Just Keep Swimming...

I haven't been good at updating, and we've had a busy February. I had friends in town the first 2 weeks in February and didn't end up doing school with the girls. Bad, I know. I'm thinking of it as an early and extra long spring break. ;-)

We did take a trip to SeaWorld on a gorgeous warm day, which we of course used as a learning experience. I love that we can use a trip to SeaWorld as a school day, and get more out of it than had we read about it in a book or watched a videos for a week. The girls are still reciting facts about orcas and the many different fish we saw. I'm so thankful we have passes so we can go back whenever we want throughout the year! Here's a little recap of our favorite moments of the day...

We started the day with the Shamu show. The girls loved the orca's and have enjoyed playing SeaWorld trainer ever since our trip.


One of my favorite shows of the day... the dolphins!


They all waved goodbye at the same time. :-)


This is one of my favorite exhibits in the entire park. A little Sea Lion Love!!! <3

Sea Turtles!!!


The girls loved feeling the starfish and were so brave at the touch pool.


We got so lucky and walked through the beluga whale exhibit right when they were feeding them. I had no idea the beluga whales could do all of shamu's tricks. This is when the trainer had her spit at us.


This was the most hilarious walrus. He was sitting in shallow water right up against the glass and eating a squid (or fish or something equally squishy.) He would spit it against the glass and then suck it back in over and over again.

Rainy Days

I was given some great advice by a wise homeschool mom when I first started on this adventure. She said to make sure I enjoyed the little moments and to make time for special memories amongst our schooling. She said one of the things here girls still remember most from their early homeschool years was taking a break on a rainy day to cuddle together under a blanket with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book.

So today, when I woke up to the sound of rain on my window... I decided to do just that! I asked the girls to get everything cleaned up and then instead of heading into the school room I told them to go wait quietly on the couch for me. I warmed up some hot cocoa on the stove and brought it to them (with squeals of delight) in their new princess mugs they got for Christmas.

I downloaded The Wizard of Oz onto my Kindle Ap and we all snuggled under a blanket drinking our cocoa while I read for over an hour about the amazing adventures of Dorothy. It was everything I was promised and more! The girls were great and listened intently, and we got to just be us, together, making memories we will never forget! I can't wait for more rainy days in the years to come and am so thankful I listed to those wise words and let myself just stop and enjoy the moment!

Oh and as a bonus... my sweet little Brin lost her 2nd tooth today!

Faith like Daniel

Today for our Cubbies lesson we learned about Daniel. After reading the lesson to the girls we read Daniel 6 together from our Bible. I love that they really understand and question things now. They listened to the entire chapter very intently and really took it all in. We talked about the men who had tricked King Darius, the faith Daniel had to openly pray to God, the heart of the King after God has saved Daniel from the lions, and the tragedy the men and their families went through becuase of what they had done to Daniel.

We talked about what we would have done in each of those situations and the girls asked really intelligent questions and showed great faith in their responses. They both said they would have prayed to God just like Daniel becuase he is always there to listen to them and helps them when they are feeling scared. When I asked them what they would have done if they had been thrown into the lions den, they both exclaimed they would start praying right away becuase they would have been scared. I can only hope this is a glimpse of the faith they will have as they continue to grow and mature in their relationship with Christ. There is something so special about the faith and trust of a child and I feel so blessed to be able to witness that. Praise the Lord for his love and saving grace!!!

A good idea... gone bad

So I had this fabulous idea to have the girls help with their thank you notes this year. I made little forms that allow them to fill in who the card it to, what they got and are thankful for, and then their name at the bottom. I planned to cut these out and have them paste them into cards we make during craft time on Friday. It's obviously been awhile since we did school and I've forgotten how frustrated they get with free hand writing... especially with all lowercase... and on just a small line. So yesterday after the girls struggled and huffed and tried their best for over an hour to form words and leave spaces between them (which didn't happen.) They are barely legible and after each doing just 2 notes and almost 10 left to go... I called it a bust. I'm thinking I'll just write them this year and have them sign their names at the bottom. I'm sad it didn't work out, but I don't think I have the patience to sit through another few hour of this, nor do they. Waaaah Waaahhhhh!

Back in School

To say we missed a little school over the holiday's is a bit of an understatement. We had the girls birthday and week up at Disneyland the first week in December. The girls got really sick and were down for the count with ear infections, strep, pink eye, and colds for the entire 2nd week of December. Then we took off the week before Christmas and the week after was our annual family trip to Palm Springs. So if you're adding that up... it's an entire month off school. For that reason even though the local school wasn't starting until next week I decided to start back up today. We're easing in with a bit of review, catching up on our Cubbies since we missed the last 2 weeks and have this weeks lesson as well, and just trying to get used to having school every day again. I'm excited to be back to a routine and make up for lost time and I hope we find the groove we were just developing before the break.

Busy Busy

Well haven't we just had a busy few weeks. Last I wrote we were finishing up our school and trying to get ready for the girls big 5th Birthday Party. We had a great get together with all our family and the girls enjoyed celebrating their birthday Alice in Wonderland style. We had a Tea Party Brunch since breakfast foods are their favorite and the girls got to wear their costumes I made them for Halloween. Av was the Queen of Hearts, and Brin was Alice. They were both so excited and enjoyed every minute of it!

To decorate I had hanging lanterns and curly cues, a this way/that way/wrong way sign, I painted the roses red, had and Alice book out, and covered the table with playing cards and mini tea sets. I also enlarged some of the images I took of them in their costumes and had those around the room. For brunch we had hashbrowns, fruit salad, coffee cake, bagels and cream cheese, mini pancakes with eat me signs, egg strata, mini fruit and yogurt parfaits, drink me signs on the cups with a variety of juices, and the girls choose a donut tree instead of cake. It was fun, whimsical, and definitely Alice inspired!



The girls in their costumes blowing out candles, opening presents, and enjoying their sprinkle donuts. We have always sung to them separately so they can each enjoy their birthday as individuals. They love it and get excited for that bit of attention.



A few of the images I got at their costume photoshoot. They had so much fun and enjoyed posing and pretending to be the evil queen and sweet Cinderella.







More to come on what we've been up to!

Back to the Grind!

After getting really lax and taking almost all of last week off due to daddy being on vacation for 3 days for Thanksgiving... I'm now trying to get us back in the swing of things. I have to admit that over the last 2 weeks I've felt like I've hit a wall. The inner high school senior is me has reared it's ugly head and I'm wondering when the heck this year is going to be over because I'm ready for summer! I'm thinking that's not a good thing when it's not even December yet. I'm also thinking it means I need to restructure our curriculum a bit becuase if I'm getting this bored, then surely they aren't too far behind? Maybe I'm wrong, but this is Preschool after all and I think they need more fun in the mix. Then again, maybe it's just a case of the holiday antsy's? I also know that we'll be on vacation up to Disneyland for the girls birthday all next week, plus getting ready for their b-day party this weekend has me itching to just accomplish things without school in the mix. I know however that this is really good for them (and me) and if I'm more careful with how I prep and organize my time I wouldn't be feeling quite so much of a strain.

Today instead of following our usual curriculum I just grabbed random workbooks, games, and activities that fit into each category of our day: ie: Bible, Writing, Sight Words, Math, Reading, Language, and Art. I'm kinda thinking that's better and less monotonous than just doing the same type of worksheet every day. I will definitely still add those in, but maybe do a lot more mixing up to keep it fun. Because today was actually fun again (for me anyway) and they seemed to really enjoy it so that's a plus.