Nov. 22, 2006 -

Yesterday was such a busy day with all the running around I didn't get to sit down until 10 o'clock last night.  Connor and I left the house at half past three for my doctor's appointment and didn't return home until after Olympians at nine last night.  Walter siad that Daniel missed us the whole time and kept whining asking where mom and Connor were.  Well today is a new day and hopefully I will be able to get some of this list done.

1. Connor's school

2. clean the kitchen

3. clean the downstairs bathroom

4. dust the bedrooms

5. dust and vac the den

6. ironing

7. clean the hall closet

8. sweep and mom kitchen floor/ laundry room  floor

9. mending

10. shopping list/menu planning

Tonight for dinner we are having:

sausage on the a bun

sauerkraut

broccoli salad

tossed

(a meal to remind us of summer)

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Nov. 21, 2006 - Things to do:

Today is going to be a busy day with Connor's school, a trip to the library and the local grocery store, then I have a doctor's appointment late this afternoon and Olympians tonight.  I'm still feeling under the weather but don't feel as if I can slack off, if the get worse maybe I'll have to but if I slack off now and then it does get worse and I can't do anything I'd hate to see what the house could end up looking like, so here goes my list for today.

1. clean the kitchen

2. clean the downstairs bathroom

3. dust the bedrooms

4. dust and vac the den

5. ironing

6. clean the hall closet

These almost all seem over whelming at this point but I need to have a goal.

I just looked over that list an I don't think there was any thing that I actually got done.  I never stopped moving but the list just took a back seat. 

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Nov. 20, 2006 - Olympians

Tuesday is our Olympian's club at church.  It is my turn to teach the lesson.  I always get nervous and probably over prepare but if I didn't prepare I can't imagine what the out come would be.  So after more than an hour at the computer typing out what I have to say, I have it neatly printed off, sitting here on the desk waiting to be put into the my Bible for tomorrow night.  I know that if I am teaching a Bible lesson that I should use my Bible and I do refer to it, it just that I find it difficult to teach with 2 things in my hands. I need at least one free hand to swing around as I talk.  I print out the verses that I want to use, so I do read them, it just from my paper instead of the Bible itself.  Maybe it would be easier if I had a podium, but that might feel too, formal for the children.  I don't know I'll have to sleep on it and talk to Walter in the morning and see what he thinks.  Our lesson is on the Apostle Paul and his friends, that we should choose our friends wisely and develop the qualities in ourselves that wise people would be looking for when they choose a friend.  That last part really struck me, am I the kind of friend that wise people choose?   If I am not what can I do about it?  Hmmmm....now that has me thinking.

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Nov. 20, 2006 - Things to do:

Well I didn't get much sleep last night, not sure why, could be this cold or the fact that I had a nap in the afternoon.  I don't think it was really either of those things but I'll never know.  I am posting my list in hopes that it will motivate me today.  I am praying hard that I won't be grumpy with the boys either.

1. Connor's school-done

2. prepare my Olympian's lesson-done

3. book mark craft for Olympians-done

4. clean kitchen

5. ironning

6. change the boy's bedding-done

7. laundry-done

8. dust bedrooms

9. dust and vac den

10. tidy hall closet (this is a whole day chore)

Well I got more done than I thought I would.  I guess I am learning it pays to have a plan.

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Nov. 19, 2006 - the latest read-a-loud

Last night Walter finished up reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis to us.  It was a great book, Connor thought so too. We always know when Connor likes a book, he asks to have it read to him several times throughout the day and with this book he was asking all the time.  Walter was reading it to him, and I didn't want to  go on ahead of him so we had to wait for Daddy to have a few minutes to read a chapter.  Connor said that The Horse and His Boy is still his favourite so far in the series but this came in second.  I liked the imagery in this book, you couldn't miss it.  Connor kept saying, "That's just like Jesus, isn't it mom?"  Now we are to begin reading The Silver Chair, I'm sure that he will be bring it to me sometime today and asking to start, no waiting for schooltime tomorrow.

Now I'm on the hunt for some more good books to read-a-loud, it won't be long till we are done the last two books.  I would like to read the Anne books but Walter sort of raised his eyebrows at that, so something more boyish.  Any recommendations?

