It's been WAY too Long!! Update!!

I have been so busy lately that I took a long break from blogging. I got thinking today about how much I have missed posting and most importantly I want these pictures and memories to be here for my kids so I am going to make more of an effort to post again!

Now that I have that out of the way here is an update on the kids:

Little M is now 3 years old!

She had an awesome Princess party and Rapunzel came. She was so smitten!  Her Mamma and Aunt Lor showed up to her party with the surprise of being dressed up as princesses as well!

Little M is a bright little girl. She is a firecracker, a sneaky little monkey, a drama queen and a real sweet heart all wrapped in a dainty little package! 

She is very smart....she can speak in long fluent sentences....much clearer then most her age and the things that come out of her mouth are hilarious. She uses words like "actually, essentially & seriously" on a constant basis and she has her dad and I howling all the time with the things she says and comes up with out of nowhere. I need to start writing them down so I can share!

Mr. K is in grade 2 but I am proud to say that he has advanced ahead to grade 3 math!

This kid is super smart! Everything we are learning he is absorbing like a sponge and he is constantly amazing me with how well he is learning!
His behaviour has improved greatly as well. We are still dealing with the same underlying issues (social anxiety, adhd, anger issues etc.) but he is controlling himself much better these days and I feel as parents we are learning to help him a little better.
Family gatherings are always a disaster but we get through them!  K has a hard time handling himself in social situations and that makes it hard for everyone.....it is hard for people to understand why he is acting the way he is (running around like a crazy man one minute, having hands-on the next minute and throwing a temper tantrum the next) but family members try to understand his "issues" and for the most part we are very lucky for the support we have.

Schooling wise K is advanced in math (his tests and quizzes are in the 80-90% range in grade 3 math right now) Reading we are definitely still struggling with. He loathes reading with a passion but we are pushing through it and my main focus has been to keep reading fun and interesting because I really want him to have a  lifetime love of reading like I do!

K loves anything science. Last week we studied earthquakes and did a unit study on the earthquake in Haiti (2010). This was brought on by K listening to the song "Wavin' flag" one day and the idea grew from there. He watched a few videos,  made a lapbook and studied a bit about earthquakes (I should take some pics to share here).

This week we studied Plant cells because his big brother brought home science homework (which he helped with) and he asked me if he could learn about it as well. I was thrilled when he took the paper with the diagram of the labelled plant cell and put it into his homeschooling pile and said we needed to work on it this week!  So he watched an episode of Bill Nye, we discussed and then we made our own diagram.  I did not expect for him to remember so much of it! (afterall it was grade 7 work!) but he GOT it. He understood the concept and we was able to discuss it over dinner with his dad and I... proud mommy moment!

Anyway, this post is long enough now so I will share a couple more pics and then try to keep things updated on a more regular basis :)

Here is one of our family photos from a few weeks ago!
(Photo courtesy of www.sweetspotphotography.com)

 Lastly I want to remind myself why we choose to homeschool our children and that is because our kids have built such a great bond with eachother! I love that they learn everything together and that he is there for her everyday <3

Christmas 2013

Unfortunately I didn't get many photos this year because I was seriously ill with the Flu :(  Remind me to NEVER do that again!!

 

 We did manage still though to have a great Christmas!  It was our first year doing the "Christmas Ambush for the homeless" you can read about it here because K & dad were in the paper :)

 Here is a picture of some of our group that participated. From left to right is K's little homeschooling friend N, my mom, my sister, K & daddy.

 

 

Our group actually had 7 more people but I didn't get a chance to get a picture of everyone. Next year I definitely will (hopefully I will not be so sick!!)

 

http://m.londoncommunitynews.com/community-story/4278452-ambushing-those-in-need-with-gifts-holiday-spirit/

 

Here is a picture of some of the bags I made up to hand out. I ended up getting enough donations to make up about 80 care packages!

 

I cannot wait to do it again next year!!

This time I am going to do some things differently. For one we will all be starting to buy items earlier in the year. When we go to the $ store throughout the year we can pick up & item here & there for example & set them aside.  Also, we are going to start advertising for donations sooner. Lastly, I am going to start crocheting this year so that I can make up hats, mittens & scarves myself (& hopefully K as well since he loves crocheting)  So excited!!

 

Here is a picture of M feeling under the weather. She started feeling sick boxing day. Luckily she did not get hit as hard & had a 24 hr. fever that turned into a bad cold. She loved her Hello Kitty Build-a-Bear!

Here is K with his world map puzzle.

 Here is M waiting at Urgent Care on Boxing Day.

