Friday, May 10, 2013

Spring blooms

Some pretty plants around our yard

My front flower bed is in desperate need of weeding, but my tulips finally bloomed!
The giant lilac bush just started blooming, it must be decades old. I'll get another picture when it is all in bloom.
A big apple tree, I hope we get some apples this year!
Our little pear tree
Peach tree
I don't remember what this is but it is do pretty!
Rhododendron, my only surviving one :/

Monday, May 6, 2013

Vivi's 4th birthday!

Good morning, sunshine!

When she noticed the balloons all over her floor

Being bashful as we sang her first 'happy birthday' of the day




Vivi's favorite presents-princess dress, Hello Kitty backpack, and strawberry necklace that matches the one Journey got for her birthday.

For her birthday, Vivi asked if we could go to Jungle Java!


We surprised her by inviting her local cousins to come play too, she was so excited!















Another bashful picture-singing 'happy birthday' again





For her 'picks' she chose pancakes for breakfast, macaroni and cheese for lunch AND dinner-we used Annie's for lunch and I made crock pot mac 'n' cheese for dinner, and cinnamon rolls for dessert. She also picked Bolthouse Blue Goodness juice to drink, Better Made BBQ chips and brussels sprouts (her favorite veggie) to go with dinner, and Cascadian Farm chocolate o's for bedtime snack.

It was a very busy, very fun day!
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Friday, May 3, 2013

Reading and writing

Jeb's favorite subject of 1st grade is still language arts. The first couple of days he much preferred reading over writing, but he is really catching on to writing and is even starting to sound out words and trying to write by himself.

Today he had his first spelling test from the words we have been working on all week. His reader has a short story for every day, and each week they are mostly made up of words with a similar ending. This week was -at words, with a couple of added sight words like the, and, is.

We are both really enjoying Sonlight's Core A, much more than the 4/5 curriculum. I love the way they tie the subjects together. When we read about Adam and Eve leaving the garden of Eden and having to work harder to support themselves, and the chores Cain and Abel did, we read in some history books about early civilization and how they learned to work the fields, find food in the wild, make clothing, etc. Jeb especially liked learning how people would hunt an animal, eat the meat, then use the skin to make clothes and the bones to make tools.

Here is his first spelling test, and his first short story about one of the characters in his reader.