YWAM Publishing- A Book About Milton Hershey

So often during the course of our history lessons, we just briefly get a glimpse of those who have shaped our past without really getting to know much in depth about them. YWAM Publishing has 2 neat series though that allows students to really get to know people from history. We recently had the chance to review the book Milton Hershey:More Than Chocolate from the Heroes of History series as well as the accompanying downloadable Unit Study Curriculum Guide.

YWAM Publishing is a Christian company that seeks to provide quality literature, study guides, audiobooks and even books in Spanish and other languages. The Schoolhouse Review Crew recently had the chance to choose from over 40 books in 2 series, Heroes of History and Christian Heroes:Then and Now. The biographies are all written by Janet and Geoff Benge, a wife and husband team who have a desire to bring history to life in interesting and engaging books with study guides to accompany the biographies.

The book about Milton Hershey is 192 pages long and contains 18 chapters.The first chapter talks about the failure of Milton's first business and lures you in to learning more about his life and experiences. Then the second chapter takes you back to when he was a child and moves forward from there.

I'll admit, we only live 45 minutes from Hershey, Pa and are quite familiar with Milton's general history but this book gave a more in depth look into his life and how the town came to be all because of one man and his chocolate creations! Did you know Hershey chocolate was making 1 million dollars by 1906 and that Milton Hershey came from a Mennonite family? Also, Milton and his wife were never able to have children and because they were so blessed with money, they felt they need to use it to bless others and wanted to establish a school for orphaned boys. Today the Milton Hershey School still exists to house boys in need.

Not only was the book interesting, the accompanying study guide provides even more in depth learning. 

A screen shot of the Unit Study Curriculum Guide main page (click on photos to enlarge)

• The curriculum unit study provides a guide to be able to use for either a classroom, in the homeschool or a group like a co-op.
• Provides ideas on how to tie in social studies, language arts, projects and even field trip suggestions.
• Videos that allow you to "meet" the authors.
• Worksheets for students to fill in such as a map, timeline, fact sheet, etc
• Short biography on Milton Hershey.
• Chapter Review Questions.

Before my daughter started the book, I printed out all the chapter study guide questions for her, hole punched them and placed them in a 3 ring binder along with lined notebook paper. The printed study questions did not provide enough room to write the answers on it, hence me adding the extra paper. As she completed each chapter, she answered the 6 questions.

One of the suggested field trips was to take a tour of Chocolate World at Hershey. It had been a number of years since I had last taken the kids here so we stopped by here one afternoon after our co-op to round out the book experience.

This book is ideal for a child around age 10 or older or read by a parent for a group unit study. Any of these biographies from the series can be stand alone readers to supplement your schooling or you could do the series for a whole history curriculum! We enjoy how engaging the book was and the variety of activities that were included in the Unit Study Curriculum Guide.

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Good Ole Southern Seafood Boil!

Some of you may remember several months ago when I shared about my trip to Alabama to visit my best friend. While there, I got to experience my first crawfish boil! Let me tell ya, you couldn't get seafood any fresher than what we did. Both the crawfish and shrimp were caught the same day we ate it (& the shrimp there come with the heads still on!) When I got home, I told the kids I would do a seafood boil for them sometime over summer when we could get corn on the cob and little red potatoes fresh from the farm (to make up for not being able to get fresh seafood lol).

One of my many servings I had in Alabama!

I went to Amazon to purchase my seafood boil seasoning, Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seafood Seasoning since it's hard to find this sort of thing around here.

Prepping the food, I cut the earns of corn in half and soaked the clams in salt water (it makes them spit out debris) 

The neat thing about making this meal is that everything gets cooked in one large pot together (though I forgot to take a photo of this part). You start out with the potatoes since they take the longest to cook, then you add things in one by one according to the length of time it takes to cook (smoked sausage or kielbasa is next, followed by the corn, clams then shrimp). I wasn't able to get crawfish so since my kids love clams, I used those in place of the crawfish.

The finished product on the table! If we were eating outside, I could've just put some butcher paper down and laid it all out. I had melted butter to dip the clams into.

A close up of the food, yum!!

To give you a rough idea how much I made, we had 2lbs of shrimp, 50 clams, 2lbs of sausage, 1 dozen ear of corn and about 2-3lbs of little red potatoes. 

