Are you sure this is Winter?

I know... most of the United States is either freezing or getting flooded but in California we are having very Spring like weather. In fact I had to convince my kids that this was actually still winter. We are running around without jackets and enjoying the bright sunshine. Today at the park the boys enjoyed riding their scooters down the hill. They did it over and over racing to the bottom and then quickly running back up to the top to go down again.

There were a lot of kids at the park today. I guess we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the lovely weather.



I do hope we get more winter weather. We really need the rain but for now we are enjoying the sunshine.

We are a Breakfast Cereal family

Today while gathering up all the boxes and things to take out to recycling I couldn't help but laugh at the large stack of cereal boxes that I was taking out. In one weeks time we piled up about 10 empty boxes of Cereal. I don't really think we ate through 10 whole boxes of cereal in one week. I think it just ened up that way because we have been finishing off boxes that have sort of sat on the shelf with only a serving or so inside. But I know we eat a lot of cereal at our house. We eat it for breakfast at least 3 or 4 times a week, plus we eat it for snacks and often for dessert before heading to bed. Some may ask how we can afford to spend so much on Cereal and of course the milk that goes with it? Well... here is my secret.

We never pay full price for cereal. We almost always buy the store brand rather than the name brand and I get almost all of it at Target. It is the best place to buy cereal. We don't have a super Target just regular old Target. It has a small market section that sells crackers and cereal and such. No produce or freezer type things. But Target, unlike walmart, has a store brand. And we have found the store brand is just as good if not better than the name brand, for a lot cheeper. So I never spend more than $2.50 for a box of cereal.

Now as for the milk. Milk has fluctuated quite a bit in the last few month. Where we live it went up to $7.00 for two gallons. I think it is now down to only about $4.00 for two gallons. But I often when one of my gallon jugs get about half empty I make a few litters of powdered milk and mix it with the half gallon of store milk. The kids don't even notice the difference. If I was to give them the prepared powdered milk straight they always comment on the taste but when go half and half with the store milk nobody notices. I usually have a pitcher of prepared powdered milk in the fridge anyway to use with any cooking or baking that calls for milk. I save the store bought stuff for our cereal.

My husband drinks soy milk due to milk allergies. Soy milk is very expensive compared with regular milk. Does anyone have a secret for getting soy milk cheeper? We usually buy it at Costco which saves us a little but I would welcome any suggestions.

My kids new favorite is Special K fruit and yogurt. It was on sale at Target last week so we got a box or two. It turns their milk pink and they think it is a "fun"cereal. We don't usually get any "fun" cereals. No marshmellows or chocolate flavors. Those are treats if we happen to get them and they are only for dessert and never for breakfast. I tend to stick to only cereals that don't have any added colors and a reasonable amount of sugar in them. My kids love to add bananas and raisins to their cereal and if the cereal has berries it always disappears quickly.

So we go through a lot of cereal in a week. I take out boxes to be recycled today but they will quickly be replaced when we head to Target later on in the week.

There are worse food we could be eating.

The Best Way to Do a Party

Since Ian's Birthday arrives so quickly after the crazy busy Holidays, it always spring on me too soon for me to actually plan a party for him. One day I will do a better job but this year this is what we decided to do.

Ian was able to invite two friends to go and play with him at the kids indoor fun land called "The Jungle". I knew the kids would have a great time and I would have to plan games or food or anything. Yes it isn't cheep, which is why we don't do this very often but I figured that it would be cheeper than a usual party would be. I wouldn't have to do a pinata and fill it with candy or do goody bags to hand out to the kids when they leave. There would be no decorations to hang or food to arrange. I didn't rent a room and arrange for food and cake or anything. We just met the friends at the door and all went in to play.

I know everyone had a great time. The kids started out in the arcade and went from game to game earning tickets and having the time of their lives. This wave runner was one of their favorite rides.

Here are the two friends that Ian picked to play with.

They took turns playing air hockey. This was one of my favorite games when I was younger. These kids loved it today.
Henry wasn't quite tall enough to reach the table but the slightly bigger 5 year olds were just big enough.

Another game that was a hit with the kids was Skee Ball. Henry kept trying to throw the ball over handed but enjoyed trying over and over again to roll those balls up the ramp and into the holes. I admit that I too had a few games myself. I had to show them how to do it, right?

Then the climbing began. This place has a huge climbing area where the kids kept going in, out, over, sliding, climbing and even some swinging. We kept loosing the kids in the maze of ropes, nets and balls. They would pop out of one of the entrances or exit holes with bright rosy cheeks and beads of sweat on their brows. They were in heaven.




I think Ian had a great time and enjoyed the whole experience. He certainly had a great Birthday!

His friends too were all worn out and ready to head home after their few hours of hard play.
I hope they all sleep well tonight!

Starting again is a bit hard.

