it's all fun and games: April 2019

cuddles!

i found the girls like this playing. i was like what are you doing? they said " just playing" with a tote...it kept them busy long enough for me to properly wake up, have a coffee and then get their breaky on! ha

LOVE them!

last mon, ellie was just a bit off. she wanted to snuggle on the couch. so i chose to ignore the 4 laundry hampers in the hallway and snuggle her. nate snapped this pic

and this

then he joined us with a nail through his nose!

LOVE that i took the time to just snuggle with her. i sent chris a text saying that the laundry did NOT get put away because i CHOOSE to snuggle our ellie.

so glad i did! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:42 PM

more girls

i am LOVING the new gymnastic class! the girls LOVE their new teacher and being with the older kids and learning a lot of new stuff

and to be honest, im enjoying meeting and chatting with new friends. i spent most of the class talking to another home school mom. she was born and raised in GERMANY! and i love that we "clicked" after i told her chris was swiss and she then confessed to already knowing that...she heard my last name a few yrs back and snooped around, because 3 out of her 4 kids are older we havent had a chance to meet. but now that our kids are in the same class, we laughed and giggled over the cultures differences and she loves that i let chris be swiss and me canadain and poke fun at us....i think she likes that i get her german nature and think its great! and now i call her "german sonya" ha. cheers to moving outside my comfort zone and dbl cheers for making a new friend!

thurs morning i found this in the girls room. i looked, giggled and said "joey was here"

school at the kitchen table RULES! im in the middle with one girls on each side

its working out REALLY well!

joey drew this for me while i did ellie's spelling

ive been bringing joey into ellie's writing class/lesson. joey LOVES to draw so i just have her draw a picture then ellie and i write a story

thurs afternoon i needed tims. so bad. i picked up chris and we had a tim date. we had the kids play in the park, while we chatted and caught up. cheers to SPRING and MANY more tim dates!

2 comments

Posted by mel at 4:42 PM

garge clean up!

ok. i get it. house work, its a bore, its repetitive, boring and not really noticeable....UNTIL....its not done! thats how ive felt about my garage, with being off last week sick, and literally losing a week! i FINALLY got time on thurs to hit this bad boy up. i started at 2:30....and finished at 7....including the front closet!

nasty, nasty mess of everything

VOILA! joey was there "helping"me...i purged 6 BAGS of grown out shoes from the kids, jackets, hats and mixed up mitts, and to prove to the girls that its GOOD to rid of old things....i donated 6 PAIRS of shoes that i wont wear anymore...from my "pre kid" days...sigh. its flip flops and boots for me i guess. ha

i cleared the garage out as well, swept, tidied, purged and chris came home SHOCKED and thrilled. i still have to clean out the top 3 shelves from this stand. i just couldnt reach the top 2....

and this is all going to sally ann on monday....plus 3 more bags....

i came in thurs night to this..

chris making SUSHI!!!!!!!!!!! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW it was SO nasty. im now making it a mandate in my house to NEVER cook sushi in my kitchen again! it stinks SOOOO bad!!!!

thurs night after the girls were in bed i found my boys like this. using myy CRAFT supplies to make 3d geo/math shapes. TOO funny!

around christmas, i was feeling so overwhelmed with the amount of marking/prepping/planning and teaching with school. chris LOVES math, so i asked if he could take over nate's math. and he did. i gave him all the books and literally signed off on nate's math. what a HUGE lift of my shoulders. i still teach nate all his other classes, but just having 1 subject off my list has really helped me....thanks chris! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:42 PM

swimming!

fri morning was swimming time. i try to join the crew as much as i can, sigh, which isnt all that much, but this fri we went! my friend dropped her kids off with me so she could work out, im SO proud that she's been working out regular since the fall and i LOVE that she trusted me with her kids...anyways! i was chatting with the moms and looked up to this. awe! my heart. judah was helping joey with her swim mask!

judah and ellie

the girls!

after swim, we had a quick lunch, then packed for the cabin. before we hit up the cabin we picked up daddy for a coffee date. at the skate park. the first time this spring!

i was feeling nostalgia and remembered the days of teaching ELLIE how to walk on the skate hills....a good YR before i was expecting joey! then bringing joey back in the stroller, then joey walking....now all 3 kids are off and running while chris and i coffee together. time is passing much to fast for me... 0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:42 PM

cabin!

