April 14-16

Is there a better way to start a week of school than with a series of drawings thanks to Art for Kids (link on right)? I know I am repetitive but CHECK THEM OUT. Their instructions are wonderful!

They really do work for all ages!

We also had an Easter story to enjoy.

With out basic school day out of the way the sunshine called us outside. Time to break out the Big Wheel and bikes and the funky skateboards.

Ken and his dad tried the recipe I found off Facebook for an adult popsicle called a Dirty Pirate. You can find the recipe HERE thanks to Jackie Fo and Tablespoon.

Tuesday marked our second trip back to the Minnesota History Center (MHC). This time we had a longer span of time to enjoy and a plan to go to all the places we had not seen on our previous visit. All on our new family pass to the historical places in Minnesota.

There was lots to see and we were able to time our travels around the areas away from the school groups that were also there. I took the twins in for the Tornado demonstration. It was louder and a bit scarier than I thought it would be but they now REALLY know what to do in case of a tornado.

We spent the most time in the house that is set up so you can walk through and get a taste of each family that lived in that house from when it was built until more recent time when it was put up in the center.

Creepy eyes on these ones!

The kids especially enjoyed the “backyard”.

The afternoon was quiet but Gavin did sneak out to work on his skateboarding skills while Echo worked with some flashcards.

With a wonderful field trip under out belt I think everyone was upset to see that winter had snuck back in with more snow!

From this…

To this in the night!

With a day indoors we once again attempted our yarn wrapped eggs craft… there HAS to be a trick we don’t know about… our results simply are not right!

With Nana and Baba back I was able to join Ken and see all 3 boys in their swimming lessons! So much fun!!! This is Emanuel’s first lessons and the twins’ second. It is so exciting to see them work on this milestone all on their own.

March 24-26

The 23rd ended with a lovely birthday call to my dad catching us up and just generally reminding me of how much of a Daddy’s Girl I always have been and always WILL be. Half a country closer is not close enough but it is nice!

Warm fuzzies gave way to MORE snow! Come on Mother Nature!!! Can we please have that spring now??

So instead we worked on enjoying not only what we did on the weekend…

But new art to draw thanks to Art For Kids (link on right)…

And afternoon snacks. With our regular schoolwork and some together time, not a horrible start to a new week.

Our Tuesday was quiet and full of written work. We are trying to write more stories, reflect more… talk about things more… and of course continue reading together, alone, to each other. Cooperation is something we are really working on, an patience of course.

Wednesday was a special day – FAMILY FUN DAY! Which meant first doing our basics (spelling, math, reading) and then moving onto games.

Emanuel, Trinity and Echo got creative and found all the little hats they could find and the Easter Egg Bunny that they got last year from Gammie and cornered me to take pictures of a bunny hat fashion show! It may not have been hugely educational but it WAS highly adorable!

The willing (?) model

With the bunny done showing off its amazing runway skills it was time to head out for the FUN portion of our day – a trip out to Sam’s Club. The kids LOVE going there… samples, wandering the aisles, talking prices (the twins are starting to catch some of the prices as deals or expensive).

We rounded off our day with a great Freecycle find – a toy chest for Echo and Trinity’s dress up and doll clothes. It needs a little work but that is what a good weekend is for!

I figured it was also a great time to bake a box cake. After all kids who are freshly over a cold and have been working hard on their schoolwork need a  good snack, right?

We are all feeling much better this week! And now the countdown is on to Uncle James’ birthday and HIS birthday call. I miss my brother and his family!!!

March 8-12

Another weekend, another series of visits. Saturday afternoon/evening Ken and the boys went to a sleepover at Joe and Faithe’s. Total boy time. That left Echo, Trinity and myself to dinner and a rather quiet evening of a movie and popcorn.

Oh and dress up!!

We have some fairy hackers coming along it seems.

Trinity and I even took some time to start her Hello Kitty scrapbook.

And at bedtime we called Daddy to say good night.

With our ride gone overnight there was no Sunday school for us. Just some quiet play time before we had to get ready to go out.

Ken and the boys picked us up around lunchtime so we could head over to Aunty Judy and Uncle Jim’s for a visit. And to return their now fixed computer. Robbie and Jessica were there also, along with all sorts of puppies, a kitty, ducks… fish… and so forth.

We had pizza for lunch and hung out until almost dinner time. It was a great visit on a beautiful day.

Monday was the last session for the  twins’ first set of swimming lessons. With all the weather delays we actually went almost a month late. So the next session that we decided to schedule all 3 boys into gives us only one week grace to get Emanuel’s swim gear ready. They are all very excited to get to it. The twins have a little more work to move out of the beginners group to advanced beginners. But they are learning and loving it. Which is all we can ask!

Trinity was so excited… she completed her first addition AND subtraction book! With minimum tears and fuss no less!

With all the visiting and excitement we had gotten behind on our Art for Kids (HERE) drawing instructions so we had an art session using a variety of the newest ones.

We had penpal letters to illustrate…

And India to learn all about… a light lesson as sadly EVERYONE was getting sick.

Oh and I have to share our follow up on Paul Bunyan! Quite the interesting legend and a perfect chance to discuss how a story can be real or really cannot. I used two library books:

• Paul Bunyan by Steven Kellogg
• The Story of Paul Bunyan by Barbara Emberley

We had three worksheets from Education.com:

• Tell Fact From Fiction HERE
• Coloring Page HERE
• Write a mixed up fairy tale HERE

We are finally seeing some spring like weather… Perfect opportunity to go out in our light clothes and scrape some of the muck off the driveway. Now let’s not get too excited about this sudden warmth… it IS Minnesota and spring is not something winter allows easily here!

Ken and I got around (finally) to assembling a long forgotten shelf and organizing our school stuff even further. Organization is always a calming influence on my soul I swear! And now with some labels thanks to my Christmas present from Ken I even have some spiffy LAMINATED labels for three of our section. The kids were impressed by the fact that they could now SEE some favourite games and puzzles on the bottom row and keep better track of their workbooks.

Pre labels

I am loving the bigger boys helping the little kids. Their reading skills have smoothed out enough that at time they will VOLUNTEER to read the other two their workbook assignments!!

Ken and Trinity did our grocery shopping for the day on Wednesday… and Trinity made sure to come back with a special treat just for me! So sweet!

We finally got around to decorating our Valentines Day folder. It is also more full than expected! But everyone had a blast colouring hearts and messages on our folder.

Of course Echo had to bring out our 100 day markers and draw us up something nice. I think the past 100 school day have had their rough patches but were honestly very nice!

We are forging right on through the weeks with school mixed with fun! March is certainly following February’s lead!