October: clay and caramel apples

Emma hates writing so I am trying to get more creative with our writing assignments to show her how much fun writing can actually be.

This week her assignment has been to create her own creature/monster, make him out of clay, paint his picture, name him, describe him using many adjectives, and then to write about him--where he lives, what he eats, what he looks like, etc...

Emma loves monsters, so she seems to be enjoying this writing assignment better than most.

Caramel apples are a great way to make all things less painful anyway.

October: colors

October birthday fun

The girls have been busy for over a week preparing for their daddy's birthday. Hannah made him over 20 cards (some contained pictures, some letters, some numbers--some even contained her spelling words). Nora also worked hard on the cards (about 10-12) drawing pictures of Dad with static hair and 'scrolls' filled with her own little words. Emma made one special card expressing her love in her own words.They counted down the days in anticipation, and the night before kept asking Daddy if 'he was just so excited that he couldn't stand it', and shouting that they were too happy to sleep. It was wonderful to watch and to see them so excited to celebrate the most important man in their lives. Happy Birthday Baby from all your girls--we adore you.

October at the fair

just 2 little things...

Emma: "Mom, Hannah, Nora and I have been noticing that our stuffed animals hair has been growing back."

---so that is why they have needed my scissors

Hannah: "Mom, Nora and I love streamers. We take them, hide them under our beds, and then we eat them."

Me: "Yuck, why do you eat them?"

Hannah: "Because they are so yummy, they taste like salt."

we can smell the change

I am always smelling. My nose is very important to me. I smell the morning, any food item before eating, my laundry, my dishes, the woods, beach--yes, yes--basically everything I am near I try and breathe in a scent, so beware. I have been opening the door in the morning and breathing in the air to see what season I am smelling. At times I smell school (what I remember school smelling like as a child), some mornings smell like spring to me, but lately I have been smelling fall turning into winter--there is certain smell that the end of fall brings and it smells so clean and exciting. We are excited (all the girl noses around here) to see our surroundings transform, and to have our activities begin to change--more time in the woods (less bugs), fun involving leaves, hot drinks, many things apple, more baking and comfort foods, leg warmers, a lot of reading, and different sights, smells, fun. I love New England.

A school day well spent

We were all ready for school, the girls were sitting at their books, I walked off for a moment--got a text from a friend saying she was having a tough morning, my house was hot and it was going to be a humid day.SO...I grabbed a handful of towels, bathing suits, spoke to my friend about joining me, walked over to the girls and told them to get dressed--after many cheers we headed off to the beach for a wonderful day under blue skies with those big white puffy clouds (do you know that I still-- instantly-- see animal shapes when I look at those puffy, white clouds?

do you?)

welcome fall

We have been counting down the days till the first day of fall. I get very excited about the change of seasons and I seem to have passed that excitement down to my girls. My husband thinks I am foolish, but I deprive them of certain enjoyable things until certain seasons...for example:we don't drink hot chocolate in our house until the first day of fall (unless we are camping) and once winter has obviously come to an end so does the hot chocolate. I buy eggnog between Thanksgiving and Christmas ONLY, all things Christmas (movies, music, etc...) don't start until Dec 1st and it all stops New Years, only on rainy/snowy days are pj's allowed after breakfast, meals like meatloaf/mashed potatoes, baked chicken, or soup are only around during fall/winter/early spring (because in New England early spring can still feel like winter). There are many more--I could go on and on. Yes, I may be a bit disturbed, but you should hear the cheering that goes on over here when they look outside and see it is raining, or when they wake up on the first day of fall and know a large cup of hot chocolate is waiting for them downstairs--and then they see their special hot chocolate mug and talk about how much they missed it and the memories of when they first got it and there is joy, and I love joy over such simple little things. Happy first day of fall to you!

Camping in the fall

We camp in the spring and in the fall. Kevin is just too busy with work for us to try and get out in the summer, which is fine because we can avoid the crowds and the bugs.

Camping is a lot of work and even more work when it is cold. We had high's in the mid 50's during the day but at night the temps were cold--very cold.

I come home from camping soooo tired, but it is worth all the work to be out in the woods as a family. It is great to get away from all the distractions (phone, tv, computer, work, etc...) and to just have each other.

The girls had a blast--laughed themselves silly, lived in a state of play every moment we were there, plenty of 'dad time', a continuous supply of hot chocolate, and large amounts of junk food, but they did say it was nice to be home and have a warm bed and

so am I.

School

I have my doubts. I have my hard days, but overall I love schooling my girls.I love knowing that I can spend every day with them...that I can be the one to teach them... to see their eyes light up when they learn something new, to be excited with/for them when they finally get a concept that has taken so much work to understand.

I love that they have plenty of time to still be able to play, imagine, create.

I love that science class can take place in the kitchen, at the beach, or while camping. I love that silent reading can take place in a comfortable spot, in pj's, on a rainy day.

It is not easy to have to study each of them individually to find out the best way they learn and how to adjust the curriculum to fit their needs, but while doing so I am learning so much about them, things that I may miss if I didn't see them all day.

There are difficult days, there are things that come up that are not enjoyable, it's hard not having time for myself, to have all my free time consumed with their schooling and prep--it is work, but I believe it is so worth it.