New month, new school year! This year I gave the kids the option to “chose” their school year… We get asked this question A LOT through the years and the kids never really know how to answer it. We don’t align to a specific grade and in Trinity’s case, I didn’t register her OFFICIALLY until she was 7 but she has been schooling much longer. (this saves us on testing until it is required by state law) I gave Echo Kindergarten and Trinity chose Grade 3. The boys, they got creative.

Emanuel went with Grade Dinosaur. Gavin  decided on Grade Minecraft. Zander went all out with Grade Mom is the Best Teacher. (mild suck up action there).

I even wrote my own “grade” level.

Poor Echo continued to get eaten alive by the mosquitoes.

I went all out and tried blue hair… it faded a bit too quickly for my tastes but was fun for the short time it lasted.

Note Echo’s temporary blue streak thanks to hair chalk.

September was also the month of our Uncle Ted and Uncle Sean visit. Ted was here 1 week and Sean 2. It was amazing to have 3 of my boys together for the span of time. So much fun.

With Cookie the new Fat Sheep

We also did Renaissance Festival with the boys and Shandai and Ravyn (no kids of course). Costumes for those who wanted etc etc. I will post the many many images and share the fun in a future post.

We ate out at our favourite Indian place.

Sean took Ken and myself out for a super fancy dinner as well!

Fancy outfit… ignore the bathroom

Super pretty room

Played with the Uncles.

Worked out hard.

Learned as much as we could.

I snuck in my craft time whenever possible.

At the pool

I think we all had fun walking outside to the park.

There was a robot kit to make with the uncles.

And Sean even taught Echo how to play WoW (World of Warcraft) which I hadn’t seen in AGES.

Don’t forget swimming.

And the most unusual students.

As well as some amazing sunsets.

New school year, new start! We made the most of it with lots of fun, workbooks and working together. Keep an eye peeled for an overflow blog post. There are just too many pictures to share!

Gifts from Ethiopia!

May 30-June 2

And in a blurry blink May is coming to an end! What better way to learn about Texas and discuss weather than to draw up the 4 seasons. The kids were stunned by the lack of real lasting snow.

Trinity and Emanuel drew us up a stunning Texas poster full of things the remember reading and hearing about over the last month.

The big brothers are really pulling out all the stops and reading to the littles. I love it when they do. The storytelling is getting more and more fluid and fun. And the audience is definitely learning more patience as we go along.

We are seeing more and more gorgeous weather and with a willing Daddy to remove the cars from the drive… well every afternoon we can we are out in the sunshine in our toys with bubbles and books for Mommy.

And then back in to make box forts for the girls!

On Saturday I took the leap and headed over to Regency Hair School and got a brand new CONSISTENT colour! I have to say the price was AMAZING (set price not sliding according to hair length) and the work wonderful. I had an amazing student and walked out with a terrific colour!

We managed a few garage sales and came away with new shoes for Miss Echo, a skein of eyelash yarn and a summer dress for yours truly. We are on the hunt for good finds this year… books, a scooter for Emanuel… anything homeschool related. Garage sales can be where it’s at. Sadly so far this year all the homeschool ones posted on the egroup are not reasonable driving distance for us.

Sunday was new members service for us! Very exciting, not only did the kids sing at the front first with the Sunday School group but we also came up to declare ourselves new members of Saint Mark’s. With a brunch to follow we had a great time meeting some of the other members, having a lovely meal with our new church community and spending some time as a family all dressed up!

We brought home our carnations that were pinned to our shirts and put them in a pretty dish to make into a centerpiece on the table. So pretty!

We had some amazing Lego creators hard at work to make Pokemon.

On Monday we set to work making peanut butter and birdseed on toilet paper rolls for birdfeeders to hang in the front yard. Another Scouts achievement to add to Emanuel’s list for his year.

Miss Echo is utterly in love with “doing her mail”. She simply cannot be stopped when it comes to completing the pages Gammie sent her. I think she is going to LOVE the curriculum we picked up at Sam’s club for an absolute steal.

Our morning was completed with a blanket fort.

There was planting to be done in the straw bale garden out back…

Which of course led to playing outside.

Emanuel chose to use Art for Kids instructions (link on right) to make his very own Mario.

That evening it was time for one of the last Scout gatherings for the year. Darcy had to be at 6 places at once so we collected Aidan early, hung out for a while and then headed over to the dam. We ended up at the wrong parking lot but in the end the boys managed to meet up with their group for their hike.

Super high water levels!

We hung out at the Novak’s for a while while the boys played games until the rest of Aidan’s family got home.  A great ending to a terrific day and the start of a whole new month.

April 4-6

Now onto the weekend of fun and friends. First our Friday… Miss Trinity finished her dot-to-dot workbook… she is now becoming quite the pro at counting from 1-50!

Emanuel got a book on his birthday on how to draw dinosaurs. So to get a wee bit back into dinosaurs after our relative dry spell he has started a large paper picture using the book. I plan to start posting our back dinos and start new ones soon.

We had all 5 of our fish coloured, named and ready to take back to the consignment store on our way to the Novak’s.

With the fresh dump of “blizzard” snow I kicked the twins out to play and wear themselves out. Apparently it was PERFECT sticky snow but the kids were quick to tell me that they were DONE with winter and would love to go to a lake RIGHT NOW. From near nothing to waist height in one evening. UGH

With another chapter of Treasure Island under our belt and illustrated (I am still not reading ahead… and the kids are still NOT impressed by this fact) we were ready to get out the door… run a few minor errands and go to the Novak’s house.

Darcy once again outdid herself with the cake… this one themed zombies. He actually had a second cake that we ate that night (this photographed one was eaten the next day at his friends’ party).

The kids had a blast playing.

And Anthony loved his ninja. I do love to include a handmade item even if we are giving our now TWELVE year old godson a gift certificate.

After presents Ken and Anthony spent the evening building his new weight bench. I am so glad that we are here for all these firsts and activities. He is growing up so fast!

After a busy day we were up bright and early again for Home Depot Saturday. This time Ken left with 4 kids and came back with 6! We inherited Alex and Aidan Novak for an overnight sleepover so Anthony could have his birthday party solo. The kids were so excited. They had been DYING to have a sleepover.

So that was the beginning of 2 days of wild kid fun. Alex and I sat and crafted quietly at times (he brought his bracelet loom and I brought out ours to add to his supply).

Or they ran outside and burned off that energy.

Second day melt off

Meals were a blast.

Fruit Salad

And that evening we had TWO Ice Age movies with popcorn. 5 boys in one bedroom at bedtime and another day of fun to follow.

We skipped Sunday School in favour of special playtime.

Instead of dropping them off or having Darcy to a run by pick up we had them over for slow cooker lasagna and homemade chocolate chip cookies Sunday evening. Apparently Andrew had fun at his friends staying up all night and Anthony had a great birthday. So all 4 Novak boys were well pleased with our two asking to come again! Talk about a wonderful weekend.

Making cookies

Lasagna

Add to that dying my hair a bright and fun garnet with Ken’s help and I am one happy Mommy.

Sleepovers, birthdays and shopping as a family. With some schoolwork thrown in… not bad not bad.