Note to Self:

Do not type your ideas for the kids' Christmas gifts on your blog and then let your 6yo read the blog. Thank goodness that girl doesn't have any idea what play silks are.

Gravity Lessons?

Hmmmm. If I didn't know better, I would say that Little S is trying to show up her siblings. Yesterday she started an advanced study on gravity. She secretly climbed a couple stair steps and fell back to earth. She tried to re-create her study today, but she was foiled!! I swear she says mama, but Mark just laughs at me. I have the other kids almost convinced of it, too. If you visit, you'll have to give your opinion. Happy belated 7 month birthday, Little S!

Lentil - Five Senses

It's a big posting day! We were learning about the five senses this morning. Here are the kids smelling various kitchen items.

Here they are learning about the different taste buds. They tasted lemons (sour), chips (salty), m&ms (sweet) and cocoa (bitter). The cocoa spurred a fast furious rush to the sink for water.

And here's Little S hanging around below the action.

Samson Strong

We've been watching The Greatest Heros and Legends of the Bible on TV, and the kids (but especially J4) are on fire! J4 was showing me how strong he is - just like Samson - and the other two got in on the action. I have to watch our little Samson since he is a little dangerous in some of his strength challenges.

Our Zoo

They come up with some of the cutest games. Yesterday they made a zoo. Can you see the animals sorted by type in the cages? They had cats, monkeys, dogs, and rabbits. Then, A6 put on a red outfit and J4 put on a blue outfit. You might think they are just matchin' kids, but really, they are wearing zoo keeper uniforms. :) E2 is wearing all blue as well, but that's a complete accident.

Little S is always around somewhere. Here she is mugging for the camera with E2.

Thankful Tree

I did it! I made our thankful tree. It didn't take much to create. I put some pumpkin pie playdough in a vase, and the kids and I collected some dead branches from the bushes out back. I cut out colored leaves, and now we are writing what we are thankful for on the leaves and hanging them up on the branches. I found a leaf placemat on clearance at Walmart, so the little display looks quite festive. Both older kids made leaves for their baby sister. Aren't they sweet?

Current Obessessions

1. Creating a new breakfast schedule for us. I have found that our days start best when we eat breakfast together while doing our religion lessons/bible readings/prayers/etc. Eating breakfast together also creates a natural transition to chores. :) So, I've made an informal meal schedule of Monday = pancakes, Tuesday = egg bakes or oatmeal, Wednesday = muffins, Thursdays = toast/French toast, Fridays = leftovers or cold cereal. After about 10 days, my schedule is still working out. Absolutely amazing.
2. Celebrating the liturgical year. I'm planning on celebrating St Nicholas' feast day on Dec 6 and, of course, Advent. St Nicholas' feast day will involve some sort of trinkets left in their shoes the night before. Advent will include our standard advent wreath. This year I'm planning on wrapping all the nativity pieces and having the kids unwrap one piece every morning. By Christmas, the set will be complete. Then, the wise men will show up in January for Epiphany. I want to do a thankful tree for Thanksgiving too. We'll see if I get that up in time!
3. Christmas gifts. So far my best ideas are play silks for A6 and a box of building materials for J4.

The Glorious Flight Fun

We are back at schooling this week and working on finishing our The Glorious Flight unit. We started it two weeks ago to coincide with the Lackland AFB air show. The first pic is Dad working with A6 and J4 to make wooden model airplanes. The second picture is of the kids flying paper airplanes from France (pink blanket) over the English Channel (blue blanket) and the cliffs of Dover (dinosaur mountain) into England (green blanket). Sounds just like Louis Bleriot's trip in The Glorious Flight. I hope to finish up our unit with the kids coming up with their own inventions. Wouldn't that be fun?

Horsin' Around

Aren't Dads the best?

Oh, the mess when Mom's sick

I've been sick for over a week, and in our house, that = chaos. We were able to get school work done last week, but that's about it. This week we're skipping school and catching up on housework. You can see before and after pictures of the kids' room. You probably couldn't even find J4 in the first picture. Quite a transformation!

Well, skipping school really doesn't mean skipping school. We still have quite a busy schedule - music class and preschool co-op on Wed, Symphony fieldtrip on Tues, soccer Wed and Sat, two play dates, and our constant unscheduled learning. We don't skip religion lessons either.

(J4 wasn't really in the first picture. But, if he had been, you still wouldn't have been able to find him.)

Prayer Corner

After obsessing about how to setup a family prayer corner, I just did it. I took a few things we already owned, cleared a spot, and there it is. We try to light the candle during meals and during religion lessons. I bought candles which match the liturgical colors so we can follow the church calendar. I plan on finding prayer cards for saints as we celebrate feast days, but I haven't gotten that far yet. Simple and so very nice.

Halloween

Here is our Halloween picture and a couple of group shots. Our Halloween costumes were far from elaborate. Between being sick the past week and our impending job loss, I couldn't justify fancy smancy costumes. For $20 they all had something to wear and they were all happy, so that's pretty good. A6 was a cat, J4 was Spiderman, E2 was Randy Moss of the Vikings, and Little S was a Vikings cheerleader. We had great fun trick-or-treating last night. The weather is just perfect for it here in Texas. The other two pics are just random group shots. No fighting, whining, or other chaoticness (is that a word?). Pretty amazing. Those are the shots that make me smile.