365Project.2015 | Weeks 33–35

August seemed to disappear around here! Between vacation ... and getting caught up from vacation ... and starting school ... the days have been full. But good. And ordinary. The everyday stuff of life. And we're thankful for it. 

Week 33

Day 221. Everybody in the van knew when Abby-girl had dropped Killie. ;) We were glad to have Hannah as our official retriever. :)

 It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but Abby came home from Virginia with super cute tanned feet. ♥

Day 222. And she lost NO time in exploring the stairs ...

Day 223. As I got ready to go downstairs Tuesday morning, Peter was so excited! :) He had enlisted nearly all of his buddies to help out with household chores ... only a few were goofing off. ;)

Day 224. Killie and Brown Bear, Brown Bear ... what more could you ask for? Oh. Mommy. Yep. In Abby's opinion, life's about perfect when that winning combination is achieved. ;)

"Mess Maker, Mess Maker, make me a mess.
Grab all my stuff. Send me some stress.
Mess Maker, Mess Maker, you know that I ...
Will love you no matter what." 

Yes, my own rendition of Fiddler on the Roof's Matchmaker song runs through my head. A lot. Oy vey. Our cutie patootie keeps us on our toes. ♥

Day 225. Peter was thoroughly delighted to get to help Daddy fix the brakes on his truck! He can hardly wait till he's old enough to help on the big trucks!

Day 226. I'm so thankful for Hannah-bug being willing to watch Abby for a bit so that Mommy can get a grocery list ready ... or something comparable ... without a telltale trail resulting from distracted Mommy + super fast Abby ...

Day 227. They definitely have their fair share of squabbles, but it's so much fun when they're playing together sweetly. :)

Week 34
Day 228. Pretty skies ...

Day 229. We "officially" began our 4th year of homeschooling today. Love my students. ♥

Hannah | 5th grade

Peter | 3rd grade

Matthew | K5

Abby | Mess Making 101 ;)

Day 230. While one is learning Greek, another is practicing scissor skills ...

And oh, the joy of "start of school" enthusiasm ... they spent multiple hours Tuesday evening doing math lessons just for fun. Sadly, the occasion has not repeated itself. ;)

Day 231. Abby-girl and her animals ... she'll roar if you ask her what a lion or a bear says (at least sometimes ...) and she raises her arm like a trunk when she sees elephants. :) She's also waving and saying "Ba ba" when Daddy leaves for work in the morning. ♥

Day 232. Eeeee!!! SO. EXCITED!!!! On his THIRD reading lesson, Matthew was sounding out the blend "sa" ... and figured out that if he added the /d/ sound to that, he would have the word "sad." As if that wasn't exciting enough, later that afternoon he asked me how to spell the word "I." I told him how, and a few minutes later he proudly showed me his first sentence: "I AM SAD" :) I love watching my kids learn new things!!!! ♥

 Day 233. Abby thoroughly approves of Hannah's baking endeavors. :)

 Donut muffins were a definite win! :)

Day 234. And after a full week of school, we were very glad to get to spend a few hours playing with our cousins on Saturday. :)

Week 35

Day 235. If she's at the window, she's not at the toilet paper roll. Mommy encourages her to look outside as. much. as. possible. while I'm trying to quickly get ready for the day.

Day 236. But of course, she'd really rather be right. next. to. Mommy.

Or playing with the toilet paper. Oy vey. 

 Day 237. At this point, Hannah wants to be a baker when she gets older, so she's been trying new recipes for practice and to learn new skills. :) She's been doing really well, and the rest of us have been enjoying the results of her efforts. :) Cream Puffs were a very fun experiment from French cuisine ...

Day 238. Mommy closed the bathroom door. Abby found the tissue box.
Yep. An entire. box. of. tissues. But really ... don't you think it would be fun to sit there and just pull out tissue after tissue ... just for the fun of pulling them out?  Sigh.

On a more constructive note, puzzles are a really fun way to learn Geography. :)

 Day 239. Abby enjoyed "helping" Daddy for a few minutes while he was doing some office work ...

 Day 240. But flying is a whole lot more fun! ;)

Day 241. Ah yes, the joys of home ownership. A musty smell indicated a problem, so we pulled out all of the shelving/boxes from our storage room. Yep. Mold.

