Week in Review - Weeks 4, 5, 6, 7 ... the little one

Pin It And finally a post for the little one!

He is doing so well with school!  He has figured out his routine pretty well and knows what is expected of him, and most of the time does it.  He's generally a pretty compliant child who is eager to please, so that makes things a little easier.

He finished his math program.  The math program I expected to last all year.  (Do I have a mathy child?  Could it be?  Please say yes.)  After some searching and scrambling, we decided to go to Singapore Math 1B.  Hopefully it will be here the first part of the week and we can run with it.

He is using Bob Jones Kindergarten Beginnings and now sings along with Hopscotch on the DVDs.  He is doing amazingly well with his sight words and getting there with his word families and blends.  Some days he can get them right away and then other days he looks at us like we're speaking a foreign language.  Which, I guess if you're just learning, is pretty accurate.  :)

We are still really enjoying Heart of Dakota Little Hearts for His Glory.  His favorite part of the day is when it's time to read about Reddy Fox.  Even though we finished the Reddy Fox book and are now on to Peter Rabbit, he still calls it Reddy Fox.  I love snuggling up with him and reading to him. 

In history, he has gone from Creation to Sampson so far.  It is absolutely amazing to me how many of these stories he already knows - from either Mrs. Russell's class, Sunday school, AWANA, or Veggie Tales.  LOL  When I start to read a story and he finishes it for me and I ask him how he learned that story, I never know what the answer is going to be.

In science, we're talking about plants, and if I were a good mom, I would have had him plant something.  ;)  Maybe I'll get to that soon.

We are doing a mix of the Bible study recommended in the HOD guide and his AWANA verses for Bible, and he is doing very well with that.  He gets SO EXCITED when he has a verse memorized and can't wait to go share it with his teachers.  GO my little one!

I have to say though - his favorite part of all of his schoolwork is snack time.  About once or twice a week, it's Snack Day with Hopscotch.  They are cute and clever snacks that he makes himself.  This means there is usually peanut butter all over his desk.  Here's one snack day treat:

Can you tell it's a mouth?  Apple slices with peanut butter and marshmallows for teeth.

Usually the sisters get in on the snack day action:

These are traffic lights.  (Did I already post this picture?  I went to find the mouth picture and this one was next to it.  The bed was still in the family room though, so this may have been from one of the other weeks I blogged!)

And I think that's it for our weekly (or monthly!) review!  We have several field trips coming up in the next couple of weeks.  We are very happy to get out of the house a little!  

Week in Review - Weeks 4, 5, 6, 7 ... the Middle One

Pin It Because I'm combining four weeks on my Week In Review post, I decided to separate it by child so I'm not ending up with humongous long blog posts.  :)

The middle one! 
Can I just say that I really like fifth grade?  It seems like some kind of groove kicks in at about that time, and school just kind of rocks along.  I love it!

She is moving right along with Bob Jones Reading 5 and English 5, and with Teaching Textbooks math 5.  I have to brag on her a little - we talked about neatness when doing math problems, and from that moment on, her notebook where she works out math problems has been perfectly neat and easy to follow.  She has also done a lot better on her big multiplication problems.  Wonder if these things could be related ... ;)

She really enjoyed the unit in Reading about puppets and made several rather interesting puppets that her brother destroyed before I pictured.  :(  I need to get her to make another one, especially the one with the grocery bags!  It was darling!

She is writing a business letter in English, and her letter is going to be written to Dairy Queen requesting that they add a nutella blizzard to their menu.  Awesome!

In her Heart of Dakota, I have to say that we are LOVING the book Tirzah!

It is offering a perspective about the Israelites fleeing Egypt that I hadn't thought of before.  I love it when authors really draw the readers into a story.  We are both anxious to see what happens next!

Also, she is really enjoying Usborne Internet Linked Ancient World, and looks forward to pulling it out and telling me all about it.

In history, she in in the middle of the desert.  ha!  She has fled Pharoah and Egypt but not made it to the Promised Land yet.

When I take pics of the oldest's notebook, I will take pics of the middle one's history notebook.  Both girls have projects from various Draw and Write through History guides, and let me tell you - these are TREASURES!  The middle one did frogs this week (from one of the plagues in Egypt).  Fabulous!