We all absolutely LOVED this meal and I'd like to start a tradition of making this once a summer for a special treat! 

Have you ever had a crawfish or seafood boil?

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

As the gardening season is winding down, I feel like a squirrel frantically gathering nuts to store for winter time! I've been in freezing & canning mode again lately. I had a ton of peppers, zucchini, broccoli & cabbage to do up. While I've been freezing a lot of the veggies plain to use over winter time, I also wanted to try some new recipes.

I happen to have gotten some roast beef lunch meat in the marked down area of the deli. I love this section as I can often find the more expensive lunch meats that are either sliced too thin or are the chunked up ends for only $1.99lb (otherwise, roast beef is NOT a staple in our house! lol)

As I looked at the roast beef & peppers, I thought that a Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Pepper sounded like a good idea. It wasn't until I started cooking that I realized this was going to turn into an awesome recipe so I quickly dug out my camera to snap some photos so I could share the recipe with y'all! Let me just say the photos don't do this recipe justice! The kids and I absolutely LOVED these and the next time I get some cheap roast beef, we will be making this again!! A bonus is that this is gluten free and low-carb!

I started off sauteing chopped up mushrooms, onions & garlic. Once they were nice and ccaramelized I added in the sliced roast beef.

I sliced 2 whole peppers in half and took out the seeds. You can use any kind of cheese you prefer but I used a slice of pepper jack and laid it in the bottom of the pepper half.

I divided up the meat mixture evenly between all 4 peppers then laid a piece of cheddar cheese on top.

I popped the peppers in the oven and baked them for about 15-20 minutes.

YUM!!!

If you are looking for another stuffed pepper recipe, check out my Mexican Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa & Black Beans!

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

about 1/2lb of roast beef lunch meat sliced into strips

8 slices of cheese

2 whole peppers cut in half

2 Tbsp butter

1 medium onion sliced

6oz of mushrooms sliced

2 cloves of garlic minced

salt & pepper to taste

In a saute pan, saute the mushrooms,onions & garlic until caramelized. Add the strips of roast beef & toss with the veggies. Cook for about 5-10 minutes. Lay a piece of cheese inside each pepper then evenly divide up the meat between them. Cover the meat with another piece of cheese. Bake in the oven at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

Printable Recipe

Yet Another School Year

So I am a week late posting this, what else is new! Even though we started our homeschooling year earlier in August, last Tuesday was the kids first day back to co-op. The kids were excited to go back, mainly to see their friends!

This year is a bittersweet year for me. If Noah were still here, he would be starting kindergarten. I admit I really broke down before co-op started. The realization that this is yet another major milestone we are missing out on really brought me to my knees. When your child dies, you not only miss them every day for the rest of your life, you are also left to face all the missed milestones, unfulfilled dreams and plans you had for that child. And this is NOT easy!

I am thankful for the friends that acknowledged this painful missed milestone with their notes, texts and prayers.

Of course, a first day back to co-op isn't complete without a 1st day photo. Since we homeschool, this is the closest we get to "first day photos" that everyone else posts and shares on social media.

Without further ado, we have:

2- 10th graders (say WHAT!)
a 9th grader
a 7th grader
a would-be Kindergartner who is already full of knowledge in Heaven
a pre-K4
and a goofy toddler full of life!

Gluten Free Peach Cobbler Dessert

Ahh 'tis the season of peaches right now! I was lucky to stumble across a deal of 1/2 a bushel of peaches for just $2.70 yesterday. Of course I knew I had to make a warm dessert using them and since some in our family are gluten free, I set out to make the entire dessert gluten free. Of course a warm cobbler is not complete without vanilla ice cream so I dug out our ice cream maker and made a batch of vanilla ice cream to serve alongside the warm cobbler.

This recipe was a hit in our family and one I am sure we will make many times over!

Filling:

Using a glass 9x9 pan, fill with enough peaches (approximately 10-14)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 brown sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

sprinkle with xanthan gum (about 1/2 tsp, I didn't measure) or use 1 tsp cornstarch

Topping:

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1 large egg

1 cup gluten free baking flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. For the filling, slice up the peaches and mix the other ingredients with the peaches in the baking dish.

For the topping, in a separate dish, mix together the sugar, cinnamon, egg & GF baking flour until it forms crumbs. If it seems extra dry, add a smidgen of water to help form clumps. Sprinkle this over the peaches. Take the melted butter and evenly drizzle over the topping. Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.

