Sunday, March 29, 2015

Weekly Wrapup

Monday:  We had piano lessons and I did 4H cooking...we made breadsticks.

Tuesday:  The only thing that happened on Tuesday was Jenessa's track practice...she had that every day but Wednesday.

Wednesday:  I had the girls for co-op, we continued learning more about the Civil War.

Thursday:  For our homeschool group, we had our last discussion about engineering and building.
The kids must be getting Spring fever because they just wanted to play outside!

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Friday:  We had Jenessa's birthday party.  I think they had a lot of fun with our crazy dinner and lots of games.

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Saturday:  We went to the town Eggstravaganza.  The kids had fun...but Mason got very impatient waiting for it to start.  Darth Vader was there which we thought was really fun!

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Sunday:  We had fun getting the chicks out on the lawn after church.  Later that evening we went to an "It's Great To Be 8" program at the church for Logan.  It is an exciting year for him.

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Sunday, March 22, 2015

Weekly Wrapup

Monday:  Back to school after a week off for Spring Break...it went well.  There was even more of an adjustment since the time change had happened right at the beginning of our break.  My 2 oldest do an online school based out of Utah...since they change times and we don't....that means we have to make some adjustments every time that most of the country moves their clocks.  Now their classes start an hour earlier.

Logan made fudge for our Family Home Evening treat (he had some brothers that were really wanting to help!) and Sienna picked Musical Chairs for our game.  After some initial crying when people got out it was pretty fun.

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Tuesday:  Jenessa went to her first track practice with one of the local elementary schools.  We go to church with both of the coaches, so it made getting our foot in this door a little easier.  She is so excited about this and I'm sure she will do really well.

We all went to the church for activities tonight.  The Activity Day girls had a Darling Derby...and the whole family got to go and watch.  They had prepared Pinewood Derby cars and were able to race them on the track.  While Sienna's car didn't do great...we had fun.  It was Jenessa's first activity for Young Women's, they were combined with the boys and learned some dances.

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Wednesday:  Co-op day...I had everyone here and we continued learning about the Civil War.

Thursday:  Our small homeschool group was cancelled because 2 moms couldn't make it....so we just enjoyed our free time.

Friday:  Kessiah had an orthodontist appointment and a stake dance that evening...she wasn't really happy about going to a dance with a sore mouth!

Saturday:  I took my girls to see the movie, Cinderella.  I thought it was a nice feel-good movie.

Sunday:  We took the chicks outside for a little bit in the afternoon.  They are definitely in their "ugly" stage between chick and chicken.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Funnies at the Judy House

Most of these are things Corbin has said or done...he is just at that age!  I don't get everything written down but I try to jot a note down when someone does something I find especially funny or cute.

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I was getting ready for church on a Sunday morning.  Corbin came in and was watching me for a few moments then asked, "Mom, are you perfect?"  I smiled and said, "No, I'm not perfect."  He stood there for a few seconds and said, "Yes, you are!"  Ohhh...the sweetness!

Another Corbin quote...I gave him a calendar to color in and play with.  There was a picture of a man shaving and he asked what that was.  I explained that he was shaving and that was something Dads did.  After a few more minutes he said "In 4 more birthday's I will be a dad!"

Corbin said to me (very seriously) "I know how to be handsome."  I replied, "How?"  He said "I get a haircut!"

Corbin's favorite Primary song is "Once There Was A Snowman."  One morning he was singing it while we were eating breakfast...over and over!  Kessiah commented, "That song is about death!"  I had to chuckle...leave it to a teenager to turn a fun song about a snowman into a song about death.

This week we babysat a little 3 month old girl.  Corbin was quite interested in this adorable bundle that was smaller than him!  A couple of funny conversations....
Corbin:  "Does she walk?
Me: "No"
Corbin:  "But she has legs!"
Me:  "Yes, she does...but she is too little to walk."
We had the same conversation at a different time about her mouth and talking!

