Thursday, January 29, 2009

Can Someone Get Me Down?!



Erin getting bundled! She loves her
snow pants.


Erin can get all of her snow clothes on by herself and only needs help zipping and snapping. She is most proud of herself! The only problem is that it takes her longer than the others. By the time she was done the other day everyone had started to come in. Leave it to her adoring big brother Ethan, he re bundled and went out with her.

She wanted to go up into the fort and go down the slide which normally she loves to do in the snow. But once up she wanted down and was nervous about going down in her boots and other equipment. She stood up at the top yelling, "Can someone get me down from here?" "Please!" Ethan stopped his icicle hunt and tried to coax her down the slide. When that did not work he went up and helped her navigate the ladder backwards and carried her the rest of the way. They happily played on the ground until they were freezing. I knew there was a reason I always wanted a big brother!














Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Our Tour of the United States


Welcome to Pennsylvania!


We are all loving this unit study! The books are wonderful. The kids really enjoying the mapping and journal keeping that we are doing. Every state is opening more opportunities to learn. As Kyle says I go off into a whole other world. But he likes my tangents! He has enjoyed some great snacks and fun activities off them.
We just finished Pennsylvania last week. We are taking our time and reading extra books that I think the kids will enjoy. As you can see we picked up on the crayons and Hershey bars. We took a Crayola factory tour on line and watched the production of the crayons being made and packaged. We have some other craft projects that we will be doing this week and next to finish up crayons and their history. The kids loved this video and Kyle and Ethan enjoy learning the company history. This particular unit has been great because I have been able to include Erin's preschool activities with the color theme.
Being a state that is rich in history, Kyle enjoyed reading about Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address. The Liberty Bell was also a big topic and we are all ready to take a trip to Philadelphia and see real life history.
The chocolate I am saving for the month of February. I have so many ideas and books that I am going to devote the entire month to learning the history and process of making chocolate and then specifically learn about the history of Hershey to tie in Pennsylvania. Conveniently, Mars Co. the maker of M & M's is located in New Jersey which is the state we started this week. So that is moving on to the list as well.
American Grub is a book I found that gives a recipe that has significance to each state. For Pennsylvania it was Funnel Cakes, the favorite dessert of the Pennsylvania Dutch colonists. This afternoon we successfully made funnel cakes. Having never made them before I wasn't sure how they would turn out but they were really good. A little more doughy than the fair but still really good and there was not a bit left!
The dough before mixing in the milk.
Paige holding the funnel. Good thing I put cooking spray
on the inside, it was a thick dough.
Cooking....
Done! It worked!
Finishing touch!
Erin gives it a thumbs up.
So does Paige.
We are already deep into New Jersey and working on lots of fun things! There are so many places that we want to go now!

My Kind of Day!



Erin loves jammie day!


Let it snow, let it snow! I love snow days. I love not being able to leave my house or need to leave the house. Wednesday's are our busiest activity day. Erin has dance in the morning, Ethan and Lindy have piano in the afternoon. And the evening is busy. Lindy to cheerleading, Kyle to Boy Scouts, and Ethan to basketball. So to have the day "off" was a very welcome treat. And we made it a treat day.

I felt bad kissing Bill goodbye while we all sat sprawled out on the family room floor in jammies with the fireplace going, reading books and playing American Girl card games. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and read and played all morning. We enjoyed a fun lunch (BLT's with Turkey and had Coke to drink for a special treat) and then had a great afternoon snack, more on that later.



Don't we all look innocent! Just wait...

Everyone let off some steam by wrestling Kyle and "attacking " him per his request! We danced and listened to music, made Valentines, drew pictures, and did not watch TV! We spent the day together and it was the best day. I am secretly hoping for another snow day soon!
Off to "attack" Kyle with glee!
And he loves it!
Especially Ethan!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Double Snuggle!


Paige, Daddy, & Lindy last night

Having twins has always been a fascinating experience. There are times I still look at Bill and say, "Can you believe that we have twins?!" It has been so neat to see how they have grown together and become their own person yet they have a bond of sisterhood, friendship, and "twinship" that no one can understand unless they are twins. They have rarely spent a moment of their lives apart. Only over the last year would they do an activity without the other but they would still prefer to do it together.

It is not always as easy as it looks! The infancy is a bit of a blur although I clearly remember when they were both teething or sick at the same time. Trying to meet individual needs can be challenging. When doing school they want to work together and it sounds ideal to have two doing the same thing but they often learn things differently. So it winds up being separate lessons not really saving any time.

Yet I would not trade any of it! I am lucky to be a part of their special world. They are especially fascinated by multiples and their own "twinness". I have never been a fan of the "Double Trouble" saying as they have never been trouble or caused trouble. They are purely "Double the Joy" and we love them both - doubly!



Paige, Mommy, & Lindy this morning

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Museum Day - Artist Tim Lewis




Tim Lewis is a self taught artist who creates folk art sculptures from stone. We all enjoyed touring the new exhibit at the museum on Saturday afternoon. Below are some of our favorites. We were also able to watch a video that showed Lewis carving and chiseling away at the stone. There was so much detail to his sculptures and it looked so hard to carve and get the tools to do what you would want them to do. Fascinating!







Erin's favorite (she and Kyle just read about Noah's Ark)






Me and Bill! (Kidding, but I hope we
will always look this happy when Bill
has no hair left!)





On to the Doodles Art Program where the kids were to create a fable character collages on wood. Loved that it tied in with the book Lindy and Paige and I are reading, Goony Bird Fabulous, where the class is learning and writing about fables. Lindy jumped right in because this girl loves using lots of different materials!










