Friday, January 30, 2009

Inkheart







I read the book Inkheart and loved it. I started reading it to the boys and we finished it on CD. Our library had a party for the movie release and I took Jacob and Michael. Anthony was helping David at the shop that day so he missed it.



They had a big game board taped out on the floor. To move forward you had to answer questions about the book. Both boys did very well answering the questions but they didn't win. They had a great time though. They got to make a "knife."



Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Sign Language Class







The boys and I are taking a sign language class. We have had two classes so far and we love it. The lady teaching it is great, she is very good with the kids. I am looking forward to learning a lot. Jacob was very interested in signing when he was 4, he learned quite a bit but we kind of stopped when the other two boys moved in. I didn't intend on taking the class but the instructor included all the parents.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Spelling Bee







The boys participated in a homeschool spelling bee on January 12th. Spelling isn't one of Jacob's strong point but we had him join in with easier words. He did pretty good and it was really an ego boost for him. Michael is a good speller but he only got to the second round. I think he will do better next year when he is a little older. Anthony was not feeling well at all but he still managed to be in the top 5, he was number five.
I was very proud of my boys!

Living Arts and Science Center
















We went to LASC. They had a traveling micro exhibit. Then they had a little session of experiments. We had never been there, it was a cool place. Lots of interesting art made with lots of interesting things.

Venus.....







We had a visit from the boys cousin DJ. They always have a great time with him.



The boys pulled out the telescope to look at Venus. It was exceptionally bright this night.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

PE







The boys have been taking TaeKwonDo for 3 years now. I count it as our PE class.



Anthony Became a blackbelt a year ago, Michael got his black belt last summer and Jacob just got his black belt.

Singing at the nursing home











Our homeshool group made goodie bags for the elderly in a local nursing home. The kids sang a few songs and talked to the residents. They loved the kids and the kids were very entertaining :) One lady kept asking Michael if she could be his girlfriend :) He finally just told her sure! There was a younger man there named Scotty. He came outside when we were leaving and watched the boys have a snowball fight.








I was very impressed with the home. It was very nice. It was more like a house not at all like any nursing home I had ever been in before. We need to do more things there. Some of the poeple seemed the really enjoy the company.

Geocaching











We spent the day after Thanksgiving geocaching. We found 8 caches, that is a record for us! We love geocaching but haven't taken the time to go in a while. It was a very nice relaxing day.








If you haven't ever been Geocaching you should check it out. You do need a GPS but after that its pretty much free entertainment.








www.geocaching.com

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Helping the homeless











Our local homeschool group had a "can" drive to help the homeless. We set up outside of Wal-mart on Nov. 8th. We had gotten together a few days before to make signs and little lists of the things that the men who frequent the Hope center needed. People gave socks, soap, deorderant, shampoo and toothpaste. I was totally blown away be the generosity of everyone. We probably collected around 5oo dollars worth of stuff and over 100 dollars in cash donations.



We took the things we collected to the Hope Center in Lexington. They give men an evening meal and a warm place to spend the night. When we drove up all the men came out to see if they could help us carry all the boxes in. They started going through it right away. I have never seen anyone so happy to get soap!



I was really proud of my guys for all their hard work. All the kids worked really hard that day.








Wednesday, January 21, 2009

October .....











I am going to try and play catch up with my blog. This post will be a few of our October activties.

We went to Evans Orchard with our homeschool group. The boys all love the playground there, especially the big "mouse" wheels.

We studied Washington Irvings "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The boys made pictures, we read the story and saw a play.

The boys each carved a pumpkin. Anthony had decided not to dress up for Halloween or go trick or treating. Two days before Halloween he decides he does want to dress up. So we go searching for inspiration at Goodwill and Salvation Army. We found some really interesting blue jeans, they looked like the jeans Woody from Toy Story wore. So we bought a yellow shirt and I put red strips on it with a sharpie. We found a white vest and Anthony painted cow spots on it. It actually turned out really cute.