Now for some pictures...

Are you guys sick of hearing about Willy Wonka yet? It's almost over, I promise. This blog is about my life and that is my life this weekend. Except for the four hours I spent this morning devouring a really good book. Once I got started I just didn't want to put it down and didn't have to so I read it until I finished the whole thing. Excellent book! "Dangers in the Shadows" by Dee Henderson. I have the next book but I am definitely not going to start it today!

More Willy Wonka

This is a song that Hannah and Grace are both in. They are the servants in red dresses coming in and out. Hannah is in the longer one and Grace's is polka dots. They've both got braids. Are they adorable or what?

Willy Wonka

Pet Peeves and School

Do you have any pet peeves?  I don't have many at all but my biggest pet peeve by far is when grown men talk like babies.  I really don't like when anyone talks like a baby unless they are imitating something their sweet baby said.  It's especially bad for me if baby talk comes out of a man's mouth.  My other pet peeve is when someone uses the last of the toilet paper and doesn't change the roll.  Hate that.

Joe got a preschool progress report today.  This is something they do twice a year.  His first progress report he got all G's (that stands for Good Progress) except for one NI  (Needs Improvement) in "Holding, using my scissors,"  and one W (Working on Skill) in "Skipping."  He knew most of his letters and could count to 11.  Well, he has managed to learn something this year.  His NI in scissor holding has progressed to a G and his W in skipping is up to a NI.  He now knows all his letters and can count to 50.  Go Joe!!  I have to say that this progress report is really too cute.  It has about 50 things on it including, "I can go to the bathroom alone."  

We have had a REALLY productive school week.  Especially considering it's only been three days so far.  Grace has just continued her practice reading and some math and working on a first grade computer program.  Hannah is the one that has really had to work extra hard.  She has finished her language arts curriculum.  We flew through the last 5 lessons in an hour or so only doing what was necessary so we could "git 'er done."  We also flew through the last three weeks of My Father's World,  thankfully they were light weeks.  I had to do a ton of reading aloud but we managed to wrap it up.  I skipped all the science experiments.  They weren't that great anyway.  Some of them we had already done so I didn't feel bad skipping them.  It was all "Science with Air," and last year we did a whole big unit on air.  Hannah has also doubled up on Math everyday.  We did a little scrapbook today with all her Bible verses from the year on all the names of Jesus (the vine, the shepherd, a rock, the Word, the resurrection and the life, etc.).  Next week we will start on the Mary Cassatt lapbook, finish up the owl lapbook, and finish a lapbook we started last summer about our country.  A fitting ending to a year of American History.  I am really looking forward to our summer break.  We all need it!

You Are Invited..

To Willy Wonka, Jr.--opening tonight!  If you are within a 30 mile radius and a reader of this blog you should feel obligated to go this show.  My feelings will be really hurt if I don't see you there and I just know it will be because you think I'm fat.  
Here are the specifics--shows are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at 7 pm and Sunday afternoon at 2pm.  They are all in the Community Building.  Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for kids, and a homeschool discount of $3 a person.  Hannah and Grace are both in the show.  Hannah has a specific part on Friday night and Sunday, she has a few lines and a short solo.  
See you there unless you think I'm fat.  :0)

Hannah and Chess

Believe it or not, Hannah beat Ollie at chess!  Wow, was that ever funny.  First, I have to say that we are NOT getting a dog (thank goodness).  That was a deal made with the other two.  Anyway, back to how Hannah beat Ollie at chess.  We have a new fixture in the living room right now and that is a chess board on the piano bench in the middle of the room.  We had a babysitter Saturday night who of course noticed the chess board (how can you not) and promised to practice chess with the kids because she loves to play chess.  Well, during this "practice" time she taught Hannah how to win in just a few moves.  Hannah took notes and memorized this.  Of course, Ollie had no idea that she knew this well known "quick win strategy" so didn't see it coming.  It wasn't five minutes and she had him beat!  To really get just how funny this was you have to know that Ollie is REALLY good at chess! When we first got married he had a chess program on the computer.  It was one of those where you progressively play harder opponents that have the names of famous chess masters.  Well, he beat the game.  I've hardly known him to lose except maybe to his grandfather or brother.  I had a great laugh, Hannah was so proud, and Ollie was humble!  