In Science, she has gone from the Arctic Tundra to the Cactus Desert.  She is enjoying the One Small Square books and the science she is learning.

For Bible, she is mainly doing her AWANA guide.  There is Bible entwined with both her history and science, and we are pleased with that. 

Okay, I think that's it for the middle one these past few weeks.  I'll write up a post for the little one in a bit.  :)

Week in Review - Weeks 4, 5, 6, 7 ... the Oldest

Pin It Seriously?  I haven't done a weekly wrap-up since week 3?  Oh my.

(I realized this is likely to be a long post if I put all three kids in it, so I'll do each kid in a separate post.  LOL ... nothing like no blog posts for a month, and then ten in a day, right?)

We are continuing to love, love, love Heart of Dakota for all three kids.  (Oldest is doing Resurrection to Reformation, Middle is doing Preparing Hearts for His Glory, Little is doing Little Hearts for His Glory.)  We have figured out a basic schedule so each child has me with them when they need me, and the other two are staying (mostly) out of each other's hair when I'm busy.  I think this has been the hardest part of the year.  We seem to have finally settled into a schedule routine that is working though.  That schedule I posted a couple of months ago?  ha.  Nice idea, but most of it has gone by the wayside.  I will try to update it and post that soon.

The Oldest:
She is getting close to finishing Texas History, and we are all happy about that.  I knew she wasn't going to love doing it in the format I had chosen, but she is also getting it at co-op, and with the time constraints of schooling three, and my personal ... ahem ... notsomuch enjoyment of history, we're making the best of what we have.  Since the middle one is also getting it at co-op, I plan to add this book to our read-aloud list:

In Math, I am happy to report that she has about 20 lessons left to finish 7th grade Teaching Textbooks math.  Maybe a few less than that.  She will be done right around Thanksgiving.  We will go directly into 8th grade at that point.  I'll probably just let her take the quizzes for the first couple of review chapters and see if we can get her on track for finishing by May.  That may or may not happen, but it's okay.  She is doing well in math and working hard, so I'm pleased.

We are both enjoying IEW for writing, and she is moving right along with it.  Nothing to really add about that. 

Everything else she does is from Heart of Dakota.  (She will be starting English/Grammar when she finishes Texas History since both are one semester classes.)

We finished Mystery of the Silver Coins as a read aloud.

This was an enjoyable read!  We're actually wanting other books in the series because it left us with a bit of a cliffhanger.

In History, she has gone through Attila the Hun, to Theordoric, to Clovis, to St. Patrick, to Benedict and Gregory the Great, then to Boniface, Justinian, Mohammed, Charles Martel and the Moors, to Charlemagne, and Julius Caesar was just introduced.  As she's reading and learning about these people, she is doing geography that goes along with it.  She has read From Bondage to Freedom: A Tale of the Times of Mohammed, and has started Black Horses for the King.

She is still quite enjoying the Shakespeare study, finishing up A Midsummer Night's Dream, doing Winter's Tale, and then starting Much Ado About Nothing.  (She is reading overviews of these plays, not the actual plays.) 

In science, she is still doing Astronomy.  This is going to bridge into physical science pretty quickly, and I think she is quite happy about that.  :)

She is also studying through the book of Philippians this year, and the book Beautiful Girlhood. 

I think that's it for her overview.  I will get motivated to take some pictures of some of the things she has done soon.

I will write up posts for the middle one and little one shortly.  :)

Week In Review - Weeks 2 and 3

Pin It So now we are three weeks in and have some of the kinks worked out!

I am giggling.  As I planned school for the oldest, there was one part of her curriculum that I felt iffy about.  I had decided we'd give it a try for a couple of weeks, then re-evaluate to see if we needed to skip that portion.

Would anyone care to guess what she told me her favorite part of her curriculum is?  LOL  Never fails, right?  Glad I ordered it.  Who would have guessed I would have a child who loves ... SHAKESPEARE of all things.  I think she only has a Shakespeare overview once or twice a week, but she really loves it.

In week 2, she studied The Tempest.
In week 3, she studied Midsummer Night's Dream.  (She is only halfway through this.)

