My weekly notebook:

Life this week...

We have this fireplace in our living room, and we turned it on for the first time in a few years.  It had been so long since we had lit it up that Alex (7) didn't even realize it worked and made a fire. He didn't remember our previous times of having it on (age 3 or 4). We just don't use it because it is so warm. Even when it is off the pilot light keeps the living room a little warmer. But, we had it on a few days this week. I have to admit it was nice sitting there next to it while we watched a movie. I have been extra cold and tired this week, so this was a nice cozy place to be. Problem is, it kept putting me to sleep being so warm.

We also rearranged our living room so that we could see the fire place better. That might be another reason we never use it. We had a couch kind of cutting it off from the main part of the living room. I have to admit I love the new arrangement of our living room. I will have to get a picture of it sometime.

The movie we watched by the fire was Paddington. We finished the book one morning, and I promised the kids that we could watch the movie after we were done with the book! It was cute. 

Homeschool this week...

It was a Mindstorm/LEGO building week for the younger 2 boys. Aric built this printer, and several other projects with his Mindstorms. Alex re-built his big motorhome LEGO set from his birthday to make the boat. It was tedious, but I helped him, and he just kept saying to me "I just love building with Mom." We may not have got much math or science done, but we had bonded over some lego building, and it was so sweet to hear him say that.

Aric building his Mindstorms printer. This is the 2nd time he built it, and it worked! He couldn't get it to work right the first time.

A printout from the Mindstorm printer.

Reviews we are working on...

I got a little excited for the start of the year on the review crew and said yes to a lot of reviews coming up. Here is one we started this week. A new Heirloom Audio production called Wulf The Saxon. We listened to this while building the LEGO projects one morning. We didn't finish, but we listened for at least an hour.

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

Feel like you are running dry on curriculum/books. If you're like me you've probably got books galore. Have you considered pulling out some old curriculum or books that you've shelved because it either didn't work at the time, or you didn't get through it for whatever reason. I always forget to look at what's on my shelves already. I found some old math books and took out some other books this week that I realized one of my kids could use now. So, that's my advice, don't forget to check the dusty shelves you haven't touched for a while.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

It's a book and movie kind of week for us. Last Saturday we went to see Ferdinand as a family at the Wunderland theater up in Milwaukie. We have been reading the book Ferdinand all week for FIAR, and doing a lot of fun activities with it. It was our culmination of the two weeks it took us to see the movie.

None of the other kids wanted to be in the picture so it was Alex and I.

My favorite thing this week was...

Making the list for new reviews. We can ask for certain reviews, but we don't always get them. I was thankful I was chosen and made the list for a few of them.

My kids' favorite thing this week was...

I always forget to ask them this. I will have to start asking them at the end of the week so I don't have to guess. I would guess... Probably all the LEGO building I let them do during school time.

Things I'm working on...

Getting caught up on blog posts. I'm so behind on the abc's, and my 52 lists. Problem is I'm blanking on both. I need to just sit down and think about it.

Something I accomplished...

I actually accomplished this 2 Saturday's ago, but I am just so excited to finally have my sewing space back and usable. I have had so many projects waiting to be fixed/mended/sewed since summer. This particular one felt good to get done because the patches and awards kept piling up. I also got Aaron's new boy scout shirt ready for him to wear.

Some cub scout awards needed to be put on Aric's shirt for a long time!

What we're reading...

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

 The Twelve Days of Winter by Deborah Lee Rose

(this book has a boy picking his nose on every page)

That about wraps up our week. It wasn't really all that exciting. Definitely one of my more quiet weeks!

A fun skate park

We are always on the hunt for fun parks to discover. Now that the boys are older though they also like try out new skate parks with their scooters. We discovered this one about 30 minutes away from us (but on the way to ice skating lessons) in Newberg. Last week before ice skating lessons we stopped there to have a look.  It is huge!

We were all a little unsure at first, but they all warmed up.

We pretty much had it to ourselves for most of the time until a man came to practice. Oh the beauties of going before school gets out!

 This bowl was deep. We first came at it from the top. Makes you weak in the knees, so I walked around down inside to get a picture.

Looks like there is a BMX track right next to this one. The boys might like to come try this out sometime too.

