America...sung by the Boever Family singers

Zellie in all her glory. You need to watch 20 seconds into the video for sure.

Her version: "God shelled His grace on thee..."


Rose...the confident one...don't worry...I fixed the camera.


Lillie had prepared multiple pieces.


All three together. John said we don't have much hope of forming "The Boever Family Singers." We'll see when their voices mature (wink, wink). I love how Zellie watches them for clues. Lillie's skirt was causing her troubles...hmmm...smile. She gets that definately from her mother. Anybody who knows me knows my VERY famous college skirt tucked into my "me O' my's" walking about campus as if it weren't. darn.

Why I love them home part 1 of 1,200,000

There are so many thousands of reason I love that our children are home and that we are able to homeschool them. I love our time together. I love seeing and hearing everything. I love their play. I love teaching and watching them learn and grow. Teaching our children to read and understand Math is way up there on the list of the "Most fulfilling things I've ever done with my children."

Homeschooling is a massive responsibility. At times, I get very anxious about it in fact. I ponder often if I am covering all my bases with each child. We begin our homeschooling year on Monday. We started later this year due to the birth of Clairvaux. I wanted her to be a bit older before we began so I could get a little more consistency out of our day. I am glad we've done that. My Aunt Ange is a veteran homeschooler and gave me that great advice. She also advised not to expect much this year because of having a new baby. So, that is attitude this school year. We are going to focus on the three R's...Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.

Vianney has somewhat ditched reading only to take up piano. She now practices most of the day.
Early morning reading.

Last week at the library, we checked out 127 books. I asked the lady (jokingly) if most check out this many. She said, "Uh, nope, you are definately in the top 10 for the most checked out books."
Oh, how I LOVE to be themey. Really. I LOVE making our whole day coordinate together. Yesterday, was a blueberry blue day. We read these great books. The Blueberry Pie Elf is my favorite book we have although Peter in Blueberry Land is lovely. The girls wore blue dresses and we made Starbuck's Blueberry Oat Bars.

Dominic's main interest are Science and History so these subjects come quite easily. Along with reading and keeping a journal, I found this great book and plan to let him conduct experiments whenever he wants. He literally spent all day yesterday doing different experiments. He kept a journal about each one. He made a list of supplies he needed from the store. One item he wrote was, "Eggs-the cheap kind."

The book covers Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, Geography and much more. His favorite was Chemistry. I tried to explain to him that baking is Chemistry. He got it.

This weather screams all things pumpkin. So for today, that was our focus. You can adapt each theme to each age of child. What color is a pumpkin? What shape is a pumpkin or blueberry? I gave them three pumpkins and had them put them in size order. I love that they don't know they are learning.

We made Pumpkin muffins for snack. They were fabulous.






Up next, Hi Hats. Can't wait.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch 2010

We've been looking forward to this day since last year. Our 2nd Annual trip to Vala's Pumpkin Patch. You know those childhood memories you have of something that was massive and in retrospect the thing remembered really wasn't that huge. I cannot imagine a child's view of this massive pumpkin world because in reality it is HUGE. It goes on for eternity and we could basically move in tomorrow because they have thought of everything one could need.

Watch this video of Rose. Here is a little sampling of the amount of cuteness today. Good ole' Rose. Music moves within in her soul. She feels it. Anyway, read on below about the rest of our day.


Vianney was hesitant this morning to venture out into the cold for a pumpkin patch, but we coaxed her into it. I asked her if she was excited and this is how she looked at me. This is her pretend mad face, but what I do find cuter is her crossed feet enjoying the Cheerios just as much as she is. I guess we'll see how she does. What a girl!
Before heading out to the patch, we went to visit the Pink Sisters. Once a year, the holy Pink Sisters meet with us pilgrims face to face. They are an order of contemplative nuns that glorify God through their silent lives. I had to hold on to the children because they are so excited to see babies they might pull them in to keep.

The older girls are always in awe of them. Rose's face is cute.

Zellie knows God is calling her to be a Pink Sister. She is just in denial. God will get her.

After our lovely visit, we headed out to Vala's. It was a brisk morning so our teeth were a chatterin'. After a couple ER visits last year with pneumonia, I was a bit neurotic with Clairvaux in my attempts to shelter her from all bits of cold air. Zellie's face is cute.

He is always cute.

Nebraska Laser Eye Associates sponsors this annual event with much food and fun. We are grateful for their generosity.

We took the kid's picture here the last two years. It is fun to see how they (and me) have changed in one year.

Clairvaux-Fall 2010 First Time at Vala's 8 weeks old

Vianney 2009 6 months old

Vianney 2010 18 months old

Zellie 2009 2 years old

Zellie 2010 3 years old

Rose 2009 3 1/2 years old

Rose 2010 4 1/2 years old

Lillie 2009 5 years old

Lillie 2010 6 years old

Dominic 2009 7 years old

Dominic 2010 8 years old

This was absolutely precious to watch. I took about 40 pictures of this whole ordeal. Rose was completely enamored by this attraction. She couldn't decide if the characters were real or not. She studied it for a very long time.

Finally, she can't stand it any longer. She crosses all boundaries and must look as closely as possible. My heart hurts because of the cuteness. John and I were dying. Look at her looking at the little girl.


This was the thing he was looking forward to the most. High Fructose Corn Syrup Heaven. You make your own snow cone. Can you imagine this from a child's perspective?






This was to be avoided. He remembered this from last year and told me over and over that he is NOT getting Tiger's Blood this year.






Often, I watch John with our children and think how blessed they are to have such an incredible father. He makes everything fun. This slide is incredible. I think it is 25 million feet long and the best is the bottom. You don't just come out, YOU COME OUT. I am not well in the head when the highlight of my day was watching grown adults fly awkwardly out of this big red adult cannon.





They all went down together.

This touched me too! He remembered this from last year and couldn't wait to jump "all that way into the hay." I think he had one of those moments where his memory was different from reality because the hay wasn't so far away.

If Optometry doesn't work for Johnny, he has always told me he wants be a Country Music Singer. We took pictures here maybe for the cover of his first album "My Tractor."


My stomach hurt after watching this. You can't really see the full extent of the event. John was stuffed into this little kid cart pedaling the girls wildly around the track. His legs were up to his ears, but he had to go fast because people were behind him. He looked like a frog.

We had a marvelous day together. After this, we headed into Omaha to watch the Husker game. Go Big Red! The kids were slurring their words they were so tired and asking to ride the purple pony in their sleep on the way home. ha. ha.

She really was good. She just never resolved the fact I didn't let her finish her Cheerios.