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Nov. 18, 2006 - I'm almost done

Back in June I decided to make Christmas stockings for my family, that's 4 and then I add my mom, dad, sister and sister's boyfriend to that list, that makes 8.  Not bad I thought, but that was in June. Now it the middle of November and I am feeling the push.  I'm knitting them in a simple sock pattern....just on bigger needles, they are red and I am going to embroider each names in white.  Last night I finished number seven so I only have one more to go. The next 'big' decision will be what name's to embroider on each, Connor, Daniel, Emily and Darcy are fairly easy because I will just use their first names but for Walter and I and my mom and dad.... for us do I use Walter and Shari or Mom and Dad and for my mom and dad do I use thier first names or Gramma and Papa.....I think I've solved it but would love to hear what you think. 

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Nov. 18, 2006 - Things to do:

1. Connor's school-done

2. sweep and mop kitchen floor-done

3. sweep and mop laundry room floor-done

4. Brush Bailey-done

5. vacuum staircase-done

6. dust bed rooms

7. vacuum and dust living room-done

8. vacuum and dust den-vac done

9. start to prepare Olympian's lesson

10. ironning

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Nov. 17, 2006 - Things to do

1.  Grocery Shopping-done

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Nov. 17, 2006 - What we are eating

Menu Plan -Week of November 17-24

(We are Canadian....so no thanksgiving meal here.....we did that back in October.)

Friday Nov. 17 - roast chicken, carrots, and rice

Saturday Nov. 18- chicken and vegetable stir fry over rice

Sunday Nov 19-beef stew, rolls and salad

Monday Nov. 20-Wakiki Meatballs

Tuesday Nov. 21- left overs (busy night)

Wednesday Nov. 22- sausages, sauerkraut, oven fried potatoes, salad

Thursday Nov. 23-chicken and dumplings, veggie tray

Friday Nov. 24- homemade pizza, salad

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Nov. 16, 2006 - I'm dragging this morning!!!!

We are tired today!!!! Yesterday we had a visit from my sister-in -law and her family. She has three children the perfect age for playing with our boys. Connor is the oldest and was very much the idea person but he has the personality to try to include the others too. So all afternoon we had an five children running around out doors and playing role playing games. Daniel loved it because his cousin is 5 months younger than he and he is not used to having someone his own size to play with. Their favourite activity was dropping rocks down the grate into the storm drain, my sister in law got a couple of good pictures of the two of them intently doing this. After we came in we sat down and watched the movie Robots, both the kids and the adults enjoyed it. It was interesting to have the house so full of children, not something we are used to here, not that we didn’t enjoy it, it would be something to get used to. DJ loved it so much that he had a melt down when it came time for them to leave. He went to the back hall grabbed his cap and coat and kept saying me go too. It was hard to watch, it made me sad because as we got closer and closer to the departure he started to cry and then to wail. We said our good bye and then I whisked a very upset Daniel off to bed where we snuggled till he calmed down and drifted off to sleep. Walter and I came down stairs had a drink of eggnog, Walter’s favourite this time of year and watched Batman begins big mistake for me, I should have headed off to bed myself. If you are a Batman fan you will like this movie, it was very well done. We finally got to bed at half past eleven and I am sooo dragging my feet this morning.

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Nov. 11, 2006 - Radar....the height and depth of it

We use Apologia’s Exploring Creation science program and this year we are studying the astronomy course. We finished the chapter on Venus today by doing the radar experiment. Yesterday, Walter and I crumpled newspaper and put it in a shoe box and then poured plaster of paris over it, creating hills and valleys with in the box. After letting it dry over night I covered it with a cloth with a grid on it. Connor never got to see the inside of the box. I gave him a piece of paper with the same grid on it, coloured markers, and a bamboo skewer. He measured inches on the bamboo skewer and coloured each inch a different colour. He then stuck the skewer through the cloth, taking note of the depth based on the colour visible on the skewer and coloured the corresponding square on the paper grid. When at the end we took off the clothed and revealed the hills and valleys in the box Connor was surprised to see how closely it corresponded to the paper grid. He decided which area of the box would be the best to land his future spacecraft, and a smiled spread across his face as he could see his ‘radar’ results agreed with the box.

