Skip to main content

The Weekly Wrap-Up: the One With My Birthday

Well, apparently I've been partying too hard to get around to posting here for a couple of days, eh?  It really has been a great birthday week for me though!  We kicked it off with dinner out with my parents who were just passing through town for a night.  It's always fun to see them, of course, we can't wait till they can move here!

This week was also our first totally full week of school (after starting weekly co-op in August, having an intro week the first week of September and going on vacation last week).  It certainly had it's challenges--for me, too, not just the kiddos.  

We all struggled with rising early and getting started on time.  Then there were the math issues.  Mostly the ones that involve "not liking math".  So, yes, there was some stress this week as I struggled with patience (not one of my finer points).  {sigh}


We did more than just struggle with math though (thank goodness!).  We are really enjoying Who Is My Neighbor?,  Zoology I: Flying Creatures, and Story of the World (we're still finishing Vol.II) together as a family.  We did a little experiment on air pressure this week as we got into the beginning our new science book.  I think we're really going to like this study!



The Princess has started her newest Total Language Plus study with The Whipping Boy.  She is also doing a little supplemental grammar with a Daily Skills Builder grammar book.   Mr. B has been doing some review of his grammar and is doing great with First Language Lessons.

While I have decided to wait until October to introduce our first Composer-of-the Month and Artist-of-the-Month, we are reading and learning about the orchestra this month.  We started with the book The Story of the Orchestra this week and also some fun workbooks about instruments (ironically from Chick-Fil-A that I saved from a few years ago...haha).  

This week we also continued our physical education with Family Time Fitness.  We are really loving this program!  You can read my review on it here.


Of course, there was lots of playing this week, too.  Lego building was a high priority, as was playing with Holly (our dog).  We were also happy to be back at our co-op on Friday after missing last week.  

Then there was the big birthday shindig that my awesome hubby planned for me!  Friday night we had so much fun having some of our good friends over, eating chili and cake.  Vince planned this awesome fall themed party and I loved every minute of it!  Here's a peek at part of the spread (yummy, huh?):


Today was also a great day!  I had breakfast at Cracker Barrel with the ladies from our church, shopped at my fave Amish store and then spent the afternoon helping my sister get more settled into her apartment.  Now I'm ready for a hot bath and then some down time with the mister watching some fave shows on hulu.com:)  

Have a great rest-of-the-weekend!


Popular posts from this blog

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while.  It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it.  However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it.  Plus it's a little bulky.   When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it!  It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make.   I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course.  They  have these little wooden door hangers for .79.  I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each.  I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing.   I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had).  Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...