Monday, July 26, 2010

Week 1: July 19-23

Starting a new school year!!  Nathan is in 7th grade, Kaleb is in 1st, Gabriel is a preschooler, and Drake is starting tot school! :) 

We're starting off the new year slowly with just math, English for Nathan (Kaleb will start FLL a little bit later), phonics, GtG and history.  We'll add the rest in a few weeks after our Not-Back-To-School day (which will be the first day of public school in our area.

We participated in our first Muffin Tin Monday this week.  Very fun!!  We look forward to many, many more MTMs! You can read about it *HERE*.

We went to a local library for a magic show with some cousins.  It was a lot of fun!!  The kids loved it.....well except Drake.  There were parts that scared him a little and he kept asking me to "doe side" (go outside).  I noticed most of the kids his age (2) were a little afraid at times.....like when the octopus was attacking the magician and the bird was spraying us with water! :)   Nathan and his 12 yr old cousin went straight to the computers when we got there (because they are just "TOO old for a magic show!!!"), but I noticed about half way through the hour that both of them were standing to the side, watching the show! Kaleb was the only one brave enough to get his picture taken with the magician!

We had some out of state cousins come for a visit on Friday so part of Wednesday and Thursday were spent cleaning and organizing the house a bit. 

Nathan had an all day basketball clinic on Friday.  The littles and I dropped him off before doing the weekly grocery shopping.  We picked Nathan up in time to rush to grandma's for dinner with the cousins.  Then we brought a couple home with us to spend the night.  It was definitely a FUN night!!  :)

Nathan:
Saxon Math 76 He is working through tests this week to see where he is in the book.  This week he did tests 1-3
I can now see how LITTLE Nathan accomplished this week.  He will do much better in week 2!

Kaleb:
OPG lesson 108-110
ETC pages 58-64
GTG I truly had planned on starting this week but with all of the other activities, we kept pushing this aside until the week was finally over.  Next week for sure!!  The boys are really looking forward to it!

Gabriel:
Read all about Gabriel's first week of preschool *HERE*.

Drake:
You can read about Draker's Tot School *HERE*.

Tot School: Week 1-Drake (28 months)

Tot School


One of my goals for the new school year is to work more with Drake.  He enjoys tot school so I need to make more time for him.

Here are some of the things we have done this week:



Monday-
We had our first MTM lunch!!  It was a HUGE hit with the boys!  You can read more about it *HERE*.



Drake and Gabriel had fun playing with the lacing beads.



Daddy surprised us with a mid-morning visit and some cousins came by for a short visit.  One of the cousins left her hat....Drake has been taking care of it for her! :)



We read a few books and all of a sudden--it was dinner time!!

Tuesday-
FUN and SCARY day all in one!  We went with some cousins to a local library for a magician show!!  It was fun but parts of it were just a little scary..........like when the octopus attacked the magician and then a bird squirted water at us.  Drake kept asking to "doe side" (go outside...and away from the scary octopus and bird).  He did like many other parts of the show though!



Came home for lunch and then a quick nap!

Had a little unsupervised cutting practice (wish I had gotten a picture of that!!) with lefTot School
t-over cutting sheets and Gabriel's scissors that he forgot to put away.

Wednesday & Thursday-
....are blurs.  We were getting ready for out of town family coming for a visit.  I'm sure we did SOMETHING educational and fun but I can't remember what it was!!

Friday-
We spent the day in town doing some shopping after dropping Nathan off at a basketball day camp and then came home in time for naps before heading back to town to pick up Nathan.  Then we went to Grandma's house to play with cousins.  Brought a couple home with us to spend the night. FUN day!!

We will do better during week 2!!  I have more things actually PLANNED for him.  :)

Preschool Corner: Week 1 Gabriel (4 yrs old)

preschool corner
My plan for Gabriel is to work on becoming familiar with the whole alphabet and letter sounds.  He knows most of the letters, but we'll spend probably the first semester reviewing those letters he knows and learning the rest.  After that, we'll start ETC primers.  We will also work on some fun preschool math and other preschool activities.  He has been requesting more *school* work so I'm giving it to him! :)


This is what we did this week:

Monday-We had our very FIRST MTM lunch!  You can read more about it *HERE*

Gabriel asked to get out the lacing beads.  He and Drake played with those for a long while.


Daddy came home for a little bit and played with the boys before lunch.  Then some cousins came to play.  We had some book time and then all of a sudden, it was dinner time!

Tuesday-
We went to a local library to see a magician show with some cousins.  It was a lot of fun!!   All of the kids enjoyed it!


We came home for lunch and then during Drake's nap time, Gabriel had....

......some activity time.  This is his FAVORITE activity.  He calls it number ferris wheel!  He knows his numbers though so I need to get out the ABC wheel!  I found the number wheel at Homeschool Share in the workboxables section.



