Madi is 10!!

My baby girl turns ten today! It is so hard to believe. The time has flown. The celebrating started this weekend and will probably continue for a lot of the week. Madi has always been such a blessing to us. She was such a sweet baby, with big bright eyes. She has always brought joy to our family, and she shares this joy with others. She has more friends than I can possibly count and excells in whatever she does . She makes me so proud to be her mother. I love you Madison Marie!

The end of an era

We've had bleachers in our back yard almost the whole time we've lived here. They were fun, useful, and certainly a conversation piece, but they are rotting and have probably been unsafe for a while, so they are coming down.

Jake-o-lantern

My baby lost his first tooth yesterday!!

School work

Here are some pictures of how we use our curriculum...

Today while learning about the French Revolution we made quiche.

A few weeks ago, we made quill pens like they used in colonial times, with real feathers, berries, and vinegar.

When we learned about plant and animal classification (taxonomy), we had to sort shoes.

embedded link?

I am trying to learn how to do an embedded link. Let's try the children's theatre website.

American Idol/ Dancing with the Stars

I've been commenting on other blogs about American Idol and I figured it was time to post it on my own. From last week to this week, I've changed my top 10 around quite a bit so for now, let me just go on record as saying my top 4...in no particular order...David Cook, Brooke White, David Archuletta, and Michael Johns. I keep changing my mind about who I like best, but I will be very surpirsed if 5 weeks from now these aren't the four that are left. I think my absolute favorite is Michael Johns, but they are all great.

As for Dancing with the Stars, I'm going to predict that for the first time since season 1 a woman is going to win...Kristi Yamaguchi.

For years we weren't hooked on any TV shows, but we've been loving Dancing with the Stars since the middle of season 2. Last season was the first time we got into American Idol, now we are addicted to that too!

What was in the baskets?

The bunny hides chocolate eggs at our house. Madi found the most (no surprise there). They also got some m&ms, peanutbutter eggs, and then little snack packages of cookies, fruit snacks etc. Jonathan and Madi got "wonka eggs" because they are going to be in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in May, and Jake got a hollow chocolate bunny. Madi got a skirt, socks and a headband, Jonathan got a swim shirt, and Jake got a cars bathingsuit. They all got pencils and these great holy books (http://stjosephbooks.com/). I'm trying hard to make this link work, but I'm not sure if it is going to! OK, I tried the link , it doesn't go to the books exactly, but I'm sure they are on the site somewhere, and this is my first link so I'm pretty proud of myself. Please excuse my clearing my throat on the Easter morning video...it is pretty disgusting.

Have a Blessed Easter!

You know you're a homeschooler when...

...you come home from a performance of Schoolhouse Rock and a trip to Dairy Queen (with friends and grandparents), and it is 10:00 on a Friday night and your kids say..."NOW can we play the American Revolution game??!!"

Tag...now you're it...

Memere

I've been contemplating this blog for the last few days, and I'm not really sure how to get started. My grandmother, Memere, is at the end of her long, full life. She has been the best example of living life to the fullest that my family has ever known. This Christmas with only a few days notice, she decided to fly down here on Christmas Day to be with us. She then came to our timeshare in North Carolina for New Years (and was even awake at midnight!). She's been to every house my parents, my brother and his family, and my family and I have ever lived in...this is no small feat! This past fall she even went up in a hot air balloon with my father (her idea, not his!). She is always up for anything. We've lived in Florida for nine years and in those nine years she has been here about 20 times (she lives in Connecticut). Did I mention, she has no money and has been legally blind for about the last 15 years, and she's still done all this amazing stuff. I think she's been in every state except for about 4 and about two years ago she got to go on a long awaited trip to Ireland. I remember as a young teenager, her going on roller coasters with me and my brother. She's always stayed with us within the first month of my kids being born (and they were born in three different states). She's always been there for us. I'm not ready to let her go.

videos

Happy St Patrick's Day

Madi and I went with Jake's class on a walk through downtown where the kids all greeted people by saying "Top O the mornin to ya!"

