Summer’s Close

Summer is wrapping up for us and with the end of summer came the end of our summer reading challenge.  I wasn’t as organized as I usually am about this year’s reading challenge.  I think I was being a little lazy actually and the library changed their program into something ridiculous so that sort of took the wind out my sails too. Thankfully I managed to think of something and it worked to get my kids reading this summer.  I bought them Sonlight’s summer readers.   Strawberry and Chocolate shared a pack, Bubble Gum and Blue-Raspberry got their own.  It worked out really well.  Sonlight packaged them up so nice, it was like they each got a present!

Anyway, the challenge was to get the books read before the end of July and in return I would take them to Nelson’s and buy them an ice-cream cone!  They all finished the challenge earlier then the date I set, so off we went! 

        

It was a magnificent day!  Warm, bright, not muggy!

         

I was a good girl, I didn’t have any ice-cream.  I was too busy wiping up spills and dolling out the wet wipes! 

Afterward, we decided to surprise the little people by taking them to the most adorable park ever created:  Teddy Bear Park.

I love it that my teens will still be in family photos, and go to the park with us.  lol

   

Isn’t that cool?  The whole park is like a squishy Astroturf, it’s really fun to walk on.

We ended our adventure at the Stillwater Farmer’s Market, which was quaint and delightful.  My husband spoke my love language and paid the big bucks for a gallon of pure maple syrup!  I am one blessed woman!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Wordless Wednesday

Chocolate Taffy-Another Year

Sigh…they just keep getting older.  I LOVE to celebrate my children, love to see them approach adulthood and independence, but still birthday’s make me a little melancholy.  Chocolate Taffy turned 17 on the 7th.  Seriously?  I just don’t feel old enough to have ANOTHER 17 year old.  I’m so thankful to have younger children, I think they keep me feeling younger!

I was looking through Chocolate Taffy’s baby book recently, looking for a photo to use for Graduation.  I found something interesting.  A little note I wrote to myself.  I was 22 when I found out I was pregnant with Chocolate Taffy, I had a newborn, was still post partum and here I was pregnant again.  I was little, let’s say, unsure about that.  But God in His graciousness spoke very clearly to me and told me that this baby was going to be a blessing.  I wrote it down.  I forgot about it.  God is not a liar.  This son has been a tremendous blessing to his father and I.  Through some of the difficult things we’ve been through recently he has been dependable and consistent, he’s been helpful and obedient. 

I was so happy to find that little note.  So happy to be able to testify to the faithfulness of God.

Happy Birthday Chocolate Taffy!  Thanks for be what God said you would be.  Thanks for being you!  I am honored to be your mom!

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

December 2012

December was a full month, and even though there were emotionally exhausting times, when I look back over the photos on my phone I can see moments of joy too.  I like to focus on the joy.  Here’s a run down of December.

     

Chocolate Taffy got his wisdom teeth out. This might have actually been the end of November.

We got to go to a Christmas Orchestra Performance. (yeah we got there early…what can I say?)

Breakfast at Panera.

Marshmallow got her very own name plaque.  I took my time getting this, I was just procrastinating to find the perfect scripture.

    

We had the tummy flu…over Christmas.  Sad.

Blue-Raspberry turned 10!!  The ice-cream cake that I made melted in our subzero garage, I still can’t figure out how that happened.  Thankfully there is a Dairy Queen very close by!  Happy birthday son!

I got a new hat for Christmas.  Strawberry and I wore our BRIGHTEST hats to the Children’s Museum and EVERYBODY was starting at us.  lol

     

  

We ended the month with a visit to the Children’s Museum.  A happy day that ended with more sadness as our oldest son is going through a really hard time.

The good thing about hard times is that it makes us rely so much more on the Lord.  I can’t do this alone.  I can’t carry the weight of a rebellious child and a struggling relationship.  Thankfully I don’t have too.  This is my faith.  God is in control.  Ultimately it is His fight.  He loves my son even more than I do.  Focus on the joy.

The battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Weekly Wrap-up 16

I didn’t make a collage of all the food I cooked this  week, I didn’t really make anything note worthy.  But I did some special cooking with the children, you’ll see that in a bit.

This week we wrapped up our Thanksgiving Unit.  We had a such a great time, all of us!

They had a lot of fun gluing in the all the lapbooks and decorating the cover.

The Fronts.

The insides!

Along with finishing up their lapbooks we also did lots of reading.  I read them most of the books I got from the library.  One book, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott, had a recipe in the back.  In a moment of inspiration I suggested we make the recipe.  Wow, you should have heard the squeals of delight!

