On Sat. we went to the Aquarium in Denver and then we drove up into the mountians west of Denver.    On the side of the highway we saw about 20 buffalo and in a different part we saw several big horn sheep.  It was very exciting for the kids to see them so close.  We stopped the car and I was able to snap many photos of these guys.  They were just eating hay and grass.  It even started to snow which made it that much better!!!   

My hubby stayed home from work today because he was feeling a bit under the weather.  Jake was so excited that daddy would be able to do school  with us today :)  Jake was so happy when Daddy sat down with us.  Jake read to him from his reading book and Dad watched while Jake did his handwriting and math.  Jake was very proud to show his Daddy what he could do.  It was nice to have Daddy see what we do everyday :)   

I am going to begin my very first quilt.  A friend of mine is teaching me how to sew and she is going to teach me how to quilt next.    I have a few items I need to purchase before I begin and of course I need the material but I am very excited !!!!!!  I am making a small quilt for my oldest son.  Superheroes will be the theme.  Spiderman, Batman, superman.  I just found some cool material  so now I need to figure out how much I need.   It is fun to learn new things!!   

Allison

Here are a few photos from the park today.  The weather has been great again this week so we are taking advantage of the warm weather.  Snow might be coming by the end of the week :)  We also baked and frosted a cake today.  The boys had fun and enjoyed licking the frosting off the spoon at the end . 

Your Personality Profile

You are funky, outdoorsy, and down to earth. While you may not be a total hippie... You're definitely one of the most free spirited people around. You are very impulsive - every day is a new adventure. However, you do put some thought behind all your actions. Still, you do tend to shock and offend people from time to time!

It just amazes me how my children learn things.  At the beginning of the year ( 1st real year of homeschooling)  I just didn't know how homeschooling would work.  How would I know I was doing all the things I needed to do??  I have to say that I prayed a lot about this.  Our year started out  very very structured with lots of workbooks etc.  That was how I felt comfortable that my kids were getting what they needed.   That was how I learned in school ( but I hated school).  Through the year God gave  me the confidence I needed  to relax a bit and boy that is when the learning began for my kiddos.  Everythinhg we do has some kind of a lesson they can learn.  Homeschooling has become more of an extension of our everyday life not a seperate time just to learn.  Learning happens all the time.   God is so good.    Now we still do a Math and Language arts curriculum and other fun stuff but we are not so stressed when it comes to school.    At this point in our homeschool that works for us :)   I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about what other families do on this site and it has helped me and given me even more ideas for next year.   Have a Happy Monday!!

Allison

Tag Your It!!!!!!

Four Jobs I've Had:

   Caterer

   Dietary manager in a nursing home

   Sous Chef at Keystone ski resort

    Cook in several restaurants

Four Movies I Could Watch Over & Over:

    A walk to remember

    The wedding planner

     backdraft

     Dead poets society

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation: 

    Banff National Park, Canada

    Bahamas

    Hawaii

    California

Four Websites I Visit (Almost) Daily:

   homeschoolblogger.com

    about.com

    Xanga.com

    Family Fun.com

Four of My Favorite Meals:

   Homemade pasta and chix parm

   honey chicken

    pork roast with dumplings

   whole roasted chicken    Yummy

Four of My Favorite Desserts:

   Pecan pie

   Carrot Cake

   Brownies

   Apple pie

the list could continue for day but I will stop with just 4 :)

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:

skiing

camping

sleeping

at a B+B with my hubby :)

Four Favorite TV Shows:

   Alias

    I love Lucy

    Extreme Home Makeover

    Dancing with the Stars ( I Know but I love watchng ballroom dancing!!!!!

Four Others I Tag:  

loughman 98

hugs4Him

Onlylittleonce

comamabear

Well today was a gorgeous sunny warm day.  Woohoooooo.   I think it hit about 72.  We spent the day at a friends ( after school was done) and played outside for many hours.  It did the boys good to be out in the fresh air and my friend and I enjoyed chatting while watching the boys ride bikes , play soccer and just run around.   I am itching for spring and summer to come.   For the last few weeks I have had the blahs but today it all went away :)  School was great.  Jake's work on his handwriting is finally paying off.  Everything just seemed to click today.  It is good to have a day like this in the middle of all of the CHAOS.   God is good and He knows exactly what we need.  Have a great evening.