I can't say we had a really stellar week as far as school work goes. It is always hard to come back after a few weeks off. All the kids would rather just play and play and play rather than put their new toys away so we can read books and do math. But we did accomplish a bit this week.

We did read through our Story of the World Chapter about Ghingis Khan and the Mongols. We also read a bunch of other books. Some were recommended as go alongs and others, I just found on the shelf at the library.
My kids always enjoy the Reading Rainbow episodes that I find to go along with our studies. This time it was Liang and the Magic Paintbrush. I do somewhat regret getting the Disney version of Mulan from the library. There is a reason I hadn't seen it. It wasn't horrible but they put too many 20th century ideas and actions into it. The film just didn't quite catch the essence of the traditional chinese tale.

For science we did read a number of Ocean biome books. And watched another Reading Rainbow episode about Coral Reefs. (In explaining our week I think it is starting to sound like we watch a lot of movies. But really we just watch one movie a day. That is our rule.) Sophie really enjoyed piecing together these 15 sheets of paper into a mural and then coloring it.
The boys helped a bit with the coloring and they all helped color, cut out and glue on the different fish and such that went on the mural. Sophie tells me it is going to hang in her room when I decide to take it down.

Sophie couldn't wait to know who our composer for the month was going to be. I had originally thought we would wait until we did our History Chapter about Russia but I broke out this book and we listened to Pictures at an exhibition. We haven't actually read the book but we have listened to the music through twice. Sophie really likes it and tells me of what each song reminders her.

We did do math each day and Sophie is making her way through the book. She hates it when I pull out the textbook and actually do a lesson first. She always just wants to do the pages as fast as she can and then throws a fit when I ask her to look again at a few of the problems. Ian is still doing one exercise a day but it hard doing math with him when he can't read yet. I end up walking him through each problem. But at this stage I guess that is as it should be.

Language arts is where we really suffered this week. Sophie refused to do anything but her Beyond the Code book. She almost blew her top when I asked her to do some copywork, dictation or even just write her own story. The Beyond the code book is just so easy for her. I don't mind that she does it but it isn't enough and I don't want it to be everyday. So we are going to have to really work on this next week. She needs help with her penmanship and her sentence writing.

I think that is about all we accomplished. We did listen to a few audio books. We are currently listening to the first of The Sister's Grimm books, The fairytale Detectives. The kids have really enjoyed the first few chapters. It is a nice late afternoon activity and we tend to listen to it during those hours just before dinner when usually the kids just fight. It has helped me keep my sanity.

It could have been a better week but honestly it ended up better than I thought it would be.

Wordful Wednesday - New Beginnings.

My sister just made a move a few weeks ago. Not just down the street or across town but across the country. She now lives in North Carolina. That is a big move for a girl that has never really lived anywhere except California. I envy her in many ways. It is a whole lot cheeper to live there. She may actually be able to buy a house. She says that the Southern Hospitality isn't just a myth but that people are genuinely nicer there. She loves it there already. Mostly, I envy her in the chance to move and wipe herself clean of almost all commitments and responsibilities and also to unload a bunch of her stuff. That is one of the best parts of moving is that you get to clean house, throw things out and get rid of things that just seem to clutter life. And I am not just talking about the books, papers, appliances and toys that fill the house. But a fresh start where you don't have habits or set patterns that keep you captive. It sounds so invigorating.

Often when I read the passage of the Book of Mormon where Lehi packs up to leave Jerusalem and takes nothing with him save his family and provisions, I think two things. First thought is "wow... he gave up so much to do what the Lord asked him to do" but then I also think, how lovely it would be to not be cumbered down with all the extra things that aren't really important or necessary. It is always hard to leave the familiar and the place where you feel comfortable but sometimes it is so nice to have a change or a New Beginning.

I think my feelings mainly arise from starting a new project myself. This isn't the type of project that is going to make me feel invigorated. In fact is has really made my energy levels drop. I am now 11 week into my fourth pregnancy. With three very active kids already demanding my attention, I wonder how I am going to be able to have the stamina to keep up with an additional one. I also look around our house and wonder where this baby is going to fit. Moving isn't an option this time. In the past we have always just moved to a bigger place when a new baby was expected. This time we aren't able to make that change, we have to make due with what we have. We, my husband and I, are looking at our room and trying to figure out how we will shuffle things around so we can fit in a crib (our babies always spend the first year in our room). But mostly I have been looking at the number of things I try to juggle. Being so tired and somewhat foggy headed lately I just can't keep all the balls in the air anymore. So instead of adding more things and beginning new projects I am looking to actually cut things from my schedule. This is something new for me.

