Here we go again!!

Here we go again. Another day another week! Well I am happy to report that although the dinosaur lapbooks and notebooks have been put on the back burner for a bit, they have come out again and are 1 day away from being complete. Believe me we are ALL happy, it just seems to have taken so very long.

On the past Thursday I gave Josh and Mick their new lapbooks to start....yea start but they finished by Friday after lunch! I didn't realize how excited they were about these ones, they were rattling off information to me all day long for 2 days. Josh did his guitar lapbook and Mick did a technology one. I will post them tomorrow. Our niece Kassandra also finished her Dolphin lapbook and is pretty excited about giving it to Grandma and Grandpa.
Over the weekend we got a lot accomplished around here. Well I think we did...ha ha. I do know that the kitchen is looking pretty bare and the computer from the schoolroom has been moved to the living room. It took the place of our tree....looks like that will be the last time we see it again until November!

It was awesomely warm this weekend and the kids enjoyed a lot of time outside. On Sunday night something overcame Josh and he was a cleaning machine!! He did a great job and everything looked so nice, I love it when they get into that mood, you know to be helpful and to do it without the complaining! It's great.Highlight of the week David can talk!!! Silly me, I was starting to wonder why he wasn't trying to talk, but really why should he talk when he has 4 older brothers, a mom and a dad who all seem to know exactly what he wants or needs! But he said "hewhoa" (hello), eyes, "ose" (nose) , "aww" (hair), "airs" (ears). It was so cute, and yes mommy over-reacted...lol. Oh those milestones.

This week has started with a bulk making of waffles!! I am not sure what i was thinking by quadrupling the batch but the good thing is, now we have a whole bunch in the freezer ready to be popped in the toaster. Great snacks and fast too!
Daniel had his first lesson on what a noun is today. He thought this was pretty interesting, and boy am I glad he did since this is just the beginning of many years of learning about that stuff! Danny also finished up the last of his dinosaur things for his lapbook and we discussed how he would like the layout for it, so tomorrow we will put it altogether the way he wants, you'll have to stay tuned to see it.
Josh and Mick did a study on Saskatchewan today and Josh got Kassandra to help as she is moving there in the fall. She was really interested in learning about her soon to be new "home." They also finished up the rest of their unfinished dinosaur items.
After all our work was completed today Daniel and I went on a few errands downtown...it was his turn this time and he was so excited. Every time I take one of them downtown they get to have a treat at the store and Danny's treat is always a Kinder Surprise egg!
When we got home I started a batch of 100% wholewheat bread and buns. once they were rising I put on a pot of some yummy homemade turkey rice soup..mmm...mmm..mmm!
The bread turned out great and of course the kids wanted some cinnamon buns! Okay okay I am trying to lose weight here and I have to resist the temptation and reach for some fruit instead, it's hard but I know I can do it. Daniel had to be in the picture, he was so excited about those ones with the icing!!



Well the rest of the week is looking pretty busy. Dad, Josh and Kassandra are leaving tomorrow to drop Kassie off with her momma and Dad has some work to do. On Thursday morning the rest of us will leave to the city for a weekend full of hockey!! The boys are so excited. Dad and Josh will meet us there onThursday evening. Before we leave I will finish up a project I am secretly working on for Kassandra's birthday present and hopefully get some packing done....I am almost thinking this could possibly somewhat of a break week for the boys, with a lot of reading going on. We are also going to be starting a Spring Reading Challenge in our home.....one they reach 75 points they will get to go to the store and get a treat of their choice! They can earn points by reading books, reviewing lapbooks, reading to the younger boys, and playing educational games we have made. So it will be fun too.
Well It's bedtime and they need to go to bed! Check back soon to see the 4 new lapbooks we are adding to our blog
Blessings to you all!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well today was St. Patrick's Day, I wish I would have had more time to prepare, but things have been crazy around here trying to pack, school and parent!! But all in all we had a pretty good day!! Actually in the last 2 days we have had our fair share of learning about Saint Patrick, Shamrocks, Rainbows and brainstorming our own meaning behind the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Well do you want to know what we came up with? Sure I'll tell you at the end of this post...ha ha ha.
Okay okay I know you are noticing the girl in the picture....I only have boys, but this week we have the wonderful privilege of having our Niece Kassandra staying with us. She has been a great joy to have around...believe me it's definitely nice to have another female figure in our home!

