The school post

We have been busy the last two months! I am just now getting these photos off my camera and of course, it doesn't reflect their latest work. However, here is a sampling of what the boys have been working on through the beginning months of the school year!

Blake's Native American Shelter block- pacific Northwest
NA block-longhouses (woodlands)

NA block- wigwams (people of the rice)

Blake's Math block- measurement

Jacob's Language Arts block- consonants

LA block-consonants

LA block-consonants

Jacob's math block-qualities of numbers

math block-qualities of numbers

Blake learned cursive this year!

We have had a wonderful first half of the school year! I have been very pleased with how well the boys have been doing and how much work we are actually getting done (which is easier said than done some days!) We ended up taking the month of December off to focus on the holidays. After the New Year, Blake will jump into his Old Testament block and Jacob will finish up his introduction to the consonants!

Update

Can I just say that I cannot believe it is November already! What on earth happened to fall? We were pretty busy at the end of summer...two trips to Georgia and a camping trip (just mama's and kids). Now we are well into our school year and things couldn't be busier, but it is a good busy. This year, Blake is doing third grade work and Jacob is doing first grade (we follow Waldorf pedagogy which doesn't begin academics until first grade/6.5-7 years of age). In some ways, things have been going as expected (Blake still is reluctant to do any written work) and in other ways, it has been unexpected (Jacob LOVES doing school work). It has been challenging to say the least to fit in enough time for everyone while also tending to a toddler who loves to climb on the school table and steal/eat our crayons. But things are getting better and we have developed a wonderful groove. I hope to post some pictures of their work soon to give everyone a taste as to what we do around here!

MaKenna

Who is this toddler and what did you do with my baby?!?! I know these types of posts are mostly for me, but if I don't write them down, I will not remember these little moments that seem to go by all too quickly. Little Roo has developed quite the personality! She is soooo much fun (I love, love, love this age). She is little miss independent...she wants to do everything all by herself. She won't let me carry her anywhere anymore, she has to walk while holding my hand. She feeds herself with adult silverware and drinks out of regular cups (although she still likes to pour it everywhere!). She absolutely loves animals, especially cats. She adores her big brothers, wanting to play with them whenever they are around.

She has developed a pretty close relationship with Parker. I think it is because he still plays by himself quite a bit while his big brothers are occupied with football or other sports. They have their own special games they play and it is so sweet to watch them interact.

She loves to dance and will start to shake her hiney whenever she hears music. She just recently has begun to "sing" some songs from our co-op. She is very much into books and puzzles right now. In fact, they are strewn all over the floor much of the time. Sometimes she is content to read to herself and other times she wants someone to read for her.

She loves to hide and is pretty good at it too! One day I couldn't find her anywhere and she was hiding behind Jacob's clothes organizer in his closet! Little stinker. And she wouldn't be my daughter if she didn't know where the chocolate stash is! She will stand in front of the cabinet with her hands out saying "more, more, more".

Here she is signing "bird". Thankfully, she loves to be outside and doesn't mind getting dirty. In fact for her, the dirtier the better! She figured out how to climb up the ladder to the slide shortly after we moved. In fact, she climbs on everything. She will push the kitchen chairs around to get to what she wants. Now she likes to climb in the sink and turn on the water (can you tell she keeps me on my toes?)

Right now, she is cutting her two top molars which means not much sleep for mama and lots and lots of nursing. I am hoping they come through soon, but it seems she is taking after Parker with rediculously slow teething. Ugh. But despite the lack of sleep, she is still a pretty cheerful girl. And I am so very thankful to have her in my life!

Aw Shucks!

