Geocaching

Going geocaching with the Jones’s!  The first geocache was near an old cemetery and was found easily by the boys.

The Jones’s put in their trademark baby while we put in an eight ball sticker (hope this isn’t our trademark though.)  We took out some tiny dried flowers.

The next geocache was more difficult to find.  In fact, we never did find it 😦  Travis Jones has a rep for dreaming of where the geocache is hidden, so as soon as he does, we will go back and find it!

These two were no help.

Boys playing on the hill.  Sylvia had a cactus injury.

How to Write a Haiku

Our lesson in history today was about the Yamato Dynasty in Japan.  Did you know that it is the longest running dynasty and is still in rule today?!  Here are some beautiful Haiku’s…

Summer by Luke

Sun is shinning bright
In summer plants and flowers bloom
The grass is so wet

Spring by Isabel

Trees are full of leaves
Butterflies are colorful
Birds are graceful

Swimming by Sylvia

Swimming, jumping, splashing
Daddy is a cannonball
Falling cool water

Teaching your children to create a Haiku is a great activity.   They love to count the syllables and create a beautiful scene with words.  The rules are simple…

Haiku Rules

1.  A Haiku is three lines
-first line is five syllables.
-second line is seven syllables.
-third line is five syllables.

2.  The subject of a Haiku is nature.

3.  The purpose of a Haiku is to paint a picture in your mind, NOT to tell a story.

Dancing Ninja Ornament

A couple of things we’ve been doing out of, Things to Make and Do for Christmas by Ellen Weiss

Pinwheel Wreaths

These cut out paper guys in the book were “Dancing Santa Ornaments” but Sylvia made a Gingerbread man…

…and a cat.

Luke made a “Dancing Ninja Ornament.”

Piano Recital

Bravo Luke.
The Storm and Knock! Knock! Knock!

Even if you don’t want to watch the whole video, skip ahead to the second number to see the Isabel style “arm flare” as Joey and I call it. Also, Sylvia clapping for way to long at the very end is entertaining as well.
Boogie Woogie Band and Clouds

How to Draw a Profile…(or how NOT to)

How to draw someones profile…

1.  pin up sheet of paper.
2.  set up light.
3.  position person.
4.  trace.

Easy in theory, but…

…not so when you are using the wiggliest person in the world as your model.

I love how Luke is trying to hold Sylvia’s face still while trace at the same time.

Luke then fired Sylvia and hired Isabel instead.  That wasn’t much better since the wiggly model rebelled by covering the light.

In the end, Luke had me trace his profile so that he could draw a face on it.

Pumpkin Carving

I love the way Joey is looking at me.

What the…?

Is this skinny arm really going to one day be a big strong hairy man arm!??

Photo by Hazel

I don’t think Hazel’s tiny pumpkin ever got carved.

Hooray!!!

Tuesday: Our Errand Day!

Tuesday is our errand day.  We certainly run errands on other days of the week, but Tuesday is when we go crazy.  Luke and Isabel have piano for an hour and a half in the morning so that means that I get a couple of errands done with only two kids (wish they were the easy two.)  Since our errands are so much fun and exciting I think I will list them…

1.  drop off Luke and Isabel at piano
2.  go to scout office to buy Webelos paraphernalia
3.  let Sylvia waste her Target gift card on some toy hamsters
4.  pick up Luke and Isabel
5.  eat at Wienerschnitzel for the first time (it was wieneriffic!)
6.  buy huge sheet of watercolor paper at art store
7.   go to Office Max to use their cutty thingy to make huge sheet less huge
8.   watch people at the post office give me and my ketchup faced kids dirty looks.
9.  pick up papers to fill out

All in all it was a good errand day.  Here we are at Wiener Schneezer’s (as Sylvia calls it.)

Sylvia loved that she could touch the roof.

And I loved this guy’s pony tail.  No seriously, I want my hair to be long enough to do that.

Halloween Crossword Puzzles for Kids

The Attack of the Giant Jack-o-lanterns

We love crossword puzzles and there are so many options for the different holidays

Check out these Halloween Crosswords…

Easy (ages 5-7)
Medium (ages 7-9)
Hard (ages 8-12)
Hard (ages 8-12)

Enjoy!

The puzzles were taken from these websites:
www.dltk-kids.com
www.squiglysplayhouse.com
www.superteacherworksheets.com

Service Project for Kids

I am always on the lookout for service projects that get my kids involved.  As it turns out, soup kitchens and other service opportunities don’t allow mischievous destructive toddlers…go figure.  Not saying Hazel is necessarily mischievous or destructive, just that I am pretty sure all two year olds are. Yesterday we were able to clean up the cemetery for a church service project.  It turned out to be a lot of fun and it was work that all of our kids were able to do.

Homeschooling Calligraphy

Learning about monks in the middle ages we also learned about calligraphy although Isabel, Miss Smarty Pants, claimed to already know everything about calligraphy.  We learned that the very popular style of the first letter in a chapter being ornate, came from the monks.  Here is Luke and Isabel’s initials, but Sylvia became a frustrated artist and ripped hers to shreds.

There are a ton of Calligraphy instruction books for kids as well as calligraphy pens at craft stores.  So if you have a child like my Isabel who likes to write and make things pretty, calligraphy is great for that.