I actually made double this amount in a 9x13 pan but I didn't quite double the sugar in both the filling & topping. I honestly didn't measure most of my seasonings as I rarely do but this is a good estimate. Feel free to adjust to your tastes!

 Printable Recipe HERE

Horizons Preschool Curriculum

It's hard to believe my precious Olivia is of preschool age already and really itching to "do school" like her older siblings. I never did a formal preschool program with my other children but I recently had the chance to review Horizons Preschool Curriculum Set from Alpha Omega Publications (AOP).

I have used early elementary math curriculum in the past from AOP and we enjoyed it so we were excited to see just what their Preschool Curriculum entailed. When first opening the package, I was overwhelmed at the amount of curriculum that we received! What all was included was:

-2 student books (over 300 pages each!)
-2 teacher manuals (again, over 300 pages each!)
-large loose leaf packet of resource materials and lesson resources (286 pages)
-an audio CD of 17 songs

click on photos to enlarge

The 2 student notebooks contain 180 lessons worth of workbooks pages that are on perforated pages that can be torn out. Many of the pages are printed in bright, full color and involve activities such as tracing, coloring and cutting just to name a few.

The 2 teachers manuals spell out a ton of activities that can be completed each day. I will state that it was obviously from the beginning as I looked over the curriculum, that this set seems to be geared towards a Christian preschool moreso than a single child homeschool. That doesn't mean it can't be used in a homeschool setting, it's just that there are a few things you would need to adapt and do a little differently.

An excerpt from the teachers manual (click on to enlarge)

The teachers manual lists a schedule for each day based on whether you do a full day of preschool or a half day. Either way, there are SO many activities to complete there was just no way we could do them all  but this gave us variety and plenty to choose from and the ability to switch it up. Each day varied the generic types of topics covered. Some of these involved:

• Bible Lesson
• Social Studies
• Language Arts
• Phonics
• Reading
• Writing
• Math
• Colors
• Story Time
• Arts & Crafts
• Gym
• Homework
• Music
• Memory Verse
• Health & Safety

The neat thing is within each lesson, the different topics all connected and flowed between each other. The curriculum is broken down into 5 days of lessons each week. On days 1, 3 & 5, new concepts are presented with days 2 & 4 being review days. This worked out well for us to just do 3 lessons a week as I didn't want to overwhelm my daughter. Each day detailed what workbooks pages to have the student complete as well as what lesson resource pages to have ready to accompany the lesson. 

During the review period, my daughter worked on learning her letters and tracing them (though this was a review for her as she is already writing most of her alphabet) as well as counting, learning shapes & numbers, matching objects, etc.

The resource packet came in loose pages. Many of these cards would be great to laminate to use as flash cards for the student. I wanted to keep them all organized so I 3 hole punched the pages and put them in a binder. I would've liked a tab to separate the resource material and lesson resources so I stuck a sticky tab between the 2 to make it easier to find. Sometimes when lessons called for a certain page, it was hard to find and would've been made easier if the teacher manual had included a page number to locate the page faster.

A few pages from the lesson resource pages

How we used it:

Because there is just SO much material to cover, I picked things out each day that I knew my daughter would enjoy. We read the Bible lesson and then worked on a few activities, making sure we did each lesson student workbook pages as that was important to her. Sometimes we referenced the extra resource pages but it all depended on what it was covering as some of the lessons were more review for her.

Olivia working on a lesson (notice she already knows how to write her name!)

I really did appreciate how the teachers manual had SO much laid out for you in the beginning. It stated which songs you would use with each lesson, several pages worth of reading book suggestions as well as a list of supplies needed for each week. Also listed at a glance was the memory verse for each week and the lyrics to all the songs on the CD.

This preschool program is well thought out and has exceptionally detailed lesson plans as well as prep plans. It more than enough for a homeschool preschooler and would be full of plans for a traditional brick and mortar preschool program!

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Back to Homeschool- Preparing for the New School Year

Whether you are new to homeschooling or have been at it for several years, you will have to take time to plan for your upcoming school year. Usually as I am winding down our school year, I already have an idea of what I plan to do for the following year.

