this week

sparkly wand making for my little Halloween princess

putting flowers into the new niche in the bathroom for the first time!  One of my very favorite parts of the remodel

our breakfast book stack

We are enjoying beginning our days with a feast of words, a Bible story/devotional thought, a short poem or two (they are begging for these now which is really fun to me since I haven't been much of a poetry person before), a hymn that I sing to them and a line from the Anne of Green Gables daybook . . . some words that fit the season . . . 

On Tuesday David and I took advantage of free breakfast at Chickfila day and did our All About Reading there while we ate breakfast and he also enjoyed the storytime and coordinating craft as well as some good exercise in the play area.  

the bathtub got refinished!!!  Goodbye 60 year old porcelain that was so hard to clean!

It finally rained!  We haven't had rain in the longest time and usually we get our first snow in October but unless it happens tomorrow (which is not predicted) then it's not happening this year.  

some beautiful fall shots from a morning walk I took

thankful for our flexible schedules which let me get out and walk before the kids were up and before Adrian left to work

carving pumpkins per the kids request!  

yay for huge pumpkins from Wal-mart for only $3.88!

Our Italian friend who is visiting got in on the action and helped Cora with hers.  The kids LOVE lighting them up!  

roasted pumpkin seeds!  

geoboard Halloween math inspired by Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

practicing analog time

tally marks and number sentences

On Friday we did school in a fun and different way.  I made a list of several things, some of them Halloween related crafts/activities/math etc. and some our regular subjects, some part of our morning work (laundry, etc.), books to read, snacks to eat, outdoor experiences, etc. and the kids and I rolled dice and added up all of the numbers on them to see which item on the list we landed on and then we would do that thing.  It added a lot of interest and novelty to our day.  

These are the things I know I will forget if I do not write them down as I have already forgotten so much that we did just last year. 

Hope your week has been good as well!  

Kelly

the family that bikes together . . .

This is our preferred method of transportation these days!  We absolutely love it.  

photo credit:  my sil Mandy

Kelly

Miss Priss

What I want to remember about these days:

Sometimes a messy bun is all one can muster on preschool mornings when a girly wakes up with super tangled hair and it would take more time than we've got to comb it all out!  At least it looks adorable on her with that bow!

When you go to pick up the same girly at preschool and she immediately says "I'm hungry!" and you were planning on another errand or two before heading home, you go to Trader Joe's first where you can get a sample of food and drink and the kids can search for Grace the giraffe and you practice good sentence construction to throw some extra education into the day . . . "Where are you going to tell them you found Grace?" . . . "in the herbs?  How about 'Grace was hiding in the herb section."  and then  you also leave with a lollipop for everyone before heading to Lowe's to pick up tile for the bathroom remodel.  

These are good, sweet days!  

Kelly

a walk in the woods

Sunday, October 2nd we took a drive up into the hills to see the aspens beginning to show off.  Adrian's parents were in town and we all enjoyed the time outside.  

a rope climb up to the peak

gorgeous golden yellows through the green 

We have missed a lot of the colors the past two years since we have traveled in the fall and I just can't get enough of them this year!  

my little explorer

so thankful for a family who loves each other

little hikers

glorious!!  

Kelly

afternoon reading

I love his imagination, ingenuity and resourcefulness! 

the day he was finally tall enough for the big slide!

One Tuesday, when David and I were having time by ourselves while Cora was at preschool we had finished our math and reading for the day and I decided to make a spur of the moment trip to Focus on the Family.  We had been listening to their radio theater production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and I wanted David to get to experience the Narnia room there with the wardrobe.

When we walked into the building they told us that unfortunately the slide wasn't open that day because they were short staffed.  We went and enjoyed the Narnia room and a few of the other activity areas.  Right as we were about to leave they came over the PA system and announced that the slide would be open for a short time!  

David had patiently waited as his same age cousin shot up in height ahead of him and was able to ride.  We went to measure him that day and he looked right on the line to me.  I was hoping that the workers thought right on the line was tall enough as well.  

Sure enough we climbed the three flights of stairs and they pronounced him good to go!  He was so excited!  

He went by himself the first time and then I asked if grown-ups are allowed to go too and they said "yes!" so we both went down the second time!  It was a lot of fun!!  

