Homeschool Corner - Learning, Fun, and lots of Ice

This past week was full of fun.  Yes, we did a little learning.

The boys got these build-a-letter for Christmas but this is the first time they have really gotten into them.  They loved building the letters together and I loved hearing them say words that start with the letter.  They also got out the Straws and Connectors they got also and build a huge "building" which required some serious problem solving on their part.  We've also been working on counting to 100 - we do it at night when we count how long it takes for their clocks to turn from 7:59 to 8:00.  It's been fun listening to them count with greater confidence even though there is silence every time we hit a "9" number (29, 39, ect) as they wait for me to say what comes next HA!

Friday, of course, was Valentine's Day.  Our homeschool group had a Valentine's party which we had to prep for the day before.

 I found this cute idea on line over at Fabulessly Frugal.  I love that it came with a printable and that the straws were so in expensive (Wal-mart Party Section - 6 for $1.00!)  Yes, I put them all together but while I made 35 of these, the boys made their own hearts and wrote names on them for fun. 

Our Valentine Box - yes, I cheated and bought it at the store.  After school on Friday, we stayed long enough to pass our Valentines, then headed home to get lunch at McDonald's. 

Finally, one thing that Josh has asked to do all winter was to see the beach in the winter.  Well, this was the winter to do it because it has been so cold that Lake Michigan is about 90% frozen which, well, never happens.  Josh loves the beach in the summer so this was important to him.  We finally had a weekend where we did not have a blizzard forecasted so, after church we headed out.

Our first stop was a Chinese Buffet.  Now, that is not my favorite style of food BUT we have one little boy who thinks that a Chinese Buffet is the best thing since sliced bread.  Darryl took him to get his food and asked if he wanted french fries (which, of course, they have at a Chinese Buffet) to which he replied, "No, lets start with the fruit" - gotta love that kid.  He picked out everything from Fruit to Jell-O to Fish and Chicken on a stick.  Talk about being proud of his plate!  He told me he got the meat on a stick because he loves sticks - sticks are fun to play with, fun to eat with, and straws are like sticks so we drink with them!  Not to mention, Chinese Buffets always have Ice Cream :-)

From there we headed out to the lakeshore. 

 This mountain?  Ice!  We are walking quite a ways out onto the very frozen Ice Michigan.  As the lake freezes, the waves push huge chunks of ice toward the shore and they froze into gigantic ice mountains.

After spending about two hours out on the ice, we headed back to the truck.  We stopped on the way home for "Chicken and Fries" to end our perfect day ;-)

And yes, the boys were tired!!!  They never made a sound after they went to bed!

Food Friday - Superbowl Snacks

So you may recall that I mentioned prior to the superbowl that I had to come up with some new snacks since Darryl can't seem to stomach dairy currently.  I thought I would just a couple of links to two of the items we tried.  It was kinda funny because as I was prepping the food I discovered that most of what I was making was . . .well, tomato based.  How weird is that?  I will say that I missed our cheese based dishes . . .the dips and spreads. . ..

I decided to try the Pioneer Woman's version of Bruschetta which is slightly different than the one I've tried in the past.  It was pretty good but, to be honest, I like my original one which I think I've shared before.  And yes, that is cheese on top of those little pieces of goodness - I love fresh mozzarella on top of bruschetta. 

Then, I tried a new meatball recipe that used Maple Syrup and Chili Sauce to make the sauce - this recipe comes from Taste of Home.  I used frozen meatballs because I was already doing a lot of prep cooking on Saturday but, as I say every time, I really don't like the frozen meatballs.  I need to make some homemade meatballs and put them in the freezer . . .. we'll see! 

Weekly Menu

Last weeks menu went pretty well.  I did forget that Darryl planned to go back to practice starting last week so Wednesday nights dinner changed.  The good thing is that I wanted to make a big pan of Lasagna so I could make my own freezer lunches - this gave me a great opportunity to make it since he wouldn't be home to drool over it :-)  So, leftover Thursday was Ham for Darryl, Lasagna for me, and some Mac and Cheese for the boys.  Here is what is on the plan for the coming week.

Friday - Valentine's Day!  Spaghetti with my "famous" homemade sauce (instead of the jar stuff).  I made a big double batch so I could freeze some to use for Sunday evenings and Leftover night as needed. Then we had french bread and Salad.

Saturday - I have two options right now. 1)We will take the boys out to their favorite Chinese buffet if Darryl thinks he can handle eating there.  2)The boys will have something at home and we'll order in.  I'll leave it up to the big "D"

Sunday - Right now, my plan is for this to be my "Day out" so, if that is the case, I'll bring the boys back home after Church and leave them Spaghetti and bread while I head into the City for the day to do some shopping, eat lunch at one of my favorites and just get away for the day.  IF that changes before Sunday, I will do a pork roast in the oven with green beans, Mashed potatoes, and . . .you guessed it, rolls :-)

Monday - Ham Fried Rice and Egg Drop Soup (Mac and Cheese for the boys).  This is a carry over from last week.