It was delicious, they did a GREAT job!

My original plan was to let them make soft pretzels as a closing activity for our Thanksgiving study.  Pretzels hold no significance, I just thought it would be fun.  And thankfully it WAS fun!

On the highschool front…

Banana Taffy and Chocolate Taffy got fitted for their graduation cap and gowns this week.  So exciting!

Strawberry was supposed to take the PLAN test this week.  I totally screwed that up.  I had the time down wrong…we were a half hour late, the test already started.  I’m out the money, which is disappointing but not tragic. I’m more frustrated with myself for getting the timing wrong.  I tried so hard to make that happen.  Ah well…can’t do anything about it now. I guess I just have to find another test for her to take.  On a happier note, she is so excited to have 2 weeks off from school.  She was pretty much giddy all day!

Are you taking next week off?  Enjoy the time you’ve dedicated to being Thankful!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Weekly Wrap-up Week 14

I just decided to keep this running theme of showcasing some of the different things we ate this week.  It really does help me in some strange way.  The pictures aren’t brilliant because I just took them with my phone, but I think they look pretty tasty still, even if my tortillas aren’t round, I am getting better at being consistent with their shape though.  (grin)

Okay, on to the children…

Tot School~

     

Coloring and Stamping.  She’s claimed this seat at the little table for her own.  All of Bubble Gum’s papers have little baby scribbles on them, at least it’s peaceful this way!

Watching an intense game of Chess.  She climbed up on the table all by herself and just sat down and watched like she knew what was going on.  It’s amazing watching her transition from being a baby to being an active member of the family, participating in things, expressing her opinion, wanting to be involved, clearly communicating.  She is approaching my favorite age (2) and I find myself delighting in her more every day!

Kindergarten~

A little Cowboy joined us one day…working on his Song School Latin Coloring Pages…

    

Matching up Lowercase and Capital Letters in his pocket chart and showing off his final page of this Linking Cubes book.  He finished it this week and was VERY pleased with himself.  I’ve had this book for years, since Banana Taffy was 4, love it!

2nd & 4th Grade~

     

Blue-Raspberry wrote a poem about the weather in his Write Shop book and illustrated it .  He did such a nice job that we thought it deserved a special piece of paper and his best cursive handwriting.  We made a copy of it and sent it to Grandma Judy.  Surprise Mom! 

Bubble Gum finished level 2 of All about Spelling.  So proud of her!!  We hung her certificate up in the school room so she can feel good about her accomplishment.

Okay, so this was really fun.  Erica provided the skeleton printable, I laminated the different bones and stuck magnets on the back, the kids worked on putting the bones in the correct places.  They really enjoyed this activity. 

Highschool~

This is my daily view of Strawberry Taffy.  She’s such a focused student.  She worked extra hard this week so she could take Friday off.  She’s about to finish her first history book and has finished her first logic book.  I’m giving her a break from both subjects until after Christmas break.  She’ll read the second history book then and start the second half of logic.  She’s taking the Plan test in a couple weeks to get ready for PSEO. She’s also studying to take the Biology CLEP.

She got inspired to make sugar cookies, she was so ambitious that she made a double batch including fall and Christmas cut-outs!  Yay Strawberry!

We had a big week for my high school seniors.  It started out with me making their official transcripts and getting a plan in place for their final semester of high school and their 4th semester of college.

My planning mess…

The all important file box that holds every important piece of paper for their education. 

Here they are, I actually got a picture of them this week.  Here we are waiting for an appointment with a Guidance Counselor at a University that they boys will (if they get accepted) be taking their final semester at.  This is the school that Banana will be able to get his Law Enforcement Degree from and it’s the school that has the science classes that Chocolate needs for his Mechanical Engineering Degree.  I had to take the two littlest ones with me, but they were very good and this was a very proactive and out-of-my-comfort zone thing to do!  lol  I’m experiencing a HUGE learning curve here.  Phew.  Good thing my sons are so patient with me. 

Another big thing week was the meeting regarding graduation.  They have to apply to graduate with the group that hosts their PSEO classes.  We went to a informational meeting and turned in applications.  We’ll find out next week if they get to graduate with their friends.  I hope they do, I’m so excited for them to have this experience!

I could say more, we had a pretty big week, but I have limited space left for photos on blogger, so I’ll stop now. 

Thanking God for the ability to homeschool and be involved in all these little details!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy