Gapper

It only took her until she was almost one to cut teeth, and then it only took her until she was almost 8 before she finally LOST not one, but two teeth this week.  She pulled them herself!

 It's not really a gapper though because the two other teeth came in behind this summer.  I have been bugging her to wiggle those teeth every road trip we have been on in the last six months.

 And it was finally worth all that wiggling.  The two smallest teeth ever finally came out.

Seriously they are TINY!

Way to go Annika!

Fashion Show and Dance Off

There were no clear winners. Just one happy laughing family.  They loved posing.  

Never Did This Before/A Special Collection

When you move constantly, there are a lot of things as a homeowner you never get around to doing.  This is the longest we have ever lived in one place other than Michigan (which was four years).  And even there, we never did heavy fall/spring cleaning.  We just ripped down the walls and remodeled, and then I called it  the aftermath cleaning.  But still, I have never dusted my ceiling.  I have never polished my cabinets.  I only washed out drawers and the fridge when we moved in and then out.  Which was only a year apart usually!  I am no great housekeeper.  I am sure I have several friends that go to these lengths on a regular basis.  A few friends are blessed to hire someone to do this on a regular basis.

Today it started with looking in the fridge for leftovers for lunch.  I was finally fed up with what I opened up the doors too.  We ate a late lunch because I took action.  I took EVERYTHING OUT.  I threw away.  I hot watered and windexed the heck out of this thing.  It is soooo shiny.  I was enthralled.

 So I decided why not try these other things such as using Pledge to polish all the cabinets.  Why not take down my collection and scour it all.  And then degrease the shelf.  Why not use my amazing far reaching swiffer to dust all of the lights, skylight, and the ceiling.  No small task with that pitch and my height I tell you.   Standing on top of the fridge is probably not recommended.  And I reorganized my drawers.  Ha!  And then I polished all that stupid staining steel.  RRRR which means I have to mop because it gets everywhere.  So then I got down and cleaned under them all and under the kick.   Ha! Ha!  But it finally looks kind of like my friend's shiny kitchen that I always admire.  Or my other friend who has a really cool new remodel.  Maybe I will decide to like this room again, it can be quite pretty when clean.

But before I look toooo braggy about being all clean.  I have to 'fess up.  I got most of it, except for this spot.  I don't think I will ever ever get it under control.  It makes my blood boil and makes me want wine. And notice I have not mentioned any other room.  :)

I cannot not mention my collection.  My mom started it for me, and actually most everything she finds at thrift stores for my birthdays.  Which I love, but my dad and husband don't get.  I always shriek with excitement when I see the really big box that always has a new treasure.   :)

Aluminum.  Teapots and coffee pots are my favorites, with colanders or bundt pans tied for third place.  I LOVE imagining a group of women, coffee moms perhaps from a generation or two ago, meeting up and drinking tea or coffee brewed in these.  Sharing recipes for the new bundt cake.  Snapping beans or shelling peas over the colanders.  I know these things were USED, possibly favorites.  I love the shapes, the dulled shininess.  I have pots and pans too and baskets, but those are in my art studio.  I wanted to give my favorites the limelight.

 A few other pieces are thrown in:  a cake plate, my grandma's waffle iron, an old pot.  And then I have a couple plates painted by my other grandmother up there.

 All that history up there gives me warm fuzzies.  I cook from old church cookbooks, using recipes from family and names I remember.  I like to think all of those ladies are helping me out.  Helping me get through.

 Helping me raise my family and be there for my friends.  Good lessons.  I'll bet they polished their cabinets and dusted their ceilings.  See, it is already rubbing off!

We LOVE Science

Homeschooling.  It is definitely having its ups and downs.  I really enjoy the planning of all of the cool things we get to do and units.   It feels good to be a teacher again, and even better to get to do what I am best at with my own children and share that with them.  But I really miss my downtime.  I love seeing the girls progress and learn and seeing where they really are academically.  But it has been a struggle to figure out where they are, how much they should be doing, and helping them learn how to be challenged.  This is definitely going to be a process.  We have our good and bad moments every day.  We are learning we REALLY need to keep to a routine.   We are learning that that routine MUST take place in the morning, or I am as likely to find other things to be distracted by as much as them.  

