Big Fun!

Our littlest one has been pointing in the closet lately at the BIG stuffed animals...so we pulled them out today and had some fun, hugging them, talking to them, sitting beside them :) It made for some cute pictures.

woodpecker visit

here is our woodpecker friend.....

Birds!!!

I have never been a bird watcher but since hubby has put up this bird feeder which hangs off our deck...I'm loving it!!! I took the camera today and was trying to take pictures of all the bird visitors. We are also starting to learn about birds in school so it has been a real learning experience for us. We are studying the 13 colonies right now as individual states. Our first was Virginia and their state bird is the Cardinal. This week we are on New Jersey and their state bird is the American Goldfinch. Both of these birds visited us today....how exciting!! We also had some visitors which we can't identify so I"m hoping you can help us! We've labeled our birds below....

The Goldfinch (male)

The Goldfinch (female)

The Cardinal (male)

Tufted Titmouse (males?)

The Chickadee (I think)

Bluebird

Unidentified #1...

Identified as Purple Finch

Unidentified #2....

Identified as Brown headed nuthatch?


Unidentified # 3.....(black, red, white)
Identified- Rufous-sided Towhee


Woodpecker (from FAR away)

Woodpecker

Our woodpecker friends are back again this year. I say 'friends' with a snear because 2 years ago he put a big hole in our deck....last year he was pelting away at our house, and today...aaahhh the sound of a woodpecker pecking on metal...our house!!!! I've been searching through my THOUSANDS of pictures but can not find the photo I took of our woodpecker visitor 2 years ago. Let me just say he was HUGE! I didn't know they got that big. This year's friend is alot smaller as I briefly saw him fly away. If I find my photo I'll post it but for now....here is a relative from the internet :)

Sweetness of young boy

I saw this last year and someone brought it to my attention recently and thought it was definitely worth sharing!

Midnight decorating??

This is getting out of control! haha.... My poor waistline can not handle all this cake! I had a burst of creativity tonight (9pm to be exact) so I went to it. Baking, icing, decorating. It is now midnight and I look at what has transpired. I'm very pleased.....this is one I've been wanting to do for awhile. None of these cake designs are from my own imagination. I'm not that creative! Whenever I see a cake I like, I save it to my 'cake folder'. I can't tell you how many I have saved....and I want to do them all!!!! I wish some of you lived closer so I could spread the joy :) My daughter says before bed "what is this cake for?"......to which my reply was "just trying something out"....to which hubby replied "if only these were paid orders!!" I think his waistline is spreading too *grin*.

This is a vanilla cake with vanilla filling, buttercream icing with fondant. I am anxious to see what it tastes like tomorrow. To my brother and sister-in-law....I hope you're not busy tomorrow (today) cause I need taste testers again :)

Unfinished cake

Tonight we had a fellowship at church. Hubby told me when we got home this afternoon for lunch that he told people I would bring a cake....Well I'm always excited to do a cake BUT I only had about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. I would have liked to have done alot more to this cake, but time only allowed for what you see pictured. I love the way the 2 tone roses turned out!! I love the color contrast too. To me it looks quite plain but I did get several compliments which I'm thankful for!

School desk

Oh how I love a great find!!!! We went to Children's Books...a local store that sells homeschool curriculum...and they have lots of these school desks for sale! We have had such a hard time finding desks for the kids that are sturdy and inexpensive. We ended up getting a beautiful desk for our daughters room to match her decor, but I would have loved to found a cheaper one. Just some place to sit and do her studies in her room where it is quiet. Well, our boys now have their own desks....yay! So onto the price.....$10!!!! You can't find desks for $10! It didn't take much to clean them up either. Love it!!!

Hors'in around

I decided to try another cake today. I've been wanting to try marshmallow fondant (which is what the grass, fence and horse are made out of). It was really easy to make and work with, so I'm pleased and look forward to making another one! It's harder now with school starting up....but I will always find time for cake decorating!! *smile*

Peek-a-boo

Just being funny ( 18 months old )

Teaching non-school age kids

Here are just a few of the exercises I go over with my 3 1/2 year old for his 'schooling' time. There are so many resources on the internet!!! I have listed some websites along with the worksheets and some below.....

http://www.kidzone.ws/ is full of great stuff
(matching the same pictures)

(circle the one that's different)

http://www.toddlerpreschool.com/

(recognizing numbers and instructions)

(learning our lowercase letters)

http://www.justmommies.com/

http://www.akidsheart.com/ (learning to write your numbers)

(number worksheets)

Love this lesson today!!! I gave him this worksheet to do on his own. No help, no guidance, not even looking over his shoulder....this is what he brought me when he was finished. Way to go!!

