ice cream making

every time i ask my boys which skill they'd like to work on in their contenders books, they both choose "ice cream making". every time! so i finally thought of checking craigslist for a machine and bought one that was just down the street. we picked up some salt and a mix (for our first time) and yesterday we set to making some chocolate ice cream. grandma & grandpa were in town and were happy to help.

twister

the kids built a twister mat on the floor with daddy tonight. the fun they have when mommy's away - daddy is so creative!

we had moved out all the furniture because we were cleaning the carpets.

hiking bolsa chica and fabulous fords forever

today, soccer was done, lunch was eaten and we all were sitting around so we thought we'd take a little hike at bolsa chica wetlands. it's not super "out in nature", but it's only 15minutes away and we feel like we get to see a little more of God's creation. today we saw a bunch of egrets, ducks, and willets. we saw a great blue heron and a jogger stopped to show us the nest it had flown from. we saw lizards and bunnies and stink bugs. we were near enough to the beach that we could hear the waves and smell the ocean air. we had a splendid time!

annual event: fabulous fords forever - every april we go check out the broncos - and take a family photo. the first year there were only 3 of us! and now...

classical conversations

educating classically has become more than i expected - in a good way! i had read the well-trained mind when jojo was 3 and we were just beginning to research homeschooling. classical education seemed too difficult for me. it seemed like a lot of work and as i have come through life mostly taking the easy road whenever given the option, i was not about to choose to educate using the classical model! the outcome sounded good, but really what was the point when you only have to be a little more than mediocre to be "smart". my kids could be labeled "smart" and have the pieces of paper to prove it with far less effort on my part or theirs than classical education demanded.

enter classical conversations...

this past september, we started "going to school" once a week. this had so many benefits:

• consistency!





• science experiments every week


• art projects every week - not in my home


• my kids practicing "public speaking" by giving a presentation every week to people other than their family!


• legitimizing my kids education to so many friends because now we "go to school" even if it is only one morning each week (and hopefully helping them to see that they too can educate their children at home!)





• and the list goes on

educating my kids (the academic part) has become more to me than getting them each a piece of paper. i am motivated to give myself the education i never had. sure, i was a 4.0 student, national merit finalist, got into college with the SAT score I got during my freshman year of high school and graduated college in 3 years with a double major... BUT i had only read 3 of the 60 literature books my kids will read through CC, and i am equally lacking in most other subjects!

I am so excited about the education my kids are receiving - and me too! I am up to 7 of the 60 books already - afterall, i'd like to know a little more than my 8 year old!

happy 5th birthday ky!

5 - not as hard to deal with as 8, but still, i am a little shocked.

how did 5 come so fast??? based on jojo's thoughts, is ky now a kindergartener? do we have to "start school" now? even the ladies who teach the boys at CBS said - "we get your daughter next year!" can't she stay with the other little ones in the 5-year-old class? are we so known as overachievers? :) i suppose the day she took a stack of 100 sight words on a ring to class with her didn't help! she doesn't even know them! she just likes to carry them around. (apparently, just carrying them makes one smart.:)

this past year, ky's grown so much! she wants to be like her brothers. soccer was a bit of a flop, but this year she has friends who are going to play so she wants to play with them - we'll see what really happens.

ky started working out of a little book called Little Keepers at Home - it's a scout-type set-up where you work on different "badges". She has worked on sewing - and can thread a needle. She enjoys baking and is currently working on a Bible memory portion. she asked if she can do a little each day for her "lessons" like the boys do lessons.

just this week, she is riding the little bike we have with no training wheels & no pedals. we suggested this last year, but she didn't want to do it and suddenly, she really wants to! i think it has something to do with the fact that she can't cross the street from our driveway to make a complete circle of our cul-de-sac until she has no training wheels - that's our rule.

ky still LOVES shoes! takes after her daddy! i think this might be one she doesn't grow out of. :)

in bigger news, ky has one loose tooth! and is very excited about it. she plays with it daily and asks me to pull it out, though we're not even close. still another sign that she's growing up.

happy 8th birthday jojo!

8 - that's a rough one for me. that means you have to round up to 10 and not down to 5.

we had a fun day as a family with jojo's favorite things. then the next day grandma took jojo whale watching!!! super fun! he had a blast - didn't even get sea sick on the boat! thanks grandma!

a few days later - i was introducing myself to another mom and telling her i had a 2nd grader, a first grader, etc. when jojo interrupted me to remind me that he is in 3rd grade now. i must have looked confused because he clarified that just a few days ago he moved into 3rd grade - you know - on his birthday!

apparently that's his homeschooler's view of when you change grades. :)

happy new year... late

for the holidays, we traveled to Arizona. our whirlwind tour included, the grandparents' house in phoenix, roller skating (the kids' first time), motorhoming, the grand canyon (and many sites along the way), snow play, cracker barrel, scott's birthday, a children's museum, mission san xavier, a wedding in tucson, cave explorations, hiking, waffle house, celebrating the new year, and bowling. did i miss anything? it was only an 11 day trip!



fun facts:

• we left our home at 11:30pm and dropped off gifts on our way out of town. thankfully, the grandparents had already agreed to entertain the kids while we slept once we got there


• when we got to phoenix we realized ky had brought no shoes! luckily the cousins had just visited and left some hand-me-downs (including appropriate shoes for the wedding!) - thanks kim!


• jojo whacked his head on the roller rink floor and now prefers ice skating which only bruises his buttocks and legs!


• we brought home 4 children - nobody fell into the canyon!


• 36 candles left burning too long can melt an ice-cream birthday cake!


• hanging tons of pool noodles in a 15'x15' area gives hours of entertainment


• there are missions outside of california


• dave got married!!!


• there were crazy-horrible, anti-earth-worshipping people who cut stalactites from a cave to take home as souveniers (gasp!), BUT the people who cut/covered stalagmites and laid the path for us to tour the cave on were good, hard-working people serving our nation through a wonderful government program


• we had to do new year's at 10pm instead of our usual 9pm because we were on mountain time