.  We talked about who lived in each house - names (first, last), and any other information we could come up with.  When we got home, we made an enlarged version of their maps and added all the names, phone numbers and email addresses that we had available.

Barton House - Beauty Pageant Escort

During our September visit to the Barton House, Ellen asked Micah to attend their beauty pageant social event and be their escort. She asked him to wear dress pants, a nice shirt, and a tie. Today was the day. The Barton House #1 pageant started at 11:30am, we were to have lunch with them, and then we'd walk over to the Barton House #2 for their pageant at 2:30pm. We love to share Jesus with them on a monthly basis, but the social events are a great opportunity to interact with them more, see more of their personalities, and meet family members. It was an outstanding day!! I was so very proud of both kids. Micah did an amazing job listening to his instructions, being a team player, taking care of the residents, and voting. He walked each participant down the "runway" - by holding their hand or pushing their wheelchair.  Lilly did a terrific job watching, sitting in (or around) her chair, and letting me take pictures and video. It was well organized and we had a great day with our friends!
Here he is with the winners:  Sally, Mary Sue, and Patty.

Our Home / Community Unit

This is our home, a temporary residence, that God has blessed us with while we are here on Earth.

In this unit we will be learning about our home, neighborhood, and community in which we live.  We will have lessons on:

addresses

phone numbers

community helpers

thank you notes

As we live out our days on this Earth, as Christians we can rely on these promises:  (Our memorizing verses)

• "We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from Heaven."  Philippians 3:20
• "The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you."  John 14:26

As we learn these verses, Micah & Lilly are well aware that these promises are for those that have recognized themselves as sinners, have accepted Jesus' gift of crucifiction on the cross, have received Him as their Savior, and are ready to follow Him.

CrackerJax

We brought our 'summer sticker charts' to fruition this weekend with a trip to CrackerJax. The kids chose CrackerJax as their prize for reaching the 500 stickers goal. We purchased a great Groupon for four 4-hour tickets to CrackerJax on a weekend day. This Saturday was a perfect day for it - the weather was overcast - cool enough to not sweat the whole time, but still warm enough to be comfortable when we got wet in the bumper boats.  This was our first time to do the bumper boats as a family - it was so fun!  We were all laughing so hard out there.
Lilly was 36" and was able to drive the mini go-karts for the first time.  Micah was able to drive the bumper boats by himself.  It was neat for both of them to reach these milestones.

Lilly's Cupcake Corner goes "real"

Lilly has spent months making "pretend" cupcakes, muffins, etc. for her business "LILLY'S CUPCAKE CORNER". We made "real" cupcakes on Wednesday. At the grocery on Sunday, she picked out the flavor of cupcakes and frosting.  We put on our aprons and got fixing - small and large cupcakes!  Lilly poured, mixed, baked, frosted, and sprinkled. Then, we wrapped them up on pretty pink plates, attached a note, and delivered them to some of our neighbors. Lilly got some 'assistants' throughout the day - Micah helped with frosting and sprinkling; Kaitlyn (her friend) helped with deliveries. She was so excited to do this. It was a very special day for her.