A Day at Epcot

I have been wanting to get to Epcot one last time before summer so Monday was the day. My feet were screaming in rebellion but we made it a short day and just did a few things and saw the countries. They are having the Flower and Garden show right now. The flowers are beautiful! I love the topiaries. We enjoyed the countries. We saw two circlevision movies, one about China and one about Canada. We rode the ride in Norway, ate croissants in France, ate bratwurst in Germany, and checked out the neat architecture in Morocco. All in all a fun day!

Below is my kid's favorite thing at Epcot. It's called Club Cool and it is just a bunch of coke machines with different cokes (that's sodas or pop for you yankees) from different countries. Here's Hannah after trying "Beverly" it is a bitter soda from Italy.

Joe and Chess

Joe has a new fascination--geography!  He is continually asking about different countries--where they are located for example.  We have a World map on our dining room wall as part of our decorating theme--elementary homeschool.  He will get a stool and stand at the map pointing to place after place asking what its name is.  Then he wants to go to the computer and see pictures of it.  He wants to know what language the people speak, what food they eat, and on and on.  It is great that he is so interested but I have to admit his questions can get tiring.  I think the ride at Disney, "It's a Small World" started all this.  He asks about every little doll in the place wanting to know where they are all from.  The curriculum I'm doing with the girls next year is a year of World Geography--I imagine Joe is going to get as much out of it as they will if this new fascination continues.
I had a Joe funny the other morning--I was exasperated with him after a morning of almost constant whining, bickering, and general irritability.  As we were trying to get out the door he started up with more whining about something new and I issued an inappropriate threat.  So, by the time we got in the car I was feeling guilty about losing control of my tongue and so I talked to him about it and apologized.  He forgave me and then in all seriousness said, "Finally, I've been waiting for a gwown up to get in twouble."  He turned my frown into a smile with that one.  He makes me crazy sometimes but I adore that kid!
About chess--Ollie has been trying to teach the kids to play chess.  So far Grace and Joe are the most interested and he has promised them a dog if they can beat him.  They are really trying but haven't come close yet.  They are learning to play chess which is something I haven't been able to do very well so the hope of this ultimate reward is teaching them something!  

Summer Project

I have a summer project for myself.  It's not a big project but an intimidating one--what is it you ask????  It is to clean out all the crap, I mean valuable things lurking in my various junk drawers and closets.  If you were to come to my house it might look fairly neat to you, even in some sort of order on some days.  BUT--if you were to open any random drawer, cabinet, or closet you might run screaming from my house.  So, I am going to take baby steps and tackle one closet or drawer a week.  My plan is to clean out big time and give away big time.  I am tired of trying to maintain order amidst too much stuff!  I am really a minimalist at heart but sometimes forget and start collecting stuff.  Then I get disgusted by all our stuff and start shoveling it out the door and to the local thrift store as fast as I can.  That's the mood I'm in.  I started with Hannah's drawers yesterday.  We got her wardrobe down to a reasonable amount of clothing.  Her drawer will be checked nightly and she will be rewarded with a quarter for a clean drawer and punished with a dumped-out-on-the-floor-drawer for a messy drawer.  I am serious here people--I am so tired of finding wadded up, inside out, DIRTY clothes in her overflowing-so-bad-you-can't-shut-it drawer.  I'm starting on Grace's drawer tomorrow and same rules apply.  Fun!  
I have a game closet slap full of games we don't play.  There are some good ones in there that I wouldn't dream of giving away but we can definitely spare some of them.  I may need to consult and organization expert (Steph K--are you reading this???  How much do you charge??).  I want to get it organized and then just maintain each area.  How hard can it be?  I mean really?  For me--almost impossible but I am going to try to teach this old dog a new trick.  Any suggestions???  Especially for the good old junk drawer?

Homeschool Skate

Here's some pictures from our skating afternoons every other Wednesday. Aren't these kiddos cute???

Surprise!