Well to start off our week I will fill you in on what is happening with our schoolwork. Monday we began working on our St. Patrick's Day lapbook, which by the way was a lot of fun. The kids did a great job. I am learning though, that I really need to give them more time to complete these holiday lapbooks! It is a lot to fit into 2 days, well actually 1 1/2 days! Here is a video I did of their Lapbook so check it out: (sorry it's sideways)


Hope you liked it!!

Well other activities we did of the last 2 days included making Irish hats, and the kids wanted to decorate our tree for this day. Yea yea I know!! lol They made a paper chain with green paper strips, green and blue crosses and then Mick thought an Irish hat would be great for the tree topper!
Oh yea let me tell you about the craziest thing that happened today! This morning the phone rang and Danny answered it. He brought the phone over to me and said "Mom it's a little Irish man!" I gave him that look...you know the one I mean...as the person on the phone could clearly hear him. I took the phone and to my surprise the man on the other end had an Irish accent!!!!!! I had a hard time not to laugh (and no I do not laugh at people for their differences) but the whole thing was so fitting being it is St. Patrick's Day and all. When I hung up Danny said "See mom I wasn't lying was I?" I couldn't help but laugh!

Well tomorrow is the start of some new units, which meant a library visit for us today. Okay I had 6 kids a the library and then added one to the crew while there, so it wasn't as quiet as a library should be. The good thing is we did successfully get the books we needed!! Hooray. I just know these situations are good for the ongoing work with in me....believe me these times can make a mother boil! but I am learning to let them be kids, where you can hear kids laughing means there is happiness and life! Anyway back to our new units. Tomorrow we will begin a study on Volcanoes and we are all doing this one together, on top of this we have for Social; Knights, Castles and the Middle Ages. Noah is going to start his CARS Totbook which once again we got from this site. Of course we will be continuing on with our continental hopping for Daniel and our Canada study for Josh and Mick.
Since our niece is staying with us I told her that she had to participate in schooling, surprisingly she was all for it. She chose a dolphin lapbook from Homeschool Share. She also got a book at the library from the Dolphin Diaries series.
Oh yea did I mention that we have started the Prince Caspian unit study for our reading as well. Phew, we have a lot on the go but most of what we are doing they will be able to do on their own, which will help me so I can focus a bit more on packing.
Well that is a view of what our week has been so far and will look like for the days ahead. Check back with us later in the week to see any new post we have. I do plan to do a couple videos on the kids' notebooking so far and our Dinosaur books...I still need to help Danny assemble his.
Blessings to you all

p.s. I know you thought I forgot didn't you....Pot of Gold at the end of the Rainbow: The rainbow represents God's promise and LOVE for us all, the pot of gold represents the treasure waiting for us for believing and having FAITH in Him!!!

