Better Day

Today was a much better day. Brian had the day off and I know that has a positive effect on my mood and the kids also seemed better today.

It was very warm today...near 60 degrees with some sun.

Brian has a long list of things he wants to get done this weekend. He had a good start today. He replaced some glass in a window in the front hall, did something to the van (replaced sparkplug wires?) that stopped the skipping, scrapped and painted the upstairs bathroom window and caulked around the chimney on the roof. He even managed to fit in some time to take a nice walk with me and make dinner...what a guy!

I puttered around the house doing this and that, made a run to the post office, worked on some music for choir, looked at some mold Bessie has been growing for science and of course, did some laundry.

The Littles spent most of the afternoon playing outside. It is so nice that the weather is staying warmer.

I had choir tonight. Gabe came with me. I really don't understand why he always wants to go. He sits in the back of the church with his portable DVD player and watches a movie. I think he likes the mommy time during the drive...he'll talk and talk. We did a complete run through of our Stars and Stripes performance. It sounded really good tonight. I have a solo part and I missed my cue last week. Tonight I was ready!

Bri and I relaxed and watched some TV tonight...CSI was on. It is one of the few shows I like to watch on a regular basis.

Art Curriculum

We have been using Art Through Children's Literature this year and it has been a very good choice for us.

This is what the back of the book says...
"Inspire students to create their own masterpices! The projects in this book, based on the exquisite illustrations found in Caldecott Award-winning titles, guide students to create art with qualities similar to those found in such beloved books as Make Way for Ducklings, Owl Moon, Jumanji, and Where the Wild Things Are. The activities employ a variety of media-pencil, crayon, marker, colored pencil, chalk, stencils, collage, watercolor, tempera, color mixing, and printmaking-and teach children about basic art principles and such art elements as line, color, texture, shape, space and value."

The kids have been enjoying it and it is very easy for me to implement. The Caldecott books are readily available through our library system. You can pick and choose the medium and/or art element you want to teach and then pick the book that will illustrate it for the kids. I have been working right along with them. The book says for grades K-6, but our 14yo dd who is in 9th grade is enjoying it as well.

Not much improved since Monday. I guess it was just one of those blah weeks. Nothing terribly exciting, nothing terribly tough, just bumping along through our days.

It rained all day today and was quite foggy. Thankfully it wasn't very cold, although the kids are just waiting for that first big snow.

We have settled into a much better school time. Everyone was quite cooperative this week, which made things go so much easier.

Bessie had piano today. I dropped her off and Bri picked her up on his way home. He stopped and picked up lumber for the Family Room. He took tomorrow off and has Friday off for the holiday. He is hoping to get a good chunk of the Family Room done. He has to sand the spackling and work on the trim. He still thinks we will be able to move in before Christmas. We are going to hold off on the flooring until spring, but everything else should be done.

We are seeing some definite regression in the Littles behavior. Actually, I think it is a good thing as they are working through different griefs and emotional phases, but it makes it tough to have children of a chronological age acting much, much younger. I know we will work through all this and come out the other side a whole family, but this week I was not on my best game and there were plenty of times I just wanted to retreat to my room and hide from it all. Thankfully, God is ever faithful and just when I felt at the end of my rope, He gave me some more...maybe just a little more, but enough to hold onto.

Today was one of those days where it seems like nothing went quite right, but it was hard to put my finger on what went wrong. Like everything was just a half note off all day!

The kids were a bit grumpy and I'm sure I was too. We didn't get as much school done as I like for a Monday, but we got some other good things done. Oh well. I think part of the problem is that Brian worked this weekend. We all look forward to days when Bri is home. I always feel refreshed and the kids get to spend extra time with him too.

I did make up a couple of preschool activities today. That was fun and hopefully the kids will like them.

It was a really nice day out today, a bit warmer, sunny and not much wind. I booted everyone out and the afternoon went better with a good "airing" of the children. Bessie went for a run. She is building up her stamina and working on extending her time and distance. I think she has it in her mind to run a 5K race.

Monday is usually Bessie's night to cook dinner (at her request). Brian was flying late tonight so she made her mac and cheese. Brian doesn't care for it as much as his mother's recipe which has tomatoes in it.

I took a nice hot tub and then snuggled with Gabe.

I just finished reading Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell. To say that I don't feel very meek or quiet in my homeschooling or in any other area of my mothering right now is an understatement.