This just fascinates me.  Those of you who I talked to through the years about my child who could read well but hated to read?  Never mind.  LOL  Sometime in the last couple of years, she decided that she really enjoyed reading.  Apparently even Shakespeare.  I loved reading, but I can't think of a single time I EVER said "hey!  I'd like to read some more Shakespeare!"  LOL

She has gone from Rome to Alexandria to Constantinople as she is studying history and geography.  Her curriculum has her do a bit of research on these cities every week and then write a postcard to a friend telling them about the city.  This is fabulous to me and I am really enjoying what she is learning and writing about.

She makes a timeline every week, starting where her curriculum from last year left off.  So far she has gone through Polycarp, to Constantine, to Theodosius, to Alaric the Visigoth.  I have no idea who most of those people are.  Maybe I should do some of her history with her!  She's in about 400 AD now.

She is enjoying some art as well.  This was her first time to use chalk, and we really liked the way this came out.

In science ... well, in all honesty, science is our weak area.  She's starting off in astronomy, and is learning about atmosphere, craters, and has been focused on Mercury.  I imagine most of the science learning she will do will come from co-op.  I am trying to make more of an effort with her in science.  We'll see how that goes!

The middle one has found her groove and is doing well with school.  She is writing her first paper in English, and I am finding it hysterical.  Bob Jones English has one grammar chapter and then one writing chapter.  This writing chapter was a compare and contrast essay.  I suggested cats and dogs, oranges and apples, tennis shoes and sandals, etc.  She chose to compare and contrast herself and her friend.  Um.  Okay.  She has really done well on her paper though, and I can't wait until she is finished with it so I can make a copy to give to her friend's mom.

In history, she is studying creation.  She is really enjoying Draw and Write Through History and has drawn some dinosaurs, early people, Noah's Ark, and her latest, cave drawing style wooly mammoths.

This topic is carried over into her science class, where she is studying the Ice Age.  I'm doing some of this along with her and we are finding it very interesting!  We are particularly enjoying this book:

We read it together and honestly are both finding it fascinating.  These are topics I have never thought about too deeply, so it's been fun learning it along with her.

She is also doing a timeline, and since her curriculum starts with creation, her timeline currently includes creation, Noah's Ark, and the tower of Babel.

She enjoyed painting using watercolors.  She was supposed to make a rainbow, and she did.  I like the smiling sun.

The little one is getting used to school too.  His kindergarten class is still reviewing things he already knows, which he enjoys telling me frequently.  ("Mama!  Ms. Russell already teached me this!")  He has learned a few sight words and is sounding out some new words, and he is having fun doing it.

He is enjoying his Heart of Dakota curriculum as well, and especially looks forward to reading about Reddy Fox every day.

The best part of his week, and the girls agree, is the snack time he gets every week.  The first week, he decorated cupcakes with his letter.  Let me tell you, it's tough to make a B out of sprinkles on the top of a cupcake!  The second week, he made a firetruck out of graham crackers, frosting, pretzels and gumdrops.  Week three was a traffic light out of graham crackers, frosting, and m&m's.  It's amazing how the girls' ears perk up from all over the house when the DVD says "Snack Time!"

It was firetruck day; see his fire hat?

Sister wants in on the firetruck action!

Now both sisters are making traffic lights.

(btw ... I am DELIGHTED to report that there is no longer a mattress set in the family room!  DELIGHTED.  House is back in order!)

This past week was rather hectic getting everything done with a bunch of extra activities thrown in, but somehow we managed.  I still can't say enough good things about the Heart of Dakota curricula we are using.  It has been such a blessing to us!

Co-op starts tomorrow, so next week's review will include co-op, day 1.

Weekly Wrap-Up

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I see I'm back to the every couple of weeks weekly wrap-up.  Awesome.  Oh well, it is what it is!

First of all, the little one's preschool class is raising money for a project in Haiti.  One of the girls in his class got the idea to do this; how awesome!! 


That is the little one's class in the video.  :)
They did a bake sale to kick off their fundraising:

Then we had a geography fair at our homeschool co-op.

We, of course, did Japan.  Again.  I think next time we are going to have to branch out.  ;)  It was very neat though - the girls focused their report on the earthquake and tsunami.  The little one, because of what he has learned about Haiti knew what that was and was interested to learn more about it.

After co-op, we took off!  We decided to spend a couple of days in Galveston and call it our family vacation.  We're planning a big vacation next year and want to try to save up money for that, so it's a mini vacation this year.

What's gonna work? Teamwork!

Woot, dolphin!  I can call this science, right?

