'Tis the Season!

The season of joy, peace, stress, family, fun, and chaos! At least at our house, the holidays bring lots of wonderful moments and a few crazy ones, too. We had a fabulous time at the Festival of Trees, seeing so many amazing trees and gingerbread houses. The kids also had fun in the kiddy section where they got to go "ice-fishing" for suckers and treats. Sadie especially fell in love with the dance performances. What could be better than wearing cute dress-ups and dancing around on a stage? One of these days, I'll have to get that girl in dance classes... she was in heaven!

I have to admit, Nick and I did some black Friday shopping and got some great stuff for the kids at super deals. I was surprised Nick wanted to come with me, but he got really into it! It truly saves time to have someone waiting in line while I picked up our stuff.

I can't believe Christmas is next week!!! My two sisters are flying in (one from the east, other from the west) and we have so much fun family time planned. I only hope the weather will cooperate and everyone traveling will be safe.

Our most exciting news this week is our new car! Actually it's an SUV - a white 2002 Suzuki XL7. It seats seven and is in fantastic condition. We weren't planning on buying anything until spring, but the death of our old Honda's transmission, coming so soon after the loss of our minivan didn't give us many options. :P

My latest project is a calendar that I'll be able to use for homeschool. I'm making it with a cloth background and clear plastic pockets for the days and month. It will be so cool when it's done! I'm making the names English on one side and Spanish on the other, and leaving spaces for weather and seasons, too. I'll be sure to post pics of it when it's finished (hopefully by Christmas, but definitely by the New Year.)

I hope you're all having a Cheerful Holiday Season, with only occasional sprinkles of chaos! :o)

ps - I experimented tonight with a brownie mix and created "Coconut Cream Cheese Brownies" otherwise known as pure heaven! Let me know if your in the mood to drown yourself in Mounds of chocolaty goodness and I'll post the recipe!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Our wonderful son Nathan turned 10 this month! I can't believe he's that old, but he is. He had a hard time deciding what to do for his birthday this year, being at the age when theme parties are not as exciting. So we decided to have a surprise party for him! We just picked up pizza and went to my mom's house. They have two TVs in their family room, plus an air hockey/ping-ping table, and we had it all set up with multi-player games. Nate was completely surprised and everyone had a good time playing video games and being boys (my husband included!) The cake has little guys from Pikmin, a video game. I molded them out of airheads, which worked pretty well but they are way more sticky than play-dough!

Gorgeous Free Christmas cards!

This is an amazing deal! I just ordered 50 beautiful 5x7 photo Christmas cards for FREE! So I just had to share the good deal...

You can order 50 free 4x8 or 5x7 photo cards including free shipping using the coupon code freebies4mom-1109 at SeeHere by Fujifilm

It was quick and easy. Go to SeeHere.com and pick a style, upload your photo, add a little text and when you go to the checkout, enter the promo code "freebies4mom-1109". It's good until Nov. 30, but they are a bit backed up, so the sooner the better.


BTW - Thanks Anna for passing on the info! :o)

Family Christmas Wish Lists

I'm posting this because my mom asked for some gift ideas, and also because I thought their requests were so entertaining.

Nathan's Birthday/Christmas List

ream of copy paper

cardboard boxes

box of crayons

scissors

Legos

karate lessons

science experiment kit

a bike

a stapler

pencil leads (for mechanical pencils)

Pikmin

a microscope

a shovel (not the flimsy ones)

Spectacular Spiderman episodes

Charlie Brown movies

a toy hammer

MP3 player

Brandon's Christmas List

Comics

Pikmin

Spiderman Laptop

paper

a turtle (real)

construction paper

Charlie Brown movies

MP3 player

Nightmare Before Christmas

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late

Hypnosis Kit

A warm, warm Blankie

Sadie's Christmas List

Littlest Pet-shops

Doll house people

Shoes

Earstickers (fake earrings)
Headbands

A Tinkerbell phone

Peter Pan movie

Chapstick

New Family Portraits

Here are the family pictures we had taken a few weeks ago. I think they turned out pretty well. The kids, at least, look fabulous. (I still can't stand pictures of myself, but oh well.) It will be nice to have more recent pictures up in our home. The kids are all getting so big!!! I can't believe Nathan will be turning 10 this month. If anyone would like an actual copy of any pictures, please let me know! I always get too many. :o)

Explorers!

