For my children

End of the Year Thoughts

Papaw put this inspiring sign up in his building. He asked Jackson to tell him what it meant to him.

He gave it some thought, had a little discussion, and away he went writing.

Very pleased indeed!

I asked this sweet bird what it meant to “not give up”
I also posed the question what was something you once could not do.

Her words! I wrote it down for her and then she copied it.

We have some work to do. He tends to start strong, becomes distracted with a thought, then moves away from the topic.

Hopefully he always learns a service to others.

He chose a president card and had to write something he learned.

Love my worker!

June 1, 2014
Categories: Abigail's Work, Jackson's Work . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

MAY DAYS!

Let’s play all kinds of ball

Another fun crown

Sunshine is the best in the late afternoon

Look what Amy Jo found us, an antique school desk!

Little bird likes playing in empty boxes

Jackson and Puddels

Abigail is “certain” her ducks “love” to be “cradled like babies!”

I snapped several of her holding Marigold and they ALL make me laugh each time I look at this duck in her arms.

“Feel how soft this moss is Mommy”

Sunshine breaking through

The place where sky meets earth

Such deep red color in this beautiful creature

While out playing we found this little bird. All three wanted to keep it!

Finding flat, smooth rocks is treasure time

Happy Mother’s Day to me, naming each of my blessings one by one.

By Abigail

By Abigail, she took a picture of her shadow as we were walking. She calls it her angel. I sometimes really like the innocent way she thinks!

Jackson planned to to play his first game of putt putt when he turned seven.

Although a cold mid May Day, we finally were able to play a quick round.

Celebrating Cousin Elijah’s graduation from preschool.
Even though I don’t have a photo to share, we also cheered him on a for a tee ball game.

Jaydie at bat

Jayden at her Gymnastic program. Hooray for Jaydie, again not a picture, but she received multiple honors on awards day for her 3rd grade accomplishments.

Fun with new baby dolls and construction toys

Fun with each other

We enjoyed a field trip with our homeschool group to the Knoxville Botanical Garden where we learned about plants, composting, and saving seeds. We listened to a story, did a craft, planted tomatoes, corn and beans, and eggplant. We also learned about the Indian Legend of “Three Sisters”

May has been busy…no wonder it’s one of our favorites!

May 31, 2014
Categories: Excursions, Memories, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Jackson Sawyer

My baby boy is turning SEVEN!

We LOVE “birthday week” at this house!

Excitement is not easily contained!

We were joined for our fun by Jaydie’s friend Sally and Uncle Tommy’s granddaughter Jenna.

Amy and Stephanie were there also

For our birthday pilgrimage, we took Jackson to the mountains.

A trail to the highest peak in North Carolina, freezing cold, but an amazing view.

A picnic with cake on the peak of a mountain.

By Abigail, we want this tree for Christmas.

My favorite boys!

Out of the cold elevation and back in the warmer city, with a quick unzip, we converted our pants to shorts and traded our hiking shoes for flip flops!

Next, find a pool for some splashing fun.

Back on a trail, a mountain to sea trail.

A water break and a rest

An amazing sky view

I love this seven year old birthday boy. He fills my head with frustrations, but more importantly, he gives my heart it’s beat and fills my soul with the sweetest, purest form of joy.

Oh joy of joys!
Happy Birthday Jackson Sawyer Hall

May 13, 2014
Categories: Excursions, Memories, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

April showers bring May flowers

Sunshine makes us happy!

Unless someone doesn’t want to share the new swing.

Then the pouting starts…

Along comes Foxy Kitty for a visit

Blooming dogwoods in the background, a sunny afternoon, matching jackets from Aunt Teresa, and the best…
A fuzzy kitty…makes us ALL happy!

New buds growing on the vines.

We met Aunt Fran and Amy for a late lunch on one of Amy’s spring break days.

We all need a good excuse to take a break from school and an excuse to play silly…

Check out these straight rows of one of Papaw’s three gardens.

I enjoy their involvement in our food source planting. A skill to feed them for a lifetime!

Jackson really looks like a gardener with his Broncos helmet and his new “Omaha” shirt from Aunt Fran!

Isabela picked the blooms off of the chives and was excited to plant them!

Ice cream on this warm spring day

To bad these blooms don’t last in the summer!

May 1, 2014
Categories: Excursions, Memories, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Easter Fun

We have patiently been waiting for the Easter holiday to come.

Silly moments seem to follow these three birds!

Coloring eggs is wonderful way to experiment

Making messes is even more fun…

New outfits, new bunnies

Miss Smiley

Boots with Easter dresses?
Papaw said of course, they are new and they are pink!

Jackson’s new brown football bunny unfortunately missed this photo.

Happy Easter

I love this photo of all. However, true personality of Jackson and Elijah makes me like it even more!

They love being together.

A beautiful Sunday for Easter!

Another Easter basket at Nana and Papaw’s…now we are ready for an Easter egg hunt!

My happy bunnies!

April 28, 2014
Categories: Memories, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

April in our Mountains

What a view!

The mountain line is amazing.

New life on the earth’s floor

Colorful flowers against leftover leaves from last year.

Abigail is super excited to find these flowers in the mountains.
She picked this purple one for Jackson.

The sunlight coming from above was a welcomed feel.

King of the Mountain…

Playing together is always special.

Walking up a windy observation tower was not on their agenda!

Although much cooler, it’s a perfect way to acknowledge spring is here.

Exposure to the world around us

Mountain to Sea…WOW!

