A Few Recent Moments

(from the last 2 weeks....playing catch up)

Enuh, was allowed into our presence, for the first time ever.

Enuh is Felicity's secret imaginary friend.  I knew about Enuh, because I'd walk in when Felicity was speaking to her.  I'd introduce myself to Enuh and tried to act normal, thinking that Lissy was keeping her imaginary friend a secret because we'd think it weird.  Still, Lissy kept Enuh to herself.  But on THIS day, Enuh came out to help Lissy sweep.

Kian shared his most FAVORITE book with Twoey.

Our new curriculum arrived!

It was SO sweet to watch the kids anxiously await the FedEx truck.  We knew which day it would arrive and waited ALL day.  Finally, it arrived at 5pm while we were outside playing.  We all went in to open this big box of beautiful books.  It felt like Christmas.

Logan can't wait to read this book, My Father's Dragon.

Kian likes the Childrens' Dictionary.

We are all excited to start schooling with this new curriculum.  I PRAY this excitement sticks as we enter the world of Sonlight and make it a part of our daily lives.  I LOVE the sound of this curriculum.....have loved the thought of it since Logan was 3.  Its very exciting to have it in our hands, and its thrilling to see how anxious the kids are.  I hope we find our niche with Sonlight.  We'd REALLY like to finally settle in to this thing called home school, and just enjoy our learning.

A Few Recent Moments

Someone got a good brushing.

And a good cuddle.

This girl loves to lay on her dog.  I guess a pillow that is bigger than yourself, always warm, and never complains IS nice.  I have similar pictures of myself laying on my dog when I was her age.

At Grammy's house, the kids get to watch T.V.

At our house, not so much.  :)

It has been interesting, and sometimes funny, to watch my kids learn about the T.V. programs.  This is a first for them as we've never had cable in our house.  I don't love them watching T.V. but I have noticed that often times, when they do watch it at Grammy's house, they cuddle up together.  Often times, all 3 of them will be crammed on to ONE couch cushion.  And when we go home on the weekends, they don't ask to watch T.V.  They know its just something they do at Grammy's house.  So for this season, I'm cool with that.  :)  I was also happy to discover that there is one channel, tailored to young children, that never shows commercials.  So, when they watch T.V., I only put on that channel.  I thought that was pretty nice.

Playing hide and seek in the evening.

My hiders usually hide together.......in the same place.....over and over.

Oh well, its still fun, and very funny.

When I snapped this shot, I was trying to get a picture of 3 blobs under a very wiggly blanket, with ALL of Felicity's VERY full dress skirt hanging out. 

"Hmmmmmmm.....I wonder where they could be!"

Kian took his first ride on the "tractor" with Uncle Donny.

It was the highlight of his day.

Moments From Our Week

***  Posting this late as I was out of town all weekend.  ***

This week was very relaxed.  We started the week with a wonderful family hike at the lake we live near.

We found some neat drift wood houses and had a picnic.

I showed Logan the signs of the lake's drop in water level.

We had a very wet, very dirty, very stinky, and VERY happy dog.

Unfortunately, RIGHT after this swim, Denver's ear got infected again.  We've been battling with his ears for a while.  Guess we found the trigger.  I don't know what this dog will do if he's not allowed to swim.  But his ears just get so bad!  Poor guy.

There was lots of sword fighting, thanks to this purchase from Aunt Miss.  The foam swords didn't survive the week, but I am now intent on making the kids the wood swords I've been wanting to for a while now.

We took many walks down Grammy's LONG, STEEP driveway to visit Papa.  The kids ask to visit Papa every day, and we walk down most afternoons and stay until sunset, when we walk back up the driveway at dusk.

I lost our curriculum.  Yes, lost it.  How does one misplace curriculum?  Well, I transport it between our house (on the weekends) and Grammy's house (during the week while Zac is away).  Anyways, it was so freeing!  If you follow my blog, you'll know that I'm a trained public school teacher fighting with myself because I have unschooling tendencies.  I have to say, I loved misplacing our curriculum and was disappointed tonight when my mom told me where I'd left it.  We worked on word families this week the way WE like to do it.  After finishing the work pictured above, Logan exclaimed "MOM! I LIKED SCHOOL TODAY!".

That, was a victory.

Another victory was that Felicity asked to do school with us and she TOO loved it.  She practiced writing V's and learned about things that started with the V sound.  She did great.

And lastly, this is being posted late because I was off grid all weekend at a womens' retreat.  It was lovely.  I learned a lot, and will hopefully have time this week to reflect on those lessons and post some here.  While there, I took along a curriculum catalog that a friend suggested.  I've looked at the curriculum before and wanted to do it, but have been hindered by the cost.  My friend taught me how to do it for not much at all.  So now I have to decide......do I purchase what would be our THIRD curriculum this year?  Yes, third.  Part of me is embarrassed to admit that.  But you know what?  I refuse to settle.  I refuse for school to be a chore.  If I have to buy five curriculums this year until we find one that is perfect for us, I will.  Yes, I love things about unschooling, and we unschool every day.  But this mama needs a little help to keep things flowing.  So....I've got some thinking and praying to do.

Oh....and as I post this, its raining.  RAINING!!! Finally!

I love Rain.

A Few Moments From Our Week

Joining in with Jules of a little crafty nest to share a few moments from our week.

I had some time alone with my younger two, who are very fun to observe when it is just the two of them.  Its strange how much the dynamics change when one child is gone.  They are usually all together, all the time, so getting two alone really changes things.  When Kian and Felicity are alone together, they LOVE to read.  They disappeared to Lissy's room for a long time, just going through books.  Later they moved to the couch and snuggled up under a blanket to read together.  They also are very good at creating imaginary games.  I assume these games are led by Felicity as she has a talent for creating imaginary worlds.  I don't remember what they were doing in the box.  I think it was a train.  I was actually kind of trying to leave them alone and not wreak their little world and bonding time.  But I had to peek in every once in a while, because they're just so cute.

Citrus picking at Grammy's has started!!!  She grows THE BEST lemons I've ever tasted.  You can drink the juice straight because it is so sweet.  And can I just say I think Kian has the cutest little behind ever!

I am LOVING that my kids have 14 acres to run around on during the week, when we stay at Grammy's.  Almost every evening, right before the sun sets, I try to get them outside one last time before its dark.  Usually, at that time of day, we just stay on Grammy's driveway to play, since its getting dark.  The kids LOVE having races with each other.  They stand at the top of the driveway, near the shop, and I stand at the bottom near the house.  They race down and as they get to me, I swing them around in the air.  I'll tell you, even after a hard day, swinging them in the air sure does help rid me of lingering stress.  The top picture is of an obstacle course we set up one evening.  They had a lot of fun with that, and even I got a bit of a work out.  :)  The bottom picture is a shot of another game they play.  They take an electrical spool, work together to roll it up to the shop, and then let it go and watch it roll down the driveway to Grammy's house.  Logan likes to get in front of it and dodge it, while the other two chase behind it.  I guess that's how the children of an electrician play.  :)