Katie's 9th Birthday

Katie at her birthday party at Painted Potter.

Blowing out the candles.

This year's cake. We went simple with an American Girl theme.

Happy 9th Birthday!

Nutcracker 2010

My Little Sentry

Katie and her Rat friend, Nicole

A line-up of Sentries, ready to fight the rats.

More things

Made these cute baby shoes today.

The fabric came from a friend, and they look absolutely adorable in person.

Not real fond of the raw edges everywhere though.

And made this baby girl outfit some time ago, by taking a store bought pair of leggings and shirt, and adding the ruffled layers to them. Really quick and easy project, and then I added some applique on the shirt to make it match even more.

Quick catchup

My toothless friend.

Playing little league for the Arizona Wildcats

Happy 6th Birthday Nicko!
A birthday full of Legos, Star Wars, and Clone Trooper Cupcakes!

A visit from the cousins. The girls loved each other.

And all of them had a great time celebrating Nick's birthday.

A Lavendar Fairy for Halloween

And Luke Skywalker the Jedi Knight.

And the 2010 Ballunar Festival

On a chilly morning.

Letter of the Week so far

For "A" we made apple pie. I just picked a simple recipe from my cookbook that I use a lot. I have made many apple pies before. This one ... not so good.

For "B" week we made Birthday Cake Ice-cream Banana Splits. All reviews were thumbs up.

For "C" week we made Clone Trooper Cupcakes and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Some happy kiddos here.

Plans for "D" week ... I picked up a box of beignet mix and we are going to attempt making them. Technically they start with B, but my kids call them doughnuts, thus D it is!

Beach August 2010

A day at the beach in Galveston. Wild waves, that were so loud you couldn't hear anything else. Nick loved jumping in them.

Nicholas, hard at work. He loves to play in the sand and build.

This would be Katie pre-rock falling injury. She was having a great time running around, playing in the sand, and seeing her very first natural hermit crab.

Shortly after, she ran after me towards the big rocks that line the seawall, and sliced up her foot on them. That ended the beach trip. Although she was all up for heading to the candy store in The Strand after we cleaned up the foot and put some bandages on it.

School Year 2010 - 2011

The first day of school has begun!! This year Katie begins 3rd grade, and Nicholas is officially a kindergartener.

So here is a list of what we are doing this year.

Katie - 3rd grade
Math - We are using Teaching Textbooks 4. I like the fact that it is more hands-off for me, and that it is visual, auditory, and tactile. Plus it gives her instant feedback. I think she enjoyed doing math on the computer, and it made her feel more grown-up.

Reading - We are continuing with Sonlight 2 Advanced. Even though she reads well above grade level, Sonlight's list of books is also above grade level in general. So most of the books would be considered at least 3rd grade, plus they are such fabulous books for this level. I didn't want her to miss out on them. Plus we are continuing on with Wordly Wise and doing book 3.

Language - We are doing a combination of Sonlight language arts, and Voyages in English 3. I had the Voyages already, and I really like the way it is laid out.

Spelling - Continuing to go along with Spelling Power. Worked well last year, doesn't take much time, and makes so much more sense than other spelling programs, that make you practice the words you already know.

Handwriting - We have mostly abandoned this, but will continue one day of cursive each week, and then the Sonlight copywork is also being done in cursive this year to give her more practice.

Science - Attempting something new with Noeo Physics 1. Looks easy and fun, and I think will fit both kids well. Plus we added in a Lego Simple Machines set.

History - Continuing on with American History from last year. We are starting with a Native American study, and then moving on with Lewis and Clark, and Westward Expansion. Most of the reading follows Elizabeth Foss' ideas.

Religion / Art- Liked Seton last year, and so continuing this year with Seton 3. Also going to do a saint study to go along with Elizabeth Foss' Alphabet Path that Nicholas will be doing some of. Plus we will be doing some art projects that go along with the flower fairies and saints. I think this will be a lot of fun for both of them, and give us something to look forward to each week.

Nicholas - Kindergarten
Math - Finishing up Horizons Kindergarten Book 2. Then we will continue on with Horizons 1.

