Just Pictures...

A List

1. We've had a busy week, it's been fun and I've even managed to mostly enjoy myself without stressing too much over what all we are not getting done at home. We've done some school every day and Hannah has managed to pretty much finish two of her virtual school classes. She has an oral exam in the morning and one more timed writing for Keyboarding. Can I get a WOOHOO?!?!

2. Joe is doing well with the changes I have made with him. Of course, it's not been a normal week but I am happy to report that there has not been even one temper tantrum over school with him this week!

3. Today a friend and I took her baby and my kids to Portrait Innovations to have a Halloween picture taken. They have a special deal where you pay $9.95 and get a whole bunch of pictures of just one pose. Of course, they take a ton of pictures of lots and lots of poses and then try to bully you into buying them. They really aren't very nice about it at all. The guy today told me rather rudely that they make no money off of the $9.95 deal in an effort to get me to spend an exorbitant amount of money on pictures. I don't know why they even offer the deal if they are going to be so rude when you accept their offer. I used to go to portrait places all the time when my kids were little, always with a coupon of course but now that I have such a talented photographer friend (check out her business blog--Snapshots of Grace), I seldom go. Just occasionally for a goofy holiday picture. I'm not sure it's worth the deal to endure the rudeness. After the photo session we had lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Love that place!

Here's Landon's picture--she had a ton of cute pictures to choose from! This was the best one though. I secretly snapped the pic below while Grace was waiting for the photographer, I thought it was funny that he had a Christmas tree there the whole time. You couldn't see it in any of the pics though.
And, below is the picture we got. I love how all the colors came together. Love the costumes my kids picked this year and thankful for a friend with a whole garage full of costumes for us to choose from! In case you can't tell--Grace is an Arabian Princess, Hannah is the Chiquita Banana girl, and Joe is a parrot to go with Hannah's costume.
4. Jake came over after the play on Tuesday (see pic lower down) and he and Joe had a great afternoon. Here they are doing a puzzle of all of the American presidents and discussing them. Jake is obsessed with the presidents right now and he told Joe all sorts of information. I count that as school!

5. We saw a cute play on Tuesday--"The House at Pooh Corner," it was a little young for my kids but we all loved it. 6. I made some really good chocolate chip banana muffins tonight and made some changes and made them super healthy. The recipe called for 2 cups of flour and I substitued 1/2 cup of flax meal for 1/2 cup of the flour. I also subbed in applesauce for the oil and cut the sugar by 1/3 and added some chia seed. Since they are so healthy I thought it was fine to eat at least a dozen of them--they were mini muffins by the way.

7. I'm taking Hannah to get her hair cut tomorrow. It's down to her butt right now and getting harder and harder to take care of. She's been talking about it for a while but I pushed her to just go ahead and do it. Just a few inches, it will probably be barely noticeable.

Look What I Found on Facebook...

My momma and my sis...this picture makes me miss them! Love my crazy family!

Monday, Monday--Let's Talk About School

I woke up so unmotivated today to do much of anything.  It was a busy weekend and I really needed a day to recover but no rest for the weary...we managed to get in a full day of school with all three kids.

Hannah is at the end of two of her virtual school classes and all she has left are big projects in each.  I am so, so tempted to just let her skip these projects.  It's not like I'm recording these grades anywhere, we don't start keeping a transcript for a couple more years.  In Art she has to create a comic strip incorporating everything she's learned in the class--proportion, value, emphasis, unity, etc. In Keyboarding she has to research a career she might like to pursue and then create a Power Point presentation to present her findings.  Then she has to write a business letter to some fictitious person.  It all sounds like a lot of work that we don't really have time for right now.  As much as I want to, I'm not going to quit before having her do these projects because I don't want to set a bad example for her or misrepresent homeschoolers in FLVS.  My goal is for her to be done with these two classes by the end of this week.  It's a busy week but we are just going to have to fit it in, even if we have to do school at night.

I am changing Joe's school a little bit to make it better for him and for me.  He's been struggling which means that I've been struggling as well.  Today went well.  My goal for him in math is to memorize his addition and subtraction facts so he can feel more confident as the problems get bigger and harder.  Today he did flash cards on my iPod and it went great, he had multiple choice questions and it told him right away if his answers were right or wrong.  I have lots of ideas for some fun ways to practice these skills.  I have been convicted of the fact that school is really no fun for Joe at all, so I'm working on including some fun activities, games, and reading books on topics that are interesting to him.  Today went well...

