A Beautiful Vue: Growing Boy

Wow! Look at this kid...where did our baby go? I took this picture after his last night of soccer camp. He had a blast and he's played hard, can you tell? I looked at this picture later on and thought to myself when did he get so tall and that I can see a glimpse of the boy face giving way to a man face. It's crazy to think how fast time has passed since he was born. I could go on and on but I wont! Tru you are one awesome kid who never ceases to amaze us and we are so grateful God blessed us with you. Man I love this growing boy!

Review: Time4Learning Online Curriculum

This past spring Tru and I hit a wall with his school. He was getting bored with the traditional book work curriculum and we were butting heads a bit when it was time sit down and get his work finished. So I did a little research and came across Time4Learning. It looked like it would be a good supplement to what we were already using. I also thought a we both would appreciate a change. So we signed him up and we've been using it about 2 1/2 months now and it has become our main curriculum that we use along with our more traditional workbook lessons.

Basically, Time4Learning offers 4 different subjects Language Arts, Math, Science, and Language Arts Extensions (which is like social studies) all in one online package. Once your signed up, your child can log in to their account, and get started. You can pick which subjects you want your child to work on and even build a lesson plan. We focus on the language arts and the math, but sometimes he will use the other subjects. When it comes to science and history I pull a lot from our local library. Both the language arts and math lessons do a great job of getting the material across to him while keeping it engaging and fun! The math lessons have pages you can print out to go with the lessons, too.

Within the first month his reading had improved and he was much more confident about reading on his own. I think he actually enjoys reading a little more now. Tru is in the first grade level, but Time4Learning gives us the option to go a level below or ahead anytime we want. Also, we can retake any lesson if he needs to. I can log in to my parent account and track his progress. It helps me see where he might need to review a lesson, how long he spent on each lesson, and records everything he's done. I can also set up how long his sessions are and use a variety of parent resources like spelling word lists, science supply lists, and reading lists. You can also put together your lesson plans which I found helpful. When it comes to price I think it's pretty reasonable for our family living on one income. It's 19.95 a month for one child and then 14.95 for each additional child after that. There isn't any kind of contract either, so we can cancel at any time if we need to.

Now when Tru is working on his lessons it doesn't give him the option to pause a lesson. So if he's in the middle of it and needs to use the restroom or gets distracted (it happens) he might miss something and can't go back over it with out retaking the whole lesson. It would be nice to have a way to pause the lessons or come back to one particular place in the lesson. It hasn't posed any major problems, but he's not always as enthusiastic about a lesson the second time around. It is not a Christian based curriculum so you wont find any bible lessons or anything like that. I'm with Tru while he's working on his lessons and we've never had any problems with the curriculum conflicting with our beliefs or anything like that. I think Time4Learning would work well with everyone's approach to schooling their children.

All in all as a homeschooling family we have had a great experience with Time4Learning and will continue to use it as Tru finishes first grade this summer. I hope this has been helpful to anyone who is thinking about using Time4Learning and I would be happy to answer any questions. I enjoy teaching my boys at home and using this curriculum with our first grader has helped make it a little more enjoyable for all of us!


***As a member of Time4Learning, I have been given the opportunity to review their program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. For more information, check out their standards-based curriculum or learn how to write your own curriculum review.

Father's Day Photo Shoot

I'm a tad late on the Father's Day post. We just had so much fun last Sunday and I didn't get a chance until today to get on the laptop. And anytime I have a chance to dote on my guy, I want to take it!
I could not ask for better Daddy for our boys than J. He loves them so much. When he walks through the front door at the end of the day the boys are always there to greet him with squeals and smiles. He is the type of dad who gets down on the floor and plays with them. He holds and hugs them and patiently teaches and guides them. He works hard for his family and we are so blessed to have him leading us!
For Father's Day this year I got the boys together for pictures. The idea was for the boys to hold signs that would line up to read "Happy Father's Day!" and "We love Papa" and "Papaw". I had seen a few different versions on Pinterest and thought it would be a great gift.


Well I was right about it being a great gift, everyone loved them, especially J! It was a simple idea, but even the simplest idea can turn complicated when 1 year old twins are involved. They weren't interested in holding signs imagine that, right. With Levi I couldn't catch him looking at the camera. And Liam, well, he wouldn't sit still for more than a few seconds. Signs were thrown to the ground, stomped on, and sat on. Tru was a huge help with distracting and yes even tossing a few crackers in laps just so I could get a still shot. There was only one melt down. In the end I had a lot of pictures and only a few that I thought would work.









I guess when your 1 you really have no desire to pose for pictures. It makes me laugh after looking at our out-take photos. Tru was more than willing to pose and have his photo taken. He has always enjoyed that, one might say he's a little bit of a ham. It all turned out great in the end and I think J had the best Father's Day yet!

A Beautiful Vue: Liam

He loves to swing!

A Beautiful Vue: Our Song

Today or maybe yesterday depending on how fast I get this post out, J & I had our ninth wedding anniversary! We're going to celebrate this weekend, but he did do something really special for me. He had one of our best friends, who is a very talented artist, paint the lyrics of our wedding song. Check it out...

Our friend, Jessica, painted these pieces and did a great job. Some of the words have flecks of gold shimmer to them and the colors are exactly what I would've picked out. I just love these pieces! She is so talented. I am always amazed at what she can do. She has a really great blog, TechnaChroma, where she writes about all the projects she is working on, the different artists who inspire her and pictures of it all from murals she's painted to individual pieces you can even purchase. Check her out here!

