Showing posts with label Little Cousin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Little Cousin. Show all posts

Monday, November 21, 2011

Weekly Wrap-Up: Fitting it all in

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figures the only clear shot of the mirrors included my antics
We had another week of trying to "fit it all in"!!

Seems like since September our weeks have been getting crazier and crazier. I desperately want a week when I don't feel FRAZZLED to get through everyone's basic work...

last week was the same:/

It's good though...

if my kids attended public school, we wouldn't have been able to take the road trip with Brian or have his parents over like the week before last. And last week we wouldn't have been able to pack-up again and head to my parents while Brian was at another conference.

I know it's one of the blessings of homeschooling... being flexible. Hitting the books hard while at home and then taking advantage of the flexibility to visit with family and take field trips;) But it definitely takes some discipline on our part to really focus on schooling on those ONLY-school days!

We did complete a simple Science experiment showing how water could separate the molecules of the food coloring... enough to see some of the different colors that made up the food coloring.

A drop of food coloring on a paper towel... on a few we made an ink pen mark first... that was cool because the water "carried" food coloring off the original mark, so the pen mark was used as the original point.
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I didn't take a final picture of the paper towel and marker... but let me warn you to keep the paper towels over the sink!! I was scrubbing food coloring off the counter because the water had "carried" the food coloring  off the edge!!

We also tried different colors of food coloring and different brands of paper towels... there was a noticeable difference in the absorption of the "name Brand" over the generic! I was surprised!

Math
The kids also completed 2 or 3 math lessons before our "mini trip"...
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Language Arts
Lydia and Chris completed a couple of Grammar lessons.  I love them doing these lessons together!! So thankful that we tried it and that it's working;)

Chris read through another Piggie & Elephant book as well as started working some Dr Suess books. Lydia completed a lesson or two from Ordinary parents Guide to Teaching Reading (OPG) and started working through a classic Dick and Jane reader. I'm not a huge fan of Dick and Jane only because it is only sight work based... the kids HAVE to use sight words not much can be sounded out. But I do like using them in addition to our reading "program" because it is teaching and reviewing sight words:)

Lydia continued with the same spelling word unit of You Can Read because she didn't know them from the previous week:) And Chris moved on to some new sight words as spelling words that he'll work on the next two weeks.

Anna worked on Grammar, Spelling and Individual reading each morning we were home;) I"m soo thankful that she's usually a very diligent worker.... makes it easier to balance all the other choas happening around the house on schooling mornings :)

History
We have been pouring through the crazy pile of Thanksgiving books from our local library!! It's been nice not to have to rush through a topic to get to the next... so very fortunate that our history lessons have been about the Plymouth Plantation during this Thanksgiving season;)

While away we hoped to make a trip to the Jametown Settlement which is a easy drive from my parents... but the cold, wet weather last week changed our plans! Would have been very fun to visited the settlement as we study this time period... but oh, well...

we went to the Aquarium with a little cousin instead... so more Science:)
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It seems like we stick around one exhibit the most each time we go... this time it was the Sting Rays:)

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I had to include Anna bravely touching the starfish;)

It was a fun trip and it worked out well since our passes expire in early January, so it was probably our last trip for a while!

Back at Grammie and Pey's we stayed busy, too!
  • organizing Thanksgiving food pictures into the food groups (something I made out of magazine and label notecards for Anna when she was in pre-K... always good to pull them out and use them again!!)
  • we made our thankful turkeys
  • read more Thanksgiving books 
  • and watched The Sound of Music into the night;)
Another busy week of trying to fit everything in;) And it was back to the grind this week preparing for some more visiting at the end of this week, Thanksgiving and a birthday to celebrate;)



Picture of the Week

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Chris and the fish checking each other out

Contributing the last picture to Tuesdays Around the World @ communal global and Sweet Shot Tuesday!
Linking up to Weekly Wrap-Up @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Fall Swim

My parents traditionally don't close their pool until it gets chilly! They take a "polar swim" and then close it down for the season.

This year my mom had happy participants and some warm days (in the 80's)...

too bad the water was still freezing!!

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And a mini "diving school" :)
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We enjoyed the visit with my parents (Pey and Grammie) and even got some time with Aunt Jaclyn and Hannah Grace;) Hannah Grace has usually seemed a little overwhelmed and reserved with my noisy crew around...

but not during this visit:)

She joined right in with them... throwing water on them AND dumping it on her own head;) It made the cutest pictures;)

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calling for her cousins to watch her:)

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More Wordless Wednesday at
and any other linkys I find !!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Last Trip to Grammie's Pool

Happiness Is...



A couple of warm (very hot) days spent with Grammie at the pool.
It was COLD:)


But it was soo hot outside!!! Nate wasn't excited about the water,


but his siblings swam until their lips were blue;)



And the kids were delighted to have Hannah Grace come to visit as well!!



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They had soo much fun at the pool together!

Here's a throwback moment, the picture above reminded me of this one....
Summer 2007!!


You can find some other picture posts at Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom and Go Graham Go!!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Cousin Time

This weekend we spent time with Hannah Grace...

it's amazing it's been a year and that she has already celebrated her 1st Birthday!!

And now she is walking while holding someone's hand;)

Unfortunately we're not around her more often, she does seem though to be a happy little girl:)

My girls doted on her the whole time!! They watched her every move and tried to help whenever possible!
Here's the batch of cousins;)


You can find some other picture posts at Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom and Go Graham Go!!!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

WW: Making Cousin Giggle

When we had the opportunity to get family pictures, it was cute to see the cousins together once again. Like I said I wasn't able to get my normal picture of Lydia and Hannah... but these cute cousin pictures with their Grammie and Pey are fun, too!!

One of the challenges with taking our kids' pictures was getting them to smile... especially little Hannah Grace (6 months)!! While we were getting ready and hunting down some fun spots...

the kids entertained Hannah (being worn by Grammie...he hhee)!! It was soo funny watching them jump up and down and be super silly to get HUGE smiles from Hannah Grace. So sweet:) too bad these smiles weren't saved for the actual photos:)




More Wordless Wednesday at
Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom and Go Graham Go!!!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Niece or Nephew????

This morning my family is gathering for my sister's BIG ultrasound.... she's not quite half way through her pregnancy and so this is the general check -up and gender ultrasound.....

We're all excited to find out if Baby is a little niece or nephew.....