I start out making a list of subjects I want to cover with each child. (Your state may have guidelines as to what each grade needs to cover so that is a good place to start if you are unsure). Once I know what subjects we want to work on, I then list the specific curriculum I want to use for each subject. If I am unsure of what curriculum I want to use, I ask others homeschooling moms who have kids older than mine what they have used or would recommend. I also check out the Schoolhouse Review Crew for curriculum ideas.

Once I have figured out what curricula I want to use for all my children, I then start scouring the web for the best prices. Granted, some of the curriculum I already own and just pass it down from one child to another but other things (like consumable workbooks) I have to buy. It's a good idea to do this process earlier in the summer so you have time to look around for deals. I first reference an online curriculum store so I know what the books cost brand new as I obviously don't want to pay more for a used book than it would cost brand new. Then I typically check out Amazon's used books, ebay & Homeschool Classifieds to see what deals I can find. I admit it feels like Christmas morning as all the curriculum starts rolling in!

Once I have the curriculum in my hands, I take a look to see if there is already a schedule laid out for the year (my most favorite curriculums do this which in my opinion, saves me a TON of work!) If there isn't a schedule included, I try to figure out how much to cover each week to complete it all by the end of the year. Some homeschoolers plan out in detail their entire year but I don't. I plan in detail week by week that way it allows wiggle room when life happens and we need to make schedule adjustments.

In addition to preparing curriculum, I also get school supplies for each child. Usually by mid-summer, most stores have all their back-to-school products out. I highly recommend stocking up at this time because if you run out of something later in the school year, you end up paying a higher price for it. Some things we typically purchase each year are:

• 1 subject notebooks (they usually average $.17-$.25 each so I get a big stack) 
• glue sticks and some liquid glue
• pencils
• crayons/colored pencils
• scissors (as some seem to go missing from our previous year)
• staples
• tape

What are some ways YOU prepare for your new school year?

Don't forget to stop by and check out the the many posts other homeschool moms are sharing this week!

This weeks blog hop is being sponsored by the Schoolhouse Review Crew & Homeschool Blogging Connection.

Back to Homeschool Upcoming Blog Hop!

Where in the WORLD has summer gone? I can't believe we are well into August already. For me, August means that we are almost to the end of warm weather and that it's time to start school. It also means that it's our annual Back to Homeschool Blog Hop that I've participated in the last few years. So stop back and check out all the great posts everyone will be sharing this coming week!

Mark your calendars - 10 to 14 August - it's time for this years Homeschool Blog Hop. The Schoolhouse Review Crew will be joining forces with Homeschool Connections to bring you a week full of back to school encouragement.

We have 55 homeschool Mom's sharing their combined wisdom and insights covering everything Homeschool related. That's 275 posts of encouragement and information just for you!

Meet Your Back to Homeschool Blog Hop Hosts

Marcy @ Ben and Me

Debra @ Footprints in the Butter

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement

Missica @ The Open Window: An Autism Blog

Misty @ Year Round Homeschooling

Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

Heather @ Only Passionate Curiosity

Clarissa @ Counting Our Blessings

Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

Monique @ Living Life and Learning

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together

Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining

April @ ElCloud Homeschool

Brenda @ Counting Pinecones

Tara @ This Sweet Life

Tara @ Embark on the Journey

Jennifer @ Chestnut Grove Academy

Annette @ In All You Do

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures

Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker

Joanie @ Simple Living Mama

Aurie @ Our Good Life

Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Kemi @ Homemaking Organized

Wendy @ Life at Rossmont

Katie @ DailyLife

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Kim @ Homestead Acres

Melissa @ Mom's Plans

Annette @ A Net In Time

Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm

Meg @ Adventures with Jude

Dawn @ Double O Farms

DaLynn @ For the Display of His Splendor

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

Steph @ Indy Homeschool

Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Tawnee @ Adventures in homeschooling

Lisa @ Tales of a Homeschool Family

Jennifer @ Organized Home Organized School

Callie @ Mama's Coffee Shop

Erin @ For Him and My Family

Lori @ At Home: where life happens

Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama

Nicole @ Some Call It Natural

Crystal @ Crystal Starr

Bonnie @ Write Bonnie Rose

Shawna @ Tenacity Divine

Carol @ Home Sweet Life

Kelli @ Adventure Homeschool 

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning 

Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road

UnLock Pre-Alebra

Teaching elementary math over the years was no big deal. Fast forward to middle school & high school and well, I needed to brush up on my math to be able to help the kids out. But with several children close in age, there isn't always enough of my math skills to go around so I looked for math curriculum that could do the teaching FOR me. We recently had the chance to review UnLock Pre-Algebra from UnLock Math.

