we all had mixed feelings about spending christmas in florida. no snow? no cold? away from home? well, now we all agree - we loved it! mostly because the grands were there, so it felt like home. but it was so fun to enjoy the sun and beach, and christmas too! we're now also big fans of driving overnight. it was great without all the traffic, stops, bright sun, (not to mention the whining and fighting, oh i just did!) and it took 14 hrs instead of 17. allen and i took turns snoozing in the back (and watching little house episodes with the kids). great way to travel! i took 1,105 pics this week, so i'll just make you suffer through a few of them!
12/23: walks by the canal, boat ride, only spotted one gator, looking at christmas lights
12/24: day at the beach, swimming and kayaking, opening one gift early
12/25: opening gifts of course, and playing with them all day
12/27: the kids (and dog!) jumped on the trampoline for hours today, until it snowed, then for hours more!
we're having a great visit with the grands in middleofnowhere, florida - where every day it's in the 70's, there is no agenda, life moves at a slower pace (literally), and grandchildren are being spoiled (rotten!). we're loving it! this morning started a bit early for the grownups, but the kids couldn't wait any longer. they all agree: BEST CHRISTMAS EVER! josh was so happy with his real BB gun. matt's loving his pump action shotgun (not real!). and lizzy loves her new doll and named her regan. and we were all amazed to see that santa left a trampoline at home in ohio!!! (that would have been hard to get home in the van!) i have a feeling that will be the source of future funny videos and possibly broken bones... we hope you're having a very Merry Christmas today wherever you are!
mon, dec 14: · math and spelling tests · grammar & math worksheets · reading books · bible lesson with allen. (no mention of laser beams this time, so all is well) · gym class was some combination of throwing/catching balls while jumping on the mini-trampoline · from the prairie primer: reading, history, writing, bible, vocabulary, reasoning, safety, geography · i seamlessly tied in a story about internet safety to a little house on the prairie lesson about strangers. i used my geek powers for good! :)
tue, dec 15: · math timed tests · grammar worksheets · "area of need" day - some extra time for the subject each struggles with · reading books · the children of God band practiced loudly for music class · from the prairie primer: reading, history, reasoning, literature, bible, geography
wed, dec 16: · math timed tests · spelling words in abc order · reading books · bible lesson · while reading the book (by the shores of silver lake), the chapter had a major cliff-hanger and the kids BEGGED me to keep reading. then it got so good they didn't want to stop, so we read all 6 chapters to finish it up. you should have heard the gasp when laura saw almanzo for the first time, shew!! i *love* how much they get into these books! · from the prairie primer: reading, history, geography, living, vocabulary, reasoning, science, bible, character, writing · awana night · i saw this very cool video on facebook, so we had to watch. totally relevant since it's an ubercool interpretation of ukraine during WWII, part of josh's heritage. world history class - check!
thurs, dec 17: · math timed tests · spelling tests · grammar worksheets · "area of need" day · bible lesson · no prairie primer. since we finished the book early, we just concentrated on our maps. i printed BIG maps that took 4 sheets of paper so they could fill in the states AND read what they wrote. (with josh, that's still near impossible) · we played with this cool interactive map to quiz on the states and capitals. · fun moment: they asked me if sweet home was the capital of alabama! :)
fri, dec 18: · book reports are due for josh & lizzy. don't hold your breath, they just finished reading tonight!! · computer games day! · maybe we'll bake something, dessert probably...
TA DA! the end of the second 9 weeks! since we don't do grades, i'm thinking of giving them colors. good job kids, you got all yellows. or maybe we'll pick a fruit... whatever we do, we they survived another semester, so good show!
next week we're heading to florida, so we'll take the week off, except for watching little house episodes on the way down. guess that'll count for the next semester. and we'll hopefully learn about latitude and how much warmer it is in the south (unless the cold follows us, which it tends to do, in which case we'll study weather abnormalities and drink cans of suck-it-up).
so allen's convinced me that i *am* a cook afterall and i'm embracing it! i've always hated it, never understood it, and was rarely good at it. but lately i've been applying what i am good at, research, and it's working! (i knew that college degree would come back into play one day.) now i've switched gears from betty exhausted crocker to research scientist baker and i'm loving it! my family doesn't mind that i don't spend hours slaving over meals. they just know the stuff i threw in the crock pot smells good. they don't care if i thaw the chicken first or grate my own cheese. they don't care that i think anything over 10 minutes to prepare is way too long. they don't even care that i don't know what half these ingredients are, or what any of them do. they are just thankful that they have yummy meals (usually, there are plenty of failures, learning opportunities still) and a much happier mom in the kitchen. i love my bread maker, crock pot, one-dish recipes, and my time spent (what little i spend) in the kitchen for my family. well that, and i love licking the spoons...
journaling: Apparently I AM A COOK. No, not like you, your mom, or your amazing Aunt Sue, but I can cook, and I’m starting to like it! Who knew?! No, I don’t know what season to taste means. I wish you’d just say how much. No, I don’t know what baking soda does, nor do I care. But I can find easy recipes that we love. It’s a treasure hunt now I enjoy. Want to know my secret ingredient? Love!
mon, dec 7: · math and spelling tests · grammar & math worksheets · reading books · from the prairie primer: reading, history, writing, bible, science · we watched more little house episodes. they LOVE these! we're on season 2. · cleaning - yay for life skills!
