Daring and Dangerous

Sophie had a birthday last week. It was a nice quiet birthday with family. No big party with friend just a nice dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, aunts, uncles, brothers, parents, a sister and cousins.  Sophie got just about everything on her wish list.  She got Hermione's illuminating wand (I really hope Grandma didn't pay that much for it!). She finally had enough money saved up to buy Kanani, the american girl doll of the year. And she got a lovely jewelry box that is now storing all the little hair accessories she has collected for her American girl dolls. She also got a few books and other small things.




In an effort to find a game the Sophie enjoys playing on the Wii (Her brothers tend to monopolize the Wii with Lego Harry Potter or Indiana Jones or Super Mario Brothers) I bought a game called The Daring Game for Girls just for her.

I am glad to report that she loves it. It is the perfect game for this girl who usually would rather play Civilization with her Dad than play Wii which is always says she just isn't good at. There are trivia questions to answer as well as things to gather to make things and secret gardens to tend. She thinks it is great! I am happy she finally has a game she enjoys playing. The boys tend to think the Wii is just for them.

One nice aspect of this game is that it has sparked interest in the book. This week Sophie has been taking the Daring book for Girls around with her and reading bits of it as we drive around to our different activities.
Ian too has been carrying around the Dangerous book for boys as well. They both are constantly telling about the great new things they are learning. Ian has been folding lots of paper Airplanes and making paper boats after reading sections on folding paper. Sophie has been telling me about the lists of good books for girls that she found in her book and is surprised by how many she has already read.

I am glad to see my kids so thrilled and excited about life.

Letting things Slip

This ended up being a somewhat haphazard week. My husband had Monday off so my kids decided we all needed to have a holiday. We still read our Scriptures and some chores but Henry was very excited to play his new wii games that he got for his birthday.

The kids did start their new piano lessons on Monday afternoon. It is a group class and since all of them are pretty much at the same level it should work for now. It is a play based program rather than reading based. So the kids are learning to play songs first and then they will be taught to read the music. They have spent the week playing their new song over and over again. There is a DVD that the teacher sent us home with that goes over many of the things the kids learned at their lesson.

The rest of the week we did some of the normal things each day but we added in Choir and Co-op on their days, which added more places to be at a certain time. I am starting to feel like a chauffeur and we still have Science class to add in next week. I am feeling a little over scheduled. At least my kids all participate in these things together so I only have to go once to each rather than multiple classes.

We also had our excursion down to Santa Cruz and the Beach on Thursday which ate up most of that day. So we have had a hard time getting everything else into the hours we have left at home. I am starting to see that home schoolers don't often spend a lot of time at home.

We did start our chapter of Story of the world. We listened to the bit about mummies and started Cleopatra's mummification. We never made it to Pyramids which is the 2nd half of the chapter.

Science was just finishing up our lesson on the Skeletal system. We did do some workbook pages  and read the section about joints.

We only did three out of four days of Writing with Ease. This is becoming a habit. We end up skipping one of the assignments so we can start each week with a new story or reading. Dictation is usually the one we leave out.

We always fit in Math. That is the easiest subject lately to get my kids to do. The boys get to work on theirs without me and Sophie has a quick lesson on the new topic and then gets to work. I am around to keep them on task but that is about it.

We didn't do any Story Quest this week. We just couldn't fit it in. I will have to make sure we squeeze it in next week.

I also haven't been having my boys read aloud to me each day like I have in the past. They do read scripture aloud but usually I have Henry and Ian read a book to me. I need to get this back into our day. Henry really needs the practice.

We didn't do anything with our artist or musician. This always seems to get left out.

So I feel like we are letting a lot of things slip. We do still get a bunch of books and reading in each day so I know we are fine. I just can't seem to keep up with all the housework, classes and activities we have on the schedule.  I will have to reevaluate everything and see what we can do differently or maybe I am feeling this way because things are just getting started and we haven't found our groove yet. Once this becomes routine  hopefully I won't feel so frazzled and can see where to fit in some of those things we have recently been letting slide. 

Next week is full of possibilities!

