Thanksgiving Break

This past week of school was pretty laid back.  On Monday and Tuesday, we took mornings completely off and then did some Thanksgiving activities once Nathan went down for a nap.  It was simple, quick work plus games plus finishing our read-aloud.  

*Thanksgiving Bingo*

Nathan did get to do some dot painting, just to keep him busy one morning.  He loved playing with the lids more than the actual painting this time!

We then took Wednesday-Friday off--although with the level of hyperactivity behind me, I wish I had something for these kids to do!

  

*Our Thanksgiving pictures*

We had a busy day because this was the 1st year in a l-o-n-g time that we've had 2 Thanksgiving meals on one day.  It was kind of nice to get it done in one day, actually!

 

 Something else we started this week was getting out Christmas decorations.  Brian is outside finishing up the lights on the deck so it will all be done!!  My shopping is also done {minus food} so we can sit back and enjoy the season!!!

Totally Random

A. Age: 33
B. Bed size: queen
C. Chore that you hate: putting away clothes...I usually wait a whole week!
D. Dogs: Awww, Patty was my dog but she's gone.
E. Essential start to your day: hot drink
F. Favorite color: pink
G. Gold or Silver: silver
H. Height: 5' 1
I. Instruments you play: my ipod
J. Job title: stay at home/homeschool mom
K. Kids: Hunter, Lily, Samuel and Nathan
L. Live: Iowa
M. Mother’s name: Sandy
N. Nick names: Rikki Tikki Tavi, not called Rik much anymore
O. Overnight hospital stays: only to have babies
P. Pet peeves: noisy eaters
Q. Quote from a movie: "Oh, you don't know what's good for bad!" Megamind--ha!  I watch this movie a lot!!!
R. Right or left handed: right
S. Siblings: Andrea, Steve and Derek
T. Truth or Dare: truth
U. Ultimate Vacation: an ocean is all I would require!
V. Vegetable you hate: mushrooms
W. What makes you run late: something out of my control because I'm chronically early
X. X-Rays you’ve had: teeth, finger, stomach, wrist...
Y. Yummy food that you make: lots of stuff!
Z. Zoo animal: polar bear


Saw this survery on a blog written by another woman named Rikki!!  :)

Week 13 already!

Another weekly wrap up! Seriously, the weeks fly by. We had a different week because we took an unscheduled day off! On Wednesday, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed floor {the oldest boys love to sleep on their floor like a camp out} and I ended up cancelling speech therapy that morning.  We went over to my parents' house to hang out since my Dad was off and, long story short, Brian ended up taking off work to peel-n-stick tile a bathroom floor over there.  So, we did sneak in some handwriting and reading but moved the other activities to Thursday.  We can do things like that! 

On a side note, the kids were all pretty worn out {birthday fun?} and Wednesday was a day full of crying and tempers so they all went to bed e-a-r-l-y and without the "privilege" of sleeping on the floor!  :)  Things were much better after that!  

I, again, failed at taking pictures of all the fun things we do.  I need another person here to record life, I guess.  We learned all about the 1st Thanksgiving this week--turns out they ate and played games, just like we do at my parents' house!  Hunter and Lily tried out a couple games that the children at that time may have played.  I really stressed competing against yourself to minimize the drama.  :)

On to pictures...Here's Nathan trying some pouring with packing peanuts.  He's so cute, concentrating so hard!!  He pulled these out a 2nd time this week so I think he really enjoyed it.

He did a great job!

Nathan was in a bit of trouble this week...an incident with the cat's litter box.  He keeps me on my toes!

Here's PE time.  :)  Yes, we're in pajamas and, yes, some of them are Christmas-y.  Lily got a Just Dance for Kids Wii game from Grandma Barb and Papa Lee so they have loved getting their groove on after lunch.

{Not school related} Hunter had Scouts this week and was so proud of his ribbon for the rain gutter regatta.  His pack also got to lead the opening ceremony but Hunter was then leader of that..telling people what to do.  Brian said that Hunter's face was priceless when one of the older boys approached him to ask him about his boat and was impressed to find out Hunter had made it.  Brian and I were nearly in {happy} tears about it.  Ha!

Today was errand day so we finished up morning work and ran to the Dollar Tree.  I let each child pick a prize and the twins picked silly string!  They were so excited to get outside and try it out but were back inside in about 5 minutes because it was gone.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. 

