Halloween 2011

 Halloween isn't just one day at our house.  We went to 2 trunk or treats, trick or treats at the Chief's stadium, a party at Mommy Moments, trick or treating at a nursing home, and trick or treating at Grandma's house.

Becca was a bit scared of Homer, but she warmed up quickly.


Daddy did a great job with the pumpkins this year.

 My third little bumblebee loves his uncle!  The big kids changed went through several costume changes....Becca was Rapunzel and Belle, Nathan was a ghost, Native American, an Astronaut, and Buzz Lightyear.

 The MOTM annual trunk or treat was a big success....Nathan was a ghost that night.  We decorated our trunk to be a one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater (eating a Lego person!)  The big kids both got their faces painted too.

Lincoln Museum

Mark's parents asked us to meet them at the Lincoln Museum in Springfield.  Mark and I went when Nathan was a baby, but we hadn't been there since.  The museum is really neat...the kids even enjoyed it.  

Here's Nicholas with his Grandpa.  

We even walked around Lincoln's neighborhood.  It was a beautiful fall day.

I found an old book at a garage sale.... If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln , we started reading it tonight.  The kids both enjoyed it and *I think* are understanding about Lincoln's childhood.  What amazes me is that he was completely self-educated....less than 1 year of formal schooling...not even Law School..yet he was such an amazing writer and orator.  

Pumpkin Fest

We are officially Mortonites....we did the Pumpkin Fest full force! We had pumpkin everything...ice cream, chili, coffee (for Mark), doughnuts...so yummy!  The kids participated in the kiddie parade, and we saw the Clydesdale horses.  Nathan became obsessed with one of the booths...if you threw a ping pong ball in a jar, you won a fish.  We tried several times with no luck....probably cheaper to buy the stupid fish from the store.  I promised him a fish when he finishes his math book...we're on lesson 54/80, so we're getting there.     

 Grandma and Grandpa came up to watch the parade.  

I love catching the kids taking care of each other and holding hands.

We also went to Family day at Caterpillar.  For awhile, Nathan was CRAZY about rocks and was forever filling his pockets and keeping them.  It drove us insane.  So we visited Daddy's desk, and guess what...there was a huge rock collection.  That rekindled Nathan's love of rocks and now he is collecting rocks for Daddy.

HMJ--10-29-11

In our homeschool this week…School went pretty well this week.  I decided to see if Becca could handle a bit of Explode the Code....she's not reading yet (or so I thought).  I showed her how to do the first thing (she had to write a word, read it, and cross out a picture) and left the room for a minute.  I came back to help her, and she had completed the whole worksheet.  I asked Nathan if he helped her, and he said no.  


Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…The Halloween festivities have begun!  We have already been to two trunk-or-treats, and have several other activities this weekend.  


We also went to a local farm and learned about dairy cows, sheep, and chickens.  


My favorite thing this week was…Nicholas learned to kiss (instead of bite!)  


I’m reading…I'm totally ready for birthday season...I need some gift cards for some decent books.  I'm tired of reading free crap, I need some good books!  I miss the library.  

A Day at the Farm...

 I took the kids to a dairy farm in the area this morning with the moms' group.  The kids enjoyed getting to interact with the animals.  Above is a lamb getting ready for it's first shearing...the wool was so soft!  

 Nicholas loves the animals.  He giggles when they come close.

 We pet the chickens as well.  We went to the calf area and played with the babies...One of the calves kept trying to suck on my fingers.  Baby cows are born with bottom teeth, but no top teeth.

We watched the cows being fed and learned a lot about how a dairy farm operates.

Nathan fell in love with a kitten there and he really wanted to bring it home!  My reaction:

Me:  Who's going to feed it?
Nathan:  I will.
Me:  Who's going to water it?
Nathan:  I will.
Me:  And who's going to clean the poo?
Nathan:  Daddy.

Mark and I are definitely not cat people, so a cat is not in our future.  I'd love to have a dog again someday....but not today.

10 months (or so)

This post is a little late, as is the picture, but Nicholas is 10 months already!  He measured at 28 inches long (28th percentile) and weighed in at 20lbs, 8 oz (only 37th percentile ~~take that, rude lady who commented on my perfect little boy's weight at Sam's Club the other day).  .  And of course, his head size was in the 97th percentile.