Watching a B-25 take off!  (And WOOT, I believe this is called HISTORY!)

Then we came home and went to a concert.  Learned something here.  The oldest?  She loves concerts.  I'm sure that is no surprise to those of you who know her.  The middle one enjoyed it as well.  The little one pretty much hated it.  I think the noise, lights, and still recovering from a head injury worked together to just make him miserable.  He cried that his head hurt, then went to sleep during the first song and slept through the entire thing.  Here are a few pictures:

First, Natalie Grant:

Then, Brandon Heath:

Then, Mercy Me! I'm supposed to point out that the oldest took this pic.  :)

So, all in all, it was a fabulous week!  Back to the old grind next week though; final push to finish out the school year!  Eight weeks left!

I will be linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers today.

Week In Review

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Ahh ... the Weekly Wrap Up, which at this point is more a monthly wrap up because I have been negligent!  School has been kind of on the back burner lately.  We're getting our work done, but there have been so many extra things going on that life hasn't felt like it's revolved around school the last few weeks.  I have to say (or shout!) THIS HAS BEEN NICE!

We're back in the usual swing of things now I think, and on the final rush to get it all done to end by the end of May.  We'll see if that actually happens or not, but as of now, we're on schedule.  We've finished week 25 (WOOT, that means ten to go!) and lesson 125 in the numbered classes (WOOT, that means 35-ish to go!  They average about 160 lessons.)  We don't stop math for the summer, but English, reading, science, history get a nice break.

So ... this week?  We're still in Rome.  We are enjoying Rome.  We learned all about Hannibal and about how Rome got so big and powerful.  (And I would not be a good mom of multiple children if I didn't point out that Rome's strength lied in WORKING TOGETHER and not FIGHTING AMONGST THEMSELVES.) 

We are talking about Galen in science and I think we're all enjoying learning about the beginning of medicine.

This is all relating to the oldest as she is reading The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers.  (These are my favorite fiction books E.V.E.R. - because there is super extra emphasis if I put a period behind every letter!)  She is learning about the Roman culture and reading about it at the same time, and the second book follows a doctor so it's extra exposure for her.  Don't tell her, okay?

Let's see ... for extra this week, and to enjoy St. Patrick's Day, we wrote a few limericks.

This one was a collaboration:
In our backyard we have a tree
Around it flies a big bee
One day I got stung
That bee, it got flung
And then I came in to pee.

This one was from the middle one:
I had a pet lizard named Scurry
I caught him one day in a hurry
I fed him bugs
He didn't like hugs
When he died, my eyes were quite blurry

And this one was from the oldest:  (she was not having a happy day that day, can you tell?)
I'll always be behind the fence
It's true my life seems so dense
I used to be free
Happy as could be
But now I'm trapped and intense
(We don't lock her in, if you were wondering!  She was referring to the neighbor's dog.)

And so that's it for our week!  I'll be linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers today.  Hop on over to see some more weekly wrap-ups!

Weekly Wrap-Up

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I am really enjoying the weekly wrap-up!  It's great to have a journal of sorts to come back to!

WOOHOO for completing 100 days and week 20!! 

The oldest started Institute for Excellence in Writing this week.  She completed lesson 1 and we are delighted about that.  I think she is going to enjoy it, and that is a fabulous thing.  Ask me in a few weeks how it's going.  Week 1 went well, for whatever that's worth. 

We are still hanging out in Ancient Greece and OH MY there is so much to be learned here!  I think the girls are learning a lot too.  (Seriously though - I had no idea!  I don't know if I slept through history class or what, but so much of this is new to me!)

They drew pictures of the Parthenon:

and we continued reading about Archimedes.  Interesting indeed.  If you had EVER told me that I would find such information interesting, I would have laughed at you.  Sad, but true.

In my effort to be honest, there are some projects that the girls put a little LESS effort into.  Giggle.  I'd be remiss to share the good stuff only ... so ... here are their paintings for the week.  You might guess that they really weren't so much into the painting this week.  Wednesday is the day that most of our painting is done, and Wednesday was pretty rushed this past week, so I think a lot of paint got slapped onto the page.  Oh well ... they can't all be fabulous, right?

(To interpret -- rain clouds and apparently some MAJOR rain falling on flowers.)  We have ALL giggled at these all week.