Reading is going okay.  Definitely one of the subjects that Phoebe is probably higher than I thought but lazier :), and Annika I can't figure out.  We started a new strategy called 5 in a Row where she reads the same book to herself, to me, to Tanner, to me, and then we check comprehension.  It seems to be working better, and especially if we read non fiction books. 

Creative Writing is awesome.  Each girl is going to start typing and sharing some of their own work on their own blogs! www.writingwithsparkle.blogspot.com and www.grandslamwriting.blogspot.com  is where you can find what they have been working on.  I now have permalinks in my blog roll.  

Social Studies, how I loathe the states and regions.  Thought it would be fun, but it is quickly becoming tedious.  I need to come up with a new plan and strategy.

Singapore Math is fabulous.  A little challenging for Phoebe, and Annika is picking it up super fast.  A different way to teach math, using more mental math strategies and not so repetitive.  They love it.

Spelling.  I just ordered new books.  Art, always good.  Music, need to do more of.  Gym, well we do lots of bike rides and dance and baseball started.  I think we are okay there.

But science.  Oh how we all love science.  We started with a bug unit since we already had a huge collection of specimens Phoebe had curated.  We talked about kinds, habitats, body structures, food, all sorts of stuff.  Each girl made a giant bug (this is Phoebe's katydid) and then those are our charts and habitat pictures. 

 Lots of fun and learning.

 We just started the human body.  We have a skeleton cut out and glued up in our classroom and then they each made one with macaroni to review.  We are talking about the nervous system this week, so we made playdough brains and then made spinal cords with beads and egg cartons.

 Tanner just made snakes and animals that he could catch playing Turtleman.  :)

 Next week we will study the respiratory and circulatory systems.  I can't wait!  I found the coolest heart and lung models to make that will show each process.  I think the girls will learn a lot.  I will keep you posted.

This is why I am posting during homeschool time: Construction

They started construction on our street this morning.  They will be resurfacing the entire thing.  This morning there are two skid loaders working: one jackhammers all of the curb spots that need replacing and the other scoops it up and dumps the debris into the dump truck.  

 Needless to say, Tanner and Annika are enthralled.  

Now to continue in homeschooling fashion, Annika is doing a creative writing and drawing response.  Tanner has all of his trucks inside and has a full construction site working to build a road in the classroom.  Can't beat  real experiences!

Museum of Science and Industry

We took advantage of the free day at the museum.  I had planned our unit of the human body knowing that we would go see this exhibit.  We also have Flat William visiting from Iowa, so this was an excellent opportunity to do something exciting with him.  

 The kids all tried the giant hamster wheel to see their heart rates.

 The girls loved all of the body exhibits, Tanner was a little freaked out, so we didn't get to spend nearly as much time as I would have liked.  But I think it made a big enough impact that as we continue our unit, the girls will remember and be able to connect the two.  All of the parts are from real humans.  This is an entire body spread out.

 Then we continued around the balcony to see the airplanes.  We went in the United to see the interior.  The walls and floor were gone in spots to see how the inside works.  They also had real working engines, and we could see into the cockpit.

 The storms and electricity exhibit was an attention grabber.  Will definitely have to revisit this!

 And since I got into the main museum free, I paid to go down in the coal mine.  They all loved this, but Tanner especially.  Made up for being scared by the bodies!

 They turned on all of the machines a real mine would use.  Lots of pictures didn't turn out, due to the low lighting.  They really do have it set up like a real mine.

 The best part is days later they will all randomly tell me a fact of something they learned that day.  They are still processing and learning.  Love that.  That is why we are homeschooling.

 Outside of the museum.

 The cityline.

One last picture with flat William overlooking Lake Michigan.

Coffee Moms

Through our church, I have met with a group of other moms over the past few years.  We used to meet in each others homes so the kids could play.  We would have coffee and share yummy baked goods and recipes.  Sometimes we got to a devotion, sometimes not.  I haven't been able to go as much I like for a long time, but I still consider these women close friends.  They helped me get through those early parenting years and our first years here.  They are important to me.  We called ourselves the coffee moms.

The other night Phoebe was playing quietly with the Barbies for quite some time and I went to check on her and see what she was up to.  She had recreated the coffee moms.  I had her photograph all of it.  She also took one of the art/fashion studio of her Barbie house she created.