Mini Album and Fold-Up Folio from the Love Letters line by Little Yellow Bicycle

I love our church. Growing up and for the last few years I've gone to churches that held Sunday School during the service. Our new church has played with the schedule several times during their search for a new rector, but I think they've finally got it right. We start every week with a Sing. There are tons of musicians - people playing guitars, usually someone on flute and someone on piano, plus lots of kids playing percussion, etc. We usually sing a variety of songs, ranging from kids songs to traditional hymns. We do rounds and sing antiphons. It is so fun! It is in a smaller space so just a few people make it feel full. Next we move on to Sunday School, and while my daughter is learning Bible stories and church traditions, I get to go to adult classes. So far I've learned about the history of Christianity in our area, Religion and Politics, and much more. Then I grab my daughter and we head over to the service, which since our new Rector arrived, has been fairly traditional, which I also like. I have also been lucky enough to meet several very creative, likable people there, and feel very included and appreciated. The new rector is wonderful too, and that seems like the icing on the cake. I feel home.

Got the photos from my brother's wedding last year and couldn't wait to start scrapping them! Almost everything here is LYB Love Letters!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week Esme reviewed her Math lessons, read some Bob Books, practiced her Dr. Seuss books, and learned about the first Thanksgiving. Esme seemed fascinated to learn about a time when people didn't have all the modern conveniences we have today.

This is my next project using the Little Yellow Bicycle Love Letters line - a special album for my husband for Christmas!

My next project using the LYB Love Letters line - making plaques is one of my new favorite things to do - I love this line and had to combine the two.

This is my second layout with products from Little Yellow Bicycle's Love Letters line. I am hooked on date stamps and other "date" materials so this is the perfect line for me. These pics of Esme are from a summer afternoon together in the yard. To see this complete line please click here.

I was sooo lucky to receive a huge box of Yellow Bicycle products from the Love Letters line! This line has EVERYTHING - patterned papers, shaped and flocked papers, mini albums, rubons, epoxy stickers, tons of journaling and date blocks, fabric stickers, borders, transparencies, brads, ribbons, and more. I love this line! Below is my first creation with these new products - a mini book of Mother Theresa quotes.

Having creative friends makes me HAPPY!!

Thank You, Thank You, Sam-I-Am!!

Esme is so excited - she just read her first "big girl" book!! She's been progressing well with Bob Books for a while, but tonight I sat on the couch with her and gave her only a bit of coaching through Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. We are soooooo proud that our little girl is reading! What a great homeschooling moment!!

My very favorite Halloween pic from this year.

These awesome signs were posted by a family in our neighborhood for Halloween!

Why is Christianity now associated with Republicans? This is so unfair. I am a Christian, and because of my beliefs, I'm also a Democrat. Which party thinks that if we have enough to spare, we should give it up to help others? Which party fights for social programs to make sure that every American has basic needs met? Which party champions education and health care? These are all issues of the Democratic party. Doesn't it seem that Christians should support these issues? I am tired of Republicans trying to co-opt Christianity and I for one am not going to put up with it anymore. I am a Christian and a Liberal and proud of it!

My new favorite quote from this election season:

"There will be an election, followed by rioting, the complete unraveling of society, and, I assume, a zombie problem. And everyone will agree it’s an improvement." -Scott Adams

I just got accepted to take part in this:

Job Description Position Qualifications: Interested participants should have good written and oral communication skills; be willing to work with digital audio equipment; be comfortable working with different ages and ethnicities; be open to group discussion and seminar participation; be willing to share personal experiences throughout the oral history process; have a desire to educate local teachers in classrooms; be interested in local history. Oral historians will be trained on several methodologies of collecting oral histories; will go out into the field and interview residents; will meet monthly to discuss and review relevant texts; will learn from each other’s field experience; and will become the tools for local educators who are interested in bringing oral history techniques into their classrooms.

Commitments

• Attend a panel discussion on Oral History November 8, 2008 from 2 – 4pm
• Attend monthly meetings for an 8-month period
  
• Learn oral history techniques and theory
• Interview residents at various locations
• Use digital voice recorders
• Transcribe full interviews using word processing software
• Read relevant excerpts and full texts
• Collect three interviews and transcribe
• Be a resource for local educators to use oral history techniques in their classrooms

Sooooo excited to be part of this! I think this will be a great resource for homeschooling, and a very interesting project!