Quick Beach Trip

My kids were very disappointed we didn't make it to the beach this Summer. I don't know exactly why we didn't make it to the beach. Perhaps it was because in June we went to Hawaii and spent a bunch time at the beach there. Maybe it was because it was a rather cool summer and it just never got hot enough for us to feel like we needed to go to the beach to escape. For what ever reason we never got to the beach. Summer seemed to whoosh right by us.

Today we had some business to take car of in Santa Cruz and since we were that close I told the kids we could also go to the beach. It was cold in Santa Cruz that morning. We were silly and only wore shorts and didn't bring a sweatshirt. But this fact didn't stop my kids from wanting to play on the beach. They put on their swim stuff and headed down to the sand and waves.

They didn't even seem to mind that the water was freezing.

Even Molly had fun jumping around in the waves.

How ever, after a few minutes in the water she quickly changed her tune and decided the water was not that fun.

She kept telling me she wanted to "go home now". But the other kids were having so much fun I couldn't pull them away yet.

Ian distracted her for awhile by digging for sand crabs. Molly loved this. Anytime you can get muddy is fun!

Until that really cold water washes in and fills your sand pit and freezes your legs again.

Henry and Ian had a great time just grabbing handfuls of sand and throwing them into the waves.

Mostly the kids just frolicked in the water that washed up on the beach. They weren't interested in getting too wet.  So when a few big waves rolled in they quickly ran for higher ground.

Sophie was so excited to find a whole sand dollar laying on the beach. It is rare for us to even find a shell that is complete it is amazing to find a whole sand dollar.

It was a lovely beach. I want to go back there when it is a bit warmer.

After about a hour at this beach Molly was totally done. Even wrapping her in a towel didn't stop the incessant repetition of "Go home, NOW!".

So I gathered up our stuff and told the other kids it was time to leave. They weren't excited to go. They really could have stayed a lot longer.

But we know who the boss is in our house. She who complains the loudest and most frequent wins most arguments. So we took Molly home for the bath she kept asking for.

 

So we squeezed in one short beach trip. 

My kids are happy! 

I need to go vacuum out the car.

Meet Cleo

 Meet Cleo, short for Cleopatra. That is the name my kids decided to give the game hen we have decided to mummify. Sophie said he was a girl because it was a "hen".


So after giving this little lady a good wash down in water and then again with alcohol we stuffed her with Salts and are hoping for the best.

 This is a project listed in our Story of the World History book. I avoided it the last time we went through this book but Sophie wouldn't hear of us skipping it this time.  So I found the smallest chicken I could find and stocked up on Salt and baking power and soda. I really hope this works and I don't end up with a very stinky bird in my laundry room. That is where she stays when not being poked and prodded when checked.

 The boys were sad there wasn't more to do in order to do the mummification. I tried to explain it isn't even close to being done yet. We will be checking on Cleo's progress throughout the next month and some to see that she is turning nice and leathery and change her salts as needed. I am sure the boys will enjoy the wrapping stage of this activity.

For now they are a little unimpressed by this project. It is just a lot of dumping, shaking and smushing.  Perhaps it will become cooler when she actually starts to look like a mummy.

Celebrate Family

Last September I really enjoyed all the posts about family included in last years Family Proclamation Celebration. I am looking forward to this years round of posts.

I think it is time to take out The Family: A Proclamation to the World again and review it with my kids. We didn't memorize it last year but we went through it and did little activities to go along with it. I will have to start making some new plans for this years review. I guess we will see what I come with.

The Best Birthday Ever!

Even after Henry's big Party the Birthday celebration didn't stop there.

We served breakfast on the Red Plate. (I totally forgot the fact that it was Fast Sunday.  All this birthday excitement totally erased anything else from my head!)

We have a tradition, started many years ago. I don't know exactly when it started but my kids each get one of their presents at breakfast. Maybe it was started one of those years I just couldn't wait for them to open a gift or we needed to use it that day or something but my kids insist it is a tradition and I don't mind. It gives them something to play with while they wait for the cake and Ice Cream and the rest of the presents.

