What's He Up To Now?

Back to School, Fall 2012

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 04:54:00 +0000

We actually started back to school several weeks ago. I didn't say anything about it because I didn't want to make all those public schoolers jealous. haha!

Here are our first day of homeschool pics from then. We're using My Father's World this year, which is new to us. David and Elizabeth will be doing some of Adventures in My Father's World together, while she also has the MFW First Grade.

And here we are on the first day of public school (today public schools in our area started). We started our day by looking at all the BTS photos that people were posting on fb, then we prayed for all the students and teachers we know in public school.

All my students in our classroom!

We do lots of reading and we have a timeline this year. This is what Christopher Columbus' ship would have looked like if Elizabeth had been his sail designer! haha!!

Here's our puppets. The boring one in the middle was made by Mom. : )

I had to move the marker board calendar, because Sarah kept erasing it! Beside it, we have our new spelling board! I'm very excited about using All About Spelling this year with David. And cool repurposing project? Oh yeah! That spelling board was formerly the front of my dishwasher!!

July ONE

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 20:30:00 +0000

In the blink of an eye...

Celebrating Sarah's 1 1/2 birthday!

April ONE

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:27:00 +0000

Loving our bluebonnets!

Blogger wouldn't let me add all the photos. But that's ok, because photos can't show the true beauty.

Review in process...

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:57:00 +0000

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for a month in exchange for a candid review. Their online program can be used for homeschool, as an after school tutorial and for summer learning. My opinion will be my own, so come back and read about my experience. You can write your own curriculum review, too!

The previous paragraph is one of the requirement fir the review. : )

March ONE

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:43:00 +0000

February ONE

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:06:00 +0000

This is my life...

it's a beautiful mess!

Working in the Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:44:00 +0000

love, love, love

Hit those books!

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:23:00 +0000

This looks like the stack of books that one might need for a semester of college, right? No, this is a partial stack (2 of the books were being used when I took the photo) of the material for Dad's upcoming promotional exam. The notebook includes SOP's. He's been studying, and will be studying non-stop for the next month, as we count down to the highly competitive exam. Only the top scorers will be eligible for the promotion. Please join me in praying for his studying efforts and test-taking!

First Jigsaw Puzzle

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:38:00 +0000

Elizabeth got her first real jigsaw puzzle for her birthday... of course it had a unicorn on it. I explained how to flip all the pieces over, look for edges & she took it from there. She concentrated very hard.

And was so very proud when she had finished it!

Remembering Dublin

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:11:00 +0000

It is sad what the big guys of Dr Pepper have done to the small town of Dublin, Texas. That's my only commentary. Better words were written by my friend, Julie. And the local news story explains the situation well. Watch the video for the full effect. So for now, I leave you with just one piece of how Dublin Dr Pepper has been a part of my life.

"Dublins" were special in Dad's family, thanks to his Papa, who loved them. He would make the almost 2-hour drive just to get the special drinks. I was introduced to Dublin when I joined the family. Almost 14 years ago, my new husband & I toasted with Dublin Dr Peppers at our wedding reception. (He's also a Dukes of Hazzard fan, as you can tell...)

Dublin Dr Pepper, you will be missed.

Back to School Fun: Spring 2012

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:34:00 +0000

We jumped right back into school as soon as the new year passed and we were all ready to get back into a normal swing of things! We did some extra fun learning activities to get going. Dot painting gave us the chance to work on patterns and following instruction. I gave them a specific pattern to follow and after doing that, then they were allowed to exercise their creativity with the rest of their peacock.

I had planned a game of 10's Go Fish to refresh some math skills that might have been forgotten. When I started shuffling the cards, I realized that my kids have never seen plain playing cards before! So we played a simpler version to get used to the cards and and how to handle them. I wish I had Grandma's card holders! Guess I'll have to make my own. This turned out to be a good counting review for Elizabeth anyway.

Another math game using dice & adding for David & Elizabeth to work on together. I challenged David to a speed round later, which turned out quite exciting! I was ahead by a long shot, then my dice would not cooperate and he pulled ahead for the win!

I love mixing learning with Christmas! Found a great deal on the Crayola Activity Center that I'd been eyeing for a while anyway, with a coupon and a store sale the day after Thanksgiving! Elizabeth loves it and is getting in some good handwriting review!