That's all!

Wordless Wednesday: Puzzles!

Puzzles

We were leaving for a lunch date last week, and the kids were bored. I suggested they do some puzzles at the table, and pulled a few out that hadn't been done in a while (like 3) because I knew just suggesting it might mean they won't do it on their own. I set them on the table, and came home to this...

A whole table full of puzzles all done! They decided to pull even more out, and it turned out to be a fun time for them while we were gone.

I am linking up to Tots and Me Growing up Together

Your greatest comforts {52 lists} #2

My cat's greatest comfort is a nice warm spot to cozy up in. My greatest comforts are many...

~Sunshine
~My family
~Prayer
~Scriptures
~Home
~Fuzzy Socks
~Good books
~Pictures, paintings, and photography
~Solving puzzles
~A soft blanket
~The beach/ocean
~The mountains
~Friends and people I know and love
~Good food
~A kitchen and pantry with food to cook meals for my family
~Watching a good movie with my family
~Date night with my hubby
~Vacation
~True words
~Uplifting quotes
~Knowledge
~Birds chirping outside
~Signs of new life
~Creating something or being creative

Wordless Wednesday: Aggravation

Old and new and bubble gum balls!

 OLD:

Lost marbles

Playing with bubble gum balls:

Which is which?

From the side, some bubble some not:

NEW game:

No more bubble gum balls!

Linking this up with Wordless Wednesday at Tots and Me Growing up Together.

The words that touch your soul {52 Lists} #1

I am so excited to join Olive and Plaid for another year of 52 lists. I have wanted to do it again more completely since the first time I did it. I think I only got about half the lists done last go round, so I'm ready to do more this time!

This week is the words that touch my soul. I like this list because I love words and especially words that inspire me. So, here are the words that touch my soul in no particular order.

Simplify

Family

Slow

Nature

Home

Children

Happiness

Joy

Serve

Love

Charity

Friendship

Laughter

Rest

Trust

Contentment 

I have also been thinking about what my word would be for the year. I have never picked a word of the year before because I couldn't pick just one. But, one came to me this year. One word is sticking out in my mind as something I need to seek out more, and by seek out I mean put myself in places where this can happen more often. The word is Inspired. I haven't felt inspired like I used to. I feel like I never have the inspiration I need when I need it. I think that's because I'm not putting myself in the quiet places I need to be getting more inspired and understanding what He wants me to do in all areas of my life.

So, there it is. My first list of the year. I make no promises, but I do hope that I can get up a list each week as I join Olive and Plaid for the weekly 52 lists post.

 

G is for Gobble Gobble

It seems I have some catching up to do. Now that the Christmas season is over I feel like I can do that!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Nothing spectacular. Just a day trip down to Springfield to have dinner with the family.

Just a few snippets from our Thanksgiving celebrations...

First, I am sharing about my mantle because I was very proud of myself for not skipping Thanksgiving decorating. I so wanted to put up the Christmas, and not even bother with Thanksgiving. But, I pulled them out about a week before, and I was very happy that I did. It turned out beautiful, and ended up being my favorite thing to look at all week.

On our way down on Thanksgiving day we picked up a newspaper to browse the ads for deals.

The table getting ready for the big meal.

I picked up some photo booth props, and we had fun with those throughout the day.

There was a lot of video game playing to while away the time.

The boys were getting restless and bored after dinner so I took them to the park. I also took the photo booth props hoping to get some good shots, but the boys weren't really all that interested in taking pictures with them. So we made a game!

I got a few shots of them with the props, but then I had the idea to hide them throughout the playground.

This got them moving, and climbing. Suddenly the playground got a lot more interesting.

After I hid the props they could run and find them. We had one extra prop that we called the golden pie. It was hidden the hardest. Aric is holding it in the middle top picture below.

Some shots of the props hidden throughout the playground.

This is a little video of finding the props. At the end Alex finds the "golden pie." He's so worried about finding it first that he jumped from the top of the climbing wall to get it when it fell down. It was fun, and a good challenge! I've saved the props for next year. We'll see if they make it!

I have missed the link up for the letter G, but I am joining Hopkins Homeschool for this blogging through the alphabet series.