First Day of School

Since starting to home-educate, we've changed a lot of things about the rhythm of our lives.  One thing that remains, though, is my obsessive need to have first day of school pictures.  My mom always took them, and I even had my roommates take them in college so that I could mail them to her.  We use the first day of Classical Conversations for our "First Day of School" pictures.  The kids get to pick out a new outfit, which they love, and then once they're all schnazzed up, I make us spend seven extra minutes we don't have because we're running later than I'd hoped to get pictures. 

Riley has grown so much in a year.  He really looks like a "guy" now, and he really wants to be, too.  He's struggling with the balance of "big tough guy" and "decent human being" occasionally as he navigates his way to "big person", but his true nature is very compassionate and loving, and he's eager to please.  We're so proud of him and how hard he's working each day at whatever he does.  Smart as all get out, this kid is fantastic at remembering anything he wants to, including the entire Story of the World.  He turns 9 this year (Third Grade) and I can't believe he's half-way to technical adulthood.

Logan is so gentle and interesting.  He's got a vivid imagination, but we work really hard on helping him mitigate his feelings since he's easily wounded by anyone/anything.  He is snuggly and fun, and he's a fantastic reader.  It's so weird for me that he's a First Grader this year and he's never been to school.  Sometimes I worry I'm robbing him of that experience, but he's thrived under our home program and performs well above grade level in most of his subjects.  He's such a sweet boy and we adore him.

Oh my little Savannah Lynn.  I jokingly say that she's got a Napoleon Complex.  Tiny and petite, she will hurt you if you get in her way and fail to yield to her sweet cute side!  She's very much a tough cookie and wants to be the boss, and enjoys the control she has over the men in our family :) She's sassy and smart and wants to do everything her brothers do.  I'm tutoring her class this year and am enjoying already how eager and excited she is to learn.  I'm so excited to see the person she ends up becoming!

I can never get a good picture of all three of these kids!! However, one of the things I love most about homeschooling is that they really do love each other in a way that we were losing when Riley went away to school.  They love their friends and definitely whine if they don't get enough social exposure (and believe me, they get A TON), but they also play so well together and have fantastic imaginary worlds, stories, and games that are constantly happening around me.  It's above my pay grade to be in on all the stories, but they always sound fantastic!!

Here's to a great 2012-2013 year!!

Swim Team 2012

This year was our first year of Swim Team and we had so much fun.  I was really unsure that I wanted to spend 2 hours a day at the pool, but the kids enjoyed the structure that swim team added to our day, and they had a great time with all the social events.  I was able to enjoy my mornings having coffee and chatting with other moms, as well as reading (can you believe that!) while the kids swam.  Savannah didn't get a space on the developmental program until 3 weeks from the end of our season, but she was such a trooper about going everyday, which was made easier by the fact that "her friend" Anna was there.  I remember being little and thinking that older kids were just the coolest people ever, so I'm actually so thankful for Anna and her entire family who were such great sports about my children attaching themselves to them and are really great role models for my kids, too!

Savannah and her BFF from this summer's activities, hanging out at a meet and after the end of the season awards ceremony with their medals. 

For Logan, swim team was more of a stretch.  Early Saturday morning meets and daily practice just didn't have the draw that hockey has for him, but he didn't' want to sit on the side and watch, either.  Logan's also never been a "racer" and so it was hard for him to come in (nearly) dead last every meet.  His strokes improved, though, and if he wants to, I bed next year he can kick some butt.  or, keep dogging it, but enjoy the water every day, whatever.  We're not raising 10 year old olympians over here.  

Logan's lane coach was awesome.  She kept him happy during meets and encourages him every step of the way.  We were way thankful for her happy demeanor and constant patience.

So then we had Captain Competitive.  Riley really likes competing with people and he likes to win.  He wasn't the fastest out there, he finished 10th in our division in freestyle and 11th in backstroke, but he's not a year round competitive swimmer, which most of the faster kids allegedly were, and they give out heat winner ribbons, so I think he really came out feeling like he was way cooler than he actually is ;) We're still very proud of him (as well as his siblings) because they all did great in different ways.  Savannah was patient waiting while her brothers swam and she couldn't touch the water, Logan really learned a lot about positive attitude, and Riley really did try hard to win every heat.

When Savannah finally got on the developmental team, the season was almost over, but they did a really cute competition for them with just the kids on our team, and they even did an Olympic Torch walk as they entered the pool.  Swim team was a really positive experience for us, and we're looking forward to next year, more head-sized donuts on Wednesdays, and even more time sitting at the pool as we'll have kids in either 2 or 3 time slots.  (I'm taking book recommendations now!)

In Which We Play Hockey

Hockey.

