Trying to keep up with the...ourselves!

It's been almost a month since my last post, so that "post more often" thing obviously didn't happen. As it turns out, homeschooling takes a lot of my time. (Is that really a surprise?) Between Gideon's "help" and Alee's lack of independence, things take a while. We still finish before the end of the school day, but my goal this month is to become efficient so I get more of Gideon's naptime back to myself!

Some years I try to make the little holidays cute and some years, I just say forget it! This year, I did just enough to please the kids, but came up a little short. I did make a Valentine's (heart-shaped dinner), but on the 13th. (Because Thursday is dance day, the meal always has to be fast, and I had chosen a not-so-fast-to-prep heart meal...that I will probably never do again!) It's cute though.

(The rest of the meal had nothing to do with hearts.) I would do dessert the next day on the 14th.

Dessert, however, didn't happen. It was the first week of homeschooling AND I had to go to the middle school for the twins' class event (student only book discussion) - twice because they aren't in the same class AND it was dance class afternoon! So just getting the meal done was enough!

 The twins like fun hairstyles, so they climbed on my bed early Valentine's morning to have their hair styled for the day.

Alee's class had a field trip scheduled for the 13th. (She hadn't wanted to go anyways since chaperone slots filled up before I volunteered, so she was going to stay home with me and skip school to go to Edventure that day instead.) Since she isn't in public school anymore, I wanted to keep my promise, but we went on Friday instead.

 She and Gideon had fun, but during naptime, I still had her do math and ELA since we only went a half day.

Her favorite part is the play restaurant kitchen.

Gideon loves to JUMP on the "Trampine". Outside! Outside!

And Sunday afternoons are sometimes actually quiet as they get older! Today they are sharing the quilt, but that is not typical. (My grandma let me have it, and I bet it will be taken when Carolyn gets her first apartment. She has claimed ownership of it.)

We're learning about habitats (biomes) in science right now, and I'm doing crafts or activities once or twice a week to give her hands on time. For coniferous forests, she made a pinecone bird feeder. It was a success, but between the rains and the birds, the seeds are gone already! I might get her a bird feeder for Easter. She enjoyed watching the birds come up and fussed at all the squirrels that tried to take her food from the birds!

The screen is annoying, but you can see one of her visitors.

A month ago I had promised to do the zoo on President's day (since MLKjr day was too cold for it). Conveniently, it also aligns with our habitat unit. Yea! School for Alee! She took lots of pictures for a slideshow at the end of the unit.

The lions were fun to watch; one is having a snack. They are naming the new girl lion cub soon, so the girls suggested a name.

Besides the zoo, we did a "blubber experiment" to learn about blubber as an adaptation of ocean animals that live in cold climates. Alee doesn't think it worked because Seth's "naked hand" was in the ice cold water for the same time as her "blubber hand". What she doesn't realize is that he's just tougher (or more stubborn?) than she is, and he was after her, so the water was probably less chilled for him. Everyone had their blubber hand in longer than their naked hand.
Maybe we'll chart it when we do data in math so she can see the numbers in picture form!
(I spend way too much time thinking about ways to connect everything, but I'm enjoying this!)
----Blubber hand is 2 stacked disposable gloves with vegetable shortening spread between the gloves.

The only downside is less socialization for Alee. I could join a group, but it's only 4 months, and I don't want to pay a fee to join a homeschool group/co-op (other than the required accountability group) for just a few months. So, she's more excited about seeing friends from church, including her cousin.
They communicated the morning of their planned sleepover so they would be wearing matching clothes.

Gideon is still learning and growing. His favorite toys are cars, trains, blocks, and instruments.
He's still "practicing potty training" (which means, when it's convenient for me, I take him and he goes, and when it's not, he rarely asks and just uses a diaper). Of course, the days that I put a onesie style shirt on him are the days he asks to go potty!

The Saturday after my birthday, Rob and I went out to get my present, my hair cut, and go out to eat.
It was nice adult time, and the kids successfully got Gideon down for a nap while we were gone.

 Natalie needed to cut a cookie (bought or made) into pieces to represent a whole note, half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes. Only my children that don't need extra credit go to the trouble to turn in extra credit!
Then everyone enjoyed eating the eighth "notes" and the other normal sized cookies. We sent some to the orchestra teacher too because we didn't need that much sugar here.

One sample of Seth's art from semester 1. He's in sociology now. Color anything isn't his favorite art style, but I think he does well with most styles. He likes sketching best.

Gideon ran circles around his little cousin and Alee, saying "jump jump jump jump!" His cousin turned in circles on his bottom to follow him.
(Note the chalk residue on the trampoline. Alee listens better to her lessons when she can write notes in chalk. Unfortunately, they do have to be copied down as the chalk (fortunately) comes off!)

Gideon's favorite food?

Why, ketchup, of course!

The chicken nuggets were gone. What else was he to do with the remaining ketchup?? (After I took the picture, I then took away the condiment cup. My family called it "Will Sauce"...it may be renamed soon.)

Seth starts tennis matches today. He's one of the newest on the team, and really, with almost no experience in tennis. However, he enjoys playing and has friends that were already on the team.

The oldest girls will perform this Thursday evening at a "coffeehouse" (after-school talent show the middle school is putting on twice this year). The twins were so cute in the fall with 3 friends playing a pop song on strings/piano. They are being joined by another friend, plus Carolyn and her friend to make a group of 8 for this round. They are playing a Disney medley, arranged by one of my friends who has a son in the group. They will sometimes switch instruments throughout the short performance.
I think they're going to be awesome! (At least I hope they are awesome after the effort they've put in, plus the effort they've put the parents through trying to get them together to practice and help them organize themselves.)

I'll share the video I plan to take with anyone interested.

Hmm, anything else going on around here?
We have a new baby gate at the stairs bottom (instead of 3 blocking off the foyer). It's ok. I don't like gates, but it's a necessary annoyance.
Gideon still loves Daniel Tiger's neighborhood.
Rob's a little under the weather beginning this week. Colds are hard.
Gideon's started sneezing. If he gets a cold, I hope I at least get the benefit of longer naps from him!)

Anything else?
Dentist visits, orthodontist visits,
Piano lessons, grocery shopping,
Cleaning up, Purging stuff,
Studying the New Testament together, serving,
Homework, Planning,
normal life!

Until next time, happy everything!