A few weekends ago, we took our annual trip to Aw Shucks! This was the first time that daddy would join us (yeah!) and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Because we went during the weekend, it was crazy busy, but we had a lot of fun anyways. There is so much to do there: corn maze, hay ride, animal barn, pumpkin patch, horseshoes and corn hole, nature trail with a scavenger hunt, play hut area, and the list goes on and on! We spent several hours there and we still didn't do/see everything. MaKenna's favorite part was probably these little log cabins. She would run inside and squeal with delight...she was so happy. I tried to get pictures of that, but all I could get was blurry attempts b/c she would not be still.

walking through the maze
daddy and kenna leading the way

on the hay ride

watching the baby goats and sheep

sitting in the pumpkin patch at the end of our day

Finger Knitting in the Woods

Several weeks ago during our playgroup at the creek, the kids felt inspired to finger knit (there is never a shortage of yarn thanks to Carrie!). The nice quiet rhythm of finger knitting kept them occupied for quite awhile before it was time to cool off in the creek.

Just like her brothers, stick in hand

picking his yarn

the finger knitting soon turned into "friendship" bracelet making as the mama's started talking about "remember when..."

sweet girls

everyone working on their bracelets

It was a wonderful day and many bracelets have been made since just as I am sure many more are to come!

Fire Island (NY)

We were fortunate to coordinate a visit in NY with some friends we haven't seen in a very long time (hi Greene's!). They were staying on Fire Island for a few days and we were more than happy to take the ferry over and spend the day with them!

Jakey's first ferry ride.

The ride was only about 20 minutes and they enjoyed every minute

MaKenna was more interested in cruising around

Playing at the beach. If you notice in the above pics, the kids are wearing jackets and it was raining! So imagine our surprise when the clouds parted and the sun came out almost within minutes of arriving. Of course, all beach gear was in the car, so down to undies it was (we pretty much had the beach to ourselves anyways).

pretty girl with her mama (a rare picture)

climbing the sand hill

Not sure what they are doing here, but it sure looks like fun!

After a delicious meal, we caught the sunset on the ferry ride back to LI. It was a perfect day spent in good company and went by all too quickly!

*while I realize it has been a month since my last post, we had a move in early July that has kept us busy these last few weeks. We are enjoying our "new" house so much and I hope to be back to updating more soon.

Strawberry Picking (NY)

Strawberry season had just ended here in the south before we headed up to NY, so imagine my delight when Granny suggested we pick strawberries! We had already gone through 3+ gallons (strictly eaten...none ever made it to the freezer) and were more than happy to have an extension to the season. We got a bit lost on the way to the farm and ended up at a beautiful oceanside park. It always amazes me how the weather along the beach is so different than inshore...the sun was shining and the sky was a brilliant shade of blue! It was perfect to get out and smell the ocean air and collect a few souvenier shells! Oh, how I miss the beach.

the boys definitely did more eating than picking...it was serious business for mama!

searching for the perfect berries

a berry in each hand!

the boys helping daddy

Kenna kept pretty close to the bucket

berry buddies

granny going in for a smooch!

The weather turned out to be perfect and it was such a perfect morning!

South Shore Nature Center (New York)

A week ago, our family went up to New York for a vacation as well as to celebrate Peter's younger sister's wedding. We sort of planned activities as we went along which worked out great. Luckily the weather was wonderful which allowed for us to spend lots of time outdoors. Our first stop was the South Shore Nature Center. I think it was special for the boys to visit a place that their daddy had gone to as a little boy himself. We had such a wonderful time (as we always do when we are exploring outside!)

a beautiful butterfly garden
wild animals emerging from the woods (they got pretty up close to a deer!)

handsome dude

a wigwam demonstrating the housing built by the Native Americans that lived on Long Island (very appropriate for our upcoming third grade year!)

Inside- architect daddy pointing out all the details

mossy carpet

catching lily pads

such a beautiful pond with several wood duck nesting boxes and lots of lily pads

the guys

one of two large snapping turtles we spotted along the trail

one of the trails we walked was made of a boardwalk. The reeds on either side were pretty tall and made such a beautiful sound in the breeze. The boys loved running ahead and then coming back to us. It felt sort of like a maze to them.

fallen trees make great balance beams

another deer we spotted on the way back to the car