Hockey involves getting up wicked early for practices and games, and being cold.  However, hockey has made Logan so much more self-assured, and it is worth every lost moment of sleep :)

Last weekend we were able to travel (Logan, grammy, papa, and I) to Pennsylvania for Logan's first ever hockey tournament!!  He had such a blast getting alone time, and getting to play hockey!

 Driving up to PA, Logan colored almost the entire way!  I brought a read-aloud for him, too, but he was much more interested in coloring and chatting to a captive audience with no siblings to interrupt.

 Having fun in the hotel with our friends, our PW Panthers did their trophies and the boys had a fantastic time swimming in the pool together.  Logan was so proud of the fact that he could swim faster than most of his friends (way to go private swim lessons!) and had fun with some dive sticks grandma bought.

 This is at breakfast in our hotel.  They apparently had a disconnect between their brains and their service, because despite the fact that an entire hockey club was coming, they were out of almost everything at their breakfast (because the "truck don't come 'till Monday") and pool towels were being traded on the black market.  Logan was happy anyway, because he got to have hot chocolate and a pastry for breakfast instead of anything remotely healthy.

 

Playing with Grammy and Papa at a little diner next to the hotel (we learned our breakfast lesson quickly!).  We actually visited PA this summer for vacation and everywhere we ate was horrendous, so we've decided that from now on, we will not eat in Pennsylvania.  

Logan's team got medals!! They came in 3rd place out of the mini mite teams!! (There were 3 mini mite teams.  This was convenient) 

 

 Logan being Momma's boy.  He actually went and sat with some friends for about 10 minutes (this is huge for his introverted personality) but then he came back because they were being too loud.

Eating a cantaloupe. He was rather disappointed that he didn't get the whole thing.  "Just a HALF mom??"

The games at the tournament were great for Logan.  They were only 30 minutes (although we played several each day) and fast-paced.  He really started to get aggressive and go after the puck by day 2, and he left feeling really great about playing.  He's super bummed that he has to take a week off, but then spring hockey starts again!

In Which We Bunny Party

Logan is OBSESSED with bunnies.  He always has been.  He pretends to be a vava (that's 1/2 dolphin, 1/2 bunny for those of you unfamiliar).  There are red vavas and blue vavas.  Red ones live on land and are good.  Blue ones live in the water and eat little kids.  I like to think this is a result of my years of training him to be a republican ;)

Anyhow, one day we came across this little gem on youtube:

And ever since, my sweet baby Logan has made me listen to that silly song 1,330,023,404,239 times.  He's also been asking for about a month to have his own Bunny Party.  With Hurricane Irene threatening our outdoor plans, including football, we invited Uncle Kevin and Miss Lauren (the love of Logan's life), and Gram and Papa over for a bunny party.  On the heels of getting home from New York, this involved some substantial laundry-doing on my part, but we got it done.  Logan worked very hard on everything from plates with construction paper ears to bunny-shaped foods.

 What a nosh, huh? There's chocolate fondue with strawberries and brownies, in the bunny ceramic there's Annie Organics Bunny shaped fruit snacks, there is a very lovely carrot centerpiece, crudite, chicken wings (I have no clue, but he insisted bunny parties have them), bunny pizzas, bunny pear salads, chips and salsa and veggie dip.

 This picture hates me and will not rotate, but it's 1/2 a canned pear in juice, well drained, with 2 sliced almond ears, 1 raisin split in half for eyes, and a dollop of cottage cheese for a tail.

Bunny pizzas! These are a split english muffin, the top half cut into two ears (leaving a middle triangle which I am using for breadcrumbs).  The ears get just a line of sauce, the "faces" get a pepperoni triangle for a nose and green pepper eyes and smile.  I think they're cute, and Logan was able to do it all by himself, minus cutting the ears.  He especially enjoyed smushing the ears onto the faces before adding the toppings, which really did work to make them stick!!

And, of course, there was cake for dessert.  Logan made this (minus the cutting), too! It's 2 round cakes (one 8 inch one 9 inch) the smaller of which was cut to make ears.  The remaining piece makes a bow tie if you so desire, but Logan did not.  The eyes are kissed, the nose and ears are strawberries and the smile is bunny fruit snacks.  The frosting turned out surprisingly good since I couldn't find my MASSIVE bottle of vanilla from BJ's wholesale ANYWHERE, and I ended up using Bailey's Warm Vanilla Toffee coffee creamer.  It was actually really good! (Note: the coffee creamers are non-alcoholic).

Gram and Papa brought Bun Bun Steve over in her cage, and a fun time was had by all.  Logan was so cute instructing us in the way of the bunny party, and after we put the kids to bed (We Finished Treasure Island!! My least favorite read-aloud ever because the kids insisted I do pirate voices and laughed at me all 34 chapters!)  the adults enjoyed some games....which, although not bunny themed, were quite fun!

