It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I can't believe it's already Christmastime again!
We started off the holiday festivities with a play my girls were involved in. It was such a cute production & they were such cute little sheep:) We decorated soon after Thanksgiving-the girls & I LOVE this season, but for me, it came a little faster this year than usual, so I don't feel completely prepared & on my game as usual.
I found some pine branches right outside our house & made this wreath-hint-I would not recommend doing this unless you know what you are doing or unless you have a wreath frame of some kind. I think I channeled the pioneer in me back when there was only branches & twine- & that is exactly what I used. I would also recommend wearing gloves as your hands get pretty scratched up.
We celebrated a special little girl's 6th birthday-our youngest daughter-wow they grow up so fast! She wanted a Wizard of Oz party & it turned out really cute & fun:) Now both girls have An American Girl doll all her own:)

We also went as a family on The Polar Express Train ride-it was so much fun-I recommend going at least once if you can:) Everyone wears PJs & you ride in a real train to the "North Pole". You are served hot chocolate & cookies, greeted by santa & all kinds of other special touches from the movie & book. Our whole family really enjoyed it:)
I wish you all love, peace & joy this holiday season, Merry Christmas!

Toothfairies& Teaparties!

N was so happy to discover that, after a couple years of watching her big sissy have visits from the toothfairy, it was finally her turn!
She asked everyday if she could pull her tooth out. I (not wanting my youngest baby to grow up) said, " No, let's just wait."
But I finally came around, I just couldn't be the one to pull, so I enlisted the help of my eager husband who was more than willing to take over & do the pulling.
He did & she was brave & we all got through it (including me). Now I have the cutest little toothless kid!:)
Above are the before & after pics & some treats we left for the toothfairy & what the toothfairy left for her.
Below is a picture of Princess C's Royal Tea Party for her birthday.
And the iron-ons we put onto old shirts to spice them up a bit. I think they turned out cute:)

July 26th

Every year we have decided to get out of town on the anniversary of Nathan's death & do something he would've enjoyed doing together as a family.
This year we went to Point Reyes National Park. We climbed stairs equivalent to a 30-story building to get to a cool old lighthouse. Then we went to the beach & each wrote letters to Nathan & rolled them up & put them in a bottle & buried it in the sand.
We had a nice day together, we were just missing one member of our family:(

The Good Old Summertime...

It has been a great summer so far. We went on a trip to Maui & snorkeled with the sea turtles (kid free). It was an amazing experience, & I can't wait to snorkel again. Our very first vegetable garden is finally growing veggies-green beans, cherry tomatoes & peppers. C learned how to ride her 2 wheel bike without training wheels! N is also learning how to read with an amazing program & she loves it! Looking forward to nice summer days by the pool with my family. I would even like to try camping...We'll see:)

There's No Place Like Home!

We have had so much fun doing our unit study on The Wizard of Oz-(My favorite childhood movie). We did a WOZ lapbook where we learned about tornadoes, the human heart & the human brain, & did a character study on courage.
I also like to do a hands on project, so pictured above is our soda bottle tornado experiment. This was SO much fun & kept the girls entertained for hours:)

We ended our study with a field trip to see The Wizard of Oz ballet. It was so great! The stories adaptation of the classic I thought was well put together. I loved the costumes & all of the other little details. The cast of kids also did a great job. The girls got autographs & pictures. N of course wanted to take home Dorothy's ruby ballet slippers, but I told her we'd have to make some of our own!:)
Stay tuned-more to come:)

School name

If you have read Anne of Green Gables then you know why I chose this name. After a long Christmas break & recovering from surgery, we are finally getting back into the swing of things. Since the last post we have learned about the history of Christmas & where gingerbread originated from. We studied about Martin Luther King & learned all kinds of fun things about Ben Franklin.
We are now on our Valentines study. If anyone has any material on any of these studies they can share-we'd love it! :)

Christmas 2009

Our family picture. It is so painful to talk about or even think about what our family goes through every year. The huge hole in our family. Our precious son would be 9 now. I wonder what he'd look like, how tall he'd be. I picture his face sitting next the his sisters in every picture we take & indescribable emotions well up inside. While others are celebrating with their entire families, it takes every ounce of strength to hold it together & make wonderful memories for our girls, when the pain of not having our son is so present...
Enjoy EVERY moment with your family. Especially your kids. We never know when it will be our last...

The most wonderful time of the year...

