N is for Numbers

April was bored and dug these birthday number candles out of a drawer one night.  It made me laugh because I'm not really sure why we have so many.  I think we forgot to use a few of them! 

 

summer fun and learning

We have been pretty relaxed in our learning/homeschooling for the month of June.  This is just a few of the things we have done in between playing at the park with friends, field trips, and whatever else comes up.

This is a little 4th of July fun.  I put food coloring on the spoons and then covered each spoon with baking soda.  The kids had to guess which color was which, then mix it in the water to find out if they were right.  We did red, white, and blue for 4th of July, but this would be fun with a lot of colors too.

Then we painted red, white, and blue stars with cookie cutters.  So fun!

My boys wanted to learn how to play Monopoly.  We sat down one afternoon and played.  It's so fun that they are getting old enough for board games!

Aaron decided to buy a snow cone maker so the boys have been having fun making lots of snow cones.

 

Aaron made this picture of a house on his geoboard.  Both boys have been making some fun designs on these.  These are great for a lazy afternoon.

April was bored one Sunday afternoon, so she and I made one of these hair clips from her American girl hair stuff kit.  It's pretty cute.

Playing trains for the little boy.  He loves trains, and wants to play them everyday.  He has also been finishing up some tot school letter C pages.  He's picking things up quickly!

All 3 older kids have started a summer journal.  Our goal is to write everyday.  I give them a prompt or a picture, and they write about it.  I just picked up some composition books and put this printout on the front.  I really want to focus a lot on writing and reading this summer, so this is one of the ways I'm hoping to get them all writing more.

 
I'm still trying to figure out exactly what our plan will be next fall.  For now I'm enjoying summer, and relaxing!  Hope you are too!

Desiree

Rock museum field trip

Our summer learning fun continues!  We had a good time today on a field trip to the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals.  My boys were so excited to go, and they sure weren't disappointed.  They loved it all.  When we arrived we were greeted by this cute little old mining car with some fake gold in it.  The boys wouldn't let me leave without getting a picture of it.

This is a pretty neat picture in the floor of one of the rooms.

Aaron standing by the "fools gold" also known as pyrite.  It's much heavier than gold, and it won't smoosh when hit with a hammer like gold will.

Rhodochrosite.  This crystal is more rare than diamonds.  We learned a lot about this particular crystal with a movie all about how it was found in the Colorado mountains.

Aaron is sure he wants to find and buy a smaller piece of a rhodochrosite someday.

Here he is by the "The Alma Rose" rhodochrosite cyrstal that this museum has.

Alex loved the rocks too.  He may not have gotten all of it, but he had a good time.  Here he is showing us the beautiful rocks embedded in the fire place hearth.  The whole house that this rock museum is located in is made of all beautiful materials.  Many of which are rocks!

My little guy showing me his rock that he picked up from the pile.  He even picked one from the store that he liked.  Guess he's starting his collection now too!  This kid loves rocks just as much as his brothers!

 

It was a fun day.  My boys are already planning to go back.

Desiree

A fun and busy Saturday

We had a busy and full Saturday today.  Some great things were accomplished around the house.  We started off by washing my van.  It had a pretty good layer of dirt on it.  Then, Michele and April waxed it.  It looks really shiny now!  Unfortunately the inside doesn't look so shiny.  We didn't get around to cleaning the inside.  Maybe another Saturday :-)

While they were waxing the van I was inside shampooing our living room carpet.  It's not perfect, but it looks soooo much better.  I love the rug doctor.  Cleaning the carpet wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Now we can finally get the front room organized again.  Since we got rid of our old couches, we were waiting to get another white couch until we cleaned the carpets.

 

After that it was time for a quick lunch and off to watch the dance festival in Salem.  We sure enjoyed watching that!  I wish I had gotten a picture, but I couldn't pull out my ipad to snap a picture because little Alex is obsessed with it and wants it every time he sees it.  The youth did such a great job!  April loved every minute of it and was so sad that she couldn't have gotten to be a part of it.  I could tell she wanted to be in it so bad.  She really liked it though, and said she couldn't pick just one favorite dance.

After the dance festival we headed to LimeBerry.  It was a hot day, so this was a nice refreshing cool treat!  Also great way to top off such a fun dance show.
 

After LimeBerry we went home.  I made a quick dinner for the kids.  Then we headed out for a date night!  This was our first date night with April watching the boys.  She has watched the boys for all the dance festival practices, but not ever for a date night since this is still something pretty new for her. 

