What we've been up to........

"Doing School"

Puzzles!

Watching workers put in new water mains all around us

Being Happy

Being Cute

Building tents

Faster than the speed of light!

Tom made the boys watch Superman movies, and I now have two little supermen flying from couch to couch!  If only they could do chores as fast as superman can! 

Just sharing

I thought this was a good idea: labels for coffee can storage.  If you use more than one old coffee can for storage, these free printable labels are really nice.  They also have holiday printables, in case you use it to hold Christmas gifts (and there are instructions for how to get rid of the coffee smell too!) 
Free printables at this link include:

Crayon Labels
Money Labels
Macaroni Labels
Bean Labels
Lego Labels
Hot Wheel Labels
Army Toy Labels
Bird Seed Labels
Blank Labels (create your own)

They also list More Folgers Can Uses:


Food storage (pastas, cookies, crackers, oatmeal, flour, sugar, etc.)
Pet storage (brushes, etc.)
Pet feeding (scoop to feed goats and horses)
Bathroom storage (rollers, hair ribbons, etc.)
Holiday gifts (decorate and give cookies and candies) Folgers offers holiday template here
Scrap bucket for peelings and coffee grounds
Unbreakable cookie jar
Nuts. bolts, screws
Piggy bank
Plants

Only in my house.......

Only in my house do children have tearful fights over who gets to play with Daddy's screw drivers!!

Alice In Wonderland party ideas

I just ran into this idea for an Alice in Wonderland party, on the site Dollar Store Crafts.  That would have been perfect for this year's party for Leanna (if we'd had our own place then).  I may use it next year anyway.

Also:

I think there are some really cute Barbie ideas here.  I think my favorite is the shoe braclet, because those stupid tiny little shoes always get lost anyway!  You could either use the leftover shoes that remain, or just take them right away when you get them if you want matching sets of shoes.

This is what I'm hoping for!!

A quote I love from an article written by a woman who was homeschooled and intends to homeschool her child as well.   This is what I strive for:

"When it all comes down to it, homeschooling helped me to believe that learning wasn’t just something you do because the classroom bell rings, or because a grade depends on it…it’s something you never stop doing. It’s something that fills your soul with fervent energy to start your day fresh; something that propels you forward to meet that new person, to send out those shock-waves, or to strive farther; and something that makes you want to pass that same love along to your own children."

Another quote I like:
"Others might assume that homeschoolers are simply shy, withdrawn beings, who can’t easily slip into the noisy foray of the public school, and instead must be protected (quietly) at home. Needless to say, if anyone ever stepped through the doors of the standard homeschooling household, the term “quiet” may not be the adjective that comes to mind. In my experience, most homeschoolers are, in fact, quite the opposite. They are perpetually excited, energetic, and open-minded about their education, able to converse with children and adults of all ages and abilities (perhaps because they aren’t simply accustomed to a classroom of peers), and unjaded by societal opinions of how they should conduct themselves to be deemed “cool”. Sadly, the image most often branded on the world of homeschooling is that of the sheltered child, who is kept locked inside their home (undertaking such alarming acts as reading novels, and doing word problems), so that they never truly learn how to function in the ever-popular real world."