September 5-8

We had some timely mail appear in our box on Thursday – our Lego magazine subscriptions! Swings make the best reading spots sometimes.

Of course we had to check out the garden… the peppers are starting to ripen!

Juice pouches for an afternoon snack.

And a couple overly friendly squirrels in the front yard. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the black one but it stayed under the vehicles. This little grey one came so close that I had to tell the girls not to touch it!!!

We finished up our week learning about Tanzania!

Then on Saturday we finally hit a busy day… first to Home Depot to make ring toss games!!!

Then onto Steven’s to see a parade with him and Quinn.We have never seen such a large amount of princesses for anything and everything.

They really like their emergency vehicles

It was slow starting and luckily we were right next to a Dollar Tree so I could go get some water (6 for a dollar, though not from the fridge… those were 1.00 each).

The kids went crazy grabbing candy and had a blast, though we did head out before the parade was over – too much heat and to miss the rush in the parking lot.

After the parade we went back to Steve’s house to have lunch. Yummy hot dogs, fruit, chips… and Phineas and Ferb! I love how they have a whole entertainment room set up in the double portion of their garage in the summer! So fun!

Sadly my cold went into overtime so after enjoying some fun in the sun it was time to head home and myself to bed. By Saturday evening I was feverish and Ken was adamant I was not going to church. Sunday morning HE felt under the weather and that put the final nail in the coffin for us making the Sunday School planning session that morning. Thankfully the woman in charge was willing to email me information.

I am just so pleased we managed a day with Steven and Quinn. It has been a while and this parade seems to be our new tradition with them!!! Be sure  to check out the overflow! There was just too much to see HERE. 

September 6-7

Is definitely something we are striving for… and a work in progress. Thursday did not really go as planned. I was last one up since Ken was able to watch the kids in the morning and I have not been getting lots of sleep… but they did NOT do their school work in the meantime. The code Ken needs to complete his job application and move onto the next stage is a HUGE priority of course… and the week has been a heavy on the study so far anyway. 

Once I was up and going it was crack down time on the schooling and we got results. Another completion on the review books – this time Gavin finished HIS math book! That moves us back to our Grade 2 level comprehensive. With it being a CANADIAN version I do have to get my hands on some good American money and measurement (oh, and temperature ugh  come on Metric I love you so!) worksheets. After all, we have to learn BOTH systems now. 

So proud!

With our first week of school for the year in our new state and home we had to make our own school house! I love the Activity Village site! I am sure most people have noticed a lot of my print outs are from their site… you can find the instructions for our school house HERE. We altered it slightly by having each of the windows, door and bell have one of the 4 schooling age kids’ personal pictures. Then all 4 of them decorated the background around the school. It was great fun! Ken and I just cut out the shapes in advance to make it a simple project. 

Working together

All done!

And the check marks keep coming! The twins are trying their best to read that book solo and Emanuel and Trinity jump to do their tasks each morning. I am hoping the momentum continues.

The kids and I all headed outside in the afternoon once Ken had left to look at computers at his brother’s work (seriously time worked against us… and then add in the weather…) to enjoy what sunlight there was… and to get sprinkled on! Echo was adorable going OW and then rubbing the spots that she got rained on and smiling.

Rain

It wasn’t too bad for us to be in the front yard but I chose not to trust a walk. Which was a good call as once Ken got home it rained outright!  But Gavin revamped his wooden structure into what he and Emanuel called a squirrel tee pee, but only until winter when it would leave and only while said squirrel was NOT out hunting for nuts.

Squirrel tee pee

  Friday was a baking day for the kids. Everyone was a little burned out from the week at home and Ken had his tour of the company he has had his interview and test code with in the afternoon. Add to that windy weather and Echo NOT sleeping the night before and nothing lined up for us doing any sort of walk. So, why not make cookies and corn muffins?  Ken’s mom had bought package mixes of a couple types of cookies so we chose the molasses package to make our cookies.

Molasses Cookies

The boys and Emanuel helped read the packaging (words for the boys and the pictures for Emanuel)… they helped me figure out the temperature for the oven and then counted with me as we set it. Each of the kids did some stirring and then left me to put the cookies on the tray and into the oven. 

Mixing

So of course we had to put it into our observational journal… each of the steps and then worked on words to explain them. I was so proud of how WILLING they were to do it! 

Watching the baking

All done

The corn muffins worked out well as well with the kids’ help. Though next time we get it I want to get some cupcake papers as well. This box came with our handmade bags from the Abundant Harvest event. I have actually started saving all the little boxes and plastic containers food come in, sealing them up and starting a collection for Trinity to start a new kitchen set. We will have to purchase the actual stove, fridge, etc combo later but I can start building up her food collection and the muffin box was PERFECT!! On top of that I also saved a Rice-a-Roni and a Jell-o box. Great start!!

Muffins

Our weekend is looking like we will keep busy, we have not yet chosen a church but with Ken’s intense focus on job hunting and getting us settled here it looks like it could be the rest of the month before that decision is made. That is ok, we are working step by step to figure out our life here in Minnesota and it is a little difficult when we KNOW we will not be staying here long term. 

