Bubbles

What is it about bubbles? It is amazing that something so simple can keep their attention for hours, or until the bubbles are gone (or get dumped.) Courtney kept the bubbles going until she got dizzy and fell down.
Yeah, I know, insert joke here about Courtney being dizzy.

Thank you, Papa Choo Choo, for sending these bubbles over.
(For those who don't know, that's my Dad. The boys named him that a few years ago, cause he has trains, of course! )






So that's three pics in a row of Jacob eating the bubbles. Can they really taste that good?

"Tay!"

You always know when Gracie's getting into trouble. She will come and find you, give you a real serious look, point her finger at you and say "tay!" (stay)

We picked a bunch of strawberries this week and they were on the table. They weren't off limits, I had them on the table for a reason. I wanted everyone to enjoy them.
But Grace, I guess, thought they were forbidden. She came into the living room, with strawberry juice dripping down her chin, pointed her finger at me and said "tay!" then ran back to the kitchen where she stole a few more berries. She came back in to see me, rubbed her belly, smiled and said "Mmmm!" then got real serious. "Tay!" and back to the kitchen for more. She must have done this ten times.

She really thought she was slick. I know, I know, I should not have let her think she was getting away with being disobedient, but she was so stinkin cute.

Duck

Coming back from our walk, I spotted something furry in the parking lot. "What's that, Grace?"
"DUCK!"
The poor little thing was scared to death, seeing Grace come chasing after it. It scurried away, flapping its wings but not going far, and found shelter under my skirt! I stepped back and it scurried right back under again and again, I can't believe I didn't step on the thing. But I finally got ahold of it.

BTY
We've researched this before - it's a myth that a mama bird will eat or kill their young if they smell human on them. And if you find a baby bird that doesn't fly, it most likely hasn't fallen out of it's nest prematurely or has been abandoned. There are some birds that leave the nest before they can fly and the mother continues to care for them on the ground. I would think it would make for a lot of kitty snacks.(Kind of remind me of the way some humans raise their young - but that's a post for another day) ;)



I held it behind my back and called Courtney over. She was a little nervous about what I was going to do to her. But I just wanted to capture her reaction. She's my animal lover, can't you tell?

Jump

Our bike rides have turned into playtime on the gravel pile. Just a few steps down the road they all get sidetracked and dump the bikes to climb up the hill. WE stay here for an hour until I call it's time to home.
"But we didn't go on a bike ride yet!"



Do you like Jacob's outfit?
We were already across the street before I realized he was dressed for bed, bare feet and all.





Now that's the way to take a bike ride.

A few links

Jessica Sprague is giving another free class and this one will be on photo editing. Sounds like fun, check it out here.

And here's a link to a website we just found with some very nice music here.

Rain, rain, go away

I have to be honest. I struggle with keeping a joyful spirit on rainy days. So dreary and depressing. I decided to get over it today and encouraged the kids to come outside with me despite the drizzles.
"No, I just wanna play with my Legos."
"It's too cold."
So I suggested a bug hunt. Courtney added the idea of a contest with a prize of a slim jim. That did it, out the door they went.

Of course, Joshua doesn't care if it's rainy or not, he's happy regardless.



Grace trying to talk Jacob into jumping into the puddle.
"Bruda... jum...dare"
(Brother, jump there)



After about a half hour of wandering around collecting slugs, we came in. Then it started to pour!
"Now aren't you glad we went out when we did?"
"We can go out?"
"What? We just went out. I said aren't you glad we went out?"
"So we can go out?"
"Whatever, yeah, go out."
Ya weird kids. They all said "Yeah!" and went running out. I'm thinking, didn't I just have to beg them to go out?



Our water slide







Oh, he can dish it out, but he can't take it. And Courtney loves to tease him about it. And antagonize him, too. She's taken it upon herself to toughen him up. She forgets that in just a few short years, he will be bigger than her and tougher.

Well, we hope so. :)



Is it mean that my child is upset and I'm busy snapping pictures of him?
That pout is just too cute, though.



Oh, yeah, I have no idea who won the bug contest.
And they completely forgot about the slim jim.

Building Character

Now that summer is here...

We can begin a few activities that have been floating around in my mind but we just haven't had the time to follow through with.
One of those ideas is our character study. I'm really excited about this one.
Here's the plan...