We've been having a great time learning all about the Vikings, Christopher Columbus, parts of a ship, map-making and globes, continents, landforms, and many other explorers. Most of our papers will go in a lapbook, which I'll post when it's done.

We still have so much more to do: Lewis and Clark, the Spanish Conquistadors and I'm hoping to finish up with the pilgrims around Thanksgiving. (I know, I know, they weren't exactly explorers, but they did sail in ships to a new land.) I'd also love any book suggestions for a historical fiction about sailing and exploring that the boys might enjoy reading. I'm also looking for a model boat (not too complicated) but haven't found any great ones yet.

These pictures are water color paintings the boys did of a sunset on the ocean. For the water, we painted a paper with blues, then tore it into strips and glued it onto the sunset paper. The ship, of course, is just a simple printout that they colored and glued on. There is a small white tab attached to the ship so it will sail across the sea when you pull it.

This is Halloween!!!

We had a very fun, eventful and busy Halloween this year. We began with a ward activity, followed by a special Halloween activity at Grandma Krammer's, a Trunk-or-Treat at the grocery store and plenty of Trick-or-Treating! We pretty much have candy and sugar coming out our ears!

The kids and I had a great time decorating the house. We made hanging bats and hung up some spiders on "webs" and also made ghost suckers, which are now spread all over the house. It was fun to make them and they look awesome. We'll leave them up for a few days more, I think.

Costumes this year were so fun! Nathan decided to be an Alien, but altered his costume when our ward activity instructed no masks. He became a person being abducted by an alien. (Basically we stuffed his costume and had the alien hanging over his back with the arms around him.) Unfortunately it was heavier than expected and Nate ended up with his costume being 'a kid giving a piggy-back to a narcoleptic alien.' I wish I had pictures of this, but it didn't last very long. For other activities, Nathan made a fabulous regular alien.

Brandon was a Ninja Turtle (Leonardo, I think). We used an old costume that my mom made for my brothers when we were young. Sadie was a lady bug, as she has been announcing to anyone she meets for the last month or so. They all looked great and had a blast.

Nick and I didn't dress up this year, though he's decided to be Doctor Octopus next year and is anxious to get started on his costume...

Autumn Hike with a Surprise

On Monday, we decided to enjoy the last bit beautiful weather to hike up the Holbrook Canyon Trail. It turned out to be very eventful... The multi-colored leaves were absolutely breath-taking and the air was crisp and fresh. The kids enjoyed seeing two large green grasshoppers and a cute little dog, but the most memorable find was definitely the tarantula. Yes, there truly was a real, live, hairy, huge tarantula was crawling along the dirt on the side of the trail. Nathan noticed it first and we all gathered around to see. It's legs were honestly as long as my fingers! I tried to take a picture with my cell phone camera, but I guess I wasn't thinking very clearly because I didn't save it correctly. Here's a picture of what it looked like, (though it doesn't quite show the size...




And here are some much cuter pictures of my kids enjoying the outdoors...

Music!!!

We've almost finished up our Music Unit! We still need to go to my brother-in-law's Junior High band classroom to see instruments, and hopefully an orchestra concert, too. The thing I have loved the most in teaching the kids about music is seeing them enjoy classical pieces and want to listen to them all the time, even if they do steal my Tchaikovsky cd. :o)

I love knowing that they appreciate the beauty and complexity of the music and get excited about picking out the sound of certain instruments. They definitely have their favorites... Bach's Fugue in D minor, Beethoven's 9th, Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever, and of course, Grieg's the Hall of the Mountain King.

These are pictures of Nathan's Music LapBook. Brandon's is very similar.















I love this quote from Handel, said after a performance of the Messiah: "My Lord, I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wished to make them better." This has become my motto for homeschool this year. I've made a nice copy of it and have it hanging in our school room as a reminder of why I do homeschool.





These two pages have tri-fold's from the different orchestral periods, each lists the years, some composers from that time and the typical orchestra seating chart for that period.










This page has Nate's answer to why music is an important part of our culture...
"It helps us express our feelings in a language that anyone can understand all over the world."











You may not be able to see it, but the envelope says "Brass instruments uncoiled" and has small tags attached to pieces of string that are as long as the brass instrument would be if it were uncoiled. The tuba is 16 feet long!








