School Time

Well Back to School is in full swing. The stores are loaded with school supplies and everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer. I've learned that I have quite an addiction to school supplies. I can't pass up $.40 crayons and cheap notebooks. School Supply wise I really don't need a lot. I picked up markers and could stand to get a few more pencils and maybe some Kindergarten ruled paper.

I also realized that I need to decide when to actually start school. Last week I received the last bit of my curriculum, so now I'm set. I just need to start school. I think we'll wait til the middle or end of August and pretty much follow the public school calendar. Starting in September we'll have a few additions to our schedule. We'll be doing BSF on Tuesdays, MOPS on Wed 2x a month and Co-op on Fridays. It's a lot and I'll probably have to cut things out if it gets too crazy.

Here is a breakdown of the curriculum for Belle's Kindergarten.

History/Literature: Sonlight Core A

Reading/Language Arts: Sonlight Readers & LA 1, and possibly some Phonics Pathways thrown in since I just discovered that book.

Math: Math-U-See Primer. Belle is already about a 1/3 of the way through the book, we may have to order MUS Alpha or supplement with Kumon books or something at the end. She does seem to be motivated by colorful worksheets so I may find something to add with her black and white MUS pages.

Science: Co-op class. I believe they are doing some sort of Magic School Bus curriculum.

Music: Co-op. They will be practicing all year for an Easter Cantata.

Phys Ed: Cheer class on Mondays and I think sometimes the Co-op goes to Franklin College to have students over there do a Phys Ed class with the kids.

Art: Oh all important Art. You'd think this would be my forte. Belle informed me that it wasn't school unless there were crafts. As artsy as I am, I am not "little kid" crafty. I need to find a book to help me here. I'm thinking maybe one of the Usborne craft books.

I don't even want to think about all the money I've spent on school stuff. I mean I guess it could have been worse. Sonlight isn't the cheapest option out there, but I was able to cut some costs. I found a lot of what I needed at homeschool sales and got a lot of read-alouds from a gal on Craigslist. So I only really had to order the Readers/Language Arts program from Sonlight.

I also seem to have a weakness for the Art & Education Store. Don't show me some cool little learning gadget or game, I won't be able to pass it up.

Now onto the school room. I really didn't need a school room, lots of people do just fine at the dinner table. But it was fun to put the school room together. And pretty much on the cheap as well.

We scored desks out of an old schoolhouse for free. Add a can of spray paint and they look like new.  I paid for one drawer system but the other drawer system I scored for $4 at a garage sale. The drawer systems are for something called the Workbox system. I'm going to give that shot to keep us organized.


Nic got the whiteboard out of the trash at work. Another score. Paid for the bookcase though. =)


Look at all these books


The poster wall.

Amazing Race

Our church has a super fun event called the Amazing Race. This is the second year we participated. Such a blast. We ran all over the city and downtown completing tasks trying to get to the end. It was about 10pm when we finished and they were cleaning up when we left, but we did in fact finish.

We did such tasks as (in no particular order):
• used a robot at Perry Meridian High School to try and pick up balls.
• rode a bull at Cadillac Jack
• renewed our vows on the canal.
• shot basketballs at Jillians
• ate Sushi at Sushi on the Rocks (not really, Nic threw it in his mouth and then spit it in the trash on the way out)
• completed a three legged race at the Gathering Place (Nic barely made it, thought he'd have a heart attack)
• Threw rose petals on the U of I campus. We had to say something we loved about each other and we both completely blanked.
• Fished for plastic fish at a park. And then dug for jewelry in the sand at the same park.
• Tracked down a Love & Sex book in Borders and had to answer questions out of it.
• Ate fondue at the Melting Pot.

Lots of other stuff I can't remember. Some people even had to dive into a pool fully clothed.

Here are some pictures from the night.

Firecracker Festival

Well our 4th of July got off to a rough start. Nic and I had a stomach bug. We still weren't feeling the greatest on Sunday, but were able to make it to church and then to the Firecracker Festival that evening. We haven't been back to the Masonic home for fireworks since 2008 when we had a horrible experience with Belle. This time we had a great time and I imagine we'll try to make it every year. They have food vendors and it's a great time to just sit, eat and people watch.

I was living life on the edge and took Ethan in just underwear. He did great, but had to go and was scared of the porto-pot. Can't say I blamed him. I eventually just let him pee in the grass behind the port o pots once it got dark. The kids thought the fireworks were awesome. Thankfully it wasn't as loud as I remembered it. I do believe they set them off somewhere different.

Backyard fireworks

Nic spent like $5 and got some little fireworks and we set them off in the yard last night.

