Weeks 12 & 13 Recap

I can't believe it's the end of November!! 

RR did some more recycle art this week - his fave creation was this drummer boy drum out of duct tape & a coffee tin and sticks.  

At cubscouts they got a First Aid (CPR) badge and learned to do CPR. 

We made sure to get good practice in snuggling :) 

and lessons on dressing appropriately for the weather :)

RR loves to help Evelyn with any school work and we usually start the desk time with that.  If they are in happy attitudes with each other :) 

We hit up the library and got all kinds of Thanksgiving books! :)

The 2nd week of Co Op, I taught about the 2nd group of Europeans to arrive in our area and we did some crafts where the kiddos had to barter materials to get what they needed to make it.  Here's our examples to show: 

And here is what E did during her Co Op craft time

We are working on our thankful tree each morning and I have noticed their attitudes have been GREAT and thankful!!! SO I AM so thankful!!!   I had gotten off track in leading them in thankfulness and training that out of them.  Need to keep on that. 

We needed some cheer one day as we we were missing Daddy & his school schedule was getting more and more intense!... so we broke all the rules & put up our trees!!! :)  The girls worked on grouping & putting things in size order. 

And RR always loves to do big boy things: 

He even serves me by brushing my hair.  I love a servant's heart - especially when it has to do with brushing my hair, ahhh. 

Annabelle is so funny at the desk.  She goes as fast as she can with her task and then right away shoves it aside and say, "what else? what next?" :)   It's hard to stay one step ahead of her!

Evelyn loves addition & subtraction sheets!

And this is perhaps my favorite favorite new daily activity.  Raymond flies through the first type chapter books so he is ready for regular "junior" chapter books but he says he has a hard time reading them.  I am not sure if it's the vocabulary or his eyes but I want him to love stories & I want him to read all these awesome classics I loved so I decided to just start reading to them.  These 2 weeks we read Indian in the Cupboard - which fit in nicely with all the native american things we are doing.  I didn't even plan that out.  The librarian just suggested that book for his age.  This has really been a great thing for many reasons.  1 - quality time to help me SIT and be with them 2 - I love to read!! and I love seeing these old "friends" I had 3 - it's teaching them to sit still and listen better 4 - they are using their imaginations and really engaging with the story which I love!!!

The girls are just so sweet and I love that they get time just the 2 of them many days too.  So cute.  I love having 3 kiddos - then it always leaves me to have 1 on 1 time with 1 of them and the other 2 get their special time. 

RR at cubscouts getting a bead for achievements :)

There are so many great free printables for the girls age.  They love these puzzles that you cut and then put back together.  I go through a LOT of ink though and it isn't cheap!  

Annabelle adding on her thankful tree note.  It's a minecraft thankful tree if you couldn't tell :)

RR has the routine down pat of the "every day" items he has to do at the desk. Every day he does spelling, handwriting, math, language/english and then the others (history, science, art, music, P.E.)  we do either at the desk or out and about or so many different things depending on the week's happenings. 

I was so happy that Daddy got time to get RR re inspired with his Kinex!   WE CAN NOT WAIT for Daddy's school to be over to get some good Daddy time in.  We need the Daddy balance!

RR served his family by making these place cards for discussion at our Thanksgiving table in Rocky Mount. 

And we remembered how much we love painting.  Oops, I haven't done enough art recently.  This isn't really written down or planned like I want it to be - so January I will do a better job of writing down to make sure I do art more often!   They had a blast and stayed entertained forever - and they came out great!!  I was impressed. 

And Mommy made sure to play some Headbands.  They are old enough now, we can play more!  ANnabelle didn't stay interetsed, but she is almost getting there! 

During our Thanksgiving weekend, RR got to play chess with cousin SHane. 

He made sure to remember that snuggling with Gramma is still a good & important thing to do

We were SO HAPPY TO JUST BE US 5!!!!

And smarty pants Evelyn spelled her name in Lincoln logs.   :) 

THe kiddos certainly learned some awesome lessons these past 2 weeks in family, thankfulness & love - the most important lessons of all! 

Some extras I forgot about:

1 - I have been using the BrainQuest cards somebody gave RR last year just for an extra fun quiz/game - those cards are great!

2 - We are working on learning the 10 commandments - summed up in the 2 greatest. 

3 - we visited a church family and they learned about Esther which RR remembered perfectly from the Action Bible which was too cool.  And we are learning Romans 8:28 with him.  The pastor's sermon really helped me remember to rejoice, be thankful & to pass on thankfulness.  It really helped me get back on track in that area like I mentioned above.  

God is THE PERFECT Shepherd/Teacher and I love watching Him align lessons & tie things together.  So fun!