David's favorite subject is World History. He is happy to be back in the world books. Here he is marking the reign of Alexander the Great as we read about him. It was a fun first week back to school and a good start to the Spring 2012 semester. This week, perhaps we'll wear clothing for school instead of PJ's!

5th Birthday: The Unicorn Party

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:20:00 +0000

When I said, "We want to get the unicorn balloon," I had absolutely no idea the unicorn balloon was so HUGE!! She was thrilled with it, though!

Elizabeth has been excited about, and planning this party for months. I believe she was happy with the outcome. : ) This afternoon she helped prepare the cupcakes with sprinkles and mini chocolate chips.

The party started with the girls making unicorn horn party hats! I had the cones already made and they glitter painted them. I was so busy squirting paint and passing out supplies I didn't get any pictures until well into the party when I got Dad to start taking pictures.

Next the girls made unicorn sun catchers. I had precut black construction paper by tracing a unicorn that I printed off the internet. The moms helped lay out clear contact paper and the outlines, then the girls sprinkled on tissue paper. Again, no pictures of the process, but this is Elizabeth's completed unicorn. They turned out beautiful in person!

We played a little relay game where the girls took turns carrying a mini unicorn in a spoon around the couch. Well, it was supposed to be a mini unicorn, but Elizabeth misplaced her, so we used a giant marshmallow with a toothpick stuck in it. No pics. : \ But they had fun doing it.

Then we made edible unicorn horns - sugar cones, white icing and sprinkles!

Rebekah had a big glob of glitter paint on her face. There were sprinkles everywhere. It hurts when you're in socks and step on a bunch of sprinkles.

Next up: Pin the Horn on the Unicorn! I found this website with beautiful unicorn drawings and tried to replicate it... My unicorn looks kinda goofy, but I find if you add enough color and swirls it becomes a magnificent, magical and beautiful creature... especially to a 5 year old girl!

I've noticed that whenever we play a Pin-the-whatever game at a party, my kids always win. Makes me wonder if there's a little foul play going on there under the mask...

Finally, it was cupcake time! (much to the relief of some of the guests... hee hee!)

Dad saved the day by lifting Elizabeth up to blow out the last candle. Smear chocolate around your face & into your mouth and on to presents!!!

Before the girls left, big brother came out to herd them around the room for a while.

And Sarah was holding her ears because the squealing was so loud!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe I didn't get more pictures! With all the set-up, then crafting that we started out with, I failed to photograph the food! Elizabeth loved the unicorn cake topper that was on loan from my BFF. She stood atop the cupcakes, prancing in the sprinkles.

It makes me happy to make kids happy.

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

January ONE 2012

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:44:00 +0000

Happy New Year!

I don't typically do new year's resolutions, but I do hope I can blog better this year. After adding baby #4, I really had a hard time getting it done. Now that we've passed the 1st birthday, I look back and am disappointed that I didn't record more here.

December ONE

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:40:00 +0000

November ONE

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:17:00 +0000

Yes, I took the photos, then forgot to post them. Then the photos I took on the first, I really didn't like how they turned out. So this one was actually taken on the third. And that's ok with me.

It's amazing every month how fast they grow.

2nd Annual Halloween Party

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 03:15:00 +0000

I'm finally getting to the party pics! (kicking self) And I forgot to take a picture of the whole spread! And (worst of all) I forgot to take a picture of all the kids together! We had 18 kids, and some adults, in costume!

My Little Pumpkin with Aunt Jana

My flamingo & skeleton with Grana & MawMaw

My Abe Lincoln with a Rangers Fan as Batman passes by.

Babe Magnet and Country Bumpkin

Lots of kids running around!

We did a treasure hunt for pumpkins and played Donuts on a String, which was hilarious! The kids had to eat a donut, but couldn't touch it.

As it started to get dark, Grandpa drove us on a hay(less) ride. I gave them their goodie bags with glow sticks. I was afraid it would be a boring ride, but we ended up with about 16 howling coyotes riding along with us! And they appeared to be having a ball!

Some of them hung out for a while afterward with the kids playing hide & seek in the dark. You know it's a good party when every one's not rushing to leave! : ) I'm already looking forward to next year!

The Flamingo

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 02:55:00 +0000

We found this goofy flamingo hat at Dollar Tree last summer. Right then & there, Elizabeth wanted to be a flamingo for Halloween. I figured she could dress in pink with the hat & call it done.

