We Went. We Climbed. We Conquered!

For the last 3 years Clint and I have not gone on any outdoor adventures besides the ones where we can bring a double stroller and have a 3 year old walk. It's been...taxing on our personal life. If Clint doesn't get to be outdoors on a regular basis he gets grumpy. He's a modern day mountain man at heart. Serious. I'm not even exaggerating. This is one of the things that brought us together when we first met and it's been missed. 

Since this was technically the first outing for our family that didn't require strollers, I totally bombed on packing and forgot...Well...Everything. Clint kept asking, "well what if .... happens?" and I said it hasn't before. His sly response, "there's a first time for everything." Boy.was. he. right. 

Lets just say we did switcharoos and makeshift clothing for a couple of our tots! 

I was so proud of Bria! She walked the entire way. Such a big girl. I am so thankful she loves the outdoors. She insisted on bringing her own backpack too. She carried her water and 4 baby dolls. You know, She needed the essentials. 

Out here. We are complete. We are home. We are together. We are alive. We are thankful. We are happy. We are us...

We went. We climbed. We conquered...Brown Mountain was defeated by the Shultz family. Done.

Fall in Love ...

There is just something about fall that I love. I love the coziness it brings with the hot coffee, large sweaters, boots, and fires. The smell of the air even changes and I get giddy. My mood changes, I'm happier, more energized, more creative. I'm excited.

Some of you may be thinking that it's a wee bit too early to decorate for the season. But me? I couldn't wait. These went up this week and I am in love.

These are very, very minimal decorations, but that's why I started so early! I have a hard time finding the right decorations for our house. My husband insisted that we have the skulls of the animals he shot in Africa (every single part of the animal was used. The meat was donated to orphanages and given to the town).

Happy Fall Ya'll! 

(hehe, I have always wanted to say that!) 

Homeschool Adventures

This year I have the privilege of staying home with my lovely trio and homeschool... After a little bit of a rough start, on the start of the third week we are getting the hang of a routine! I love homeschooling my babies because of the simple fact of being in the walls of your own home.

You can have your baby brother near you playing with blocks: 

Your little sister in her "princess hair" (seriously, I can't get her to take it off at home. It's her princess hair. Don't you dare touch it!) :

You can take as long as you want to get through calendar (within reason of course. If Big B want's to go on a tangent about how the moon sleeps at night when it's sunny out-by all means, we can create an entire story about the moon and the sun) :

We can have our own placemats to work on: 

We can learn our Haida (Hi Duh) language and embrace our culture with our Aunt: 

We can play with Wonder Man Weather Puppet ("Mom, he's Wonder Man because he wonders what the weather is until I tell him!" -Big B)

And best of all...Free time can be spent by playing barbies. Every time. 

We will be using the ABC Jesus Loves Me curriculum that focus' on Christian principals while learning academic standards. Even if your not homeschooling and you want to teach Christian values, use this! You can suppliment activities or just do the stories each week!  Here is an excerpt from their site: 

"ABC Jesus Loves Me is a comprehensive, research-based preschool curriculum for ages 2-5 that focuses on academics, development, and the Bible. The four 36-week curricula incorporate learning into the toddler's and preschooler's day instead of controlling it, allowing the child to explore, play, and learn new things.  Our website includes thousands of lesson plans, printables, and supportive ideas to guide the child's learning and help the adult be intentional throughout the day.  The entire site is free for family use while Licenses may be purchased for preschool, church, and business use.  Lesson plans and workbooks are available to order in book form."

We will also be incorporating the curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler and her Letter of The Week Curriculum which is very cheap in her store ($15) for the amount of amazing printables and activities you get. Yes, she is very generous! You even get the entire lesson plans for the whole thing! It's amazing and the girls love it! 

With just these two curriculums we will be super busy. They both have worksheets that are to be used, but more than that, they both have compiled many art and hands on activities! 

Do you homeschool? Are you using a curriculum? Please share, I would love to hear from you!