Pictures, pictures and more pictures

I finally uploaded all the pictures I've had sitting on my camera for the past few weeks so I'm going to inundate you all with them now :) Be prepared for lots of loading. haha!

Over Labor Day weekend, we were very busy and didn't get to do all that much. One of the things we DID get to do was attend a fest that was being held in our town market square. We're not entirely sure what the fest was about (hahaha!) but there was lots of food and some neat military parades and bands playing. All kinds of different uniforms! It was fun! These military "groups" all had tents set up outside the town walls (the old town here still has the surrounding walls in tact). It kind of reminded me a lot of our civil war reenactments in the states.

Ryan being sill while we get settled to have lunch.


Sean bundling up! It was a bit chilly. Fall is coming in with a vengeance here!!

Elizabeth, just finishing her mashed up lunch. I had to keep a blanket over her stroller to keep out the wind.


This was one of the parades that came in while we were eating.

Each one of these military groups had a woman with them carrying a cask of... my only guess would be beer. HAHA! I thought that was funny.

They marched in and got in formation right in front of us. Then one of them came by and told us we should move because it was going to be loud. They loaded their guns and shot them off into the sky.

Cub scouts has started up again. Ryan is now a Tiger cub! and Sean a Webelos. I can't believe Sean is already in Webelos!! I remember thinking how big those boys looked when he was only just a Tiger cub.

And the, oh so necessary, silly pose.

Not the same day as above, but we attended a Webelos science fair. So the boys could earn some science awards.

They did science experiments at each table and got to learn and have fun!!

Well, I know, Sean doesn't look like he's having fun... but really, he is! HAHA!

What Elizabeth did during the science fair.

Changing gears again, here's a quick snapshot of the boys working on their home school work. :)

Elizabeth's new past-time is to scoot around on her bottom. She's not crawling yet but knows how to get around. Mobile baby!!!

I hope you enjoyed the menagerie of pictures!!

In the swing of things...

This homeschooling thing is getting better and better. I suppose it has a lot to do with all of us getting used to our routine. I think we're actually beginning to have a little....dare I say... fun.

A quick run-down of what we have learned this week:

In Bible class:
We've learned about Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood and the tower of Babel.

Language and reading:
Sean has learned more about creative writing. This week, we havent read much from the Kingdom book that I told you about last week. We took a break and he's been reading some short stories from his readers.

Ryan has started reading from his reader books. I'm very proud of him, his reading is coming along nicely!! He's also started getting a spelling list.

Math:
Sean has started long division *eek*. And some work with converting measurements. He's doing great!

Ryan has started subtraction. He started out struggling with the concept at first but seems to understand it a lot better now. :)

History:
I told you last week that we would be starting a new History lesson, a sort of hands on kind of thing, learning about the New World Explorers. Well, that's been put on hold until next month because we have decided to take a family trip at the end of this month to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. It was his vacation home on top of the Bavarian Alps (see picture below, borrowed from the internet). I'm so excited!! Anyway, I am giving the boys a lesson on WW2 so that they can appreciate some of the things we will be seeing. We've been watching videos and we're working on a lapbook project, where they are collecting all the information they're learning and coloring and pasting pictures all to a project folder. I'll take pictures when we're done to show you. Finally, I plan to have them watch the Sound of Music because we will be near (and hopefully visit - depends on our passports) the city where that movie was filmed - Salzburg, Austria.


So that's a run-down of our week!! We're hoping for a relaxing, quiet weekend (yah right!). I have a whole camera full of pictures that I have to find time to download and share with you all.

OH!! I almost forgot! Elizabeth learned to play Peek-a-boo yesterday. For the first time, she held up her blanket over her face and then would bring it down for me to say "Peek-a-boo!!". So cute!! :)

Labor Day Weekend

I hope you all are enjoying your labor day weekend. We dont have any big plans for this weekend. We were going to try and go out of town but the van is in dire need of tires, oil change, the works so we're getting that done instead. There's a big fest going on in town this weekend so we'll probably walk over there to join in the festivites.

The weather here is certainly turning very fall-like lately, and I'm not complaining at all! I love this overcast, cool, rainy weather - as I've said many times before. I love the sun shining too but weather, like we're having today just makes me want to curl up with a cup-a tea and relax. The leaves havent started to change here where we're at yet but I'm expecting it soon... I LOVE FALL!!

Sean has been busy making up his birthday wish-list. So far, 2 pages long of a list completely of Lego sets. HAHA!! Both he and Ryan have been completely caught up in the Lego world. They have the Lego video games. One of their favorite ones is Lego Indiana Jones - partly because they have a friend that also has the game and all three talk non-stop about it together. Anyway, the subject of Halloween came up - I think because they already have all the candy out at the PX and commissary, UGH! We told them that we will probably doing what we did last year and just going to the church and having a fun night but that they could dress up if they wanted to. Sean says right away, "I'm going to be Indiana Jones" HAHA!!!!! Funny boys!!

School has been going really well. Everyday gets better. Sean and I have our headbutting moments but all-in-all everything has been great! The positives out-weigh the negatives by FAR. Sean and I are reading a really great book called Kingdom's Dawn. It's about good knights fighting evil for the King. It has some wonderful character lessons about "owning up", "being a man" sort of things. Also, like the way the Chronicals of Narnia parallel the Bible, these books (it's a series) do the same. I'm really impressed with them, honestly, it's hard to put it down. We have to read them together because some of the words are a bit challenging for Sean but he really does a great job!! And at the back of the book, there are questions for each chapter to discuss and it points out the symbolism in the story. Really, fantastic books!!