We had two more pages, one with four pockets, each representing one of the instrument families and containing cards with names and pictures of those instruments. We used them for lots of activities. We also learned about the different parts of the ear and how it works, as well as sound waves. Each of the kids also did a small report on their favorite composer. Nathan chose Johann Sebastian Bach and Brandon chose Ludwig Van Beethoven.

Overall, it has been a fabulous unit!

Time

It was inevitable. I knew it was coming, creeping up on me... and it got me. There was simply no way to stop it, no way around it. As the day drew closer I vacillated between childish excitement and a sorrowful fear. But no amount of avoidance or distraction could possibly prevent time from continuing onward to that fateful day... my birthday. So, I admit it: I'm another year older; physically at least, I'm thirty-one.

Surprisingly, this year was harder to face than the last. I expected thirty to be challenging, but was pleasantly surprised to feel much the same as I had for the past few years. This birthday, however, has somehow gathered up all the time from about five years ago until now and thrown in all in my lap at once! I have never before felt my age. I don't know if that's usual or not, but I always felt younger than I really was. (Perhaps because my lack of height leads others to believe I am still young?) Most likely it's simply that I was not as mentally "mature" as I could have been. Don't get me wrong, I've been a pretty responsible adult and a decent mother, but I tend to get childishly enthusiastic about fun events and holidays.

So now I find myself struggling to muster up a joyful smile as we decorate for Halloween or plan a party. A nice quiet evening with a book is more enticing than a night out. Simple, repetitious meals appeal instead of new and different recipes. I am hoping this is just a temporary rut, a challenge I can overcome with a bit of effort, as opposed to a permanent, old-person sentiment that I will carry to the grave.

I suppose it is what I make it to be. And so I put on my happy face, plan fun and joyful activities with my family, determine that I will try new things and learn new skills, arm myself with holiday cheer and enthusiasm for life's little daily blessings, and rejoice with my whole soul in all that God has given me.

I will capture youth and hold it tight, and though my body ages I will keep my mind bright and my heart strong. I will laugh and cry and love, and never really grow old.

PS - I apologize for philosophizing so dramatically and promise to make my next post light-hearted, full of fun pictures and interesting moments with the kids.

First Week back in "school"

Something we have in common with public schools, I think, is that the first week is spent getting used to routines and curriculum, and getting everything organized. We did begin our first unit study: Music. It's been so much fun. The kids made kazoos out of toilet paper tubes and decorated them, then we use them to review things like pitch, volume and tempo, and to play simple rhythms. Nathan especially has really done well at reading notes and understanding how long to hold a note or how high to play.

We also worked on our 'Mini Classrooms' which are table-top dividers to give the kids a little privacy and also have reference material they might need, such as a cursive alphabet for the boys, maps, a calendar, and colors and shapes for Sadie. I love the idea that they'll be able to be a bit more independent instead of relying on me when they can't remember a times table, or how do draw a certain letter, or what month comes next. I'll try post pictures of them when they're complete.

This week we also went to a 'Not-back-to-school-party' at Castle Park in Kaysville, as well as a regular park day here in Centerville. My wonderful mom took them on a fieldtrip to Thanksgiving Point, as well. I also had two planning meetings, one for a small preschool co-op for Sadie and one for a bigger homeschool co-op. So much for a relaxed, stay-at-home week!!! We had fun though, and even managed to squeeze in some math reviews.

Today was a big day as well. Our family was asked to sing in sacrament meeting with two other families. We did a primary song medley and the kids were adorable! I don't think anybody even noticed the adults being there, they were all watching the children sing. I wish I could have watched their faces; it sure makes me excited for the primary program in a few weeks.

Sadie also gave her first primary talk! She got up and started out great "I'm going to talk about prophets!" Then she noticed everyone watching her and clammed up. After trying a few times, unsuccessfully, to get her to say the next part, I just held up the picture of President Monson. This was her favorite part and was going to be the end of the talk. When she saw that picture she brightened up, said "This is President Monson; He's our prophet today. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." So it was short and sweet and she was thrilled to just sit down and be done.

My kids truly are the best. They make me smile and laugh, and fill my heart with love. I thanks God for the amazing opportunity to be their mom and their teacher.

