Long time, no post...

Well it seems that my good intentions to post more regularly have all but died! There are so many things happening all at once, I can't seem to pull myself away from life long enough to share them with everyone here. I think I am going to have to schedule time to blog into my weekly routine so then it gets done a couple times a month. But there I go again with good intentions.

School is going very well. Little TD is asking daily to do school and wants it to last longer. I am still on the fence about starting him in Kindergarten early. He is ready to learn to read and has been doing basic math skills (thanks to his big sister) and is mastering drawing lines and holding a pencil, so I am not sure why I am so concerned. I guess it is the pressure from the long history of public school thought that you shouldn't start Kindergarten until you are 5 years old. It would really only be a few months before he's five, so I don't see him at a huge disadvantage! One of my best friends from high school was born in November and she started school before she was 5 too, and she turned out great-she graduated from high school early and has a master's degree. I really should stop second guessing myself I guess.

He has had a couple of fun projects in his school time. Back in January, we were studying about Joshua and Jericho. Here he is constructing his own wall of Jericho out of peanut butter and crackers.

His teacher wasn't very prepared, so we didn't have square crackers. We just had to use extra "mortar" to keep the wall upright. It made for a tasty lunch too!

That same week, we also built the city of Jericho out of blocks and then marched around the city and knocked the wall down. Just like typical boys, his favorite part was the knocking down of the walls!

Princess TD is still loving school at home. She is still perplexed why it takes the neighborhood kids so long when they go to school. She definitely doesn't want to join them, but is curious why hers is so short. Of course I gave her the obvious reason -that she is very intelligent and that I only have Little TD and her to teach at school, and not 18-20 more kids.

We started working on the concept of multiplication last week, and she got it in about 10 minutes. I was amazed! Now I guess we move on to fact memorization...(yuck! I was never big on memorization!) Thanks to the recommendation of one of my good friends, who is a veteran homeschool mom herself, I think we'll get that down pretty quick because we have been listening to this for a couple of years now.

Her least favorite subject continues to be writing and copywork. She seems to enjoy copying scripture on paper she can color, so that is where we are working now.

As a science experiment, we planted some seeds to watch them sprout. We planted a few green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers. I choose these partly because of the differences in germination times and partly because those were things that my family would actually eat if they grew! Well, guess what!? I haven't killed them yet, so we planted them in a Square Foot Garden in the back yard! Here is a picture on the day they were planted.

So far they are still growing, and the extra seedlings are still growing in smaller pots, just in case the planted ones don't make it!

Another project we did a couple of months ago involved dropping a crayon into a glass of water to see what would happen. It sank, of course. Then we added a couple of tablespoons of salt, and then put the crayon back to see what would happen. It floated. Princess TD was thrilled it worked!

Well, that will do it for the update this week. Spring is in the air and we are venturing out for our usual activities. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for our anniversary celebration camping trip, the zoo, Blue Bell ice cream and bluebonnets, our first American Heritage Girls family campout and time with good friends! It will be a busy spring for us!

Just a few things going on...

We have been busy. Well, we are always busy, but this month has been exceptionally busy! There is so much to cover...where to begin!

• We started the month staying up way too late and having fun playing cards with some good friends. It's always a great way to start the month and the year celebrating with friends (and their family too)!

• After recovering, the next week (oh, and it does take a week when you get to be our age!) we hosted my sister, my nieces and another gymnast from my sister's gym when they were in town for a meet in Katy. We kept my youngest niece while the rest were at the meet. Let's just say, she wasn't exactly thrilled with me! Every time I looked at her, talked to her, anything. she screamed and cried! I am usually the one who can put any one's baby to sleep....not my niece! Princess TD was the only one who could get her to stop crying, eat or drink anything. So, my sweet little girl got a crash course in babysitting and boy was she thrilled to be the one "in charge" of taking care of her cousin! She got so tired of crying at one point, she crawled over to her bear and went to sleep...so cute!

• During said weekend, the extra gymnast who was staying with us contracted a stomach bug. He was sick the whole weekend. Poor thing. He only stayed with us for one night, and I immediately cleaned everything he touched with Clorox wipes.

• The week following, my sister and her whole family contracted said stomach bug. Not so much a big deal for us since they live in the next state, BUT we were planning to visit them the next weekend for my niece's 1st birthday! Wow! Luckily they were all well, the house was cleaned and we avoided the bug!

• We then followed every slow driver across east Texas to make our way to my niece's first birthday party. It seemed to take us all day to get there! My mom was visiting from St. Louis, so it was a good old fashioned family party. It was great and my niece loved her gifts (except the ones we gave her, clothes) and loved the cake. My sister made her a banana cake with banana flavored icing. Here's the sweet birthday girl!

• This is proof that she can be a happy baby, as long as her aunt is not talking to her! She was happy to be playing with Princess TD, who is sitting behind her in the picture!

• Princess TD is loving American Heritage Girls. We are meeting 3 times a month now, and things are on a roll. She has completed her first badge, Our Flag, and is working on Aviation, Cycling, Photography and Sewing. She has a pen-pal in Ohio that she is writing to every month this year. We are still working on the first letter. We are also working on cards for a couple of soldiers stationed overseas. I am now a helper in her group. Little TD just sits in the corner and plays while we are occupied. Princess TD wants to enroll him in the Kindergarten group, but was very disappointed when I explained that it was only for girls.

• Little TD is growing up so fast! He is clearly into the preschool stage, if not on his way to the elementary stage! He can keep up with the little boy across the street who is in Kindergarten (and almost 6). They are constantly racing to see who is faster. It's really cute to see him playing with boy things and outgrowing the "girly" things he did with his sister and the little girl next door (who is his age).
  
  
• Just for my aunt, here is a picture of the kids from Christmas day. They are playing with the new things Santa brought, a bike for Princess TD, and a scooter for Little TD. More Christmas pictures will follow.

Every Day is a School Day

Even on picture day! Every place we go there is some kind of opportunity to learn. This picture was taken as I was explaining to them the difference between the dam at the lake where we take our boat and the kind of dam that a beaver builds. This was closer to what a beaver would build, but I am not sure that is what it is actually supposed to be. It made for an interesting conversation though! And now they can tell you the difference between the dam at Lake Conroe, and the kind of dams beavers build!

This is just proof that every time we are somewhere and they show an interest we have school...at least to the best of my ability right off the top of my head!

Thanks again Kimberly for a wonderful photo session!

Finally...new pictures!

I have been putting off getting pictures taken of the kids for a couple of reasons. First, I really didn't want your typical studio posed shots. They are both outside kids, so it just fits with me that we should do pictures outside. Second, I kept hearing that our homeschool group was going to have school pictures at a park, and I could do pictures that way. Well, I never actually heard of a date for that so it obviously never happened!

I was lamenting to my friend, Mrs. C, that I didn't have recent pictures of the kids and I didn't want to fight the crowds for the one guy at the most popular local studio that I will allow to take my kids pictures. She suggested that I contact Kimberly with Robbins photography & design. Am I ever glad I did! I have known Kimberly for a while, but didn't realize that she was such a talented photographer. Click here to see a few of the pictures she took. She really was able to capture their personalities. I am looking forward to having their bright shining (more grown-up) faces on my wall!

For the family (or friends) who might want some of these, let me know and I will share all of them with you and let you pick your favorites!