Pregnancy Pictures

Almost there!

 39 Weeks

 40 Weeks

A Few Funnies...

 We went to Beech Hill Farm for our annual ice cream outing on Father's Day, and Filia made the funniest observations about the animals...  First she exclaimed, "Grandma!  Those sheep are barking!"

Then, after being shown a donkey, she remembered the story of Palm Sunday and asked, "Did JESUS put that donkey in there?"

After spending the morning on my swollen, pregnant feet peeling baby onions by the pound, simmering wine reductions for Father's Day Beef Bourguignon, and chopping piles of fresh garden herbs, I hear Rus exclaim, "Mom! It smells JUST like Sub-Way in here!!"  I told the story to Stephen, looking for some encouragement.  He just sniffed the air, burst out laughing, and said, "You know, it DOES smell like Sub-Way!"  I told him that, if he kept talking like that, he was going to have to give up his special meal for a sub.  :)

Tert offered up a prayer for "the prettiest wife and the prettiest house" when he grows up : / 

Filia was delighted to earn a "bally beach" (beach ball) through our library reading program.

Tert is very preoccupied with the weather these days.  After asking me a dozen times if it was sunny enough to swim, I told him in exasperation to "Just go LOOK AT THE WEATHER for himself!!"  The next thing I knew, he was on the computer looking up Accuweather.  I had meant for him to just look out a window, but he took me literally.  

Another day Tert said, "Mom, you said that the weather would be HORRIBIBBLE (that's the adorable way he says horrible), but it is actually nice!"

Rus - "My loose tooth is hanging on like a tick on Velcro or a gecko on a couch!"

Tert - "I can tell my swim teacher that I'm going to the dentist and the dentist that I went to swimming, and I will STILL BE ME!"

Filia is SO DRAMATIC and a touch vain these days.  She will often ask her big sister, "Will you make my beautiful hair BEAUTIFUL?"

Filia - "Oh no!  This is NOT happening.  I have a bug bite!"

Filia - Picking up my chap stick, "Mom, what in the HECK is that?"


 

End of School 2012-13 (Pictures and Post by Stella)

We have finally reach the end of our 2012-13 school year and our ninth year of homeschooling.
Stella~8th going into 9th
Leo~6th going into 7th
Rus~2nd going into 3rd
Tert~Pre-K going into Kindergarten
Filia~Going into Pre-K

It was also our first year of Omnibus.  I read 41 books total on Ancient History.  We look forward to next year's Medieval theme. 

Our end of school gifts were...

 Stella is doing cake decorating at Michael's with Mom (post and pictures soon to follow)

 Leo got a gecko with Uncle Matt and Rus.  He named it Roy (short for Roy G. Biv) since it is many colors of the rainbow!

 Rus got a recorder, and he is already learning short songs on it!

 Tert and Filia got lacing cards and play dough, which they love!

Here is a compilation of photos of our school year.  Hope you enjoy! (Click the link)

http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4d7a59354e446b314e6a513d0d0a&blogview=true

Summer School By: Stella

I am having so much fun doing school with Tert and Filia. We are doing some fun workbooks, painting, playing with play dough, lacing blocks, magnetic dolls, etc.  It keeps them busy for half an hour in the morning before they start playing.

 

Cutting, pasting and coloring!

 Tert is great at puzzles. It's crazy how fast he can zip through a maze!

 Thanks E for these magnetic dolls.  Filia absolutely loves playing with them!

I started the 'I Can Read It!' books with Tert.  He is doing a GREAT job reading.  We started Pat, The Rat and he is working on learning some simpler words.  Way to go, Tert!

 After a trip to the dollar store to get some chalk and outdoor supplies, we decided to have our preschool outside for once.  The kids absolutely loved it.  It was a gorgeous, breezy morning (not to mention sunny as you can see from the kids' sunglasses :P )

 We had lots of fun doing chalk drawings. Above is a picture of Tert's house complete with a little man going to get milk. :)

 We also did shadow tracings.

 They loved learning how to play hopscotch.

 Filia convinced Tert to give her a nice long ride in the wagon.

 Then we used glitter paint.  It worked really well, only we couldn't squeeze the bottle too hard or the paint would just plop out onto the page. Filia learned that the hard way :-o

Great Job Guys!

8th Grade Graduation By: Stella

Hello Readers!
I recently celebrated my eight grade graduation.  Since my cousin Mo was finishing eighth grade too, we decided to celebrate together.  We had the party at her house and had a blast.  Thankfully,  Lyd took lots of pictures.

 Snack Bar!

 Chocolate Fountain!

 The 'Grads'

 Family Time

It was a gorgeous day!

 Mo got an iPod touch and Mom and Dad bought me Alma Mater Volume 1.  It's a compilation of all of our blog posts up until the end of 2012.  I am having so much fun reading through it.  Mom and Dad will get Volume 2 at my high school graduation.

 Thanks so much Lyd for taking all these pictures!

Flower Dissection (Pictures By Stella)

The boys are doing their Apologia Botany over the spring/summer since that is when we plant and harvest our garden.  Recently they dissected flowers.  Here are some pictures:

  They felt so badly wrecking this beautiful bouquet!

 

 

First they removed the sepals and petals.

 Then they took off the carpel and the stamens.  We found the male and female parts on the flower.  It was amazing to see the tiny seeds.

 Above is a chart they made.  They took the dissected parts, covered them with packaging tape and 'voila!'

The boys also got a Venus Fly Trap. It is sitting in our living room right now, and it is amazing to feed it and watch the traps close on the flies.