Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2008


Thank you for viewing our Christmas "card" for 2008!

Don't miss the outtakes.

Santa & A Christmas celebration

We visited with Santa at the annual Santa Breakfast.

William had lots to say to Santa. He asked for a vacuum and a lucky dog.


Zachary thought Santa was terrific. He also asked for a lucky dog.


With cousins after getting goodie bags from Santa.



We also celebrated the season with the animals at the zoo.

Reading about the Ravens


Waiting with Daddy to see the bears come out and get their Christmas gifts.


Cutie patootie

Phew.

3.5 months of neglected blogging caught up! In the coming weeks we will have breakfast with Santa, go to a few homeschool park days, play at a homeschool Christmas party, attend a Christmas party for the zoo animals, go to the Crocker art museum, celebrate Papa's birthday, go to Grandma Woohoo & Papa's for Christmas Eve, be visited by Santa, celebrate Zachary's 6th birthday and get ready to welcome 2009. Many more updates to come!

Video games and Reading?

I have to admit I am not a video game player. Nor am I am fan of video games being played in our home. BUT my husband loves video games and I love him so I tolerate it. Now our sons love video games too. We are very selective about what they are exposed to and they are only allowed to play Xbox360 or the NintendoDS on the weekends and for a limited time. I am usually involved in some other task while they play but this past weekend they asked me to play with them. Zachary and I played Beautiful Katamari.

Beautiful Katamari is a very strange game that includes a talking head with captions. I was amazed as Zachary read almost every word of the captions to me. In the span of a 10 minute game he read all of the following aloud:
ordinary
present
princedom
barely
worth
better
adding
explore
remember
yummy
should
orbit
alligator
earth
everything
delish
maybe
playful
satellite
shame

Satellite was the only word on the list that he needed help with and after seeing it a couple of times he recalled it when he saw it again. Ok, so maybe some learning or at least a demonstration of learning can happen with a video game.

Button snowmen

The boys created their own ideas of snowmen. I ordered a big bucket of buttons through Discount School Supply and the boys love to dig in and sort them, spill them (and then they need encouragement to clean them up) and use them for crafts. I have a very special jar of buttons that were formally the button box my mom had throughout my childhood. Lots of different beautiful buttons that I spent hours sorting and digging through. Those buttons are now just for show - not to be glued on a construction paper snowman so I love the boys having their own box of buttons to explore with.


Zachary's snowman is on the left with a carrot nose. William went button crazy!

November

We have been working on sorting, counting by twos, measurement and calendar skills.



William continues to work hard on his large motor skills. He is a champ at climbing, jumping (and freaking me out). At My Gym he kept climbing to the top of this ladder and jumping straight down!


He is also working on learning how to pump his legs on the swing.


It is amazing how different our boys are. Zachary has no interest in swings - occasionally he will swing on his belly but he doesn't want to sit on a swing at all but at almost 4 he was identifying letter sounds and William doesn't show much interest in letters at all. They are an excellent reminder to me of one of the many reasons why we homeschool. These beautiful, brilliant boys can learn at their own pace, their own style and learn about things that interest them. In a kindergarten classroom Zachary would be far beyond his peers with his reading skills but he does not do much paper/pencil math. In a preschool classroom William would be a mess if someone made him sit and do a penmanship worksheet but he can out climb kids a foot taller and a couple years older than he is. They are unique and amazing and we are so blessed to be able to encourage them to be who they are instead of fitting in to a standards based public classroom mold.


A pirate-princess-sushi birthday party!


Zachary practiced his reading skills with karaoke.


Zachary had his first dance with a girl he is not related to.


Carl took the whole week of Thanksgiving off and we had a lot of great family time.

At the park

I'm a little teapot.


Sweet boy.


Making wood chip cakes for sale.



Thanksgiving at Grandma and Papa's house.

We made turkey hand print place cards.


Great grandma gave the boys games. We love both of them. - How Tall Am I & Zingo


Grandma Woohoo continues the Thanksgiving tradition of warm fuzzy Christmas jammies after dinner. The Christmas season begins!





We spent the Saturday after Thanksgiving with Grandma Woohoo, Great Grandma McCrystal and Papa. The boys stayed and had tea parties and played Go Fish with the grandmas while Carl and I went to a movie. When we returned we all had dinner together and then spent hours visiting. We stayed until after 10pm! The boys rarely ever stay up that late but we were all enjoying each other's company so much we didn't want the night to end.


