Build it and they will come...

We went to Matt's first Lego Robotics class today.  He is in Heaven.  Oh. My. Goodness.

At first I thought he wouldn't want to build what he was asked to and would just want to build his own thing.  But he went straight to work on the instructions.  He finished his own, helped Kaitlin with hers and proceeded to help the teacher figure out why another child's didn't work--- "Excuse me Ma'am.  I believe I know why it isn't working.  Either side of the legs on his are offset, they need to be set at an equal distance."

Yes, that is what he said.

Anyway, he had a great time.  Didn't want to leave!  We shall definitely be checking in a Lego League for next year! 

Bluebonnets

Starred forget-me-nots smile sweetly,

Ring, bluebells, ring!

Winning eye and heart completely,

Sing, robin, sing!

All among the reeds and rushes,

Where the brook its music hushes,

Bright the caloposon blushes,

 Laugh, O murmuring Spring!

                                                      ~Sara Foster Davis

Oh the Places You'll Go...

I LOVE to travel.. if you have read here long you know that! I however don't get to travel often! Traveling is expensive! However at any given time I have a minimum of three TRIPS planned! You know in case hubbie walks into the door and says, "HEY, pack some bags honey you get to go on a trip!"

It could happen.

I am a TRIP PLANNER. I love finding things to do, itineraries, money saving tips. I love it. I print maps, routes to different restaurants we may want to go, kids eat free ideas in the city we are in, coupons for attractions... @ Disney (I had a whole binder) I had info on how to bi pass the air conditioner in our hotel room to make it extra cold! REALLY.

So much fun. It fits in with my love of THEMES I guess? I think of the trip as a theme and off I go!

We traveled a fair amount last year so this is our off year, which may stretch into two off years since we bought the van!

But if we were traveling this year I have so many trips to choose from.

trip A- TX, Mo, In, KY,Ohio PA, Tn, Ga, AR, TX. We would hit the Creation museum, family in MO and In, Falling Water in Pa, battle grounds and Daniel Boone memorial where he was buried--- and much, much more!

Trip B- TX, NM, AZ,NV, CA and back. We would hit volcano's in New Mexico and the Grand Canyon, San Fransisco (possibly), Los Angelos, Catalina Island, San Diego- Sea world, Lego Land and of course MUCH more!

Trip C- TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, NC, VA. We would get across GA quick as possible - do Atlanta, Stone Mountain and onto SC all the way to the East coast and UP-- Williamsburg straight up then around to West V, back through TN for the other side we wouldn't have seen yet and back home quick.

Trip D---- THE MOTHER TRIP! Across the states as quick as humanly possible, to PA, NY, NH, MA,CT, NJ, and DC OF COURSE and back home! We would visit DC, Boston, New York, Hershey PA, The New jersey sea shore, Atlantic City (you know so I can sing.. ON the boardwalk of Atlantic City- life would be peaches and cream!) JUST everything that is AWESOME!

Trip E--- Back UP to Minnesota,South Dakota,MT, WY,CO and home. We would do Mall of the America's, Prairie Days!, Mount Rushmore, Mt- family, Yellowstone, Denver and Eureka Springs in Co and the home of the Unsinkable Molly Brown!, and back home!

Trip F--- Straight through to Utah and Four corners - Dave wants to rent house boat, over to NV, CA above San Fransisco unless we didn't do it on the other trip and the Great Sequoia!!! Up the coast to Oregon and Washington to Seattle and then.. THEN across the bay to the home of  Anne of Avonlea on Prince William sound!!! back home

and last but not least!!!

Trip G--Back up to IL, see Chicago again, the last trip was hurried and I didn't even get to see the Buckingham Fountain or visit Frank Lloyd Wrights museum... around the other side of the Great Lakes to Michigan and all the way around to MACKINAC island BABY!!! Home of the Grand Hotel, horse drawn carriages!!! I would LOVE to say we would drive around to Niagara Falls at this point too!

I am telling you... it is a sickness. :)

But so far I have been to all these places, a cool map tool that can be found here.

 I saw this on my friend Lisa's blog who got it from another blog, who got it from another blog--- I am only going back to Lisa!

I will tell you that this is in my head, this post took me about 30 minutes to write, with interruptions.   I am constantly thinking about traveling!!

One Thousand Gifts- a practice in gratitude 8

235. fr a day when I am forced to stay home--- may many things be accomplished
236. for a wonderful birthday party for Emily-- it was a great day!
237. for the ability to use a work vehicle as our was towed to the shop!
238. for waking up to rain- love rainy days!
239.  for quiet conversations.
240. for truth being manifested
241. for realizing other people DONT always have all the answers
242. for blessings that come very disguised!
243.  for a new to us car- for coming in agreement about the choice!
244. for finding a nice car
245. for wonderful walking time with my sister in law
246. for a yogurt treat with the grandparents- I like meeting for quiet treats with them!
247. for anticipating bluebonnet season---- I love bluebonnets!
248. for free red box movies
249. reserving red box movies- sooo easy!
250. an entire day at home!
251. for vitamin water being on sale for 50cents each
252. for not living by feelings- when I actually DO not live by feelings!
253. for making ends meet--- every time.  God is good.
234. for the very beginning of wisdom
235. for three children, sitting on a couch... reading
236. for Matt coming to me and telling me he did his quiet time... priceless
237. if I ha vent said I am thankful for enchilada casserole.. I am.  If I have.. I still am!
238. for a king size bed

$1.39

There are many car repairs that we can afford and then there are those that are in the thousands.  Not many car repairs are fun, but give me a $300.00 car repair and I am usually happy!  Or at least thankful!