I'm really excited about this History program that I'm waiting for now. Right now, for history, we're just basically reading from a History book, much like you'd see in school. Even I admit, it's pretty boring. I found this one program called "Time Travellers" and you learn the history by "doing". For instance, we're studying about the explorers and discovery of America. We'll learn how to make the knots they used on the ships and make maps and ship logs and time lines. I'm so excited about doing these things. Click on the link I have on the word "Time Travellers" above to see all the pictures of all the stuff you can do. It's really meant for 4-8th graders but I think Ryan will be able to do it too, the boys working together.

Hopefully that will get here next week. The mail has been HORRIBLE lately. It's been taking forever for things to get here. I ordered some skirts in the mail, they shipped Aug 3rd and they arrived on Thursday - a month later. I dont remember mail being this bad when we were in England.

In science we're learning about insects (the boys' choice)... gross!!! I think we're supposed to catch an insect next week and get a "closer look", I'm not looking forward to that. haha!

All the other subjects are pretty much standard. Sean is doing much better on his multiplication tables so we're going to work on division next week. For Language Arts, he's going to start some creative writing. Ryan is working on adding plus 1 and plus zero. Ryan is also starting to read his first stories. He's doing really well!

That's basically it for here. We've been doing well, just been very busy getting into our routine. Now I just need to get a better balance on the housework and schoolwork together, haha!! Thank you for all the encouraging comments. I really appreciate them! You all are great!! :)

Lessons in Homeschooling

I'm learning a new lesson in homeschooling today.

*Schedules are good but not written in stone. *

I got up nice and early this morning, thanks to my wonderful husband, and was able to go out for a nice brisk walk/run around the neighborhood. I came back, checked email and did a few things around the house. I woke the boys up a little later than normal... well really just Sean, Ryan is always up at the crack of dawn on his own. All was going well until Elizabeth started "cranking". She woke up too early this morning, I think. I fed her some cereal but she continued fussing so I nursed her and now she's laying here on the living room floor fast asleep. We're WAY off schedule now! haha!

I started fretting a little bit, thinking, "oh no! we've got to get school started! We're running late!" Late for what?! One of the reasons I started homeschooling was to get rid of our stressful schedule. So now, I'm sitting back and "being still". It's Friday after all!! I was planning for an easy day of review. Anyway, if I wake her up, she'll be extra cranky and we wont get anything done regardless.

I'm going to go grab a cup of coffee and go find a nice devotional to read. I think I'm going to like this homeschooling stuff. ;)

"Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10

Homeschool fun!

I'm finally forcing myself to sit down and let you know how homeschooling is going this week. So far, pretty good. We've had a few bumps in the road but we're getting through them. It's just still so new to all of us. The boys learn together for Bible class, Science and History (we do Science and history every other day: science one day, history the next) and Sean listens in while Ryan does phonics. Then of course, grammer, reading and math are done separately, taking turns.

I'm adjusting, daily, what we are doing still though. I think today I finally got the right timing down for subjects. I had all the subjects spread out evenly through the day but I quickly found out that after lunch, the boys are pretty much useless on the learning front. Bible is always first, it's fun and makes for a good warm-up for the day... plus it reinforces its importance. ;) Then we do phonics, grammar, and then math and break for lunch around 12... it was originally 1130 but the boys wanted 12 so they can watch SpongeBob *rollseyes*. I only let them watch tv for lunch, to unwind a bit. After lunch, we do a quick poem that has some physical movements to it and then science (or history) since they are fun. We had our first experiment today - we're learning about Birds (from Apologia Science link here) and how they fly. Then Sean does his spelling/penmanship (I've combined the 2 - he writes his spelling words and works on cursive) and we do reading. Ryan has been pretty much done after Science because his work doesnt start until next week but normally we are finished sometime around 1:30 or 2 (depending how much resistance I get from the boys).

That's a quick look into our day, we've been very busy and it is an adventure! I'll keep you updated on how we're doing! I'm beat! so I'm off to bed. Good night all!

PS! did you know it's supposed to get close to 90 here tomorrow!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!! I think we're going to be homeschooling surrounded by fans. (stop rolling your eyes at me!! I know it's hotter there!! ;) )

Family Photos and other news

Finally! We got a family portrait done!! Can you believe it, after all these years!? haha! Family, you'll be getting your copies soon ;). We got a lot of different poses. They actually gave us one extra, we got one of Elizabeth on her own since we already have the boys' school pictures by themselves from last year.

So here you go, here's your sample.... the real ones will be in the mail. Hopefully soon :)

(I think this one of the boys is my favorite)

(Elizabeth doing her cabbage patch impression)

(unfortunately I have to say this one is my least favorite, but meh, guess it could be worse)

(the munchkins all together)

(I love this one!!)

(I actually, believe it or not, like this picture)

We start school on Monday (the 17th)!!! I've been scrambling this week trying to get all the loose ends and planning put together! This should be a fun adventure for us! I cant say the boys are overly thrilled with the idea of starting school. They want summer to last "forever", they said the other night. Me, on the otherhand, I'm grateful everyday that God has given us the opportunity to be able to homeschool. These are such precious years!

I'll keep you all updated on how things are going through the year, what we're studying, etc. This week, basically, will just be getting familiar with everything and what we need to do. You know, normal first week of school stuff. :)

Well I should get to bed! It's late and we have church in the morning. It's so hot and muggy tonight, I'm not exactly looking forward to going upstairs. I know, our mere 80 degrees isnt anything to the weather a lot of you are having this year but muggy is muggy, no matter how you look at it... especially when your A/C is an open window and a fan. HAHA!

Elizabeth Dances

I caught Elizabeth doing this today. She starts her music and then dances away... so cute!!!