Allison

I think that God knew I needed a taste of Spring today.  The morning started off wild but boy did it end well!!  It was in the high 60's today.  The boys and I went to the park after doing a little shopping this afternoon.   It was wonderful to get out and run around and have all of the windows open in the house~~  I think I was getting cabin fever!  We seem to get a bit lazy after the holidays and it was all catching up to me.  In the Spring and Summer we hike every weekend and camp every other weekend.  It is wonderful to be outside so much but this time of the year we just don't do that much.  We hike once in awhile .  Well I got a taste of spring and it perked me up!!  Tomorrow it is supposed to be just as nice so we have plans to go to a friends house for lunch and bike riding.  She lives on a cul da sac so it is perfect for the kiddos.  Anyway I got inspired to begin my Spring cleaning early!!!  I will begin this week.  I have my sister in law and her family coming out in a few weeks and then 6 days after they leave my mom and dad come out for a week.   So cleaning now is a must !!  I am looking forward to my moms visit over Easter because the day after Easter my mom and dad will watch the boys and  my hubby and I are going to a B+B for 3 nights! Yippee.   Well that's all for now.  Good night!

Allison

 Here are 25 things I would like to do in my life in no specail order.  Kim, thanks for inspiring me to do this!!!!!

1. ride in a hot air balloon

2. get caught up on the children's scrapbooks

3. lose weight

4.travel to Italy and see the town my gram was born in

5. meet me grandfather - my moms dad died when she was four and he was my gram's 1 true love!!!!!

6. learn to sew - in the process

7. have a better attitude at times and not be so critical of people

8. backpack in Alaska

9. grow closer to God daily and remember that He is in control of everything

10. get more involved in our church

11. start and finish a project or chore without any interruptions haha

12.  hike a 14,000 ft mountain here in CO.  Need to get in shape first.

13. be a good example and role model for my kids

14. travel the world with my hubby in our golden years

15. learn to snowboard

16. be a campground host

17 camp in all 50 states

18. own a B+B in the mountains

19. have a clean house for more then 2 seconds

20 take a photography class

21. accept my stepmother

22. travel to CT once a month to see family :(  That won't happen

23. get back in touch with some friends from my childhood

24 have a date with my hubby twice a month

25. get healthy

Ok, last week we had to skip school on Thu and Fri  because my little one had a surgical procedure done and he needed lots of attention.  He is doing much better now and is only in a bit of pain every now and then.  My boys have been building forts all over the house and making quite a mess.  They are having a ball and playing together nicely  but the mess is driving me bonkers :)  I feel like there is never a staightened home.  My boys are happy though and I guess that is all that matters.  They really love their toys and they love to play.  I am thankful for my  boys, mess and all . haha  Jake asked if he could have an extra hour to play this morning and then begin school at 9. I agreed because I had things to clean !!   It always seems that when we have days off from school it is hard to get back to it.   School is over now and the chaos continues.  My little monkey would like to play with play dough so I am off to be creative with him.  Have a wonderful day. 

Allison

You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts. You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary. But you sure can beat a good drum. "Kill! Kill!"

Ok I'm not so sure about this. Hehe  Although I feel like animal this morning.  My little guy had his procedure done yesterday and it went well.  He didn't even act like he was in any pain UNTIL 6 pm and then when he tinkled he would scream owie owie owie.  Needless to say he was hurting.  He slept in our bed and we were up a lot.  He was sad.  There were lots of cuddles. We will be relaxing today and putting school off until Monday.  Well enjoy your day and it's time for some coffee

Allison

My morning started out great and then this happened.  Zach is very curious about lots of things.  He likes to take things apart and sometimes he gets in trouble.  This was one of those times!!   I had these packing peanuts in my room to pack a box to mail.  The boys decided to build a fort on my bed , which was fine but when I went up there it looked like it had snowed.  Ok. you know what? those peanuts are awful to pick up.  They kept sticking to us and we had trouble getting them into the bag.   I ended up using my vacuum to get some of it and filled a whole vacuum bag with them   This picture was taken right after I told Zach he had to help me clean up every last one.  He was very sad and hopefully learned his lesson.   I hope the rest of the day in uneventful :)