The boys reading together. Zachary has taken to shadow reading with William. He will read a sentence and then have William repeat it back. It is pretty darn cute.

October was busy... it continues...

Our annual trip to Zittel's for pumpkins. Our family rule is you can pick any pumpkin you can lift in to your wagon, pull around the grounds and then get in and out of the car. If it is too heavy it is not the right pumpkin for you.





Zachary aimed big this year.


William's pumpkin was a good size... his attitude was huge though.


At the park.

Head over heals






A few hours later.




Zachary finally got his wish of a "daddy haircut". Yikes. William has been told he has to wait until he is almost 6 to even discuss it. I did trim William's hair a bit. Zachary wasn't too sure of the haircut and he wants it to grow long again.

Zip lining at our homeschool group Halloween party


My pumpkins and their pumpkins.



We took pumpkin roll ups for lunch for our Halloween party potluck and William wanted them for lunch again the next day (on Halloween).

October continues...

We had a great field trip to Jack London Square/the Port of Oakland. We rode Amtrak to Jack London Square. The 2 hour train ride was great. Our homeschool group had the entire top floor of one train car. The kids had room to roam and play and there were plenty of sights to see as we traveled.

William was THRILLED to be on a big train.


Having friends to play with made the trip fly by.


The boat was really, really crowded. We were not quite at the end of the line in this picture. The covered dock was solid people and it wrapped around a corner until it got to us... it was actually sort of miserably over-crowded. I guess that is what you get for free!


William and his friend Ella at the waterside waiting for the boat.


We couldn't hear most/any of the tour guide information as we toured the Port of Oakland but the kids enjoyed looking out the window at the container ships and giant cranes at work.


Part of our group when we arrived back in Sacramento after a long day.


A day in Davis.

First we visited the Davis History Museum.


Then the Davis Farmers Market's harvest festival.

Petting piglets


Watching cockroach races!


Our annual trick-or-treating on Historic Sutter Street.

Our little rock star - complete with attitude.


The Magic School Bus.



We managed to spend just $7 on both costumes combined - a can of yellow spray paint and iron-on transfer papers! A great reduce-reuse-recycle Halloween!

Bowling videos

Check out William's dance moves.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Zachary is a pretty good bowler - especially with the rails!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

The boys insisted that Daddy's bowling video be showcased too.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

October

We started the month out, like we always do, with Carl's birthday. I love the last quarter of the year when we are finally the same age!

Carl took his birthday off and we went bowling! The boys first bowling experience. They loved it but the people around us did NOT love them loving it. They had a really hard time grasping the concept of staying in our space. Thankfully the alley was pretty empty and the boys did not get hit with any balls. They were really hilarious when bowling - I will try to get some video uploaded too.


We also celebrated Carl's birthday with a Rock Band party at my parents' house. We now add Rock Band and karaoke on Zachary's learning record as reading practice! He reads lyrics and really rocks! Both kids work on rhythm and color recognition when they play the guitar and drums too :)






Our garden gave us our first taste of our labors. Two tiny radishes! The boys tried to give it a thumbs up but they weren't so impressed with the bitter little veggies. They much preferred the radishes a month or so later.




Our good friends Lincoln and Reagan hatched ducklings and we had the opportunity to meet the new ducklings.



Lincoln and Reagan always show the boys their great computer games.


We go to weekly library storytime but once a month the library has a special storytime. The zoo sanctuary next to the library brings over an animal. The books are all about that animal and the docents talk about the animal and introduce him to the kids. October was owl storytime. The owl performed well, to the children's delight he pooped while out of his cage!


We celebrated our friend Charlotte's birthday with a baby doll party. She had a small party and wanted "her people" there including "Zachaby and Willam". The birthday girl's grandma made these great baby doll slings as well as a doll sized cloth diaper, blanket and pillow! Such a fun birthday favor!


More October coming up next...

September

Lots of walks. The stroller stays at home now and the boys can walk over a mile before whining. The boys got new backpacks and loved them! It is really hard to find little kid sized backpacks that aren't plastered with characters so we gave in and let them get their beloved Thomas and Cars.


