Thankful Thursday

Wordless Wednesday: Driftwood

My Weekly Notebook: Week 29

 

Life this week...

I can already feel that fall-ish feel. I have to say I'm already getting a little excited for fall and all that it comes with. Funny, right? Especially since last week I was all about summer going by way too fast. Which, it is! I am feeling both. But, this week I am definitely feeling excited for fall and can't wait.

Homeschool this week...

Not much happened in our school this week. Alex did a little math. He's slowly slogging his way through. I am hoping to get him to finish the level he is on by the end of summer so he can start the next level in the fall. 

Mom-school this week...

I am going to study Alaska right along with Alex, and make the lapbook from Homeschool in the Woods Make-a-state pack.  I got this element done this week, but I'm hoping to finish the whole thing in a few days so that Alex can use it while we study and explore it.

 

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

Find something that you'd like to learn or study yourself. Even if it's what your kiddos are learning about and you'd just like to dive into it a little deeper. We almost kind of do this naturally as we plan lessons, but I'm talking about you doing the lessons too. Print up a notebooking page for yourself, or do that art project right along with the kids. I'd like to do Algebra 1 now that I'm helping my kid through it, so I watch and do some of the lessons too. I'm way better at math now than I was in high school!

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

We found a new to us bike pump track. Alex was thrilled to discover this place and he rode around for 2+ hours on Monday morning. He was super tired after he was done!

A few of our favorite things this week... 

I was thrilled to find this horse book at a Friends of the Library store in Tualatin. I love it. The pages are packed of pretty hand drawn pictures and information about horses. 

Things I'm working on...

I'm continuing to work on my huge 4 seasons tree cross-stitch. I picked it up this week and finally did some of the summer green leaves.

What we're reading...

The Princess and the Goblin (See the post about this book here)

Movies/TV we watched... 

I decided with my fall mood that I'd watch The Haunted Manion (Disney 2003) while I folded laundry and a few family members decided to join me. Now I want to go see the new Haunted Mansion movie coming out at the end of July.

Outdoor time...

We are only 5 hours away from 300. I wish we had more. I wish we did more outside. We can do better. Thankfully we have a beach day planned for next week.

Games we played...

We played Rubik's Race again. I continue to do very poorly at that game. I need to just sit and practice. Alex beats me 99% of the time.

LEGO...

I need to start taking down some sets and builds. I decided it's time to take down all the flowers to make way for fall themed stuff. I took apart the daffodils this week. I really actually like taking LEGO apart.

 

I'm cooking/eating...

I have been wanting to make enchiladas for a while. I finally made some chicken green chili enchiladas this week. They were so good. I did almost burn them a bit because I left then in too long under the broiler.

 

Something that worked out great or didn't work out for us this week... 

Something worked out great this week, but I had to dumpster dive for it. I realized that I had accidently thrown away one of my LEGO minifigures away. This one is special because it's my sigfig (represents me). So, I dug through the garbage, and I was right! It was in there. I was trying to think of a scene I could make with LEGO to show this story and Alex came up with this. Putting the minifigure in the garbage head first. It's a pretty funny scene and I thought it was cute. Fun story and fun pictures.

 

Other thoughts from the week...

On another note, I also found my scriptures that were lost. They had been missing for probably a few months but I didn't realize it until about a week ago when I decided I wanted to start using my actual scriptures instead of electronic. I couldn't find them anywhere around the house so I deduced that they must have been left at church. That was the last time I remembered having them. Sure enough they were! The first time I looked just around the general church building I didn't find them. On Sunday I had the impression that I should look in the library. Sure enough, there they were! Sitting right there on the counter as if someone had just put them there because they knew I was coming. It made me so happy. I am thrilled that I found them.

I'm grateful for...

Trees blowing in the wind. I love the sound it makes and the feeling it gives.

Thankful Thursday

 

 

 

I love that I can put something in the morning on a busy day and not have to worry about what's for dinner.

Wordless Wednesday: Taco Pizza

Book sharing: The Princess and the Goblin

Book sharing Monday. I'm going to share a little bit of what we're reading and fun things that we do along with the books on Mondays as much as possible. I am hoping to get us reading more!

Currently we are reading The Princess and the Goblin for a read aloud. We started out reading the free Kindle version but I decided that I would like to have a hard copy for our home library. It arrived yesterday and I do like the cover. So far this is a great book! We are on chapter 6 at this point.

To go along with this book I have found a lovely study guide from A Mind in the Light that I purchased. I am excited to start using it as they help give us some discussion topics and  ideas for extending the story.