Children...what a gift, what a blessing

Well this past week has been quite interesting and the Lord has brought many things to mind this week.
Let's talk about babies!! I have tried my best to be in the most positive, loving and stress free environments, that I could possibly be in while pregnant (Believe me with all these boys it does not come easy!) The reason for this is so that the baby, who by the way is already developing the very important feeling of trust, would know and feel safe coming into this world. The baby would know that he/she (in my case 5 hes) will come into the world and feel safe and trust those loving parents who will cuddle, hold, feed and protect over the next 18-20 years! Wow what an important feeling to nurture and all that even before birth. Wow we mothers and fathers, our jobs start as soon as conception begins! Now for me personally I made a choice to be as nurturing and loving as I could be, long before I even had children. It was just a thing I had always thought about. Obviously the Lord had put this in me a long long time ago. I am by far a perfect mother and have my flaws, but we iron out the wrinkles and keep on going.
As infants I decided to breastfeed my boys, well my oldest boy I didn't I wish I had but that was a decision I made before I knew better. My second oldest I breastfed for 2 1/2 months, now he could eat 24/7, and no I am not exaggerating at all! Dan, he lasted 8 mos, Noah 18mos, and My baby boy well he is still feeding....he will be 19 mos this month and he is still going. Well I have been having these feelings, which I decided this week were selfish, that I want myself back, if you get what I mean...lol Well My husband said to me "Dear you are the ONLY one who can give him what he needs and wants, cherish this time with him." That really opened my eyes. I have been pondering those words my husband spoke to me over the last few weeks. It is true, I am the only person who can give him this, and this time with him is our time, just me and him, and yes I must cherish this time with him because this time will soon be over and we will move into something new. So I have taken hold of him and just sit with him while nursing, running my fingers through his hair and telling him how much I love him. Mothers and Fathers think of yourselves as guardian angels who have been blessed with these wonderful children to watch over.
Another decision my husband and I have made for our children is to allow them to sleep with us. It makes them feel secure and know that we are there for them close and never very far away. I have had many "BOOK" Parents tell me how horrible it is to sleep with your children, well I must tell you truthfully, IT HAS BEEN GREAT. They tell me oh your children will have some sort of anxieties, or problems sleeping later as they grow up, and the list goes on and on. Well you know we have slept with the 3 youngest and we have had almost the same experience with all of them. Sooner or later each one of them has moved out into their own beds when they were ready and it wasn't very long for any of them to all do this. We feel it is an important part of our nurturing and making them feel safe, secure, loved and trusting. These times are to be cherished and held dearly in your hearts. They need us.
My thoughts lately have been on my family.....and I have come to realize that this part of our life won't last for very long and we must hold this time close to our hearts. We must stop being so busy and so tuned into the world and having all the things of the world and just love and take in each precious moment, we are blessed to have these times with our children. I think about the fact that our oldest is turning 13 this year!! Seriously, where have the last 13 years gone? It seems like yesterday when we were sitting down holding him and marveling at his sweet little smile and his big chubby cheeks. Now he is coming into becoming a young man and in just a few short years he will be ready to be on his own!!! The time of our children seems so short yet we somehow think it is so long. The world has come to see this time as dreadful! I see a pattern that has developed in the ways the world looks upon different stages in a child's life and it makes me feel sad. At the age of Two the are "Terrible" then we have the "Trying" years from 5-9, then the "Pre-teen" or Tween years from 10-12 and then OH MY GOODNESS THE DREADFUL TEENAGE YEARS!!!! Now come on, I have to say I have had my moments with my children but none have been so awful that I would call them terrible or awful or look forward thinking it will be dreadful. Each moment and stage is so amazing and the LORD has given us the duty of carrying them through times of turmoil and walk with them through times of happiness. You know the "Footsteps" Poem (My favorite) think about that and how the Lord is always loving us no matter what!! That is how he wants us to be to our children, after all we are all HIS children.
Well I don't know if I have gone all over the place with this post but I truly love and have a great passion for my children and my husband and of course our families. I feel that the Lord has planted these important thoughts in my mind to help guide me through mother hood and us through parenthood. I am so thankful for these insights!!
Well I need to go to bed, I will be posting some of our weekend adventures, with pictures, tomorrow.
God Bless

On the Road Again!!

Well here we are, yet again in our Home away from home? LOL Well we have travelled again, and yes Ladue Academy is fully functioning on the road! I have had questions about this subject.....Do the kids do schoolwork when you are travelling? and the answer to the question...OF COURSE! Actually I think they get to endeavour into more of the culture here and learn about their cultural background! Dad has been documenting an ongoing Culture Camp type of event here and the 2 older boys have been able to join in on the learning and the fun. So far they have taken in trapping, skinning hides, making snowshoes, making hunting packs, and have had the pleasure of listening to elders tell stories.
Tomorrow we are going to another town not far from here, where we will be checking out the house we are wanting to rent, so pray for us that all goes well.

Now on to our studies. This week will take us to the end of our dinosaur unit. Today I started on a tot book/activity pack with my Noah. He loved making the Land Before Time cards, which we got off of a site for those of us who teach tots...the site is called 1+1+1=1. Actually the 3 youngest boys played with them all morning and they loved it.
Today we read in Job about Behemoth and Leviathan. The boys were so interested and loved to draw the pictures of how the bible explained them. We plan to visit the local school here, later this week, where they have an actual chunk of rock with a dinosaur footprint. The rock was taken from a local cliff side here. So the boys will enjoy that. We were done our work not too long after lunch and went out for a walk and enjoyed the much needed sunlight and warmth.

Tomorrow we will all begin a unit study on the book Prince Caspian. We have also been looking over all of the Science lapbooks that the boys are interested in and have decided on doing one huge one on volcanoes. Mick is going to begin one on technology and computers and Josh is going to begin his guitar lap book. Daniel will continue on with his subtraction lap book and when we go home he will begin one on phonics. Noah and I will finish his new Dinosaur tot book and any other activities pertaining to dinosaurs.

Well it's late and I need sleep. So when I think of more to write I will, and you can be sure I will write about our adventures this week.

Loves you all