We spent a lot of time outside - a favorite outside activity is Moonsand.


We continued to work on our garden.


Our homeschool group had a bike day. We parked our vans and SUVs to block off the entrance to a sports field parking lot that isn't used during the day and the kids biked around and around.


We went on a field trip to Petco. The idea of the field trip was good but the store employee conducting the trip struggled to keep our gang engaged. At one point he was talking about some frogs or snakes in an aquarium and how it was their house. Zachary interrupted and said "it is their HABITAT". Rude little smartie pants.

Catching Up!

I have slacked on keeping our blog updated. I know all the grandmas love keeping an eye on what we are up to via the blog so I am back to it! Here comes update overload!

Garden Update

We have seedlings!

We have 3 of our 4 broccoli seedlings - we suspect the dog stepped on the 4th. He has been in big trouble for standing in the raised beds.



French breakfast radishes


Spinach


Our green onion test worked! These are the green onions purchased at the farmer's market with roots still attached. We stuck them in the dirt, trimed them down and they are growing!


Not pictured - a celery seedling. We are still waiting for our carrot and chard seedlings.

And the best seedlings of all

Something strange in the neighborhood...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Unexpected learning

In general numbers are not of great interest to Zachary at this point, until NASCAR. He will work out numbers so he can read the numbers on the cars. I guess I can tolerate some short bursts of NASCAR on our TV if he is working out the difference between 34 and 43.

Today we baked bread and buns. While measuring out the flour Zachary dropped the 1 cup measuring cup in to the yeast slurry which gave us the opportunity to discuss how many half cups equal 1 cup. A bit of fractions, multiplication and some extra dishes to wash. The fruits of our labor were delicious topped will grilled burgers and a side of roasted beets fresh from the Farmer's Market.

Our buns:

Our square foot garden is planted

The box being sanded.


Mixing together the soil.



Planted, watered and waiting.

We have big pockets!

The boys found an old folded up pocket chart and a pocket chart fairy tale set and asked to put them up today. We had fun putting the story in order and making a little video to share (see videos below).

Zachary has been writing a lot of "letters" lately. A lot of proclamations of his love for his family. Yesterday this letter was delivered to me.

"I love you KC. You love" and then lines and periods to include 3 things/people I love.

Our books about China and the Olympics have been returned to the library but we are still enjoying the boys' Olympic ring flags on the wall.


We have checked out books about gardening and oceans. In October we will be going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium so we are reading up on all sorts of sea life.

There Was an Old Woman

They obviously enjoyed this activity! Crazy boys.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Humpty Dumpty

Zachary reads about Humpty Dumpty while William points to the pictures illustrating each part of the story. We started out with all of the pieces on the floor and they worked together to get them in the correct sequence.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Keeping busy

When people ask what we have been up to I always stumble for an answer. We are just doing life. Playing, visiting, finding new things to explore and learn about. Here are a few things we did in the past week (not necessarily in order and definitely not exhaustive of our whole week).

We started work on our Square Foot Garden. The boys made plans for what they would like to plant.

(note: the drawings on the top paper are Zachary's - then he asked me to label them, William drew one giant tomato plant that took up all 16 of his boxes. Carl drew pictures of veggies too but I bet he would appreciate me not posting them on the internet :) ). We started building our raised beds but had some technical difficulties. We will continue with our revised building plan this coming weekend.

I found a great site that has local gardening tips including a year round planting calendar. We are considering starting with a planting of bok choy, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, green onions, spinach and strawberries. In the spring we will definitely plant zucchini and tomatoes - 2 family favorites.

The boys love to help clean up after Carl mows the lawn.




Zachary wanted to make sure everyone knows our house is a homeschool - you are supposed to read it as you walk up the walkway, like driving up to a stop sign.


Zachary's love affair with all things red, race cars and Cars persists. This was his dress up outfit this week. (The socks on his hands are Cars socks).



Sunday was the boys' friend, Andrew's 6th birthday party. They had a great time riding this little train over and over. It was a hit!





Last week we had our regular park day at a water park.



I had our small point and shoot camera with us. William wanted to take some pictures with the screen flipped out so he could see himself (and me).


Carl took a vacation day and we went to the State Fair on a discount day. It was fun but we were hot and exhausted by the day's end.

