Caleb | The Rumley Family

Caleb’s Cursive

September 22, 2011 By {lacey} 6 Comments

Even though I’ve seen it done before, I’m still amazed by the ability of a kindergartner to write beautifully in cursive.

It’s Caleb’s turn to learn to read. So far he has most of his single-letter phonograms under control. (I.e. He knows all the sounds the letters make, and he can recognize them in book type and cursive.) And this week, he started learning to write in cursive! It’s so exciting! (He even got the red plate for it on Monday night.)

I was nervous about teaching a lefty to write, but unnecessarily so.

Here’s a peek at the first of his written a’s and c’s…

And today he learned d’s and g’s. Here he is practicing in his saltbox (a tactile learning tool)…

It’s days like these that I am so thankful to be a part of this homeschooling adventure!

Taggedcaleb, cursive, homeschooling, kindergarten, saltbox 6 Comments

My Little Blessings

September 13, 2011 By {lacey} 5 Comments

My beautiful, amazing friend Dana took some pictures of our family this past Sunday. (Thanks again, Dana!) One of them you’ll see amongst your Christmas cards this year. Another one we’re going to use for the header on this here bloggity-blog. So, we’ll save those for later.

But can I show you a couple of pictures of our sweet babies?

It almost scares me how grown up Grace is becoming! She’ll be SEVEN in a couple of months!

And she got Caleb to smile…can I get a HALLELUJAH!? Oh, and if you’re wondering, this is Jaden’s “I just thought of something naughty I can do” face.

You might notice that Ava’s absent. She made it into the family shots you’ll see later…but then started giving the camera the evil eye. So I’ll spare you.

Taggedcaleb, Dana, grace, Jaden, photos 5 Comments

Rumley Family Homeschool – Back in Business!

August 23, 2011 By {lacey} 2 Comments

Public schools in Michigan can’t start until after Labor Day, but as homeschoolers, we can set our own schedule! So, yesterday was our first day of learning together for this school year.

We have two in school this year; Grace is in second grade, and Caleb is in kindergarten. Although, to be completely honest, Caleb started kindergarten this past winter. So, he’s already halfway through his math book.

The dynamics have changed a little bit this year, too. Ava is getting more mature, and is able to sit and do some preschool activities while we work. Jaden, on the other hand (and I mean the OTHER HAND!!!), is more active and crazy than ever. He might be the biggest challenge to our school sanity this year. I REALLY need to work on sit time. Like REALLY REALLY.

And I’d like to make some activities for him to work on as well, like these busy bag ideas. We’ll see. Anyway, on to the pictures!

Here’s our cute little caterpillar that will grow each day that we have school. He’s already another circle longer than yesterday!

Our school room the night before, with Grace and Caleb’s workboxes all ready to go…

The kiddos, working hard…

Grace, our 2nd-grader!

Caleb, our kindergarten-and-a-halfer, with some silly poses!

So, during much of our school time, Ava has been enjoying some activities from a busy bag swap we participated in. SO. WONDERFUL. Basically, I made 30 sets of one activity and sent it to a person. Meanwhile, 29 other people each made 30 sets of different activities. And our coordinator sorted them and sent each person one of each of the activities that everyone made (i.e. 30 different activities). It was SO worth my time and money! It has been great for Ava so far (and yes, I know it’s only the second day of school, but I’m sure these are activities that she can do over and over again). My only regret is that I didn’t participate in the swap for Jaden’s age group. I DEFINITELY will if it comes back around.

But for now, here are a couple of pictures of Ava working on her busy bags…

I’m still so thankful that God has given us the opportunity to teach our kiddos at home. What a huge responsibility and a tremendous blessing!

What are you looking forward to as school begins again?

Taggedava, busy bags, caleb, first day of school, grace, homeschooling 2 Comments

Sweet Staycation, Day Two

August 23, 2011 By {lacey} 2 Comments

There is just something so relaxing and wonderful about spending a sunny day at a Lake Michigan beach. We had planned to visit Pier Cove beach near Saugatuck, but it only has about 8 parking spots, and all were full. Bummer! (We were able to visit that beach last year, and it was wonderful!)

So, we went about a mile down the road to a state park. The pro? Restrooms on site. The con? The entire shoreline was rocks and shells. And I mean ALL of it! Even once you got into the water, it was still all rocks. It was insane. Wanna see?

Okay, so it was still awfully beautiful…

Anyway, we had a great couple of hours there, playing in the water and sand.

After a great beach time, and lunch at a picnic area, we headed home. Naps happened in the car. Had a little stop at the store for s’mores ingredients. And then…

The First (and possibly last) Annual Rumley Camp-at-home Extravaganza!

We had a campfire, complete with hot dogs and s’mores.

We put up a tent (thanks to Melissa and Karl for letting us borrow it).

We roughed it, oh yes we did. Well, kind of…Actually, the air mattress Luke and I were sleeping on was probably the least comfortable sleeping situation EVER. By 3am, my hips and legs hurt so bad that I couldn’t sleep another wink. Luke wasn’t feeling much better. So we high-tailed it into our own not-usually-that-comfortable-but-oh-so-luxurious-in-comparison bed and left a baby monitor out there with the kiddies. It was actually kind of funny to hear them wake up five hours later, speculating about where we’d gone.

I’ve never been a huge fan of camping, but now I am going to fully embrace an old mantra of mine: the only “camping” I enjoy involves a Marriott. They have the best beds. I have never had to wake up in the middle of the night to take ibuprofen when I’m staying at the JW. Sorry if all you awesome camping fans out there are disappointed in me. I really admire your pain tolerance.

Anywho, it was a fun way to end the summer and the perfect way to jump back into a school schedule! Bet you can’t wait to hear about our first day of school!!!

Taggedava, caleb, camping, grace, Jaden, Lake Michigan, Marriott, staycation 2 Comments

Sweet Staycation, Day One

August 23, 2011 By {lacey} 2 Comments

In anticipation of our school year beginning, Luke took Thursday and Friday (August 18 and 19) off work. We didn’t schedule much for our time together, but just had a really great time relaxing and doing some special things with the kiddos before we get back to the grind.

On Thursday, we slept in and had big ol’ breakfast (pancakes, bacon, sausages, blueberries/whipped cream, cantaloupe, apple juice…YUM). We hung out here, and then after naps, we headed to town. We had dinner at Qdoba (thanks, KDL, for your awesome summer reading program prizes!), and then went to see some friends at the hospital who just had their first baby.

Afterward, we visited East Grand Rapids for their “Taste of East Grand Rapids” event…Really, the kids just enjoyed getting inside a real firetruck and playing in an inflatable.