I love these faces!

So. Very. Much.

Playing in the RAIN!

We have had a few really amazing monsoon storms lately! It is like the perfect summer treat after enduring the heat of Arizona summer. The kids played in the rain storm we had the other night. They had such a blast as you can see from these pictures!















A few nights before the above storm we also had another storm. It was a beautiful sunset and a full moon.

from facebook to blogbook

As I was laying in bed this morning thinking about the day that was ahead of us I began to think how I haven't been updating my blog as much as I usually do. Now that homeschool has started my computer time is limited but then I had an idea. I update my facebook status quite often during the day because it only takes a few seconds and gets me a quick peak into the outside world. So my idea was why not copy and past my facebook status updates on my blog once a week! Since I print my blog into a cute little (well actually big) blogbook once a year it might be fun to have this part of the memory books. After all, whenever the kids have something funny to say or do something silly it goes on my facebook status so why not share that here too. Now I just need to come up with a catchy title like Saturday Status Summaries or From Facebook to Blogbook? Hmmmmm, I know I can come up with something better than that? Any ideas?

So here are my updates from this past week:

Korri Teats Ray is looking forward to a Sabbath day of rest. Our family needs it!

my dear husband stubbed his toe on one of the boys outdoor treasures, (a eucaliptis tree branch that fell into our yard and the boys have some great plans for it) but it made me laugh to see Michael holding the starfish ice pack to his toe. Guess I need to buy a manly ice pack!

Bear naked... caught your attention didn't I, now let me finish my sentence. Bear naked granola is the best! I have found a new favorite cereal and have replaced my nightly popcorn with a bowl of bear naked granola. And the name makes me sound rebellious even though I totally am not.

My daughter just stubbed her toe and then told me she was so sad because it was her favorite toe. She then went on to tell me that she has a favorite finger too and it's her tallest one. She went on to proudly (and innocently) show me how tall her middle finger is.

Binomial nomenclature. I like that word, it makes me feel smart. The kids and I did some classification in homeschool this morning for our Botany study and I just really like that word. Binomial nomenclature. Binomial nomenclature.

I love my daughter's enthusiasm for home school but her waking up between 5:30 and 6 a.m. ready to get started doesn't work for me. School starts around here at 8 a.m. not 6 a.m. But I do love her enthusiasm, let's just push it out about an hour or two! :)

why did the chicken cross the road? He had to go to the bathroom. Why did the chicken cross the road? To go to church. Why did the chicken cross the road? To go see fireworks. Annagrace told me these jokes tonight and she was laughing so hard she could hardly contain herself. I was laughing too but more because her laughter is contagious.

"Your life is the occasion, rise to it!" I love that, this line stood out to me when I was watching Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium.

Very odd for a Friday night, Anna put herself to bed before 8:30. Camden is quietly playing playdough by himself at the school table, and Jadon is sitting and not talking. It appears the kids are very mellow and that is very rare.

has found myself spontaneously laughing at something my oldest son did today. We were at Starbucks earlier today and he was sitting at the table behind me, a lady came up to take one of the extra chairs and after she said hi to him she asked him what his name was. He knew not to tell a stranger his name so he thought real fast and did what he thought was right and told her his name was Fred. Fred! I asked him how he came up with Fred, and he told me he knew he had to think quick so it wouldn't appear like he was making it up and Fred was the only name he could think of quickly. He so doesn't look like a Fred to me and I couldn't stop laughing. The sad thing is this happened right behind my back and I wasn't aware of any of it so I guess it's good he knows his stranger danger, now for a lesson on honesty.

It's amazing what a family of 5 can accomplish when they all work together. The chicken coop is cleaned out and replaced with fresh grass clippings and hay, daily chores done, the yard work is done, two cars washed, and swimming when the above was all said and done. Now on with a relaxing Saturday and Dave Ramsey LIVE at church tonight!

Dave Ramsey was fabulous, the church was PACKED, standing room only. Now off to a sushi date with my husband. Yummy!

enjoyed sushi with my husband but not enjoying the fact that we have a sick kid with a high fever. At least tomorrow we can lay low and have a jammie day.

And now for a few pictures from this week:
Our chicks are almost 4 months old which means it's almost time for the egg laying to begin! We will probably have us some eggs by the end of September! They are doing great, growing up so fast and we are still enjoying them so much. We love our chicks!




Anna has been doing her night time devotions lately with no prompting from me. She loves to read her Bible and she also loves to use a highlighter in her Bible. She is very good about not highlighting the whole page and usually only picks a few verses she likes. And then before she goes to sleep she reads them to me. I get a kick out of what she chooses to read. I hope this is a habit that will last her as she grows into a young lady and into her adult life.


Today we spent time working on outdoor chores as a family. Camden and I worked on the chicken coop while Anna and Michael washed the cars. Jadon is sick today so he wasn't much help. This is the only picture I took because I was too busy cleaning the coop.

Anna wrote a note to Camden today on a peice of paper and didn't want him to see it so she folded it up and stuck it in her headband. It reminded me of the Old Testament jewish people who carried scriptures around on their foreheads in little boxes. I can't think of the name of what it is called but it sure reminded me of that but it wasn't holy writing on this particular note. This note was telling Camden that she was mad at him because he wouldn't play what she wanted to play.

I didn't take that many pictures this week but my goal for this next week is to get more pictures of the boys. They don't really care much for being in front of the camera and Anna is always a willing participant so that is why she is in 9 out of every 10 pictures I take. Well, that sums up my first "from facebook to blogbook" post unless I can come up with another catchy name but for now this is what I will call it.

