Brainstorming on names for our Homeschool

I'm trying to think of a name for our home school and would like to have our inspiration and ideas come from Proverbs 1:7,8. Does anyone have any ideas for a name from those verses?

7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
Prov 1:7-8 (NIV)

Thanks!

Max brought up our tie to Chronicles of Narnia and the Pevensie children. We sometimes joke that we should have named our children "Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy" since they came in the same order. I wonder if we can think of a homeschool name relating to that.

Shooting

It's very important to match your gun.

Practicing shooting my new gun.

Max teaching JB how to shoot his new cricket. We are shooting at a wall of Railroad Ties two layers thick that Max built so that we could shoot at targets and not shoot cows.

Playing and Learning

Benaiah and Gloria build a track together. Gloria is such a good sister to Benaiah. She is like a second mommy to him.
Who knew that Connect Four could be a math tool? JB came up with the idea of using to help add and subtract. What is the name of one of those things with the beads that's been around for ages that helps with math??? I think it's the same principle.

JB and Gloria play Battleship on opposite sides of the ottoman to decrease the temptation of looking at the other's battleship set-up or maybe it is a defense against against the other cheating. Either way, I thought it was cute.

Fire Starters

We had quite the adventure making fire starters yesterday.

Things I learned (this is the "live and learn" part):
1. Do not use scented candles as the majority of your wax because melting it all at once made me nauseous and I don't think I'll enjoy the scent of "clean cotton" for quite a while.
2. Put down paper or something disposable to catch the dripping wax or the clean-up will take a very long time.
3. Make sure I have a plan for turning off smoke detectors that are near the vaulted ceilings, way out of my reach. A tall stool and very long level (tool) came in handy for pushing the "off" button for the very high ones. A short stool and jumbo pencil with a huge eraser came in handy for the ones that were just out of my reach. This can be challenging because the button has to be pressed for about 5 seconds before the alarm will go off. This time I was actually glad that we don't have neighbors near enough to hear the smoke alarm go off four times in a period of an hour. At least we know they work.
4. Make sure the flue is open on the fireplace before testing out the fire starters. This was the cause of two smoke alarm experiences.
5. Make sure the wax is just hotter than its solid state before dipping the pine cones and string or you don't get enough wax to keep the flame going.

The Princess and the Potty-Trainee

Note: Click on purple words (links) to see related pictures

We now have a "boys' room" and a "girls' room" in our home. The boys' room, as you can guess, consists of Benaiah and JB while the girls' room currently consists of Gloria and Zephyr, our 9-year-old Boykin Spaniel. Evelyn will join eventually when she's not so inconsistent in her waking at night. We're not sure what happened - she decided to grow really quickly or something - she used to sleep through the night when she was two months old and now she's been eating twice per night for the last couple of months.

Benaiah is now in Gloria's old bed, which is now a "big boy bed", as opposed to the "baby crib". He loves being in this bed because he has seen his big bro and sis for so long get tucked into the hunter green upper and lower bunks. It's taken a little convincing that we are serious about him not getting out of his bed at nap time and bed time. JB occasionally reports his escapes, but it's tricky because Benaiah is always back in his bed trying to look innocent by the time we get there. Twice I have caught him with about 20-30 cars and trucks in his bed, which tends to make it difficult for him to lay down and sleep (which he still needs even at age 2 and 3/4).

When Benaiah was sleeping in his crib we pulled the side all the way up and had the mattress at the lowest level and he never ventured beyond its comforting wooden bars unless we put the side down and invited him out. The comfort of the wooden bars has been replaced by the excitement of being a "big boy" and the freedom that comes with not being "caged" in. Other "big boy" activities in which Benny has been involved are wearing underwear, going on the potty, and sitting on the regular dining chairs without a booster seat. The lion feels like he is part of the pack joining a wolf (JB), a leopard (Gloria), and a Spaniel (Zephyr).

