Inspiration

This is the work that completely inspired C to be an architect when he is older: Zaha Hadid . We saw drawings and models of her work at the Guggenheim in July of 2006. It was life changing for him.

The Newborn and The Firstborn

I am still here but I feel like I have a newborn all over again. Who ever said a new puppy would be easy? I knew what I was getting into but perhaps just not to the extent. Baxter has to be watched constantly since we're in the middle of potty training. He also can't go in public until he is 16 weeks old. That's the one thing I wish I had know beforehand. Our life is currently chained to the house since we don't want to leave him alone for more than 2 hours at a time. But he's still worth it.

Also constantly on my mind this week is my oldest. C is turning 12 this week. I can't believe he is already that old. I think it would help if he looked as old as he is. All the other kids around his age are having their growth spurts and he has fallen even further behind. His best friend was over yesterday and to my surprise C barely comes up to his shoulders! I am so crossing my fingers that he is still growing and will have his growth spurt late like the doctors say. He has a friend who is 14 and only a few inches taller than him, he is now going to be getting hormone injections. I really don't want to cross that bridge.
We also had a big realization on his academic front this week. Because C went to school in K and 1st grades and came into K reading he was never taught phonics. I had been suspecting it for a while now. We took him to get tested last week and our suspicions were correct. I think this is why he seems to have so many strange issues academically. He is very intelligent but struggles in odd ways. So now it all makes sense. I just need to get it corrected now. I have a feeling after it is rectified he will soar again.
But he is still an incredible kid. He does so many things everyday that are completely selfless. I still will never believe his ability to construct things. For Christmas he got a huge Lego Star Wars piece and had it put together in less than three days. (not working on it constantly) Some day he wants to be an architect and I can see it suiting him well. So only time will tell.
Next time I promise a puppy picture!

Happy New Year!

Okay, okay I still have not found the camera battery charger. Maybe someday I will. I am hoping in the next day it will turn up since we have a new addition to our family coming this weekend. As a Holiday gift to our family we are getting a new little puppy. I will post a picture here as soon as I can. He is an adorable little cockapoo. For those wonder what the heck? It is a cross between a cocker-spaniel and a poodle. He's adorable with golden curls. We have decided to name him Baxter. I had to veto a lot of names like, Frodo, Pippin and Golem.
We have decided to wait on buying a house after all. Hubby is a little nervous about the state of things. So we'll be staying put. Which for once is just fine with me. So we're off to visit Baxter. I promise the next post might actually be on Homeschooling and our trip over the holiday. Right now I think I just have puppy on the brain!

Christmas Jingle

We had a very lovely Christmas holiday. We started out by going to a living reenactment of the town of Bethlehem. It was very well done, down to the shekels and Roman soldiers collecting our taxes. It was quite cold but such an incredible experience.
On Christmas Eve we had traditional family dinner out. This year we went to PF Changs because they have a gluten free menu. C was so excited that he wasn't able to eat. Which was a little ironic since we went there for him. We also came home and read all our Christmas stories, left milk and cookies and finished the night by allowing each child to open one present. C got 2 band shirts from J, J got the Rhianna CD from C and S got a Cars PS2 game from C.
On Christmas morning we had a lovely time with both grandmas and a very relaxing day.

This and That

Now that our house hunting is on hold again we've had a little more time for homeschooling. Our past few days haven't been jammed packed with different activities. Instead we have been playing a bit up catch up on the main subject I have slacked on recently, math. All the recent rain has really helped us along as well.
This has been our week thus far:
Monday: Science, J is doing electromagnetics and C is working on some soil and compost projects. S read about polar bears and penguins. Then C&J had Shakespeare class, we listened to "Inkheart" and we went to the park for a while.
Tuesday: Math all around. More listening to our Holiday book "When Santa Fell to Earth" by Corneila Funke and we finally had some friends over for the afternoon.
Today: Lots of math, reading and slowly getting ready for Christmas. We also listened to a bit more of our stories. Plus S had a yearly check up today, he's grown a ton!

This is our holiday card photo. I won't even be getting cards out until Friday, I'm soo behind!


Seasons Greetings...

Holidays and Hunting

The holidays always seem to throw me into a whirlwind of activity. This year has been no exception. And of course as always I am behind on tons of things which need to get done. The majority of the blame has a good reason.

We aren't doing a whole lot of traditional school work. But the kids are learning about what it takes to buy a house. We have been house hunting these past three weeks. So far the process has been slow and of course an emotional roller coaster. I fear finding the right house make take us sometime. Which doesn't sit very well with such an impatient person as myself. But we all of our lessons to learn right?

We went to see the Nutcracker ballet and made gingerbread houses this week. I am so glad it finally feels like the holiday season! I can finally get started on all those cookies waiting to be baked and presents waiting to be wrapped. This coming week we'll be going ice skating and to see a living nativity. Now if I can just find my charger for the camera battery I can actually get those holiday cards out and about.
Perhaps I'll have a new picture next time....

Busy Times

I haven't posted in a very long while. Things have been super crazy in our house lately. I don't have time to write all the details now but the past month has included these things:

Halloween
Hubby's birthday
S's birthday
Thanksgiving
A few family health issues

And a few more things I don't quite want to go into depth about due to having to run yet again! I promise to write more very soon!