Have you read The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald?

My Weekly Notebook: Week 28

 

Life this week...

It's weird. I've never had this sense of "summer is going to be over before we know it" before, but it's strong this year. I just keep looking at the number of weeks we have left and it keeps flashing before my eyes. I feel like it's going to be over way too fast. I just want to enjoy it, but it's hard when I keep feeling like this. Summer has just begun but I'm already worried it will be over too fast. I need to relax.

Homeschool this week...

We learned about Picasso reading this book, Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists Pablo Picasso, and discussing some of his art.

 

I then put my LEGO plate up on the white board for the kids to make a "Picasso" masterpiece out of bricks and pieces. This is what we started with on the first day. I will post the finished product next week. It's a lot of fun to see the kids put pieces up on it.

 Mom-school this week...

I had some fun with making Zentangles. This Zentangle for Kids book is awesome, and even I enjoy making some of the ideas in it. I did several on one square because I was just trying things out, but normally you'd fill a whole area with some of these ideas. (This was actually from a few weeks ago, but still wanted to share)

 

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

Do you need some inspiration in the kitchen feeding these kids all day? I know I do! I have recently rediscovered Jamerrill Stewart's blog that has tons of ideas for making and preparing meals for a large family or freezing. I liked this blog post with lots of good ideas for snacks, desserts, and baked goods. I need to get focused on cooking at home again, and she seems to have a lot of ideas and inspiration.

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

We went to the park for a little time outside one day this week while running errands. It was fun to watch all the kids playing in the fountain and even dip my own feet in. I also snapped a picture of some flowers with my LEGO sigfig (minifig that resembles me, sort of)

 

Things I'm working on...

I am working on a big LEGO project called a MOC. It's a drive-in with race cars that we have already built. It's my first really big project with LEGO as an adult. I'd like to get good enough building something to take to a convention next spring. This is just a practice run, and turning out great so far!

Something I accomplished... 

I got all the 4th of July (minus the lights) taken down and away in the box. Now it's time for fall decor! (and yes, I don't care about being early)

 

What we're reading...

I read some of this meditation type book. It's kinda fun to meditate with Pooh bear!

 

Movies/TV we watched... 

We watched Independence Day. I had forgotten pretty much the whole movie, so I thought it would be fun to watch it again for 4th of July. We ended up watching it a few days after the 4th.

 

 

Outdoor time...

Only a few hours this week. I'm trying to figure out how to get us out more. We have no more hiking groups so we are going to have to be much more intentional.

Games we played... 

We played a few games of go fish with our new giant card deck. These cards are huge! They look pretty neat. The hardest part was figuring out how to shuffle.

LEGO... 

I sorted minifigures into collections. It was a very satisfying project, and I'm excited to have all my minifigures (Collectible minifigures) in one place.

I'm cooking/eating...

I did not cook a whole lot this week. There were many "fend for yourself" meals.

Something that worked out great or didn't work out for us this week...

Something that didn't work out so great was my favorite pair of flip flops (crocs brand) breaking. I have been meaning to get over to the croc store to get a new pair all week, but haven't been able to. I miss those summer shoes. My feet get too hot for shoes.
 

Other thoughts from the week...

I am trying to post more of my daily homeschool stuff over on my Instagram page if you want to follow me there I'm @desireewinz. I laminated some art cards and made a little reel about it. It was fun to make and turned out really nice.

  

I'm grateful for...

Feeling good this week.

Thankful Thursday:

 

I was talking to some other moms this week and told them that our summer is pretty quiet and not much is planned. They mumbled something like that would be so nice. It is nice. I will admit that sometimes I wish we had fun places to go and be and do, but yes I am thankful for all this quiet time at home. I am reading more, and I'm finding I have more time for projects.

Wordless Wednesday: finished puzzle

 

Blogging through the alphabet: time for another round!

I will be blogging through the alphabet again! This time there will be no theme or deadline or anything. This is just going to be whatever I feel like blogging about when I get to the next letter I'm on. There will also be no link up because I found that not a lot of people are blogging anymore (or joining the link ups), but if you want to join me you can leave a link in the comments of each of the new letter posts. This is just to give me something new to post about! So I will be posting about the letter A next time. My goal will be weekly, but I am not promising anything. If it's a busy week it'll be the next week, or even maybe the week after that! (Because honestly, I'm not even sure anybody reads this anymore! So, this is mostly for me). Any ideas for the letter A? Hmmm....

Wordless Wednesday: summer nights