Reading - Finishing up Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten and Primary Phonics. Then we will continue with Sonlight 1 starting in November. Lots of sight words. And of course Explode the Code once we start the Sonlight.

Spelling - Sonlight 1's spelling words once we start that.

Handwriting - D'Nealian Kindergarten and 1st grade.

History and Science will be the same as Katie's.

Religion - We will be following the Alphabet Path from Elizabeth Foss, and using the saints as a starting point, along with some good coloring books, and the Everyday Children's Bible.

Hoping to update more as we go along this year.

Nicholas Wants to Know

Anybody want a Fig NORTON?
http://www.zimmcomm.biz/images/rams/fig-newtons.gif

Just Say YUM!

The new family favorites...

http://www.motherscookies.com/ProductDetail.aspx?product=17231

The perfect summer cookie!

Then on to the SLIDE

Mike finds the video of Katie hilarious as she hits the water.

Nick was supposed to have his hands in his lap, but I am amazed he even went down. It was up to them if they wanted to do it or not.

Swim Lessons Katie 2010

And check out this sleek moving machine.

Swim Lessons 2010

After one day of swim lessons, this is how far Nick's come.

These coaches are AMAZING

And When We Are Not Dancing

Daddy teaches Katie to drive
Katie grows these humongous sunflowers Nicko helps out too

And Mom makes this

What We Did All Weekend

Watched a LOT of this show!!

With this beautiful CROW!

And her FOREST FAIRY friend!

And The OZ Spectacle Dance

Tap costume

The Oz Spectacles minus the cute hat!

Almost Showtime

Katie with her friends, Audrey and Lauren

As the Mother Goose Club for the Wizard of Oz

First Communion

A family picture pre-ceremony

And after the ceremony, praying to Mary.

A picture with our deacon and Fr. Skip

And a picture of the two kiddos at the church after mass.

Who would have ever thought that Katie would finally be old enough to receive her first communion? Not me!

Even that morning I still couldn't believe it. It seemed a little surreal. But it was a beautiful mass, with many of the kids I taught in CCE, as well as our good friends sitting right in front of us. It made the whole event even more special, that we were able to share it with both sets of grandparents, Uncle Doug, and many friends.

Katie looked beautiful and was very excited! And without any hesitation she knew exactly what she was doing. And I couldn't have been more excited for her!

And From Some Time Ago

Best of Friends

This weekend

After our usual 9:30 mass we came home to a lovely Spring day. Sitting on our covered porch, there was a beautiful breeze blowing, and it was a perfect day to spend some time outdoors. So we grabbed some books, and plopped down outside to enjoy the fresh air.

Nicholas quickly began hunting geckos. His new favorite pasttime. I hate to tell him that using his methods and catching container of choice, it's never gonna happen. But it did keep him busy for several hours.

We also got the entertainment (although fairly disgusting) of watching Mr. Green Gecko peel off his old skin and.....EAT IT! ICK!

Easter pics

After a 1:00 A.M. wake-up call that the Easter bunny had come, and after shooing two little children back to bed until about 6:30, these happy faces were greeting us after mass.

And then later that afternoon we found this on the floor...And even better is the position his little legs were in...

Carrie's quilt

I knew there was a reason I haven't been blogging in a long time. Blogger has changed their picture loading and placement abilities and I can't figure it out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, here is my beloved pink and brown quilt that I made for a dear friend's new baby girl.

I am very tempted to take it back every time I see it.
And on the back is this beautiful floral designed minkee type fabric. It is oh so soft!

Dog Vomit

Yes I have not blogged in a long time, and I promise to give you pictures and exciting stories soon.

In the meantime, I thought you would be intrigued by what I found today and then researched tonight.

We went outside briefly tonight and from across the yard I could see something strange in my garden. I walked over to find a large orangey mass that looked absolutely disgusting. After researching orange garden fungus', we have come to the conclusion that it goes under the name of orange slime mold, AKA dog vomit fungus. How disgusting is that??

Unfortunately it is an accurate description. Since when I looked at it, I thought along the same lines, but since we have no dog, and we installed a rabbit fence around the garden this year preventing critters, I figured it had to be something more scientific.

Now do we carefully collect and study it as a homeschooling family??

I think NOT!!