We are really enjoying this season of leaves!

 

So does Duke!

 

 

We are loving the afternoons

And the beautiful weather!

 

Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch 2014

Kristin captured this sweet moment between Cohen and Jax! 

Love this!

History

The kids are really absorbing the History Sentences we are learning each week, they love to read about them and sing them! These are mainly for Cohen but the other two hear it so much they are learning it too :)

They aren't the easiest to understand ;)

Presley tells us about George Washington. Caleb tells us about Columbus and Cohen talks about the Louisana Purchase (the costume he is still wearing from the night before). It got out of hand.

Fall Festival

This year we attended the Fall Festival through the YMCA. We decided last minute to go and had no costumes so I let the kids quickly find a costume.

We have a red power ranger, a transformer and Tinkerbell :)

The boys as you can imagine thought this was the best ever since they aren't even allowed to watch Transformers or Power Rangers. The costumes eventually got so out of hand that they are now.... put away! 

:)

But they did have a great time at the festival. Hay rides to meet Batman, Spiderman, and some other super heros they also got to pick a pumpkin from the glow in the dark pumpkin patch to bring home.

There were so many people there Zach and I were in survival mode trying to keep track of the kids so I didn't get one picture, but it was fun!

 

Mother Son Date Knight

Our local Chic-Fil-A hosted a "Mother Son Date Knight" the other night so the boys and I made sure to make our reservations to go :)

It's hard to get time with just them two! 

Zach enjoyed staying home with P and they enjoyed food on the couch and watching Pippy Longstocking so it was a special night for them two as well!

 

When we got there each boy gave me a rose.

So sweet!

 

They had it decorated beautifully!

 

It was a very special night!

 

brown bear brown bear

Sorry in advance for the dark lighting. This was an impromptu video :) 

we do this every.single.night. 

I like how she told Caleb "listen I reading to my mommy!".

By far the

 

most

fun three year old

to watch

play soccer this "season"!

 

Great job Caleb!

Calebs face!

 

Honey Mustard is the last chicken we have left and it was the one Cohen named.

She loves Cohen.

 

They sat on the couch like this for awhile.

We love Honey Mustard!

 

Homeschooling as we have learned is challenging, and even more challenging when you are working with different ages. I usually have to split them up to really get things accomplished but this morning Presley and Caleb loved working together.

 She loves the bears!

This is our CC homeschool board :)

Each week I can hang up the subjects and we review them during schooltime and even during meals. One thing we started is at dinner Zach will review the school work with Cohen before he is excused.

Do all things without complaining (Phillipians 2:14) is what Cohen had to write out when he was complaining of school work the other day. This stays up as a reminder.

Presley loves being teacher. She is holding up numbers and asking Caleb to tell her since he is working on number recognition. 

"Caleb what number is this?" 

"Good job buddy!" She is so encouraging!

And while I was working with the little two Cohen was upstairs playing "Columbus" and "Pilgrims" with Lego men.

Glad he is using things he is learning in History in his playtime!

(Maybe they had a tea party too since he did learn about the Boston Tea Party a few weeks ago) haha

Gluten Free Celebration

What better way to celebrate a year of being gluten/casein free then with a gluten free celebration? :)  We are so proud of Cohen! 

Last October we really needed to help our little fellow with some sleep insomnia issues among other issues we were having. I did some research and this diet was the last thing on our list to try but it was worth a shot. The thing about going gluten free is it is not immediate results, it can take 6 weeks to have gluten out of your system, so for at least 6 weeks you are trying something that you have no clue if it will work or not, trying new recipes, new foods etc. Within a few weeks Cohen was sleeping through the night but also MANY behavior issues improved. We have seen such a change in him and many many others have said so as well :)

When Cohen comes in contact with gluten or casein at this point since he has none in his system is immediate and... horrible although Praise God he does not have an allergy that will send him to a hospital or make him very ill.  He even says that gluten free really helps him in many areas of his life and will willingly refuse anything that is not gluten/milk free. 

The celebration tonight was to celebrate his maturity as well in this. At 4 years old Cohen was bringing his own food to Reformation Night, Thanksgiving, Christmas, his 5th birthday, many birthday parties, snacks to church, meals to sleepovers, his own meals at the beach, you name it and he did it....without complaining. He has sat through birthday parties watching his friends eat cupcakes while he eats "his special cupcake" mommy packed. He has never thrown a fit about the fact that Presley and Caleb get cookies at Momaw and Popaws but he gets a banana. This was his night where we all came together and had gluten free cake and brownies and told him how proud we are. Grammy, Papa Bill, Momaw and Popaw all came to show their support and encouragement. We also had a very special guest, Jax! Cohen was so excited to have his buddy here to celebrate with him!  Today was also special because he saw Papa Denning and Nonnie who came up from NC to visit shortly and told Cohen how proud they were of him!

I have never been one to believe in all this hype about gluten free when I kept hearing about it but now, I am a believer. Our whole family sees the difference! Gluten has taken over our foods which it used to not, gluten is not just in breads anymore but even found in things like Gatorade, lemonade and even gum and toothpaste!! Certain bodies just can't handle it. As an infant Cohen also had a hard time with milk and formula so this all just makes sense. People have asked how long Cohen will be gluten free, we pray he can outgrow it, but for now this is what is helping him. He has had gluten on accident a number of times and we see that he is still in need of this special diet. :) 

And of course he was rewarded with a few gifts at his celebration :)

I failed miserably at taking more pictures of the gluten free cake and brownies (which by the way, were really good) and our special guests who have been so supportive this whole time. A special night for a special boy! 

"Gluten free helps me sleep and have more control. I like being gluten free"

-Cohen 

Our soccer star! He scored 4 goals this past Saturday!

And 3 more goals for the other team

Oops! 

Only 2 more games to go! He is loving soccer and we are loving watching him!

Apples

Yesterday was declared Field trip day :) Cohen started his school work early so we could go and enjoy some time with friends and get some apples! And they learned something so it was a win win!

 He explains how the apples are sorted the kids really enjoyed this part!

Presley and Hank 

Love this of them!

Cohen enjoyed shopping for apples :)

We also got some fresh local honey and butter!

They were still talking about it when Daddy got home and we will be making more trips there!