Homeschool Plans for the year

The kids and I have been working out a calendar for what we'd like to learn about this year in our unit studies. Each month or two we will start a new topic, learn all about it, do reports, games, projects and lapbooks. We use the topic to find spelling and vocabulary words, books, and art projects. It's a pretty loose schedule and we may take longer or finish sooner than expected. The nice thing about homeschool is we can just go with it... :o)

So, I thought I'd post this for those who may still be a bit curious about my children's education.

Music - Aug-September

Instruments, Composers, Theory, History, Types

Human Body - October

Systems, senses, health/nutrition, Scientists,

Middle Ages - November

Castles, Chivalry, History, King Arthur, Knights

Electricity - December

Inventors, experiments, how it works

Exploration – January-February

Maps, History, Geography, compasses

Ecosystems – March

Rain forests, Deserts, Arctic, Savannah

Renaissance - April

Inventions, history, discoveries, people, Europe

Computers – May

Parts, how they work, inventors, history, programming

Farewell to Summer

The summer has rushed by far faster than I imagined possible! Once again the days of camping, parades and swim lessons are behind us and school is looming in the near future. We have been busily preparing and shopping sales, the weather has turned chilly and I've also spent a lot of time contemplating our homeschool experience last year. No matter how much thought and effort I put into it, there's no denying it was completely an experiment; a new adventure into a way of life we'd never tried before! There were times that were fantastic and wonderful, and some that were torturous for me and the kids.

That said, we're definitely doing homeschool again this year. I'm working with an online school program called K12 Online for math for the boys, as well as Spanish and Art (which they'll be doing with Nick). K12 also has activities and fieldtrips and a teacher who will support us. Fortunately, we can do these classes with them and still do the things we loved on our own, such as science, history, social skills, unit studies, lapbooks and language arts. It seems to be a good middle ground and I'm excited to get started.

Here are a few pictures of our wonderful whirlwind summer...

Brandon on a playground









Jumping pillow at a family reunion in Wyoming









Sadie at This is the Place Park









After a fun hike with the Larson kids

So Much Culture...

We've been so blessed in the last week to experience two wonderful, culture-ful nights! Last Friday the boys and I were given tickets to attend a fabulous, outdoor, symphony and opera performance. I was naturally a bit concerned about the kids behavior, since opera is not exactly on their list of favorites. Thank heaven we went with good friends to entertain them! We got there quite early and enjoyed a picnic dinner on a blanket. The kids goofed off and played until the performance started. I have to say they did pretty well, all things considered. The vocalist, Fredrika Von Strade, did a small introduction to each song with a small story or explanation, and put so much expression in her music that even the foreign language songs were thoroughly entertaining. One of my favorites was 'I'm just a girl who can't say no' from Oklahoma. So fun to hear that song sung in an operatic voice! After the intermission, the sun and heat were long gone, so we all huddled under the blankets together. It really was an experience and I'm so glad we could go! Thanks Dawn, for the tickets and the company!

Our other big night this week was at Roger's Memorial Theater. They performed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, one of my all-time favorites. It was the perfect play to take a family to; they were familiar with the story and all the songs are so colorful and fun. The boys liked it and Sadie was enthralled. It probably helped that I had a steady supply of Root Beer Barrels to snack on, but we all had such a good time. I look forward to the day when our little family is old enough to enjoy a trip to Cedar City for the Shakespearean Festival.

And now... pictures that I promised in my last post:

This is us in the 4th of July parade. Nate was there, too, but way ahead of us.

This is one of my favorites of Nathan, thanks to my sister Sara.

This next one is of Sadie swimming on her birthday.

Sadie's Birthday and Independence Day

I'm back! I did sort of drop off the face of the earth for a while (though, honestly, I was just lazy and busy), but here's some of the fun we've had so far this summer...

Sadie's birthday was in June and this is her in her new dress from grandma Perkins.


Brandon, Sadie, Nate and I all marched in the Centerville 4th of July parade. Our stake primary had a float which said "Catch the vision of what you can be", so we all had bug nets to catch the butterflies. It was about 3 miles from start to finish and the kids did awesome. I only had to carry Sadie on my shoulders for a few blocks. :o) I haven't got those pics off the camera yet, but they're coming soon. We also went to the Independence Day concert in the park, followed by fireworks. Everyone had a great time!