Grace found this flower in the yard yesterday--we did not plant it and it was a complete surprise to see such a beautiful flower! I've actually tried many times to grow sunflowers and the birds steal my seeds!

Spies Like Us

video

If you could see the video leave a comment and let me know. I can't get it to play and I don't know if it's just my computer or what.

Here's a picture from last night--

Performance Troupe

Hannah performed with the Performance Troupe from theatre last night. It was a fun show to watch, they did a variety of songs. The place they performed was one of those 55 and over communities. I could so get into living in one of those places when I get old. They had so much going on. Last night's was their last meeting before the summer I guess when many of them go back up north. They had every couple with an anniversary in the coming months go up and announce how long they had been married. Then we all sang "Happy Anniversary" to the tune of Happy Birthday. It was cute. Of course Ollie would never agree to live in a place like that. Oh well.
Hannah had a short solo last night at the beginning of a song. I was fumbling with my camera through half of it but I'm going to try to put the very short clip on here anyway. You can't really see her, she's the turquoise blur at the left.

Funny Pictures

We finally got some rain yesterday, it has been really dry here. It wasn't a thunderstorm so I let the kids play in the rain for a little while. Joe put the Tinkerbell hat on as a sort of "umbrella." He was also playing some sort of spy game, I thought his outfit was funny.

Curriculum Cont.

I forgot to mention the other workbooks and such that I use to supplement. I LOVE Explode the Code for reading practice. If your child needs a little extra practice it is great. Also Scholastic's 100 Words Kids Need to Read by First Grade is excellent for building a sight reading vocabulary. Grace is working on it now.
The Classical Kids Series is great for learning about a specific composer, hearing the music, and being entertained by a fun story. We especially have enjoyed Beethoven Lives Upstairs.
Live and Learn Press and In the Hands of a Child for Lapbooks.
Evan Moor "Pockets" books. I have done almost all the science ones, they are great and very thorough. We haven't had time to do any this year and I've really missed them.

I think that's it.

A Year of Curriculum in Review

A friend put a post like this on her blog and asked her readers to share what they used for curriculum this year. For homeschoolers this time of year is one of lots of thought about what to do next year. Should I continue with what I'm using? Is there something better? Am I leaving something out that's important?
Since the convention is this weekend and some of my readers might have some of the above questions--I thought I'd share what we've done this year. I am thinking I will use it all again next year, we've had a good year.

For Hannah--3rd Grade

History/Bible/Science/Music Appreciation--My Father's World Adventures in American History: I absolutely love it! As we wrap up our school year, I am confident that she has the basics of American History down pat. She knows a lot about the states--their locations, capitals, and a little bit about them like what they are known for. She has also learned a lot about the different names the Bible uses for Jesus that represents characteristics of Him (the Lamb of God, the Resurrection and the Life, the Vine, the Good Shepherd, and so on). She has had a great year of Science with lots of hands on experiments. Better Science than we've ever done probably.

Math--we use Horizons. It is a great curriculum for Hannah, Math is her thing and she needs very little explanation. Thankfully, she doesn't need to know "why," she just follows the steps and does it!

Language Arts--We have used Learning Language Arts Through Literature for the last two years. I have really liked it, Hannah does well with it, and it does the job. This is one I may be changing though. I'm just lukewarm about it and there may be something better out there. We'll see.. I need more thought on this one.

Spelling--We've used Spelling Power Book B and it's gone well. Hannah doesn't really NEED a Spelling curriculum but she enjoys it so I'll probably move on to Book C.

For Grace--1st Grade

Reading/Phonics/Bible/Science--My Father's World First Grade: This has been a good curriculum for Grace. It takes her step by step through phonics and uses a Bible Reader to reinforce the reading lessons. She has had (and is having) an overview of the entire Bible and filling in a timeline and a Bible notebook where she draws her own illustrations of the main stories in the Bible. She loves the Science--it's very hands on and simple.

Math--we are still working through Horizons Kindergarten, it is actually a grade level ahead so the Kindergarten is really first grade. It got too hard for Grace and I had to supplement with a simpler workbook from School Zone--the kind you can buy at Wal-mart. I don't know if Horizons is right for her. I need to look and see what else is out there for her, not sure what to do yet.