We sat in the sun waiting for a much anticipated show of "horses dancing to Star Wars music" - I mean who wouldn't love that? It was so strange. #1 there was no Star Wars music and #2 the horses just walked in circles.

(notice how unimpressed they all look?)

Much more fun was visiting the farm area & petting zoo:




This picture cracks me up - makes me think of American Gothic.


This morning we made sidewalk paint out of cornstarch, water and food coloring. It was great fun. I brought out paint brushes but we found it was much more fun to paint with our hands and feet.

My new favorite quote

"Learning can only happen when a child is interested. If he's not interested, it's like throwing marshmallows at his head and calling it eating." ~ Barbara Lansing

From Throwing Marshmallows.

Up and coming...

Letterboxing: We discussed trying letterboxing a year or two ago but the boys just weren't old enough. Now we are thinking we can ease in to this fun family activity with finding some simple letterboxes in our area.
Letterboxing, at its basic, is a like a treasure hunt type game. Small boxes are hidden in various locations—usually outdoors, though many are planted indoors as well—and the creator of the box will release clues so others can go out and find them later. The box is expected to have a logbook that finders can log into and a unique stamp, usually hand-carved, that the finder can stamp into their own personal logbook as a record of all the letterboxes they've found. Most letterboxers have a unique stamp to represent themselves, called a signature stamp, they stamp into the logbooks found inside letterboxes so others who find the letterbox later know they found it.

Book Arts Bash
Zachary loves making books and we may do this just for the fun of it.
The purpose of the Book Arts Bash is to have fun writing and illustrating books, and to help students and teachers reach across the curriculum to include writing and art in other areas of study. Any homeschooled student or homeschooling parent can enter. Prizes include the usual stuff you can hold in your hand plus invaluable critiques from people in the writing and illustrating biz.

Books we (as parents) are reading or waiting to get from the library:
Homeschooling Our Children Unschooling Ourselves by Alison McKee
Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling by John Holt and Pat Farenga
How Children Learn (Classics in Child Development) by John Holt
Learning All The Time by John Holt

Zachary is really in to Boy's Quest magazine - we bought a box of back issues on eBay and he thinks they are just spectacular! If anyone finds back issues we would love for you to pick them up. A new subscription is very pricey but he doesn't mind the back issues so we will keep collecting.

HSC Conference

This past weekend we attended our first HSC conference. A whole weekend with 100s and 100s of other homeschoolers. It was amazing! We are all exhausted and overwhelmed but thrilled to have had the experience. Our hotel reservations are made for next year and we are just waiting for the discount conference tickets to go on sale.

My parents drove back and forth each day to spend a few hours with us, go to sessions with the kids, help us out with childcare and bring us food. They were an amazing help. (THANKS, MOM & DAD!)

The boys started out the conference a little soggy - in the water play zone. They had a great time!



Zachary wanted to take official kindergarten pictures wearing his backpack.




Zachary and Carl went to a session called Cupcake Geology - a huge hit!



The art deck was very popular with our kids - all sorts of art supplies and time and space to try them out. We have a beautiful collection of art work on our gallery wall now.


The Construction Zone had blocks of every sort, Knex, wooden trains and model trains, Legos, giant cardboard boxes and lots of small building bits. We spent a lot of time in the Construction Zone.




There were all sorts of kids activities. The boys did finger painting, magic scratcher ornaments, Sharpie tie dye, clay models, hands on science and much more.




We spent hours at the science deck. So many interesting things to explore, touch, manipulate and check out.





Exhaustion sets in:


As Sunday wrapped up wind tubes turned in to Balloon Swords:




We stopped to say goodbye to the giant koi fish and then it was time to head home.

Summer Wrap Up

It is mid-August and time for a Summer Wrap Up? While summer is technically not over tomorrow starts our school year and Zachary's first official day as a kindergartener!

So a quick re-cap of our busy summer:

We started the summer off with a beautiful event... the marriage of Uncle Corey to Aunt Heather:



We spent a great weekend with out of town family and we were sad to see them go:


Learning never stops, in June we went to the Davis Explorit! Science Center for a safari and lab. We hunted for bugs and checked out the jackrabbits in a nature preserve. Checked out compost and explored their variety of hands on activities.

