Making Memories with Family

This week has not been such a great one when I look at what we accomplished in school.  However, when I look at it with a different set of lenses, I can see that it was a wonderful week with something accomplished that is far greater than marking things off of my to-do list.  We made memories.  We spent time with people we love.  I can't find anything on my list of things to do that is more important than that.  I'll gladly give up school time for something that will matter for much longer than a math problem or history lesson.

We spent the week-end with good friends (see last post).  We got home late Sunday and were delighted to get a call while we were on the road that we had company coming!  We spent Monday morning cleaning like crazy in anticipation of a visit from my parents!  Everyone was thrilled to see them!  It's been too long - since Christmas and it's always fun to have them here.

I love watching my children with my parents.  It's fun to see my parents appreciate them and their unique traits.  Eliana was particularly delighted to hang out with both of them.  At one point, Roger came up to take a picture of my Mom and Eliana.  When Eliana saw the camera, she placed her hands on my Mom's face to turn it toward the camera so she could say cheese.  I think Eliana may have even prompted her by saying "cheese" too.  Well, this cracked my mom up.  I could hear the laughter from the next room.  Can't you just see how much fun they are having?



My Dad is not immune to her charms either.  Honestly, we are all taken by this little cutie pie!



This was just a sweet photo.



I didn't get many photos - the visit was just too quick!  (Hint, hint, please stay longer next time!  We love having you here!)  The boys were busy creating a meeting place for their "League of Boys".  Here they are sharing some of this with my Mom.



Rebecca made an adorable little bunny finger puppet for Eliana.  Isn't it cute?  The pattern was found at The Crafty Crow.



You can see that Eliana enjoyed the bunny!



Also this week, Rebecca and Eliana had a little cafe for the rest of the family.  I love the sweet ideas that Rebecca has for making memories.  I know that her siblings appreciate it too.  Earlier this week, Isaiah was talking about Eliana and how he thought she was the cutest sister!.  I asked "What about Rebecca?".  His answer "She's perfect". 

The owners of "Eliana's Cafe".



The patrons choosing from a delightful menu offering main dishes, sides and desserts to choose from!



Thanks Rebecca!



We also had a wonderful field trip yesterday (more pictures coming) with incredible weather.  It could not have been a more beautiful day!  I had some time out last night with a friend.  We had dinner tonight with friends.  It's been a good week. 

Thank you God for the gift of family and friends.  Help me not to take either for granted.  Help me to make time for the important things and to worry less about all of the things on my list that I want to get done.  Give me eyes to see and know what is truly important and the ability to let go of the other things.

Blessings

Leslie

Happy Easter!

We have had a fun and full week and now it's time to play a little catch-up on my blog.  :-) 

We spent Easter week-end with our dear friends in VA.  It's a new tradtion we started after they moved.  The kids all look forward to this and really appreciate it and look forward to spending the holiday together!  We weren't sure it was going to happen this year due to some sickness.  Thankfully all who were sick were well enough by Fri morning and so we decided at the last minute to head up. 

The kids spent a lot of time playing outside and just having fun.  I didnt' get a lot of pictures, but here are a few. 

 

I loved the group effort in helping Joshua to skate!

Eliana loves playing in sand.

She is not alone in this either as Aaron and Caleb also love the sand!

Some of the kids decorated eggs.  First, we blew out the insides.  (Not everyone was interested in doing this part of it!  Catherine had to do more than her fair share of them.  lol )

The kids wrote their names or drew a picture on the eggs with a wax crayon before dipping them in the colors.

They were very pretty, but I didn't take any pictures of the finished product!

We attended a play at their church called The Lamb of God.  It was in Spanish.  We still understood most of the story, but it would have been helpful to have known more Spanish.  I think I knew the most and mine is SUPER rusty!  The benefit though of my learning Spanish to do missions work is that I know a lot of words that aren't taught in Spanish 1 or 2 - like sin, miracle, cross, etc.

He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Someone took my camera and made some beautiful pictures.  I loved this one.

We attended church on Easter Sunday and heard a convicting and encouraging message.  Jesus chose just 12 ordinary men - ordinary - just like me and just like you.  They falled him and turned away, even after having walked closely with him for three years.  Jesus saw not their failures, but all that they could become with the power of His Spirit.  This is true for us too.  We each have a destiny!  We each have access to His power to accomplish His will and purpose in our lives!  I love that.

Pretty little girl in her pretty Easter dress.

After church we had a lovely lunch.

Then we did an Easter Egg Hunt.  Each child had a different color egg to look for.  We thought this might make it easier. 

It certainly helped us to be able to choose what each child would get in his or her eggs.  They were very excited about the hunt.

This girl was thrilled that there was candy in her eggs!

Joshua's eggs had some candy, but more of them had a variety of snacks (with a piece of paper including the carb counts on them).  Thank you Catherine for getting these for him!  He loved trying new things and found two new things that he really loved!!!  (He wanted three !!! on that sentence.  lol )

I'm thankful that he is flexible and willing to do things a little differently.  I sometimes hate that we even have to.  Others are asked to give up far more though and we have much to be thankful for!  (One of the little things I'm thankful for is that there are no more candy holidays or birthdays for a few more months!)

I hope you were able to celebrate our Risen Lord!  We do have much to be thankful for indeed.  Happy Easter from our family to yours.

Blessings

Leslie

Arabella - FIAR Co-op Vol 4

We had beautiful weather for our co-op which was really nice since the story, Arabella, took place on an island.  It gave the children the chance to explore some island topics in a beautiful, sunny setting (which our hostess had decorated to the nines!!!)  As always, it was an amazing day - only diminished for us by the absence of Isaiah who wasn't feeling quite up to par in the morning.  (Thankfully he was much better by the afternoon.)