BUT $1.39.. I'm ecstatic.

Dave pulled the truck up to jump start the Suburban... so we can attempt to sell it!  YEAH.

He got the Suburban running but then when he wanted to move the truck, it wouldn't start.

YES, this is my life lately! 

So he came inside and asked me to run and get a can of coke.

Matt and Kaitlin (who watch Mythbusters religiously) both said that when that MYTH was tested that it did show it could help...

So off I went.

Spent $1.39 plus some tax.

Came back- Dave called the kids over for the experiment, and we all watched.. waiting to see if it would work.

Dave let it foam and bubble, scrubbed a little with some sandpaper, rinsed it off and hooked the battery back up.

He started the truck and LO and BEHOLD, it started right up.

$1.39... thank you very much!

Princess with a Purpose---the final class.

I have so enjoyed our Princess class.  I am glad it's over just simply to have one thing off my plate, but I will miss meeting with the girls and their MOMS each week!  We have had such a wonderful time!

See what we did at our first meetings here and here.

This was our last week:  the girls learned about being servants and made aprons.

 

They also learned about Esther and her purpose!

And then yesterday we had our final class time and learned about becoming a NEW CREATION.

The girls finished learning all the motions to the song, they did a wonderful job!

I loved the moments when the girls prayed... so sweet.

We finished our princess castles!

And we finally got dressed in our finery and had our banquet!

SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

This cookie cake says HOLY TO THE LORD---- which is part of a lesson the girls learned.

They know that they have a purpose and that they are beautiful--- not because of dresses or tiara's (even thought they are lots of fun), but because the are daughters of the KING!

And see what Brenda has to say about it here.

Weekly Wrap up-- Week 30 and 31

Week 30

I ended up not even posting last weeks wrap up, we literally did one day of work and the rest was a wash! So besides Princess Class and the one day of school we accomplished very, very little! I just went ahead and accepted the fact that we DID have Spring Break!

Week 31

Monday-

Well now that we officially have two cars (YEAH) I dont have to take Dave to work.  TRUTH- I liked taking him, we talked about our day and stuff, plus it was extra time spent with him. 

So I got up, Emily made chocolate chip muffins- yum! 

Kate and I cooked up three lbs of ground beef for various dinners this week, so Monday's casserole was made and in the fridge before 9:30!  WHOOP

Cleaned a lot, did laundry and worked in the school room- which was an organizational nightmare.  I have to do lesson plans for the next 6 weeks and I felt CRAZY!  I needed to put away what had been used, see what stuff I HAVE to go with the next few weeks- or see what I want to use!  DONE and DONE!  So now I just have to put it on paper!  After the math grading catch up last week.. I took note of some spots the kids are really struggling with- so all three are going to participate in some area, perimeter and measuring talks!

They each started new books this week:

Matt- Mary Poppins (he started this but went to somethign else for some reason so he is finishing it)

Kate- Sport (sequal to Harriet the Spy)

Emily- The Courage of Sarah Noble (I read a few paragraphs with her and she was doing fine so I left her alone- I am very excited about this!!!!)

I let the kids work on a David and Goliath color/ sticker book because I need to print more stuff for our BIBLE- hense the PLANNING! 

I also decided to go back through our Bible book and take questions from different stories we have already done to make a review/ game out of it.

We reviewed our history cards

We did SCIENCE!!!!  So behind where I want to be- must push foward!  We are still working on the senses.  and started working on some models.


TUESDAY-

We met up with a FRIEND for some talking!!!!  We got back home and did a little bit of school and then watched some videos for school and we were done!  Oh and the kids also had some reading time!

Wednesday-

Today was Emily's eye doctor appointment and our whole eye patching debacle... good times.

Between the doctor visit, four hours getting glasses and such and patching for 2 hours- that TOOK 3 1/2 hours.  good times.

dinner, bath and the day was DONE... so no school work!

Thursday--

Oh how the kids were gonna work this day!  They got up EXTRA early and got their chores done so that we could start school at a reasonable time.  Then we got off track but came back and started working again around 3:30.

We finished up chap 11 in Science -which feels like it has taken a year to finish!  Especially with taking last week totally off--- so finally DONE!  Only 3 more chapters to go!

It was all about the senses... we read our book, did the mini book, did the both crossword puzzles and did the copy work.  In addition to our science text we read one outside book on each sense and did some models.  I used these books for the reading:

And I used these books for some worksheet reinforcement:

Let's Discover: The Human Body

And I used this book for the models:

The Body Book Easy to Make Hands On Models That Teach

Here are the models of the tongue, eye, ear and skin:

Here is Kaitling tasteingwith her tastebuds!

The kids also worked on art: 

We used Mark Kistler Draw Squad and they did a 3D cake..

Then we used Draw Write Now and they drew an eagle- Kate took some liberty with hers- take note of the eye!

Matt's

Emily's

Kate's

Friday....

We had princess class and it was our banquet day!!! So exciting!  I will post and wrap up Princess class tomorrow. 

We worked on history today--- finished up the Revolutionary war- no new resources.  We start up with the post Revolution and Constitution in two weeks I think! 

And that was all folks!  Oh had dinner at Becky's house- yummo!  Thanks for having us!