Blink!

Our homeschool family loves to play games. We play all sorts of games. Some of them are part of our school routine and others are just for the plain fun of it. We tend to play a couple of different games for a couple of weeks and then move on to something new or forgotten. (We have been playing Mancala lately. Remember that game? I think Aaron and I got it the year we got married!)

One game the kids love right now is Blink. They actually have been playing it regularly since Christmas, when Glory received it as a gift. It is a card game from the makers of Uno that claims to be the "world's fastest game". It is actually a really quick game so everybody gets a turn. The idea is to try to be the first to get rid of your pile of cards by matching the shape, amount of objects on a card, or the color. Lots of options for having a card that plays. The direction indicate ages 7+, but 5 year old Glory has had no trouble with it.

My girls like to make up new ways to play. So it is a fun game with other options.

What homeschooling mom doesn't appreciate open-ended activities?

Even if you don't homeschool, it is a fun and quick game that the kids can play while you are cooking supper, giving baby a bath, etc.

This is what the girls did today while I cleaned up the mess from lunch.

Perfectly entertaining and not at all difficult to set up or put away.

Around the Bend

-18 degrees Fahrenheit. That is what I saw on our thermometer when I got up on this sunny, yet frigid February morning. The weatherman posted the possible upcoming temps. 20's. 30's. The possibility and hope of 40's brings joy to my heart.

I don't usually mind winter a whole lot. We are mostly homebodies around here so I often don't even notice the temperature. This year, however, seems like it began early and has been especially loaded with snow, bitter cold, and illness.

So the promise of 30's and up for a stretch thrills me to the core.

Around the bend I can see rhubarb poking its head through the new grass. The flowers will be begging to be cut and put into canning jars on the middle of the table.

I can't wait.

Dry Erase Boards

Dry erase boards are one of my favorite homeschool helps. We have them in varying sizes with lots of choices of color in markers. We use them for all sorts of school-related things. I use a medium sized board when teaching Carlie and Caleb grammar. The kids (especially the youngers) love to use boards for spelling practice and tests. It seems to take a lot less effort to write on a dry erase board than on paper all of the time.

Glory just loves to copy words onto her board.

Bad Hair Day...I Mean, Crazy Hair Night

The girls look forward to Crazy Hair Night at Awana's all year long. This is the first year that Glory was old enough to be part of it. Somehow, her hair ended up being more cute that crazy, but she was still thrilled.

I think Glory was a little excited!

Maggie had 13 ponies in her hair, all the same size.

The child truly has a mop of hair.


Carlie did Ellie's hair. Isn't that what big sisters are for?

Lockers

My laptop crashed just after Christmas. As a result I lost the "before" pictures of this project that Aaron worked on over his Christmas break. (Also lost about 2 months of pictures and videos...mostly holiday and fun outing pictures. Bummer.)

These are our new and handmade garage lockers. Such a better solution to storing all of the winter gear and shoes than our previous shelf system. The kids love having their own space. This has made it so easy to get in and out of the door.

The bonus is that they were built to withstand kids sitting on their shelf to put on shoes or standing on the shelf to reach up high!

A Monday Moment

It is scarcely 3 degrees outside today.

Lots of snow.

Chili in the Dutch-oven.

Italian-herb bread, compliments of my friend, Zojirushi.

Christmas Tree Hunting 2010

All of the kids were happy with the choice of our Christmas tree this year.

There was no crying or fighting.

I think they are growing up!

Keeping it Real

This is my attempt at "keeping it real" like some of you other blogger friends out there.

Yes, I tend to be hyper-organized, but it is an impossibility to have a perfectly clean household when I am at home ALL DAY with my 6 little homeschoolers EVERY DAY.

Sometimes life gets in the way of chores.

This is my laundry room this morning.

Today is Wednesday and I have not done any laundry since Saturday.

That is only THREE full days of not doing any laundry. Wait! I did do a load of towels and a load of fancy dresses in between! *sigh*

I guess it is a good thing that I kinda like doing laundry!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A serious artist wears a helmet with a light when making Thanksgiving cards.

Translation:

Grown-up Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, I love it

Cranberry pie.

On His Mind

Micah has been asking some interesting questions lately. These were his thoughts immediately upon waking this morning:

"Mom, what is in blood?"

"What is usually under a house?"

"Then what is on the roof?"

And So They Grow...

New reading glasses on our resident kindergarten girl!

There is a teen among us.

A freshly minted 13 year old.

Complete with smile and make-up.

(You know they are growing up when they pick out their own birthday dessert and make it themselves.)

Football, football and more football.

Caleb played on one of the 6th grade varsity teams this year and loved it.

He is already asking about next year.

A New Era

We moved Micah from his crib (in our closet) to his big boy bed in Glory's room.

It is officially a new era around here. Gone are the days of babies in cradles in our room. No more little kiddos staking claim to our master bedroom closet as "my room".

Diapers and pacifiers (known around here as "nannies") are a thing of the past.

Surely a bittersweet moment.

I love seeing the kids grow up and watching them change into the people God created them to be. What mother doesn't gleam with pride and joy when her little one successfully navigates yet another milestone?

Still, the days of being a mom of littles are fleeting. Time is flying by and I have yet to find a way to slow it down.

So to this truth I cling.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

2010 School Pictures

We began our homeschooling year by starting partial days of school in August. We did that for two reasons. The first was that the kids were getting tired of the summer routine and were ready to begin something. I wasn't. The second reason is that I was trying to build some extra time off into our regular school year so that we would be able to take our vacation and have some extra days off without having to make-up missed lessons.

I love taking the pictures of them their first "official" day back to school. (Let's face it; homeschoolers are always in school). This year I also did some extra shots of them so that they would be able to have some cute pictures to share with their friends.

It is so much fun to be able to look back and see how much they change from one year to the next!

So Many Posts, So Little Time

As I type this I have not yet finished unpacking from our 3,000+ mile vacation through the Black Hills and Yellowstone. Since my last post, the summer quickly came to an end. We started partial days of school in August in preparation for our 9 day/8 night trip. This week the full fall schedule of homeschooling, football for Caleb, piano lessons for Carlie, AWANAs, and lots of other things begin!

I am excited to get back into a regular-ish routine. Then maybe I can keep up a bit better on regular posts...or maybe not.

Check back for school pictures and vacation shots!

North Shore (Part 3)

The last two state parks that we visited were so incredibly beautiful that I feel each needed its own post.

Tettegouche State Park

This park had so many amazing trails and places to explore that I wish we would have gone there first. We were kind of running out of steam by day 3. We were amazed by the way the Baptism River met up with Lake Superior. The color of the river water was similar to a strongly brewed iced tea. Lake Superior was a deep blue.

Rocks everywhere!

Six happy kids.

Baptism River

More places to climb. And Aaron didn't fall.

Somebody's booty.

I don't think there was a bad view in sight.

Aaron considered climbing this.

We all said, "NO!"