Brightstar Christian Academy

 Welcome to Brightstar Christian Academy!!!! :) 

I finally created the perfect name for my homeschool! I love it.. it is based off of Phil. 2:14-16, our school verse! 

Also this summer I converted an unused guest room into my dream schoolroom! I am so excited to have one room devoted to school and school stuff.. I am LOVING it! :) 

So, here's the grand tour..

 

 View from the hallway

 My nice big table and bench for book work

 The "Teacher" desk, as well as the computer for school use.

The couch and desk

 Leah demonstrating our comfy couch for reading

 Educational posters galore!

  My big quilted world map, a gift from my mom!

  Globe, Flags and learning area.

 Shelves built by my man.. ;)

 I labeled the boxes by subject, so it will be easy to find her books!

 Whiteboard/Chalkboard area

Book basket and Mr.Bones on the floor.. ;) 

This pretty much sums it up.. ;)

"Sound of Music" fun

Taking Leah on a special "big girl" date to see the play in Park Rapids

 Our tickets..

 Listening to Debbie Turner's presentation of what it was like to film the movie.. 

(she played "Marta" in the 1965 movie!)

 Getting to meet her and have her sign my book!

She was so sweet! 

Her inscription.. made me smile!

Leah and I LOVED the play.. :) It was rather long, and yet Leah did so well! She told me she liked it better than "Puss in Boots" (her favorite movie) so I guess that is a huge success! ;) 

My grandma, mom and aunt & uncle went too.. it was a great day with family! That's what I love about the "Sound of Music".. every generation LOVES it.. it is timeless. ;) 

(We had 4 generations seeing it together in our family!) 

Short Straw Bride..

A few months ago, I signed up to be a free Fiction reviewer for Bethany House Books, and was SO excited to get to read some great new Christian Fiction for free! But as the months went by, I was never selected. Then, out of the blue I was selected for this one, and was SOOOOOO thrilled!

I recieved it yesterday in the mail and started reading it right away. I finished it that evening, YES.. it was that good! I adored it! It is a story about 4 backwoods brothers and their adjustment to suddenly having "womenfolk" in their family!  It reminded me a LOT of one of my favorite movies, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"... that might be why I liked it so much.

I LOVED Travis Archer's character.. SO easy to fall in love with him and Meri.. the emotion of their relationship was real and so poignant.  Lots of other great characters & drama throughout the book as well.

I truly hope the author will write a sequel.. I fell in love with the Archer brothers and want to see what will happen to each of them!


Soooo.. if you are looking for a good book to read, I encourage you to dive into this great book!

Science Center!!!!

The Girls have always wanted to go into the Science Center to explore, so one slow Friday we did just that! It was a blast! Seriously considering becoming a member, so we can go in all the time! :)

 Abigail loved the train table

Watching the pennies go down

 The Dinosaur!!!!

 Bekah loved the echo machine

Abigail was fascinated by the Nemo fish

I loved the cool anemone! 

 Abigail trying the circle "ride"

Whee! 

Making their own pictures!

And of course, the silly mirrors! 

New Playground!!!!!!!

 My sweet hubby and daddy to my girls along with my dad, "Grandpa Chris" went together and built the girls a HUGE addition to their swingset and playground area. It is amazing! Almost tripled their play area!

 Adding the tree fort above the sandbox

 

The fort all done (save the roof) and the ramp leading to the slide. 

   

Tree fort project: almost done!

Bekah and Daddy show off the picture window in the fort

 

Leah enjoys the fun ramp to the top! 

 

 Beautiful Sandbox benches.. so nice to sit on! 

Adding an extra swingset beam off from the tree fort

  

Completed playground (save the roof on the tree fort) 

 

Daddy also made a wood & rope swing that was a HUGE hit! 

Even Abigail loves it!!!!

Summer Cabin visit

 Summer has been so great so far! We enjoyed a trip out to a friend's lake cabin on Grace Lake. It was sooooo fun! The girls pretty much swam the entire night! It was incredible to just sit and enjoy the lake view and company!

Enjoying their boat ride

Abigail wasn't too sure about the lifejacket. :) 

 All of us enjoying the boat ride

 Me and my lil' buddy 

                                                            Getting lots of hugs from friends!

Bekah's finger...

 

Poor Bekah! She was crawling around on Grandpa & Grandma's Rock Pile (after being told not to, of course! :) and slipped, wedging her left pinkie finger in between 2 rocks. It swelled up like a balloon and turned every shade of color! I wasn't sure if it was broken, so I waited for a few days to see if the swelling would go down. 

Well, I took her to the Clinic a week later, just to make sure things were OK and sure enough, it was broken! Poor sweetie!  Our Dr. gave her a little splint and told us to tape it to the other finger for a while... I am hoping it will heal correctly and fast!

The good news is though, after 2 weeks with the splint, it seems to be getting better, and I am thankful it wasn't a painful break. ;) She is a trooper!

 Memorial Day Weekend was a blast here! No big plans, just a simple, fun family gathering on Sunday! We had lots of fun enjoying amazing food and then a s'more cookout afterwards! The girls especially loved it! :)

 Uncle Isaac's new shoes!

 The girls and some of their very favorite people.. my Aunt Catherine & Uncle Eric!

 Cooking S'mores...

 SUCH a classic summer thing

Everyone around the campfire

 S'more time!!! (Abs just got a marshmallow though.. ;)

 Michael's amazing Submarine Sandwich S'more!

 Enjoying time visiting around the fire

Grandma & Abigail say "Pee U!" 

SOOOOO cute! 

It was a simply great Memorial day.. celebrating with family!