My Weekly Notebook: cookies, spaghetti, and chocolate

 

Life this week...

It was a good week full of accomplishments and fun things like bike rides and watching Boba Fett with friends. I am slowly starting to get back into taking pictures. I used to be so good at taking pictures of everything, but I have noticed recently over the past couple of years I have slowly been dwindling down in the picture-taking category. I just forget to grab pictures of things anymore, so I made an effort to get more pictures of things this week. I'm excited that I did better, but realized I forgot to take pictures of a few things that I really wanted pictures of. 

Homeschool this week...

We started a chocolate unit study from Unitstudy.com called Chocolate Challenge. It's a 5-day download-and-go unit study where we work through each day learning about how chocolate is made, famous Chocolatiers (like Milton Hershey), and where cacao grows. It includes some fun ideas for activities and books to read throughout the study. We took a few days, but we finally finished day 1 on Friday! This is an area where I didn't get any pictures. Hopefully, we'll get some chocolatey pictures next week! 

Mom-school this week...

I am helping to teach an American History class at our co-op this semester so most of my mom school right now is reading about the founding of our country. This week I have to teach a lecture about the legislative process, and I will be leading a book discussion about this book called "Fifty-Five Fathers, The Story of the Constitutional Convention" in a few weeks so I'm reading it as quickly as I can. I'm 2 chapters into the book and it's actually quite interesting. I am not a history buff, so this is something that I have to really study and re-learn.

 

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

• Fort Yamhill State Heritage Area
• Parkour--Alex started Parkour PE again
• I went to my dance. I started a new class. Again. I enjoyed it!
• We had friends over for dinner and a movie on Friday night. I didn't get any pictures and I'm so bummed. We had pulled pork sandwiches and chocolate fondue for dessert. It was a fun night. Oh, the movie was the final episode of Boba Fett.
• We went to the park with the local homeschool group to play. So many good friends there!
• We also went to Co-op

My favorite thing this week was...

Having an evening at home just me and Hubby. All the boys were at church youth activities, so it was just us. I made cookies, read a book, and felt old because that seems like what old people do. The cookies were delicious though!

 

Things I'm working on...

I am working on this cross stitch of the four seasons. It'll probably take me the rest of my life, but I finished a little this week. Currently, I'm working on those pink leaves (the spring part of the tree). If I'm lucky, it'll just take me 4 seasons to work on!

 

Something I accomplished...

I spent Saturday morning outside cleaning up my pots and patio in the front. It all looks so much better and the pots are ready for new flowers!

 

I also discovered a pot of bulbs that I didn't realize had come up. I took it out from behind and under some dead plants so it could get some more sun and water. I'm happy to see these coming back up. I had meant to plant them in the ground last fall, but forgot about them.

What we're reading...

I have a picture book and a "mom" book to share this week. 

First, We read The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horten Poet by Don Tate. This was on a recommended list and we both really enjoyed it.

 

Second, Pocketful of Pinecones. I pulled this out to loan to a friend and saw that my bookmark was still in there. I thought I had read it all! Turns out I didn't finish it, I had a few pages left. So, I finished it and now I can loan it to my friend. I also found this dried/flattened flower inside one of the pages. I don't remember putting there, but it was a fun find and very appropriate for this title!

Movies/TV we watched... 

We watched Boba Fett as I mentioned earlier. We also started the movie Labyrinth (1986). We still have yet to finish it, but it is a fun movie. I don't remember ever watching it, but I do seem to remember bits and pieces.

Outdoor time...

We rode bikes to a local pond. Just Alex and I.

I'm cooking/eating...

I made homemade spaghetti sauce for the first time in many years, and it was delicious. I really want to get back to making homemade as much as possible. This was a good step for me. Reminded me how good homemade can be.

 

Just for fun this week...

A LEGO creation I made for an Instagram challenge (a #valentinehabitat). This is a couple who is spending their Valentine's day outdoors because that is something they like to do. Even with matching shirts.

 

I'm grateful for...

I'm grateful that I could smell this scentsy bar melt in my house this week. It smelled wonderful!

That wraps up our week! Now off to a new one.