Anyway, we decided to stay local and eat Mexican food.  Well, Woodburn has many Mexican restaurants to choose from.  Most of which are pretty authentic.  We ended up at the one where there is always someone out in the parking lot BBQ-ing meat because it looked like it might be a good choice.  We were the only white people there.  It was delicious.  There was even a guy who came in with a guitar and sang at random tables.  He passed us up.  Probably thought we wouldn't understand a word he was saying.  It was fun to listen to him sing to the other tables though.  It truly felt authentic!  We had a good time.

 

M is for My clothes washer

I am happily doing laundry today.  You won't find me saying that too often here, but today is an exception.  My washer was down all week, which meant I couldn't do any laundry for 4 days.  I was getting really nervous about all the laundry piling up, and I didn't really feel like dragging it all to the laundromat.

Michele had Thursday evening slotted out to fix it.  That's the first evening he could do it after all the parts got here.  I should have taken a picture of the mess in the kitchen while he was working on it.  I seriously was questioning if he would be able to put it back together!  I just had to stay away unless he needed help because it made me crazy seeing the mess in the kitchen and all the pieces everywhere.

He did it though!  It's all back together, and it doesn't make us deaf while it runs anymore.  It was the bearings that were shot, and it was starting to get so loud that we couldn't even block the sound by closing the laundry room door anymore.  There was also a part broken that made it bounce like crazy on the spin cycle.  Seriously, things would fall off the top of the dryer when the washer was on the spin cycle, that's how bad it was.  Finally we realized that something wasn't right with the washer.

I'm so glad that Michele could fix it.  He's so good about figuring out what's wrong, and he did!  He figured out exactly what was wrong, and bing bang boom, it was all better again.  Me, I was ready to head out to Lowe's and check out some washers!  Although I would have loved to buy a new washer and get one of the newer fancy jobs, I'm thankful we didn't have to put money into that right now.  Now we can hopefully get a few more years out of our already 12 year old washer!

The washer waiting for repairs.

 

Wordless Wednesday: "I quit"

Don't we all feel like this at some point?  LOL.


 Desiree

L is for lilies

Orange Lilies!

These are the orange lilies that are blooming in my front yard.  I planted these 2 years ago, and I love that they come back every spring.  See, I can grow something beautiful! 

They are so cheery.


 

The Homeschool Mother's Journal: June 16th

 

In my life this week...Hubby and I celebrated our 14 year anniversary.  We spent it taking the kids to a fun theme park.  The one thing I wanted to do was get a picture of us together capturing a moment of that day.  I forgot, so no picture of us together.  I'm a little bummed about that.  Otherwise it was a fun day.

In our homeschool this week... Aaron did a lot of science this week.  He figured out how to work his Hot Wheels rocket car science kit that he got for his birthday.  It's powered by vinegar and baking soda, and launches from the pressure built up when the ingredients combine.  He and Daddy have it figured out pretty good.  Turns out every time I touch it (or even look at it) it doesn't work.



Aaron also built a bridge with his new bridge kit he found at a used curriculum sale.



We have also been doing a little cat unit, so we worked on cat lapbooks, read lots of cat books, and April started the chapter on cats in her Zoology 3 book.  She finally figured out that she can take notes in her journal as she reads!  I'm so glad she finally gets it, I've only been telling her that she can do that for how many years?  She is enjoying the cat chapter too.

Helpful homeschool advice or tips to share...change your attitude.  It makes a difference!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...Monday the only place we went was the Dr.'s.  April was not recovering from her cold so we took her in to have her ears checked.  We enjoyed the park with some homeschool friends on Tuesday because we all were finally feeling a bit better.  Wednesday we went to the library up in Wilsonville to sign up for their summer reading and science program.  Then in the afternoon April had her last activity girls day where they played a game and ate banana splits.  On Thursday we had 2 things planned, but ended up doing none of them because it was wet and rainy and both activities were outside.  Instead we packed to leave for Washington that evening.  We spent Thursday night through Saturday night up in Washington visiting Uncle Marc and family.  We went to the Pacific science center in Seattle on Friday.  That place was amazing!  A lot of fun too!  Then on Saturday we took the kids to a theme park with rides and a water park.  It was busy and fun.  I have to admit I really enjoyed being up in Washington. 

The butterfly garden at the Pacific science center in Seattle

My favorite thing this week was...driving around downtown Seattle to get to the science center.  I wish we would have had more time to explore there more.  Oh, and giving away 3 dozen eggs from our backyard today to families who wanted them.