Checking out the bugs we caught:


Recording his findings:


The 4th of July was celebrated at Grandma & Papa's house with Corey & family.

We watched the parade - the firetrucks are always a favorite.




Nothing quite like a 4th of July tea party:




Just like the rest of the year, a lot of our summer was spent at the park.



Our favorite time of day - bedtime stories


And shortly after those stories


We have yet to brave overnight camping with the boys but we had a great time at our "day camp" at Sly Park. It was an authentic camping day with hot dogs cooked on sticks and smores!








Tomorrow we become "official" homeschoolers. Our charter school requires evidence of learning which in many cases will be photographs so I should have lots of material for keeping this blog updated. Check back soon!

Samuel

Samuel is Zachary's very special friend. He has replaced Buzz as the top lovey in the house. Last week Samuel went missing. He had been in the car with a distraught Zachary (we had to leave Target without purchasing anything which resulted in dueling meltdowns) but when Zachary came in the house Samuel did not. I thought Samuel was still in the car. He was not. We searched the car, searched the house and Samuel was nowhere to be found. The next morning Samuel was discovered in the garage, next to the cat door. Turns out that Samuel had a night out with the cats! Our Sunny cat likes to steal small squishy things (socks are a big favorite) and take them for a spin, give them the full experience of a cat's life. Samuel had apparently fallen out of the car and Sunny had found him. He came home no worse for the wear and regained his rightful place in Zachary's heart.

Shutterbugs

Zachary loves the camera he got for his birthday. The Fisher Price kid tough camera doesn't take terrific pictures but doesn't break under the pressure of my two intense boys. Today we downloaded some of the pictures the boys have captured recently. It is fun to see what was important enough to them to capture with the camera. Although the number of pictures of momma's squashy belly or big hiney are rather disturbing (and quickly deleted!).

Public Works Day

Another fun day at the city's annual public works day. Representatives of all of the city departments were there to share their jobs and expertise with us. We got to see a 30,000 pound trolley/bus on giant jacks, the engine of a police car, an up close fire engine and fire and rescue truck. William even sat in the fire engine but the garbage truck was too high and he wanted out quick! We talked to the garbage man about the capacity of his truck and talked to an expert on the storm drain system. Again this year the boys loved the opportunity to make it rain on the pretend town after the expert had doused it with oil, pesticides, soaps and fertilizer. Then we watched the contaminated water go down the storm drains, to the creeks and eventually to the pseudo lake, turning our drinking water mucky and gross. It was very windy out today so the booths were closing down early and we didn't come home with quite the loot we usually do - although we did score some pencils, tattoos, yo-yos, light up bouncy balls, stencil rules and little army men.

The remotely controlled garbage can that talks, shakes hands and even dances!


Checking out the inside of the fire engine


Street signs and reflectors




One of our favorite stops each year - what was found in the sewer last week!


Creating a storm

Zachary reads Hog and Dog

Zachary reads his new book, Hog and Dog. Sorry about the awful sound quality - I think I was too far away with the camera.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

At the boys' request - some of their Cars and trains

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

An interview with Zachary

Please excuse the bouncing camera - William was "helping" me. And in case you were wondering, yes, William does announce that he has to go poo-poo during the video. Goodness!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

An interview with William

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Cute

We read a lot of books. The boys and I read stacks of books throughout the day. Before bed the kids each pick at least one story for Daddy to read. Every night William brings his book from story time and sticks it under the pillow before laying down to sleep. He cannot be persuaded to put the book back on the shelf - it MUST be under his pillow. I really hope we are cultivating a true love of reading!

Word-Picture Bingo

I have been reading a great book

One of the game ideas was word bingo. I decided to make two different bingo boards - one with words for Zachary and one with pictures for William. We had a great time playing bingo and I will be making up more game boards for future games.

The Tooth Fairy's Visit

Before bed last night Zachary and I ran out and got the supplies to make his dream tooth fairy pillow. He drew his version of a race car on paper and we cut it out to use as a pattern on felt. At his instruction I sewed on a blue pocket and big black button tires.


The tooth fairy brought Zachary 5 dollar coins and a teeny tiny little book telling him how great his tooth looked, clean and lovely! She also left behind a sprinkling of fairy dust.