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Nov. 10, 2006 - Errand day

Today the boys and I did our errands, we are getting in the habit of doing errand every Friday. It seems to be working for us. We drove to Bridgewater, which is about 35 minute from our house. I don’t know if I will ever get used to driving so far to get the necessities of life. I used to stop at the grocery store on the way home from work one night and the mall another and basically just do one errand at a time. Can’t do that here. We don’t live really close to anything, well that isn’t entirely true we do have a small grocery store here in Chester but I think that it is altogether too small, so I drive 35 minutes at least once a week. We went to all the usual places, Walmart, Frenchy’s (the best 2^nd hand store around), the dollar store, and two grocery stores. I love Frenchy’s as we are trying to be more frugal and this seems to be an answer for us, it feels good to supply the needs of our family and not spend a fortune. Today I bought some really nice sweaters for Connor to wear to church. It seems each time I go in I am on a mission for something specific and today it was sweaters for good. At the last grocery store we pick up a ‘treat’ off the reduced bakery table to eat on the way home, this week in was tea biscuits with raisins and glaze. They were yummy, DJ fell asleep with one in his had it was so cute.

We got home and Walter had straightened up the house and started the laundry, what a sweetheart.

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Sep. 21, 2006 - The Ontario Science Centre

Wow, what a fun day we had. We took the kids to the science centre, talk about a fun way to learn.  Everything was hands on.  They had a special area for kids under 8 called 'kidspark', they got to play with water by redirecting it and making rivers and dams.  CW got to set up ramps and loops and hills and then send a ball down the track to see how far it would go.  They got to 'go shopping', DJ actually enjoyed this the best, he got to fill his basked with 'real' food items and take them to the 'check-out' and then scan them through the reader, I think that he could have played in the store all day.  We got to make paper and they gave us the piece we made to take home and gave us directions so we could do it at home.  Just before we left we got to see the vandergraff generator which is an instrument that steals the electrons form your body when you touch the generator, when standing on a insulated floor your hair will stand on end,  they have had this attractions since I was a little child and I've always thought it was the coolest but could never get close to it because the groups were so big.  This time the group was so small (the nice thing about going during the week after the schools are back in) that anybody who wanted to could go up and put their hand on the ball.  W took DJ up and he touched the ball and held on to DJ, it was so cute to see my little baby's hair stand straight up.  The presenter said that baby's hair is so light that it stands up very well.  You couldn't see W's hair stand up, as he has a brush cut but he said he could feel it, especially on the back of his neck.  CW wouldn't go up, he doesn't like to have people looking at him, so once again I didn't get to go but that was ok, it was just fun watching W and DJ up there.  

It was one fun day, enjoyed by all. 

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Sep. 18, 2006 - Toronto Zoo

CW turned 8 yesterday.  I can hardly believe it where has the time gone, it really does seem as if just a little while ago he was a baby.  I miss those days.  We wanted to do something really special for his birthday.  We asked him a couple of months ago if he would like to go to the Toronto Zoo for his birthday.  He of course gave us the strangest look, how could that happen , we live in Nova Scotia.  W's response was yeah so, do you want to go to the Zoo.  CW looked at us and laughed, sure why not you guys are so silly.  In his mind he couldn't put it all together.  W and I chuckled to ourselves, we knew a secret that CW hadn't figured out yet, we were going to Ontario for our vacation and we would be there on his birthday.  So yesterday, on his birthday we packed a cooler and dressed for lots of walking, jumped into the car and drove into Toronto with my dad (it about an hour form my parents home) to fulfill CW birthday wish. 

The zoo is so big you couldn't possibly do the whole thing in one day so we picked the areas that CW wanted to see the most.  We saw the indoasia, african, and Austrasia areas.  There were so many strage and different animal.  When my mom asked CW what his favourite was he couldn't pick just one.  He loved the elephants, the orangatuans, the rhinos, the polar bears, the lions, the giraffes and of course the Komodo Dragon.  He didn't like the swooping birds in several of the exhibits, which I think I started as I tend not to like birds at all.  I was great to reinforce all of the 'good' tv that he has been watching with real live examples, we recieved a mini commentary on most of the animals we encountered. 

The day was full and we got plenty of sun, fresh air and exercize.  I don't think he will forget his eight birthday any time soon.  I will have to write a birth story sometime soon. 

