SALE!!!

In honor of the little birdies in my last post, I am having a sale on the little birdies in my shop.

robin's nest

This Robin's nest is just outside our neighbor's window. It is too high up to be able to see into, so I held my camera up and took these pictures... amazing!

my first dress!

Sew, I just finished the first dress I have ever sewn for myself! I have made a few dresses for the girls and I made my self a skirt once, but this was a much bigger undertaking than any of those! The pattern came from Weekend Sewing and was fairly easy to follow, but I had to adjust the pattern to fit me. I thought I had made the proper adjustments, but when I got it all together it was still too big around the top, so I had to take it apart and re-adjust! Anyway, I LOVE the fabric and I think it turned out pretty cute.

Regan was my photographer for these pictures, she did not do too bad for a 7 year old :)

Trying to take some pictures of the kids on this beautiful morning!

summer snuck op on me

Well, maybe it's not summer yet, but it sure does feel like it today! Our neighbors invited us down to swim in their pool... I am so unprepared for warm weather and long sunny days, we had to borrow sun screen. The kids had a great time, as I am sure you can tell from the pictures. Hope you are all having a warm sunny weekend too!

growing up

Last fall Grandpa brought new (to us) bikes for the boys when they came to visit. Neither of the boys had bikes before and they were so excited! Micah's bike did not have training wheels and I tried (once) to buy a pair for him, but they did not work right, so we returned them and still have not gotten a better pair. With the weather warming up the kids have been itching to get out and ride, so over the weekend Phil and I spent a few minutes holding on to the back of Micah's bike, trying to get him going on his own, but Regan is the one who has taken the initiative and taught Micah how to ride his bike (without training wheels) all on her own! He still needs her to hold the bike while he gets started, but I am sure with a few more tries he will be going all on his own... either way, he is very proud and loves his new biking freedom :)
And Max has inherited the Razor Scooter, good times for all!

little surprizes

After our trip to the farm on Tuesday we went to Moore Expressions (a used homeschool curriculum store) in VA Beach and Regan found this mini Samantha doll, for only $3! (She took this picture herself and wanted me to post about it).

Inevitably we left a few things behind at my parents house and my mom was kind enough to send them to us... imagine my surprise when I opened the box (expecting a sweatshirt, our Elmo harness and licorice laces) and found this!
I searched through my recipes and found one I though might work, orange poppy seed with a lemon glaze, as cute as can be and ready for bible study tonight!

Another little surprise was a tea kettle de-scaler that my mom called and ordered from a store in Maine! We have both looked everywhere for them locally to no avail, so she called the store where she got hers (while visiting Maine with a friend last year) and they were happy to ship her one! My mama is so good to me!

down on the farm

Yesterday a group of us went to Hunt Club Farms in Virginia Beach for a field trip. It was hard for me to choose which pictures to post because we saw and did so much, so here are a few (or more) of my favorites...
Definitely the highlight of the trip, going into the chicken coop and getting hold the chickens!
Regan is in love!

"I finally caught one mom!"
She's so proud!Micah didn't go in the coop until later and so I did not get a picture of him with a chicken.

Tallulah is an animal lover, I think the goats were her favorite, she kept talking about them all afternoon.

I wanted to take this little guy home with me, isn't he so cute?

This pony was only a week old.

Planting sunflower seeds.
We also learned about bees, butterflies, frogs, worms... I was a great time!

rockstar

This is what Tallulah does while everyone one else is doing school... She's singing Alive by Superchick :)

planning for next year

It is that time again to start thing about my curriculum choices for next year. As of right now Max and Tallulah are signed up for preschool at a church down the road. Micah and Max both spent one year there and we all loved it. If we did public school, Max could start kindergarten this fall, but I don't think he is ready, so after a year at home with me, he will be doing pre-k at Churchland Baptist and Lulu will be in the 3 year old class (3! How did that happen?!)
So, that leaves Regan and Micah at home with me. I am a total believer in Konos and have loved the units that we have done this year and I think the kids have too. I love the unit approach and how character traits are integrated into the topics... school has really been fun this year. At the same time, it is April and I am exhausted. So this fall I am thinking about trying a new approach that will integrate the things that I love about all that we have done in the past 2 years. So, here is what I am thinking:

History
Sonlight History 1
*supplemented with activities from my Konos volumes for activities and my Konos timeline (love this so much more than Sonlights book of time!)

Bible
Sonlight Bible 1

Math
MathUSee Beta and Gamma

Language Arts
continuing with First Language Lessons
All About Spelling for phonics and spelling (has anyone used this program for both?)
The Complete Writer: Level 1 workbook for Writing with Ease (I just found this and would love any feedback, we have really liked First Language Lessons and this looks equally good)
A Reason for Handwriting Manuscript A and Transition (I am wondering if I need a handwriting curriculum if I use the Writing with Ease?)
Sonlight Readers 2 and 2 advanced + library for reading

Science
Konos science units and Lap books- We will definitely do a honey bee lap book and Maybe frogs too and I would like to do a study of the human body.
I also just got Sow and Grow: a Gardening Book for Children. It has monthly gardening activities (inside and out) that I plan to do throughout the year.

Art/Music
I have some art books here that we will start with and have not decided what to do for music yet.
Was looking at this: Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music!, anyone used this? I would like to do something a bit more formal and regular for both of these. With Konos there were lots of arts and crafts (which we love) but they always gave me an excuse to put off a regular art lesson.

Foreign Language
Rosetta Stone- I am leaning towards French, but have not ordered yet.

Just for fun
Sonlight Read-alouds 1- These were a family favorite when we did Sonlight last year

I would love to hear any feedback or comments!

the circus is in town...

and the clowns made a surprise visit to our house.
P.S. This is what happens when mom gets on the phone for 5 minutes, lol!

good friday

As far as Fridays go, it doesn't get much better than this...
Kids sunning themselves after running through the hose...
Finally warm and sunny enough to get out in my garden and weed...
(I am loving the stones Phil put in while I was away, thanks babe!)

A stocked fridge...
Mike's Hard Lime and a movie to watch with my honey once the kids are tucked in bed (and sleeping soundly from all the sunshiny fun we had today!) Hope your Friday has been as fabulous as mine!

easter eggs

LollyChops had a great tutorial for dyeing Easter eggs that we just had to try. It was fairly simple and the kids enjoyed decorating the eggs with different designs. Here are a few pics of your process...
And I just had to post a couple of these great pictures of the kids with their cousins (a few of them anyway). This is what happens when you leave kids alone with the Easter craft supplies...

a few of my favorites

Our time here in Maryland has been flying by, jam-packed with visits with friends and family and all the excitement that goes with having 4 young children! I had hoped to be more faithful to posting about our trip, but time seems to escape me. Here are a few highlights from our trip to Elkton last week to see Phil's family... They are completely out of order, but for some reason the computer will not let me re-arrange them, oh well!

Friday night Regan and Micah went to see "Your A Good Man Charlie Brown" with Grandma and the sun finally decided to peak out, so the rest of us had a little fire in the garden before tucking Max and Lulu in for the night.


Me and the kids at Longwood Gardens

Cousins

A little bit of Japan... They had a whole room of Bonsai Trees at Longwood.

I love this picture of Lulu playing in the fountains in the children's garden inside the conservatory.