...here are some websites I use covering all grades....

http://learningpage.com

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/

www.havefunteaching.com/worksheets.html

http://www.worksheetuniverse.com/

http://www.tlsbooks.com/

http://www.abcteach.com/

http://www.dositey.com/2008/index-page-free_activities.php

www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm

www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets

www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/handwriting/

www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math

http://themathworksheetsite.com/

http://homeschooling.about.com/od/freeprintables/qt/printables.htm

www.schoolexpress.com

www.coloringpages.net

www.worldatlas.com/webimage/testmaps/maps.htm

http://www.activityvillage.co.ukprintable_lined_paper.htm/

www.certificatemaker.com/html/create_school.cfm

http://funschool.kaboose.com/index.html (Games)

Excitement

She has NOT STOPPED talking about this since we got home last night!! Needless to say, she's a little excited :)

We took her to have her ears pierced. She already had set in her mind which ones she wanted....her birthstone. I told her that there was some pain involved but you should have seen her! All she did was squint her eyes closed and had a smile the whole time.....I was so proud of her. After it was done she said 'it really didn't hurt all that much!" In my eyes, she suddenly grew another year or so. The twinkle from the light shining off her ears and eyes just seemed to set off a little more maturity in my 'not so baby' baby girl!

Abortion survivor

All I can say is 'wow'! What a testimony.....

First day of school pics

Here are some pictures from our first day of school. Two eager learners :)

(6 years old and 3 1/2 years old)

We got a lot accomplished today and teaching 2 of them went smoother than I was expecting...but....I'm not expecting it to be smooth sailing all the time *grin* Our 3 1/2 year old is starting to learn to write his small letters. He did a great job!!

Our science class started with creation which we have discussed in the past, so there wasn't a whole lot new to learn today. It was interesting though how the lesson was set up. She cut out all the things God created in 6 days. Then I had her mix them all up and put them in random order. She soon discovered that God's plan for creation was perfect....the fish couldn't be created before the sea, the animals couldn't be created before land, and God had to be the beginning of it all for anything to be put into place! She tried several different random orders but nothing worked except for God's perfect order! It was a neat approach to our lesson!

(working on her geography lesson)

coloring!

21 Rules of this House

I have so much I could blog about today since it was our first day of school. The kids were great...very eager and our day went smoothly! Thank you Lord! I wanted to point out this book that we are starting to go through. They have several in their series which I am hoping to get later. It is a coloring book of 21 rules of the house. What great rules to teach our kids.....


The 21 Rules Of This House by Gregg Harris
1. We obey our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. We love, honor and pray for one another.
3. We tell the truth.
4. We consider one another's interests ahead of our own.
5. We speak quietly and respectfully with one another.
6. We do not hurt one another with unkind words or deeds.
7. When someone needs correction, we correct him in love.
8. When someone is sorry, we forgive him.
9. When someone is sad, we comfort him.
10. When someone is happy, we rejoice with him.
11. When we have something nice to share, we share it.
12. When we have work to do, we do it without complaining.
13. We take good care of everything that God has given us.
14. We do not create unnecessary work for others.
15. When we open something, we close it.
16. When we take something out, we put it away.
17. When we turn something on, we turn it off.
18. When we make a mess, we clean it up.
19. When we do not know what to do, we ask.
20. When we go out, we act just as if we were in this house.
21. When we disobey or forget any of the 21 Rules of This House,
we accept discipline and instruction.

Today being day 1, we went over our first rule, colored our page, sang the Obedience song and looked up an important verse in the Bible about being obedient! (Eph 6:1) We discussed how being obedient to Mommy and Daddy is showing obedience to God. I'm looking forward to the rest of our rules :)

McGuffey Readers

I've been searching on Ebay for these McGuffey readers for quite awhile. I am very interested in the way kids learned language arts many years ago. Seems as though kids today are horrible when it comes to sentence structure and spelling...even their reading level!! I found this bundle of McGuffey readers and also the Speller....I'm so excited!

I need to sit and finish up my schedule tonight as well since we are starting school tomorrow! I am leaning towards a "Friday Fun Day". I have several games to help with learning that I'm excited about.

This one has been ordered.....Equate.
It is set up like a scrabble board
but you do math equations instead.
I really think this is going to help our oldest.

I'm looking forward to this game.

Sequence is all about learning

your states and their capitals.

Players match the state shape

and color on the card to the

same state shape and color

on the board and when you have

5 in a row, that is a sequence!

We are going to start learning

about every state this year (we

will see how many we get through!)

First we will begin with the 13

colonies....

We also have Sudoku for kids
which will help with her thinking
and comprehension skills ....

I know I've said this many times.... but I'm really looking forward to this year :)