I hope you've all had a fun, relaxing summer so far! And I promise to do better at posting updates more often. :o)

I LOVE SUMMER!!!

Okay, it's technically not summer yet, but it's finally warm enough to really enjoy the outdoors! The boys and Nick had a great time camping at a fathers & sons camp, while Sadie and I settled for a girls' night walk to Walmart.
We've also been gardening with my sil, Shelly, and the kids have loved all the bugs, worms and snails they've encountered. This picture is of a BLUE potato bug, though my camera phone doesn't show it well. We looked it up and found out the poor bug has an indovirus, which turned it blue.
Nick and I enjoyed a peaceful hike the other day, which ended up being shorter than we planned because I forgot about spring runoff. In the fall it was a mellow trickle with several ways to cross, but now it's all under a foot of rapid, cold, newly-melted snow! It was still beautiful and we loved having a date night! Thanks Dawn & Eric for babysitting. :o)

In homeschool we just finished a quick unit on plants. I'll hopefully have time to post copies of the lapbooks they did. Studying plants is perfect for this time of year and the boys are super-excited to start learning about rocks and minerals next. I'm hoping to take a trip to Southern Utah to see all the cool rock formations, but we'll have to see if we can squeeze it in (and if our van can handle it). Summer weather here we come!

Happy Birthday Brandon!!!

Yes, this is a bit late. His birthday was over a week ago, but it really was a fun party. Each game was based on a book in the Magic Tree House series. His cake is an igloo, from the book Polar Bears Past Bedtime. Some of the other games were a lava jumping obstacle course from Vacation under the Volcano, deciphering the Egyptian Hieroglyphics from Mummies in the Morning and a treasure hunt from Pirates Past Noon. Everyone had fun and it worked for both boys and girls of different ages. :o)
We had pizza with a stuffed lion on the center of the table, which was from Lions at Lunchtime.

Happy Birthday Brandon!!! You are a wonderful, fun, energetic, cheerful boy and we love you!

Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you to all the mothers in my life! To the one who raised me and the one who raised my husband, you have set a shining example of service, hard work, compassion, nobility and selflessness. To my grandmothers, you have given me memories of laughter and joy, and instilled a love of extended family. To my sisters, though not mothers of children yet, you have shown me forgiveness, endurance and spontaneous fun. To my sisters-in-law, you have brought wonderful new ideas and experiences to our family. To so many friends and sisters in the gospel, you have each touched my life in glorious, sweet, surprising ways. I am surrounded by such amazing women! Thank you all for your encouragement, kindness, support and smiles. So much of what I have achieved in this life is a result of your love and examples. You represent everything that a woman has the capacity to be; what I am striving toward as a mother, sister, daughter and friend.

Thank You! Happy Mother's Day!

I just have to say, it is so handy to have an artist for a husband!!! Brandon's birthday is coming up and we're doing a Magic Tree House (book series) party. Nick drew, scanned, colored and perfected this invite in about half an hour! The kids were thrilled and it cost me nothing. Yay! Now I just have to organize the rest of the party, clean my house, bake the cake, buy the goodies...

Peloponnesian Times

Good name for an Ancient Greek newspaper, don't you think? Here is the final product of our efforts. The kids did all the writing (Brandon did dictate part of his) and drew pictures to go with everything. Unfortunately two pictures have mysteriously disappeared, so we replaced them with some clipart. So here you go...


We are drawing near the end of our journey through ancient Greece, and will probably finish up our Lapbooks on Tuesday. I will, of course, post pictures of them. Now, what to study next?

Ancient Greece

We've spent a few days creating a newspaper from ancient Greece. I'll post the whole thing when it's finished, but so far we have some great stuff: Achilles' Obituary, a few want ads, a sports section all about the Olympics, and a theater review of Oedipus Rex! And of course, each story has a picture to go with it. Nate did this comic page. I can't wait to see the whole newspaper when it's complete, the boys have really done a super job!

Today we also started some weaving on a simple cardboard loom. It's not exactly authentic ancient Greek, but it's been fun to try. I probably should have done a much smaller one for Brandon, but Nate will probably finish his in the next few days. Once again, pictures will come when the project is finished.

The boys also each did a one-page report about one of the Greek Gods. Nathan chose Hermes
and Brandon did Zeus. Brandon's has more information under the green flap with the picture of Zeus.