Friday, January 18, 2013

Fun Friday: Staying Home

 Today was a day to stay in because tomorrow will be a crazy long day.  We had snowman donuts for breakfast.

 We had a regular day of school and chores.  And rock washing.

 We also watched Cheaper by the Dozen 2.  Not great cinema, but fairly entertaining.

It's early to bed for all of us tonight.  Hopefully I will have some fun pictures to share later this weekend!

Happy Friday!


Friday, January 11, 2013

Fun Friday: We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

 Today the thermometer reached 70 degrees and both kids are reading books with zoo animals in them, so we took a trip to the zoo!  Our zoo doesn't have a hippo or a gorilla, which is what the books are about, so that's kind of a bummer, but otherwise it was all good.

 
 Pictures with the sea lions!

 We got to see the penguins get their fish!

Alice was excited to find that she was the same size as an Emperor Penguin.

Tomorrow it's supposed to get cold again, so I'm especially thankful we were able to go today!
Happy Friday!

 

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Artist Study: Grandma Moses

 We just wrapped up a study of Grandma Moses.  We didn't do many projects since we were busy with Christmas and New Year activities, but we enjoyed a lot of books!

 Of course we used the Getting to Know... biography!  We didn't use the bigger biography, but I skimmed through it and it looked pretty good.

 
 We read this short biography by Alexandra Wallner--we also recently enjoyed her biography of Susan B. Anthony.

 The Year with Grandma Moses is a nice book that combines the author's text with Grandma Moses's paintings and writings.

 I checked out The Grandma Moses Storybook from our library and ended up buying a copy.  It includes a biography as well as excerpts from other books accompanied by her paintings.  We've been reading from this during our Morning Basket time.

 We didn't read this book, but we did use it to look at different pictures.


 The only project we got to was painting our own Grandma Moses-style paintings.  Since she used whatever wood she could find, we used wood pieces for ours.  As you can see, Jack took her simple pictures of people to heart and made stick people!  He had fun and can easily identify her work, so I'm happy.

You can see Alice's first painting at the right, but when she asked if it was "Grandma Mosesy" and I said no, she made another one.  You can see the sky and clouds squeezed in at the top and then the gray things on the grass are people.

You could also try embroidering a simple scene, too.  Grandma Moses actually used fabric before she turned to painting!

Next up is Raphael!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Word of the Year: 2013 Edition

My word this year is peace, but first I want to talk about war.  Five years ago today Jay left for deployment.  Every year after Christmas he laughs because I always say, "Aren't you glad you're not getting ready to go to the desert this year?"  And that's usually all I say about it, but every year on this day I find myself thinking back to that day and I realized today that it's because I think of it much like I do my kids' birthdays.  It was a day I did the impossible and got through it.  

Before I had kids I could imagine life before kids (obviously that wasn't too hard) and I could imagine life after kids (as well as someone can before they've actually had kids), but the whole having a kid?  I couldn't even begin to fathom how that was going to actually take place.  And similarly, I could imagine what it would be like for Jay to be gone for a long time, but actually taking him somewhere and saying goodbye and leaving without him?  I was pretty sure I was just going to implode.  But I didn't.  Somehow, those kids got out of there and somehow, I got in the car and drove away without him.  So every June 5 and June 10 I'm thinking about what I was doing at that time and every January 8 is the same.  And there are so many others still going through this.  But on to peace...

I'm not going to lie to you.  I really don't get much of the world we live in.  Some days I think pretty much everyone is crazy.  Even if you aren't dealing with something like deployment, it seems like world affairs and horrible events are touching our lives more and more.  And I'm not a big fan of that.  Not long after the election I read this article (by one of my favorite writers) that included this quote by Barbara Bush:

“Whatever the era, whatever the times, one thing will never change: Fathers and mothers, if you have children, they must come first. You must read to your children and you must hug your children. Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House but on what happens inside your house.” 

Yes.   

She also includes this quote from Mother Teresa I had never seen but I think is one of the most true things I've ever read:

“I think the world today is upside down. Everybody seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater development and greater riches and so on. There is much suffering because there is so very little love in homes and in family life. We have no time for each other; there is no time to enjoy each other. In the home begins the disruption of peace in the world.” 

So this year I'm working on peace in my home.  I can't change foreign policy or alter social trends, but I can raise my children to love God, to love their family, and to love others.  I can make my home a safe place to land for my family.  I can control our calendar to make sure we're having plenty of down time and I can shut off the screens when we need to.  

In 2013 I will go home and love my family.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Fun Friday: The First Road Trip

 Today we took our first road trip in the new car.
 
 We went to the science museum and Alice was up for trying all kinds of new things, like the Segways.

 Her favorite thing was the rocket simulator, which she tried first with Jack and Nicholas.

 These pictures are pretty Alice-heavy because Jack was with friends much of the time and when he was with us, he was usually too fast for me to get a picture that wasn't blurry!

 Jack (with a fake hand) high-fiving Otto (also with a fake hand--well, faker than his robot hand).

 Alice rode the rocket simulator again with Abby.

 She also tried the bed of nails, something she hasn't done since she left the womb.

 She is sure she can do all the things the big kids can do, even if she has to dangle in the air to do them.

Afterward we went to the LEGO store.  Nicholas was our first third passenger in the back seat and the kids thought this was really cool since our old car only had two seat belts in the back.

 Alice sporting her free Ninjago sticker.