Language Arts--well, we started off doing First Language Lessons but I haven't been consistent at all. We'll be working on that again next year!

That's about it I think. I'd love for any of you homeschoolers reading this who have blogs to do a post about your curriculum.

A Few More Pictures

I apologize to all of you reading who don't know my family and are tired of seeing pictures of people you don't know...I have a lot of family members who read my blog and this is where I share pictures with them instead of sending 20 e-mails. So, bear with me....

The Beach!

We had a great day at the beach--as great a day as you can have at the beach. As I've said before--I do not enjoy the beach. Especially the sand--ugh! I got it easy this time though. I spent most of the time under the umbrella with the baby.
Even Samuel loved it, he's not a big fan of water but he seems to have made an exception for the beach fun!

This is the most easygoing baby. He seemed unfazed by the ocean roar, the cold water, the sun...he just went along with everything then had a bottle and took a nap.

Look at the jellyfish we found flopping onshore.

Grace brought her LPS seahorse to the beach so he could experience his natural habitat--her words.

Butterflies

About a month ago a friend of mine gave the kids a butterfly kit. You get the mesh "cage" thing and then send off for your caterpillars, much like the praying mantises except these guys are way easier. They come as caterpillars in little jars complete with all the food they need. They grow incredibly fast and within a week they attach themselves to the roof of their jar and make a chrysalis. Once they have all done this you take the lid and put it in the mesh habitat and wait for butterflies! The butterflies hatch out about a week later and fly around drinking sugar water that you provide for them. When you are ready you release them into the wild blue yonder!
Our caterpillars and their peanut butter looking food.

Grace with the habitat after some had hatched. If you click on this picture and see it bigger you may notice the red stains--that is not blood, it's butterfly meconium. It looks pretty gross. The flowers on the bottom are from our yard and we kept them spritzed with sugar water.

When Grace went to release the butterflies some didn't want to leave. She was able to put her hand in and two or three actually crawled on her hand and she took them out and then they flew away. She was careful not to touch their wings because she knows that if you get your oily hands on the wings they can no longer fly.

This was another fun critter experience but I have to say that I am thrilled that finally we have no little insect pets to care for. At least for now...

Check Out These Dimples!

My Feet

In response to a few inquiries about my feet and my doctor's appt.--

First of all, I have had problems with my right foot for years--about 7 to be exact.  I've had recurring plantar fascitis in that foot.  Because I know what it is I no longer see the doctor when it flares up.  It's been "flared up" for about 2 or 3 years now.  Because I haven't really dealt with it I now have problems in the other foot and both hips.  I'm sure all of it is because of compensating for the pain.  The ankle of my left foot is really swollen and there are some days that I can truly hardly walk without taking Advil to alleviate the pain.  So--I finally decided to talk to my Family Doctor and see what I should do.  I also wanted just a general physical.  So--we are finally really addressing this.  I should note here that there isn't much that can be done for plantar fascitis medically.  You have to be diligent about stretching your foot, wearing good shoes, and doing other exercises.  I've been good with the first two but lacking in the last.  The reason I didn't see a doctor for so long was because I assumed they would just tell me the same thing I had already heard.  However, it had really gotten to the point that it was debilitating and I needed to do something about it.  So--I've seen the doctor, she put me on a 5 day steroid and a month of anti-inflammatory meds.  She has also instructed me to be really diligent about my exercises and get a new pair of tennis shoes--New Balance.  She says they are better than my usual Birks. She is really hopeful that we can beat this.  I am skeptically hopeful.  I honestly cannot imagine walking without pain.  I know people do though and it is possible that I will too.  I started the steroids yesterday and I feel great!!  I know that it is just the medication right now but I'm getting a taste of "normal" feet and I love it.  I just have to remind myself not to do too much.  The injury is still there just masked right now.  So--that's the story of my feet.  Any questions?   
If you are a praying person, please pray that these interventions will work.  There is a surgery available but as most of you know I have no insurance so that is not really an option and isn't always effective.  

Where was Grace?

