One Graduated, Four to Go!

My oldest son graduated from homeschool this last Wednesday!  I'm so proud.  He went through some of his years in public school and some in homeschool.  My favorite year was his 2nd Grade Homeschooling year!  I'm excited to see what he does next.  Congratulations, Son!  Love you now and always, xxoo Mom.

New Pet Rabbit

Here is Yoshi the rabbit.  He's the newest pet.  He really likes apples and is nice and calm.

We are waiting for the leaves to come out.  Little N says May 8th and I say May 10th.  The winner gets to pick a dessert.  We are going through the family pictures and picking out some of our favorites for a living room display.  Everyone here is still getting over the flu.  We just got finished reading about the Root Children.  The timing is just right.  There are only small patches of snow.  There are a very few patches of grass sprouting up.  The edges of the lake melt in the day but it is still frozen.  I'm busy looking over last year's garden plan and thinking about what I'll plant where this year. :)  The pair of Great Horned Owls are back.  We usually hear them in the Spring and Fall.  Now we know that Spring is here.  Happy Spring!

And in April...

Spring is coming.  We've still far more snow than ground.  Here is a pretty winter sunset.  The chickens are happily catching flies.  The little boys are stomping in the water puddles.  I chipped a giant iceberg out of the trampoline (gingerly).  The boys said that I was the best mother ever!  I've been putting the woodstove ashes on my snowcapped garden beds.  I can hardly wait two more weeks or so to see what has wintered over nicely.  We've two cockatiels, Mario and Luigi.  They were a gift from someone who could no longer care for them.  They can whistle tunes and Mario lets little N pet his head. 

Mario is the grey and Luigi, the yellow. :)

 Following directions from the book, Footsteps In Time, The Romans, the boys (with a little Mama help) made these fabulous Roman sandals from cardboard and yarn.  They held up for two whole days!

 We had so much fun with that book that we are hoping to use Footsteps in Time, the Vikings next year.  Here are the boys at our IDEA homeschool office.  They are on an antique dogsled.  We raced to read as many pages as there are miles in the Iditarod.  Both boys made it to the finish line.

 Grandma is such a talented seamstress.  She sewed this waldorf style doll for little J. and this sock monkey for Little N.  She has a shop on etsy called "A*Dollshop*of*My*Own"  please go and check out her dolls.

 Here is the winter sunset picture that I promised.  I did not use a filter or color this one bit!  You know what they say.  Red sky at night, sailor's delight.  Everything may be white with snow but sometimes the sky is brilliant.  My favorite color of all is the bright, light green of the first new Spring leaves.  It's coming.  Happy Spring and Love to All.

Back in February

Today was a fantastic day.  My first grader, LittleN and preschooler, LittleJ, both made books today.  We have them set aside for Daddy to read when he gets home.  I am trying to make the boys little booklets of watercoloring paper and with cardstock covers.  We are going to do some Waldorf, some Charlotte Mason and some Classical Education for this next year.  I am working on being calm and counting my blessings.  I can hear N reading to J. :)  Homeschooling is a blessing!  I like to cook, craft, learn and garden and love my family.  I love and thank God for this life.  How great is His love for us.  Life is like a choo choo train with ups and downs and if you just keep chugging along it all works out.  Smile!  (This picture is from this last summer.)