Tooth Fairy! You have a customer!

On April 21st Zachary woke up with a very loose tooth and today it is official! The Tooth Fairy will be making her first visit to our home tonight! I think the tooth lost its battle when Zachary took a bite out of an apple today - forgetting he had a loose tooth. An hour or so later he told me it felt REAAAALLLLY loose and after closer examination I realized it was just hanging on there. I told him to just pull and out it came! He was a little freaked out by the blood but super excited that they tooth fairy will be visiting him! We talked about making a pillow but obviously we have run out of time. I am sure the TF will understand if we make do with what we have at home tonight. WOW! The Tooth Fairy is coming!

Park Days

Park days are a very important part of our homeschooling experience. It is a time for us to connect with other homeschoolers. Our local group has a designated park day each week and we tend to stay for 4-6 hours. The kids get filthy, worn out and have such a great time. It is an important time for me too - I have a chance to talk with my fellow homeschoolers, get ideas, unwind and share victories and frustrations.

My boys play with boys and girls, young and old. This week the ages ranged from 2-9. They spent some time making homes for ants, discussing black widows, finding click beetles and then testing out different foliage (and a cheeto) to see what the beetle liked. They ran races on the path that circles the playground. They climbed high and slid fast. They played in water and watched a peahen and the chickens.

William and Charlotte were chattering away together as they dug in the dirt.




The kids made a store - selling mud donut holes for 1 leaf each.

Hamburger Farm

This week we had a big field trip to the Hamburger Farm.

The kids had a great time. We had time to play on the property, ride a train, tour the hamburger farm and have a hamburger lunch.

The tour started out with a stop at the bee colony. A really interesting way to see bees at work.


We saw wheat growing and the kids even got to grind their own flour.




Tomato plants, cucumbers, dill, lettuce and onions were next.






There were two cows there. A large beef cow and a huge pregnant dairy cow.


The kids all had a chance to "milk" a wooden cow - that was a huge hit.



We also visited the potato patch and the compost heap.

After the tour the kids played in the sandbox.


Amazingly Zachary ran right up and went down this huge slide. That is usually not his thing - just recently has he started braving taller heights.













We finished up our time panning for marbles.






We had a great time at the hamburger farm!

Katy No-Pocket

A year or two ago I purchased Before Five in a Row by Jane Lambert.

This all new product includes 23 FIAR-style mini-units (plus an extra mini-unit!) on outstanding AND simple children's books for ages 2-4 as well as a large section on learning readiness activities in everyday life; things to do in the kitchen, at the store, at bedtime, bathtime, etc. You'll find an entire treasury of ideas to prepare children for learning- making sure that they've covered all the basic but oh-so-important steps to ensure that they are ready to begin more formal schooling. The perfect introduction to the joys of parent-directed learning in just a few very special minutes each day.


Five in a Row and similar online resources will play a big part of our kindergarten year. At least that is the current plan.

This week we "row'd" Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne and H.A. Rey (who my kids quickly recognized as the illustrator of Curious George.


Our activities this week have included:
-We have used animal classification cards to play games and match with animals the animals in the book while we read.
-We measured 6 feet high to see if we could jump as high as Katy, we can't.
-We measured 25 feet to see how far the average kangaroo can jump - and then we tried to jump 25 feet like a kangaroo - turns out we can't do that either! We then added 15 more feet to see how far 40 feet looks like - the longest kangaroo jump ever recorded.
-We have looked at Australia on a map (we need to get a big world map on which we can pin the location of our stories), discussed habitats and kindness.
-We have worked on narrative retelling of the story and today the boys acted out the end by wearing their aprons and filling the pockets with animals of all sorts.
Here they are mid-jump:


At the park tomorrow we will look in the big trees and talk about what sort of animals live there. We are also planning on making ANZAC cookies:

ANZAC cookies from Australia

Australian and New Zealand soldiers from WWI (1914-1918) were called ANZACs. In 1915, more than 8,000 soldiers died in a famous battle. Australian children remember the soldiers by baking ANZAC cookies.

1/2 cup melted butter (we will use Earth's Balance to keep it dairy free)
1 cup flour (white whole wheat)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup coconut flakes
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Set the oven at 325 degrees.
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Use a teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Place them on a greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes.
5. Let cookies cool for 10 minutes before eating.