Samuel has joined in school a couple times this week and he really enjoys that!  Here the kids are painting a picture of the 4 seasons.  They all did a fantastic job! {yes, pajamas again/still}

This is from this afternoon--we made thankful turkeys!  Aren't they precious?  I like how Samuel does color by number--he literally will only color the number and not the whole thing.  Ha! Still, he did a great job following the directions.  Their thankful lists:

 Samuel:  Mommy, Daddy, ladybugs, butterflies, Easter, winter, birds and dinosaurs

Hunter: food, fun, friends, family, Mom, Dad, Thanksgiving, brother {I think this was Samuel}

Lily: Mom and Dad, friends, seasons, colors, animals, family, food and rest

 We taped them by our turkey's perch.  I can't wait to trade turkeys for Christmas this next week!!  :)

A really good week overall!  I think Samuel did an excellent job with the letter 'K', even if I didn't get pictures.  He's been working on that sound with Elizabeth {his speech therapist} so he was quick to copy my sound this week.  He spent his spare time watching the Sesame Street video from the song "On Top of Spaghetti"  online and exploring the Starfall website.

On Monday, we'll finish An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, which has been a really fun book, and do some Thanksgiving-themed activities Monday and Tuesday but nothing strenuous.  We'll enjoy the break!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday!

Hunter and Lily turned 8 today!

On Saturday, we went bowling with my side of the family to celebrate the twins' 8th birthday and my brother-in-law's 37th birthday!  We celebrate all the birthdays of the month together but these 3 were actually born on the same day!

 Lily's excitement over books, Barbie clothes and a Wii game.

 3 desserts for 3 birthdays! 

 The day of their birthday, we had a day of doing just what they wanted.  They were up early and we had a quick breakfast (after buttering noses) before opening presents around 8am!!  Ha!  Cards with sounds were a hit!

 Nathan is not sure why he's not getting any presents??

 Lunch was on TV trays because, for some reason, they LOVE to use TV trays.  Nathan and I had the pleasure of using the lap desks on the floor.  :)

 After Nathan's nap, Grandma Barb and Papa Lee came over with {more} presents!!  They were pretty excited about all their loot.  It was funny because Hunter ended up with space-themed toys from everyone--Ben 10, Star Wars, solar system, aliens...  :)

Pretty much it was a day of toys and Wii games!  I think they had a great birthday, though!  I'll be writing my letter to them later tonight--a tradition I started a couple years ago.  I won't give them the letters until they are grown but it's fun to write about what they were like at each birthday!

Keeping Nathan Busy

I don't know, it seems like time is just going faster and faster.  We had another good week of school!  Our history has been on the Pilgrims for a couple weeks now but we're really enjoying digging into the subject as we get closer to Thanksgiving.  We signed up for Scholastic's Plimoth {yes, I spelled it that way on purpose} Plantation virtual field trip so we've been reading letters from Pilgrim and Native American children, as well as getting some video tours around the villages of both groups.  Exciting!  I plan on doing a lot more Thankgiving-ish stuff next week!  We finished our read aloud today, Little House in the Big Woods, and I think I will miss it!!  We are starting a fun one next week, though--An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott.

Here's Lily with a picture and dynamic poem she made about a character in her most recent book {McBroom's Wonderful One-Acre Farm}.  She was very proud and Hunter ended up making one about a "kid from the Bible" so he must have been impressed!  I like to give her a break between books so I throw in a project here and there or just have her read with Hunter.

 This was the day we used pictures to tell a story, as the Native Americans did.  I also did one on the whiteboard, telling the story of my hubby and I.  It was a lot of fun!

Samuel had a good week, as well.  I am figuring out what he really enjoys and what is too easy for him.  It saves my printer ink if I don't print absolutely everything in the curriculum.  Frankly, I think the highlight for him was watching the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom show I found on some school site.  Youtube had it, as well, but some of the comments are pretty shocking and some of my kids can read!  Anyway, he loved seeing that over and over before we added 'J' to our tree!

Samuel using peppermint-smelling stickers to count.

And, as the title of this post suggests, it was another week of keeping Nathan busy.  When Samuel sits down for school time, Nathan follows.  He expects to have work to do and will sit pretty good the whole time (probably less than 30 minutes) if I keep giving him things.  Alternately, he will sit with the twins while they do their morning work but that usually means someone is yelling for me because he's into something.  I took a ton of pictures of Nathan trying different activities this week but I know Grandparents will want to see, right??  

Putting stickers on a piece of paper.  We taped this up but he tore it down, which would be a sad foreshadowing of the next day when he would tear down every single one of Hunter's art papers he had taped above his bed.  That was not a highlight to our week.  :)

Figuring out how to use these tweezers...what you can't see is the tears and snot from a fit he had just thrown over getting markers taken away.