Grace is having a great school year.  She's making big strides in all subjects and I'm very proud of her.  It's not much fun but she's learning.  We are doing a science program that she asked to do--learning about birds and other flying creatures.  

So, how was your Monday? 

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

One of Joe's Scenes

We're Off to See the Wizard Again!

We're Off to See the Wizard

Merry Old Land of Oz

Hannah as the Great and Powerful Oz

Grace's part in Munchkinland

Seven Quick Takes

1.  Tonight is opening night of Wizard of Oz!  The kids have their main parts tonight and Saturday night--Hannah is Oz, Grace is the Barrister (second to the mayor of Munchkin City), and Joe is Toto.  Hannah and Grace have another short part that they both do every night but I don't know what you would call it--they are the people who work in Oz and get Dorothy and friends ready to see the wizard.  I'm excited about the show and have been busily making lemon bars and chocolate chip cookie bars all day.  I am hoping to make enough to last the weekend so I can be done with the baking.  I also have to fix Hannah's costume sometime before the show.  Lots to do, lots to do!

2.  Of course, we are also trying to get school done around here as well.  Hannah is finished, Grace is mostly done, and Joe hasn't even started.  Let's hope he has a cooperative day...

3.  I have been regularly exercising and am getting in the habit of fitting it in to my schedule.  That has meant getting up early some days.  I got up very early yesterday and went to the gym and then got up even earlier today and walked with Ann Marie.  I am pretty much staying sore right now but hopefully my body will adjust to this foreign concept of regular exercise.  Now, if I could just do something about my sugar addiction that seems to ramp out of control when I am busy and feeling a little stressed.  Maybe next week?

4.  I am loving the Wally Lamb book I am reading, "I Know This Much is True."  It's been a while since I read a deep, well written novel and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  Unfortunately, it's 900 pages so it is no quick read.  I'm not even halfway done at this point...it's worth the time though.  For those of you who have read his books--are his others as good as this one?

5.  I wish I had time and I wish my kids had the attention span to listen to me read aloud to them for hours every day.  There are soooo many books that I want to read with them.  There's just not enough time.  Right now we are reading Wizard of Oz and the kids are really enjoying it.  Not sure what we are going to read next--a classic? or maybe some newer book?  Any suggestions?

6.  I am excited about dinner tonight--Chicken Cobbler Casserole.  I haven't made that in forever and I really feel like having a GOOD dinner before we spend the evening at the theatre.  Can you tell that I am in my industrious phase of the month?  That's the only time that I would even consider making a big dinner on a show night.  But--I'll take the motivation however I can get it.  I'm thinking my kids will be pretty happy...they love when I make a big, normal dinner since that happens so seldomly lately.  

7.  Hannah is only maybe a week away from finishing two of her virtual school classes and I couldn't be more thrilled!  She has learned a lot and I'm glad she's done these classes but I'm ready to have more hours in our school day.  It's time for her to start learning to take notes, outline, and write essays.  

Magic Kingdom in Pictures

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday morning we went to DeLeon Springs to the pancake house. The fun of this place is that you get to cook your own pancakes and they give you lots of toppings. My two favorites this time were chocolate chip/pecan and apple/peanut butter. The chocolate chips were a big hit for everyone. Ellie has been making lots of short movies and they are pretty funny. Here she is making herself and B laugh.


Not sure what happened here--her pancake looks fine...I think she was stressing over her egg maybe.

There was a very pretty nature hike that we took advantage of to help work off some of those pancakes. The weather has been perfect, love those cool, morning breezes!
Joe is in that tree--can you find him?

Saturday morning the kids went to the local library for pumpkin decorating. Ellie got some quiet, reading time in the library while the kids made some crazy pumpkins.




Hannah succeeded in taking a picture of me that I don't hate, not an easy feat. I still don't like seeing so many wrinkles but that's real life. :0)
The highlight of Ellie's week was the opportunity to be seen around town on this amazing bike. Can't you just see the excitement?
We've spent a mostly quiet weekend (as quiet as it gets with 3 kids and a crazy teenager) around the house and have now rested up for a big day at Disney tomorrow!