Earth Day '08

We discussed Earth Day this week. We discussed the things we already do to conserve - cloth diapers, recycling, turning off lights, walking to the store when we can. Zachary wanted to make an earth day flag to hang up outside. We did some "abstract" painting of globes but it ended up being too windy and wet to hang the up. Last night we went to an Earth Day Celebration and Potluck at our friends' house. Everyone brought an organic/local dish to share and the hostess had projects for the kids. The boys made sand art in recycled jars and planted seeds in recycled egg cartons. After our yummy dinner the adults all read questions from cards provided by Organic Valley. For some reason (maybe the juice they had just consumed?) the kids thought every question and every answer was hilarious!

The home school moms who can't do everything...

Found on a HS blog -

Sung to the tune of Veggie Tales "The Pirates who Don't Do Anything."

All 3 Moms:
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you
We can't do everything
Mom2:
Well, I've never been to Boston and I've never shot a musket,
and I've never built a cabin using nothing but an axe,
and I've never skinned a possum, and I've never staged a battle,
and I've never started home school before fall!

All:
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you...

Mom3:
We can't do everything!

And I've never distilled water, and I've never banded birdies,
and I've never built an ant farm 'cuz I can't stand things that
crawl,
and I've never dug a fossil, and I've never owned a test tube,
and I've never started home school before fall!

All:
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you
We can't do everything

Mom1:
And I've never slaughtered chickens, and I've never milked a go-oat,
and I've never gone to 4-H or the local county fair,
and I've never sewn a jumper, and I don't look good in denim,
and I've never started home school before fall!

Mom2: Huh? What are you talking about? What's a milk goat and denim
jumpers got to do with being a home school mom?

Mom3: Hey, that's right! We're supposed to sing about academic-y thi
ngs!

Mom1: Oh...

Mom2: And who ever sews school uniforms? That's impossible! Why even
bring it up? Am I right? What do you think?

Mom3: I think you should do your laundry.

Mom2: Huh? Why do you think that?

Mom3: You should...

Mom2: Don't wanna!

Mom3: You wore that shirt yesterday!

Mom2: That's it, you're going to help me!

Mom3: Says who?

Mom2: Says ME, that's who!

Mom3: Oh yeah? Well I'm not picking up your socks! (pinches her own
nose)

Mom2: Argh!

Mom3: Yike!

Mom1:
And I've never done gymnastics, and I've never danced the polka,
and I've never painted daisies 'cause I cannot paint at all,
and I've never made a schedule, and my house is never perfect...

Mom2: It'll never happen!

All: And we've never started home school before fall!

We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you
We can't do everything

Mom2: Pass the pencils! Who's got the teacher's guide?

Mom1: Here it is! (holds up shredded paper)

Mom3: (groans, then smiles with sudden inspiration) Time for recess!

Mom2: It's definitely time for Scotch tape.

Mom3: Oh, I don't like that stuff...

Mom1: Hey, look! I found a crayon!

Big 24 hours for Zachary

Yesterday he mastered pedaling and today he woke up with a very, very loose tooth. Zachary woke me up this morning exclaiming "My tooth is REAAAAAAALLLY loose!" and it is! Wow. The dentist has been telling us since October that one of his bottom front teeth was getting a little loose but this morning it is offical - his first lost tooth is imminent :eek: He asked for his new favorite snack today - apple crackers with cheese but the sliced apples were too much for his wiggly tooth and I had to cut his apple in to bits. He is super excited to see what the tooth fairy brings once this tooth is officially out.

Big Bicycle Day!

We picked up Zachary's new bicycle today. Santa brought him a bike for Christmas 2006 and it had gathered dust since then. He was not interested, it made him nervous and he wasn't getting the whole pedaling thing. Fast forward nearly 1.5 years and he is just READY! We picked out the bike (with red flames, no less) and went to the park today. He TOOK OFF! With in the first few moments he tipped over - hit his helmet hard on the ground, jumped up and laughed! He fell a couple more times and at one point told us "It's going to take more than falling down to stop ME!". His helmet was well used today. He was so proud of himself and we were proud too! William was thrilled to inherit the practically unused bumble bee bike but he was not in to giving it much effort today. He was less than thrilled with bike riding and while Zachary rode circles around the park William vacillated between pouting and playing on the playstructure.







