Vacation and a not so fun adventure.

To start off our April vacation we decided to go dancing in the rain and make the most of the weather. Here are some pictures of our fun.

A big splash and then some quiet solitude.

 

Look at that sweet face!!!

I am amazed at how much this boy loves to jump with the issues he has.

To end the fun we enjoyed some hot cocoa on the front porch. :) Awe, sweet memories!

Somebody has become mobile and is very proud of himself for discovering big brother's toys being left unattended! :)

Played lots of Legos...

daydreamed some...

had a sleep over in Kyah's room... (sorry about the yellow pics my camera crashed on me!)

had Grandma Polly over for pizza and a movie...

 Got out the highchair finally for this big boy with EIGHT teeth...

and completed AWANA for the year! Notice Kyah's Barbie pose in this one. Hehehe

 

It was a fun filled vacation despite a not so fun adventure for Kolten. Here are some pictures from his chiari decompression he had done. It was hard keeping him down and seeing him go through all this at an age that he doesn't understand, but it amazes me how quickly he bounced back!

 

 

 

Test driving the automobiles before surgery.

Trying to eat pancakes left handed two days post op.

Taking a ride in the wagon and not feeling so hot.

Figuring out how to color with his right hand taped up and getting ready to go home.

Finally home, playing Legos in an attempt to stay down.

He is doing remarkably well, praise God, despite some weakness in his right leg and a little back pain here and there. The doctors are hoping this will go away after his detethering surgery on Monday. Thanks for all the prayers! It is a true comfort knowing there are people praying for our little man and we know He hears all your prayers. Keep them coming!

This week we learned about Daniel Webster and how he was a good example of being a good servant by giving freely to others. This went along with our character trait, service, for the week. Our verse of the week was Proverbs 11:24 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. The hymn for this week was "Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart" and here is a video of the kids singing it.

We also learned about Samuel Morse. I was surprised that the kids actually remembered learning about him from two years ago. So we decided to just read our history book for fun and not do any of the scheduled projects, but instead spend our time playing math games.

Our nonfiction book we chose to read for our story time genre was Shipwrecked. This book was very informative about Japan and the kids and I really enjoyed it. We decided for a nonfiction book it was written very well.

In science we learned how the pioneers used canvas to fold into a cup to drink from on long trips that way they didn't have to pack around cups. I know this seems like more of a history lesson, but it was from our science book... nevertheless, the kids really enjoyed it. We chose to use old calendar pages to make our cups with. Here the kids are getting ready to learn to fold a cup like the pioneers did.

They said the water had a funny taste... oops. Don't use old calendar pages if you do this. ;/

Kane, yes I used his real name. ;) I guess the nickname thing really isn't worth it. Even though I love the nicknames Granny. :) So anyways, here is Kane learning to use a math compass. I didn't realize how difficult this is for little hands. He's still trying to perfect it.

 

I think the kids' favorite part about this week was learning about Charles Goodyear and how by accident he figured out how to mix sulphur and rubber to make a more resilient form of rubber. We walked through the house after our reading looking for items we could thank Mr. Goodyear for. Kane especially was really excited to see vehicles that had Goodyear stamped on the tires.

This was Kane's book project for our nonfiction book in Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. Kyah and Kolten wanted to get involved too. They made an accordion book with 10 facts from their books written and then illustrated on each page.

YES!!! Vacation!!! The Joyful homeschool will be taking the rest of April off and possibly the first week in May. We'll still be learning while on break though so don't worry. Life is all about learning. They are now sitting on the couch with a soda and popcorn watching a movie to start off the vacation. We just might be caught dancing in the rain here in a bit though.  

 

Karter, formerly known as Baby America, is learning to crawl. Well, backwards crawling that is. :) We often find him like this and have to rescue him.

 

The cutest grin ever! :) Kolten, our little warrior! Formerly known as Inchworm.

 

What a face! I wonder if he ever gets tired of being squeezed? He sure has to endure it quite often. Happy NINE months Karter. We're so happy you joined our family.

Well that wraps up our week. We'll be back! :)

In other news, Kolten will be having two surgeries in April so we would appreciate any prayers that you may be willing to say for our little man, our family, and the surgeon performing the surgeries. This will be his 2nd and 3rd surgery in his life, and definitely not the last. We are so very blessed that he is such a fun, loving, happy, normal two year old and try and remind ourselves of that daily.

Here is a picture of Kolten after his first surgery at six weeks old. For those of you who don't know he was born with spina bifida.

 The first picture is of Kolten at six weeks with our favorite PICU nurse. The second is him four days old after being put under for his first MRI. And the bottom picture is of him with his very talented surgeon, Dr. Monica Wehby.

It has been one rough ride for this little guy. We are all very thankful that it isn't as bad as it could be though. We know that God is watching out for him and we trust in His will and plan for Kolten's life.

Playing dress up with Kyah. He was giving me a "big smile" in this pic... I know it looks like he was crying but he really wasn't. :-) We are so blessed to have him in our lives.

On his 2nd bday both of us with our messy hair-do.

Fabulous Favorites!

Just some fabulous favorite activities from the last few weeks.

Easter morning fun. :-) You'll have to forgive my voice. I'm still fighting a cold.

We learned about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow this week. We were all excited to learn more about him since our favorite poem this year was one written by him. Here the kids made sand prints of their feet and copied the poem "A Psalm of Life".

We made butter using these items and our science book.

Shake, shake, shake...

shake, shake, shake..

 to make butter... to make butter! Shake, shake shaaaaaake, to make butter!

