St. Patrick's Day

I usually don't do much for St. Patrick's Day.  This year I wanted to do something.  So I bought some little black tins from Hobby Lobby and some rollo's (candy).  Last night I filled the tins with the rollo's so everyone had their own little "pot of gold"  I also stuck a green juice box in everyone's tin as a filler (they held more rollo's than I thought they would!)  And I found a box of Lucky Charms (probably from when Ryan did most of the grocery shopping during my pregnancy!) in the food garage and put that on the table along with the pots.  It was cute and of course the kids loved it!

I was reminded why I dislike Lucky Charms so much in our house.  We have some children who just can't help themselves...they must pick out the marshmellows out of the cereal...and then no one wants to eat the cereal without marshmellows that is left!

Ketchup Week

It is our Spring Break this week, I often refer to these weeks when we have a different routine because of a school break as "catch-up" weeks...but my children say "ketchup" week!  And of course they think we should have food that requires ketchup!

Kessiah is a little behind in Math and Science so we are doing one lesson in each of those subjects this week as well as spending some time working on her 4-H record book.

Jenessa is currently not behind in any subjects so she gets to pick three subjects of her choice each day this week.

We have been enjoying some really nice weather this weekend and so the girls have been begging me to get out the summer clothes...so this afternoon that is what we did!  Jenessa and Sienna are set, Kessiah really needs some new shirts.

We also put our school papers from the past several months into our school notebooks.

Kessiah and Jenessa made our Family Home Evening treats this afternoon...pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (yummy...it was my turn to pick!)

I am really looking forward to this week to "catch-up" on a few things that have been neglected!

Basketball tournament

Kessiah had a basketball tournement this weekend.  Her team had 4 games on Friday evening and Saturday.  She missed one of the Saturday meetings because of a 4-H cavy meeting.  It was kind of sad when they lost their second game in the tournament because that meant they couldn't go on.

They were fun games to watch, there seemed to be an increased level of determination displayed from the teams.

It was a good basketball season.  Kessiah had a good coach that made sure she was included as much as possible (she was the shortest player on her team and probably in the whole age group!)  Jenessa did great, she showed those boys how to play (she was the only girl on her team).  And Sienna, although she is too young to play, is already showing some skill.  She can bounce pass and dribble pretty good.

Jenessa's Birthday

Jenessa thinks every holiday should be a major event...that of course includes her birthday!  Last night she was acting as if it were Christmas Eve...she was so excited.  And I don't know how many times today she asked if she could open her presents...actually she started asking yesterday!  Thankfully, we had planned to open them at lunch time so I didn't have to deal with the same question for the ENTIRE day!

I let the birthday kid pick their own subjects to do for school on their birthday...so Jenessa picked an interesting combination for her birthday.  Math, Language Arts, Art, History (several lessons) and Science.  The only one she didn't pick was phonics, not a surprise...it's not her favorite.  Thanfully we only have 2 more weeks of phonics and then we are finished with that course.  Kessiah and Jenessa worked diligently this morning and completed all of their school work so that they would have the entire afternoon for free time.

Jenessa was excited about her gifts:  Littlest Pet Shops, a jewelry making kit with beads, a Barbie movie, and some new pajamas.

I am so glad Jenessa is part of our family.  She is full of life and fun and yet she can have such a soft and gentle spirit.  She is always the first one to want to help someone when they are sick or hurt.  Her organizational side helps me stay on track during our school day and she is really good about putting her books away.

Sleep is Good!

For the most part, Mason has been sleeping through the night for about a month.  By sleeping through the night, I mean from about 9:00 to 7:00...it is glorious! 

Mondays are about to get busier!

The girls haven't taken dance this year.  For a couple of reasons...1)  the dance teacher we had used for the past 3 years moved (so sad!)  and 2) Mason joined our family and I wasn't ready to add too many activities back in when school started last fall.

But...the past few months there has been an ad in one of the homeschool newsletters that there was a dance class for homeschoolers at a dance studio here.  After thinking about it for a few months I decided to give it a try for March, April and May and then I would know if it was something we wanted to pursue into next year or go with someone else I know that teaches out of her home.  A big reason why I decided to try it was 1)  the cost...the same price as what I had paid before at someone's house and 2) Sienna...I thought she needed something like that to do.

Sienna was so cute as we were getting ready to go!  She was so excited and loved every minute of it.  Kessiah and Jenessa also enjoyed it...but Sienna was elated!

Queen Elizabeth

Kessiah is studying the Elizabethan Era for history right now.  I have really enjoyed reading a few books myself about Queen Elizabeth.  I got put a few books for Kessiah to read about the Queen that turned out to be too old for her, I enjoyed them so much that I put some more on hold just for me!