Pumpkin Time and Jumping in the Hay

Every year we take Esme to the same spot to choose a pumpkin for our jack-o-lantern. Today she learned that pumpkins are actually a fruit and that the average pumpkin weighs twelve pounds. Last year was the first time she was big enough to jump in the hay pile, and today she had it all to herself. I think that was her favorite part!

Our First Ever Halloween Party

Esme's Halloween party was a big success! She had 5 guests. They made Halloween fairies out of fabric samples, cardstock, vellum wings, sequins, and buttons. They made their own pizzas, played a couple rounds of pass-the-pumpkin, and of course had plenty of time to just play together! We loved having everyone over - it was a great time!

Homeschooling this month.....

We finished up our homeschooling State Park series with a very cool trip. We visited a center that has dioramas of habitats all the way from the ocean up through the forest, following a local river. The interpreter walked the kids through each diorama and showed them little hidden secrets along the way.

Esme is playing soccer again - she is on a different team this season and the games are just starting now. I am worried that it is going to be COLD by the time we finish! She is loving ballet and has attended bring-a-friend-to-dance classes with both Kaitlyn and Sarah. I am pretty impressed how quickly she has learned to remember the different ballet positions.

She is also continuing with Daisy Girl Scouts, and we have starting preparing for our mitten drive. We wanted to offer something back to the library since they let us meet there for free, and the children's librarian suggested that we work together to do this. Last week we made posters and this week we'll make the actual tree.

Esme is continuing in the Math curriculum we chose and progressing nicely. She is also doing very well with her Bob books - I can see that we'll have to purchase the next set soon. However, she is resistant to trying to read anything but those books, so that is something we will be working on in the coming weeks.

This is our new kitty Cosmo! He is such a sweetie! He wasn't big on having his photo taken! He has certainly livened up our house with all his playing, but he also loves to cuddle and spends lots of his time purring loudly.

When we couldn't find Pekoe we hung up signs all over the neighborhood, and someone from a cat rescue shelter called us to say she might have our cat. By then we had found Pekoe, but we got to talking and she said she had a kitten waiting to be adopted, and that she wouldn't even charge us the normal fee if we wanted to come get him. We talked it over (Ethan had to be convinced) and picked him up the next day. Of course after he explored the house a bit he sat down on Ethan's lap and put his little head down on Ethan's hand and fell asleep, so now he is pretty much Ethan's kitty.

One reason I am looking forward to the Christmas season: stores open longer. I am having trouble being confined to the normal schedules - if I want a craft item at 8 am or 1 am - I want to get it then!!

I looovve Columbus Day weekend! Every year half the citizens of a neighboring town hold yard sales. We're still paying for our new water tank and don't have much money to spare, but we were able to get many good deals for not very much money. I got a sewing machine, leg warmers for Esme, Polly Pockets, dancewear, a microscope, and a couple building sets great for fine motor development!

Yesterday was a horrible day. Our family's cat disappeared around 10:30 Sunday night, not to be found til about 2:30 Monday afternoon. Pekoe is a member of our family and we were all distraught, thinking we would never see her again. She's an indoor cat and very gentle, so I don't think living outside would be easy for her, and I am not quite sure she would have the skills to find her way home again.

My brother Charles was doing some work on our house and we were both going in and out. Charles is very considerate about shutting doors because he knows we have a cat, but he didn't notice and I forgot that the windows were open on our sun porch. When she disappeared in an unfurnished apartment, we assumed she had jumped out one of them. Esme and I searched for a long time last night. Ethan searched when he got home from work. I woke up early and searched again, and hung up flyers all over our neighborhood. Charles, Ethan, and I all searched the empty apartment for her mulitiple times. There literally nothing in the apartment, so it should be difficult for a kitty to hide.

A long time ago I remember a discussion on the NSBR board at 2 Peas where someone said, after you have kids, your pets are no longer members of your family. I can say for us, this is not true. I spent many hours crying and walking and calling her name - if she was not a member of our family that wouldn't have happened.

Yesterday afternoon Ethan went over there to do some cleaning, and out walked Pekoe!! She was disgustingly dirty and had obviously been trapped somewhere for a long time. I suspect she had climbed into the back of a dryer that's not in use right now, and couldn't get out. We were all so happy to see her we didn't care. We hugged and kissed her anyway! We are sooo happy she is back!!