fri night after an AMAZING supper of nacho's. we put the girls to bed and chris and i worked on the cabin.
it rained ALL weekend, but it was totally ok! we kept busy inside! the kids played doctor. joey was the dr.....note my new book cases! and the bear up top, the bear is going in the back corner but chris has to make a mount for him first...

dr.joey to her patients! we put down the carpet! and the lamp. its SOOOO cozy in the porch! i was able to read a whole book, front start to finish this weekend!!!!

fri before the rain started, the girls and i found the PERFECT spot for quinn's bird feeder!

thanks quinn!

we visited base camp! an saw that the squirrels were busy this winter!

the porch! chris is going to build a table but this will be the general lay out

and i found this dude on my phone! ha

0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:42 PM

nate's school round up

i realized that one of the most important, time consuming task i have...homeschooling has not been a part of the blog much this yr. i think its bec i dont take my phone when we sit down to do school....there for NO pics...

normally on fri i spend about an hr marking nate's school for the week and another hr planning his coming week. about 2 yrs ago i started the "schedule" approach with nate and it WORKS for us. nate works 75% of the time on his own. he will finish up gr 6 this yr. i write his assignments for the week out in a planner, touch base with him daily and give him the freedom to work at his pace. some days we are busy with activities other days not so much. so i give him the freedom to work at hi pace AS long as ALL his school wor in DONE by fri at 5sh...so i can mark, plan and prep

this works for us. and nate has learned to not skip, cheat, be lazy or do bad work...why? because while im marking, i WILL find him, call him in...in the middle pf playing with friends to do it again!. properly! and if i do, he cant play with his friends....ha!

anyways! we are in the last quarter of his school.

he is now reading king arthur and the knights of the round table. i assign him reading and write out questions. the book cost me 5.00 american (thanks shawn!) and a note book....it takes a bit longer for me because im also reading the book and making up the questions as i go along. so the book might cost 7 canadain, it does cost me in my time....which im ok with because ive learned a lot so far!

for grammar we are using this bad boy. a costco pick up for about 5 yrs ago....for ME!...

but i decided to NOT buy curric and instead make up my own. so the coast is about 15 but it takes a lot of my time to make up questions for him

math is math u see. which i passed on to chris!

science is apologia. we love it

and nates doing a GREAT job with it

this is nates load for the last part of gr 6

LOVE this bad boy!

i found this book at the sally ann for 1.00!!!!!! i LOVE it. i read each chapter before i write up nate's assignments for the week. its a GREAT book and you can buy it on the donna ward web site for 40.00....ha!

spelling is a MUST in my house

nate's weekly planner

looking towards the end time of nate's 6th grade im pleased with all we got done. everything is on plan and target. the only wish i have is to spend some time doing more earth studies...but there is always next yr!

most days look the same (unless we have a morning class)
chris wakes me up when he leaves and i throw the sheets over my face and say " DON'T LEAVE ME WITH THEM"!!!!!!!!!

(for real i say this)

then chris leaves me with them!

i check my email/voice mail and answer
then wash up, get dressed and stumble down stairs
make a coffee and tell the kids to not talk to me
then i drink my coffee....and give them all hugs and make them food

after breaky and clean up we sit at the table and do a devotion together. i read from my bible, then ellie reads, some times nate will. joey just draws pictures. after devotions, nate hit the couch for his school and i start ellies lessons

if joey is being cooperative, i will set her up with something "fun" to work on while i work with ellie. if joey is having an off day, i barter with nate to go play with her until im done school with ellie (barter=less reading time)

once im finished with ellie. we clean up. i have another coffee to accelerate! i touch base with nate and make lunch

after lunch we usually have an activity planned or some where to be. if we dont i sneak in a 20 min power nap. ha

then school is out and my house/property is filled with kids...
end. and repeat. most days are the same! 1 comments

Posted by mel at 4:42 PM

flower pots!

last monday while nate was at drama, ellie had a friend over to play so i had joey help me put the flower pots together for HENB (home educators of n.b) for our legislation tour next month

joey really helped! she scooped all the jelly beans