OK...one more Corbin incident!  Corbin is in the habit of taking off all of his clothes from the waist down when he goes to the bathroom.  One Sunday, towards the end of church he told me he had to go to the bathroom.  I had Jenessa take him...I thought it was taking them a long time to get back.  Eventually, Jenessa came back and told me that Corbin had insisted on going to the men's bathroom but he wasn't coming out.  We sent Logan in after him...but all we heard was fighting and I couldn't see another man to go in and check out the situation.  Logan came out and said Corbin wasn't putting his pants back on.  A minute later Corbin came out with his shirt, socks, and shoes on...holding his underwear and his pants under one arm!  Oh yes...there were some chuckles from some nearby moms.  I took him into a nearby classroom and helped him get dressed.

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We were watching a couple of extra kids one day, they arrived before Jenessa was out of bed...since it was a Friday she was sleeping in.  Mason was showing them around the house, when he came to Jenessa's room...he said, "This is Jenessa, she is kind."  Ummm...simple, sweet, and to the point!

Sometimes...my boys just make me shake my head in amazement.  One night as I was putting the boys to bed, Logan told me how he could make water come out of his nose!  He then asked if I would like him to show me how to do it...I kindly said no!

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Weekly Wrapup

Monday:  First day of Spring Break...but Mason wanted to do Phonics...so we did!  That evening we got together with a few friends at the park for a kickball game.

Tuesday:  Jenessa's birthday...she is so excited to be 12!  Kessiah made her a peanut butter cup cake.

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I arranged for some friends to come over for Jenessa, Sienna, and Logan.  Jenessa started planning her birthday part with her friend...she is going to have a mystery dinner...should be fun!

Wednesday:  Ryan came home mid-morning with 3 more chicks to add to our brooder!  We were surprised at the difference in size between the new ones and the chicks we got just one week ago.

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Even though it is Spring Break for us...it isn't for every homeschooler...so we did co-op today.  It was my day to have everyone and the first day of our new unit about the Civil War.

Thursday:  We did our homeschool group today, the first week of a new unit.  We are discussing architecture.  I had the 8-9 year olds.  We made pet rocks and then made a jungle gym  and a house for them!  Kessiah and Jenessa's group made structures that could hold a can of soup.  Logan and Mason's group talked about The Three Little Pigs and their different homes.

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We went to the library later that afternoon.  It has been hard for us to find a regular library time this school year.  I was glad to be able to pick up several books about the Civil War for Sienna to read during this month to go along with our co-op theme.

Friday:  Mason woke up wanting to know if it was a school day...I told him no because it was Spring Break.  He asked if he could do school anyway...so we did some phonics.  I was happy to do that since he is eager and I think phonics is one of those subjects that is good to do regularly.  That afternoon I took Kessiah and Jenessa to the bowling alley where they met some friends...Jenessa was proud of herself for coming in second place!

Saturday:  We met some friends at the park on 3/14 at 9:26 in the morning to celebrate Pi Day!  Of course...there was pie!  Kessiah scooped out the first piece at exactly 9:26.

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All the boys got haircuts...and Kessiah got a trim.

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After Saturday jobs were done, Ryan took the girls swimming at the Y.  That evening Ryan and I took Jenessa to Olive Garden...a 12 year old birthday tradition!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

On the Homestead

Our local farm supply store has weekly shipments delivered of baby chicks, ducks, and turkeys going on for the next several weeks.  There was a breed this week that we had talked about getting...I wasn't sure if it was going to happen or not.  Some of us were a little worried about putting chicks together that were a week apart.  Ryan told me as he was leaving for work that he might be coming home with a couple more chicks...he came home with 3 more.  He got 2 Buff Orphingtons and 1 California Grey.  We were happy that they all adjusted to each other fairly quickly and are getting along just fine.

We were surprised at the difference in size in the chicks we got last week compared to the ones that Ryan just brought home.  We didn't realize how much they had grown in just one week!