Gloria feels very special in her own princess room and princess bed. I haven't decorated her room in Disney princesses or even put generic princess paraphernalia on her walls or bed, she's just a princess, not the spoiled kind, but a real one, which makes it a true princess room. When she wears her princess dress, which Gramma Shell made for her, people ask "so which princess are you?" Gloria looks puzzled and simply replies "I'm princess Gloria." She is just starting to recognize that there are other "fake" (but still glamorous) Disney Princesses, but I hope that doesn't change her thinking she's a princess, as long as she ultimately knows that she is a princess because her Heavenly Father is the King of Kings who paid the ultimate price for her.

Petting the "gooses"

More of the Colorado Bremer Ranch "petting zoo"

Big mouth Evie bass...

Benaiah - free the toys!

The boys are the only ones that assault boxes this way. Gloria would sometimes follow if JB was doing it, but the boys always initiate it. He's also experimenting with different methods of destruction.

Frrrreeeezing temperatures

I love the way the fountain froze. I even could stand on it. The "fluffy" white stuff is bubble/foam that froze, which feels very delicate and thin to the touch.

Benaiah holding Evie

Benaiah looks happy, Evie looks bewildered.

Last Days in Colorado

The couch must have shrunk

An extremely friendly cat

Evie's first time in an outdoor swing

Horse-n-Buggy Christmas-Time Ride

A very cold Gloria after the horse-n-buggy ride. The sun went behind the clouds during the trip on the Santa Fe trail which made it a lot colder. I was jogging along with the horses and buggy, but was usually either in front of them if the horses were walking or in back of them if the horses were trotting. I finally got a run in after not exercising for about a week due to cold, snowy weather, Michele giving away her elliptical:(, and being sick. It felt really good to run again.

It looks like Gloria's tongue is stuck to her zipper (it's not though).

Max was riding "Bunco", a large energetic stallion.

JB is not driving in these pictures, but for about half the trip he was using the reigns and guiding Fly, the young horse...both did very well on the buggy trip.

Fly's santa hat eventually had to come off because it was bothering him, but it was a good effect with the jingle bells and good for pictures...thanks Fly!

Fun on the ice stream

Zephyr was "fishing" for rocks and sometimes chunks of ice...strange dog.

Bundled up to go down to the frozen creek/pond.

Benaiah would not walk on the ice, which is understandable since his feet went out from under him twice when he first got on the ice. I was holding his hand so he didn't hurt himself, but he was very happy riding in the sled. How do kids sit on their feet for so long without them falling asleep...shorter limbs maybe (less distance for blood to travel...I don't know).

The dogs love to come on the walking-on-ice adventure. They tend to walk on the thin stuff and fall in sometimes, which helps us to know where not to walk. Max also got his feet pretty wet because he can't help but jump on the ice until it breaks...still a little boy in a big boys body, I guess.

Some places the ice was so thick and clear that we could look through it and see stuff frozen on the bottom or in some places water still flowing underneath, along with minnows and other fish swimming underneath. The beavers have built a dam on the Bremer section of land, which makes Gramma Shell very happy because it means a nice pond for cooling off in the summer.

Christmas Day

All of the Bremers together. This is at Bill and Lois Maxwell's home where we enjoy food and fellowship on many holidays.

Christmas time pictures

Grungy the Bouvier dog didn't move from his spot even when I put Evelyn in her Jump Up. Max rigged a horizontal post coming out from the loft near the kitchen so that we could hang the Jump Up. Evelyn loves being in the middle of the activity. The rig sounds precarious but Max made sure it was safe for her. We've been using this rig since JB was bouncing in it.

Benaiah was very happy to open his first Christmas gift, a toy chainsaw. He helped cut firewood with it and also tried cutting his toy dump truck in half...didn't work, but it makes a cool noise and the "chain" and "teeth" actually move!

Christmas morning, almost noon, in pajamas for much of the day.