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Sep. 3, 2006 - I am proud of my son

CW has a kind and gentle heart, it doesn't take much to make him cry and a severe chiding form his father or I usually does the trick when discipline is required, he loves strong and hard too.  Several weeks ago he and DJ recieved a post card from a lady at our church who was on vacation.  He was thrilled that she would think of him while she was away enjoying herself with her husband.  I told CW that it was nice to be remember by others and we we need to express our gratitude and I thought that it would be a good idea if the next time he saw her at church that he made a point of thanking her.  Over the next few weeks we seemed to miss them either they were away or we were, on Friday while grocery shopping we ran into her and her daughter, you should have seen CW's face light up.  He ran up to her and gave her a big hug and the first thing out of his mouth was "Thank you for that post card, I really liked it, it is on our fridge at home."  I was so pleased, as our conversation had long since passed and never revisited again.  I truely thank the Lord for my son, and for the example of a thankful heart, because although the first conversation was of my intiation he took the teaching to his heart and applied it as soon as possible.  

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Sep. 2, 2006 - Week 4

This week went very well.  I am so pleased with CW's attitude this year, even with starting school so much earlier than the schools around here, he didn't seem to fuss much.  He says that he is enjoying the 'stuff we are learning' better this year. I'm also studying each subject with a timer.  Each subject has its alotted time and if he works hard for that amount of time then we move onto the next subject.  I've found that CW only has about a 30 minute attention span, if we change subjects after 30 minutes he does great.  We don't quite finish a whole math lesson in those 30 minutes but if I try to push it, I lose him completely and his retention drops dramaticly.  One of the other changes that I've made is that I try to give him as much of my attention as possible while he is working.  Last year I tried to do laundry, clean and other things while he was working.  I now only deal with CW and DJ during our learning time, it too is working very well and my housework doesn't seem to be suffering either.  Guess I'm learning a thing or two about concentrating on one thing at a time too.

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Sep. 1, 2006 - two year olds say the cutest things

Last night DJ fell out of bed.  When we heard the thud, W ran upstairs to see what had happened.  It was the second time in two nights....but we didn't hear the instantaneous wailing so that was a good thing.  W scooped him up and put him back into bed, tucked him in and gave him a kiss.  I came in just as he was finishing this little task and I knelt down beside DJ's bed gave him a kiss and whispered...I love you......(no response).....I love you......(no response).....I love you.....Oh, be quiet mommy.....and back to sleep he went.   When I told W, I thought he was going to wake the boys up, he laughed so hard.  Good thing I don't get my feelings hurt easily.  He didn't even remember falling out of bed when we discussed it at breakfast this morning.

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Aug. 16, 2006 - the solar system....in balloons

This is CW showing off his first Astronomy experiment.  He was so excited, especially since W was helping, he was less excited that DJ wanted to work with us, but we all learn a lesson in patience as well as the planets.  It is the solar system and we put it up in their room, seemed appropriate because when I came look at the picture and saw the star boarder and glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. 

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Aug. 16, 2006 - Notebooking and how it works for us

I am using note booking for science, history, goegraphy and Bible this year. I am finding that CW learns so much more than with the fill in the blank, matching exercizes that were the most part of last years work. Even though my history and geography aren't set up that way....they are the fill in the blank type... I have turned them into Notebooks. I don't know if CW is behind for his age or not but what works for us is he narrates to me, sometimes I give him a few words or questions that he must answer in his narration. Then as he narrates I write it on the white board and then he copies from the white board onto the notebook pages I have set up. They are 1/2 blank for a picture and 1/2 lines for the copy work. Sometimes this takes a while but I feel he is really learning the material and that is what is important. Last year he wasn't retaining much information. He works on each subject for a set amount of time and if he doesn't finish we just continue the next day. (I copy the white board to a piece of paper if he isn't finished). I told CW that if he did his very best work in his note books at the end of the year I would take each of them to Staples and have them bound into books so he could keep them for all time, he really likes that idea, in the meanwhile we put each finished sheet into a page protector to keep it safe in the notebook. We are not using this method for French, Latin, math and Language arts. We are still finishing up last years lifepac 10 in Language arts and then we will be doing Learning Language Arts through Literature this years. It may seem like a lot but we don't spend a lot of time on each subject because CW can't concentrate for more than 20min-1/2 hour on one thing, our longest day is 2hr and 45min, and that is 3 days a week, the other 2 are shorter, Tuesday is library day and Friday is errand/house cleaning day.

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Aug. 14, 2006 - If that was Monday we had it

Hope all Mondays aren’t like today. It started slow and didn’t get any better. Felt like I was spinning my wheels all day. CW was very good considering he had a hard time concentrating, DJ was always interrupting and distracting us, I even had a hard time concentrating. I was proud of CW he didn’t lose his temper at all. We are all very tired tonight, think I may be turning in when the boys go. Yes I am that tired.

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