On to October

Theater

     Before our Texas trip, these two auditioned for a local homeschool group's play, Aladdin. We couldn't make the live audition, so they sent in audition tapes. They made up a little Charlotte's Web skit, which was pretty cute. I am always so proud of my children when they have enough bravery to do the things that I was too afraid to do when I was young. Sis even sent in a tape of her singing Like I'm Gonna Lose You (Meghan Trainor) because she wanted a singing part. There is no part of my 11 year old self that could have done that! (I would have wanted to, but I don't think I could have followed through.) She's so much like me, so much like I was back then - painfully shy at times. I love to see that she takes my encouragement and advice and challenges herself to overcome. 

     AND they were rewarded for their effort. Sis got the role of Princess Jasmine, and Ninja would be Razoul. Now they would be preparing for two plays. They were already working on The Cat in the Hat in their homeschool academy theater classes.

Homeschool

     We always have our regular game of Kahoot! to review our history/geography lesson. That's Dash's very creative typing abilities/person.

practicing addition

Field Trip

     I had signed Ninja and I up to attend a field trip at the fire station with our homeschool group. The other kids had been to the fire station when they were young, and he hadn't gotten the opportunity yet. Plus, I like to plan little outings like this for one kid at a time. It's nice to have some one-on-one bonding.

     I don't know what it is, but I always just love fire station field trips. It literally makes me want to become a fire fighter. After one guy said there really isn't an age limit, I was mentally trying to decide whether I could get in shape to pass the fitness part! (I'm laughing at myself right now.) I asked so many questions because I find it all fascinating. Their job. The station itself and the living quarters. I think I might have missed my calling haha. (However, when I have since told my kids that I want to become a firefighter, they expressed adamantly that they do not want their mother going into burning buildings.)

     It really bothers me that I didn't crop that random arm out of this photo, but it seems too exhausting to edit it now. More importantly, my little man sure is cute.

     Speaking of cute, he specifically asked if we could wear our matching constellation shirts. I can't remember who got dressed first. (I don't know how we both ended up with constellation shirts, either; they were bought at different times.) But it was totally his idea for us to match. That makes me so happy.

     Speaking of matching (and nothing to do with the fire station field trip), this was another random day that he asked if we could match - with royal blue tops and black bottoms. I will be grateful for the rest of my life for this kind of sweetness he has brought into my life.

Homeschool Academy

 building (beautifully colored) bridges to hold weight in Junkbox Wars class

more craft stick building for Ninja

and more bridge building for Dash

     Dash and Tornado have Robotics class together.

Friends' Birthday Parties/Sleepover

     Dash got invited to an air soft gun birthday party for one of his friends. He had shot air soft guns before with friends in the neighborhood, but this was his first full air soft gun battle experience.

     Several of his school buddies were there, and they also played with strangers.
 

     It was pretty serious! (He had lots of fun.)

     Ninja attended a friend's birthday party this month, too.

          It was held at a gymnastic's place. They also got to swim.

      Ninja is so social. He is always in the middle of things. My big kids have commented before that at school, they often get the "Are you ______ (his real name)'s brother/sister?" Like, I am often "_______'s mom."

      Sister's friend spent the night one night. They baked cookies.

Exercise/Special Kid Time

     We miss the RV park life of riding bikes around more freely. Tornado and I decided to ride our bikes to Dairy Queen, which is almost a mile from our house, so he could get a smoothie. It was a lovely ride, and he is anxious to do it again sometime.

Travel

     September and October were busy months for us traveling. There were a couple of events and reunions I had to attend. During one of my trips, the kids spent a few days at the farm with their Grandma and Grandpa. Ryan had a business trip in Indianapolis, which is only a few hours away, therefore he was able to join them for all but one day of the trip.

     sibling/cousin fun

going out to eat

     I hope these two are friends forever.

Momma's Night Out

     I had a rare night out in Tampa with a few of my friends. I got to try out The Melting Pot (and its 4 course meal), and I am now a big fan! (Next time, though, I'm going to cut it down to 3 courses, though; I was too full!

Kitty Update

      Cali still lets the kittens nurse. I love that my Baby Girl is into attachment parenting just like her Momma (me). :)

     And they are still unbelievably irresistible.

New Recipe

     Our favorite new recipe we have tried at home is buffalo cauliflower. It's something we are always delighted to order at restaurants when they have it. It wasn't too difficult to make, and every little piece was devoured. 12 thumbs up.

First Month of School

 Homeschool Academy

     To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. 

- Thomas Edison

   The 3 youngest kids all take a class called Junk Box Wars at different times with their own age levels.

 

        This class is based on the tv show Junkyard Wars. The kids have individual or group challenges each class. Just a few of their other challenges include throwing a candy cane without it breaking, building tall card houses, making sling shots, creating marble runs, and building "pilgrim houses" that can withstand wind and weight, etc. It's a good interactive/teamwork/social class.

 

 

   This particular day (this pic and ones above) their assigment was to build a contraption that would cushion an egg's fall to keep it intact. There were different rounds/testing variables.

building spaghetti tower another day with his little buddy

House Update

     Although we did like the sunny feel of the breakfast nook with the yellow walls, I couldn't quite get on board with this particular shade of yellow with everything we own. I had to go with my standard gray, much to my sunshine-y daughter's chagrin. I don't think it's as dark as it seems in this pic. I was also happy to hang up all of my (around 30) cute plates. Since we lived in the RV for the year, it's kind of fun to unpack things that you had almost forgotten about.

Friend Fun

     Sis got a day out with a friend at a trampoline/climbing place in Tampa.