What is it?

UnLock Pre-Algebra is a complete online homeschool math course taught by Alesia Blackwood, a former math teacher and fellow homeschool mom. We have used other math curriculum's in the past that use a video to teach but we have to say that the way Alesia teaches has been by far the most engaging, easy to understand teacher we've worked with for math! You don't just hear her voice for the lessons but you actually see her as she demonstrates problems on a white board! She does all the work for you in not only teaching pre-algebra in a way that makes sense, but lesson plans are already laid out and the grading & record keeping is taken care of for you right online. I LOVE curriculum that makes my busy life simpler.

There are 16 units with each unit containing a variety of lessons & quizzes as well as a midterm quiz and final exam.

How does it work?

Once the student logs in, they are brought to their dashboard that shows the list of lessons (and which ones they've completed), their average grade, a link to check out their gradebook as well as progress report. If you aren't sure how long your child should take on each lesson/unit, there is a pacing guide that you can download that tells you approximately how many days they should spend on each. I felt this was a great idea and lets me know if my son was on target or needed some extra help.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Once the student clicks on which unit they are on, it takes them into a page that lists all the lessons for that unit and shows which ones they have complete. Upon selecting the next lesson, they are set to begin that days lessons which starts out with a warm up session of 5 math problems. Once those are complete, they move on to watch the math video. Alesia teaches each concept in small, easy to understand pieces so it isn't overwhelming. The videos vary in length, from what I've seen 3-10 minutes each.

After the video, the student then completes about 10 practice problems that goes over what they just learned in this lesson. These problems are automatically graded. If the student needs more practice, the program automatically generates new problems for them to complete (how cool is that!!) The other awesome feature that I adore about this program is the fact that after the student completes the practice problems, they can they get an explanation on each problem which especially comes in handy if they got one wrong. Many other programs just show the student WHAT they got wrong and not WHY it was wrong and how to do it correctly. I think this is huge in helping a student understand the concepts.

Next the student moves onto the stay sharp section which reviews concepts they learned about in previous lessons. This helps them retain what they have already learned.

Finally they end with the challenge yourself section which is a way to earn extra credit. To wrap it all up, you then have the ability to print out the reference notes for the lesson. The notes go over what they learned in the lesson as well as new vocabulary they might have learned. If you print this off, it would be best to put them in a notebook so your child could reference them in future lessons if they need help with something they previously learned.

As if this curriculum in itself isn't already great, their customer support deserves a huge mention as well. You can have a wonderful program but if you find yourself needing help, where can you turn to? Let's just say Matthew (Alesia's husband) is wonderful to communicate with by email and even though we (so far) haven't needed Alesia's help, he has assured us if at any point we need help, Alesia is there for us through either email or phone support! That to me speaks volumes knowing I have a math teacher ready to step in if we need the extra support.

Our thoughts?

UnLock Pre-Algebra is a well thought out online math program that covers everything I would want in a math curriculum. My son typically would've waited another year before starting pre-algebra but because of how well this program dissected the concepts, he plans to complete the program this year for his math curriculum. He averaged completing 1 lesson a day during the review period. I would love to see Alesia eventually role out other levels in math down the road!

If this program sounds like something that would work with your family, feel free to use this link to save $50 on purchasing UnLock Pre-Algebra or Algebra 1.

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"You Wouldn't Cry For Me Today"

This song hits home for me right now and I imagine Noah hugging me as he whispers these words in my ear. I am thankful he is experiencing the joys of Heaven but man, we miss him big time here!!! There is no way to describe the hole in my heart and the tears that continue to fall as we reflect on the last 5yrs without our son/brother.

