Family Day

Today was our last full, family day before the kids and I are gone to Texas for almost a full month.  We had an awesome family day that started with a delicious brunch at The Cheesecake Factory was followed by lots of Legos, girls shopping time, a water balloon fight and ended with pizza and game night.  Here are some photos of our water balloon fight.

Kandinsky Study

At Lennon's request, we have been doing more guided art work this semester.  I was directed to a fun website called Artprojectsforkids by a friend that has some easy, fun ideas.  This week we discussed Wassily Kandinsky and looked at some of his artwork before making some art of our own using his signature style of circles on circles.  

Another Busy Semester

It seems I am always marveling at how busy we are.  Each season I imagine we could not possibly pack more into our schedules, and yet, each season we manage to do just that.

Lennon and Mia have both started back to school by now and everything seems to be going well.  Lennon's teacher, Mrs. Kiely, seems very sweet.  I am going to meet the teacher night tomorrow night.  The information that has come home about their curriculum this year leads me to think that it won't be much of a challenge for Lennon, but as long as he is enjoying himself we're happy.  The math he is expected to learn by the end of the year is stuff he could do three years ago in his head.  I am going to be the room parent for Lennon's class this year and he is beyond excited about that.  While I am happy to have made him so proud, it is definitely going to be stretching me.  I'm just not very organized by nature.  I hope I can do a good job for his class and his teacher.

This semester is definitely going to be a juggling act for me with Lennon in school and Mia being homeschooled and participating in all the various activities she is involved in.  Mia and I are part of a home school cooperative this year.  It seems like it is going to be really fun.  Mia is taking Latin, Algebra/Geometry, a physics class called, Chain Reaction Contraptions and a writing class called, Druidawn.  I am teaching a theatre class which is turing out to be a lot more fun than I had expected and the work involved is not as much as I had anticipated.

At home, we are working on a new grammar text and a new math program.  Both are going well so far.  We're finishing up our study of the Medieval period of history and plan to begin Early Modern history in the spring.  For poetry, we are studying Christina Rosetti and Mia seems to really be enjoying that part of our day.  Mia is also continuing with the science class she's been doing with some other home schoolers on Fridays.  This year they will be focusing on engineering in the fall and chemistry in the spring.

Lennon has given up gymnastics this semester in liu of karate.  He can go as many as four times a week for about the same cost as his gymnastics class last year and several of his friends are in the same class, so he is really enjoying it.  He wants to start taking private music lessons, but I want him to wait out this first semester of full time school before adding anything more to his schedule.  He's been pretty exhausted so far with the long days.

Rehearsals for Les Miserables are in full swing and going well.  Mia has to be there most Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 until 9:30 and Saturdays from 12 until 6.  It is a lot of driving and waiting for me, but I am hoping to get a lot of reading and lesson planning done while I wait for her.  The town where her rehearsals are in is a pretty cute little town, as it turns out, with a  relatively vibrant downtown area.  She is also continuing on with the music program at The Real School of Music followed by her private voice/piano lesson which we have upped to 45 minutes this semester.

Shelby has been working a 6 day week for about the last year.  He usually leaves before we are up and gets home in time for dinner.  Mia and I get to have lunch with him most days, but Lennon is at school and is missing the extra time with his Daddy.  On Mia's rehearsal nights though, Shelby and Lennon get to spend some time together.  With Sunday being our only day together as a family, we seem to always have something scheduled on Sundays.   A home school picnic last sunday, a fairy festival in NH this coming Sunday.

Busy, busy, busy.  We are having lots of fun though.  I may not always have a clean floor.  I may often have folded laundry sitting around in the living room, but I always have time to curl up and read a book all by myself or with the kids, or play a game together or cook some new creation Lennon has determined must be made "the hot tub way."

I've not been very good about keeping up with this blog lately.  As Shelby would point out to me when I lament having forgotten the camera;  I'll just have to enjoy being here and store the memories in my mind.  I guess that's what I've been doing.

Cheers to a great fall semester!

More June, 2013 - Mia's Birthday Day

Gaga and Jackson were here for Mia's actual birthday and we had free tickets to Six Flags, so we all drove down there the morning of her birthday and stayed the night at a hotel.  It was Jackson's first time at Six Flags and I think he had an awesome time.

 Last year Mia got a book called Ten, so this year she had the second book, Eleven high up on her wish list.  I'm pretty sure she finished it within 24 hours of getting it and that time includes the time we were at Six Flags.

 We went out to brunch at a yummy place called, Masa before hitting the road to our hotel.

 Our hotel was just over the border in Connecticut and we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant that we had a groupon for.  Here, Mia is savoring her creme brûlée.  It was super yummy!

Outside the restaurant the kids ran and played along this little brook.  

 Squeezing in some reading time at the hotel.

 On the tram heading to the gate from the parking lot.

 Watching the Sky Coaster

My little eleven year old

 The computer won't let me delete that double shot of Mia and myself.  Oh well.  Up above here, we have Jackson on The Great Chase in Looney Tune Land.

 Enjoying some Dippin' Dots at the water park

These guys had a blast, but they will have a lot more fun in a few years when they are tall enough for more rides.  The only times they were upset all day long were when they were too small for something that Mia was tall enough for.  At this point at the water park, when Shelby had taken Mia off to do some "big kid" rides, at least they had the ice cream to console them.

