100th Day of School!

It's always such a happy day when we reach our 100th day of school. It's has become a tradition to do something special that day, and we continued that tradition this year. First, the kids did a writing  exercise. The kids got to choose from two story starters.

 #1: If you had $100 dollars, what would you buy and why.

#2: If you were 100 years old, write a story about your life at that age.

 Each of the kids wrote their story then shared it with the class. Julia was so cute with her illustration and the story she "wrote". I even got video of some of them sharing.....so sweet.

 Next we got out the mini-marshmallows and toothpicks to prepare for the next activity.

First everyone made piles of ten till they reached 100.

 Then I gave them the freedom to start creating whatever they wanted.

 Zach is playing it cool while he is building his masterpiece.

 Caleb was making some kind of structure with interesting angles.

 Lance is an engineer at heart, he loves constructing things.

 There you have it, a peek into our morning of fun with 100. It always feels like a we are on the home stretch with the school year when we reach the 100th day. It always strikes me as crazy that we have completed over half of our school year at this point. This is my 7th year as a teacher to my children, and the 7th year we have celebrated 100 days of school. I can't tell you how unbelievably fast those years have flown by! This will be Lance's last year to celebrate the 100th day of school, since he's on to middle school!! I'm thinking he might be to cool to participate with us next year. Although homeschooling my children has been a major sacrifice on every level, and their have been several occasions where tears have flowed, I wouldn't change our decision even for a second. When I ask my kids they say the same thing. I totally understand that homeschooling is not for every family, but it sure has been a gift to our family.

January in Review

The month of January was fun for all of us. We got to celebrate my sweet Hubby's Birthday! I'm not sure how many men ask for a pad for their tractor seat, but he was tickled to get it. That made us all very happy to get it for him.

 We always celebrate at my in-laws house with cake and ice cream!

 He got this vintage t-shirt of Waylon Jennings. It's incredibly soft and feels wonderful. Again he was thrilled, again I wondered why.

We got to go to the Shrine Circus! This was the kids first time to go to the circus and they enjoyed every minute. We have a really great time! I forgot my good camera, so we just got a few pictures together before the circus started.

 

 Since Justin is still healing up, we've been doing more relaxing than usual. Julia and Daddy spent some time just hanging out and watching a little show.

 We have been spoiling Jasper and he has enjoyed cuddling up with the kids while they read. He is currently taking some dancing lessons from Caleb, shown here. I'm still trying to decide whether he is thrilled or really wanting someone to send him outside.

We also celebrated out 100th Day of school.......lots of pictures to come.

Quilting FUN

This winter I have been able to make a little progress in my quilting studio. This is a baby boy quilt I gave it to a girlfriend who just had a bundle of joy.

 All I used is a little charm pack. I love the blue and brown together.

 I went to a quilting retreat in January and I ended up working on this project. Great big 25" star blocks, both of which I LOVE. The colors are yellow, brown, oranges, with a white background. I still have some work to do on the blocks, along with adding some sashing as well. When it's all finished it will be a queen size, and have a new home on my bed in the fall seasons.

 Miss Julia has always been interested in my quilting, but lately she has really been struck with the bug of wanting to make things herself. She also has a complete LOVE for fabric. After brainstorming with her we have decided that we will make some baby doll quilts to sell. With that money she wants to buy her own sewing machine (with protective guards) for her to sew along side me.

 She has been sitting on my lap doing the actual sewing herself while I control the speed and foot pedal. She giggles a lot, she asks me how she's doing, and then admires her work.

 We are having a lot of FUN and enjoying our time together.

 After several hours of sewing (yes she actually will sew with me for hours), this is what we came up with for our second quilt. We used some 5" squares to make this bright baby doll quilt. Now we need to sew the rows together!

 Julia and I also attended a quilt club meeting this week and scored some really great (free) fabric! This is just what I collected.....she had her own stash she collected. She came home flying high and ready to go back again next month.

When we finish a few more baby doll quilts we will be sure to post them here in case any of you are interested in supporting her sewing machine fund, and fabric accumulation habit.