More Pics from Co-op

A few more pictures to share from the boys' experience with "school." The first picture is of the boys on the first day of co-op. The rest are at a farm museum where they had tons of fun learning about farm animals, how to milk a cow, how to get water from a hand pump and even how to churn butter. The last picture shows the children in front of the shelter they personally built as the theme that week was about shelters.

Homeschool Co-op

The boys continue to enjoy going to co-op every Wednesday where they learn about different subjects as well as socialize with their "school friends." We've covered various topics such as the weather, our bodies, cooperation, safety, food and nutrition and the family unit. We continue to take field trips to such places as the supermarket, a farm museum, children's plays (like Goodnight Moon, Runaway Bunny, Inch by Inch and more) and taking a tour of an orchard. It's been fun and educational, and best of all, the boys love it! Here are just a few pictures taken of them from co-op...

Cute little Blog

Yes, you'll notice a completely new and different design to our blog. Is it not the cutest??!! I have to admit I came across another blog with this design and had to ask them where they found the template. They were nice enough to tell me about where they found it so I could "steal" it. :-) Of course, for me perusing different blog templates and graphics feels like being a kid in a candy shop. My inner graphic designer gets to meet up with my inner scrapbooker and get creative!! So thank you to Waltzing Matilda and to The Cutest Blog on the Block designers! Maybe someday I'll actually take advantage of their layout creator and design my own template. But for now I'm just trying to survive each cold winter day as it comes...along with the viruses it brings. Wherefore art thou, Spring?!!

Crown of glory, huh?

I've recently celebrated another birthday, one that has officially landed me smack dab in the middle of my 30's. Along with more candles to blow out, each year brings with it more signs I am definitely no longer in my 20's such as the decrease in circulatory flow, unfamiliar creaking of bones upon moving, the worsening aches and pains caused by pregnancy and the extra stores of fat as if my body were preparing for my and my baby's survival in the midst of a seven-year famine. But most unsettling of all, I've discovered another sign - strands of hair devoid of all color. Amongst the abundance of silky, red strands (all-natural, of course - NOT), I've started noticing these hairs that curiously bring to mind the song from Sesame Street "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong." At first, I convinced myself it was highlighted hair - lighter than the rest and simply blonde. After all, not only do I color my hair red, I also highlight it. So sure, that must be it. But many moons later, these "highlighted" hairs are rising up and proving their snowy existence by showing up against my ever darkening natural hair color (which I just don't get - why would my hair color get naturally darker as I age while some just get white?). I have now joined an exclusive club of people who look in the mirror and spy hairs just waiting to be plucked. The practice of dying my hair which was always a luxury will at some point become a necessity. That's just sad to me.

If the amount of salt in my pepper is proportional to the number of children and their accompanying mess contained within my small house, then I should bless my lucky stars I can still count on one hand how many gray hairs I've found. But I've always heard wisdom comes with graying hair. So how come I don't feel wise enough yet?

Snow Days & Sick Days

So sickness runs rampant through our house again. Jayce caught it first, and we thought maybe we'd scrape by with little aftereffects, but alas Reagan and the baby were next in line. Reagan seemed to catch it the worst (runny nose, bad croupy cough, little sleep, overall misery), and it was no picnic for Landon either (doesn't help that he's also teething). Then yesterday it hit Mike, and now I've got it today. Lauryn has been the only one spared so far - of course, it helps that she holes up in her room as if quarantined all day every day like a typical teenager (Lauryn? Nope - haven't seen her in oh...two days? Does she still live here??). While under the weather (and speaking of weather), I've decided to update this blog and post a small video of the boys playing out in the snow. Enjoy, Grandparents!