one fine day

yesterday was such a fun day!

i headed to the gym first thing in the morning and came home to blueberry pancakes and omelette that my dear husband made!

next we went to the boys' soccer game. beautiful weather and a tough, competitive team made for a fun soccer saturday. following the game, we went out for a nice lunch at chili's. yummy food and well behaved children made for a nice afternoon meal.

upon arriving home, it was still sunny and since the cars were dirty, kik & ky wanted to wash them. so they did mine first, then daddy's, then grandma's. the neighbor pulled up and jokingly asked them to wash hers too, but didn't take them up on their offer to do so. :)

finally we made the ice cream and while waiting for it to freeze, did cake and presents for sy's birthday.

what a wonderful day!

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. :)