Do-A-Dot markers are a hit.  I am amazed I ever got them put back up.  

Pom magnets!

 Also, this week, we attempted a family showing of the new Barbie Christmas movie--this is no easy feat in a houseful of boys!!  You will notice that Samuel is not in any of the pictures--he refused to be a part of this girl-movie-showing.  :)

*If Brian looks sleepy, it's because he slept through most the  movie.*

11th week done

When I look ahead to the next week of school, I can't believe how quickly the weeks are passing!!  I have to confess that I only have pictures of Samuel {and one of Nathan} this week.  I just so easily forget to take pictures in the afternoon, which is when Hunter and Lily do the bulk of their work.  I will try to do better.  I remembered preschool pictures mainly because we went in a new direction this week.  I started doing the bulk of our work from the Letter of the Week curriculum by Confessions of a Homeschooler blog.  There is a lot more variety and challenge for Samuel and he seemed to have a lot of fun, which is key for preschool!!!

 I pretty much took a picture of this because I felt such pride at making these magnets.  Ha!

Look at that smile!  :)  It lasted until #9, then he was DONE with that exhausting gluing.

Checking for just the right letters!

Very happy with his iguana!

Adding the letter 'I' to our tree. I had wood-patterned contact paper so it was perfect to make a letter tree in the hallway--Hunter and Lily helped me with branch placement and I think it turned out pretty good!  Again, don't mind his ribs--we do feed the child.

I'm still getting Hunter's math capabilities figured out but I think we're in a good place with that.  He has finished 2 books since the Bible and has really enjoyed the stories.  I have noticed that he has a knack for mazes.  I printed one out to have the twins complete and I ended up helping Lily with hers and it even took me awhile to figure out.  Hunter, on the other hand, looks at it and just sees the answer.  It's impressive and I think it helps him to feel some success in other areas when we've been battling our way through #s and spelling rules.  :)

Lily is doing really well in all areas.  She's not an art fan but I did set out her fashion plates the other day and she played with them all day!  She likes to write--and is into writing plays right now.  She tries to correct Hunter's spelling when they journal but I discourage it since it's just free journaling and he doesn't seem to appreciate it.  Still, she takes to spelling, reading and writing very naturally.  She's getting right through math, too.  We'll be ordering more math and spelling by Christmas, probably, to keep up.

Nathan is kind of a bear if he can't participate in whatever it is the other kids are doing.  He played with puzzles one day and I was relieved how long that took him.  Otherwise, he wants to do exactly what Samuel does!!  So, I just have to be ready!  Here's 1 picture of him putting in these cable ties (from the Dollar Tree!) into an empty Parmesan container.  He took them in and out for a bit but if I don't keep my eye on him, they are scattered through the house!!  :)

Halloween 2011

Pumpkin carving was pretty much a non-event this year. Or maybe I think that because I didn't help. The big kids cleaned their own pumpkins and Brian cleaned Nathan's. Then, the kids picked out their face and Brian carved it all while they played outside. No big deal! And we all enjoyed the seeds for days!

Samuel's scary pumpkin face.

Hunter's skeleton face--he's trying to make the same face as the pumpkin.  :)

Lily's witch face.  Don't mind Samuel's ribs in the background.

This guy had just woken up from nap so excuse his bedhead.  :)

For Halloween, we had school like usual but I did tape a bunch of Halloween-themed cartoons for us to watch in our free time.  We then headed to my parents' house for supper and trick-or-treating with the cousins.  It went really well, I thought.  The kids were all good and walked far!!  Here are my kids' chosen costumes:

Lily, a fairy witch

Hunter as Green Lantern

Samuel as Bumblebee (he was an actual bee last year for Halloween--I believe he picks his costume around his favorite color--yellow!)

Posing with Anden as Wolverine.  Uncle Steve and Kathryn are on the side, waiting for some fun!  Papa and Nathan are waiting in the back.

My 4 kids--with my Dad ducking out because it was hard to get Nathan to stay!  :)

Towards the end of Nathan's trick-or-treating.  I think his hands are cold!!  Brian is not dressed up but he was pretty ill a day or 2 before Halloween and broke some blood vessels in his eyes.  It gives him a spooky look.

My Dad keeping warm in Lily's hat.

Nathan checking out his candy!

What a cute puppy!!  He loved trick-or-treating and would want to go back to the same house over and over.  He was a hit with the people handing out candy, too, because he is just so cute and he was so excited!!  :)