This book had some good ideas on how to improve areas of your life to create a calmer environment and thus make it easier to be meek and quiet. And where these ideas were good and the basic idea of the book is good, I was searching for something that gets to the heart of matter...why I don't have a meek and quiet spirit. For me it isn't that my house is unorganized or that my kids aren't on a strict schedule, it is because my heart is not in the right place.

As a start, I enjoyed this book and toward the end I did feel she touched on a few heart issues. I'm still searching and working toward being a better mother, a mother with a more meek and quiet spirit.

Rocket Launch

Brian ended up getting home early from work. He and Gabe decided to launch their rocket. The corn field across the road is harvested, so they headed over there.



They had two successful launches although the second one had a partial chute failure. Apparently there was not quite enough packing and part of the chute got a bit singed. Brian has part of a real parachute out in the garage and I am going to make a new one for their rocket.

The kids enjoyed it, but I think Bri and I got the biggest kick out of it!

Activity Bag Swap

I signed up for Bridget's online group for Activity Bags for preschoolers. It took me a while to come up with an idea, but I finally settled on a bean bag toss activity.

Brian had to work today, so after church I dug out the materials and brought my serger downstairs and started putting the kits together. Bessie helped me by loading the bags and of course the Littles had to help by playing with all the bags!

I love my serger!

We made nine of the kits today, so we are well on our way to the twenty that we need.

Dan preforms a little QA on the bean bag toss

Quiet few days

The last couple of days have been pretty quiet, nothing too exciting.

Yesterday we did school in the morning and then went to visit friends. We don't get out and visit as much as we used it and we all had a good time. Dan was not happy with their large dog, but they put him downstairs.

They have a very nice yard that at one time was highly landscaped. I got some great ideas for new garden features. In particular is a very nice pond/stream system. I always thought our yard was too flat for something like this, but their yard is also very flat and the pond looks great. I'll have to get Brian to go over and take some notes and start making plans. He will love a project like this. I am so glad he enjoys doing the heavy part of gardening.

Today was a very lazy Saturday. Brian had to work, so the kids and I were running solo. It was quite cool today and overcast. It looked so winterish. Brrrr!

We headed to the library this morning. We got quite a few more books for our Civil War study and found a couple of videos that will work well. The Littles like to each pick out a book or two and Gabe found some of his favorites to check out again.

The rest of the day was spent in leisurely activities of one sort or another, reading, stitching, computer, Nintendo, dress up and other play. Bessie was ambitious enough to go for a run.

Brian brought home KFC for dinner. Bessie had requested this as her birthday meal but with the change in plans last week, we didn't get to it. As unhealthy as it probably it is, it is also a family favorite.

Brian took the day off today. It is always so nice to have him home during the day.

The snow didn't last long at all. The sun came out and within 1/2 hour or so, the snow had melted.

We had a good school morning. Gabe did math with Brian and was ever so much more cooperative for him. Maybe I should have Gabe wait until Bri gets home from work and he can do math with Dad.

I was trying to work with Rachel and Hannah together, but I've realized that Hannah really needs more pre-K type work where as Rachel can do K work. Splitting them up worked much better. It has taken a while, but I think we are finally figuring out just where all the kids need for their studies.

Brian and Gabe worked on model rocket today. One of the projects in our TOG book was to build and launch a rocket and they were finally able to get started on it. I can't wait for the launch. Our family used to build and launch rockets when I was a kid. It was a big thrill.

Gabe discovered that something bigger than a bug had gotten into our bug trap experiment. The cans were empty of their bait. It was probably a mouse. Oh well, the weather has turned cold enough that I don't think we are getting much bug movement anyway. We'll have to put it on the back burner and try again in the spring.

Bessie and Dan had doctor appointments this afternoon. Dan's was just for a shot. Bessie had her annual physical. Everything went well with both. Dan, of course, does not like getting shots, but he recovers quickly. Bessie is nice and healthy and doing great!

Brian headed over to his dad's this afternoon for a visit.

I had choir practice this evening. We have a couple more weeks of working on Stars and Stripes. We also did a little bit of work on our Christmas Cantata. Gabe went with me. This has become a weekly event for us.

During the drive tonight we talked about smoking cigarettes (the topic came up because Bessie was discussing it after her Dr visit) and about how hard it is sometimes to say no when friends want you to do something, even if you know it is wrong. It is amazing to me how he makes connections...he likened the discussion to when Larry (from Veggie Tales) was walking around with an oven mitt on his head because it was suppose to be cool and everyone was doing it.

First Snow!

We had our first visible snow today. We have had a couple of days where we had snow flurries, but it didn't stick. It was so pretty this morning. It won't last long as the sun is coming out, but it was so nice to see.