In Which We Live and Let Live

One of the things I love about the concept of what we're going to be doing is that it gives us a great deal of time to explore when we're done with our core work.  And there's oh so much to explore. 

Meet Charlotte:

(Photo courtesy of Logan).  She's an ENORMOUS (probably a good 3.5-4 inches from leg tip to leg tip) black and yellow spider who has taken up residence on a hosta bush at grandma's house near the pool.  Also called writing spiders because of the distinctive zig-zag central line they draw in their webs, these scary things are harmless to humans (other than scaring the bejeebus out of you if you find one on yourself!) which was good news for this spider since the kids were certain it must be poisonous and wanted to kill it ASAP.  Now that she's non-venomous to us, they're fascinated with her.

These super neat spiders are different than almost anything in nature we've read about because the females are both larger and more colorful.  Males are small and brown.  Riley argued with me that I had it backwards and gave me specific examples of every bird we've spotted this summer.  Cardinals, blue jays, orioles, the boys are bright and the girls are ugly.  I liked that he remembered :)

The spider also eats the center of its web every night to recycle the chemicals used in web-making and then respins the center and the zigzag (called a stabilimentum).  The kids spent the night at grandma's last night and armed with the knowledge their would be a new web this morning, Logan was outside at the crack of dawn to take a good picture.

:)

In Which We Sum Up July.

I'm being a bad writer.  Keeping up with vacation and camps and VBS and school and my writing I do here and here is really getting the best of me.  For the first time in my entire life EVER I would really like to get back to a regular schedule.
I know.  Crazy.

In the meantime, here's what we've been up to:

First it was the 4th of July.  Riley's cub scout pack made a float and Logan came and helped.  Savannah and Logan made red, white, and blue strawberries for the barbeque at grammy's house and thoroughly enjoyed the parade.  After, we went to our local baseball team's game and got to watch the fireworks.  I watched Logan- he was adorable staring up in awe.  Savannah still hates them.

Check out our cub scouts! Their float turned out great and Riley enjoyed riding.  I walked in the parade with him and some other moms and had fun chucking candy at people :)

After the 4th, we left on a trip to Hershey Park and Amish Country.  My parents joined us and I picked possibly the WORST HOTEL EVER! It was such a good deal (because it was in the middle of being renovated) but it did have a pool, so the kiddos were happy! We did a horse and buggy tour of Amish Country and the kids got to make "Amish" toys.  Hershey Park was a big hit, especially the roller coasters for Riley! He's definitely as much of a thrill-seeker as he ever was!

On our way home, it was essential that we go to Tony Luke's and get cheesesteaks in Philly.  We drove to the city and toured the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall in the rain.  Everyone else donned rain apparel, but Logan walked the entire way getting poured on and was the happiest I have seen him in his entire life.  He was soaked and smiling ear to ear.

A park near our home has a reptile show every year with (I'm pretty sure) the same guy who has been doing it since I was a kid.  At the end of the show he lets the kids come up and touch an albino python.  I took pictures.  I felt very proud of myself.  Yes, that is my daughter in her pajamas.  They match her Bitty Baby.  No, she's not wearing shoes.  Don't judge.

The boys also touched the snake.  You'll notice they are both dressed and have shoes.  Well, maybe you won't "notice" the shoes from the picture, but they did.  If their sister would sleep at night so that she wasn't getting dragged out of bed in the morning, maybe she'd be cute, too.  The cutest part of this experience was the herptologist showing a python shedding and saying "If you ever found one of these in your backyard, you should call me." Savannah, with a totally serious look, turned to me and said in the most concerned voice "We need his phone number!"

We've done a lot of swimming.  Sometimes Uncle Kevin comes.  The kids also got to spend the night at his house with Ms. Lauren and Uncle Kevin while I went to Ohio (more on that later).  They think he's super cool.  They're young.  They'll learn he's just an annoying younger brother.....

Maybe not.

We've of course ventured into DC.  (Yes, this is all one month) We went in to check out the annual folklife festival on the mall.  On our way from parking we stumbled upon the DC Farmers' Market and the USDA Children's Garden.  They let the kids plant and make crafts and had some great tents for us to picnic under.  It was really awesome.  Your tax dollars make for my kids' fun, people.  Keep paying up!