Homeschool

     This is the chapter book we are reading together right now. We started reading it several months ago but misplaced it. Now we are back at it. We visited the actual Alamo last year. Aaaaand getting ready for another visit. I recommend this book for a greater understanding of what happened here. There weren't many options for Alamo themed children's books. We all remained engaged in this historical fiction book.

 

     I mentioned in last post that we do our history lessons together. At the end of each lesson, we try to play an online game, Kahoot! This requires me to create questions ahead of time using information from the chapter, as well as pulling questions for review. This is a fun motivation for all of them. We are keeping track of points. I told them the overall winner at the end of the year will receive a special prize. 

     I just noticed that Dash had named himself Mr. Hair Cake during this particular day. (What a fun personality this kid has!) I feel I need to explain this is from a youtube video he showed us one day. I can't even begin to properly explain this video. It's basically these guys who make a cake using all sorts of hair - like shaved off their bodies, etc. They proceed to eat the cake. I literally threw up watching this video. I'm not kidding. (And I don't know why I'm sharing this for anyone in the world to see.) We were sitting on the bed watching it, I started feeling nauseous, I THREW UP and had to run to the bathroom with my hands over my mouth. I'm sure the kids wish they had a video of my reaction to that video.

Travel

     Labor Day Weekend arrived, and we made plans with relatives in Missouri and Texas. We only made a quick one night stop through my home state, and while we were there I took them to a well-loved restaurant (where we can pretty much eat nothing, but they were excited to order drinks, which is a treat for our water-at-restaurants family) at Flat Creek. Two of my childhood friends play in a cover band, and I always enjoy going to their shows. My kids had expressed they wanted to go watch them sometime since they know it's something I do occasionally. They got to meet some of my friends and like I wrote in a previous post, they got to experience a little bit of my small town roots, which is good for my "city kids."

     THESE TWO...are always either picking on each other or having great fun. They're like an old married couple. 23 months apart in age. I'm curious what their relationship will be like when they get older.

     We went to my aunt's house for our annual kickball game with my uncle, cousin (who is my age) and his kids, which was the main purpose for this leg of the trip.

          I love kickball. And we always have a great time getting together with this crew. I try really hard to keep traditions and connections within our nomadic, somewhat untraditional life.

     Next stop on our Labor Day Weekend Extravaganza was a visit to see my college roommate who lives near Dallas. I hadn't seen her in YEARS, probably since the older boys were very little. We had dinner out with her husband and two young sons and spent the night with them. (Ninja always says he is "so shy," but really he is my friendliest, least shy kid.)

     Jen and I lived together for two years in college. She is one of the NICEST, funniest, easiest people I have ever known. I have missed her, for sure; it was so nice to hang out with her and for my kids to see how great she is. They really liked her!

        Another long overdue visit was to our best friends from our early days in Arkansas. The four of us met pre-kids, so we have known them for 20 years. Our kids always attended each others' birthday parties, etc. "growing up." We moved to Florida, and they moved to Texas and somehow five years went by without us seeing each other. I had decided earlier this year that I was not going to let 2018 end without getting together with our long lost pals.
      I was curious how the kids would interact. Ninja didn't even remember them because he was still a baby when we left Arkansas. They all sat in formal awkwardness for the first half hour. By the end of the visit, they were running around playing like no time had passed at all.

     Life is so busy. Life is so hard. I MUST do better about seeing the people who mean the most to us. If only time and money were infinite resources. Spending time with Jen and these kids I had held as babies (and their very cool parents) was good for my soul.

First Day of School

     August arrived, and the house was abuzz with getting ready for the school year to start. I was yawning late one night, trying to surprise Tornado with this.

     I have to say, I think I did a pretty good job on his Upixel backpack, piecing together ideas from the internet and filling out the space with whatever I could think of. These products are cute ideas and also tedious work.

     The kids were greeted downstairs on their first day of homeschool academy with this table display. Just like last year, they will attend this school all day twice a week.

         I just like to make the first day fun. And fun was needed as we had not been used to getting up at 7 a.m. 

     Here is a list of the classes they are taking:

Ninja - History/Geography, Junk Box Wars, Literature, Chess, Theater, Science Alive, Spanish, Sign Language

Sis - Chess, Theater, Dance, Economics Biz Town, U.S. Presidents, Junk Box Wars, Sign Language

Dash - Advanced Geography, Computer Programming, Art, Literature, Junk Box Wars, Criminology, Odyssey of the Mind

Tornado - Art, U.S. Presidents, Photography, Film making, OT, Robotics, Web Design

     pancakes, fruit, sausage, and smoothies

And my beauties...

6th grade

1st grade

8th grade

continuing on with 12th grade

     I stuck around for their first couple of days of classes to make sure everyone was getting where they needed to be on time. It's nice to have the opportunities to peek in on my babes, getting glimpses into their worlds.

         Not only was this the first day of school...it was the day my baby lost his first tooth! This happened while we were waiting on his dance class to start. Both he and Sis are taking dance classes twice a week. Hip hop and break dancing for him and lyrical and hip hop for Sis.

     The next day, school at home was in full session, as well. We do history together, read and discuss a chapter book together, and also do other random subjects and projects all together. (Obiously, assignments differ according to age and ability.) The three big kids do Teaching Textbooks on their own for math. I love it because quite honestly, their math is getting difficult for me. And if they don't understand something, they can rewind the teaching video. I can also get a clear picture of how they are doing by looking at their progress reports. They each have a checklist of everything else they have to complete each day, which might include some homework from academy. We are looking forward to a new school year in a new house.