Three little birds rotate the driver’s seat riding on daddy’s neck up and down the trail.

A good spot to take a break

A different day, a different mountaintop trail.

We found an interesting rock overhanging another. We wondered what might have slept there the previous night.

Isabela has the best seat for this ride.

Abigail loves finding new blooms on our adventures.

I love seeing her discover things she is fond of.

Daughters that truly bless their mommy!

Mother Earth offers the very best views to be thankful for.

Jackson’s photo for his trivia collection

Thank you for these many blessings!

April 24, 2014
Categories: Excursions, Memories, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck…

Ducklings…

Are we kidding?

Do these smiles look like they are kidding?

Four ducklings…two yellow, two brown.
Puddles, Peeps, Marigold, and SunflowerQuackers
Say a prayer that they survive before they are released

Isabela isn’t really sure about these fuzzy critters. She likes looking at them but she does not like when Jackson and Abigail pick up the ducks.

Abigail is a patient watcher.

We can’t believe how quickly these little ducklings are growing.

She remains one of the sweetest ducklings I know…

April 21, 2014
Categories: Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Work in Progress

Jackson finished another book in his series.
Moving on now to the final book in Level 3

A letter sent to Amy Jo as part of our thank you letter study.

By Abigail, a drawing of she and Isabela on a spring morning

By Isabela, a flower under rain

I wasn’t too pleased with his first “quick/rushed” attempt at writing a summary. After sitting together and discussing, his next try was much more satisfactory.

Second tooth lost!

Sad that we couldn’t find the tooth but at least I still get my smiley girl.
She was satisfied because the fairy left her a note saying she liked the tooth drawing that was left in place of the real tooth.

Abigail gave these to Papaw

Love Jackson, even though he mispelled “friend”

Jackson chose to describe the steps of planting peppers for a Language assignment.

An example of one of Abigail’s Spelling test.

Photographs by Abigail, enjoying her study/observations of the sky and clouds

Puzzle by Abigail

Proud of his completion to his new Smoky Mountain puzzle. Over 500 pieces, it took him about two weeks to finish. One missing piece…

His idea for playing in Papaw’s building and having cake!

Jackson has memorized all of these prepositions! He can quickly recite them. Now we wait to see if he uses them in his writing.

Happy Earth Day.
We even planted seeds!

Over the past week Abigail had started ABC order as well as trying to put together a sentence with five words.

Spelling test, actually not a 100, Maine is not correct.

Happy Birthday Janice

Papaw gave Jackson the job of finding all of the cities of the March Madness teams.

300-400

By Abigail, she described this as a birthday cake for Jackson. She said she had a hard time getting the seven crayons to all stand as candles.

We took the classroom outdoors working on our Junior Ranger Badges

The ranger signed both of their workbooks at the end of the study.

We learned a great deal of information about the black bear.

April 14, 2014
Categories: Abigail's Art, Abigail's Work, Isabela's Work, Jackson's Art, Jackson's Work, School Related, Uncategorized . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

More Vineyard Time

Happy we are having a good time working in the vineyard.

He has been a huge contributing factor in our work this season!

“I want to fly like an eagle”

“Ratoon” and Isabela are showing off some of the completed rows.

“Puppy” on top of a completed vine.

Smiley Sisters

The fields are usually littered with our toys.

Digging in the dirt is much more fun than actually working…

Worms, nature’s plows

My crown wearing princess loves finding the worms beneath the earth.

Jackson carrying out a load of cuttings alongside his sisters tagging along. Not a great photo but the memory of knowing they all seem to end up in the same row is super sweet.

The sunny days have been so fun to work under.

We have drug these three along the entire season of pruning. They have gladly joined us without any complaining.

We have to take breaks for napping in the back of the vehicle or resting on the grass.

I watched these two pretending and talking for a long time. Their conversation was sweet and their play was so innocent.
Freeze these memories!

She pesters her brother regularly! He is usually a good sport.

Photo by Jackson

The blooming tree in the background gives us joy in the early spring.

Later in the pruning process, as the vines are cut, the canes produce droplets of water at the ends. This is referred to as bleeding.

The energy of the plant taking in the new moisture and transporting it throughout the vines cause the plant to “bleed” the water. We know at this point the buds will soon follow this stage.

A few weeks later…the buds are growing…and the grass too!

A little more waiting, resting, and relaxing…

Looking for signs of love, another treasure found in the vines, a heart in the bottom of an abandoned bird nest in the vineyard.

Removing the cuttings from the field

Smiling and sweet

My playful hardworking girls

More vineyard time, more family memories!

April 5, 2014
Categories: Excursions, Moments of Joy, Photos, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

“March Madness”

We took a break one afternoon from our pruning to explore a new playground.

The sky was amazing for us on this day.

Puppy came along to find her shadow as we played.

These two are such sweet friends.

Really lucky to share

Several days later we met two of our favorite people for lunch.

Amy and Stephanie invited us all to eat and play in Pigeon Forge.

Nana and Aunt Fran joined us.

Happy it was a weekend day so daddy was able to be with us.

We had a special afternoon with some very special people.

We joined our homeschool group at the unique and amazing Sevierville Library. We took a tour, had storytime, and made a paper butterfly craft.

This plaque used to have an exciting meaning when I was a public classroom teacher. Now, we still love to see the snowflakes fall, but we can be selective on claiming an official “snow day” or just as good, a shortened work day in honor of the fluffy white stuff!.