Spring Soccer

Spring:

When you walk out my front door, or into my backyard, you will get a full whiff of these lovely, fragrant flowers! I love them! They smell amazing! Not so good for the local allergies, but they are only around for a few weeks!


Soccer:

For the second week in a row, the boys have geared up to play in the drizzle. And can I say that it is downpouring AGAIN? It has been a weekend of rain, thunderstorms, and downpours! This is pushing our deck finishing off another week, but I think I see a few dry days in the forecast this week and hopefully it can get done then!

A Happy Boy

Well, Micah was a happy boy on Saturday! He got his date with daddy--and a day out with Thomas! They are each so sweet when they are one-on-one :) Micah was all smiles from the time we started talking about his turn to go see Thomas with daddy right up to the grand finale--a gigantic jaw-breaker!





Unfortunately, this morning he was quite sick and ended up having a fever today that kept him in my arms and sleeping all day long. I have also been feeling really yucky all weekend long. Just what we needed the week before we are leaving on vacation, right?! :)

Pondering Next Year

This is about school. I am in that place again where I am wondering what to do for next year. I am debating the same options I did last year! Switch to Sonlight, or stay with My Father's World? I was really gearing up for Creation to the Greeks with MFW next year, but then had to look at the Sonlight website! I would jump into the 3/4 Core, which is American history condensed into one year...I've heard their 5th grade curriculum is really good--Eastern Hemisphere. Then we'd go on to World History in 6th grade. Anyone have any thoughts? I've shied away from Sonlight because I hear they don't include any art projects and more hands on activities...it is just a lot of reading...but I am always drawn to them because their books are supposed to be so good! Help! I'm going to a curriculum share this week, so maybe someone will have experience with Sonlight and can offer some more insight. My husband is right--it really just doesn't matter. He'd rather have us do a really intense Spanish curriculum and skip science and history! Heavens! I couldn't do that!!!! But we will be starting a Spanish curriculum next year! Any suggestions from anyone?????

Origami, Sumi-e, and Haiku

We are wrapping up our study of Japan. We had fun trying out some Sumi-e art (above), writing our own Haiku poems, and reading some great stories. I did not have fun with origami. I am not very good at it and not very patient. I managed folding the frog about 6 times today! I might have daddy try another form later this week. Poor Zeke kept telling me that I could quit, he'd pick an easier one...I think he saw the steam coming out of my ears! Here are the poems we came up with...it was a beautiful afternoon, so we just sat on the deck writing poetry. I am not a big prose person, so this was new territory for me, but the kids are quite good at it :)

Spring is finally here
Little plants are sprouting fast
In the dirt they grow

Step outside and see!
Pretty purple blossoms bloom
Bees buzz around them

Fish move with their fins
Fast and swift they go, go, go
Up the river home

My favorite hi-light of the week is this:


Zeke wrote a biography! It was nice to have our English curriculum coincide with our read aloud book assignment! We had just finished the David Livingstone Heroes Then and Now book, so it was very natural for Zeke to pick him for his biography. We had one tough day where we butted our stubborn heads, but other than that, he did an excellent job!

We are starting our tour of Russia tomorrow, and hope to finish up Australia by the time we leave for Disney...in 16 days...but a lot of other things have to happen in 16 days too!!! I have forgotten the camera for two big events this past week: gymnastics ribbon class and Eli's Day out with Thomas trip with Daddy and buddy Isaac! I'd forget my head too if I had to think about collecting it before going out the door! I will try to do better this week and get some shots of soccer games, since we spend many hours a week at soccer fields!

A Super Party

This is my year for birthday parties! I have not had a big party for any of the kids in a few years, so I decided I had no excuse this year! Eli wanted a Super Mario Brothers Party for his 5th birthday and he had a blast! On a side note, we learned that Super Mario Brothers was invented in Japan, so it fit right in with our ECC curriculum these past few weeks :) Anyways, we had some games for the kids to play, a great cookie cake, and a great time with friends and family. Eli was quite the gentleman when he opened his presents: he took time to read every card and walked over and gave everyone a hug after opening their present. Happy Birthday, Eli! Hope you had a smashing time!

China Town

We finished up another country in our Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum this week. The kids really enjoyed our stories and projects while we studied China. The Chinese lanterns were so easy to make! And we enjoyed a meal at a new chinese restaurant right around the corner. It was a buffet, which I do not usually like, but I survived it without getting food poisoning :) The kids were SO excited to go and had fun trying out the chopsticks and all had pretty good attitudes trying some of the foods!











On the non-school front, I have been very overwhelmed with so many things going on lately. Soccer frenzy has started, which is fine and fun, but my mind has been so pre-occupied with the planning of a certain 5 year old's birthday party coming up this weekend (which is all I really want to do). And then there is our Disney trip I'd really like to sit down and plan all the details for (it is coming up in less than a month and our housing fell through)! And then there are always so many other things we could do. I had to say no to my husbands request to go to a carnival night at the dental conference he's attending this week. A carnival?! Really, I have no time for that! ARGH!!!! The poor man just wants a fun date with his wife...so we are running errands tonight together instead. Yeah. **sigh** I just can't make everyone happy, but I strive to. I am still trying to learn how to say no and live by my priorities (I think this is a life-long one for me)!

Identify this Plant!

Can anyone tell me what this plant is? I have spotted 3 of them growing around our mulched garden areas...I'm assuming they were in the mulch we purchased last year. ???