Have had a very busy Holiday season so far this year. Our HS Christmas party was fun, singing carols, eating yummy food & making ornaments that will be taken to a retirement community & given. Had fun putting up our tree, Christmas village & decorating the rest of the house. Enjoyed our annual trip to Apple Hill & brought back lots of apples which were made into pies, muffins, applesauce, & other apple flavored food...
We are making some of our own Christmas traditions to do every year. Including caroling, charity, gingerbread decorating, nativity, advent, & reading different Christmas stories...etc.
Above are some pictures of the gingerbread decorating fun:)

Defying gravity & Christmas decorating

Thanksgiving

We had a nice holiday with lots of yummy food. Before our break, C did a Thanksgiving lapbook. Of which I will post pics soon. She learned all about the Pilgrims, Indians & the reason for Thanksgiving. Both girls had fun learning-so did I :) We made Pilgrim popscicle stick puppets & put on a little skit. We also made a Mayflower board game. Who knew school could be so fun? If my schools were this fun, I would've paid a lot more attention in class!
Reading an amazing book called Redeeming Love-Can't put it down! Thank you for the loaner L :)
Made homemade pot pie for the first time-even made the filling totally from scratch ( no canned soup)It came out really great. Email me if you would like the recipe :)
Planning a special little girl's 5th birthday & my favorite favorite time of year-Christmas! N loves Christmas too. She was born in Dec so maybe that has something to do with it. The girls wanted to decorate for Christmas early this year. They decorated a small Xmas tree & we put it in their room. They have been wrapping their toys & sticking them under their little tree :)
N asked me if we could keep the Christmas tree & all the decorations up ALL year. lol:)
I hope the holidays bring you & your family joy this year:)

Halloween '09

Ancient Egypt Lapbook

Fall Update

We have been listening to The Story of the World on audio cds & learning about ancient cultures. We just did an Ancient Egyptian lapbook & C gave a verbal "report" in front of her fellow homeschoolers. It was very surprising (in a good way) to see all the information she had retained & she insisted on going up there all by herself. She did a great job!:)
We also finished our apple study with the story of Johnny Appleseed & will be going on a field trip to Apple Hill soon.
The girls are learning so much & we all are having a great time on this new road of homeschool...More to come...

Homeschool

I was so inspired by a friend of mine's blog that I am going to try to keep up with this one on a more regular basis. :)

This year is our first "official" year homeschooling & we all LOVE it! We are all learning SO much! We are on our third unit study now. We just got done with our study of pumpkins & finished off the study with a field trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm. This was our first time going to this farm & we thought it was the biggest, best one we've ever seen. They make homemade pies from the pumpkins they grow. We brought home a pumpkin walnut pie-so yummy:)

We are now studying apples, how they grow, pollination process...etc.
We cut open an apple the other day & sort of dissected it only to find that it only had 2 little seeds inside. I thought there would've been a lot more...


N is learning to read small 3 letter words. C has mastered basic reading & is getting into the more difficult reading. C's handwriting has improved. N can write her name (sometimes with a backward letter or two:)
I really like our math curriculum. I wish my math would've been this much fun when I was a kid.
Science is a Creation based book full of colorful pictures & songs to help remember facts.

We spent all day socializing with other homeschooled kids & will be spending most of the day tomorrow with the group on a fun fieldtrip.
This group of kids is so great too. A couple weeks ago one of the kids (who was a little older) reminded N to say please when she asked him for his ball.:) I love that the older kids are basically mentoring the younger ones. We all need to do that for eachother. Use our special talents & gifts to come beside others (without judgement) & help.

Well need to go finish dinner...:)

wwas (will write again soon)

Well, I haven't written for awhile. A lot has happened since my last post. N turned 3! C is getting ready to turn 5 & just got accepted into a wonderful school! Because of the economy & gas prices, Scott will be telecommuting a couple days a week. So our big project is getting the back room organized enough so we can make office space for him...
I have been ballroom dancing & competing for about a year now. I absolutely LOVE it! I even got to meet & talk with a few of the professional dancers from Dancing With the Stars-kind of cool. I encourage ALL wives & mothers to get back out there & do what you loved to do before you became a wife & a mom. Something that is JUST FOR YOU :) I guarantee you it will recharge your battery & you will be a better wife & mother for it!:)
Our Foundation for Nathan has also been a work in progress. Slowly but surely we are getting the word out & raising money for research, so we can find a cure for this disease!

The Nathan McGuire Meningitis Foundation
Helping today, so they have tomorrow...
www.firstgiving.com/nmmf

Here are some recent pictures:

Daddy let me make your hair pretty!:)

This is what happens when you live in a house full of girls! hehehehe...I love the expression on his face-classic! He says there is too much estrogen in the house...lol
So if any husbands want to go golfing or just have a guys night hanging out-call S. I know he'd love it. :)