Paige works so intently, she and Ethan both do this with their tongues when they are engrossed in something.





Paige's cat and polka dots





Paige and Ethan discuss his painting.




To go along with his interest in music Ethan painted Elton John's piano and the crowd waiting for him to perform.




Art is not Kyle's thing to do but he was a trooper and happily participated in a family afternoon with us! He had a great time too!



Kyle's man relaxing under a tree. Looks just like Kyle! Hanging out.


Erin was not happy with the way her painting was going (little temperamental artist! runs in the family!) so leave it to Bill to find a way to entertain her. He rubbed crayons on a paper for a background and they worked on painting a scene together.

She quickly became all smiles working with her Daddy!






They worked forever and we left with a very paint filled paper and a very happy little girl.






Erin and Bill's Masterpiece



We had a wonderful day together! The kids always love going to the museum, it has become one of their favorite places. I love going and spending time with the kids. We get to do art and I don't have to gather the supplies, set up, and clean up. And we all learn something in the process!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Just a little friendly competition...

Kyle and Ethan
That's all it was, a little competition between brothers! They were so excited for the game tonight so they could play each other. Secretly I think they were hoping to be guarding each other but that's not how it turned out. They still had a great time and it was a fast, action packed game.
Ethan's team won 18-10. I don't think either of them cared too much they were just having a great time!

Lined up for a foul shot they found
their way to each other.

Making Our Closet Like A Store!


Before


Lindy, Paige, and Erin's closet has been a disaster since they moved into this room! We have tried to get it organized but we never had much time before school started and here it is now. It has great potential, at least while they are little. If they continue to want to all be together I am not sure how long 3 girls can fit in this closet. It is decent size to which I give Bill full credit. When building this house and having this bonus room we planned to use the room as a school room. We had the closet added and I don't know what we would have done with all of our school stuff if we hadn't. Bill put in all of these shelves right after we moved in. To convert to the girls room he just popped a couple of shelves out and installed a hanging bar.

He also had a great idea when they moved in here to set up a dressing area. The dresser actually sticks out in the room and faces the closet. Socks, underwear, and jammies fill the drawers. They can open their closet doors and have all their clothes and a full length mirror. Sounds strange I'm sure but the other side of the dresser is covered in posters and makes a reading area with bookshelves and pillows.

When the girls and I were reading their American Girl magazine a week ago (February issue) they had an article titled Make your Closet Like a Store. The doors in the drawing even opened up like theirs. Paige wanted to start that night. It about killed her to wait for the weekend to do this project!

You don't turn down two 7 year olds who want to clean their closet! So, last Saturday afternoon we went through all the clothes, sorted the tons that don't fit. They followed the instructions and hung all their clothes the same direction and then hung them by color. All the bins were refolded and shirts went with shirts and pants with pants. Once they were done it was time to decorate! They made a jewelery shelf which acts as a dressing table. They draped little scarves over things and wrapped them around their little wall mirrors.

Most importantly they got things under control and they had the desire to get started themselves. This was their idea, I was more than willing to help but there was no nagging them to do it. One week later and putting away their laundry is fun! Never thought I would say that but they like "organizing" everything. They are so girls!




Working hard with NO complaining!
They never cease to amaze me.



After! Mom only has one shelf of school
stuff to get out!




Every girl has their own bin color.



The dressing table shelf with jewelery
and girly stuff!


They are so proud!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge




Kyle and Chapter President Mr. Richard Wheeler
Mr. Wheeler and his wife have been so gracious and
helpful to getting us registered and becoming a part
of the group.





Kyle and I attended the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge (VBOB) meeting on Wednesday. The guest speaker was a Colonel from the National Guard who spoke about his experience joining the Guard and being a part of the Guard going on 30 years. He spoke of his experience in Afghanistan 2 years ago and the support the guard gives to the active military. It was very interesting to hear how much support is needed to keep things running smoothly.


Kyle presented his home schooling project to the group. He is working on making a book for the Chapter containing all of the members and their history. Bill and I worked with him to compile questions which he handed out to everyone. He was very organized and had practiced at home getting tips on public speaking from his Dad who is a pro in this department! They made note cards and rehearsed and I am proud to say he did a fantastic job! He explained what he was working on and what information he needed. He passed out his questions and gave his contact information. He has set a goal for completing the project by June. He wants to included as many people as possible including his great grandfather.


Many of the members came up to him after the meeting and told them they had stories to share. Some thanked him for doing the project. He was elated when we left, "that was so fun mom", he told me when we were leaving.


Frank Walsh was being interviewed by another man who collects and compiles stories of veterans. We were able to sit with them and hear stories and look at pictures of Frank and his platoon. I gave Frank Kyle's paper where we wrote up the story that Frank shared at the last meeting. It will be "graded" for accuracy! Frank had some treats for Kyle a cool tank patch, a copy of a prayer by General Patton and an address by Patton to his troops.




One of the main parts of the meeting was a discussion regarding the group writing their own Chapter bylaws. What a great thing for Kyle to read and learn about. He received a copy that we can read and go over with him which will help him learn the fundamentals of how organizations operate locally and nationally.


I amazes me each time we go what an incredible experience this is for him. And he truly appreciates it. He soaks everything up like a sponge and enjoys all of it. We are so grateful for the welcome we have received and the opportunity to be a part of such a special group.




Kyle and Frank Walsh. Frank shared stories and
pictures.







Frank has an incredible memory and is able to remember
details. He knows the name of everyone in his pictures down
to the spelling of their names.




I apologize for not knowing this gentlemans name
but he shared information with Kyle and they talked
about pictures.







Some of Frank's pictures, he was a handsome
guy! Still is!