 Polly wog has been trying out a new math program. We've always used Horizons for math, but I felt she (or maybe I) needed some more handholding recently. Here she is playing one of the games from Singapore math.

 

Doodlebug is still doing very well with Horizons math. Excuse his messy hair. Time for a haircut again.

Polly wog and I had a tea party for her quiet time with me this week. She also learned how to braid. We had so much fun! She didn't even mind that my tea set isn't fancy or matching.

 

 

We started up Prima Latina again. It's been a while since we've done a lesson so I started back at the beginning for a quick review. Both kids are LOVING this program. It is actually quite enjoyable to do together.

While learning about John James Audubon and how he had to become very skilled at shooting by being diligent in his practice, the kids got to practice becoming a good "shot" by throwing a rolled up pair of socks at a baseball cap. This kept them busy for a LOOONG time, even after school. :-) Of course Inchworm had to get in on the action as well.

Here the kids are after learning about Lewis and Clark. The assignment was to use masking tape to show the flow of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. They did such a good job and then had to take a rest in the lovely U.S.A. after all their hard work. ;)

This is kind of a random photo... but I am loving all my bookmarks made especially for me by my sweet two year old. Thanks Inchworm! He had so much fun putting the stickers and coloring with markers on all these for me.

Sorry this post isn't more organized into weeks. We are loving our year with Bigger Hearts For His Glory from Heart of Dakota. It does keep us very busy though and there isn't always an opportunity for me to take pics or post an update on our blog.

Another side note... I am getting pretty tired of remembering to use nicknames for the kids on the blog. Is it really necessary? I'm going to do some looking into this and you just might see a change in the next post. Besides I think you can hear me calling them by name in the videos.

 

 

Week 17 and 18 in American History

 

I've been lacking in getting our posts up on time lately. So here is a condensed version of our last two weeks.

We learned about Daniel Boone in week 17 of Heart of Dakota Bigger Hearts for His Glory. For week 18 scroll to the bottom of post.

 

We learned that Daniel Boone loved the wilderness and told a story of how he escaped the Natives once by swinging from a long grape vine in order to leave no tracks for them to follow. So the kids did a painting of a tree with Daniel Boone hanging from yarn to symbolize this story.

 In science we learned how bees help to pollinate flowers and other plants. In the first pic you can see our "pollen" from two different flowers. The kids took a Q-tip and went from one flower to the next and you could see how the pollen from one crossed with the other. I think they enjoyed getting to eat the tang and sugar crystals afterwards most of all, but they did learn from it too. :)

Our poem this week was Under the Tree by Richard Henry Stoddard.

Another science project we did was to learn about what mold is and how it plays an important role in the animal/plant life cycle. Here is day one. Doodlebug put cut up banana in his baggie and Polly wog put cut up potatoes with a wet napkin and lots of air.

We also learned that Daniel Boone's daughter was captured by the natives. Daniel and his friends had to wait until morning to go in search of the girl and her friends. To help concrete this story, the kids pretended to be trying to sleep in the living room while I left a trail of tissue for them to come find me in the "morning".

Here is the kids notebooking pages. I love them! Notebooking is one of my favorite parts of the week.

For physical activity one day this week the kids did sit ups. I love how Inchworm gets in on the action. Yes, we have jammie days around her once in a while. That's part of the fun of homeschooling, right?

 

Inchworm has a new fascination with magazines.

In poetry we have been learning about he voice of the poem. Here the kids are demonstrating the wrong and then right way to read our weekly poem.

 Doodlebug got to go to a basketball game with Papa this week. While there he got his picture taken by the Ford guys because he told them his Daddy worked for Ford and he was wearing his Ford shirt. :) Here he is in one of the new cars they had at the game on display. Go Beavers!!! And Ford. ;)

Here is our little America. Getting so big!

 

On to week 18....

 

 Here is what the science project looked like a week later. You can clearly see the mold on Doodlebug's banana.

We learned about the different types of owls wing spans and how they vary in length by measuring out each one with yarn. Then we measured our own arms to see how big our wing span is. ;) Please try to ignore the picture frames on the wall that have the display people photos in them still. I really do intend to get my childrens pictures taken and display them in those frames eventually. For now at least they are on the wall. :)

 

We also learned about Robert Fulton and the steam boat. We had a very sad attempt at trying to see how a paddle works by taping spatulas and spoons together. It wasn't very successful but they got the main idea. Here are the kids notebooking pages for history this week.

Robert Fulton liked to invent and was very creative. He made a candle that you could shoot into the air with gun powder. The kids art project was to make a painting of a candle and fireworks on a baking sheet and then press a page on top of it to transfer the masterpiece.

Our timelines are coming right along. Not sure why Polly wog has less on hers. Must be that week she was sick with the flu.

Polly wog is doing very well in English with First Language Lessons. She was practicing her helping verbs so we wrote them on the table for review. She has such a good memory.

 

 Our character trait this week was optimism. The bible verse to go along with it was Proverbs 29:21 Many are the plans in a man's heart but  it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. Another good one for Mama to learn too. :) I keep telling you that I get as much or more out of these lessons than the kids.

Polly wog was in charge of snack time this week and she chose to make these grape tomatoes filled with tuna, cream cheese, and lime juice. They were super yummy!

What two year old doesn't love painting!?!

 

America was playing peek a boo with Daddy over the coffee table.

 

That sums up our last two weeks. Phew! This post only took me ALL day to get done in little spurts, but it is DONE! :) I love having all our school days to look back at on our blog.