He's quite the little monkey, full of spunk and personality.  He can play patty cake, blow kisses, clap, and wave.  He can also open all the kitchen cabinets and pull out all the contents of them.  He has almost figured out how to go down the stairs.

He's decided he needs less naps, but he's never cranky....he's always full of smiles and love.  I love him more and more every day.

Last few days of Summer

The beginning of October was absolutely beautiful here...and so we did a bunch of school outside.  

Becca's really gotten into painting lately.  

Awana has started this fall as well, and Nathan is memorizing his verses and the books of the Bible.  

New Policies...

So the big kids have been fighting nonstop lately.  I've done timeouts, separating them, grounding them...nothing seems to work.  And with homeschooling, they never get a break from each other.  Finally I've found a rule that seems to be working:

If Child A hurts (hits, pushes, does something mean to be mean) Child B, then Child B gets to go into Child A's room and pick out whatever s/he wants to keep for FOREVER.   Becca's usually the winner of this policy, but it has cut down on the amount of crying and fit throwing from her end of things.

Hopefully they get back to being friends soon!

HMJ--Sept 15

In our homeschool this week…I backed off on the phonics/spelling stuff that we've been doing.   I did place a big reward at the end of the his book, so he's been a lot more motivated to do it on his own.  

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…I did a lot of freezer cooking this week, and I came upon this tip....

You can take a taco and wrap it in a paper towel, and then foil and put it in the freezer.  To reheat, remove foil and put it in the microwave for 80 seconds, and it's ready to eat.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…We went to the        pumpkin festival!  Yummy pumpkin ice cream tonight, and I'm all pumped  or pumpkin chili tomorrow.  

What’s working/not working for us…getting anything done while Nicholas is around!!  My house is trashed and I can't keep up with it.

I’m cooking…tons of freezer meals from this site...  http://freezermealsforus.blogspot.com/

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…Nicholas turned himself green while we worked on science.  It's food coloring.

9 months old!

Nicholas is 9 months old today!  My ornery little boy is getting bigger too fast.   He's everywhere and he's quick....he is always trying to get in tight spaces and put everything in his mouth.  Yesterday he somehow got into the fridge (I think the big kids helped with that part) and opened the soy sauce and emptied it into the bottom of the fridge.  He is definitely an explorer.

He loves his sister and brother (brother best, I think).  They're learning to get him when he's on the stairs or get stuff out of his mouth.  They have to be careful, because he's a biter!  I think he's just starting to catch on the to the word "no."  

And....he sleeps through the night now!  I think all 3 of the kids did right around 9 months.  

Art.

I have always done poorly in art class...the last art class I took was in Junior High and the only reason I got an A is because I played teacher's pet well.

But whenever I read blogs and learn about other families' art studies, I know the importance of doing art with my kids.  So today, we learned about Van Gogh.

I have this wonderful Usborne book that shows a famous painting, gives a description of the artist, and then gives directions on how to do something similar.  So today we looked at Starry Night, and painted a daytime  landscape with swirly clouds and trees.  Here's Nathan's....

And here's Becca's...

Not too shabby for our first "art" class.

St. Louis trip

We spent Labor Day weekend in St. Louis with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kate, and Uncle Patrick.

The kids were so excited to go on this trip.  We went to the arch on Thursday afternoon.

I love the look in his eyes in this shot...definitely still the deepest blue of all the kids...by this time, Nathan's eyes had begun to change to green.

We spent Friday at the Magic House.  We love this place!  The kids had fun playing in the children's village, and Nicholas loved the toddler area!  We love that everything is hands-on.  My science boy played with circuits for a long time and Becca played in a pretend hospital for awhile, as well as a hospital.

 Becca was playing in the room full of experiments with air.

 Nathan played president for awhile...that phone had presidential recordings on it.

Nathan played in the bubble room for a long time.   

I'll post more of our trip later when I have more time =)

HMJ

In our homeschool this week…we survived the first 2 weeks of school!  The hardest part is still anything involving writing.  Becca's doing fantastic, though, much better than I expected!  We're finishing the Wizard of Oz, and are looking forward to family movie night for their first showing of it!

I am inspired by…Anyone who homeschools more than 2...this is exhausting!

My favorite thing this week was…quiet time with my kids.  I've been doing individual quiet time with each one of them once a week, and we've had a good time.  I feel like we're really building great relationships.

