Read Alouds-Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

I'm changing the way I tag from now on...I'll do "2013 read alouds" instead of Literature for Lunch. Just feel like a change.

One of my favorite movies is "You've Got Mail" and as the owner of a bookstore, the main character mentions some of her favorites. "Ballet Shoes" and the "shoe books"...so I thought my daughter would like it. She LOVED it and wanted us to read it aloud. So we did. Enjoying "Ballet Shoes" by Noel Streatfeild.

New Chores

We are still doing our chore box. It A M A Z E S me that we haven't been doing it that long! Just a few months ago, it was all new, now it is just part of what we do. Homeschool tip: start with ONE thing and then ADD to it. It has made all the difference to start SOMETHING and then use that as an "anchor" for other things.

We are figuring out our new systems. We have MORE to do here. At the old house, we never did anything outside-at all. Our goal at this new house is to KEEP IT WEEDED (not to mention ADDING a garden to weed). The property was PERFECT when we moved in and I want to keep it that way. Sooooo much easier to maintain perfection than to let it get overgrown and try to get it back.

Every day we go outside to weed a bed. Dan is learning to use the edger. We've been working on our garden (slowly). We are down to two bathrooms and one shower (yay)! I love our hardwoods and tile, way less carpet and easier care. We still do laundry everyday and empty the dishwasher. We're working on adding back in our Table Time and academics, but as I look back over the past couple months, I can see how much our lives have improved and the kids have received a whole new education with the move itself along with the new, rural lifestyle which gets us outside on a daily basis. REAL things!

Literatureless

I haven't read anything since we moved!

It was such a big part of our day, now it seems, we don't have time!

We listened to an audiobook (Trumpet of the Swan) and I reserved "Red Badge of Courage" from the library, but I just haven't been able to get into the routine.

I'm really relieved as the Lord spoke to me about not trying to do "the previous routine". We left that behind when we moved and I can move forward with establishing something new (with a lot of the old still intact).

Mothers Day Bubbles

What a gorgeous day to celebrate the grandmothers. Sarah made Nana a personalized crossword puzzle and made Gramma a laminated bookmark and artwork. Gramma brought bubbles! We had a really fun day!

Super Sarah

Sarah has been ELECTRIC in a whole new way since we moved. She has been SO productive, it has actually been difficult to keep up with it all! She made me wonderful birthday presents, made C a birthday envelope for his birthday seeds, made Nana a personalized crossword puzzle, has helped with all the family projects, she can't stop playing with the kitties (!), she's been practicing with the inline skates our friend Christi let her borrow, is preparing her lemonade stand for the summer, she loves the new jungle gym and wading pool, loves the mud, dust, and hose! She whipped up a Sonic chessboard, but I don't think I took photos. She's having a BALL!

She is my sweet sunshine girl and I love her sooooo much! She is doing really well with her education and I look forward to the next few months to see how she will grow in everyway!

Birdies in the Backyard

 

My sister gave me a tripod for my birthday. I am LOVING it!

When our friends came to visit, one of the girls mentioned she saw a bird flying into the hole in the tree. The next week, we heard lots of cheeping, so I pointed my camera near the hole and got a little video! We didn't want to linger and upset the parents.

As they've grown, their cheeps are much deeper and louder. What fun to watch! I hope we get to see these Common European Starlings fledge!

Dan the Man Rigging the TV

Whooppeeee! Dan figured out how to get the internet on our old TV using the Wii!

Now, we can watch Netflix streaming and YouTube on the TV!

I'm sooooo proud of him! This is something he wanted to do. I could have easily prevented him from experimenting and doing it because I don't know how to do it, but I released him to try it...and HE DID IT!

I think there are many applications that I can't even think of yet, hey, I can view exercise YouTube videos in the TV room now, not just on my computer! Huh!

Thank you, Daniel, this will be helpful to our family.

Dan and Sonic

My friend Christi has helped me validate Daniel's interest in Sonic the Hedgehog. When she was over recently, she spent quite some time with Dan asking him a lot about Sonic. I realized that I've never done that and I don't know anything about it! How self-centered of me!

So I've been more purposeful about pressing-in and finding out more. I'm learning a little bit more about Sonic's universe and the characters that are so important to Dan.

Just yesterday, Daniel said he wanted to make something. MAKE something!? This is really EXCITING!

He wants to make his own Sonic chessboard. We've had a good time searching for supplies and found a few things that will arrive next week. I can't wait to continue to help him and soon post some photos of his project!

Blueberry Raised Beds Project

In addition to raspberries, we're planting blueberries.