 

Here is  M at Gramma & Grampa's opening some gifts.

 

 Here is our tree on Christmas Eve. Thankfully my mom came to my rescue & helped me finish wrapping presents!!

 

Here are some photos of the kids at Gramma & Grampa's:

I love this picture because this is Grampa telling us about being a Paratrooper in the Army.  I am so glad that Grampa opened up to talk to us all about his experiences because I feel like it's so important for the kids to know as much as they can about their great grampa. We also got to see his medals (he just received a new one!)

Meet Huxley!

 

Huxley is the sweetest little ferret ever!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elf on the shelf

 

It seems like everyone has an Elf on the shelf so I was starting to feel left out!  I finally broke down & bought one this weekend because I couldn't resist.  I knew that Little M would get such a kick out of it. 

K does not believe anymore (he is only 7 :( but he still plays along for the sake of Little M....and also because he likes the candy that Diesel brings ;)

 

 

On the first day Diesel played in our bug sensory bin.

 

 2nd day he chatted at the table with Barbie.

Tonight he is waiting for the kids to find him being a trickster with the blender ;)

Christmas Advent Calendar

 

I finished making up our Christmas Advent Calendar today & I am happy with how it turned out. The kids are so excited to get started!

It was very easy to make. I just made up a list of things I wanted to include (the kids helped me with this part) & then I cut out some slips of white paper to write the list items on.

 

I then took a few paper bags & cut strips to use to make the little pockets. I just cut a strip off to fit the card & the folded a flap on the bottom & taped it shut. Then I glued the pockets to the Bristol board.

 

I printed off the numbers here:
http://www.hiphomeschoolmoms.com/2013/11/printable-advent-activities-calendar/
 

& glued them onto the pockets & filled them with the cards. Very simple :)

 

Here is our list: 

Make a Christmas card for a friend & send/deliver it.

Drop off some cat & dog treats to the animal shelter.

Read a story to a sibling.

Pay for the person behind you at Timmies.

Leave a letter of thanks & a small treat for the mail person.

Make a card & small gift for the custodian.

Shovel a neighbors’ driveway

Deliver a card & treat for an elderly neighbor.

Make cookies & deliver to a neighbor.

Buy a bag of cat food & deliver to our neighbor (she is a vet tech.) that feeds the stray cats.

Drop off an anonymous card & small gift to someone who has been helpful to you.

Make a Christmas card & small treat for a neighbor who is ill.

Bring in a card of thanks & small gift for the ER nurses (we will probably buy a box of chocolates)

Deliver a card & small gift to the learning support teacher.

Bring flowers to a widow.

Bring a care package to Grampa (he has been ill & is doing treatment)

Drop off a Chemo care package for Granny.
Found the idea here:  http://penniesoftime.blogspot.ca/2013/03/penny-of-time-adventure-making-chemo.html

Donate canned goods to the food bank.

Bring up someone else’s recycling bin.

 Bring a tea to Mamma & Auntie Em.

 Give mom & dad a pedicure (believe it or not they love doing this ;)

 Decorate a gingerbread house together.

Make popcorn and snuggle up to watch a Christmas movie.

Have a family fun game night.

I hope our list inspires you!  I will be posting pictures of us completing our advent calendar all month long :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prepping for a fundraiser & making our advent calendar...

This has been a crazy busy couple of weeks! I am participating in a Christmas Bazaar where I am selling items I have made to raise funds for Tyler's trust. Tyler is a 10 yr. old boy in our neighborhood who was the victim of a hit & run 1 month ago today.

He is still in the hospital in a coma and we are all hoping he pulls through this.

 

Here are the items I have made to help raise funds:

 

 

Here are some pics. of Little M helping me. She is so awesome!

 

 

So before I go to bed I am trying to finish up gathering ideas for our Christmas advent calendar for the kids. We started this last year and they had SO much fun doing it that I knew we had to do it again this year!

 

I will share it when I have it all together but for now I wanted to share this awesome printable pack that I found FREE while I was searching for ideas.

 

I am going to print it out tomorrow & get started because I really want K to be a part of the planning this year.

 

I hope you are able to use this printable with your kids as well!

Back from vacation!!

 

Just thought I'd share a few pics. from our wonderful vacation.  We all had SO much fun & cannot wait to do it again next year!

 

We went camping in our tent trailer for 7 days at Marten River Provincial Park.  The drive was about 7 hours, the kids were (mostly) great...with the exception of the usual brotherly fighting our boys always have.  Babygirl was excellent!! Much better then I would expect for a 2 yr old in a vehicle for 7 hours! :)