That doesn't look comfortable

Warning:  This is a post of a bunch of random stuff...

Leah just turned  4 and doesn't hardly nap anymore. It's a rare (and glorious!) day when she does.  She came up to me yesterday around 1 p.m. and told me she was tired.  When I suggested a nap she said, "I was just kidding Mama... I'm not tired."  For some reason she wouldn't sleep in her own bed but when I suggested that she sleep in my bed she was all for it.  10 minutes later I found her like this.

She still went to bed at a decent hour so hooray all around!!!  But the really big news is we got our very first postcard!!!!  Forgive my newbie blogger issue.  I can't figure out how to rotate this picture but you get the idea.

 Here's the back.  Manda did an awesome job writing a description on the back with things that are unique to New Hampshire.  She has a great advantage having lived there.  Kudos to Manda!!!

 Here's a cute picture of Leah :)

 My girls have been fighting a lot lately over toys or games or whatever so it's nice to see them snuggling with the Leapster.

 Sarah being studious...

 I found this little binder with page protectors in my stash and it works great for our postcards!  I am looking forward to filling it up.

 The other day my mom and I went garage saling and found a bunch of great deals.  I came across these wooden letter blocks.  I have no babies or toddlers (my youngest is 4) but I was compelled to buy the bag for only $1.  I love that my 7 year old has found a great interest in these blocks.  So simple....  It could be because she and her sister lost the privilege of the wii for a whole week.  

 Today she helped her Daddy check to see if the gutters needed to cleaned out before the rain comes flooding in this weekend from Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac.

Sorry for my randomness of this post... Here's to tomorrow :)

State Post Card Project

As I mentioned in my first post, we're using the curriculum, Adventures in My Father's World.  During our school year we'll be learning about each state in order that they joined the Union.  I thought it would be fun to see if we could get people to send us postcards from each of the states as we go through and learn about them.  I posted this idea on Facebook and the response was overwhelming!  I'm so thankful for all those that have responded and are willing to go to their friends and ask to send strangers, a postcard all for the sake of one of my whims :)  I'll call it a brilliant idea later when it all pans out.

With just a few holes in my list (because of course I put it all onto Excel...), I'm pretty well set! 

I really can't wait until the mail starts pouring in!!!  The girls don't know about this yet so it should be fun to watch them gather the mail :)  Thanks to all those that are helping... you rock!!!

And just because what's a blog post without pictures... here are a few pics of our morning.

 Sarah being goofy...

 Leah *was* practicing her numbers nicely until I went to take a picture.... then she started with the scribbles.

 For school I often read aloud a section of history and then Sarah has to write a 2 sentence summary of what I just read.  I started using this board as a way to help her recap what we just talked about.  This is a very Charlotte Mason way of homeschooling.  I asked her who?  and she told me and I wrote it down and then moved on to what, etc.  Then I asked her to give me 2 sentences about all that info and I write down what she says and then she has to copy it onto her paper.  I liked doing this and it was easier than just saying, "Ok, give me 2 sentences about what all I just read".  Hopefully this will make it sink in more and be easier for her and me!

Playing catch up

What a GREAT day at school!!!!  There were a few things here and there that we didn't get done last week and we were able to do a bit of a long day today and get them all done, yay!!!! 

The day started out a bit rough.  The girls have been having allergy problems and I accidentally gave them Benedryl instead of Zyrtec.  I'm afraid they were a bit drowsy getting started...  We plugged along and things looked up! 

The girls found a VHS tape of "School House Rock" that I got somewhere along the way so we watched that for a dance break.  Cracks me up how my 4 year old knows these songs!!!  This also cracks me up....

Turns out a dance party can wake you up!!!

One of the things we didn't get done last week was making foil boats (3 for the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria).

 Here at "when you sit at home" I like to "keep it real" by not cropping out dirty parts of my house or making my kids brush their hair before school...

 I also don't make them get dressed out of their pj's before school either.

 Once we had all 3 of them completed with sails, we went out back to "set sail".

 Sarah immediately got into it!  Last week we also learned the affects of air (effects??? please don't judge me for homeschooling my kids and still not knowing grammar.  Or do.... whatever).  This is one of the reasons I really love My Father's World curriculum.  What you learn about in history is carried over into science, Bible, etc.  It's so neat to put it all together!

 Oh Leah.... poor girl.  Not sure what happened but as soon as we got out to the pool to put our boats in she immediately had a melt down (Benadryl e/affects???).  She kept saying, "My boat won't float!"  I think she thought the pool would have more water and that the boats would go faster.... I'm not sure.

 But clearly she was not happy.  So of course I took a picture of it.

 She started to come around...

 And eventually go into it.

All in all, a great day :) 

This week we're learning about Pocahontas and John Smith.  I'm thinking a Disney movie night is in our future this Friday night!

A New Year...

I love a new school year.  A fresh start.  A do-over.  Clean slate.  Last year was ok... we didn't end nearly as well as I would have liked so now here we are getting to start again.  A chance to redeem myself and start anew.  This year I have one in 2nd grade and one in pre-K, both girls.  We are using My Father's World for our main curriculum, Math-U-See for Math and A Beka for Language Arts. We also are participating in a co-op class (music theory) and we'll do swim & gym at the Y again starting in a few weeks.  We also do other things like soccer, Keepers of the Faith, playdates, etc.

We just finished our second week in Adventures in My Father's World and so far I'm loving it!  We had previously done 2 years of World History so I'm grateful for a change of pace and moving onto American History.  I'm seriously considering stretching this curriculum out to 2 years and going through it more thoroughly.  We spent all of 1 day on Leif Ericsson and my 7 year old loves vikings!  I got a bunch of books to supplement at the library but we haven't had a chance to look at half of them yet!  She is a big reader and this week read "How to Train your Dragon" and "Vikings at Sunrise".  We also watched "How to Train your Dragon" (what a great reward for reading a book with 19 chapters!!!) and Veggie Tales "Lyle the Kindly Viking".  This past week was all about Christopher Columbus and now tomorrow we're supposed to be moving onto to John Smith and Jamestown.  I think instead we'll pause and look at some more on vikings and Christopher Columbus.

Let me finish by sharing some pics...

This is me (well... my feet, hand a glass of wine) on the deck of a Bed & Breakfast that my husband took me to as a getaway before the girls and I started school.  It was in Hermann, Missouri which is known for their wineries. We had a great night away just the two of us!  He spoils me so and he's all mine!  I'm so blessed by him!!!!
Here we are...

This is how I set up our kitchen table the night before we started school.  Don't think I've got it all together... this was a total last minute, throw together thing.

Some other first day of school pics...

The signs the girls are holding are from the following link:  http://www.howdoesshe.com/free-exclusive-1st-day-of-school-printables