September 26-30

I absolutely admit to being a garage sale lover. We found a game AND a recorder book… which only makes sense when you realize I bought recorders this summer and intent to start music next year!

We also found an early deal on snowpants at Sam’s Club! 15.00 for 60.00 children’s snowpants. THANK YOU! At the time only Emanuel was with us so we snapped them up for him. I should say, was the only kid with us that needs them. Once I find the winter coat bucket the girls are only down boots. Of course with all the sorting of things I am unclear WHERE that bucket is (fingers crossed the weather holds until I find it!).

We are still totally missing the sidewalk we always had wherever we lived in Alberta… road safety has become paramount as has Mommy’s obsession with watching how fast people drive down our street and at what times. We don’t do too badly but it seems some evenings the speeders come out to play.

On Saturday we had our numbers swelled to 9 kids! Jeffrey and Evan with big brother Nathan joined us for half the day or so while mommy was away at quilting class and daddy out hunting. The kids love having them over. Echo and Evan are best friends and the twins and Nathan are always off playing leaving the rest of us to enjoy wee Jeffrey.

Sunday was Sunday school and probably one of our last chances for shorts and pretty jackets. Where has the season gone??

We set the kids to work prepping our garden fresh carrots as well. I love how our canning and freezing have become a family activity.

Our big excitement for Monday was a visit over at Aunty Judy’s and Uncle Jim’s… or as the kids call it – Robbie’s house! Any excuse is a good one for a visit and this time our visit was based on Emanuel selling his wreaths for Scouts. He has done quite well doing so. So many lovely friends and family willing to help us out with our first real experience with fund raising.

Add in school and such to our week and that is the end of September! Our October is shaping up to be a month of Halloween learning. Lapbooks, stories and crafting I plan. So be sure to check up while I recount that… hopefully in a more TIMELY manner!!! I simply MUST get the blog up to date!

September 13-19

Sometimes you need a bit of a quiet weekend, especially after the last month or so of go go go. The twins are still set on playing and collecting Pokemon cards. They have quite the personal stash going and are doing amazing at keeping their cards in their boxes and actually trying to play the game properly. I do believe they have even stopped the copious amounts of cheating! Which means soon we should be able to head to the local comic book store (The Source, though it is so much more than a comic book store) when they have gaming table set up. Emanuel cannot wait to read well enough to be able to start his own collection.

Miss Echo has resurrected her love of her Little People sets… it is quite the sight to see her drag all her sets and toys and the bucket they go into out into the living room to play. Always this must be done ALL BY HERSELF.

All too soon it was back to the daily grind. But first we had to have a discussion about what we wanted to be for Halloween. After all costume creation is never overnight. I do love hearing their crazy and not so crazy ideas, though Zander has opted to recycle last year’s costume and be a ninja two years running.

We have thrown ourselves into our new curriculum books with Echo the ever diligent supervisor.

We have begun our series of volcano learning. The goal for the twins now is to have them cherry pick their own special facts and information from tv while they watch it and record it themselves. The idea of sifting through something to find the important bits. Volcanoes is definitely a SLOOOOW unit, potentially structured over two months. We started with Magic School Bus and their visit to a volcano.

Even Echo got a turn at the worksheets. She uses her pencil with gusto!

Art for Kids (link on right) have changed things up and now are doing a once a week email out to those who subscribe where you get a few of their art instructions in a printable format. The link is good for a week and then gone. I would totally recommend you sign up. These instructions are great for any age!

We are having a bit of a teacher assistant situation going on lately. The twins have become amazing helpers!

This week we also saw off our scout for his second year of scouting!! How exciting. Note the badges sewn on AND the new neckerchief!

The boys got brand new tshirts in the mail from Gammie! They had to strike a pose and take a photo!

On Friday Renee and Jeffrey collected us (minus Echo) and we headed over to the Speltz family home. A hobby farm! We were spoiled rotten with a puppy to play with and vegetables to pick… Thank you so much to Mr. and Mrs. Speltz for the veggies, especially the hand chosen pumpkins! And Renee for the trip!

We got a few green pumpkins that Trinity has guessed with take TWENTY days to turn orange (I am rather certain it will be more than that but what a fun experiment!).

Copious amounts of carrots has us ready to make freezer carrots and enjoy the fresh veg on an everyday basis.

Later in the day Trinity and I walked down the street to a local garage sale. I love it when they are in the neighbourhood.

We ended our week with a birthday cheesecake for Baba and a group of worn out dirty kids. Showers all round and bed! What a week!

 Enjoy the extra images!

Now I have read a lot of the classics, some of the obscure and many Canadian children’s stories… I don’t know about you but I ate up Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins (although I am pretty sure the latter has been heavily edited to suit current times). I had seen in passing The Boxcar Children books  by Gertrude Chandler Warner, and even picked up a couple later in the series for the kids this summer, but I had not read them myself. So for October when the twins requested the first in the series before they read 12 and 13 that we purchased at a garage sale I figured I should read too.

I honestly can say I enjoyed the story. We lucked out and got our hands on an older copy with amazing pictures of the kids always without definite features and colour.

The basic back story is relatively simple and rather vague. These 4 siblings (as we come upon them) are on the run from a “mean grandfather” who did not approve of their mother after the death (from unknown circumstances) of their parents. Henry and Jessie with Violet and Benny are creative and strong children who are determined to stand on their own two feet and keep each other safe.

The story is not long (though there are many in the series) and while for me it was a short read the kids took a week or so to read it each. The language is not too complex and the characters engaging. But let’s let the boys give their own opinion in their own words!! WARNING POTENTIAL FOR SPOILERS!! (spelling has been corrected)

GAVIN:

The story is good, there are 4 children. It is not a very long book. I have only seen the first one. I like reading the Boxcar Children. I think my favorite parts were the water fall fridge and the time one of the kids ran in a race and won 25 dollars. I want to read the whole series.

ZANDER:

It is a super altra awesome book. my favorite part is that they are living in the boxcar. It could have some more drama in it. They could add color into the pictures. I want to read every book (in the series).

And there you have it… a children’s book that not only the children but the teacher/mom enjoyed! Do check it out!