.......little cutting practice.....


.....and some coloring time.

Wednesday & Thursday-

I'm not sure what happened but I'm pretty sure the only thing we did these two days was clean house.  We had some out of town family coming for a visit and I was trying to get everything organized for the new week.

Friday-
Nathan had an all day basketball clinic so we used that time to grocery shop and get naps in before heading to Grandma's house for cousin fun!!  Then we brought back two cousins to spend the night with us.  A FUN day!!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Muffin Tin Monday!

Muffin Tin Monday at Her Cup Overfloweth


Ok so you KNOW a left-over lunch is way more fun in a muffin tin, right??  I thought so too.  We had a FUN lunch with our leftovers for sure!  I love how excited the boys are to see their very own muffin tin lunch.  I am having SO much fun creating these little meals for them too!  Click on the MTM logo to see more muffing tin meals!!

In our muffin tins:
left-over spaghetti, left-over half cheeseburger, carrots in ranch, fresh pineapple, and a smoothie. 


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

God=Love





Our worship leader opened my eyes to something that I think is just amazing.  I have thought about it all week.

1John 4:8 says God is love.  The word *is* means the same as = so God=Love.  With that in mind, read 1Cor 13 (one of my favorite passages that was read at my wedding almost 10 years ago).

Replace LOVE with GOD.

Love
 1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.  4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Muffin Tin Monday


Muffin Tin Monday at Her Cup Overfloweth

Our first MTM!!!  :)




In the tins: chicken nuggets, ketchup/bbq sauce, cheese stars/cutout, carrots/ranch, watermelon, strawberry/banana kabobs with blueberry stoppers.

Their muffin tins were the same except for their little fruit kabobs. Each had one with their names and one with a favorite. Thanks to my swap partner again because this was SO fun!!


The boys LOVED it!!  They asked if every lunch could be a muffin tin meal! :)

My job for Sunday family dinner with the inlaws was to bring the fruit salad.  To make it a little fun for the kids, I added some fruit kabobs to the bowl using some picks from my swap partner.  They LOVED it!! :)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Flat Stanley!!!

The boys and I signed up for a Flat Stanley adventure on the WTM forum boards last month.   We received our mailing list this week so I had the boys sit down to color their own Flat Stanley to be mailed.  We included a little bio of each boy and some info about our state.  We dropped the package into the mail this afternoon so our Flat Stanleys are now headed to their first destination....California! 

To simplify things, we will receive pictures and information via email from each family as our Flat Stanleys travel the USA and even abroad.  As we receive emails, we will print the pictures and info, and make a Flat Stanley scrapbook!! 

We've talked a little about where we'll take the other families' FS for pictures as we receive them.  We have some fun local places to take each family.  Besides those, some places the boys suggested were our library, the swimming hole (those paper Flat Stanleys will be screaming "YIKES"!), our Tuesday pizza lunch place, co-op classes (later this fall), sports practice, and the park.

I don't think the little boys quite understand the concept yet and my oldest is just a tad bored by it.  (but he's at that age where a LOT *bores* him.  I think he'll enjoy it as well once we start receiving emails and pictures.)  *I* am very excited about this project and can't wait for our first email and package!!  :) 

{Btw......I failed miserably with photos!!  I just plain forgot to take pictures of the boys' Flat Stanleys before mailing off the package.  We'll include them in our scrapbook when we get them back at the end!!}

Muffin Tin Monday Swap!!!

Last month the boys and I signed up for the Muffin Tin Monday Swap.  We had fun picking out some things for my swap partner, Arwen, and got it all mailed off this past Saturday.  I decided that I'm not sure which is more fun.....waiting for the package from my partner or waiting for her to receive our package!

On Monday we received a package from my partner.  Now we were asked to give a wish list and since we are new to MTMs, I suggested maybe a *starter package* of some sort.  I was BLOWN AWAY by the contents.


*A muffin tin each for my four boys
*cookie cutters
*Dino sandwich cutter
*mini and regular size cupcake holders
*little pirate swords
*party picks
*chopsticks (this got a huge "YES" from my oldest!!)
*heart shaped sauce holders
*little hors d'oeuvre forks
*CUTE HANDMADE Lego muffin "coasters" (I think she called them something else but I can't remember!! lol) to decorate the bottom of muffin tins!
*TONS of HANDMADE food picks personalized with my children's favorites: sports, Go Diego Go, cars, LEGOS.  
*a ziplock bento box for my oldest
*BONUS basketball craft for each boy!
*and BONUS craft ribbon for ME!

Below are a couple close up pics of the handmade items.  The last one is a little blurry.  My camera battery was running low.

I canNOT wait for the next MTM......our first!!!  
Thank you SO much, Arwen!!!