 While we were at the mall I picked up a new Castle calendar to replace my old Castle calendar.

Speaking of Castle, one of the presents I got Jay finally arrived last night!

Happy Friday!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

 Last night we did our traditional New Year's Eve bags.

 Both kids were excited about opening them!  We started at 4:00 with signs (see below) and at 5:00 we made video time capsules.

 Jack made a waiter costume and brought me snacks from the kitchen.

 6:00 was glow in the dark bowling.  The pink glow stick is Alice and the blue one is Jack.

 Grandma and Grandpa came for part of the evening!

 At 7:00 we had a pizza picnic and watched Enchanted.

 Alice passed out 2012 masks to everyone.


 At 8:00 we had dessert.

 I found the idea for these confetti cookies on Pinterest.  It would be better if you made the cookies really thin because by the time you have three of them together, you've got a monster cookie!

 At 9:00 we made noisemakers.

 At 10:00 we played Go Nuts!

 Jack with a beef jerky mustache.

 Around 10:30 I got into my jammies and washed my face and started watching Perry Mason.

 The 11:00 bag had a new puzzle.  We didn't start it because Jack and Bobey were so cozy.

 Not long after 11:00, Jack looked like this.  (Alice made it until almost 9:00.)  We woke him up for the countdown and went to bed right after.

 At noon today we did our 12:00 bag--confetti balloons!

 It must have been pretty exciting because Alice actually took a nap this afternoon!

Happy 2013!

Monday, December 31, 2012

Books Read in 2012



I've always liked to read, but this is the first year I've kept a list of all the books I read--not including picture books or read-alouds.  I put a * by my favorites!

1.  Code Busters Club #1--Penny Warner

2.  Missing on Superstition Mountain--Elise Broach
3.  Murder in the PTA—Laura Alden
4.  Closet Confidential—Mary Jane Maffini*
5.  Organize Your Corpses--Mary Jane Maffini*
6.  Death Loves a Messy Desk--Mary Jane Maffini*
7.  Murder of a Creped Suzette—Denise Swanson
8.  The Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder--Mary Jane Maffini*
9.  The Cluttered Corpse--Mary Jane Maffini*
10.  The Tilting House—Tom Llewellyn
11.  A Long Way from Chicago—Richard Peck*
12.  A Year Down Yonder—Richard Peck*
13.  A Season of Gifts—Richard Peck*
14.  Foul Play at the PTA—Laura Alden
15.  The Kellyhorns—Barbara Cooney
16.  Secrets at Sea—Richard Peck
17.  Here Lies the Librarian—Richard Peck*
18.  The Great Wheel—Robert Lawson
19.  On the Wings of Heroes—Richard Peck*
20.  Frankly, My Dear, I’m Dead—Livia J. Washburne
21.  The Teacher’s Funeral—Richard Peck*
22.  The Orphan of Ellis Island—Elvira Woodruff
23.  Bloom—Kelle Hampton*
24.  Matisse on the Loose—Georgia Bragg
25.  Heaven is Here—Stephanie Nielson
26.  Moon Over Manifest—Clare Vanderpool*
27.  All the Lovely Bad Ones—Mary Downing Hahn
28.  Destiny of the Republic:  A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the
            Murder of a President—Candice Millard*
29.  Homicide in Hardcover—Kate Carlisle
30.  If Books Could Kill—Kate Carlisle
31.  The Lies that Bind—Kate Carlisle
32.  Murder Under Cover—Kate Carlisle
33.  One Book in the Grave—Kate Carlisle
34.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone—J.K. Rowling*
35.  Hot Time in the Old Town:  The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and 
            the Making of Theodore Roosevelt—Edward P. Kohn
36.  Ruby Holler—Sharon Creech*
37.  Chasing Redbird—Sharon Creech*
38.  The Homeschool Experiment—Charity Hawkins
39.  Sew Deadly—Elizabeth Lynn Casey
40.  Death Threads—Elizabeth Lynn Casey
41.  Pinned for Murder—Elizabeth Lynn Casey
42.  My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife—Sara Horn
43.  Miracle’s Boys—Jacqueline Woodson
44.  Wonderstruck—Brian Selznick*
45.  The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln--Stephen L. Carter
46.  Letting Go of Perfect—Amy E. Spiegel
47.  Let’s Play Dead—Sheila Connolly
48.  A Comedy of Heirs—Rett MacPherson*
49.  A Misty Mourning—Rett MacPherson*
50.  Family Skeletons—Rett MacPherson*
51.  A Veiled Antiquity—Rett MacPherson*
52.  Killing Cousins—Rett MacPherson*
53.  The Dancing Pancake—Eileen Spinelli
54.  Keepsake Crimes—Laura Childs
55.  Photo Finished--Laura Childs
56.  Blood Relations—Rett MacPherson*
57.  Marland Tragedy—Kim Brumley
58.  In Sheep’s Clothing—Rett MacPherson*
59.  The Broken Statue—Bob Perry
60.  Thicker Than Water—Rett MacPherson*
61.  Dead Man Running—Rett MacPherson*
62.  The Twelve Clues of Christmas—Rhys Bowen*
63.  Died in the Wool—Rett MacPherson*
64.  The Blood Ballad—Rett MacPherson*
65.  Mrs. Jeffries and the Yuletide Weddings—Emily Brightwell
66.  The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries--Emily Brightwell 

Happy Reading!