Tuesday - Teriyaki Chicken Legs, Savory Rice, Corn and Rolls

Wednesday - Roasted Pork Loin, Thai Noodles, Broccoli and French Bread.  (I don't think Darryl will have practice tonight . . . . )

Thursday - Leftovers!!!!

What I'm NOT Reading (oops!)

So, for the second week in a row, I have nothing to write about when it comes to my list of books to read.  I'd love to say it's because I've been busy saving the world but, no, that is not the case.  What is causing the problem?  Well, I will confess that I've become "addicted" to a game on my computer that is actually Nate's . . .it is a silly little Nemo game where he has to grow a reef by "planting" all kinds of fun things and "earning" algea and for some reason it has sucked me in!  In fact, it is the first game I've played where I have almost spent money to buy pearls so that I can complete some tasks.  No, I am holding strong on my mantra of never spending money on a game but I have gotten all of the free ones I can get for the time being so . . .some tasks will remain undone.

I need to get back into a daily to do list, which I have let slide due to the house being so cramped and crowded lately with kids and their stuff  . . .and the Olympics.


Speaking of the Olympics, I was saddened last night when Shaun White did not place for a medal.  It felt like an end of an era but I was more than impressed with his integrity, how he whole heartily congratulated the winner who said later how Shaun was HIS role model. 

With that said, I'm off to write a grocery list.  My husband is unexpectedly home today so I think my Thursday night grocery run might happen during nap time today instead!

The Olympics

I am an Olympic junky.  I will not lie.  If I could watch it 24 hours a day, I would but, with kids in the house I tend to only get to watch the evening broadcast.  Ultimately, that is the best one to watch since they are going to show some of the best things to see. 



I used to really love Ice Skating but I must admit that now that so many of the big names of days gone by are, well, gone, I'm not enjoying it so much.  I REALLY love snowboarding and skiing though (especially if they fall HA!)



I really like this guy a lot this year. Yep that is Shaun White and yes, he has cut his hair.  I watched a special on him a few weeks ago and have found that he has matured through the years and, on top of that he reminds me of this guy:

My nephew  - Breadon.  Even more so now that Breadon cut his hair different then the photo above.  When I was watching that special I mentioned I kept trying to figure out who Shaun reminded me off . . . and then it hit me!

So with that said, I'm watching Olympics more and writing less right now :-)  

Home School Corner - Our way :-)

We been having a lot of fun this last week.  The weather finally "warmed" up enough that the boys could play outside.  Josh loves to be able to play outside when it is actually snowing and last weekend we got hit with some big snow again.  

Was it just a week ago that we were watching the Superbowl?  I guess it was!

We all enjoyed snacks throughout the day from popscicles to chips to chicken wings!

More snow fun!  Yes, they have their bikes out and were riding them on the snow covered driveway (for the record, training wheels do not work well in the snow!)  Then, the gathered all of the snow balls from the sledding hill, piled them on a sled, pushed them into the garage and filled the wagon with them before having a snowball fight in the garage.  Pretty creative.  On this particular day, they played outside for about 2 1/2 hours . . .but they did come in half way through to "refuel" - a snack and a drink were sorely needed.  I made them sit on the entrance rug so I didn't have to pull all of their winter gear off since they were headed back outside!

Obviously, not a lot of true "schooling" but . . .when you ask one child what 8 + 8 is and he tells you "16" without blinking an eye and the other counts backwards from 10 out of the blue without missing a number, I figure that they are doing ok.  ;-)  Not to mention that one of them will say "C" and they will randomly shout out words that start with that letter sound before moving on to the next one. 

Things my kids say

* Nate picks up little things we say as most kids do.  Lately it is the rod "ya". He'll say, " I'll move it for ya."  Or "dad is playing a game with YA on his computer".  It makes me smile and, no, I don't correct it.  I love hearing their mispronunciations and incorrect grammar at this age.

* We walked into the doctor's office last week and Nate proudly exclaimed, "I love this place".  Then, while seeing the doctor, Nate stood right next to his favorite doctor and watched every single thing he did to Josh HA!  The doctor said that he can take over for him when he retires.  I asked Nate if he liked seeing all of those things and he said, "Yes and that he wants to do that some day.".


This past week there were several times the boys said something cute or interesting and then, I forgot to write it down right away.  This is why I do these posts - to write down all of those cute things the boys say!   I need to do better and getting right to the computer and typing that stuff up!