Then I saw the bird wings tutorial on Prudent Baby... and I got ambitious.

Standing on one foot.

Yes, that was a time consuming project, but I have to admit... I love them... perhaps as much as she does. And there had better be years of play left on those wings after Halloween! : )

More Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:51:00 +0000

Last week we made more Halloween decorations! Some of the supplies came from Aunt Sissy's Box of Fun.

The kids enjoyed reading I'm the Scariest Thing in the Castle by Kevin Sherry, so we made bats like the one in the book. This is a great book to read with little ones. It's not really scary at all... it's cute!

I did this a few weeks ago with my homeschool art classes- we made the giant squid from Kevin Sherry's book, I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean! All the kids have enjoyed this project. Idea from Deep Space Sparkle.

Next we used pipe cleaners & eyeballs to make spiders!

I looked at the cute press on nails that are out for Halloween & didn't want to spend the money, or they were in kids sizes. So I decided just to do crazy nails with a monster eye. Unfortunately, I lost half of my polish while trying to remove green Sharpie scribbles from my painted white kitchen cabinets. I'll redo them this week, though.

Skeletons are not scary at our house. After all, everyone has one! We have a couple of skeletons that I picked up at Halloween time for homeschool purposes. : ) Gotta learn how the body works, you know! The kids really enjoyed making these Q-tip skeletons! Idea from Boredom Busting Mommy.

Rebekah's skeleton is in purple. Hers looks a little like it was in an accident!

Random

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:19:00 +0000

A few showers have finally fallen and the lantana has loved it! These blooms are like little joyful bursts of sunshine!

We got a dog on August 5:

Daisy is a Great Pyrenees. Yes, we were aware that she would be a big dog. Here she is at 4.5 months old!

Isn't she pretty!? She is by far the best puppy we've ever had. As a cat person, I am really surprised how much I've enjoyed having her. I'm having a hard time remembering she's just a baby, though!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:20:00 +0000

Mom: You want oatmeal or eggs for breakfast?
Rebekah: Um... Candy!

Aunt Sissy's Box of Fun, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:59:00 +0000

Last week we received a fun box that the sender called, "Aunt Sissy's Box of Fun!" Aunt Sissy wanted to see what we might do with some of the stuff, so here's a peek at what we did this afternoon after our field trip to Legoland!

We made a pipe cleaner mustache and glasses.

Earlier in the week, we made white glue ghosts so today we stuck them on the glass. Elizabeth's was made using a different type of glue and it all pulled into the middle instead of the shape that she drew. So we went with that and just gave it lots of eyeballs to compensate for the strange shape. (Hey look, Sissy, you can see the dog through David's ghost's mouth!)

I made a little bunting out of the black pom-poms and the SPOOKY letters.

I also made a big black spider out of the pipe cleaners, but forgot to take a picture. I guess that's ok, though, since Aunt Sissy and other aunts hate spiders.

Elizabeth has been drawing some jack-o-lanterns for decorations and I've got her flamingo wings in progress with one week remaining to finish her costume!

October ONE

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:52:00 +0000

Wow.

Really what else can I say? The blog speaks for itself. I've been blogging for 7 years and this is the first month I have only had one lousy post! Not that I have a lot of followers, but to those who are following, I apologize.

I do have things to blog about. We took an amazing family vacation at the end of August. We started our home school year and started co-op classes. We took trips to the fire station and the museum. We went with our home school group to see a movie. We had doctor appointments. We celebrated grandparents day (though we forgot to tell them!) and the first day of fall. Sarah turned 9 months old! We started a small group in our home. Maybe I'll go back & add some pictures. If I have time. I've got 4 kids and I'm tired.

Well, anyway, it's a new month and here they are in all their cuteness, growing like a patch of weeds in a drought:

The one photo all day where not one child was crying... or caught in the act that made one cry. Yes, they're a beautiful patch of weeds. Some folks choose to call them wildflowers. I'll try to remember that the next time I feel like pulling one of them up by the roots!! : ) And my, how they grow!

September ONE

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:37:00 +0000

My, how time flies!
Last year: September 1, 2010

Puppy Week: A Kindergarten Unit Review

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:00:00 +0000

I have used HomeschoolShare for lapbooking resources several times with David and have really been pleased with the results. Our favorite of all time had to be the My Father's Dragon lapbook! He still talks about that one. Amazingly, I never got pictures of our completed book. The site is free to join and has a lot of free printables for lapbooks, notebooks, and unit studies.