tue, dec 8: · math timed tests · grammar & math worksheets · reading books · the children of God band practiced loudly for music class · from the prairie primer: reading, history, science, character, health, geography, art · we made dishwasher soap just like ma would have, if she had a dishwasher, and running water, and electricity... · art class involved paper, glue, hole punches, and lots and lots of little paper dots · more little house episodes
wed, dec 9: · math timed tests · grammar & math worksheets · reading books · quick recesses because it was so cold and windy, but they just *had* to get out there · from the prairie primer: reading, history, bible, geography, art, writing · art class today was playdough. in the book, the ingalls girls recycled old material and things into new gifts, so they made things of playdough, then recycled them into something else. a bit easier with playdough than hand stitching fabric.
thurs, dec 10: · math and spelling tests · appointment day so lizzy and i went to dayton (where i totally showed up and realized i had my slippers on. awesome.) unfortunately we had to stop at walmart, and sadly, no one noticed... · the boys did whatever the boys usually do when we're gone
fri, dec 11: · the kids cleaned and organized their kid room. life skills baby, life skills. · then we took a field trip to the troy-hayner cultural center to see the christmas decorations. it was beautiful! of course lizzy's favorite is the amazing doll house. pictures on the wall, area rugs, silverware, food on the table, china in the cabinet - the details are just awesome!
The chidren's choir performed "The Best Christmas Present Ever" tonight at church and all the kids did a great job! (We videoed it for the Grands, so you can see it in 2 weeks!) There were lots of speaking parts and solos and you can tell how hard they've all worked for months. And such a great story line. It was a birthday party for Jesus and they invited everyone they knew. All 3 did great jobs on their solos and speaking parts. Matt had the most adorable solo and he was so worried people would say awww. And they did, but he was okay with it afterall. :) He was nervous and forgot just a bit of it, but says he's ready to go back up and do it again. They were all sad to see it end! Here's a little peek at Matt and Lizzy's solos.
okay, back to the grind! boy is it hard for all of us to get back into it! mon, nov 30: · math and spelling tests · grammar & math worksheets · reading books · nothing from the prairie primer. i had some deadlines looming, so they had extended gym class/recess :)
tue, dec 1: · math timed tests · grammar & math worksheets · reading books · the children of God band practiced loudly for music class · from the prairie primer: uh, can't remember wed, dec 2: · math timed tests · grammar & math worksheets · reading books · from the prairie primer: can't remember it all, but i know we learned about trains cause i found this pic.
thurs & fri, dec 3 & 4: i'm just not sure! i've been in bed with muscle spams in my back, so i've been teaching and working horizontally and it affected my memory. that's my story...
allen's parts are easy cause he's all organized and scheduled. my part teaches the kids to be flexible and go with the flow. at least that's what i tell myself when i don't remember so i can't post it.
bread ingredients, meat, & toppings all thrown in to a cold oven then turned on for 30 min. so cool!
the first i tried was bbq pizza bake. (now a regularly scheduled meal - if i scheduled meals).
it was so good i forgot to take a picture! so i made it again tonight. doubled it because we wanted seconds this time! my brother suggested french fried onions on top and we'll definitely add those next time! (scroll down for another recipe!) the second was cheeseburger pie. another success & new regular by request!
i obviously went with square instead of round, cause that's how i roll. (k, bad pun) the thousand island made this great. (big mac special sauce anyone?!) and yes, the cheese is frozen. i didn't realize we were out and fortunately had some in the freezer in case of cheese emergency. it worked fine. cheddar cheese would work well too. and yes, i forgot to take a picture of the finished pie again before we ate it!
Quick commercial break (cause we're having fun at DSP!) Only 22 days left until Christmas! Another door has opened to reveal today's freebie. Join the Christmas Countdown today (and every day until Christmas!) for digital scrapbooking freebies and fun activities!!
we canceled school all week changed the format of school this week. since our cousins were visiting, then we were going to my aunt's for thanksgiving, we're calling it genealogy week! and yes, yes we can do that! :) my lovely cousin michelle colwell came to visit us from mississippi with her two boys elijah and josiah. the kids had so much fun playing together, although lizzy thinks michelle needs a girl. :) we didn't do much beyond playing, eating, watching movies, and visiting and it was great! we were sad to say bye on thursday, but hopefully we can visit them down south one day soon. we spent thanksgiving at aunt katie and uncle jim's as usual and enjoyed it very much as usual! then we went on to allen's sister's for more good food, shew! friday was spent recovering from the feasts and all the week's activity, although we'd do it again today!
mon, nov 16: · math and spelling tests · math and grammar worksheets · read a book · josh helped allen fix the fence. life skills of course. · gym was a rolling/catching game we've yet to name. london bridge roll is one idea. we finished the last book and started by the shores of silver lake. it has a KILLER first few chapters and we were all in tears. · from the prairie primer: reading, history, geography, science, bible, writing · i learned how to make donuts for cooking class. (never too young to learn right?)
tues, nov 17: · math timed tests · math and grammar worksheets · read a book · i put sulfuric acid in the kids eyes to teach them a lesson. does that sound mean? really, we chopped onions & then learned why it makes you cry! (google it!) · from the prairie primer: reading, geography, science, health (germs, ew gross), writing, living, bible, vocabulary · for music class they practiced songs in the basement. i asked if they were ready for me to video, but the consensus is no way! · allen played knock-out (basketball, no worries) with the kids for gym
wed, nov 18: can't remember, but i'm sure it was mind-blowing. the kids had awana.
thurs, nov 19: can't remember, but probably amazing stuff. we must have done some yard work (i mean life skills) cause i have pics. allen hung my star and josh cleaned the gutters. he's the only child i know who loves that job! and we learned about the eye also, and to keep your fingers out. cool stuff!
fri, nov 20: i do remember this glorious day because the kids had their first field trip without us! miami county parks & rec has a great new homeschooler program and the kids loved it. no pics though, seeing as i wasn't there.
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