Have you ever visited the Focus on the Family visitor's center?  

Kelly

cousins

cupcakes

We had a little family carnival yesterday at one of our favorite parks.  At the end we had a "cake walk" with Andes mint cupcakes and spice cupcakes with maple cream cheese pecan frosting and Honeycrisp apples (for those who were choosing healthy eating) up for grabs.  It was a fun time!  

What did you do this weekend?

Kelly

math

Things I want to remember about this time:

1.  Whatever David and I are doing for school, Cora wants to be in the thick of it.  As he was practicing writing numerals and completing patterns of numbers (counting by twos, evens and odds, even backwards!) she was drawing on the big easel pad.  She would say "one" and draw a line segment, then she would say "two" and draw another line segment connected to the first and she kept on until she had an interesting shape with several sides!  David really wanted her to close the shape by connecting the lines at the opening so finally she did.  

2. I have found a math curriculum that I am really liking so far.  The Critical Thinking Company's Mathematical Reasoning.  So far we have a copy through Inter-Library Loan (love that service!!!) and we are laying a transparency over the student pages for him to complete with a marker so we don't mark in the book.  I am hoping to find a good used copy by the time we have to return this one!

3.  Cora picked out this outfit herself and I love that she is interested in matching!  (although mis-matched outfits can be awfully cute too)  

4.  Hooray for bare piggy toes and messy buns and paint on our ankles from lots of creativity.  

5.  Noticing the brain quest cards in the corner from David's and my after school date to Chick-fil-a to share a 4 piece nugget kids' meal (David is still so jazzed to be able to eat the dairy nuggets - the original breaded ones as opposed to the grilled!)

What is your favorite thing to order at Chick-fil-a?  

Are you sad about the disappearance of the spicy chicken biscuit on their breakfast menu?

Happy Saturday!

Kelly

gathering in

"Because in the end, the point of home in all its fullness - the point of good meals, full cupboards, or ordered rooms - is not just to provide creaturely comfort or to prove some sort of competence.  The point of home is to be a refuge for the soul, a place where beauty can be encountered, truth told, goodness touched and known.  It's why home needs hush as well as bustle, silence as well as song." ~ Sarah Clarkson, The Life Giving Home

Saturday morning

These two!  

This was last Saturday morning.  They spread that stack of books around, reading and exploring the printed word all day long in spurts.  

I loved it!  

What books are you enjoying right now?  With your kids or without?

My kids are loving the Miss Nelson books.

I just finished Mere Motherhood by Cindy Collins - a very good read.  

Starting Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequist!

Kelly

homeschooling together

We have a new opportunity within our homeschooling routine this year.  Cora is going to our sweet preschool that we love two mornings a week.  That means that David and I get some one on one time.  For this first time we drove home from taking Cora and dropped off all of our bags at our neighborhood coffee shop where Daddy was already working.  

Then we drove the last mile home, got out of the car and onto our bikes and got a mile ride in back to the coffee shop.  Getting some exercise in and fresh air and sunshine and letting David do something he loves more than most anything else right now, riding his bike!

David and I shared a chocolately peanut buttery oatmeal treat and then dug into math and reading with a fun game and some reading of the Box Car Children thrown in too.  

It was a big morning and David really did great at keeping with it!  It was a long morning for me too!  This teaching stuff is exhausting but I wouldn't trade it at all.  

I really enjoyed all three of us being there together!

Fried egg word practice!  

Funny boy!  

Have you and yours started back to school?

Kelly

around here lately . . .

Just wanting to capture some memories of life right now . . . 

We got to go to David's art show at his one day a week school and see his interpretation of Georgia O'Keefe's work.  

Cora built a giant tower!  

David has been very interested in cooking and "plating" food creatively lately.  He wanted this dinner to be in rows.  

I got to teach David's Bible class one Sunday morning and we played a "dart board" game to review with velcro wrapped ping pong balls.  

These key lime mini cakes were pretty tempting at Costco but I passed them up.

I did make rosemary rice krispie treats for a girls' night!  

They were super yummy!  

Keeping my house picked up has felt like a battle lately.  After a morning of "resetting" I snapped this picture to capture the moment.  

As we did our music lesson the other day "Baby" decided to play along.  :)

this is pretty fun

photo credit:  Adrian