Eiteljorg museum

 

Fall is field trip season for us.  I feel like we've had a field trip every week!  Our most recent field trip was to the Eiteljorg Museum downtown.  First, driving downtown is never a good idea!  We got somewhat lost, but managed to get there on time.  Caelin is very interested in Indians, so I wanted to make the effort to go on this trip, even though I wasn't sure how the younger kids would do.  I had never heard of this museum and it is fairly new, but they have a lot of Indian artifacts and talked about the Indian tribes that lived in indiana.  As I feared, our tour guide was a little above the kids' head.  It was supposed to be for kindergarten -2nd graders, but even the 2nd graders struggled some with following her.  I think they would have enjoyed the museum more if they could  have just walked around and looked at the exhibits as they wanted.  We were all very interested in the cradle boards :)  There was a really fun area where the kids could make tee pee models, and they loved that! We could have stayed there for the entire hour!

We ended in the basement where there was a really fun area the kids could play in.  They could dress up and play in all kinds of 'old fashion' areas, like a stage coach :)

Volcano!

So the kids take homeschool classes in the afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday.  I was a little concerned about Connor taking science class.  I know what Caelin did during kindergarten science, but she was a whole year older then Connor when she did kindergarten, and I just wasn't quite sure how he would really do.  But the wonderful, and very loving, teacher assured me that he would be fine.  So we signed him up.  And just like Caelin when she was in kindergarten, he hops in the van and tells me what he did in science :) .  And I am impressed at what he remembers and seems to be absorbing.  The other day, out of the blue, he started talking about using playdough to make a volcano.  And that you need baking soda, and WHITE vinegar.  Very adamant and clear on the WHITE vinegar.  So yesterday, we made his volcano.  He was excited, and so was Claire.  Caelin tried to act 'no so excited', but she enjoyed it as well.  I was proud of myself for just going with the flow and breaking out the stuff to let him do it.  Too often, I put things off because I want to make a lesson plan, and get books from the library, and look on pinterest for ideas, etc... and then things don't end up happening.  So we just went with it.

School Days!

 So we have officially started school for the year!  And we now officially have not one, but two, kids homeschooling!  Yes, the thought is a little daunting.  But one week in, I'm feeling pretty good.  Famous last words.

Our first day at home:

  

                                              First Day with homeschool classes at Northpoint:

 

Several of Caelin's friends come in after lunch with her

Connor's class

 

 

 

Connor is enjoying his afternoon classes at Northpoint.  His teacher sent me this picture.

We ended the week by making playdough, I'm quite impressed with myself :)

 

Vacation Day 1

A few months ago we found out that a college friend of Simon's was going to be getting married.  We decided to make a real vacation out of our trip to New Jersey for the wedding.  First step, we had to find somewhere for poor Cheyanne.  Doggie Daycare for 10 days was pretty darn expensive...so we sent her to the farm.  She was thrilled.

Cheyanne is not a fan of cars.  At all. At least she hasn't thrown up in the car for awhile.  And a shout out-God Bless my sister with a newborn who willingly took on our dog for over a week.  Clearly she needed more to do.
So the next day we got started.  Our goal was 6 hours a day.  It seemed like it might be a long drive.  Thats a whole lot of time to sing Frozen songs, in case your wondering.  I can't get the video to upload, so you luck out on hearing yet another rendition of Let It Go.

We drove 5 hours to Wheeling, West Virginia, where we stopped at Cabella's. 

 
There is an aquarium inside, so the kids got a big kick out of that:

 And of course all these animal displays...also a big hit:

 And finally a shooting range.  So that made Simon's trip! ;) 

We ate dinner, drove another hour, and then checked into a hotel.  The day went much smoother then we feared it would.

Happy Birthday!

Summer is our birthday season in our household.  We started with mine-I turned 35.  One of my friends has a boat, so for the last several years I've been able to celebrate my birthday with this group of friends by going out on the lake.  It is a lot of fun and always a beautiful night!

We even got to hand feed this crazy swan who stalked us

 On my actual birthday, we celebrated with the family by going to Menchie's for frozen yogurt.  It doesn't quite replace cupcakes with buttercream icing (okay, its really not even close!), but I survived :)

The next week we celebrated with the big party for all the kids.  We had it a park with a splash pad that isn't far from our house, and invited their friends.  I think everyone had a blast!  And it wasn't too painful for us parents either ;)

VBS Week 2

 VBS week 2 went so much better in my opinion!  Probably because I was in the snack room and not leading kids!  I tell you...snacks is the place to be!  I also am now convinced that 3 hours and 15 minutes is just way to long for VBS.  This one was 2 hours 15 minutes, and it seemed to run much smoother.  But again, I was in the kitchen, so what do I know?  The theme for this one was International Spy Academy.  The kids loved it and I really liked it as well!  It seemed to really have a strong message that actually came through.

Snack one day were these 'Trinity' 3-in-1 popsicles.  It went along with the lesson about how there is one God, 3 persons-Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  Loved that all the snacks really reinforced the concept for the night.

Undercover spy Connor :)

 

Video of Caelin during game time

Summer-VBS week 1 down!

Summer!  It should be such a relaxing time...but when you are crazy and sign up for 3 rounds of VBS...well, it isn't.  Especially when you agree to help at 2 of the 3 weeks.  The first week was the hardest one.  I agreed to lead the 3 year olds.  For 5 days.  From 9-12:15.  Which actually translates to 8:45 (supposed to be 8:30, but we never managed to get there that early!) -12:30 by the time people finally picked them all up.  It is a long day!  The whole reason I signed on for that one was so that Claire would be able to go even though she technically wasn't old enough.  Yeah...guess who wasn't at all interested in going?  That's right.  Claire stayed home with Daddy for 2 of the days.  But I survived!  Last day of that VBS was Friday, they had a VBS program on Sunday morning, and then straight into our second VBS starting Sunday night.  Fun stuff.  Actually, this one is a total walk in the park in comparison!  I'm helping with snack...so yeah...much easier!  And it is much shorter, and at night, and they actually have a lot of volunteers, and the teens that help at this church are actually very helpful.  So its a totally different experience. 

Connor singing one of the songs from the first VBS.  Good thing I got this video during practice, because he cried and refused to go up on Sunday morning.