Day 100 and A New Look!

We hit Day 100 this week.  A couple days behind last year.  For some reason, this year . . . this winter has just sucked the life out of us.  We've had to take a couple "mental health days".  Next year, we'll plan for this and start early to leave more time for field trips to break up the monotony.

Each day we colored in a gumball.  The kids are starting over for the remaining 70 days we have left.

 Day 100 this year wasn't nearly as fun-filled and exciting as last year, but we did do a couple fun things.  Each child was greeted with a little gift at their desk at the beginning of the day.

Butterfly received sparkling apple cider (a favorite) and a card good for a baking session with Mommy.

Bud has been wanting a Dream Lite, so he received this mini Dream Lite puppy.  Apparently, it was a big hit because he later wrote about how much he loved it in Writing class.

Sparkle received a new robe since the sleeves were shrinking on her last one.  My girl is growing too fast!

Due to some issues we have been having with a "student", we had to move a desk in our schoolroom.  I guess I'm not the only one feeling this drag.  While moving that desk, I found a note that said, "Day 100 is the worst day of my life" with lots of teary-eyed faces.  (I'm guessing this is because said child was left behind on our trip to the local coffee shop for hot chocolate in honor of Day 100.)  I was teasing with this child later and said, "Now you can't say another day is the worst day because you already said Day 100 was the worst day".  The child laughed.  However, I found a note today that said, "Day 102 is the second worst day ever."  Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus! *sigh*

Pictured below is another note I found when we decided to rearrange the whole room today.  The Knight and I were laughing hysterically when we found it.  That must have been a "terrible, horrible, very bad, no good day" for that child.  Honestly, I have no idea what Friday this was.

Once we moved the one desk, I knew we had to move others.  It ended up being a total overhaul.  But honestly, I'm thrilled!  I can't wait to get in there.  It may be the mid-winter boost we need to get us through the rest of the winter.

Here's the bookshelves and my desk area before.  Bud and Butterfly are off to the right.

This is a straight-on look of Bud and Butterfly's area before.

This is Sparkle's area (and back to the bookshelves) before.

Excuse the glare off the snow, but this is the after!  This layout has a much more open feel.  I think it will present a lot nicer when we list the house this summer. (It will need a little more de-cluttering before we officially list it though.)

Rubber Duckie, You're The One!

Contrary to some {cough} negativity we've been hearing around the house, the kids and I were excited to go to Pittsburgh and see the world-renowned Rubber Duck.  We know that in the "grand scheme" of things, it's not a big deal; however, we thought it was pretty cool that this was the duck's first stop in the US.

News of the duck's first visit to the US was everywhere -- on the news, in the papers.  Most of the souvenirs were sold out with only a few days left before the duck left town.  We met up with Aunt Pat and walked down the busy city streets to Point State Park to see what the buzz was all about.

It was HUGE!  Forty feet tall and thirty feet wide to be exact.  And what about something so big, yellow and cute wouldn't put a smile on your face?  Bud was the most excited to see the rubber duck, and his anticipation grew when he could see the duck through the trees as we got closer.

For a Tuesday afternoon, there was quite a crowd hovering around the duck -- even people from other countries were there snapping photos.

 

Bud wanted to bring his rubber ducky, so he could get a picture of him, his rubber duck and the BIG duck.  (Thank you, duck, for bringing the fact that I threw out a couple bath duckies to my son's attention. {sigh}  Just when you think they'll never notice. Although in my defense, they were gross from being used as bath toys for years.)

A few, short steps away is the Point State Park fountain.  The kids enjoyed looking at the fountain which sprays water 150 feet in the air.  The wind was blowing enough to mist everyone with water.  We didn't hang around long as the weather wasn't very conducive to running around wet.

 

Thanks for joining us, Aunt Pat!  We had a great time!

Great Start To 2013-2014 School Year~

Today has to go down in the win column.  It was a little chaotic with appointments, but the kids' attitudes were nothing less than stellar and the smoothness of the school day was {honestly} shocking!  I am overjoyed with how well the day went.

 

There were bumps along the way . . . Bud was "boring" out of his mind.  Kids were still working on school at 8:00 pm because of our appointments.  But if we could keep the essence of today throughout the whole school year, I will be one happy Momma!

 

Here are our 1st Day of School pictures . . .

 

In an effort to make this year a little more fun, I found these ideas on Pinterest.  Princess Sparkle kept chuckling at the sayings.  She asked where I got the ideas.  When I told her Pinterest, she said, "I thought so."

These outtakes of Bud were hilarious.  I had to share them.

 

Here's to a fun, productive, great school year!

Suessical 2013

I'm thrilled that my kids like the "fine arts" (although you couldn't tell it from this first picture)!  Many times I've asked the Knight to take me to plays or other such things.  He's gone with me and endured a few performances, but that's not his thing.  Now a football game or a NASCAR race -- he'd be the first to sign up.

 

Every spring a local college puts on a Children's Theater.  This year's production was the Suessical.  We had a great time in our 2nd row seats!! (Thanks to our friend and her son.)  Bud was singing along with the songs towards the end. 

 

Bud didn't want his picture taken at first, but other pictures I have he's sportin' a huge smile!

The Cat in the Hat -- literally right in front of us.  No zoom needed.

Can't wait to see what show they put on next year!

Carnegie Science Center

A couple weeks ago, we went with some friends to the Carnegie Science Center for a field trip.  I love having the membership. (So glad we bought it in Ohio too.  It was WAY cheaper there!)  We can go whenever we want, and the only cost is $3.00 for parking!

 

We decided to start in the Sports Works building because we notoriously run out of time to do everything we want to over there.

 

We have our admissions bands.  Ready, Set . . . have fun! Oh, yes . . . and learn!

Bud can't wait to get inside!

 The kids taking turn on the You-Yo (the human yo-yo).

All the kids started out adventurous on the rock climing wall . . .

Sparkle made it about 16 feet.

Butterfly made it about 17 feet and panicked.  The helper had to assiste her down.  Tried cropping this photo three times, but it won't save.  The "boy" in the red is a dummy.  Children aren't randomly allow to climb just anywhere!

This is about as far as Bud made it, but he had fun just climbing that far.

This kept them occupied for a long time!

Everyone took a turn on the Bounce exhibit, but they weren't as in to it this year.  Don't think anyone attempted a flip this time.

We played a little table hockey.

Our friends' won a voucher to the science center and shared some of their winnings so we could watch the IMAX film, To the Actic.  We all really enjoyed it!

Bud had a few minutes with the remote control vacuum cleaner.

We love the miniature railroad exhibit.  They've serviced it and updated it since we were there in the fall.

Group photo
Love the Pittsburgh backdrop!

Cheese Factory Tour

Our homeschool group went on a field trip this week to a local cheese factory.

 

 

(Sparkle is on the left)

We learned that making cheese is a STINKY business.  Butterfly is in the foreground.  Bud is in the background.  The boy not holding his nose is the son of the man we knew that got us the tour there.  I think he had been there before.

Ready to start the tour . . .

Seperating the whey and filling the bins . . .

Bud and his friend, Levi

Swiss cheese

Each bin weighs about 200 pounds.  Every pallet has 7 bins, and they are stacked 2 pallets high to age.

This room has over a million pounds of cheese.

The tour is almost over and still holding our noses.

Butterfly finally was able to not hold her nose! (center of photo)
Bud is peeking into the box.

We thought it was strange that there were 100s of worms in the parking lot.  We were dodging them on the way back to the van.