Science is still all about plant life.  I'm trying to act excited about it.  I suspect that I'm failing miserably.  I think we finish it this week, and it is just about time to plant some herbs, so maybe that will make it a little more interesting.  Hopefully!

In our homeschool co-op, the oldest is working on a drama project about theater and something to do with English Restoration.  I should probably get her to fill me in because I don't have the first clue.  They did this great project though, and I have to share it.

So, that's it for our week.  I'll be linking up with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers today, so hop on over and see what everyone else is doing this week!

Weekly Wrap-Up ... and How It Went

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Well, on our last episode of "Will the homeschool mom survive the week?" we were left on a bad day and a mom taking the day off on Thursday. 

How did it go?  Well ... um ... I'm really not sure.  I sent an email to my husband saying I was D.O.N.E. and that the girls were on their own.  They were still in bed when I took the little one to school.  They were still in bed when I left to run an errand.  They were awake and looking a little shell-shocked (and quite well-rested) when I came back home.  They were kind of half-heartedly doing some schoolwork.

I found out later that their father called and recommended very strongly that they get out of bed.  Go dad.  ;) 

I did not say a word when the middle one left the milk out (thankfully it was mostly empty anyway) and chose to let the natural consequences of no cereal the next morning due to spoiled milk play out.  I did no laundry and no dishes.  I told them that I would be leaving at 1:45 to take them to dance.  If they were in the car, they could go with me, otherwise I would drive over there without them to tell their teacher that they wouldn't be there.  They were both ready.  They did not, however, get much schoolwork done.  The oldest got about 75% of hers done, the middle one about half.  I told them it was no problem, that I had no issue sending friends home and turning electronic devices off until the work was done.  There were a few tears, but also a pretty good conversation about taking mom for granted, and about making good choices with our time.  :)

Honestly, I think they were shocked.  When one said she didn't want to do her work and I said "okay, that's your choice," and there are consequences to that choice, and when I said if THIS is done, you may go with me to get something for lunch (I had already decided that I wasn't going to prepare meals) and then I left to get lunch without them (and for myself only) there were quite a few "THAT'S UNFAIR"'s being thrown around. 

To be honest, I felt terribly guilty.  The point was made though, so maybe it was worth it.  Today went very smoothly.  Girls got up at a reasonable time (I suspect that their father helped with that, but I'm not sure.)  They *asked* me to help with their schoolwork, and one of them left me a note to tell me thank you for helping.  When one wanted to go visit a friend, she accepted hearing "you absolutely can as long as these things are done" and did them happily. 

All in all, it ended up being a very good day today, after an awful day yesterday.  :)

So ... this week.

I just have to share two of our projects.  First, in history, we're talking about Greece.  One of their projects was to draw a Greek soldier.  I thought they did a fabulous job:

This is from the book Draw and Write Through History.

I've mentioned before that we do a painting project every week to go along with a poem by Robert Frost.  This week's poem was The Birthplace, and here are the paintings that went along with it:

Giggle ... you might suspect that we don't actually live anywhere near mountains.  ;)  They did a pretty good job though.  I really am loving the painting portion of our curriculum!

In science, we're talking about plant life.  The oldest did a lot of study on this topic in co-op, so I'm happy that it's review for her.  Our big project for this is to try (AGAIN) to grow some herbs.  Soon we'll go buy some and get started on that. 

So, that's it for our week.  I'll be linking up with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers today, so hop on over and see what everyone else is doing!

Our Weekly Wrap-Up!

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We had a really great week school-wise!

Have I mentioned 38 times that the oldest finished her English? She actually finished it last week, but I'm still so delighted, I had to just throw it out there one more time! Hold on a second while I do one last happy dance for this!

Okay, I'm back.