William had a great time before bath today he had his shirt around his neck and he was running up and down the hall saying "I am super hero, I save the day!". I asked him if he was "Naked Man" and he said no, he was "Donut Man" LOL!


Zachary was Super Why with his mask he made at the art fair we went to yesterday. There were tons of great hands on activities for the kids but it was crazy busy. The boys made a beaded bracelet, Native American medallions, sand art, water color paintings, mari gras masks, bird puppets, scratch art, fossil impressions, clay masks and foil art. And we only made it to about half the stations!

A balancing act

Today we played a collection of balancing games and talked about balance. Granted with William playing everything is a bit off balance from the get go!

We played these 3 games today...






Our favorite was the alligator game.


After lots of balancing the boys built a potato head family.

A big day for our big boy!

For 3 years, 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days William was rear-facing in the car. We were waiting for William to hit 33 pounds (the maximum rear facing weight for his carseat) before turning him and he finally hit 33 pounds this week. In comparison, Zachary hit 33 pounds at 22 months! William has always been happy rear-facing but he is loving forward facing. As we drove down our street on his first forward facing ride he yelled "weeeeeeeeeeeee" like it was a roller coaster! It is fun to turn around and see his face back there.

Field Trip: California Pizza Kitchen

On April 1st we had the opportunity to tour the California Pizza Kitchen. We had a great tour guide who took us through the entire back end of the restaurant - walking us in to refrigerators & pantries, introducing us to cooks, taking us by each of the stations and explaining how the process works. Then the kids made their own pizzas! The restaurant was so generous - each child had their own small pizza and a drink. They even brought out pizza and drinks for the adults. It was a fun time.

Our tour guide


Even waiting for the tour to start was fun!


making pizza



the tasty results - Zachary made a pineapple & cheese pizza and William had a cheese-less ham & pineapple pizza

7 days a week

A great thing about homeschooling is the learning happens 7 days a week. On Saturday the boys and I made banana bread and talked about fractions. We used the 1/4 cup measuring cup to make 3/4 of a cup and broke bananas in half. That learning has carried on through the week as we encounter more fractions in our everyday life.

Eggs

Everything by lauraskathi

Grandma

New Beginning by laurakathi at www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com

Water Treatment Plant field trip

Today we ventured out to a local water treatment plant for a tour. Carl took the morning off to join us and I had planned to stay home with William but he was crushed at the idea of being left out of a field trip. So we packed up and headed out and as I had thought William was both underwhelmed by the tour and overwhelmed by the noises. It was an interesting tour - the tour guide was excellent. The parents had a lot of questions and we had an excellent turn out.

Super Hero Tea Party Invitation

A friend's almost 4 year old wants a Super Hero Tea Party for his birthday so I helped make the invitation!

Action Hero Collection Biggie by Amanda McGee available at www.scrapgirls.com

Potty and Storytime

William has been spending most at home days diaper free (and usually underpants free too!). Today was a rare event - underpants!


He has been quite enamored lately with the idea that he is a cat


Cute, clean kids ready for a bedtime story

Easter festivities

I have downloaded at least 200 pictures in the last week - this is just a little preview.

Easter Bunny Tangrams


Dyeing eggs


Easter at Grandma & Papa's House was great fun.

The Easter Bunny left lots and lots of eggs in backyard


A water fight broke out after Grandma gave the kids water shooters


Decorating Easter basket cupcakes




and sidewalk chalk outside with the neighbors and dueling cameras!

Joyful Noise

Credits at DST

Dance

Everything* from Birgit Kerr's amazing grab bag available @ Scrapbook Graphics only March 21st (midnight EST) - March 24th (midnight EST) 2008. Don't miss it - there are tons of excellent goodies!

The best of 5

credits @ DST

I am so very lucky

LDD Apprentice Freebies:
MrsB - glitter shamrock
Bohemian Art - frames
JodyKnapp - lucky stitches

Stand Up and Scrap:
Gina Miller - lime swirl paper

Camellia Symphony

Gorgeous new Front Porch kit by Birgit Kerr available at Scrapbook Graphics. I am looking forward to scrapping pictures of Emme and Zachary dancing together with more of this kit.