Wacky Wednesday

Here's Jake for his preschool's Wacky Wednesday! You can't really see it, but besides his clothes being inside out and two different socks and two different shoes, he has a monkey pinned to his hat!

Jonathan's week

Jonathan had a full week too! Golf clinic, Lights and Concession for SchoolHouse Rock, and Lights for his Youth Group's Living Stations of the Cross presentation.

Home Ec

We almost tried to sell our Easy Bake Oven a couple weeks ago, but Jake convinced us to keep it. In addition to the play, Madi also sewed her first skirt this week (it was my first skirt too!)

Nature Pictures

Here's some of our science from this week. We are learning about pollination. These were taken with my phone.

The Star of the Show

Yes, I am going be one of those bragging moms for a little while, Madi played the lead role in SchoolHouse Rock last night and she was Fantastic!!

Golf, SchoolHouse Rock, Cinderella and the "napper"

Jonathan had his second (of two) free golf clinics today and did really well. Last week I didn't go, so it was nice for me to see it. Jonathan is really a natural when it comes to golf. It is definitely his sport. Pictures will follow at some point, but at the moment I'm running on borrowed time here at the computer. Tonight is opening night of SchoolHouse Rock! Madi plays the lead role on tomorrow and Sunday, tonight she is in the ensamble so this is a "no sweat" night. Jonathan will be "doing the lights". Jonathan apparently had a great audition for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last week (which they will start working on two days after SchoolHouse Rock ends) and apparently Mr Joel told Miss Amanda "Oh no if Jonathan is in this one who's going to do the lights?" His interest in the technical side of things has really become an asset to the theatre. Those of you who have your sound turned on on your computer will noticed that I added my new favorite (sad) song to my music. I was going to wait and put it on for Madi's 10th birthday, but I couldn't wait. Get your tissues handy! For the first time in almost two years of attending St Edward's Jake stayed at school this afternoon to be a "napper". He hasn't truly napped since he was about two, but apparently at school today, he actually did (it might've had something to do with the fact that his buddy TJ spent the night at our house last night and they were in Jake's room playing into the wee hours of the morning!). So just to recap...I got up at about 6:30 this morning to get 4 boys ready for golf/preschool (Madi stayed at her friend's house), Mike dropped Jonathan off at the orthodontist at 7:45 because a bracket on his braces broke the other night (the same night he had been at the orthodontist!), I made sure the others ate and got ready and into the car (Oh and I made brownies for Theatre tonight). We picked up S and O for preschool and dropped the preschoolers off. Got Jonathan, drove him, TJ and his brother Scott the hour to the golf place. After golf, drove the hour home (with a quick stop at the Wendy's drive thru). Brought the boys home, met Mike and Madi at one of the rental houses where we needed to do some cleaning and Mike finished painting. After that Jonathan and Madi and I went home to do school work (the end of the Revolutionary War and Pollination). Now the kids are yelling at me to get going because we have to go to Walmart to get fabric for some sewing Madi is going to do with friends tomorrow, more brownies to bake for the rest of the shows, something to eat somewhere along the way and be at the Theatre an hour and a half before the show. I guess I'll start slowing down tomorrow!

Star student

Jake is the Star Student this week at preschool. Last year he was the first Star Student, so he's been waiting a long time for this this year. The Star Student gets to sit in a special chair (with stars on it) and tell the class his favorite things. He said he wants to be an artist when he grows up (this is news to me, but he certainly is very creative) and he said his favorite movie is Star Wars (also news to me since he's never even seen it!). He said his favorite foods are hot dogs, cake, and ice cream...not as big of a surpirse to me as the other answers, but I don't think I've ever seen him actually finish a whole piece of cake and he's not the biggest ice cream fan I know either. He does on the other hand usually have at least one chocolate chip waffle everyday, but he didn't mention that. In this picture it looks like he's lost a tooth. He hasn't yet, but his first two bottom ones are quite loose. He's always had a little space between them (when he was three he tried to convince me that he was supposed to have a tooth there and he lost it!). Jonathan also had the same small space between his bottom teeth, he lost his first tooth within a month of turning five and with that lost that space forever. Soon Jake will lose these teeth and that little part of his early childhood will be gone forever. Sometimes I just want to stop time and just hang on for a little bit longer. They are growing up too fast. At the end of this month I will have two children in double digits! Time flies by and we get so busy with so many things, I'm really trying to make a conscious effort to slow down and enjoy each moment.