Allison

Here is a photo of us at the Children's museum.  We had 4 fun filled hours at the museum yesterday.  We were able to dress up as knights and kings and queens and sit in a pumpkin carriage.  There was lots of hands on stuff to do as well as many craft stations   Today we are back to normal and will be starting some lessons soon.    Tomorrow zach will be having a surgical procedure.  Since we have potty trained him we have noticed that his stream goes up when he tinkles.  We took him to a specialist and his hole is too small and there is a ridge  that the pee is hitting that is making it shoot up.  So he will have it taken care of tomorrow.  We are praying that all will go well.  He is a trooper when it comes to pain so hopefully it will not be too tramatic for him.  Anyway my friend will watch Jake and Jason and I will take Zach in. 

Zach has been sleeping much better the past few nights but it could all change after tomorrow.  We'll see.  Well school is calling so that is all for now .

Allison

Here is Jake on our hike at the nature center on Thursday.  We learned about Hawks, Jays and Chickadees.  Fun stuff.

Here are the boys before church lastSunday.

Here is a photo from the Berenstain Bears.   Excellent play!!

We have had lots of fun this week.  The play today was great.  They did 4 different stories.  The kids just laughed and laughed.  Last night Jake discovered that he could read one of his favorite books ( Pizza Pat)  He was very excited and read it to Jason and I in the library before bed.  The fun of reading by himself has really caught on.  What fun.  Time for the Olympics. bye for now.

Allison

Another week ends   The week started off rough but actually ended really well.  Still glad that Jason will be home tomorrow.  Woohoo.  School went well today.  Jake really wanted to do his school work and that always make life easier.  His reading is really coming along.  He has found that he can pull books off his shelf in his room and read just for fun not because he has to.  We have started to keep a list of what he reads.  He is excited every time he can add another book to the list.  Tomorrow I am taking the boys to see the Berenstain Bears on Stage.  It is  a play at the Arts center in Pueblo.  It looks like it will be very cute. 

Zach slept a bit better last night.  He was still up between 11 - 12 am after going potty.  But it still is better then the night before.  Lots of prayer and patience will get us through this phase.   Well I am off to do my chores now.  Enjoy the weekend.

Well last night was no fun.  My little one has decided that he doesn't want to sleep through the night anymore.  He has been potty trained at night for about 4 weeks and since that time he no longer sleeps through.  Now it is not a problem for me to get up to take him to the bathroom but putting him back to bed is awful.  He doesn't want to go back to sleep and yells and fights me.  Last night he yelled from 12 - 2 am.  I am at my wits end and am not sure what to do with him.  My oldest was never like this.  Although I am glad he is potty trained I am not enjoying the sleepless nights. 

On a more fun note:  We went to see Curious George yesterday and it was very very good.  What a cute movie.  The boys very much enjoyed it.   It was worth taking a little break from school yesterday because my oldest son  Jake was ready to get his work done today.  Our school time has been great this morning.  Anyway it is time for a cup of coffee, that's all for now !

Allison

Although I signed up a few weeeks ago this is my first entry.   This is my first official year homeschooling and I love it.  It is wonderful for our family and we are thankful we can do this.    My boys are 3 1/2 and 5 1/2.  They keep me on my toes .   My little one is very excited to do his work too.    We started the year much more scheduled and now we have become more relaxed with our homeschooling and we enjoy it much more.

I have been praying for direction in regards to our curriculum for next year.  I want learning to be fun and not just filled with workbook pages etc.    After much thought and prayer and lots info from family we have decided to use Five in a Row.  They have a Bible supplement that we will also use.  We will supplement Math and Language arts with  some other things.   It is something I can do with both of my children because it is for ages 4 - 8.  I am very excited to try a unit study approach.

I got my registration for the CHEC conference in June .  I already booked my hotel and am ready to go!!!!  It  will be great to be able to focus on the seminars and browse the vendors booths without having to pick our curriculum for next year!!!!   I am looking forward to it very much!

School is going slow today.  We are struggling a bit so we are taking a bit of a break.  It is foggy and rainy and it is supposed to snow today.  I think the weather is taking its toll on us today.  Jake has a few more pages to read in his book and then we are going to call it quits for today and go see the movie curious george with Daddy.  The movie looks very cute and we love the Curious George books. 

Well our break is over now so I will end this.

Allison