Things I’m working on…keeping the house tidy (not clean, but picked up)  


How do you get the kids to do chores without them wrecking it or making more of a mess?

Sneaky boys

How in the world did he fit in here??

Day in the Life..

We aren't a very traditional homeschooling family.  My husband works 2nd shift and our days revolve around his schedule.

I stumble out of bed whenever the baby wakes up...usually around 8.  The other kids would sleep in if the baby did, til about 9 or so.  If they wake up before the baby, they know where the poptarts are and my oldest knows how to work the DVR.  They are allowed 2 shows...usually they pick Magic School Bus or Word World.

I'm not going to win any mother of the year awards for my breakfast skills, and I'm ok with that =)  We're not morning people.

Our mornings are best characterized as tag team parenting right now.  Nicholas is an explorer and he is into everything right now.  I try to get as much housework done as I can while my husband is home to look after the baby.  I also have to make our big meal of the day and have it done before 12:30.  During dinner, I read from our Bible lesson (nice to have a captive audience).

After dinner, my husband goes to work, and the big kids go to quiet time.  This has evolved from when they were little from naps to playing independently to now playing together and giving ME quiet time.   On Wednesdays, Becca gets to have 30 minutes of "Quiet Time with mom" and on Thursdays, Nathan gets to have time with me.  They get to pick activities to do with me that are non-TV or computer related.  We've played games, done puzzles, read books....whatever.  The other big kid can't interrupt (though the baby doesn't always cooperate).  They think this is the best thing in the world, and it has changed their behaviors drastically.  

When/if the baby goes down for a nap, we start school.

We do workboxes...I was so proud of myself...I spent an incredible amount of time making cute little numbers for the workboxes and the baby has taken them all off and destroyed them.  Oh well.  One child does a book on cassette or CD while the other works with me and then they switch.  They do math, phonics, and reading every day.  We do science, grammar, computer, creative writing, etc. each once a week.

People always ask me how long it takes to do school...and at first, I didn't really know how to answer that, since we spread our learning throughout the day.  So now I answer....it takes us about an hour to do the workbook stuff depending on our day and the cooperation level.  Sometimes it takes an hour (and lots of bribes) for my oldest to write the 7 words that are in Explode the Code.  Drives.me.insane.

Then, we play...lately outside or swimming.  Last year, getting done with school = playing wii, so it will probably be like that again once it gets cold outside.  I did make some cute little cards on the cricut that say BIKES and SWIMMING so I can add that to the box.

We do a devotional before bedtime and our read aloud sometime during the day, depending on what else is going on.  The kids go to bed somewhere between 9 and 10, and I usually stay up til 12 or 1 just to have some time to myself.

On Mondays, I have Mommy Moments, and the kids go to their classes.
On Wednesdays, they will have AWANAs in the fall.
On Fridays, Daddy doesn't work, so sometimes we don't have school.
And sometimes we have school on Saturdays or Sundays because we're bored.

So that's our day...I wonder if there are any other 2nd shift families out there!  I love the flexibility of homeschooling!

HMJ

In our homeschool this week…We did 4 days of school this week!  Math, phonics, reading, and some extras!  

My favorite thing this week was…Starting the Wizard of Oz with the kids.  I know they're going to be scared to death of the movie, but it will be neat to watch it with them...(especially after seeing Wicked)


What’s working/not working for us…My inventor boy is driving me mad!! He comes up with such neat ideas, but the ideas mostly make a giant mess, hurt someone, or destroy something.  AHHH the joys of having boys.


I’m reading… nothing special.  I've started a few books, but couldn't get into them, which is so unlike me.  Usually I can get into anything.  


I’m cooking…homemade pizzas...everybody got to have his own, and the baby loved the pizza =)

8 months today!

My baby is 8 months old today!!  He's such an amazing boy, almost always happy and very loving.

What do you do when you have such cuteness?  You teach him tricks....

He's definitely the most interactive of all our kids.  He's still a mama's boy though, always reaching out for me and giggling whenever he sees me.  He's also everywhere...crawling, pulling up, furniture cruising, putting everything into his mouth, climbing the stairs.

These 8 months have FLOWN by!

Student photos

It's Student Photo week...so here's their first day of school photos....