6:15 am

Why am I up so early? I'm asking myself the same thing. It is shaping up to be a very busy day. Mike is on the way to the airport for a flight to Virginia for an hour and a half meeting and he'll fly back tonight. In the meantime the rest of us will have preschool (Jake), a free golf class/lesson (Jonathan), four other kids we will be watching (me and Madi), and a yard sale (first me and Madi and the four other kids and eventually the boys too). Thankfully the yard sale isn't at my house, it is at my friend C's and it is sort of an annual or biannual event and always a lot of fun. For the last few days I've frantically been pulling out stuff to sell. We get rid of stuff very frequently and still we always seem to have too much!

Jonathan, Madi and I have really been doing well with school work and don't want to lose our momentum, so the late afternoon and evening will be spent doing that. We are deep into colonial times and the beginning of the Revolutionary War. I'm definitely into it. I'm pretty sure they are too because the other day when they were out side hanging laundry I heard Jonathan say "Can you believe the Revolutionary War really started because of the Seven Years War?" (also known as the French and Indian War...it has to do with the King of England wanting money to recoop some of his losses hence the taxes on tea etc) Ask my kids about it, they certainly have a better understanding of it than I did up until about a week ago. It is so easy to learn things when you read good, real books! Also I know Madi is into it too because now when she grows up in addition to wanting to be a preschool teacher she wants to be a blacksmith also, not the most popular career choice for a girl turning ten! Jake also knows a lot of this stuff already because of....SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK of course! ("...and the shot heard round the world was the start of the revolution...lalalala)

I'm always amazed at how whatever we are learning about seems to show up in other areas of our life. I know it is a "God thing". Jonathan and Madi are working on a Bible study book about the book of James, the main focus right now on learning to "bridle the tongue"...not an easy task especially for one of them! I'm not sure if you've noticed the Motivation for Moms on mt sidebar, but yesterday's was about "bridling the tongue". Also as part of their curriculum last week they needed to make quills out of feathers and berry ink. We happened to be reading the second Felicity American Girl book that day and guess what she was doing ... copy work with her quill and ink...guess what her passage said... Think ere you speak because words once flown are no more your own. Guess what I had my kids write?! Then the same day I saw this poem on a friend's blog...
A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

Don't you just love when things all come together like that?

Jake's latest obsession

Remember how I recently admitted that Jake frequently falls asleep in the family room with his clothes on. Well tonight this is how he fell asleep in the chair, cuddling his latest obsession schoolhouse rock! A great friend who is aware of this obsession just bought Jake three schoolhouse rock videos that she found at a yard sale. He was so excited. Madi will be performing in schoolhouse rock in two weeks so we have the play CD, we currently have the DVD out of the library, and we own the grammar rock video, but now he has multiplication rock, science rock and America rock!! Some kids are into swords or star wars or sports...Jake loves signing and dancing. First it was Barney and Blues Clues, then the Wiggles, then Laurie Berkner, then Veggie Tales...now he's all about schoolhouse rock. In the car today he wanted to play guess what schoolhouse rock song I'm thinking of. He'll also say things like "this house is a noun", and I don't know many five year old boys who regularly talk about "the preamble". He's unique!

As a side note, even though he fell asleep downstairs, I did carry him up to his bed. He had already gone to the bathroom and I even helped him brush his teeth. He was still wearing his clothes, but he had taken a bath at about 3:30 this afternoon and I had him wear sweat pants because I was pretty sure he'd be sleeping in those clothes. (I left the video downstairs)