March catch-up post

So far, I'm off to a good start on my catching up with my blog, right?  I've finished February and now its time for a whirlwind tour of March.  I'll post our Five in a Row co-ops in a separate posting.

As we spent time learning about pigeons in our last Five in a Row book, Daniel began to be very interested in the birds around us.  Our next FIAR book was also about birds which helped to encourage this new interest even more.

He enjoyed spending time watching and taking photos of the birds at our feeder.  Its been fun seeing him enjoying God's creation and wanting to learn more about them.

Our FIAR group went on a field trip to a skating rink.

Its harder than it looks or seems which I think was a surprise to some of them that had never been before.

Eliana didn't even try.  After we tried roller skating last month - which she hated, I figured this would not be on her top 10 list.  We hung out in the lobby with some other young friends that weren't skating.  Daniel loved it and is hoping to go back again during the summer.

Just liked this photo of these beautiful young ladies.  :)

As part of our Robin Hood co-op, we talked about fires and then proceeded to make one.  Each person worked to gather materials, build a fire and then strike flint to get it going.

I loved seeing the looks of satisfaction on each face when they succeeded.  And each one did!

This was a huge hit.

And of course, we had to cook food over the fire too.

Eliana liked having a hot dog too!

We celebrated Christopher's birthday at the beginning of his spring break before he headed off to the mountains with friends.  Happy 21st birthday!  I love you Christopher and am proud of you.  I love seeing how God is working in your life.  I pray for you daily that you would grow in your faith and love for God and that you would have the courage to follow where He leads.

He brought home one of his roommates for the night (Joe!) which we were all excited to spend time with too!

Joe and Christopher both were invited to to join in the game of Axis and Allies.  This is no small game and it takes no small time to play it either.

We also played some medieval games during one of our co-ops with Robin Hood.  (We also did some inside work but that doesn't always make for great photos, kwim?)  One of them is jingling where the person who is it is NOT blindfolded and everyone else is.  Nice twist, huh?  "It" has bells which he jingles and the others try to catch him.

Another game we played was How Many Miles to London.

 This game begins with “It” being blindfolded. The other players then stand in a line and ask “It” for directions. “It” tells them how many steps to take forward backward, left, or right they must go. Then “It” is led to the starting point and must follow his own directions. When “It” has reached the final destination, he must try to touch another player. The other players may duck or sway to avoid being touched, but they cannot move their feet. If a player is tagged, then he is the next “It” otherwise “It” must try again. 

We always end with a delightful spread and this time was no different.  Yum!  :)

For book club this month, we read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  This book had so many ideas to explore and discuss.  It is an interesting comparison to see how things were done and handled then versus now.  There are ways in which I see great improvement and some which I see great decline.

Dinner out with two of my dearest friends.  Thankful for both of these women and all that they have poured into the lives of my family.  Thankful that God has given me such wonderful friends to hang out with.

Nature journalling.  Its a very sporadic activity around here, but we do it when Mom things about it.

And some just hang out with their siblings.

At the end of the month, Rebecca and I drove to SC with a dear friend to attend the Great Homeschool Convention.  Afterwards, some of us from the FIAR website staff hung around for a couple of days with Steve and Jane Lambert.  It was a time of  refreshment and encouragement.

I'm thankful to see God's hand at work in building friendships that span many states.  We all met through the internet and it has been a blessing indeed.

March was filled with laughter, love and adventure.  What more could I ask for?

More (hopefully tomorrow) on our next FIAR co-op... Albert.

Love
Leslie

February - an whirlwind overview

Here is a quick look at a month worth of happenings and fun.  Enjoy the view.  :)

An event that our FIAR group enjoys is something we call the Expo.  Its a combination music, singing, art show.  We started with a performance portion.  Rebecca began the show with a vocal performance from the play Les Miserables.  :)

Isaiah added in a Lego stop motion movie.

What a lot of talent we have in our group.  Here are all of the performers.

Then we move into a room where displays are set up of many things from art - painting, drawing, sculpting, Lego creations, sewing, jewelry, animation and so much more!  Its such a treat to see these creations!  And I think the kids really enjoy showing off what they have made.

