It's a big, big world...

Last week we took a break from our regular homeschool routine/activities. I was nursing a bad cold (I wasn't exactly at my most focused) and it was Halloween (the kids were not exactly at their most focused). I figured it was a good time for a puzzle I'd purchased earlier in the year... the Global Puzzle. So out came the box with all 600 pieces of countries and oceans. We set it up on the dining room table (it was going to be 3 x 1.5 feet when finished) and got to sorting.

Ben was most excited about this but Madeline helped from time to time. Charles got in on the game too and helped with quite a bit of it. We finished the border on the first evening, worked on the oceans the next day, and on the third Ben and I finished putting the oceans together and started working on the countries. When I left to start making dinner, Ben put the last continent together. Here is the final product:

It was a great geography review and a fun family activity. Ben was really proud of his work on this and had great patience working on it. Madeline had fun helping us find pieces too. I'm sure we'll be getting this one out again and again... but only when I can spare the dining room table for a few days!

Halloween fun

The kids had a great time on Halloween this year... They went trick-or-treating with friends of ours whose grandparents live across the street and they all (all 7 of the kids!) had a blast together (along with the two daring dads who accompanied them).

Ellie went as a "dancing firefly". Please note her light...

Madeline was a "ballerina fairy".


Ben morphed into a young Obi Wan Kenobi for the evening which went well with his friend who was Annakin Skywalker.


And here is a shot of our pumpkin creations... Madeline's, Ben's, and Ellie's.



Hope you had a fun Halloween!

It can't be time already!

My baby has her first loose tooth! Ellie, who won't even be four until the beginning of November, was complaining the other day that her tooth was hurting while she was eating. I said to her somewhat jokingly, "Maybe it's loose. Let me see." She has been pretending to have loose teeth for about a year now, so I thought maybe this was just another instance of make-believe. She came over to me, I checked the tooth in question, and, sure enough, it was loose! And not just a bit loose, barely noticeable. It was quite loose along with the tooth next to it! Now, my other kids lost their first teeth at around 4 1/2 years of age and all three of them started getting teeth early, so I expected Ellie to start losing teeth early. But not this early! Wow! I don't know who is more anxious about the whole first lost tooth thing - me or her. I'll update when the tooth is out...

How many cookies??!!

by Madeline

One day we decided to make a few cookies, something like this. (We used a gingerbread cookie recipe, though.) Mom and Ellie made the dough, but it made a lot more cookies than we expected. When Mom, Madeline, and Ellie cut out and baked all of the cookies we found out that there were 117 cookies!! That meant there were a lot of cookies to frost! We frosted most of them before we ran out of frosting. We made leaves, gingerbread people, apples, acorns, ghosts, and pumpkins - the perfect cookie shapes for autumn!

Here are some pictures of us making, cutting out, and frosting the cookies.

Choosing the perfect pumpkins...

By Madeline

This past Sunday, we went to the Chesterfield Berry Farm, and we went on a hayride to choose pumpkins. There were so many pumpkins we didn't know which ones to choose! There were green pumpkins and orange pumpkins, big ones and small ones and ones in between. Finally each of the kids chose a pumpkin.

Here we are with our chosen pumpkins!







Also, while we were there, the kids swam in the giant pit o' corn! It was really crowded in there, but we had lots of fun!







We also had delicious pumpkin milkshakes and the kids played in the moon bounce. We wanted to go in the corn maze shaped like a race car but it was humongous and it would have taken about an hour and a half to go through! Maybe some other time...

It was really great and we hope we can go there next year!

Our home

I thought I'd share a few pictures of our home here so you can have a glimpse (for those of you who haven't been able to visit in person) of our lives here at home. Keep in mind that it is a work in progress... and one likely to be in progress for quite a bit longer!

Here is our home from the outside:



This is our family room. The kids and I spend much of our time here during the days since this is where we keep most of our books and homeschooling supplies. Our learning is really done all over the house, though.







And a picture of our kitchen, sadly outdated, but quite functional and busy just the same...



And one of our favorite rooms especially in the spring and fall...the sunroom...






So, just a little peek into our home for those of you who haven't been able to visit. We hope you enjoyed the tour!

Getting started...

I'm going to try to write a simple post here just to see if I can figure out how to load pictures onto the blog.

These are fairly recent pictures of all the kids... Ben who is 9, Madeline who just turned 7, and Ellie who will be 4 in November. You should be able to click on pics to see them up close.


Ben


Madeline


Ellie


I hope to update now and then with new pictures, descriptions of our busy homeschooling days (and the not so busy ones), updates about places we've been and activities we've done, and other exciting news as it comes along. I hope we can give you a glimpse into our lives, keep you updated on what we're up to, and maybe even let you hear directly from the kids now and then.

We hope you enjoy!

First Post

This is our first blog post! I hope to create here a place where our family and friends, near and far, might come to learn about what we've been doing, see photos of the kids (and us from time to time!), and see how we learn at home. I want this to become a way to better keep in touch with people who are far away and also to be another way of keeping a record of our days. Thanks for coming to visit!