"You Wouldn't Cry for Me Today"

All you saw was pain
All you saw was rain
But you should see me now
Moments filled with tears
Lasted all those years
Disappeared somehow
You never said goodbye
On your knees you cry
You're still asking why, but

Blue has never been bluer
True has never been truer
Honey never tasted so sweet
There's a song in the breeze
A million voices in praise
A rose has never smelled redder
The sun has never been brighter
If I could find the right words to say
If you could look at my face
If you could just see this place
You wouldn't cry for me today

What you think you see
Isn't really me
I'm already home
You've got to lay it down
'Cause Jesus holds me now
And I am not alone
Your faith is wearing thin
But I am watching Him
And He's holding you too, and

[Chorus]

What may seem like years will just be a moment
Oh, the day will come when I'll show you where you're going
I can't wait to show you that

[Chorus]

CursiveLogic

Let's face it, cursive handwriting is a dying art anymore. Despite that, I still teach my children cursive, even if they don't continue to use it, I want them to be able to read it. We've used many approaches to teaching cursive over the years so we were excited to try out a totally new concept using the CursiveLogic Workbook from CursiveLogic.

The workbook is a 96 page, consumable spiral bound workbook that contains both the teaching instructions for the parent to instruct as well as the student pages. There are even 3 laminated pages in the back where the student can keep practicing their work while reusing it again and again.

Their approach to teaching cursive is unlike anything I have ever come across. In fact though, their innovative approach makes complete sense. They teach the letters by shape and not in alphabetical order. There is also a verbal task analysis that helps the student learn verbally how to write each letter shape. In addition, the different letter shapes are grouped by color & shape, all while helping the student to group the same shaped letters together.

From CursiveLogic's Website:

"Letters grouped by shape ― Four foundational shapes underlie the entire lowercase alphabet. Rather than teaching the letters alphabetically, CursiveLogic groups the lowercase alphabet into four groups based on the shape of the initial stroke of the letters and teaches all of the similarly-shaped letters in a single lesson.  Letters are also taught in a specific order that reinforces the pattern.  By teaching all of the similar letters together, CursiveLogic captures the natural synergy of the alphabet itself, allowing each letter in the series to reinforce the proper formation of all the others.

Letter strings ― CursiveLogic captures the flow of cursive by teaching all of the similarly shaped letters in a connected string rather than as individual letters. CursiveLogic’s letter strings teach students to connect letters from the first lesson, allowing students to internalize the flow of cursive handwriting even before they have learned all 26 letters.

CursiveLogic also uses visual and auditory cues to reinforce the shape patterns:

Theme colors — Each shape string has a color—orange ovals, lime loops, silver swings, and mauve mounds—that reinforces the formation of the basic common shape.

Verbal task analysis — Students learn a simple, rhythmical chant that describes the path of the writing instrument as the letter shapes are formed.  The process of verbally describing a motor task while performing it aids the acquisition of new motor skills."

The main focus of the book is to teach lower case letters but they do touch on forming each capital letter. There is no set schedule as to how to go through this book. I had my son who was new to cursive writing work on one page a day. I was amazed at how quickly he was picking up the skills since he never had previous instruction in cursive. He found the instructions easy to follow and actually enjoyed practicing his writing every day. I felt he picked up on cursive using this method quicker than my older children did in a different way that I had taught them.

CursiveLogic is afforable at only $29!

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In Honor of Noah's 5th Birthday. . .

It's hard to believe how quickly Noah's 5th birthday is approaching (July 13th). I know I've been suppressing my grief to a degree and am in denial that we are rapidly approaching another milestone without my son though I'm sure it is all going to crash in on me soon enough. It always does.

The cake I made for Noah's 1st Birthday

He's turning 5.

He should be starting homeschool Kindergarten this fall.

He would probably be writing his name by now.

I could've signed him up to finally play fall soccer.

And so much more, the list is endless.

In honor of Noah's birthday, I would love to remember YOUR child(ren) that have died. I want to write their names on a sky lantern that we will release the week of Noah's birthday (13th) and home-going (14th).

I will take a picture of each child's name as I write it and put it together in a video montage that I plan to later share here. All you have to do is go fill out their name on this form.

Secondly, I can't tell you how much it means to see Noah's name written out or have it spoken out loud! It truly is a priceless gift to all of us! I have a name album for Noah that we started several years ago that many have contributed photos to. I would love for you to take a minute and send us a photo of Noah's name that I can add to his album. You can directly post it on Treasuring Life's Blessings wall and I will put it in his album or message it to me through my page there. (you can also drop me a note here and I can give you an email address to send the photo to).

We covet your thoughts and prayers as we enter the upcoming time of reflection on Noah's brief but miraculous life, celebrating all that he is while mourning that he isn't in our arms.

Please feel free to share this post so I can remember as many babies as possible and thank you for participating!