She is moving right along with math as well and I believe will be finishing that at the end of the month. She's at a pretty easy stage for her in math right now - I guess it's an intro to geometry; whatever you do at the end of sixth grade math, so she's breezing through. I need to happy dance again that ever since long division was mastered, math has been a much happier place at our house. Fractions and decimals weren't nearly as big a deal as long division, so all in all, it's been a happy math year for her. I have to giggle though. She was all excited to be about finished ... and then she saw that the next curriculum is here waiting for her and we'll be going directly to it when she finishes this one. Silly girl, thinking she was going to get a break from math! We've been homeschooling long enough that you'd think she'd know better than that by now! :-P

We're in a weird place with the middle one. She is doing very well in all of her classes also, but I'm curious as to how many other people have kids who score between 90 and 100 on *every* spelling test and yet will write papers *using those same words* and spell them incorrectly? I'm not sure what to do about that. We've enjoyed Bob Jones spelling, but if it's not transferring from the spelling tests into regular writing, then I think we need to re-evaluate. We've been doing a dictation based spelling for the oldest and I think we may try that with the middle one as well.

She is doing fabulous in her reading and English classes, and I am very proud of her. I always think of my oldest as a junior member of the grammar police, but now I'm starting to suspect that the middle one may be as well. Woohoo for the grammar police!

Math is also going well, and I have to happy dance for that too! Same thing as with the oldest - once we got past a specific hurdle, it's gotten much easier.

History --

We are hanging out in Greece for the next few weeks. I'm a little unsure about who is learning more - them or me. It amazes me how much I didn't know about Greece. We're reading about Archimedes. Um ... should I be ashamed to tell you that I had no idea who that is? Well, shame be banned because I'm reading a whole book about him. (I love the read alouds that are part of our Heart of Dakota curriculum!)

We just recently finished the book of Esther and watched "One Night With the King". I LOVED hearing the girls critique the movie based on their knowledge of the book of Esther. Very awesome to realize that they really are learning a lot!

Science --

We finished our birds study in science, and I can honestly say "GOOD!" I wasn't really loving the bird study, but the girls seemed to enjoy it. We're moving on to plants next, and to be honest, I'm a little less than excited about that too. I'll try to hide that from the girls. I had to laugh when I told them that Monday we would be starting plant life. The middle one said "Good! Maybe we'll learn not to kill tomato plants!" HMPF! Kill tomato plants? Me? Let me just show you my tomato plant:

Yep, tomatoes in JANUARY. I'm sure that's due to my stellar farming skills. Okay, well, sadly, that is the ONLY tomato that plant has produced. So yeah, maybe the plant life book will help. I suspect that we are beyond help, though.

And so that's it for our week! How was yours?

I'll be linking up with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers today. Check them out to see what all of the other weird, unsocialized homeschoolers did this week!

Weekly Wrap Up!

Pin It I'm linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers today with our weekly wrap up!

I cannot believe that we have just finished week 14.  Wow.  Moving right along!

This was a pretty good week.  Usually the week after a break isn't all that smooth, so I was delighted to have a good week.

The girls did a mosiac picture with our Heart of Dakota curriculum this week.  The picture (because I doubt seriously that you can tell what it is!) is a horse and chariot.  I'm trying to have them be as independent as possible with project like this, with sometimes receiving some questionable results.  They were pretty proud of these though, and it was a pretty fun project!

Here are their paintings for the week.  This week's poem was The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.  They did pretty well except for a little minor instruction fail.  Can you tell?  What is really funny is that one child accidentally stuck her brush in the wrong color and decided to just go with it, and the other followed along.  Silly girls!

We are reading God King and are really enjoying it!  We will finish this next week.

Separately, they did well this week.  The oldest will finish Bob Jones English 7 just before Christmas.  I am still a little on the fence as to what we'll do in the spring.  I had settled on Bob Jones Literature 7, but we are getting SO much reading in other areas.  She does just fine with grammar, so I'm not wanting to do more grammar, but I have been considering IEW to help with writing.  It has crossed my mind to just let her relax, but practically that will never work because it just would not do for her to have a shorter school day than her sister!

The middle one also had a good week.  Math was less of a challenge this week than it has been, and can I just get a WOOT WOOT about that?  The funny thing?  She is actually quite ahead on math!  We cut the lessons back to three a week and do flash card review the other two days.  This seems to be working well, and keeps us from not being too rushed on Mondays and Thursdays when life is so busy.  She is breezing well through her reading class.  She really enjoys reading, and the short story approach is perfect for her.  She is also doing well with English and spelling.

I probably shouldn't compare kids, but I can't help myself.  I find it very interesting that the oldest has an easy time with English and grammar but has some spelling struggles.  The middle one has to think a fair amount with grammar, but spells very well.  It really is interesting to me to watch them and learn the areas they excel and struggle in!

