Clean Up Time

Almost every night (that I remember) before bed time, I ask the kids to help clean up. K is amazingly wonderful at doing it while I'm putting his sister to bed when I forget to ask them. Tonight, I told them it was time to clean and as I sat in L's bedroom helping her clean her room, K cleaned the living room. After the living room was spotless, K asked me to wet a washcloth and wring it out so he could wipe down the walls. I agreed. A few minutes later as I turned a corner I smelled something delightfully refreshing. K was directing his sister to spray dirt spots on the wall. She sprayed and he wiped. After they finished the walls, they did the doors, then the floors, and as I type they are doing the double glass doors. I don't have the heart to tell them it's not glass cleaner because they're working so hard. They just switched roles. L is now wiping down and K is spraying. T is just following them around not really sure what's going on. I guess teaching responsibilites can't start too young. It won't be too much longer before I'm out of a "job".

Lost Tooth

K woke me up one day last week to tell me that his brother was awake and that he had a loose tooth. A few days later, it had become looser, but I decided it was time for it to come out. So, we attached a string of dental floss to the tooth and attached the other end to a door. When I closed the door, the string came off and the tooth was still in K's mouth. I tried again and before I could finish knotting it, T closed the door, but again the string came off and the tooth didn't. I decided to take more extreme measures so I double knotted the string to the tooth. As soon as the knot was tightened and before I could turn, T slammed the door and K started screaming. As I looked at K I saw a mouth full of blood. T had been successful in pulling his big brother's loose tooth.

That night he put it in his "Tooth Pillow" that he got this past Christmas and when he woke up the "tooth fairy" had forgotten to pick it up. He was a little disappointed, but when he went in his room hours later and found 4 quarters in his pillow in place of his tooth, he exclaimed, "Look, Mommy! God turned my tooth into 4 quarters! That was so nice of Him." I asked him why he thought God had done it and he said it couldn't have been the Tooth Fairy because he hadn't seen anyone go in or come out of his room.... it HAD to have been God! Love the mind and faith of a child.

Back to School

I know it's been a while, but honestly, with business taking off like it has and trying to get school started, it's been a crazy time. In July, I had planned on starting school and taking a week off for a business trip to Ohio, but ended up taking almost the entire summer off. After I got back from my trip, my grandfather passed away and we spent a couple of days in Waco, TX for the funeral. Things are finally starting to settle and get on a schedule. I'm not sure how long it'll last, but hopefully at least a few weeks.

Even though we didn't start school as I had planned, we're ahead of schedule. We just did our 10th day and K is on his 4th week of Astronomy and History, his 22nd week of Math (so we're taking a short break) and his 6th week of English. Mars (full of craters)

Volcano Replica from Venus

L has actually become interested and has started to ask to write. This week, we are focusing on her A's and she's doing great!

Back to School

K started school this week. I know it seems early, but we're only doing 3 days a week until August. I find that the long breaks off don't do well with us. Not only does K really dread doing anything, but it's hard for me to get back into a routine.

K has almost completed his 1st grade math last month. We only have a few weeks left in it and although I know we don't have to finish every book that we start, I feel that finishing his math book will help him have a better understanding to go to the next level.

Here are a few things we did today that complemented the things we did earlier in the week. The nice thing about the projects are that his brother and sister can do them with us.

For History, we did a little excavating. We just so "happened" to find a toothbrush and a can.

For science, we made the planets. He wanted to hang them in his sister's room in case he wanted to look at them while his brother slept.

They really enjoyed this project. He also started an Astronomy notebook. I'm looking forward to seeing his work progress throughout the year. We are using Apologia for his science. I really like the way it's laid out. We read two days a week and do projects and notebooking one day. So, even when we start doing 5 days a week, we will continue to do science and history 3 days a week.

Baby Boy Outfit

There are so many babies being born right now in my small circle of friends. It's such a wonderful time. I made a onesie dress for the little girl that was born yesterday. Last night, I made an outfit for a new brother that was born on the 5th. I absolutely adore this outfit and have decided to make T and maybe K one. I might even make L something that matches. I LOVE the stripes on it. This outfit was pretty simple and although it took me a couple of hours, now that I've made one pair of pants, I think I can do another pair pretty quickly. These pants are tapered at the leg ONLY because I messed up. Because they are so small, they were hard to hem the pant leg. Lesson learned!

Onesie Dress

A friend of mine might be having her baby girl tomorrow so instead of doing the traditional meal that I tend to do, I decided to make her something instead. When I make another one, I will probably gather it more so it flares more. This one is a little too straight for me. I also like the idea of having ruffles on the backside of it in a contrasting color. I think that would be cute, but I haven't researched how to do that yet. :-)
My friend had her baby yesterday. She's gorgeous!!! I will still probably provide a meal, but first I need to buy little gifts for the two brothers.

Twirly Skirt

I've been itching to make my daughter a "twirly" skirt AND using some extremely bold and bright fabric that I have. After doing some research, I finally found one that I liked. Although I didn't follow the instructions to the tee, this is what I have. It has an elastic waistband and I hemmed the skirt. I'm super excited that she already had the perfect shirt to go with it. Thanks Ms. Alex! It defnitely twirls!!!!

I REALLY like the way it turned out, but if I do another one, I'll probably use more fabrics. I only used 5 different fabrics, but would have preferred 7 or 8. Now, it's time to make the boys something... Stay Tuned!