Friday Funny

 Our power rarely goes off here, and when it does, it is usually restored very quickly.

Last week though, it was off for several hours.  We’d been in the dark for awhile, when Ellie looked up and said, “We need to turn off the TV!”

Me: “It is off.”

E: “But the red light isn’t in!”

Me: “Because there is no power...”

E: “ Oh.”

Our dark night

Friday Funny

 K: I found out I could over ride the Roku remote with my phone, and dad was like, “What?!”

J: It didn’t take me very long to figure it out.

K: Stupid college.

Award Ceremony

Our AHG officially kicked off with an online badge ceremony.  We got a photo to commemorate it.  My girls earned badges, service stars, fun patches, and religious awards.

Ellie earned her God and Me.  Gabby earned God and Church.  Katie earned God and Life (the last religious award available to her).  I had the honor of being their counselor through all of the religious programs.  Sometimes the girls did them with a friend and sometimes solo.  At this point, I’ve been able to teach all five levels of the PRAY Program.

All three also earned Presidential Volunteer Service Awards.  Gabby with 134 hours (gold)

Katie with 110 hours (gold)

Ellie with 31 hours (bronze)

Katie’s other awards:

Creative Writing Badge

Toys & Games Badge

Citizenship & Government Badge

Book Adventurer Badge

Young Meteorologist Badge

2 Service Stars

Gabby’s other awards:

Toys & Games Badge

Citizenship & Government Badge

Young Meteorologist Badge

6 Service Stars

Ellie’s other awards: 

Cake Decorating Badge

Puppetry Badge

Home Care & Repair Badge

Horsemanship Badge

Citizenship & Government Badge

Dawn of Our Country Badge

Our Flag

Young Meteorologist Badge

Engineering Badge

7 C's of History Badge

Special Delivery Badge

Travel Badge 3 Service Stars Scripture Memory Pin

Silly gals

Lighting candles for our ceremony.

The Past Week

 

Waiting in the sunshine on a super hot afternoon.

Ready for a drive in registration night for AHG.  Gabby was there to pass out the badges everyone earned that she helped plan and assemble.

Lucy’s first pup cup, trying to convince her we go places other than the vet.

Our new AHG handbooks arrived, so the older two began working on the Graphic Design Badge, which is new.

Our not spoiled dog

Picked up a pack of rubber bands from the orthodontist because Katie ran out.  She is using six at a time, trying to finish up the work on her bite.  Hopefully she’ll get her end date next week at her appointment!

“Back” to School

 We had an odd summer, with a few weeks of school worked in, but today we are starting with our normal five day a week schedule.  Well, as normal as a week with a new puppy can be.

We are so grateful that learning at home is already our routine, that the library is at least open for pick up, and that we get to learn together again.

Ellie says spelling is her favorite.

Gabby is excited to study and teach mythology.

Nate likes The Physics of Superheroes.

Katie has always loved Egyptian history, so that’s her favorite of this year.

Of course our mascots needed to join us for a photo.  I’m not sure Bellum has been outside the house without a carrier before!  Big day for the guinea pig.

These are *most* of our books for the year.  We still use the library of course, but these are quite a few of our books for Tapestry of Grace and some math and science.

Happy School Year!!

Puppy

 I look at training a puppy much the way I think of training up a child.  It is a lot of work in the beginning to get the payoff in the end.

Her favorite spot in on or between my feet.

Lucy came to us mostly piddle pad trained for urine.  We had started to get the other down, but we had regression after her shots yesterday, which is not too surprising.

She is very socially motivated.  She likes to have her people close.  We generally are keeping her in our eat in kitchen until potty training is a bit better in hand, with leashed visits to the rest of downstairs.

She loves to chew, so we got her plenty of toys for that to sub in for us. 🙂

She doesn’t love the collar, but she loves to go out on walks.  We’ve taken her to Sonic and the vet.

Walk Worthy

One of the things we love about AHG and Trail Life is the fact that there is a Christian spiritual component built in, along with the way it is woven throughout the program.

Nate is in the Mountain Lion level (4 & 5th grade) of the Woodland Trails (elementary aged).  He has  spent the past year completing branch pins from the eight areas that they emphasize, like Life Skills, Outdoor, and Science & Technology.  He has also been working on the Worth Life program.

He spent twelve weeks (there was a 10 week requirement, but the study we chose had 12 weeks of lessons) in Bible Study, then taught us all about the Armor of God.  He even made sure to write questions that fit each of his sisters to be sure they learned what he taught.

He read the books of Mark, Galatians, and Joshua, writing a note for each chapter.

He needed to memorize 3 Bible verses, but we challenged him to memorize the Armor of God passage (several verses) plus two more, so he did.

He kept a prayer journal for months.

He kept track of his church attendance too.  We missed one day for travel, so the thought we should keep track for longer, many of his days ended up marked as online, but he was there watching, and returned at the first opportunity.

He helped at an AHG Daddy Daughter Dance, handling coat check.  The tips he made were given, on his behalf, to a local food pantry where he sometimes volunteers.

It was a good bit of work.  Then last night, he met, via Zoom, with a Trail Guide to review his work.  At the next ceremony, he will receive his third Worthy Life award, having earned it at Fox and Hawk as well.

Congratulations Nathaniel!!!

Everyone Loves Lucy

The kids have been asking for a dog for a very long time.

Yesterday we met this girl.

She likes to nap, but has to adjust to sleeping at night here.

She loves to cuddle.

She loves the kids.  They got her to chase them in the yard today, after they convinced her grass was okay.