HomeschoolShare has some new Kindergarten Kits coming out soon and I had the chance to try out the "Playful Puppies Kindergarten Kit" set with Elizabeth. She really enjoyed it and I took lots of pictures! Elizabeth is 4 1/2 years old. Not old enough to be a public school kindergartner, but we're starting kindergarten this year at home anyway. She is more than ready!

Disclaimers: "Playful Puppies Kindergarten Kit" was given to me to review & test out before the final version was released on HomeschoolShare. I didn't have all the books recommended for the unit and didn't have a library trip scheduled either, so we made due with what we had. Also, I love the light in our dining area, but it makes backlight in all the photos, so I apologize for the darkness of the activity in the photos! And finally, my printer was just about out of color ink, so the printouts are a little dull. I went over the edges of some things with a marker so they'd be easier to see. If you have a good ink cartridge in your printer, your printouts will look much better than mine.

Here's all the puppy & dog books that we had. We read these as we were going through the activities in the pack. Also had an informational book about dogs that somehow missed the photo.

Going over the days of the week, she decided to count them.

This was the cutting page, but she wanted to trace the lines first.

Then I cut the page into strips for easier handling.

This was really good practice for her because we haven't done a lot of cutting. Unless you count her bangs. Doesn't that look lovely? She and her brother did that. At least they were working together, right?

Anyway, Elizabeth loves coloring, so the same size/matching activity was right up her alley!

The next activity that she really loved was the

A-E-I-O-U Game.

She could have kept playing this for hours!

I liked that these were lowercase letters. She identified the vowels, put them in alphabetical order, and identified them by sound. This opened the discussion of long and short vowel sounds also.

Then she hid the bone and had me try to find it, except that she always left a little corner of the bone card peeking out... and she thought that was hilarious!

We used our hodgepodge of ABC magnets and a cookie sheet for her to copy some words. This is beginning spelling & reading skills. Then we talked about the sounds that each letter makes and slowly let her sound out the words.

The smile was after sounding out a word, when she realized that she had just sounded out a word!

Doggy, Doggy, Where's Your Bone? had her place the missing numbers on the chart. The instructions recommended printing the missing numbers on sticker paper, but I didn't have any. That would have been really fun to use, though!

She was proud that she made it all the way to 30!

We love nonstandard measurement activities, and this one was no exception!

The bone ruler and 3 puppies came in this activity. She measured each puppy, measured them stacked up, sorted them by size, and then found other things to measure.

Her plate is 6 dog bones across.

The eraser is almost 2 dog bones long.

The little trampoline is almost 7 dog bones tall.

Her foot is 5 dog bones long.

We compared her foot to my foot.

Baby Sarah's foot is 3 dog bones long.

The last thing I got pictures of was the One Stop Puppy Shop Game. Once again, the games are her favorite! We used real money, but paper money is included in the kit if you want to print it and use it. I wrote on the coins with a Sharpie how many cents they were. We talked about the value of each coin or bill. We matched the coin to the puppy supply it would buy. (For example, the quarter is 25c and it will buy the frisbie.) Then we rolled dice to play the game per the instructions in the kit. She loved this!

We had a lot of fun with the Playful Puppies Kindergarten Kit! I'd highly recommend it! Other Kindergarten Kits will be available soon, free of charge, on HomeschoolShare!

Oh, and look... We did the Playful Puppies Kindergarten Kit just in time...

That's our new puppy, Daisy!

August ONE

noreply@blogger.com (onemotherslove) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:56:00 +0000

Another month has flown by! Kids are growing, growing, growing. We've been slowly picking school back up and are starting school back in full force this month. By September ONE, programs will be going also and fall will be busy and fun. I have some reviews coming up and some summer events that I still want to blog even though they're over. Hopefully I'll get those things done this week.

David was holding Sarah and asked if he could look at her face, so he turned her facing him and began to talk to her while she laughed. So cute!

We staged this month's photo on the couch again. Tried to get one happy photo and one silly. I think both are both, though. : )

Rebekah was finishing off our popcorn snack. And, after a lot of trial & error, I was able to get one photo with the kids piled up on me! : )

love!