Grace didn't go to Disney with us, she didn't want to. She spent the day with Grammy and Brayden and Aunt Harriet and Uncle Billy. I know she loved having them all to herself. Here are a few pictures from her day.

Wednesday

Wednesday we got up early and headed to Disneyworld. My brother, his wife, and their son had never been. Joe, Hannah, and I had a great time giving them the grand tour. We started at Hollywood Studios and Hannah took Ryan and Mandy on the Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. I was happy to join Joe and Samuel at the Playhouse Disney show--much more my speed. I went to the doctor on Tuesday for my feet and when I told her I'd be going to Disney the next day she pretty much ordered me to get a wheelchair. I was hesitant but ultimately swallowed my pride--bigger deal than I thought--and rented a wheelchair. Honestly, that was the best thing I've done in a long time. I was able to enjoy the park without putting more stress on my feet. And, we were able to go right to the front of most of the lines. I'm sure it was a pain for Ryan and Mandy to have to push me around but they were good sports. Here are some pictures of our day--

Joe and Samuel are posing with the White Power Rangers--Samuel is a big Power Ranger fan and he was thrilled to meet them.

Aunt Mandy and Joe on Dumbo.

The Mouse himself

We got to go on the Buzz Lightyear ride twice. I don't know how I did it but I scored 120,000 the first time and 300, 000 the second time.

Here's Joe on It's a Small World--he is really into geography right now and spends the whole ride wanting to know what country the scene is from. I have to guess on some but he doesn't know the difference.

The Tobins and the Incredibles

Big ice cream mess!

Hannah nearly made me vomit on the cars--thankfully, she won't be behind the wheel of a real car for many years to come!

Monday, Monday--rambling post--you are warned

Happy Monday--I love Mondays.  I love the routine of the week.  I enjoy the weekends but there's something fresh and new about Monday morning, things go back to normal and I know better what is expected of me.  I live in week long segments--This WEEK I'm going to be consistent in disciplining and schooling.  This WEEK I'm going to really make that effort to be patient.  This WEEK I'm going to eat a lot healthier.  If I blow it early in the week it's hard to get going again.  So, Mondays are always a fresh start for me.  I like to start my Monday and my week with a clean house and kitchen--didn't happen this week but that's okay.  Remember all those toys I sadly packed up last weekend, well, it had made it as far as the garage and every last piece of it was in my living room yesterday.  Yes, they pulled it all out and played with everything.  They were playing such an involved game I even let them leave it out all night so they could continue this morning.  Not a fun sight to wake up to but we spent the day out of the house so I didn't have to look at it all day.  I'm happy to say it's cleaned up now.  For those of you who don't spend a lot of time with me--I NEED to have my kitchen and living room clean in order to feel emotionally sane.  I get a little freaky when those areas are a mess--oh yeah, and my bed has to be made too.  Then all is right with the world.  Weird I know but hey, I have to feel like I have some control over something.  
I won't be blogging much this week.  My brother and his family and my mom arrive tomorrow night for a few days of fun in the sun.   Of course we will be going to Disney and the beach.  It's always fun to take somebody new to Disney and I'm sure Samuel--my five year old nephew will love it.  Joe can't wait to have him here.  Grace has been working on "Samuel-proofing" her room.  She doesn't like little boys in her stuff.  :0)  I am excited about getting reaquainted with my new nephew who is 3 months old now.   
Hope you have a great week too!

Laura Ingalls Wilder

We went to a really neat presentation at a local library today. It was all about Laura Ingalls Wilder--her books and her life. She had pictures from all of the different historical sites as well as photos of the family. The girls were surprised to see that Mary wasn't the beautiful blonde that she was on tv and that she had never married. The woman presenting was very knowledgeable and could answer questions about what was fiction and what was really happened. Then at the end they had some old fashioned candy and other desserts. I was glad to be off my gluten free diet. They had some wonderful cherry cobbler. The girls and I have been reading the books for years. We usually read one and then take a break and read some others and then read the next one. We are almost done with Little Town on the Prairie and then we have two more to read. They've really been fun reads--well most of them. Farmer Boy and the Long Winter got a little long but the others have been great.