So no I don't get to pack up my family and a few provisions and make a clean break like Lehi or my sister has done (she took a lot more than a few provisions). I am starting out on a journey however, one that will forever change me and my family. I do have a lot more to do in order to prepare for this little life that will join us. It is a great opportunity for me to really evaluate what is important and what is excess in my life. I will be taking time to "clean house" and throw out the unnecessary. This is a new beginning for me even though my lagging energy keeps me from really feeling motivated to accomplish much. Hopefully in a few weeks my vigor will return and I will feel more like myself. I can then tackle my room and the mounds of clutter that always seem to collect there. Maybe I will actually convince my kids to toss out a few of their toys too.

Plans for January

You would think with two weeks off I would have great plans made for January. Instead I used my holiday as just that a holiday. I didn't do any planning or gathering of projects so that when we started again in January we would get off to a good start. So yesterday we jumped back into school work a little half heartedly. But that is no surprise. It always takes a awhile to really get back into the schedule of things. But I did spend a bit of time mulling over a real plan for the month.

History: We get to study about China again and then we get to look at life in Russia which is something Sophie will be happy about. Ever since rowing Another Celebrated Dancing Bear years ago she has a special affinity for Russia.

Science: Only 2 more biomes to study so we will give two weeks to each. First we are going to look at marine ecosystems and then finish our biome study with Rainforests. Each of these are things we have studied before. I need to do something different this time.... I will have to think about it a little more. My creativity is at a all time low so we will see what I come up with. Or we may not push science too much because we have a lot of other things going on at the same time. But Sophie is already excited to study about the ocean again. It is one of her favorite subjects.

Music: I decided when we study Russia in history I will introduce the new composer Modest Mussorgsky. We will focus just on Pictures at an Exhibition. There aren't any books on Mussorgsky in the library so we will have to look him up online. At least I found a few good copies of the music at the library and wikkipedia actually has the pictures that the piece is based on so we will take a look at those.

Language Arts and our Artist for the month: For our artist this month I picked Wilson Bentley or Snowflake Bentley. I thought it would be fun to look at him and his photographs of snowflakes. Snowflake Bentley is a FIAR book but in Vol. 4 which I don't have, but I will try to make this into a fun biography/snow unit by reading snow books and some snow poetry to go along with our study of Bentley. I have seen a few blogs that list fun activities to go along with this book and topic. Here is Melissa's post and Candace too listed a bunch of fun things that she is planning to do. I think we may try to do a lapbook to focus our studies. There are lots of opportunities for writing and art projects so we should have fun doing this.

Math: Sophie had a really hard time staying focused on Math yesterday. She saved a review to do the first day back and she seemed to have forgotten how to do everything. I had to sit by her side and walk her through each problem. I don't know if it was because she really couldn't remember how to do them or if she just couldn't settle her brain enough to think through them. We may need to go back and review some more.

That about sums up my plans. Not very specific yet. I really should get into the details of these things but I never seem to and yet somehow things end up working out.

Lets hope most of these things happen this month.

New Year's Day by the Sea.

It was a sort of relaxing New Year's Day. We started out all sitting around watching the rose parade which my kids have never done before. Our TV actually picked up some random channel that carried it. We don't have cable so rarely watch anything. Sophie really enjoyed all the floats. The boys sort of got annoyed by all the commercials. My kids aren't used to ads breaking up their shows. When you watch only DVD's you just don't understand that your show will come back after a few minutes.

After our leisurely morning we decided to head down to Santa Cruz to see the sea. We have done this several times over the years on winter holidays. It is fun to go to the wharf and see the sea lions basking in the sun on the pilings under the pier. There were a bunch that must have missed the tide and were all just grouped together in the water trying to nap.We watched one try and try and try again to jump up onto one of the cross beams between the pier poles. It never did make it but it was interesting to watch. I guess it should have just waited until higher tide.

As we sat on the end of the wharf sampling some of the tasty sea food offerings we noticed something other than the usual pigeons and seagulls. We spotted some pelicans. They were just there wandering among the people.
So of course my kids had to go and see how close they could get to them. Sophie would have gone right up and tried to pet them if I hadn't stopped her. Then she saw these two wild pelicans use those long beaks on each other and understood why I kept telling her to stay back.
They were fascinated by these birds for a long time. This was the first very close up look they have had of these birds and they didn't miss anything. They noticed the webbed feet and the hook on the end of the bill. They loved it when one would pull the bill up and they could see the pouch.
We must have stood here watching them for 20 minutes. That is longer than they have ever stayed in front of any cage at the zoo or tank at the aquarium. I guess seeing it out in nature makes it more personal and interesting.

We took a short drive up the coast to see a light house but it ended up being closed. So we just walked around it and watched some surfers try their luck on a few waves. We were freezing standing there in the wind I can't even imagine how cold those guys were out in the bay. Do wet suits really keep you that warm?

Everyone had a good time but the boys were sad we didn't actually go down to the beach and play. They had to settle for climbing on every one of these binoculars they came across.

I hope you had a lovely relaxing New Year's Day too.