 I gave Henry the 5 lb box of Lego bricks that I picked up on Ebay a few weeks ago. My little guys have all sorts of legos already but they seemed to be a bunch of specialty pieces to build space ships and such but not many plane old bricks. So I bought some legos by the lb off of Ebay. They ended up being only Red and Green but my kids didn't seem to mind.

 They got right down onto the floor and dumped out the box and started building.  It was fun to discover all the great pieces we have added to our huge stash of legos.

Henry got sung to at church. He made sure I had his birthday card ready for him. I am the one who is responsible to have birthday cards for the primary kids so he wanted to make sure I got it done and didn't forget him.

Shortly after dinner tonight Henry came running out of the bathroom and said "It happened when I came out of the bathroom. It just came out!" I was bewildered at first but quickly figured out that it was a tooth he held in his hand.

 This is Henry's first lost tooth. If you can't tell from the picture. The two adult teeth have already grown in behind the baby teeth so we knew it was only a matter of time before they came out but it certainly was long overdue. I hope the adult ones move into their proper places because right now they are pushed back. We have been calling Henry a shark the last few days because he had rows of teeth. He said we couldn't call him that anymore. He has another tooth to loose before that!:)

Presents came next and Henry quickly got to work opening the few gifts he had left. His party and the box of legos was his gift from us. But both Grandma's came through with spectacular gifts. 

 Henry LOVED the Super Mario Wii game. Can you tell from the look on his face?!

Ian got Harry Potter's wand for his birthday so Henry wanted Ron's wand. Evidently Grandma had to really shop around to find this one. It is somewhat hard to find. But it was exactly what this Harry Potter fan needed to finish off his Super Fantastic Harry Potter Birthday. 

I don't know how other birthdays are going to be able to compare to this one. This is one happy little guy!

I sure hope the Tooth Fairy remembers to make a visit. She may be pretty worn out and fall asleep before getting her job done!

The Party at last!

Last night my kids couldn't get to sleep. You would have thought it was Christmas Eve. They were all so excited about Henry's Birthday party. We have spent weeks thinking about and preparing for this party. I am happy to say they helped with much of it and I think they really felt like they were involved in the whole process. O.K.... at least some of the process.  I did a lot of the planning and they did a lot of the excited giggles as I told them what was planned.


I can't say we decorated a whole lot. We hung up some streamers which we do for all birthdays. And I printed out some Hogwarts house banners that I found online with the sorting hat song for each of the houses that was sung in book one.  My husband took care of the cauldron full of rootbeer bubbling away with dry ice.  That was about it for festive decor.

We did a charms class first where the kids were given their wands. I ended up making 21 of them which ended up being great because then the kids were able to switch for ones that felt better for them and some were even able to take them home to siblings that would appreciate them.

Sophie took over this class and taught the kids all sorts of charms and the boys all thought it was fun to wave their wand around and yell funny words. Funny how "Expeliarmus" is always their favorite and of course the one who received the spell had to throw their wand in the air and fall over.

We went outside and played a version of Red Light, Green Light except using spells instead.

A little food, a snitch pinata, oh.... and there was a Care of Magical Creatures Class as well.

I think my favorite was the Potions class.

We mixed up two different potions. One that changed colors as we added different ingredients and then made popping noises. I called this one the Whisper Potion because it talked to you. The other potion just bubbled and changed colors. I didn't give it a name. The boys then got to make a potion to take home. It was water and oil with a bit of glitter and their choice of colors in a spice jar. We superglued the lid on and the boys could shake and watch to their hearts contents. 

Henry decided that cake pops sounded fun. I mentioned them as something I had seen online but had never tried. So of course he wanted them. Wow are they a potent dose of chocolate.



We sent the kids home with the t-shirt wizard robe, their wand, the potion that they made, the candy from the pinata and a few chocolate frogs. My kids have spent the rest of the day playing with all the new legos, a remote control car and other great toys that Henry's friends brought him. I keep hearing them tell each other who brought which gift and Henry said "I have great friends!".

I think the party was a success. I am glad I don't do big parties like this every year. But I am happy to have helped create these memories for my kids.