Dinosaurs

We decided to check out the dinosaur tracks in town in preparation for sending our Summer/Fall box to Nebraska. I was so proud because Esme said, "Shouldn't we read about dinosaurs before we go?" She found a book about dinosaurs from her library and we read all about their life cycles, how they ate, what they ate, etc. Then we grabbed some crayons and paper and headed down to the tracks. They were amazing! We found three very distinct types, and read that they were created approximately 190 million years ago. This was a fun side lesson for all of us!

My mom wanted me to help her with some decorations for her office. She wrote these poems, I decorated for her.

A Ride on the Bus

As part of our Nebraska Exchange, I decided to take Esme on a bus ride around town to see what our city looks like from a different view. We made a long list of all the things we saw as we rode through downtown, over near the mall, and back near our neighborhood. Esme loved riding on the bus and was sad when I told her it was almost time to get off. Ding Ding helped her ring the bell.

What's going on around here....

Yesterday we attended the Not Back to School picnic with tons of other homeschoolers. It was so fun! Esme took off and played with other little girls and made a couple new friends. I got to talk to a lot of other moms, including my friend Laura, and got to hold her new baby too!

Esme has been to three out of five state park visits in our series. I ran a program about trees at the second park including the life cycles of trees, trees that are in trouble, and how to identify trees. We also did leaf prints and solar prints. Last Monday she got to learn about hawk migration and observe the birds.

She started ballet two weeks ago and is enjoying it. She's learned plies, split leaps, etc. It is a nice small class of only four girls. She is also playing soccer again this season. We're back to regular Girl Scout meetings now and we visited the fire station as a troop yesterday. The girls got to see all the different trucks, but the highlight was that they let them get in the rescue boat.

I am trying to figure out what this says about me: A scrapper posted on my blog that she is moving to the area and I emailed her back telling her about how much I love the local coffee shop that makes their chocolate milk with real chocolate instead of syrup.

Two of my favorite Haikus from second grade last year:

I am tired of Math
I do not like it one bit
I lay on my desk

I saw a tiger
It was about to attack
So I ran away

more animals

Anyone going to CKC in Hartford this year? I'll be working at the Dollar Scrapbooking booth on Friday - come by and visit me! I'll be shopping on Saturday.

Happy to be a Team

Ethan and I are so happy that we have different strengths and can bring both of them to homeschooling. I am great at planning events, finding activities for Esme to take part in, doing research, attending trainings, and making plans for our weekly lessons. Ethan is great at sitting down with Esme and actually doing the lessons, and is very patient in working with her. As I type this they are working on ordering numbers in our new Math book. I am so glad to have a husband who wants to take such an active role in his daughter's education, and who allows me to play to my strengths while playing to his own.

When I was a child, I was obsessed with the musical "Annie," and tonight I got to take Esme to see it. It was her first play and this production was paced very s l o w l y but I think she still enjoyed it. Now that she's seen the play we're going to watch the movie together on DVD.

Being Esme's mother has been wearing me out lately! She is involved in many activities, some of which I have to coordinate and run, like Girl Scouts and some homeschooling events. Speaking of homeschooling, that takes quite a bit of effort too. We love it though, and are definitely glad we made the decision to go forward with it.

I recently discovered Hulu.com and have had fun watching Arrested Development with Ethan, and a show that seems so old now, Chicago Hope. When Chicago Hope and ER debuted the same year, I was a die-hard Hope fan. No ER for me. Now that I've watched 9 seasons of ER and I'm revisiting Hope, I am wondering what the heck my problem was. Not that I'm not enjoying Chicago Hope, ER is just so much faster paced and exciting. Plus come on, George Clooney! And Noah Wylie too!

An Amazing Day

This past Wednesday we had our first trip in our Homeschoolers State Park Series. We were so lucky to have Ranger Betsy as our interpreter. We arrived at the park and she showed the girls her fairy houses, and invited them to build their own. Then we went over to a picnic table and learned about tree cookies. The children counted 14 rings in a small cookie, and 96 rings in a large one. Then they decorated the small cookies and made them into necklaces. Next Ranger Betsy taught them about how owls eat, and we dissected owl pellets, and classified the bones we found inside. I loved how Rangeer Betsy trusted the children to understand take in such meaningful information. We took a break for lunch and the kids had a great time playing on the beach. After lunch we made our own fossils with plaster of Paris, and then went for a hike. We learned so much on the hike - we learned about caterpillar tents, wintergreen, beavers, squirrels, etc. This was one of the best field trips we have been on since we started homeschooling!