We started the morning by reading the story which is about a little boy spending time with his grandfather on an island.  During a storm, the Grandfather's prize possession, a model boat made by his father is swept to sea.  The little boy goes out to find it.  The ending of the story is both surprising and beautiful.  It's one you would enjoy reading!

Our first lesson was on rope - the construction of it, the variety of types and materials used to make rope and the different types of ropes.  Below the children are examining ropes.

Of course, learning about ropes led to tying knots. 

And more comparing of the ropes.

Next we talked about the location of the story - an island.  The children talked about where the story could have taken place.

Instead of exploring a specific island, we were treated to going to our own new island!

Can you see the detail in how this room is decorated to look like an island?  The attention to details is so beyond me - and such an expression of this sweet friend's gifts! 

The children learned about a variety of sea creatures from whales to anemone, from mollusks to jellyfish.

More of the display of the room. They were treated to video of the great coral reef.

The children were given so much good information.  (It made me think that I really need to do more in-depth with some of mine!  I love that I'm learning from this co-op too.  Not just facts but ways to improve my teaching and our homeschool.)

As they were learning about various creatures (below is coral), they were able to handle some coral and shells.  It's always fascinating to learn about shells!

The children were then split into teams to see how much they remembered.  They were asked questions and then were to work together as a team to come up with an answer.  This is a great way to do it so that you can rely on the strengths of others - as some information may have stuck with one and not with another.  They all did a great job - and these were NOT easy questions either.

It is fun to watch them work together - and even more to just enjoy learning. 

Had to show you this!  She even had her own "Arabella" for the window!!!

The children learned about sound and resonance. 

Rebecca helped keep the little girls happy.  Aren't they all cute?

The lesson on sound continued with learning about how sound travels on a string in this old game that most of us have enjoyed at one time or another in our lives. 

Snack time was an amazing spread!!!  All of the foods related to our story or its themes from pretzels that were twisted like rope or knots to tropical fruit to "fish".  And my sweet friends also keep Joshua in mind at snack time too which really touches my heart. 

Meat is a "free" snack for Joshua for the most part - and very few other things are.  I try to keep the carb count of his snacks low enough that he doesn't need a shot (this will be changed by the pump!).  The free snack were little octopuses - and Joshua LOVEd them!

The last lesson of the day was expanding a little more on knots as the children learned how to tie various knots to make a macrame keychain or bracelet.

The children were all proud of their work!

Rebecca enjoyed doing this one too.  I watched Eliana while she learned and then she went home and showed Isaiah how to do it too. 

Amazing day.  Amazing friends.  I'm thankful, so very thankful to be blessed by the creativity and talent of these sweet friends.

Hope you are having a blessed Easter week-end!

Leslie 

 

 

April Fool's Day

I just wanted to start by saying Happy Birthday to my Dad!  I'm glad you had a fun day with yummy food!  Wish we could have been there to celebrate with you!  We are looking forward to seeing you soon!

April Fool's Day.  I'm not a big one for playing pranks, though I will do some.  This is probably because I don't really like them played on me.  I don't really think I can expect to initiate them and not get them back.  However, I did start the day with a small one.  I added green food coloring to Joshua's cereal bowl and then put the measured cereal on top.  I then put a measuring cup with his milk beside it for him to add when he was ready.  He added the milk and began to eat.  I snapped a couple of pictures.  He continued to eat.

I left and did a few more things and then walked back to Joshua and asked if he had looked at his cereal.  He did.  He said nothing.  Rebecca and I are giggling at this point, but not really sure what to do with him.  I speak to Joshua again and ask what he thinks of his milk.  He looks again and notices that it is green.  (I'm not sure if the color doesn't show up as well because he is colorblind???)  Finally he asked why his milk was green and I was able to say April Fool's Day.  LOL  This worked really well for those looking for a fun prank.

We had co-op this morning (more on that in another post).  Rebecca went with her arm in a sling.  (She is one that does like pranks.)  She is so sweet that you just want to believe all that she tells you!  She also had plans for dinner.

During the afternoon, Christopher (who also likes pranks) struck with a few of his own.  The first one involved the computer.  I was trying to print something for school and the mouse/buttons/etc just weren't working right.  So I rebooted.  It does fix a lot of problems.  I called Christopher down and he was already chuckling.  He has done something to the mouse to switch the buttons - the left button did the functions of the right button and vice versa. 

He had more computer tricks up his sleeve too.  He put black tape over the bottom of the mouse to make it non-functional.  Thankfully I was able to figure that one out on my own.  He also messed with the icons on the home page and made them all "images" instead of icons so that they didn't work.  He also put the buttons in different places.  He told me that Daniel was able to figure out how to get to his game though!   Way to go Daniel.

Rebecca worked hard on dinner.  This was all her plans from finding the menus to helping shop last night.  She made wormy apples.

And cupcakes. 

We told the boys that since it was Papa's birthday that we were starting with cupcakes.  They loved this idea!  The skepticism came quickly though when they looked at their plates.

Isaiah looked at his plate and quickly stated "This is not a cupcake".  Once he found out that there was meat in it though, he was very excited!

Daniel was skeptical too and took a cautious nibble to see what it was.

Joshua tested some of the "frosting" and told us that it tasted like potatoes.

It was meatloaf on the bottom and tinted mashed potatoes on top.  It was really  yummy too!!!  Most of us really enjoyed them.  Daniel was just not convinced though.

It was a fun day and we are thankful for the time to laugh and play outside and just spend time together as a family.  I hope your day was filled with fun too!

Love
Leslie