Birthday Girl

We celebrated Olivia's 8th Birthday this weekend. This year was a "family birthday celebration" Although this girl would like to have a party every year we stick to our plan so our birthday celebrations don't get out of hand from year to year. We focused on making her feel special and building her up with the talents, passions and gifts God has placed in her. Olivia adds so much fun to our family with her witty sense of humor and animated facial expressions. She is quick to catch onto jokes and even makes up her own that are quite funny. She is independent and always eager to make any situation fun even if when she thinks rules are made for breaking (you can pray for us on that one!) She is curious, persistent and loves to learn. She is social and loves to be around people all the time. She likes to dress up, go shopping and she likes to get dirty...

She enjoys hiking, exploring and challenge

This is Olivia's determined face as she is watching the big boys at the skate park. She didn't care one bit that she was the youngest or the only girl at the park. That didn't matter to her. 

She is not afraid to take risks

She loves animals and dreams of one day having her own farm with a lot of animals. Even though she has some of the same interest as her siblings she always makes her own place.

She will not miss a 4-H event and especially meetings that are for serving others.

This girl is a faithful prayer warrior! She storms the gates of heaven faithfully praying for sweet Tori and others. This year through Tori's circumstance Olivia started to pray deep, sweet, innocent and heart wrenching prayers for Tori. Her heart is tender and teachable and I continue to pray she will have a pliable heart that seeks the Lord. 

Olivia was persistent this year that she needed to get baptized and she was NOT going to wait any longer. She was excited and eager to make her faith public.

Olivia was persistent that a store bought cake was not going to work this year and she wanted a safari cake with homemade marshmallow fondant.  I must say, this cake was made in record time as we had a very full weekend and there was no choice but to get this done and the cupcakes for her classroom. 

So what the heck do you do when you run ALL day long with activities only to discover that you forgot to buy candles?!  Hey,  it worked and no one had to go to the store!

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
   my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:14

Spring fever ~ "My brain hurts"

It only took one nice spring day and I have Spring fever... Bad! It has been a very long winter and we hit the books extra hard during those bitter cold snowy days. Madelyn and Logan plowed through school many days that most kids were out for snow and holidays. I told them after Farm Show that it would pay off come Springtime and it did this past week! We spent more days out of the house this week than we did in sitting around the table with books, worksheets and tests. It was a fun filled week and Logan said "my brain hurts because I have learned so much this week!"

Monday, we had perfect weather for hiking at Hawk Mountain. Olivia was out of school for her Easter Break so out the door we went! The kids spent a lot of time with the scientists that were doing the bird count at the peak of the Mountain. The kids took turns looking through the scientists' telescopes while talking about the different birds. We had the opportunity to see a bald eagle as well as many other birds.

We are forming our bucket list of hiking trails after this trip! Unplugging from all devices without the pressure of constantly pushing back the distractions to spend time together exploring is priceless. 

Incredible breathtaking views 

Physical activity, nice weather, beautiful scenery and holding my camera makes for a glorious day!

On Tuesday we took a field trip to Fort Hunter Mansion. We all learned so much about the 19th century and living next to the Susquehanna River during this time period. Madelyn and Logan both had a good time however Logan really enjoys history so this was right up his alley.

Thursday was a very full day taking a road trip to the rural country side of Swoope, Virginia to visit Polyface Farm. We participated in the Lunatic tour and we all agree the drive was worth it!  My sister met us at the farm to join us for the tour.  You can check out her farm website at here or find her on FB.
Madelyn has followed Joel Salatin, the owner of Polyface, for a couple years and just recently listened to a webinar that he participated in. Even though Joel was not in town we had a great time talking to his son Daniel. Daniel talked with Madelyn for a few minutes about meat rabbits and encouraged her passion and dreams of having a self sustaining farm which just added fuel to the fire with this little entrepreneur.

If you are nearby Swoope, VA (or even 3-1/2 hours away like us) you must stop by Polyface Farms for a tour. There is way too much information to put into a single blog post but here are a few pictures from our time in VA.

We had a great week and stay tuned as we have more adventures on the calendar! Madelyn and Logan will have end of the year testing and evaluations in April. I am one excited mama to see the end in sight for this school year. I don't like to rush their little lives and the time we have, however I am ready for a break from lesson planning, grading, organizing and all that comes with homeschooling.