However, a huge blessing of living near family is an extra set of helping hands. With Grandpa's help, we were able to get so much farther than we expected to ... the carpet and two walls worth of drywall and wet insulation were torn down and are loaded up in the pickup for a dump run. Now to figure out how to solve the problem so that we don't have a repeat performance. :)

Day 242. And finally, we decided to take a few pictures this morning with everyone in their Sunday best ... :)

 

 

And that is August in a nutshell. :)
These next couple weeks will be very unique as Hannah-bug is going to be visiting her best friend in SC. I'm so glad she has the opportunity to go, but I sure am going to miss her! ♥

365 Project.2015 | Week 32b ... Exploring Williamsburg

We were blessed to be able to spend three days in Colonial Williamsburg, and it was so. much. fun! For me personally, I think my favorite part was watching the kids learn by interacting with the people and participating in the activities. I hope you'll enjoy sharing our adventures with us! :)

Day 218.We arrived in Williamsburg a little before noon, and after getting all of our paperwork, tickets, etc. from the hotel, we began exploring.

We attended a "Bits and Bridles" tour which allowed us an opportunity to learn about how they care for their horses and the unique construction of the carriages.

 It also gave us an opportunity to see some of the horses up close. :)

 

From the very beginning, Abby was fascinated by the horses. If there was a horse within view, she could not be distracted from it!

After the tour, we made our way to Duke of Gloucester Street,

and discovered that our services were needed to win a tug of war. :)

Hannah and I both loved visiting the milliner! :) Everyone throughout Williamsburg was so friendly and happy to answer questions and explain what they were doing.

 The boys really enjoyed visiting the brick maker. :)

 

 

They learned about the entire process of creating a brick wall ... from the materials and process of creating the bricks, to how they were dried, and then how the wall was constructed!

 

Afterwards we watched the militia march to the courthouse.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Christiana Campbell's Tavern where George Washington preferred to take his meals.

 The service and food were wonderful. :)

 Day 219. Friday morning we participated in "RevQuest" ... an extremely well designed, interactive "spy" game. Our mission was to gather information and break the code to discover where the British planned to attack and how large their force would be!

Time for some sleuthing!

And while Mommy and the big kids worked on breaking codes, 

 

 Abby and Daddy wandered a bit and took really cool pictures ...

Our clues led us all throughout Williamsburg, so along with the fun of our spy mission, we also got to visit more tradespeople, including the blacksmith,

and the locksmith. It was so interesting to see the internal workings of their locking mechanisms!

 We also visited the cobbler.

 

 And finally made our way over to the Governor's Palace where we completed our mission.

 Miss Abby was a little worn out by all that sleuthing, so she took an afternoon siesta with Mommy ... 

 While her siblings learned what it took to be a part of the militia. :)

 We joined back up after her nap for another behind the scenes tour. And some horse watching. ;)

All of us really enjoyed "Behind the Field Musick" where we learned about the Fifes and Drums program. Every single one of these musicians is a local student, age 10-18, who gives two hours, two days a week (plus practice time!) to recreate the militia environment for the guests of Williamsburg. They memorize over 800 songs throughout their time in the program!

 

 

We certainly had a new appreciation for the music we were hearing!

This evening was very exciting because as new recruits, our crew got to march through the town in preparation for the cannon salute and the officer's review of the troops. :)

 General Lafayette gave quite the stirring speech!

We enjoyed another special dinner at Shield's Tavern. While it would not be our first recommendation to others,

 Abby really enjoyed the music. :)

 

We found these scalawags hanging about afterwards! Ay', Matey!

 

 Day 220. Time for some further training!

 Our crew joined the "Call to Arms" on Saturday morning, and they learned how to stand ...

 And turn ...

 And march.

 

 

 Of all of the tradespeople we visited, the weaver was probably our favorite. 

 Aren't the thread colors beautiful!?!

 This particular woman was so patient and answered all of our crew's questions. :)

 She even let them participate in the process of preparing the cotton for spinning!

 

Abby, however, still claims horses as her favorite. ;)

 

 

 Today we took the opportunity to tour the Governor's Palace. 

 

 The map of that day was quite interesting ...

As were the decorations in the entry way. I'm feeling the love here ... ;)

Kitchens functioned a bit differently back then ... and this one had the latest gadgets! 

 One of the last tradespeople we visited was the printer.

 The kids loved being able to print their own copy of the Declaration of Independence!

 

 

 And finally, we enjoyed a bit more fun on Gloucester Street.

 

 

 

 Including the opportunity to play hoop and stick ...

 

 

 

 Join in another round of tug of war ...

 

 And run some races!

 

 

And thus ended our tour of Williamsburg.

So thankful for the opportunity we had to visit. :)