Daniel shared some of his FIAR inspired Lego creations.

Eliana brought her Corduroy bear.  She is so proud of this bear and often shows it to me.  :)

A photo of the artists, but not a great overall shot of all the things we had to see.  (There were more tables!)

This has been a fun tradition for our family - the Krispy Kreme run!  Christopher has run in it for 4 years.  Roger for several and Joshua joined this year (but did not eat all of the doughnuts!).

 You run 2.5 miles.  Eat 1 dozen doughnuts.  Then run 2.5 miles back.  Its a fun race (note the costumes in the photo below).

 We enjoy meeting them at the halfway/doughnut eating point.

 We bring encouragement, water, laughter and a camera.  :)

 Daniel earned the Alpha award in Awana this year!  He did a lot of memorizing.  Great job Daniel!

 Just a sweet picture of my littlest princess and one of her favorite pals who goes just about everywhere with her.

 A look at what Eliana's hair will NOT look like next year while Rebecca is in college.  Isn't this amazing?!

 Remember in my last post how I mentioned that we had some great snows this year?  Here are some pictures (over several days) of some of our outside fun.

 Light powdery snow and still a cute snowman.

 This girl loves to sled.  Can you tell?!

 When the roads weren't great, we moved to the hilly back yard for more sledding fun.  Thought some of you that live in places that get significant snow would find this one funny.

 Making a fort to get ready for a snowball fight.  Making the most of our snow days!

 Valentines Day.  I went with simple but still wanted to try to make the day fun.  For lunch, I just arranged the food into heart shapes.  :)  The heart shaped bacon was a big hit even though it didn't look all that great.

 And look what Rebecca did.  Is this adorable?  She is really amazing with styling hair.

 This is what she did to her own!  Beautiful!

 The boys and I worked on a pastel art project.

 Daniel helped me make our traditional pizza dinner.

 The heart shaped one says "I love you" in pepperonis.  :)

 Treats and valentines after dinner.

 Wanted to show some of our fun decorations on the window behind my sweeties.

 One of our field trips for the month was to the science museum.

The younger children went to a program on life cycles.

 They really liked the "show and tell" portion of the program.

 Afterwards, we explored the museum on our own.  This photo of my girl relaxing with her friend just made me laugh.

 We met up with the older kids after their program and spend some time in one of the labs.

 The man working there was great about showing them how to work so many things like circuits, computer programs and even a robot.

 Hands-on learning is always fun!

 We spent time playing outside and having lunch with friends.

 It was a great day.  Love seeing these beautiful young ladies having fun together.  :)

 We also visited with our dear friends one week-end.  This was taken while we were there we went roller skating.

 A couple of mine found this much easier to do that others of mine.  I won't name names.  :)

We enjoyed ice cream afterwards.  Everyone found this easy.  :)

 For our book club we read Code Name Verity.  If you read it, stick through it as its a different style of writing.  I can't really explain more because it would spoil the book.  Its a story about two friends, British women, during World War II.  A spy, capture and more.  There is some language if you are considering this for a younger reader.

 Rebecca made ALL of the foods for our enjoyment.  What a feast of yumminess!!!

We decided to spend the entire spring semester studying Robin Hood.  Its a longer book with a lot of interesting topics to explore.  We ended up missing one of our meeting times this month due to snow and were glad to be able to get together again.

We learned about ballads, minstrels and friars.  I love having these music lessons that I just would not be able to do on my own.  :)

And the lunch spread was amazing.  Homemade pasties too!  All delicious and well appreciated.

Just closing with a few random things.  Joshua hurt his foot/ankle and was resting.  Eliana decided that she could help to make it all better.  She got a band-aid, put it on his leg and declared, "All better".  

My very talented daughter knitted herself this cute cap!

The same creative daughter made treats for her brother.  Homemade caramels.  (A friend's recipe and they are fabulous.)  Can you see what else she did though to make it special?  Added different Disney quotes to each piece.  Isn't this sweet and fun?!

A sweet month.  Full of time with people I love.

Blessed and thankful,
Leslie