The Last Days of Summer

Hi! Remember me? Wondering if I still remember how to blog? Me, too! Let's find out!

We had a great summer filled with days of sunshine, a camping trip, lots of trips to the pool, more weeding than usual in Colorado due to more rain than usual, and getting ready for Punkin's first day at "regular" school.

The week before school started we went to one of those cheesy family fun places and had a great day. We actually planned to go for Little Man's fourth birthday and it was rained out. We've been promising that "someday" we would go, and someday finally arrived. Two and a half years later, but who's counting??

The cheesy family fun place is all about race cars. For some reason this trip required a mohawk. A green mohawk. Seems it was inspired by a monster truck driver. I figured a cheesy family fun place that is all about race cars was a much better place to go sporting a green mohawk than say .... church, so Dad painted up the mohawk

and off we went.
The racecars were as fun as he dreamed they would be:

And girl child had a great time too. Love this face of pure joy.
And cooling off by squirting each other with water was big fun too.

The carefree days of childhood summers. The. best.

Smell Like a Salmon

Punkin's favorite topic is the human body, so we have almost completely abandoned our curriculum and instead are finishing the school year doing some fun activities about the body.

Today's focus was the sense of smell and taste. We played a little game called "Smell like a Salmon". (The idea is from this book lest you think I'm this creative.) We put vanilla and garlic on cottonballs and then the kids closed their eyes and followed the trail of vanilla or garlic cotton balls. It was quite fun!

I wish I had video. Can you imagine the kids crawling around our family room, eyes closed, sniffing?

Next year is sure gonna be different!

14 years!

This time of the morning, 14 years ago, I was hanging out with my best friend from high school, getting a massage and a manicure.

It was a beautiful day!

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY:

Outside my window... it is bright and sunny.

I am thinking... about a client last minute issues, and his return is due March 15.

I am thankful for... older children who can somewhat entertain themselves

From the learning rooms... we are learning the names of the 50 states. Wish I knew about this song when I was young!

From the kitchen... a quick tilipia recipe tonight! With cous cous and frozen veggies, it's a true 15 minute meal. Love it!

I am wearing... grey pants and a white shirt. (I'm still in my pjs at 3:45 in the afternoon - sheesh!)

I am creating... a plan for my garden.

I am going... to gymnastics (always a safe bet) and a children's ministry meeting tonight.

I am reading... Just finished Sense & Sensibility. Really enjoyed it! I was struck by a change in admirable character traits represented in the book. Hope to write a blog post about that soon - it's been thought-provoking for me.

I am hoping... Punkin does well on her testing the end of this month.

I am hearing... the 50 states song. The kids heard it while I was finding the link for the above item, and are now listening to it on the laptop.

Around the house... is not too bad!

One of my favorite things... is homeschooling. I'm going to miss it.

A few plans for the rest of the week: beginning planning the kid's birthday parties, last minute client emergencies for the S-corps that have returns due on March 15th, work, school, 2 birthday parties to attend on Saturday!

For more daybooks, check out the Simple Woman's Daybook site.

Olympic Lapbook

We really enjoyed the Winter Olympics this year. Our favorite events were on too late for the kids to stay up, but we watched a lot online. Punkin's favorite was the figure skating, and she also really cheered for Lindsay Vonn who is from Colorado.

She made a lapbook using this ebook from A Journey Through Learning.

The cover:

The inside:

Folder 1 is about the history of the Greeks and the Olympics:
Folder 2 is about the traditions & symbols of the Olympics.
(There is a map under the Torch Relay of tracing the route.)

Folder 3 is where we tracked all the events and who won the gold medals.I'm glad we did this project. Punkin learned a lot and we had fun!

Family Picture

I've written before about my favorite community event. It's in November, but I'm behind! Here is a family shot of us in our town square. (Little Man has glow in the dark teeth in his mouth.)

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY
(written Sunday afternoon)

Outside my window... it is bright and sunny.
I am thinking... about my daughter's friendships.
I am thankful for... Sundays.
From the learning rooms... we are finishing our Olympic lapbook and starting a new unit about space this week.
From the kitchen... I have a great Williams Sonoma cookbook from the library! Can't wait to try out a few more recipes!
I am wearing... jeans, a black and white top, long black sweater, no shoes.
I am creating... I finished (finally!) making an Alpaca fleece purse for Punkin.
I am going... to Awana with the kids.
I am reading... gardening books. Also "Lost, Late & Unprepared."
I am hoping... a nap is in the schedule today.
I am hearing... children playing.
Around the house... is still messy, but cleaner than yesterday morning!
One of my favorite things... is being caught up on the laundry!
A few plans for the rest of the week: work & school

For more daybooks, check out The Simple Woman's Daybook site.