Live Laugh Blog

First year hunting

Well Jacob really earned his middle name "Hunter" ! He went out deerhunting with Mark for the first time,and shot a deer.

He was pretty excited about it!

Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Birthday Maya!

I am a little late with the Thanksgiving message, oh well!!

Maya  celebrated her first birthday with us! She turned 5 years old! It's really neat to see the progress she has made since she's moved in. She seems to be settling in just fine.

We didnt' have a big party for her, just our family. I made her a giant peanut butter cookie cake,and the next day we went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. If you havent' been there before, I highly reccommend it! You choose any flavor ice cream,and then pick what you want mixed in. And they have huge waffle bowls ,dipped in chocolate ... delicious!!

Where have I been??

Wow ,it's been nearly 2 months since I posted!! sorry about that! But, well ... life has been a bit busy!

Here's a photo of the bathroom project I was working on. I really like how it turned out!

 Mark put in a new floor ,toilet , sink and countertop. I painted the upper half of the wall the dark blue color, I tried to match the blue in the toile showercurtain, but it's amazing how many shades of blue there are! It's not an exact match, unless you really analyze it,and I'm not about to do that!

I can't seem to find the photos of what it looked like previously. Basically a plain white wall, tile flooring that was missing pieces all over,and a harvest gold/marble-like countertop. Trust me when I say, this is an improvement!

Why is the ocean salty?

This is one of those questions I've always pondered, but never recalled finding the answer. So last week I was reading a science lesson to Jacob and Danielle, and learned the answer! We are using a science curriculum called Apologia Zoology.  Well in case you've always wanted to know the answer to the question.... the reason the ocean is salty is due to runoff from rivers that have rocks containing salt. Also through volcanos on the ocean floor that erupt ,releasing salt into the water!

Jacob and Danielle did an experiment to learn why ocean water does not completely freeze. Using two cups of water, one containing 2 Tblsp. of salt, they found the one with salt still didn't freeze after a few days. The water remained a slush-like consistency. Danielle thought it might be a good way to make slushees, without them freezing entirely. The only problem is the very salty taste!

Indian Summer

We've been enjoying the last few days of summer here in Wisconsin ! I'm positive a  drop in temperature  is just around the corner. I even went shopping for winter coats for the kids the other day. Even though it's 80 degrees this week, that could change in a day or so.

The little ones were really interested in the sunflowers Daddy planted in the garden this year. I think they were amazed that flowers could grow so tall. If it werent' for the flowers that he planted, we'd have no garden this year at all, except for a few tomato plants that re-seeded themselves.  We  have just enough to make some fresh salsa .

First day of co-op and I'm officially a soccer mom!

Today we went to the first homeschool co-op day. I think they all enjoyed it. It was a bit hectic to get everyone signed in,but next week should be easier. 

 When I took the babies in the nursery, there was a little guy just screaming  in there. Baby Z must have heard that, and started crying very hard. This is the baby who never cries (well once in a while, but rarely), then M saw his little brother crying and he started too.. it was really sad! I was just supposed to be dropping them off so I could help in the gym class with the 7-9 yr olds. So I waited a bit, and gave Z a bottle. One of the other moms took him in a stroller and walked him around so he would calm down. I knew he was just tired at that point.  They did fine after that and I was able to get to the gym class to help.

The rest of the day went fine- I really didn't know where the older kids were the rest of the time, apparently they found their remaining  classes without difficulty. M,J and D had a gym class. M and J took choir,and the other classes included drawing, anatomy & physiology and history. They met some new friends which is always a bonus.
After the co-op, J started soccer practice, which was on the same grounds as the co-op . It's a homeschool soccer team. We are really thankful this is available, as J has wanted to participate in sports for a few years now. The coach was trying to convince M to join to (it's a co-ed middle school/high school team). but she was a bit more hesitant. She decided to just watch the practice for today.

After practice two really nice high school age girls came up to M and asked her if she'd join the team (they needed more girls). I guess you can't escape peer pressure in homeschool either, as she agreed to join! I was suprised, but glad she decided to join the team. I think she felt better after getting to know a few of the girls from the co-op classes. Now I'm on the hunt for soccer cleats, shin guards and black athletic shorts that are needed in 2 days!

Getting there...

a little more organized that is. I really love to buy items to help me get a little more organized. I really have a long way to go- but any little bit helps! After spending more time than I would have liked,  looking for M's shoes one day, and then for Z's shoes another day, I decided I had to do something about this closet!

So I went to the home improvement store and found a shoe organizer thing-a-ma-jig...  this is how it turned out. I know it's a small step towards organization, but with this many kids, any little thing that makes my day  go smoother thrills me!

painting ,painting and more painting...

First week of school

We are still working out a few kinks in our school schedule. I'm sure it will take a little time to get things running smoothly. With all the various appointments the kids have, it's hard to keep a real strict schedule ,but I'm trying my best not to schedule things in the morning this year. The exception is the baby's therapy sessions as he is too tired out late in the day to get much out of the therapy.  Now that the little man has decided to become mobile, things are about to get much more interesting! He seems to love crawling into the "school room" to see where all the action is.

I started using the "Before Five in a Row " preschool time with M and Z. The book we are reading this week is called  "Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? "  They are having a blast doing all the activities that go along with it. Yesterday we talked about what to wear in different kinds of weather. They enjoyed dressing the bear on the flannel board.  We learned that lesson in real life, too since the weather has changed dramatically in the past few days, from temperatures in the 80's down to the 50's!

Scooter  seems to enjoy school starting again,too. Usually he's  off hiding somewhere during the day, but the past few days he's  been hanging around during school time.

Welcome!

Here I am again, attempting to blog! I had set up an account a few years ago and didn't have time to keep up with it. So I'm making a second attempt at starting up a new blog at  the start of a new school year!

On the first day of school every year, I like to take a "first day of school picture". It's fun to look back at how  everyone has grown and changed  from year to year.   It did take quite a few attempts to get everyone looking in the same direction though!