Let's see.....this is getting long.  Okay, so Riley went to an awesome art camp, Savannah and I got lucky enough to join Kyla for her birthday at American Girl Place (which she loved!), we've hiked and caught butterflies and made ice cream.  I got to have a mommy-day celebrating Jamie's birthday at Quattro Goomba's winery, we enjoyed some bounce time on a particularly hot day, the boys got to go and pick up Grammy and Uncle's new lab puppies in Pennsylvania, aaaaaaaaaaaand, the kids made me breakfast when I got back from my trip.  Not in this post, because it just happened today, we competed in our first cardboard regatta, which will get its own post as soon as I have pictures :)

In Which We Play Twister for Fun and Fotos

I've been writing for a little news service for the past few months which has been really really fun for me because I've always wanted to take my writing out for a spin and see where it took me.  One of the perks of this job was that I got to meet Mary, who is the senior photographer.  She had my kids and me over for some pictures for the business she's starting up and I wasn't so sure how they'd turn out- but they were really fun!  Totally different than the sterile studio portraits we normally get from school, Mary had them play twister with me.

I loved what Mary had to say, too: "Savannah, Riley and Logan are a party all by themselves. I was quite taken with how they genuinely enjoyed playing together."  


We really are lucky to have such great munchkins that love each other deeply.  And, twister pictures- super cute! I think I need a new stacked frame to display these!! 

In Which My Sweet Baby Turns 5

We have 3 children.  Of those, we successfully planned to conceive one.  Riley was a massive surprise, Savannah came out of nowhere, but Logan- Logan was the one we ordered :) (Disclaimer: We love all 3 of our children dearly)

 Logan is such a sweet little boy.  He's content with a show and a snack any day of the week.  He doesn't need other people's approval to be happy- in fact, I have to laugh when we're around other kids because he's going to play what he wants and if you want to join him, that's cool, but if not, that's cool, too.  The picture above is Logan on his last day of being 4.  It was his "Mama Day" where he gets me all to himself every Tuesday.  He always wants to spend it the same way, snuggling on the couch in our jammies watching Ice Age 3 and eating Nutella.  Well, the Nutella isn't always the snack of choice, but you get the idea.  The boy is happy with simple things and I love that about him :)

 

When Logan grows up he wants to be a bunnyninjachef (so hence the bunny ninja drawn hastily on his ice cream cake.  I'd already made 3 cakes this week so I was super happy he wanted an ice cream cake but didn't realize until the last minute he also wanted it decorated.  Yay for leftover frosting!!) 

Logan is sensitive and kind, and a quietly fierce competitor.  He is so proud right now that he can read small sentences and likes to rub it in his brother's face share his new skills with other members of our family because it is coming so easily for him.  He is an awesome kid and we're so lucky to have him

In Which We Start Bow-way

!!!!!

I was so excited this morning to take Savannah to her first Ballet class!! I have been waiting to buy her leotards and ballet slippers since the day we had her ultrasound!  She's so much fun because she loves being a tough guy with her brothers most of the time- but will just as quickly switch gears for a tea party or to give her baby a bottle.


You aren't allowed to watch the class, which is hard, but since I used to teach figure skating to little ones I totally understand :)

Logan was especially cute this morning- he was so excited to "see his princess sister go to bow-way for the first time!" He was just so proud of her, and it was adorable!!

Totally made my day! My favorite part of being a mommy is seeing my children love on each other.  I hope they keep that up forever!

Mama, I love you....

Logan is such a sweet and honest little man- I love how he's inbetween stages right now- he still has his sweet round cushy baby face, and he also has so much to say and can do so many "big boy" things!!

Today, he looked back at me with his sweet cherub face and said "Mama, do you know how much I love you?" Smiling, I asked, "How much?" and, with the independent thought of a much older child, but the honesty of a toddler he answered "Not as much as Lucky...but you're second."

Beaten by a dog. Oh well, I guess I'll take what I can get.

I'm Melting!! I'm Melting!!

Well, it's melting outside anyway!! We finally got to walk to school again, which was so wonderful!! Lucky has been less than appreciative of the melting, though, because he has been getting almost a bath a day due to the mud!! Savannah had her 2 year check up and is still tiny, but proportional, so that's good!! We had a fun time this weekend at a few different birthday parties, including Logan's best little friend Kailey. He really wanted to make her something, and decided on a princess crown and wand. It turned out so cute!! I made the K and the 4, but Logan put everything else on by himself! He's such a meticulous little bug! There is still a little bit of snow on the ground as you can see from this picture, but it really is sooo much better than it was before!! We are definitely a family that likes to have the option to be outside! We are all playdoh and coloring and pretend-playing-ed out!! The boys played fetch outside with the dog yesterday until their little faces were blue and their lips were purple (and that only took 20 minutes)!

We also found out today that Logan's teachers approved him for 5 day 4's next year, so he's very excited about having class each day for 1/2 a day. Preschool has been so good for my kids- I know some people don't think it is but the social skills they learn and the friends they make are so worth the time and cost. Savannah has also been clamoring "I gow ad kooowl!!" and so we are signing her up for the 2 1/2 year old class which will meet 2 half days. She is such a social child, and I hope that the increased interaction will help with her speech.