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 =)