The little one enjoyed his week of preschool.  I believe the proper term is "out of his shell".  Ahem.  And sometimes not necessarily in a good way.  ;)  I had to laugh at him yesterday telling me the story of two of the kids in his class "breaking up."  As one of my friends pointed out, apparently preschool is serious business these days!  He is learning so much and having such a fabulous time.  I am really amazed at how much he is learning and how well he is doing.  I'll be honest, I've been very nervous about having him home for kindergarten next year, but realizing how much fun he is having learning, and how anxious he is to learn more is so encouraging to me!

A Day In the Life

Pin It Oh my goodness, this has been a crazy week! As of this moment, all of our activities are done, except Brendan's Mother's Day Out, which ends this week. Last week, the girls had dance rehearsal Monday and Tuesday, dress rehearsal for recital Friday, and recital was Saturday. Oh, and eight costumes to get ready for recital. Mixed into this was practice for the AWANA musical on Wednesday, dress rehearsal for that on Saturday before recital, and the program on Sunday. Oh, and there was a fundraiser for preteen camp on Sunday, and Gabbi and I were both supposed to be working at it.

(hm ... I was *just* wondering how on earth it was possible for my car to be out of gas. I think as I typed the above paragraph, I figured it out!)

Because our family can never be content to just have a busy week, we felt obligated to throw a stomach virus into the mix. No, not *A* stomach virus. THREE stomach viruses. We're overachievers like that. 3 am Sunday morning, Gabbi was up. 5 am Sunday morning, Brendan joined in. 8 am, Madelyn joined in.

By about 11-ish Gabbi was better. Thankfully. She had a cast part and a solo and had worked really hard. I would have hated for her to miss it. She really wanted to go serve food for the fundraiser. Um, no. Combination of stomach virus and serving food ... notsomuch. I was confident that she would be fine for the musical though.

By about 2-ish, Brendan was better. Not really as well as Gabbi was, but he didn't seem to have as much motivation as she did. He went to the final rehearsal for the musical (and did well). Thankfully I took pictures during the rehearsal because he wilted during the awards and slept through the entire musical. He slept from the moment he got his very own Cubbie Bear, through the musical, through the cleanup after the musical, in the car on the way home, and went pretty much right to bed once we got home.

Madelyn is finally better as I'm typing this. Bless her heart, she always seems to get hit the hardest. She had a part in the musical too and had been really excited about it. She was pretty pitiful, so we decided that she could just zip up there, say her part, and then zip back down. Good plan, and it worked out just fine. She missed her group song and her part in the "stomp choir" but was okay with that.

(And um, yeah ... I just realized that I am publicly admitting to the world that I am indeed "THAT MOM" who brings her sick kids to functions. Sorry. I figured that given the other kids who were sick, the virus originated either at awanas or dance, and most everyone had already been exposed. Bad parenting, indeed.)

So that was our fun weekend. Stomach viruses aside, it really was a fun weekend. :) My pics are still on my camera, but I hope today to be able to pull them off and maybe post a few. That's my plan for the day. Well, that, and there seems to be a bathroom that is requiring some cleaning attention. And that is an overshare, I'm sure.

Galveston trip, 1/12/10

Pin It It was a beautiful day yesterday, so we took advantage of one of Jim's last days here and went to Galveston.

The kids very much wanted to go to the beach.
Mom: You may take your shoes off and roll your pants up, but DO NOT get in the water.
Kids: Oh, Mother Dear, we are obedient children and would never dream of getting in the water!



Kids: Maybe we could just put our toes in the water? Since we're barefoot and all, you know.
Mom: DO NOT GET WET. It is JANUARY, and it was freezing last week, so the water is cold. DO NOT GET WET.




Kids: Hey, Mom? Could we just tiptoe through the water just a teensy bit, so we can get up on that rock, and you could take a fabulous picture, complete with fake smiles? Please, Mother Dear!


Uh oh.



Look, Mom! Be distracted by me! Pay no attention to the small children frolicking in the water!


Mom: I'm so thankful that I know my children well and packed a change of clothes for every little body!


Then on the way home, we stopped in High Island and let the kids search for shells, and to let the mosquitos feed on us.


I love this picture:




And once again, we have to wonder if the mom was present on this trip. She must have been, everyone has fresh, dry clothes on.