Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Croquet
Weston finished his "17" reading poster today and chose croquet as his reward. The funny thing is that he had never previously played croquet. Appropriately, he had only read about it in a book and became fascinated with the idea of playing. Earlier in the week, when we could see that he would certainly finish his poster sometime this week, we ordered him a croquet set from Amazon. When he finished his reading today, we set the game up in the yard. And the whole family, including an uncle, grandparents and a great aunt and uncle, joined in the fun. Weston was absolutely thrilled to get to play this game, and especially with some of the people that are most dear to him. We are so proud of Weston for his accomplishment, and we all had a blast learning or relearning a classic game!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
CC Field Day
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| Dizzy Bat Race |
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| Apple stacking |
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| Three-legged race |
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| Dizzy Bat |
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| Tug-of-War |
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| All wet |
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| Hole-in-the-bucket race |
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| Water ballon toss |
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
I'd settle for a slowdown
I met with a midwife yesterday who talked to me for 20 minutes about all the reasons she thinks Baby won't show up this week. That isn't really what someone who is this pregnant wants to hear, but that's o.k. Babies come when they're ready, not necessarily when Mom is ready. However, what really made an impact was when the midwife was wrapping up her spiel and she said, "Besides, you really don't seem tired enough yet. You'll slow down some before Baby arrives." Well, I wish she could see me today. I've been a blubbering, waddling, barely functional, tired-with-a-capital-T mess. But I haven't slowed down, because there is no time for that. Pregnant women with other children do not have the luxury of "slowing down." I don't mean to sound whiny. It's just a fact. And if that is what the midwife is looking for as a clue to when the baby is coming, she may miss the event entirely.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Window to our World
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| Room with a view |
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| Looking down from loft |
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| Clerestory (aka Monitor Roof) |
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| Windows, wonderful windows |
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| Windows, windows everywhere |
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| Wall of windows |
Sunday, April 10, 2011
What do these things have in common?
- Many hours in the van
- A warning ticket for speeding
- A late night water leak
- A little boy falling out of a bunk bed
- Major plumbing disasters
- Cabins made of corrugated metal
- Knitting lessons
- Chuck wagon meals
- Javelina invasions
- Porch swings
- Filthy children
- A little red wagon
- Jacket wearing
- Sunburns
- Electrical work on a system leftover from Ben Franklin's time
- Cool, gentle breezes
- Very high winds
- Good company and conversation
- Mountain views
- Lost sunglasses
- Amish Friendship Bread
- Soft serve ice cream
- Sleeping with the windows open
- Wake-the-dead mooing in the middle of the night
- Nose bleeds
- A serious power outage
- Crazy wildfires
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Raising the Roof
Today was another fun day out at the land. We got out there about 9:30 to see the crane and the crew putting up the roof trusses. It was quite an operation! The boys loved the crane, and Jeff and I were fascinated with the process. When we left around 12:30 most of the structure of the roof was there, and it was easy to see the whole outline of the house. So exciting!
Saturday, April 02, 2011
School Days
I'm always amazed at how quickly the time passes between these school updates. We continue to rock right along, learning lots of interesting things and having a blast! So, what have we been doing? Well, I'm glad you asked.
Ruth had her PSIA competition last weekend, as you know, and did very well. Her schedule has changed since then to accommodate more Spelling practice, in preparation for the upcoming State meet. The result is that she is now spending a bit less time on Math, History and Latin until then. These are classes that she is slightly ahead in, so we thought she could spare the extra time. She is working through the 4/5 Saxon Math book and is squeezing in some higher level math stuff (like Algebra) when she has time. She has just finished the 3rd book in our Latin curriculum and will be spending the rest of the school year reviewing all that she has learned so far, before moving on to the next book, which is actually a high school level book. She has really been enjoying studying American History this year, particularly the parts about the Founding Fathers, the presidents and the inventions that came about during the Age of Industry. Last week, she made her own cotton gin, which was lots of fun! She is still doing a couple of Chemistry experiments every week for Science, which she always enjoys. She works fairly independently on Grammar and will often correct Jeff and I when we fail to follow the proper Grammar rules. She is no longer working on Music Memory for PSIA, but she is working hard on her piano lessons, preparing for a big piano recital in May. She has memorized several songs and can't wait to show off her stuff.
Weston has taken his reading to a whole other level. Specifically, Level 3. Most of the Level 3 reading books are designed for 6-9 year olds and are short chapter books. He continues to add books to his reading posters and to be rewarded when they are completed. His goal is to get through the 18 poster (which will be his next one), and then start reading some of the Great Illustrated Classic books, which he is really looking forward to. His writing also continues to improve, and he is working on lots of different kinds of punctuation. Recently, he has been working on using quotation marks and on writing dates in sentences. He generally loves all his school work, but his favorite is still Math. He loves to play a dice game where he rolls the dice and adds up the numbers, and he is really good at it. He also really enjoys the worksheets he gets to do, and he has recently gotten to where he can read most of the instructions on his own. He is also still working on his addition and subtraction facts and his counting.
Max has recently decided that he wants to get in on some of this school action, so he is working on his ABC flashcards and is getting really good at recognizing and sounding out the letters. He is also working on his counting, and he is sitting in on the CC History review with us, which he really loves. He has latched on to some facts about Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, which is pretty funny to hear a three-year-old talk about.
Ruth had her PSIA competition last weekend, as you know, and did very well. Her schedule has changed since then to accommodate more Spelling practice, in preparation for the upcoming State meet. The result is that she is now spending a bit less time on Math, History and Latin until then. These are classes that she is slightly ahead in, so we thought she could spare the extra time. She is working through the 4/5 Saxon Math book and is squeezing in some higher level math stuff (like Algebra) when she has time. She has just finished the 3rd book in our Latin curriculum and will be spending the rest of the school year reviewing all that she has learned so far, before moving on to the next book, which is actually a high school level book. She has really been enjoying studying American History this year, particularly the parts about the Founding Fathers, the presidents and the inventions that came about during the Age of Industry. Last week, she made her own cotton gin, which was lots of fun! She is still doing a couple of Chemistry experiments every week for Science, which she always enjoys. She works fairly independently on Grammar and will often correct Jeff and I when we fail to follow the proper Grammar rules. She is no longer working on Music Memory for PSIA, but she is working hard on her piano lessons, preparing for a big piano recital in May. She has memorized several songs and can't wait to show off her stuff.
Weston has taken his reading to a whole other level. Specifically, Level 3. Most of the Level 3 reading books are designed for 6-9 year olds and are short chapter books. He continues to add books to his reading posters and to be rewarded when they are completed. His goal is to get through the 18 poster (which will be his next one), and then start reading some of the Great Illustrated Classic books, which he is really looking forward to. His writing also continues to improve, and he is working on lots of different kinds of punctuation. Recently, he has been working on using quotation marks and on writing dates in sentences. He generally loves all his school work, but his favorite is still Math. He loves to play a dice game where he rolls the dice and adds up the numbers, and he is really good at it. He also really enjoys the worksheets he gets to do, and he has recently gotten to where he can read most of the instructions on his own. He is also still working on his addition and subtraction facts and his counting.
Max has recently decided that he wants to get in on some of this school action, so he is working on his ABC flashcards and is getting really good at recognizing and sounding out the letters. He is also working on his counting, and he is sitting in on the CC History review with us, which he really loves. He has latched on to some facts about Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, which is pretty funny to hear a three-year-old talk about.
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| bridge building at CC |
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| Ruth's cotton gin |
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| Counting nails |