Sharing a Favorite Book

Esme and I have been on the hunt for items to send to Nebraska. One thing we're doing to prepare to send and receive a box, is ready a story about a woman who moved from New England out into the prairie. I loved this book when I was a child and Esme seems to be enjoying it now. I am reading her one chapter a day, and every days she asks to hear the next one.

It's not exactly "breaking the CK barrier," but I was very excited to have a little something in the In Your Words column in Creating Keepsakes this month. I wrote about my substitute teaching experience from October to January this past school year. Now I just have to make sure everyone at school sees it so I get all the good gigs!!

Nature Journal

We've started a nature journal with Esme. For now she's dictating what she wants to say and copying it into her journal to record her thoughts, but we're hoping that as her writing and spelling improve she'll be able to do more on her own.

I can take one class for free every semester at an Ivy League college. I am super bummed that yet again this semester, I cannot find a class to take. Classes are geared toward people who live on campus which is understandable, but I am bummed that there is nothing that I could remotely apply to my life offered in the evening that isn't filled immediately. It seems like such a waste not to take advantage of this opportunity, but at this moment the only thing I could take would be Riding I. Not sure this is the perfect time in my life to start horseback riding with no prior experience. I so want to go back to school, and there are many things I would like to take including environmental science, sociology, education, religion, etc. It's sad that I can't make this work!

The Nebraska Exchange

Project Learning Tree's Activity #20 is to be paired with students in a different region of the country, and send each other a box of things that tell about your local environment. A couple weeks ago I signed up to be paired for the exchange, thinking we would probably be paired with a class somewhere. I was delighted to get a call last week from another homeschooling family who'd received our name and was interested in swapping boxes. The family includes three elementary aged girls and one older schooled brother. They live right in the middle of Nebraska. The mom and I talked for a while and decided to send biographies around Labor Day, a Summer/Fall box at the beginning of November and a Winter/Spring box in mid-May. We are so excited about this project! Esme and I are having a great time choosing items to include in the box. Anyone who has ideas please email me! We'll update the project here on our blog. Since Esme is in the beginning stages of learning to write, I decided to do her biography as an interview. Here are some of her answers:

How old are you?
Five. And a half.

Where do you live?
At home - in a house.

Who is in your family?
My mommy, daddy, and me.

Do you have an extended family?
Nonna, Grandma, Auntie Lisa, Dylan.

Do you have any close friends?
Sarah.

What do you like to play?
I like to play princess dolls and legos.

Do you have a favorite game?
I Spy Bingo.

Where are some of your favorite places?
Friendly's, Nonna's house, Mount Tom

Do you play any sports?
Soccer and swimming.

Do you do any other activities?
Daisy Girl Scouts. Lego League.

Do you have a favorite movie?
Yes. Ariel and Enchanted.

Do you go to church?
Yes. And Sunday School.

What makes you laugh really hard?
Talking funny.

Do you have a favorite dinner?
Spaghetti and [turkey] meatballs.

Do you have a favorite color?
Yes. Orange!

What is your favorite time of day?
Reading time.

What is your favorite season?
Fall. Do you know why? Because I can jump in piles of leaves.

What are some of your favorite books?
Fancy Nancy, Seymour Makes New Friends, I Spy, Super Completely and Totally the Messiest, Paddington

What do you like to do with your family?
Go out. I like to eat at restaurants. I like to go to the Family Restaurant.

Do you like to take trips? Where have you been?
Yes. I have been camping.

What do you want to do when you grow up?
I want to buy clothes for grownups. I want to be a hairdresser.

Do you want to have children? How many?
Yes. I want to have two. One girl. One boy.

Do you have any pets?
I have Pekoe.

What is Pekoe?
A kitty.

What do you like about homeschooling?
I like doing my new math. [first curriculum]

What is something you're good at?
Swimming.

What is something you're not good at?
I'm not good at writing twos.

Is there anything else we should know about you?
I play Barbies every day.

This layout is soooo old! I'm not even sure which summer these photos were taken. I remember it being a super fun day, and that I was so excited to scrap it right away. Then when I got home I printed the pics, got the layout about half done, and put it in a drawer. Over time I have slowly added additional elements, making it a strange mix of my old and more developed styles. It's finally done! (Except I still have to go back and look for that date!)

Next time you see Esme....

Ask her a basic difference between a deciduous and coniferous tree. I did my first full Project Learning Tree lesson with her this weekend. We searched for pine cones and found several different ones on the ground at camp. We compared and contrasted them and used them to identify two local types of trees. We started her nature journal - she both copied words into it and illustrated.