the new year

hey there friends.

we have a very busy day today with snow and friends and a celebration tonight,
so we won't see you until tomorrow.

here's wishing for you all the good things...

beautiful life stories

a happy home

bosom friends

a safe haven

time for goodly thoughts

and an abundance of what you call The Good Stuff.


May Happiness, Joy, and Love
be Yours this year-

for the taking as well as the giving.

xxoo
Stephanie

Science Drawing

It's the last day!

Head over to Janice VanCleave's site, Science Project Ideas for Kids, for a quick idea for an entry...
It's so worth the Discovery with your babes for less than ten minutes of your time!

december twenty-ninth

We began our day with Mystery Garden. Maddie would find a good question, and stick with it. "Is it an animal?" And then, "Is it an animal?" :) I finally quit telling her to ask another question, and would just answer her, and move on to Trevelyn's turn.
And we played with our Baffle Blox. I love that game. I love that it's Play.


We had some tidying up. Must get ready for Cousins - and trying to get ready for a New Year's Eve party!
Progress is rather slow, friends. oof.

There was painting, today.

Much like the Nintendo - surprise!!

A beautiful mess.

Cousins are here!!!


There was more painting....



and Hot Chocolate-with marshmallows, of course-

and The Allowance Game


Trevelyn won.

and supper and more Nintendo and computer play and television.

All is well at our house.

december two-eight

We began our day by looking at sand animation.
Very beautiful, that.

There was more research done today on how best to provide a healthy habitat for Maude... we brought her in a couple of weeks ago for the winter.


(We've lost Harold.... and I mean literally. He simply was not in the pond the last time we cleaned and drained it. ???)
It was too stressful worrying if she was getting enough oxygen under the ice, and the ice was already over six inches thick, and this in the beginning of December. We thought it prudent to bring her indoors for a few months.
So we're learning about how to take care of her -and her companion, Peek.

There's been ds playing

- surprise!! -

and tidying up
- which means putting away a few holiday things -
love that!

and discoveries


and Maddie reveals another thing that she's good at.


We've played Qwirkle

Score: 174 Trev - 173 Mama

and Maddie tried on addition and subtraction

And we have discussed Fencing classes. When I told Trev that he's tried it, he was surprised - he doesn't remember at all. :)

Trevelyn in May, 2006 - age 4

I think there's a homeschool fencing group - at least there used to be - so I'll be checking into that....

Writing for Maddie.



Bridge To Terabithia.

Karate in the livingroom.

Hot cocoa

warm baths

flannel nighties...

and maybe we're done
and maybe we're not.

Life is good.
See you tomorrow.

December 27

Aaaaah, another month week, and everything might just be shined up and organized!

Sometimes it's the little things make you feel like you're making progress....

like tending to tiny paint pots that need to be washed and rinsed and replenished.


Which of course leads to painting.



And going through buckets of magic markers.

And sometimes you can pick up a little paintable tea set or nite-lite and it can help to get a creative flow going.




And sometimes - all of a sudden - your son is interested for the first time in Building.



And sometimes a Mama feels like she maybe didn't choose very inspiring gifts
-and no games-
and then she looks around when organizing and notices that the shelves are now two baskets deep, and that we're not lacking for Juice, and that it's probably going to be okay.




And sometimes you get to feel very, very grateful for your helpmate.


and sometimes in the midst of This you get to stop what you're doing to meet friends at the movie to see Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.

and sometimes you're invited over after.



And you play and visit and make plans for hosting a small New Year's Eve party....

and then you wake up in the morning, and think,
Oof... I have work to do.


Such is our Life right now.

December 26

Well, let's see.

Mama scooted off this morning for about a dozen or so containers for our new tools. Some things were given a new box to live in so that we can keep the brightest (colorful) bins downstairs.
The fun has begun! :)

Mama's kind of fun, of course.

And our day looked like

tossing just a couple of little crafts into the store basket

and building lego figures


and Dora games on the computer. (On her computer which she no longer objects to because Papa is so cool and gave her a new 18.5 inch monitor for Christmas.)

And Grammy.

And Cousins.

And Dora gloves.

And the very cool treat of playing games, interactively, side by side.


And Up!

and making plans for a sleepover.

And it has looked like

walky-talkies

barbie clothes


and roller skating.


And

it has looked like peppermint lollipops

and singin' in the microphone

and The Incredibles.

We're doing just fine.
And I'm sure we'll see you tomorrow.

the organizing weekend

aaaah... one of my very favorite things.

Getting to rotate, organize, and spruce things up.

Scooting the paints over to make way for the new colors.

Finding bins for the new zoobs, mag-neatos, and toobers and zots,

baskets for the paint brushes and mops,

and spots on the shelves for new books.

Rotating things in and out...

Trying to decide what stays upstairs in the spotlight, and what gets put downstairs to be discovered again after a while....

Hope you have as much this weekend as I do! :)

And!! - Don't forget about the Science Experiment drawing - fancy is totally unnecessary - just anything wow or fun will get you entered to win the books!

Only a week left!

Christmas Day

reproduction of The Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton









Hope all was Merry and Bright for you, too.