With our coloured rules

The crocheting is going on… and on and on. I am seeing the end of my scarf and debating a fringe… and planning on trying combining different rows of stitches and hoping for the best! I am enjoying it!

My first “real” project, though without a pattern

So our first week back and our first real week in Minnesota was a success in my mind! We will get the forms sent out next week and be officially in the system and go from there… in the meantime, I am just going to keep on going and trying and doing! 

NOMS

After discussing our local squirrel population and putting pencil and crayon to paper to create an image of one what better is there to do than read about ANOTHER squirrel… Thanks to Karyn for the wonderful SIGNED copy of the book, Scaredy Squirrel continued our furry critter trend. A much more… neurotic squirrel we join him with his party planning and come along as he celebrates his very own birthday. I had the boys ALL draw a picture and then the twins and I went through the Who, What, Where, When and Why of the story. Emanuel opted to write the name Scaredy Squirrel all by himself and then we talked about what HE remembered from the story. So much fun and some really creative pictures! The actual book is called Scaredy Squirrel Has a Birthday Party. I need to unearth our other book in the series and maybe hunt down the cartoon Wiki talks about HERE. 

What with Ken’s folks on their way out of country and continent early tomorrow morning I kept it rather basic with the schooling so that we could just go with the flow… so instead of a lot of written work the boys set to work on some special Perler bead patterns… the Canadian and US flags by Zander and Gavin a lovely Hello Kitty for Trinity. You can find these patterns and more HERE. Emanuel opted to go through one of the idea books and made his very dinosaur. 

Beading

The boys came across a new tv series they seem to really enjoy – Wild Kratts. The combine animation and real life portions to create a wonderfully educational show about animals and environmentally sound behaviour. With gadgets and such to boot! This is right up there with Dino Dan. A terrific Dinosaur themed live action (and computer graphics) show. This one is created with the assistance of the Tyrell Museum (remember our Jimmie birthday??)

Even more amazing… Echo’s newest word, while she refuses to say BABA she went so far as to say BUBBLE when pointing at our ocean in a jar! She is growing up so quickly! 

Wednesday was Trinity and Emanuel’s turn to play Clue Jrwith Daddy… I think in this case it was more of an educational lesson for Daddy on keeping his temper and not getting frustrated even though he won in the end. I think they all had fun! At least they wanted to play again though we ran out of time and couldn’t do so. 

Clue Jr.

Thursday marked the start of Nana and Baba’s 3 week vacation and our day of do nothing. Well nothing but the basics… no organized schoolwork (which is hilarious as it seems like all our friends back home are STARTING this week), no massive cleaning, no errands… just sit about and enjoy the day. I actually found it harder than I thought… this doing nothing is a definite art! So of course a nap was in order… the kids just loved being inside playing, outside playing and of course watching some educational tv. 

Wearing Nana’s shoes

I did break my goal of doing nothing in the evening and with good reason! Shandai (my best friend all the way back from high school if you can believe it) is a pro at knitting and crocheting AND as an added bonus, like me SHE is left handed!! We sat at a table and chatted and caught up and worked on our projects… met some new people and were a part of the SWATCHcommunity. The bag Shandai made while we were sitting there will go toward Saturday’s installation. I am really excited that we will be able to take the kids to that!

A start!

It feels good to find a new interest… and luckily my mother in law already had the necessary supplies so I could dive right in. I need to practice for consistency in the tightness of my stitches but I am enjoying it so far! Something new to do that is portable is ALWAYS a good thing… now I just need to learn how to turn!

Today we worked hard on having fun… the kids all did a bit of workbook work as we are still working on review work… this ended with Zander FINISHING his review math! He was so proud and now I have a good idea on what ideas and concepts he needs cemented.

Sudden Workbook time

Completion!!

Then it was time to pull out the original spirograph! They even remember that Uncle Wayne was the one who gave it to them! I love that the things we HAVE saved in our move are so treasured. Though only ONE of the kids actually had something to show once they finished with it this time. I think I need to take advantage of the sales and get some more gel pens. 

Busy hands

A few attempts

Our weather is still absolutely brilliant. I booted the kids out in the afternoon to run and climb and burn off energy and apparently race Trinity around in a stroller with giggles following along with them!

They’re off!

I have found our fun USA book to add to our Minnesota unit and a box full of stickers now collected together. We are definitely a work in progress on the planning, but my desk is uncovered and I have high hopes of getting a chair in front of it and the laptop or netbook or both booted up on there for the kids by the end of what I am NOW remembering is a long weekend! Regardless we will start our September with our Back to School books, continuing the unfinished from our previous year and of course MINNESOTA! I got wonderful news this morning that I won a draw for our very own Wonder Box! I am sure people who check back here often know of my love of the site Education.com… well I cannot wait to receive our box and blog all about it!!!

Hug the dolly