We begin by making some apples out of card stock and writing the character traits on each. At the beginning of the week (or however long we feel like spending on each one) we put up our apple on the wall, discuss the word, its definition, and read the corresponding verse. And of course, we talk about the different ways to express it.
Every time I see them demonstrating this trait, a star goes up on the apple (each child has a designated color - It wont be discussed who's color is who's, I don't want it to turn into a competition, I want them to focus on their own personal growth.) There will be more to it, activities to go along with, depending on my energy level ;)

It's simple, but I think it will be enjoyable, and hopefully, it will be a wonderful learning experience.



Our list...
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,temperance, ..." Gal 5:22



A few quotes from the Pearls keep coming to mind as I prepare for this that I thought were worth sharing.

"Discontented parents breed discontented children."
"A bitter root cannot produce sweet fruit."
"If "the joy of the Lord is our strength," then surely the joy of the parents is the strength of a child."

Savor those words for a minute.
We easily recognise the weaknesses and areas in need of improvement in our children, but often fail to see the source of their undesirable traits. It is learned from the parents. How can we expect our child to show perfect patience when we so easily loose our temper? How will they learn contentment when they witness our covetousness?
I realised that this is more important for me than it is for the kids. I cannot expect anything from them until I correct myself first.

So now that I've told you, I HAVE to follow through. You can hold me to it. I'll let you know in a week how much "love" we have expressed.

The boys

Showing off their new holes

She's a keeper...

No babies were harmed in the making of this post

Jacob was appalled when he saw this picture. "Is she DRAGGING him? I would NOT let her do that!"
Well, in my defence, she was only starting to drag him. I stopped her before she got too far, after I took the picture, of course.

"Papa!"

It does look a little like him.

Good little Mommy

Think he's gonna be a thumb sucker?

I have to watch those finger nails, he keeps scratching up his face this way.

Focus is off, I know. I wasn't fast enough. Still cute. No captions necessary, it tells it's own story.

My favorite one year old

She has been coming up with all kinds of new words lately. You still can barely understand her. But some words come out crystal clear. Like "jewelry" (that's an important one) and "tickle" and today as we were pulling out of the driveway after a visit with the cousins, she sobbed "Bye bye, Beck-a, bye bye, Li-ly" (Livy) and then a great big sob and very dramatic "byyyyye, bye!"

A day in the life of...

Structure and sticking to a schedule is important to successful homeschooling. Having a plan and sticking to it is crucial.

In case you were wondering what one of our days was like, I thought I'd share a typical daily schedule.

8:00 rise and shine
8:30 chores
9:00 English
9:30 Social Studies
10:00 Science
10:30 Word Building
11:00 Math
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Afternoon tidy up
1:00 Break
2:00 Art lessons

(What really happened)
8:00 I open my eyes to a very sticky and stinky one year old, jumping up on my bed to give me a good morning kiss and share her banana with me.

8:30 Half the kids still eating breakfast, washing my banana smeared sheets

9:00 "You have 5 minutes to pick up your Lego's or I'm vacuuming them up!"

9:30 Tried to vacuum up the Lego's but the vacuum's belt broke, spent the rest of the half hour looking for a new belt, cleaned out the cupboard that the belt should be in, finally found it, broke it trying to put it in.
Girls begin their English.
Boys frantically pick up their Lego's.

10:00 Sweep the living room rug.
Girls still working on English.
Boys finally brushing their teeth.
Grace dumps the legos.

10:30 Step in the other half of the banana, smear it across the kitchen floor, mop while learning about Squanto (we're finally onto Social Studies),
Boys are wrestling in the Living room over who gets the big pencil.

11:00 I'm still cleaning, Kids are still working, babies are still distracting.

11:30 Courtney gets her things out for me to read her spelling words. But first, I have to change a couple diapers, go upstairs for a new onsie, put a little laundry away while I'm up there, remember there's a naked baby downstairs waiting for a onsie...

12:00 ...read Courtney her spelling words

12:30 Lunch

1:00 "Take Grace outside and I'll clean up the kitchen."
Kids rush out the door, Joshua cries...

2:00 Kids come back in,
time for Math,
kitchen still not clean.

3:00 Schoolwork is done,
forget art class - I'm taking a nap.


But when the day is done,
the kids learned something new,
the house was clean (sorry you missed it)
we made some pretty cool things with legos,
I snuck in a few meaningful conversations with my girls,
and best of all...

I got banana kisses.