My kiddos favorite thing this week was...this...helping Daddy destroy our old stinky couches to take to the dump. 

Things I'm working on...training for a triathlon.  I turned in the registration today...at the very last possible moment.  Even then I hesitated.  Can I really do this?  I have no idea, but I'm going to give it a "tri."  (pun intended)  The women's organization of my church is holding this triathlon, and it's at the end of August, so I have 2 months!

I'm grateful for...family time on long trips.  Toilet plungers, and stores that have one when you need one in a pinch.  Fresh air, and cool breezes.  A wonderful Daddy for my kiddos.  Happy anniversaries to celebrate that special day.  Father's day.

What we're reading...The little ones are reading some cat books.  I'm reading The Work and the Glory volume 2.  April is currently listening to The Hobbit.

These were two cat books that were read several times.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...photos of my kiddos having fun at the science center and theme park in WA.

Aric loved this little purple slide.  I had fun trying to get pics of him coming down it!  He thought he was running fast enough for me to not catch him!

Grandma, Aric and I on the lazy river.  It was lazy :-)

Aric and I went on the tea cups together.

at the science center squirting water outside.

Another shot of the butterflies at the Pacific science center

Desiree

Father's day

Happy Father's Day!

My kiddos have one great Daddy.  They sure do love him.  I love him, and am thankful for his great dedication to his family. 

Here's what the kids and I came up with for him, a hodgepodge of BBQ stuff.  He loves to BBQ.  There are a few other non-BBQ items as well.  I think this fathers day gift really hit the spot.  He even tried some of it out today and grilled us up some beef kebabs for dinner.  Yum!

 

busy bag giveaway

I made 20 of these clothesline busy bags a while ago.  It turns out I only needed 18.  So I have extras!    I gave one to a family member, and so that leaves me with one more extra to give away. 

 

I would like to give it to one of you!

 

It's a bag full of little felt clothes, clothes pins, and a good length of string.  Your little preschooler will have fun hanging up "the laundry!"  Lots of good fine motor practice, color recognition, and even counting.  My kids had fun with it, and I was surprised to find out how difficult it really is for little fingers to get the "pinching" of the clothes pins.

 

If you would like to win this busy bag leave a comment for me.  I'll pick a random winner on Friday June 21.

Happy Homeschooling!

Desiree

K is for kit

Rock dig kits for Aaron's birthday party to be exact.  Michele had a lot of fun making these.  As soon as Aaron made the decision to have a "rock digging" themed party he started ordering rocks to polish in the tumbler, and made plans to make hammer and chisels for each kid.  I was happy that he wanted to head this up.  It turned out better than I could have done.

First he spent a few weeks before hand tumbling the rocks to get them shiny and smooth.

Then he went out and bought some plastic containers, Plaster of Paris, and sand.  He laid out a variety of rocks at each plastic bin with about 1lb. of rocks each.



He mixed it all up so it would be a somewhat easy dig (not too hard to dig through).  Unfortunately since we did them the night before they were still pretty wet when the kids did them so it was super easy.  Oh well!

This is the other part of the dig kit/goodie bags.  The hammer and chisel made of wood were in a little drawstring bag that they could also put their rocks in at the party.  It also had a rock identification card, safety glasses, and tooth brush for brushing off rocks.


These were such a fun thing to make.  Aaron was so excited. 
 

J is for Just turned 7!

Aaron is finally the big 7!  He chose a rock diggin' theme for his party.  We also included some science experiements, but it mostly centered around rocks.

This had to be the most DIY kind of party I've ever done.  It was fun to be creative with though.  This science-y stuff is definitely our thing around here.  Aaron's all about science.  He had a lot of fun at his party, and that's what it's all about!

A homemade sign for the party.  I like how it turned out even though it's not much.

The kids ready and excited to start rock hunting.

 

The  dig begins!

Their making some good progress really fast.  They uncovered all the rocks, and then we washed them because they were so wet from the sand/plaster of paris.

We moved outside to watch some exploding pop.

Daddy made a dispenser so that we could get the mentos in there fast, and be back.

It worked pretty good!

  

It's fun to have a birthday.  Look at that happy boy!

  

Opening presents with a happy birthday hat on of course.

After the rocks were dry the kids explored their rocks with lights, and sorted them on their cards.


April admiring hers.

Later that evening he opened gifts from us, the family.

Happy Birthday Aaron!