Avalanche Ranch VBS

I got to be directly involved in VBS this year. I've got much appreciation for those who choose to lead VBS and the teachers who handle the classrooms. I only had to do decorations, the easy job. =)

Belle had a blast and loved that she was in the Purple Palaminos group. Even though Ethan isn't old enough to attend, he got to participate in the large group worship at the beginning and end. I think Ethan made friends with Jason Baker who was watching him most of the week. Everytime I'd pick Ethan up, he'd say "fun day!!".






On the last day there was a family night and they had pony rides and inflatables at the church. Big hit with the kids.

The Magic Poop Dragon

We'll pretty much do anything around here to get Ethan to poop in the potty. It has become increasingly apparent that he doesn't have a problem pooping in the potty. He just won't do it. So what to do?

Ethan is crazy about dragons. We bought a dragon he's been eyeing for awhile and sat it up high in the kitchen. He was told that he could have the dragon when he did a #2. And that the dragon would go back to it's spot if he pooped in his pants. This happened several times. He was motivated about getting the dragon back, but not so much about continuing to poop to keep it. So now I've resorted to the dragon sitting the bathroom with him cheering him on. I even tell him that the dragon likes poop. Oh geez, the things you do as a parent.

Nic scored a huge whiteboard out of the work dumpster. Probably the best thing ever to enter this house. The kids love their large canvas. We use dry erase crayons to limit the staining on clothing and my carpet. The white board is also the only way Belle will do her phonics lessons whenever she decides she wants to do school.



Mr Ethan is growing up a lot lately. All the sudden he knows all his letters (uppercase anyways) and about 50% of their sounds. This is not due to my mad teaching skills. I have Leapfrog Letter Factory to thank. Here he is using a Magnatab that I got at the Homeschool convention. Great for his prewriting skills.

Flip movies

Well I cleared out the flip. Here are some movies I found.

Belle and Olivia serenading us at Jamie's garage sale.


Ethan sitting on the pot (whatever it takes to make him stay there) being cute. I was trying to get him to say the words he says that are cute. Like "fundader" (thunder), but he didn't do it.


Belle giving a tour. Don't watch if you get motion sickness. It's dark too. I love her shot of the "outside world" at the end.

Belle's Unicorn party

Well poor Belle has never had friends to her birthday party. We always end up in Ohio for the Strawberry festival and don't have a party in Indiana. So this year I had a play date party. We had everyone over during the week for a big party. I made unicorn invitations and the kids wore unicorn horns. I had even planned on making unicorn sundaes, but forgot to add the horns and they were left sitting on the counter. Unfortunately I didn't get a whole lot of pictures since I was running around.

The kids got to make magical glitter play doh, or glittery unicorn poop (depending on how your mind works)

If I only had a Heart

It's that time of the year again. When dance ends for the year. This year Belle took tap with Olivia Killingbeck. It was nice to see Jamie and Olivia every Monday.

The girls have been working on their dance routine all year. They were the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz. They all did a great job. Maybe I can get the video from Jamie and post it here.

Belle will be turning in her tap shoes for pom poms next year. She convinced me to sign her up for cheer. It's a class that does tumbling, cheer, stunts, dance and of course includes pom poms (the best part).

Strawberry Festival parade

Well we made our annual trek to Belle's birthday parade (aka The Strawberry Festival parade). We send the guys out early to stake claim to a spot so that the kids have a front row view of the parade. Everyone had fun, got lots of candy and enjoyed the show. We came back to mom's house, took naps, swam in the pool and then had dinner and presents for Belle's birthday.







How cute are these cookies that Tish made.


And we knew royalty this year. Emily Henry was Strawberry Festival queen.


LOVED the awning on the pool. My fair skin was appreciative.






We headed over the Freshours Sunday for more birthday fun with presents and dirt cake. We had two potty training boys so of course they peed in the grass. Here Waren thought it would be fun to stick a twig up Ethan's butt. Ethan on the otherhand is concentrating hard on what he's aiming at.


Speaking of potty training. We're doing fairly good. Not too many pee accidents, but we're having poop issues. He'll go on the potty, but only if you catch him at the right time. Just today we had 3 poop accidents. Not fun, especially considering I never went through this with Belle. He'll get it. . . eventually.

Family pictures

We had some family pictures taken last month. Here is a sampling. I'm super excited at how they turned out. It's so nice to have professional pictures. JCPenney portrait studio just doesn't cut it. I just cherish the last photos Sharon did of the kids, as well as the pictures I have of Belle by Jessica Strickland. It's great to have nice pictures of all of us.