1st day of school!

On Monday, we began year 2 of homeschooling! We had a great time and Drew agreed that this year is WAY better than last year. He loves having his brother in the mix with him the whole time even though they are working on different things at times. Here are some pictures to document the day! Praise God for the opportunity to be home with these great kiddos!

G & D displaying their wonderful works of art...

Drew's game face

Hooray! I did it!

Wanna see something SO funny?

Oh, man... this picture was taken in the Fall of 1995 just weeks or months after Jeremy and I met my freshman year of college!!! I had just gotten braces and we were wearing matchy-matchy brown sweaters.

And this one was taken a couple years later (post-braces) before we were married. Do you like our matchy-matchy black and white t-shirts??? And tell me, why does my bicep look smaller than my forearm? What happened?????? Don't tell me, I already know... hee hee

One last time...

Last night marked the last sleepover before all of my super fun "Senior Girls" head into new lives! Some of our group have already left us for college! We miss you Erin, Natalie, and my other crazy leader half, Anita, who left last week for seminary. 7 of the gals were able to come. We had fun catching up on future plans, boyfriends, etc... You know, all the good stuff.

We called Anita at midnight her time and everyone was able to say hi, and we called Johanna at her dorm and caught up on her first 2 days of being a college runner! They are excited about moving into a new phase and I'm excited for them!!! Man, those college years shaped who I've become today... Will you join me in praying for these amazing gals? They're headed all over the place. But thankfully a few are sticking close by!

Then this morning, the gals that stayed the night (except Mayerly, who had to leave for college orientation early this morning) headed out to breakfast... THEN, we tracked down our beloved Sarah who had just arrived early, early this morning from North Carolina with her family. We ambushed her at church this afternoon with surprise hugs! So glad you're back, Sarah!

Can't wait to be "in-person" buddies again.

Countdown to School... 2 more weeks!

We're embarking on our 2nd year as a homeschooling family! Drew is a first grader and Gavin is starting kindergarten! We changed up curriculum entirely this year and are SO excited!! What are we doing this year??? Are you interested??? Probably not.. but here goes!





Animals and Their Worlds (by Winter Promise) This is their core curriculum... it is a Science based themed year on animals and habitats!

Bible Drew's main book for our Bible portion is called "Glow in the Dark Fish: and 59 More Ways to See God Through His Creation." Gavin's book is "My Big Book of 5 min. Devotions," it's a fun book with lots of great stories and facts about animals in our world! One other book I'm excited about is "The Animal Kingdom" published by Answers in Genesis. It has 35 lessons to complete this year. (These 3 books came with our Winter Promise Curriculum)

Math-U-See We're trying this for the first time for both boys, due to high recommendations from some friends!



Spectrum Phonics and Writing These fun workbooks feature the "Little Critter" characters by Mercer Meyer!

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons I got this book mainly for Gavin, but we'll do some work in it with Drewy too!





We're super excited, and we're planning the "1st Annual Bacon Homeschool Kickoff Trip" for 2 weeks from now! We'll be staying in a cabin for 2 nights and just enjoying family time and kicking off the school year together!!! Good memories.... I'm imagining that the kids will then look forward to starting school each year with a fun trip in their memory!

I think most pregnant woman would agree...

This morning, I actually exercised, and afterwards I was sitting at the computer doing a Google Search. Drew walked by and said, "Mom, what are you doing?"

"I'm doing some research!", I said.

" What about?", he questioned.

"Well, I'm looking for some things about exercising while I'm pregnant!", I answered.

He quickly said, "I don't think you're going to find very much about that on there."

Puzzled, I asked, "Why not???"

"Because that would be insane!!!"

I think I agree with him on that one!!

Can't forget Sissy Pie!

Okay, so it just wouldn't be fair to put baby pics of Gavin and Drew and not our little princess... so here she is! Nearly 3 years ago!

While I'm at it...

Well, since I posted the photo of baby Gavin, here's a couple of baby Drew.

The first one is of cousin, Zach meeting Drewy for the first time! They were up visiting from Georgia 2 weeks after Drew was born. Drew was quite the the chubba lubba baby!!!

Smart guy...

As you all know, Gavin is now 5 years older than this picture, but I stumbled across it today and thought I'd post it for old times sake.

Yesterday, we were sitting at lunch and he said, "Mom, when are we going to move to another house?"

I replied, "Why, Gavin? I like our house!"

He simply said, "Because then we see what new toys they have there!"

Well, duh, of course when you move to a new house it is stocked with new toys! That tickled my funny bone yesterday. He's a cutie here in his birth announcement, and hasn't stopped getting cuter! Love this guy.

Here's what our sweet baby looks like!

I was looking on Babycenter.com and found this picture of a 12 week old baby in pregnancy. I'll be 12 weeks tomorrow. We are really excited to have another baby and add to our family. My official due date is Feb. 10th. How lovely to welcome a cute little bundle in the harshness of February!

The kids are wanting a baby sister. Just to be even, ya know. Two boys, two girls. I really have no opinion either way, except it would be simple to have the girls share Morgan's room and it would be really fun for her to have a sister! If it is a baby boy, we're naming him Spencer. A name we liked for both boys, but never used!

So that is our news from the baby home front. I'm feeling great, better, actually than I have thus far!

What great friends!

Friday was my 30th birthday and this morning, 5 friends and I had breakfast at IHOP together to celebrate! I was then treated to a suprise pedicure/manicure afterwards!!! Thanks guys!

REX KWAN DO look-a-like?