The lyrics are from the song, The One, by Skillet. We listened to a lot of Skillet through our dating years...I don't think in J's mind we were ever dating though. He says he knew from early on that I was the right person, so I guess he was just biding his time waiting on me to catch up. It took me a little longer to know. So anyway this song was the song I walked down the aisle to at our wedding. We knew from the first time we heard it that it would be our wedding song...it didn't take me long with that decision. Anyway, I think he did great job with this one. I know he put a lot of thought into it and it means something to him,too. Whenever we look at these paintings it will remind us of our beginnings and the story of US. But best of all that our story has got many many years to add to it...I'm thinking at least 50 or 60 more! Thank you Jody. I love you & Happy Anniversary!

Twinsie Tuesday: Bath Time Stories

Living with a house full of boys is not a clean job. Tru is pretty self sufficient when it comes to bathing. It is a job when it comes to bathing two messy toddlers. Bath time when the twins were infants took a lot of preparation and time. We bathed them separately. If J was home, he would take the clean baby and do the drying job while I took the next baby and bathed them. If it was just me at home, I would pull the bouncy seats in with me. So while one baby was sitting in his seat I would bathe the other, then drying and dressing that baby in the bathroom, and putting him back in his bouncy. Then start the process all over again while the first baby would watch safely from his bouncy seat. It wasn't a fast ordeal, but it worked. I never felt comfortable with two infants in the bath tub at the same time, even with the the bath seats.

Now that they are a little older, 19 months last week, they take their baths together. I still have to be prepared. Probably now more than before. I collect the supplies. Towel, wash cloth, diapers, lotions, and pajamas. I gather up the twins, herding is a more accurate word for it. Closing the door behind me because one always manages to make a run for it while I'm helping his brother. Once both boys are in the tub I let them play for a couple of minutes before we start washing. They each get a cup to play with, who needs expensive bath toys, right. They have started rinsing themselves off, each other, and sometimes even me. Very rarely do I make it out of a bath time with dry clothes and recently I had a cup of water dumped on my head while washing their hair. I guess he thought he'd help me multitask. The floor is almost always a little wet too. I don't let bath time run too long, I then scrub them down, and once it's over I pull the plug and pull one boy out at a time. Drying and dressing him quickly next to the tub while the other little boy splashes and plays. It's not always an easy task bathing two wiggling toddlers at the same time, but it has been the most efficient.

We do a little double duty during bath time too. I brush their teeth before we bathe them. They both love this because when I finish brushing their teeth they get to practice on their own. They will actually ask to brush their teeth...I'm going to ride that wave as long as possible! It's the perfect time because they are sitting still and we get in their night time teeth brushing out of the way. Bath time can feel like a drudgery. So I try to mix it up with bubbles and bring out the toys when they just wont be still. Then there are those days where I have just sat them both in the tub and rinsed them off just to be finished with it. But my favorite thing about bath time is the time I get with them separately while drying and dressing. Ever since they were infants, I took this time to talk to them and cuddle them one on one. They still have the clean baby smell after bath time,too. It's usually the craziest and loudest right before and during baths. But bath time is also a signal for them and the rest of us that the day is winding down. I had read when Tru was little how important a bedtime routine is, so we always used a bath as the beginning of that routine. By the end of bathing the boys and getting them ready for bed I welcome the bedtime routine. It means a bedtime story, prayers, and hugs. One of the best parts of our day!

Book Review: How We Love Our Kids

I was really excited to get this book in. It took me a little while to finish it. I have to have quiet to read and there is very little quiet in house full of boys. Thankfully I found time this afternoon during nap time to finish and I'm glad I did...


When I finished reading How We Love Our Kids I was encouraged to be a better parent. I caught some insight on my flaws and how to overcome them. The book covers 5 different love styles of parenting, what those parenting styles look like as children, and unique qualities to look for in our children. I did have a little difficulty pinpointing my own love style of parenting, but when I looked over the Parent Toolbox in the back of the book it helped me better understand. It also talked about how understanding your children's feelings, validating them, and then helping them communicate their feelings is vital to their success as adults. It gave a great list of "soul word" to help describe those feelings in the Parent Toolbox.

My favorite part of the book came in the final chapters. These chapters go over the seven gifts that every child needs from their parents and how to give them. The gifts are Insights, Comfort, Power, Frustration, Confession, Laughter, and God. Each of these last chapters explain what they are and how to apply them in our families. Also, what can happen if these gifts aren't received. The final chapter covers the gift of God and was the best way to tie the book up. It talks about how we as parents have an important job in reflecting God's love to our children and how God has set up a blueprint for parenting. Milan and Kay Yerkovich pull it all together by pointing to God's word, stating that God is love and how he relates to us in 3 primary ways bringing about results only He can bring. I think I like this chapter the most because of this exert...

"God is our perfect model for parenting. If we imitate God's love as detailed in 1 Corinthians 13, we will see our kids, seeking to know them for who they are, always trying to understand and meet their deepest needs. We'll initiate relationship by entering their world and walking toward the miracle and the mess, even when our kids don't appreciate it. We'll teach them to manage the consequences of their actions, but always with the loving goal of repair and restoration of relationship. And we'll seek to find the balance of offering justice in love. At times parenting will require great sacrifice. We'll have to give up some of our freedom, endure losses, and sometimes grieve, but we must never give up trying to break down barriers that separate our kids from love. This is what God does."

This last chapter energized me as a parent. It reminded me that being a parent isn't a job...it is a ministry probably one of the most important ministries there is. We set the pace for these little ones and is not something to be taken lightly. What an incredible responsibility and gift! I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to read this book.

***I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah in exchange for an honest review.