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We have one cat that likes to hop up on top of the brooder (it is covered in chicken wire and a couple of blankets) and just watch the chicks.  We even found her inside the brooder once...that was a little scary...thankfully, no chicks were harmed!

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Ryan moved the chickens out to the garage on Friday afternoon.  He created quite a nice little area for them to live until they are old enough to go outside....and I am happy to have them out of the house!

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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

What Have We Been Reading?

Kessiah has read Freckles, The Lightening Thief, and Till We Have Faces for school.

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Jenessa has read several books for school...A Wrinkle in Time, The Merchant of Venice, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, and Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens.  For fun she enjoyed The Map to Everywhere.

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Sienna has read through the Magic School Bus chapter books that we have.

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The boys have continued to enjoy reading dinosaur books.  I was excited to get them to let me start reading the Magic Tree House books to them (we have all of them so that makes it easy!)...it didn't hurt that the first one was about dinosaurs!  I wanted to try the research guides along with reading the fiction books...I don't have them all but ordered a few more from paperbackswap.com

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I read the Illustrated Classics version of Sherlock Holmes and started the Candy Shop Wars as read alouds to everyone.

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Ryan has finished the first Harry Potter book and we let the girls watch the movie this week.  I watched the Fiddler on the Roof a couple of weeks ago with Kessiah and Jenessa (it was a school project for Jenessa).  I enjoyed getting to share that movie experience with them.  Our latest family movie nights have been Spirit,  Earth to Echo, and The Rescuers.

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Sunday, March 8, 2015

Weekly Wrapup

This week we were on a little different schedule.  For Kessiah and Jenessa, it was mid-term week...that means they didn't have any online classes.  The week for them was finishing projects/assignments and taking some tests.  What that all translates to is it was a slower week for everyone...we didn't get up as early and we stayed up a little later...kind of like a pre-Spring break!

Monday:  Logan cornered me when the girls were at piano lessons and "insisted" that I start piano lessons with him.  In his defense, I had told him I would start teaching him in January...and I still hadn't done it!  So, I got out the primer books and gave him his first lesson. We sat down at the piano and had a short lesson every day this week except for Saturday and Sunday.  He is pretty excited to be learning how to play.  One morning he came downstairs and went right into the piano room to practice before he even said "Good Morning!"  Here is a picture of him taken towards the end of the week...he is showing me a song that he had memorized!

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For Family Home Evening we went to see a play at the local middle school.  Kessiah has a friend who was in Oklahoma...now I'm in the mood to see the movie...it might be my pick for family movie night when it's my turn!

Tuesday:  Kessiah went to a nursing home for her youth activity.  She was able to play a couple of piano pieces.  Jenessa and Sienna made cars for the Darling Derby (they are using the track that the Cub Scouts use for the Pinewood Derby)  Ryan got to help them make their cars.

Wednesday:  We got our baby chicks!  We have been counting down the days and now we have 18 cute little fluff balls.  Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of formal schooling that happened today!  That evening I picked up an order of chicken from Zaycon.  So, I had 80 pounds of chicken to put in the freezer before bedtime.

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Thursday:  We did our large group day for our homeschool group.  We divided into 2 different groups and solved a crime.  I went with the girls and we did some experiments to determine who sabotaged a cookie shop.

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That evening we had our 4H community meeting which included a green contest and a pizza party.  Yeah!  That meant I didn't have to cook dinner.  Jenessa dressed up in the 4H tshirts as a last minute contestant in the green contest.

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Friday:  For one of Jenessa's midterm assignments she had to go out in nature and look at some animals in their natural habitats.  So, Ryan took Kessiah, Jenessa, Sienna, and Logan on a hike.  On their way home from the hike they stopped to pick up 2 baby ducks to add to the chick crew.

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Saturday:  Sienna went to a birthday party and Jenessa had a friend over during the birthday party (the sister of the birthday girl).  Kessiah went with a friend to the Renaissance Festival.  She had a great time and came home with some elf ears.

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