June 2013

To say that this summer was a whirlwind would be a gross understatement.  I feel like the spring semester just ended and yet, we've done so much that it must have been several months more than it actually has been.  Here are a few of the highlights, starting in June.

Granmommy came for an awesome visit.  Somehow I didn't take very many pictures, but I know we had a lot of fun.  I seem to remember that the ten days she was here were possibly the busiest ten days of the summer.  Maybe that is why I found so little time to pull out my camera and snap some shots.

We were still finishing up school at the time and here, Mia and I are blowing out the raw insides of eggs to hang up as decorations.  We were studying Medieval Russia and this was an art project we did.

 I had never done such a task and was not expecting it to be quite as difficult as it turned out to be.  We had to take regular breaks and I got a little bit of a headache.  Imagine blowing up those teeny tiny balloons that almost won't allow air inside of them.  That is what it was like.

 Mia helped me out.

 Mia and Granmommy then painted the eggs and glossed them 

before we hung them up in the entry way.  

 Granmommy bought Lennon a bike as an early birthday gift.  He had never had a bike before and was very excited to find a bike that was his favorite color, orange!  After just a few trips out to ride his bike, we took the training wheels off and he rode like a champ.  He's a little shaky at first, but he can do it.

 After I took some "look over here and smile" shots, the kids asked that I take some candid photos.  So, I obliged.

 This is Lennon's not so candid, candid shot.

 Mia trying to look like she doesn't know I'm taking her picture.

The day after Granmommy left, the kids had their end of year concert at their music school, The Real School of Music.  They love it there!  Sadly, with Lennon in full day school this year, he won't be able to participate in the home school program anymore.  He's still saying he'll stay home next year, but that is  a long way off.  

 Holly came out to show her support for the kiddos!

 Mia and Bianca with her new glasses that she wore for a couple of days and then swore off forever.  

 This was Lennon on stage with the only other kid in his class in the spring semester.  He loved his teacher so much!

Later that week, Gaga and Jackson flew in just in time to see Mia perform in How I Became A Pirate.

 Mia with the cast of the show.

 Lots of friends were able to come out and see Mia on stage.

Lennon was especially thrilled to get to sit with his buddy, Anderson for the show.

Mia's Medieval 11th Birthday Party

I was so busy prepping for this party that I completely spazzed out and did not snap a single picture with my camera!  My psychological salvation came in the form of a very on task mother in law who took plenty of wonderful pictures of everything.  Thank you so much, Vickie!  

The picnic table was designated as The Jolly Dragon Tavern.  On Saturday, The Jolly Dragon Tavern was serving ale (sparkling apple cider), Claret (sangria) and some water (that would likely have not been too popular in Medieval Times.  I found the wooden jug for the ale on ebay for a steal at $14!  It was just what I had in mind for the party.

 The middle of this banner says Happy Birthday Mia, but I think the large candle holder in the middle is blocking that.  This was the gift table and had ribbons for kids to tie on to the twine for making wishes - a Medieval tradition.

 All the kids and Claire helped me tie all these ribbons onto the twine earlier in the week.  It really had a nice effect.  A very cheap way of adding a lot of pop to the decor.

 We were serving chicken wings, bread, apples, pears, grapes, carrots and celery with a traditional sweet and sour dipping sauce for the chicken called Camelyn (but we really just used bbq sauce.)  Shh!

 As people started to arrive the gift table looked a lot more festive.

 We had an epic scavenger hunt that was loosely based on The Hobbit.  Here the kids are completing a task given to them in order to receive the next clue.

 Lennon working hard on a fairy house with one of Bianca's good buddies, Maddie.

 Chloe looking cool as a cucumber.

 Mia saw a layered crepe cake in a Martha Stewart magazine months ago and decided then and there that whatever her party theme, this would be the cake.  It was layers and layers of crepes with a whipped cream/lemon curd mixture spread between each layer, all topped off with a whipped cream/mascarpone cheese frosting.  I'm not gonna lie.  This cake went faster than any cake I have ever served at a birthday party...and it was nut and gluten free.  No one even guessed.

 Mia is very lucky and has some wonderful friends who know her quite well.  She received several adventure books, including The Fellowship of the Ring, the Eregon series and the Artemis Fowl series. She also got several fairie figures, a journal and lots of art supplies among other great stuff.

Just some of her awesome loot.

 The morning after, this was the the stunning ensemble Lennon came up with.  T-shirt, undies, socks and camo shoes with a giant back pack filled with a sleeping bag.  

This is the cliff where Mia and nine of her friends camped out for the night.  Shelby slept in a separate tent right beside them.  They thought it was pretty awesome to be camping in the woods, on a cliff for the night.  In the morning, Shelby got up and made them a fire before breakfast.  Mia's a pretty lucky girl to have such a cool Daddy.  And I am pretty happy that I didn't have to sleep out there in a tent by myself.  I was up in my bed nice and cozy with Lennon for the night.

This morning the girls were up before 6.  They even thought up and filmed an entire movie that Mia started editing today.  I'm not exactly sure what it is about, but it seemed to involve lots of running and at one point Chloe gets tied to a tree and I think she may die and then come back to life?  I'll be interested to see the finished product.  I was very happy to see all these girls from such different backgrounds all play so well together.  There were girls at the sleepover ranging from 6 to 13.  From public school, private school and home schooled lives.  Mia's friends are pretty cool.  She's not bad herself.