Back to school!

It's that time of year when we get back into our daily grind and say goodbye summer and hello school! I have decided to change our homeschool schedule a bit and follow more of a year around school system. I read an article in a homeschool magazine that totally changed my thinking about our school schedule. I loved it so much that I am going to initiate it with our homeschool schedule! It is taken from the biblical idea of working hard for 6 days and having a sabbath rest on the 7th day but instead of days we will do weeks. We will work hard for 6 weeks and then enjoy a 1 week Sabbath break. We will school for a total of 36 weeks (the normal length of a school year) and this will also allow us to take time off at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays, Spring, and an extended 4 week break at summer. I am so excited about this because I know I have it in me to work hard for 6 weeks (and so do the kids) knowing that we get a week off after working so hard.

So we officially start our homeschool year on Monday but we had an open house of sorts this past week so the kids could look over their curriculum and see what our year will look like.
For the open house we made our traditional "all about me" magazine art sheets. We did this at the beginning of last school year and we really had fun with it. It will be great to see how the things we like change over the years. If you want a close up of what they came up with, just click on the picture for a bigger view. This year we added a new twist where each of us also had to find one thing out of a magazine that reminds us of each other. For example, Jadon had to find one thing for me, for his sister and for his brother that represents that person or what that person may like. It was fun to see what everyone came up with.





Here are the delicious brownies we made and the best part, licking the bowl!



During our open house I let each of the kids choose one thing they wanted to do, Anna chose show and tell, Camden picked charades, Jadon picked an art project that he led us in. It sure was fun. And only in homeschool could you bring your knife collection to show and tell!
Annagrace was showing her goodies she got from the dentist and telling us about her TWO loose teeth.

Jadon showed us Spike.

Camden showed us each. one. of. his. knives. Let's just say it took a while!

The kids working on a fun assignment.




And then every Friday our kids will be attending Eagle Ridge enrichment program where they will be taking some fun classes! The boys are enrolled in P.E. Science, Music, Technology, Origami, Lego machines, Author Author, and Art. Anna is in a Kinder class where they will be doing different unit studies all year. The kids had their first day of school there on Friday and they LOVED it! Here they are right before school. And I still can't believe our baby is a Kindergartner and she has two loose teeth! Where has the time gone? Seriously, it seems like just yesterday we were meeting her for the first time with her wild black hair and sweetest little smile that melted this mommy's heart!


I am especially excited to get this school year started because of all that we will be doing this year. We have been praying for over a year now that God would lead us in the direction we need to go to help Camden with his learning challenges/blocks. After working with him this past school year and seeing little progress, I kept coming back to the word "block" and just felt Camden had some sort of block that was preventing him from finding reading and writing easy. It was such a struggle for him despite his hard work and good attitude. I kept asking God to please lead us to some answers and help for Camden. And of course God did just that! God is so faithful and He showed up in ways that have brought us so much hope and excitement in getting Camden the help he needs. I stumbled onto a website right before the homeschool convention, it was this website and the moment I clicked on it I totally connected with so many things I saw and the term "blocked learning gates" really popped out. I felt like the answers we had been searching for were staring right back at me. And then if this wasn't enough I found out that Dianne Craft would be speaking at the Phoenix homeschool convention at the end of July which we were already signed up for. So fast forward to convention, we sat through Dianne's workshops and knew her ideas and therapies would be our answer to helping Camden be successful in his studies and become the fluent reader and writer that we know he can be. We will be doing a private consultation with Dianne Craft at the end of October to see exactly what is going on with Camden, what learning gates are blocked and what therapies we can use to help him. The great thing is that the consultation is affordable and I can carry out the therapies on my own right here in our own house. I already have what I need to get started and will begin these reading and writing therapies on Monday. This will make for a very busy year but it will all be worth it! The other interesting aspect to all this is that we have learned that Camden is a right brain learner and has a hard time learning in the "normal" left brain ways. We live in a left brain world and our schools teach to the left brained kids. Most right brainers adapt to the left brain ways but there are some kids who have a very hard time making that crossover in their brain and Camden falls into that category. Not only will we be doing the reading/writing therapies but I will also be doing something called brain integration therapy to help open up the pathways between his right and left brain. These are simple exercises that cross the mid line. I will teach Camden to learn skills to use his brain the way God made him but also open up his learning gates that are blocked. I cannot wait to get started and I also can't wait to see Camden make some progress! I will celebrate on cloud nine the day I hear Camden read a book from cover to cover with ease. I just can't wait!!!!!
This is just a brief synopsis of what we will have going on so if you are interested in learning more I would be more than happy to explain it in detail because I realize this is probably a bit confusing.

And I can't leave this post without talking about Annagrace and her two favorite things! Both are in this picture. Her rubber band fun shaped bracelets and her kitty cat named Kitty Kitty. Apparently the bracelets are a new fashion trend and everyone seems to be wearing them. I'm not sure if most kids where ALL of theirs at the same time but our Anna does and she has a total of 36! They are $1 a packet at Fry's and come with a dozen per pack. Kitty is usually within Anna's reach at all times and has become quite the companion for her. She simply calls her Kitty Kitty.

And since I talked about two out of our three kids I have to brag for a second about Jadon. He has been working hard on getting open water scuba certified. He just passed his third written test with a 90%. It is the same test and reading materials that adults do when they get open water certified so we are very proud of him for studying and working hard. He has one more test and then the final exam and then he will get to start on his dives. It will be quite the accomplishment when it is all said and done!

Well that's all folks! Thanks for sticking around and reading about the happenings at the Ray house.