Who says homeschoolers are weird?

Blogger meet up!

We had a great time! Loved meeting you G!
Jenny touched a goat!
Leo loves his godmother ;)

Science lessons

Madeleine got a book at the library about how to make bug habitats. (just what we need!) and we just happened to find a monarch caterpillar the same day! So we made it a habitat with a glass full of water, cotton balls and several sprigs of milkweed. It ate the milkweed for a day, then settled into a spot at the top of the butterfly house. Today it is curled into a J shape ( which happened to be the letter we worked on for handwriting today!) we are excited to see it form a chrysalis and emerge as a monarch butterfly! Madeleine named "her" Alice Mary, which is what she wanted to name her baby sister... So I guess this is the next best thing!

Done with week one!

It was so fun and went Better than I ever imagined! Handwriting is gonna take a lotta work, she is doing great at math and loves religion! (that was my favorite subject too.) literature is great and even John Paul and Leo listen in on our books. In religion we read a story from the bible and then the next day she retells the story in her own words and illustrates it. That's her favorite part so far :)

Day 2

I could totally get used to this! Although someone (with no kids) tried to give me advice on socialization today and that annoyed me.

We are having so much fun!

Scenes from the first day of kindergarten!

First day of kindergarten tomorrow!

Ok first of all, my computer is broken AGAIN.  Any Reece's Rainbow auctions where I have a chance to win a computer?  :) I can't even get it to turn on this time.  I am hoping Ken gets it fixed soon because I kind of need it for some stuff we are doing for kindergarten.  (We can use the ipad for now but it's nice to have an actual computer with a keyboard.)

So I was going to start Madeleine next Monday but she is so excited we are going to go ahead and start tomorrow!  She is excited and I am as ready as I am ever going to be!  We are using the Mother of Divine Grace syllabus but adding Five in a Row for literature, using Miquon math, Getty Dubay handwriting, and Kids Nature book for science.  Basically doing MODG poetry, religion and art (and maybe music.)  If I can get the boys to be quiet, I think we will be good! I'm also going to try to do a little preschool lessons with John Paul, after we get into the swing of things with Madeleine.  Madeleine started reading around his age, so if we can, I'd like to start teaching him.  He seems to be interested, loves to look at books all day long.  If it doesn't work out, we can always put it away and try again later.

I haven't posted much about this pregnancy (at least compared to the other 3,) but this one might be the easiest one yet.  I was only sick for 12 weeks instead of 16 or 22 and I've had zero heartburn, not really any pain or anything else weird.  Maybe my body is getting used to this?  Maybe she is gonna be my easiest kid??  Hmmmmm.  I did totally overdo it at the state fair this week.  4 hours walking around in 99 degree heat and part of the time carrying a giant 25 lb baby on my hip caused some soreness.  I'm finally recovering - but it was totally worth it!  The kids loved seeing all the animals.

Leo had his follow up ENT appointment last week, and his tubes look great in his ears and his hearing is perfect.  Probably better than mine, in fact!  That is a huge blessing, because apparently cleft kids  have a higher incidence of hearing loss.  He has a follow up with his surgeon this week as well, so we will see what he says.  I think I have to take all 3 kids to that appointment.  Say a prayer.

Madeleine had a big week - caught a giant cicada and numerous other bugs, and learned how to pump on the swings by herself!  She's been swinging ever since!

Pray for us tomorrow (and for the next, oh, 20 odd years :)

Look how big he looks!

My big boy with his big boy haircut :)

What I did today.

Got out all baby girl clothes. Some had some stains so I washed them and hung them in the sun. Every single stain came out! The sun is amazing!!!
(now to find somewhere to put them....)

Summer fun

And me trying to get over my dislike of messes ;)

National chick fil a appreciation day

We had a great time today supporting free speech and eating delicious food!