July 26, 2012

You know that this day is a gift...right?  Every single day...even the ones that aren't fun....even the ones that you are sick...even the ones that you have to say goodbye to someone you love....even the ones that someone does something really hurtful to you on...every single day...a beautiful precious gift.  I'm thankful for it.  I'm not guaranteed tomorrow...and I am not to worry for tomorrow.  I shall just be thankful for this beautiful gift of a day and the people and the God that I get to spend it with...even if it's just in my mind and heart. 

If you look closely at the picture above....you will see Daddy.  

Every night when possible, Daddy curls up with Hannah on the top bunk and plays "Hannah Saves Daddy".  They have all kinds of different scenarios...like, Daddy has been pulled into a black hole and needs Hannah to pull him out or Daddy is stuck in a giant piece of chewed up bubble gum.  Here, they are wrapping up the night with some cuddling and them telling each other how much they love the other several times.  "I love you as much as from the moon and back and then around the Earth 100 times!"  These moments are made of the stuff that makes life good.

And the final pictures for the day...Hannah is working on golf.  We found her a great golf teacher that meets with her for an hour a week.  So...maybe in a few years...we'll all be able to go out on the courses together!  Well...once Henry starts figuring it out.  

July 17, 2012

We had a lot of fun hanging out at the park tonight.  A live band provided some great dancing music!

 Hannah is LOVING Forest Camp!  I on the other hand am finding myself missing her throughout the day while she is gone.  She's growing up too fast.

Henry here is earning is keep here.  We make him do yard work for his food.  :0)

¿A dónde debo ir?

We just completed another Spanish video!  All of the singing is Hannah this time!  We hope you enjoy it!

July 15, 2012

Who's the best Daddy in the whole wide world?  I'll give you one guess.  :0)  Martin hasn't had much time with the kids.  But, when he walks through that door, he gives them his undivided attention.  He can be seen with both of them on his back, having a tickle fight, running around chasing each other (and me!), laughing and playing.   One of my favorite things about my honey is what an amazing dad he is!

We went to the dollar store and bought 2 water squirt toys.  That was the best $2 I believe I have ever spent!

Our library does a "Legopalooza" once a week.  It's a great chance for Hannah to hang with other kids and get creative.  I love our library.  They provide many wonderful (and FREE) activities!

Here is Henry taking his monthly bath.  JK...this boy would take 5 baths a day if I let him.  

One exciting thing is that we just wrapped up another year of Vacation Bible School.  Hannah absolutely loved it!  It was about "Getting Down to Lift God High".  They learned about God's character while having a blast dancing to great music, playing games doing crafts and making a lot of friends.  To me, VBS week is a great chance to really focus on what life is about....our relationships!  Our relationships with God and with others is what it's all about.  Henry had a great time hanging with me in the nursery with some other little kidos!  He wore big boy underwear all week and was almost accident free. :0)

July 11, 2012

Playing with friends...Hannah had to go a long time without friends while we were on the East Coast and while we traveled.  Having these old friends (who were our friends in Connecticut and Hawaii) here in Washington has been such a gift.  The kids each have a friend about their age and have really enjoyed playing with them. 

This picture was taken at the library.  Once a week they do a time where volunteers read with kids and they have puzzles and other activities. 

These pictures are from what to me was about as great of a day as I could dream up.  We went to a HUGE and BEAUTIFUL park and played a lot...and then launched rockets.  Rocket launching is a new favorite activity for us.

This rose is in our backyard.  Gorgeous.  

Hannah has a new chore- cutting coupons.  :0)

Puedo Ir Al Parque?

We are trying to learn Spanish.  Why you ask?  Because...learning a language makes a person better at learning many new things, including other languages.  Learning a new language creates new pathways in the brain that otherwise, would not develop.  Knowing more than one language is an asset as an adult.  And, it makes traveling more fun!  We started with Spanish because we are most likely to encounter Spanish and because it is one of the easiest ones to learn.

To make learning Spanish more exciting, we have created this music video.  Hannah and I wrote all this music (on the I-pad...a program called Garage Band) and put this video together to go with it.  You will see a lot of Hannah's great video work and acting....not bad for a 5 year old if you ask me!  :0)  Thank you for checking it out!


The point of the video is that the kid wants to go to the park but the house is a total mess.  She pushes an easy button that helps her clean in super speed in order to get her mom to let her go to the park.  Also- all the videos were taken with my phone.  So, the quality is not amazing. 

July 5, 2012

Happy Independence Day (a day late)!  Unfortunately, Martin had to work on the Fourth...but we did go check out the fireworks over Liberty Bay and then we did sparklers with great friends!  It was fun watching Henry get into the poppers.  I had to keep dodging the poppers that Martin kept throwing at me! :0)

A couple days ago, the kids and I checked out a local farm.  

They were trying to "talk" to the chickens.

 We did a lot of cleaning this week.  Martin was right in saying that we need to work harder at getting the kids to help with chores more.  Hannah is learning how to dust, help with laundry and other chores like that.  Henry likes vacuuming....maybe his wife will thank me someday! :0)

We made jet packs for the kids out of plastic bottles and leftover rocket ship spray paint.  

Taking Henry's lead, we are now getting into learning about Space.  We covered the wall in the kids' room with black paper and covered it with glow-in-the-dark planets and stars.  Hannah is sporting her spy glasses in this picture.

One of many things I love about homeschooling...impromptu field trips!  We founds starfish, snails, clams, crabs and all kinds of creatures that we have no idea what they are.  I need to get a book to bring next time that will help us identify our findings. 

July 2, 2012

The Sprague household has really enjoyed these past several days.  Martin returned from Rhode Island on his birthday (June 29).  Today is Martin's first real day of work at his new job! 


This is the cake that Hannah and I made for Martin's birthday. 

These are pictures of the kids reading.  We just love that they love books!

And these two pictures are of Henry's new ROCKET BED!  Martin and Hannah worked together all weekend to turn the bunk beds into a rocket, complete with control panels and a hatch! 

This picture is Hannah's creation of the double swinger.  She moved around the swings in a way that allows her to push Henry on his car swing by swinging on the lower swing.