We had a good laugh the other night when Drew came upstairs in his pajamas like we asked, but he came upstairs in this get-up that looked just like Rex of REX KWAN DO from Napoleon Dynamite! He, obviously, has never seen the movie so he had no clue what we were talking about... He is SO goofy! Gavin was his sidekick, Legolas...

PFC Gavin turns 5!

Happy Birthday to you...
Gavin, Skyler, Drewy, Nai'a, and Keaton
Morgan and the girly princess gang.

July 1st was Gavin's 5th birthday party! He wanted an "Army" party where his friends and cousins came dressed in CAMO! It was a fun party inspite of the drizzly day outside. He was adorable and loved every minute of it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAVIN!

MEXICO!

Hola! We're back from Mexico and have some fun memories to share! This first set of pictures is from our "bonding" part of the trip... See the next post for our "missions" part of the trip! We had a blast wherever we were!

Alan, Jeremy, and I awaiting our dinner at The Olive Garden

in San Diego before heading south of the border!

The stairs from our beautiful beach house down to the beach!

El quatro amigas

The view from the front door.

One of many, many games played that week in our sweet beach house.

Cathy and the aftermath of a stingray! She and Alaina (who was visting our beach house with our group of Juniors who were staying nearby...) were boogie boarding out in the surf and both were stung in the foot. They were taken to the local hospital and given antibiotics and a some pain medication and felt great after that night. Poor Cathy has since been back to the Dr. a couple times because of trouble with it since she's been home. Poor girl, here she is below... smiling and feeling great the day before we flew home.

Cathy & Elizabeth waiting for our delicious find

at Tacos el Yaqui in downtown Rosarito!

And boy, were they worth waiting for!

"Beachside" time with worship and a life story from one of the Grads.

The huge Superman pinata that the guys bought on our shopping trip on our last day in Mexico.

Waiting to cross the border back into the United States! Little did we know that the border station was just around the corner! It was a long 5.5 hour adventure to drive a 30 min. drive! Our van did buy some cute bobble heads, hammocks, and refreshing drinks on our way back across from the street vendors that walk right up to your window as you wait to cross.

We loved this trip and will cherish the fun and meaningful times with our new Grads. They have bright futures and I'm excited where the Lord will take them!

Our time at Grace Children's Home in Mexico!

Erin, Xavier, and Mayerly teaching our daily Bible lesson

during our Vacation Bible School portion of the day.

Elizabeth and Damian saying goodbye.

It was hard to leave... Natalie and her girls.

My favorite little one, Cesia and I singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

She is 2 years old and is the youngest one at GCH.

She has 3 older brothers that live there with her!

Jeremy and Nate hauling tiles for the new education building project!

Karen and I... what a cutie pie. The kids were all so outgoing and friendly.

I'm finally getting the chance to write about our recent trip to Mexico. We've been home for two weeks now! We spent a week in Rosarito/Tijuana, Mexico with our teens that recently graduated from high school. There were 5 of us leaders, 9 gals, and 5 guys. We spent Mon.- Fri. at Grace Children's Home in Tijuana. It was an amazing place to be. There are 30 kids that live there. This orphanage is a final step for these precious kids, unless they are adopted by a Mexican family. International adoptions are not yet legal. The children are absolutely delightful and so well behaved! They don't argue like siblings... it's amazing. The home is run by George and Stacey Palau of California. GCH opened two years ago in 2005. They take in children ranging in age from 2-12 and keep them until they reach adulthood or until they're ready to be on their own.

They are incredibly organized and together! There is a girl's home and a boy's home adjoined by a large covered porch area. Each home has it's own kitchen, dining area, and living room.

In Mexico, for a child to be taken from their home, it has to be a very serious abuse/neglect situation. In America, children are removed for minor reasons in comparison. So these darling kids have been through so much. They are first placed in a shelter to see if any relatives can take care of them, then they are moved to an orphanage. (I've heard there are loads of them in Mexico.) Grace Children's Home is unique because these children not only have the love of a family setting, but learn of God's love for them! I thought I would be so sad to leave and want to take all of them home, but once I saw where they live and how happy and adjusted they are, my feelings changed. I was SO happy for them. The children that have siblings were not separated from them. There was one group of 5 siblings, and another group of 4!

It was an amazing and eye-opening trip for us. We left our 3 cutie pies home with Grandma and Grandpa, it was a much needed refresher for both Jeremy and I. And we loved our time with our just graduated teens. They such a COOL bunch of young men and women.

Check out the Grace Children's Home blog: www.gspalaublog.blogspot.com

Graduations!

Johanna, Erin, and I at Colony's Grad

Diana & Cathy with that post-Grad glow!

Elizabeth finally done!

This week was a full one! We made it through 3 very fun graduations! All of our youth group girls and guys (around 24 ish of them) are now offically graduated and we're so proud! Here are some photos that I swiped from either the girls or Anita. (Our camera broke last week!) I wish I had many more pictures to share of all of my girls...

The one of Morgan sleeping was from yesterday as she, Anita, and I were heading home from our last graduation ceremony in Anchorage. We had run thru Taco Bell for a bite to eat on the way home and Morgan finished her whole taco and fell asleep mid bite on what looks like her last bite. Priceless.

home group fun

Our ever-growing Home Group through our church consists of 6 families and we had a fun park picnic a couple weeks ago... enjoy these pics! There are loads of cute kiddos, 3 adorable babies, and one on the way in a couple weeks! Natasha, on the far left is delivering her new baby girl on June 12th.

\We attempted to get through a book on marriage this year, but we didn't quite make it... I guess quite isn't exactly the word. We only made it through like 8 chapters... We have a great time together and are looking forward to our 2nd annual camping trip all together in August.

It's so great to be friends with so many other couples that want God's best for their lives and families.