Days like yesterday

This is the book I am using to teach Peter to read. Yesterday morning as we sat down together I put the book in his lap and we proceed to read the page. Between all the sight words he already knows and sounding out the rest he read this page primarily by himself.

It was a delightful moment for this mommy. In my minds eye I could see him in the future being a pretty good independent reading and in that small moment I was satisfied with my efforts during these past few months. When I started to seriously research homeschooling this kid, the most frightening part was teaching him to read. Perhaps it will all be okay and I will have stressed out for nothing. Since he did such a great job I allowed him to color then hen. He enjoyed doing it, but he was a bit miffed that the hat was red and not the hen. Haha.

Beyond Gross

This clever devil lived in our house for about a month before we were able to catch him. I'm still freaking out about having him around. I hope this is the one and only time I have to deal with such a gross creature.

A Wonderful Thanksgiving

We ended the month with two special family thanksgiving meals. On November 26th my family made our annual trip to the Orem Chuck-A-Rama where we filled ourselves full of delicious food. We love going there because the picky people can always find something they like to eat....and there are no dishes to wash. This year I made the mistake of letting Peter have a cup full of blue slushie first. Then, he promptly drank the entire thing and wouldn't eat anything else the rest of the night. Note to self for next year - do not let Peter drink anything other then water.

We then made our annual pilgrimage to the local Mall to walk all that food off. In reality we took the kids over to the play area and the adults talked while the kids played. All the inner mall stores closed early (like 7pm) so there weren't a lot of people around.

The highlight of the night was watching my Dad (who is over 60) run at lighting speed to scare Luke as he was going down the slide in the tree house. It was so funny! I love that my Dad has stayed active and that he can play with the grandkids just as easily as any 20 year old.

On Thanksgiving Day we zipped up to the Thomas side for a late afternoon meal. Mom T's rolls are to die for and all the other food was equally delicious. For some odd reason I wasn't in the mood for turkey, so I didn't eat any. Weird.  Brandon came prepared with a game and I think it's safe to say that we have a new favorite family game - Mafia. I think we played 7 rounds. Poor Peter had his little heart broken on the first round when Gpa and Aunt Allison killed him off right away. He was so thrilled to be playing a game with the adults that he sat and sobbed thru the rest of the rounds. I have a feeling that's just one of the many family memories he will carry with him to adulthood.

Here on the home front, we did a couple of craft scattered throughout the month. We made these cute turkeys out of construction paper, toilet paper rolls, and eyes. Peter used black buttons on his and told everyone that his turkey was blind. I guess that's not a bad affliction to have if you are going to be devoured on Thanksgiving.

These cute turkeys came to us a few weeks later. We gathered the pine cones from the park at the city center and transformed them using construction paper. I typically use colored tissue paper, but I couldn't seem to find my stash of it this year. I think the boys must have got into it and in frustration I threw it all out. Next year I'll need to buy more because it works so much better with tissue paper.

Finally, on Thanksgiving morning, I got out all the things I needed to make these cute paper bag puppets. The boys were off playing and didn't want to be disturbed, so I created them by myself. Perhaps next year I'll make a set of Native Americans to go with them. I personally love how they turned out - not entirely perfect, but perfect enough for me.

Turkey Time

This past Sunday we had a family craft moment and made these cute little turkeys. Pinterest really came thru and they turned out adorable. I was hoping we could each make one, but Luke loved eating the turkey feathers so we didn't have enough fish crackers. Maybe next year he'll have more self control.

Flower Fun

Science experiments are a BIG deal over here. We love to do them, and we are always on the hunt for fun ones to do. We recently found this one, and with a florist in our neighborhood, it was easy to get the flowers we needed.

Getting the bottles ready with food coloring

Giving the flowers their power water

After a few hours

Overnight color

Multicolored

Red, White, and Blue

It was fun to see the flowers change color within just a few hours. Then, it was even more fun to switch the colors up and have the flowers change once again. It's honestly remarkable to see how quickly the flowers absorb the food coloring. I have a feeling we'll be doing this experiment again and again.

Contemplative Quote

“Sadness gives depth. Happiness gives height. Sadness gives roots. Happiness gives branches. Happiness is like a tree going into the sky, and sadness is like the roots going down into the womb of the earth. Both are needed, and the higher a tree goes, the deeper it goes, simultaneously. The bigger the tree, the bigger will be its roots. In fact, it is always in proportion. That’s its balance.” ― Osho
  

I stumbled upon this quote while looking for a quote about stars (weird, I know). It has intrigued me and I find myself pondering it's meaning frequently. It speaks volumes to my soul.

Crafty Me

Cost me nothing and I love how it looks.

A Bit of Peter

Part of our morning routine includes reciting an Article of Faith. A few days ago Peter happily passed off the forth one by leaving a message on daddy's phone of him reciting it. He gladly let me capture it on video too.

I am so thankful for this little guy. He is a quick learner with the ability to memorize things quickly. I am glad he was blessed with those abilities. I know he will need them in the future.

Veterans Day

I feel so blessed to live in America, and I am trying to teach Peter how rare it is to live in a county that allows such freedom.

This morning the boy scouts in our ward came around and posted a large flag in our yard - they do it on multiple holiday throughout the year. We love waking up and seeing beautiful flags snapping in the breeze all across our neighborhood. On these days, Peter and I take a break from saying the Pledge of Allegiance in the house and we go outside and do it in front of the flag in our yard.

This small ritual has been one way to have a small teaching moment with Peter. It has given me small moments of time to talk to him about his grandfathers who served in WWII and all they sacrificed so we (and other nations/people) might be free.  One of my greatest hopes is that we as a people will never allow our freedoms to be taken away from us by powerful/persuasive individuals. 

It's about time

I've decided it's time to bring my blog back from the dead. We have been doing so many fun things in homeschool and these two boys just keep growing bigger and bigger everyday. We have a happy life and we are so blessed to have everything we do. The hubs and I are also growing older with each passing month and things continue to improve as we gain more experiences and attempt to overcome our trials. I'm excited for the future and I can foresee many more fun times to come.