Day 5

A picture of your favorite memory

My Mom's parents house in Crandon, Wisconsin.  Lots of fun memories there.  Couple things, as a result of visiting here.  First, I really like the craftsman style house.  Second, the bay window you see was a part of the dining room.  It was full of colored glass.  I hope to recreate that some day in my own house.

Day 4

A picture of your night

Day 3

A picture of the cast from your favorite show

Found the photo on a NCIS fan website.

I also enjoy NCIS LA, but, at the time of writing this blog post, didn't have the umf to find a cast photo.

Day 2

Day 02 A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

That person would be Michelle!  We've known each other since Middle School.  Couldn't think of one good photo to sum it all up, so a picture with several will have to do.  There are photo's from early 80's, photo from college, and from our weddings.  Although we don't talk as often now, we still manage to keep up and always pick up where we left off!

As an aside ~ thought it was kind of funny that Kevin knew this photo was for day 2 and didn't question why a picture of pictures!

Day 1

A picture of you and ten facts:

1. Born in Wausau, WI
2. Youngest of 5
3. Married almost 14 years
4. 2 kids ~ Thing One and Thing Two
5. Almost finished with 4th year homeschooling
6. Love to knit
7. Lived in 11 different houses/apartments during my life
8. Waiting on being matched with a Birth Mother for an adoption
9. Always have trouble with lists like these
10. Looking forward to when the dog sleeps through the night

Are you up for a picture challenge?

A friend on Facebook posted this and I thought it would be interesting to do.  A picture a day, for 31 days.  Each day has a different theme or whatever you want to call it.  Here are the days:

Day 01         A picture of yourself with ten facts

Day 02         A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

Day 03         A picture of the cast from your favorite show

Day 04         A picture of your night

Day 05         A picture of your favorite memory

Day 06         A picture of a person you’d love to trade places with

Day 07         A picture of your most treasured item

Day 08         A picture that makes you laugh

Day 09         A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

Day 10         A picture of the person you do the most unusual things with

Day 11         A picture of something you hate

Day 12         A picture of something you love

Day 13         A picture of your favorite band or artist

Day 14         A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without

Day 15         A picture of something you want to do before you die

Day 16         A picture of someone who inspires you

Day 17         A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

Day 18         A picture of your biggest insecurity

Day 19         A picture and a letter

Day 20          A picture of somewhere you’d love to travel

Day 21         A picture of something you wish you could forget

Day 22         A picture of something you wish you were better at

Day 23          A picture of your favorite book

Day 24         A picture of something you wish you could change

Day 25         A picture of your day

Day 26         A picture of something that means a lot to you

Day 27         A picture of yourself and a family member

Day 28         A picture of something you’re afraid of

Day 29         A picture that can always make you smile

Day 30         A picture of someone you miss

Day 31         A picture of yourself (read less)

I plan to start tomorrow and hope to be finished by February 25th!

Binding a Lapbook

For part of our curriculum the last 2 and 1/2 years, we have been doing unit studies.  These usually have some kind of notebook or lap book type pages to go along with them.  For the first couple years we would put the parts and pieces on construction paper and staple the pieces down the left side.  I hadn't been to happy with this and bought a GBC machine this past fall.  These are the machines that put the rectangular holes down the side of your paper and allow you to put a GBC plastic comb on the stack of paper for a "finished book". There are some machines that are geared to office work, being able to punch several sheets at once and can handle a 2" ~ 3" comb spine.  Ours is not as heavy duty, and hence less expensive.

Following are some of the steps I use to create the books.

 The actual machine.  The charcoal gray 1/2 circle, on the left

allows you to adjust the size of paper you punch.  I have three

choices: letter, A4, and U.S.A. over sized.  I tend to leave it at letter.

 Before punch holes, make sure all sheets are lined up in the

correct order; I have forgotten to check and punch holes on the wrong side.

To punch the wholes, take between 5 - 8 regular sheets stacked

neatly together.  Insert the left side of the stack into slot

(similar to a 3 whole punch) and wiggle them a bit to make 

sure they're all the way back.  Press down handle to punch holes.

Repeat until all sheets have holes.

 This is what the left side of your paper will look

like when done correctly.  I still occasionally mess up 

on this step.  Thankfully it hasn't happened on an original piece of work.

 Now for the comb spine.  Insert it so that each "comb" is in between the tines
and can be opened up.  One side can be opened, one can't.

 With my machine, the handle that you press to punch the

holes also opens the spines.  On mine, there is also a wedge piece

that can be moved to lock the handle open - it is on the right of the

photo about midway.

 Now, pick up some of the punched paper.  How many you

grab at one time may vary, depending on thickness of sheet and

how comfortable you are with it.  Line up the holes with the "comb"

teeth and bring forward until teeth are all the way through the holes.

Repeat until all sheets are on.  I personally like to have the open part

of comb at the back.  You may like it the other way around.

 Once all the sheets are on, unhook the wedge/lock

and pull the book off.

Here is what the book looks like with the spine on.

For the actual cover, I either let the boys draw a cover onto card stock or I will print the cover of the unit study onto card stock.  For some of the larger unit studies we have finished, like Amanda Bennett's Pioneers or Thanksgiving, the boys and I will sort their work into different categories.  Some examples are: vocabulary, biography, maps, miscellaneous, Mayflower, 95 Thesis, or whatever else may be appropriate.  Then I will type these categories out in a Word Document, one word per page near the upper right corner and rotated.  The document then gets printed onto several sheets of colored paper and put on top of the appropriate stack.  When the book is completed, it is easier to find the various components that they'd worked on during the study.  Following are a few photo examples:

So that is how we bind a lapbook in a nut shell!

Boys Advance to Yellow Belt

The boys tested, this morning, for their yellow belt in Tae Kwon Doe.  I didn't think to bring the camera as I hadn't fully comprehended that they were testing when it was mentioned last night.  Snapped a couple photo's on my cell phone, as they were getting their belts.  Below, is at home (obviously).  Thankful for a sport they can do together!

Charlotte likes the smell of the belt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday Extravaganza!

Another Thursday, another birthday.  At least only in January do we have two birthdays 7 days apart.  It wasn't our intention to have our kids birthdays that close, but it just worked out that way.

This go around, Thing Two celebrated his 8th birthday.  As of right now, he's riding off with his day to worship rehearsal.  Kevin had practice last Thursday and took Thing One.  This week he's taking Thing Two.  It's suppose to be a treat hanging out with Dad and staying up late.  Glad that the boys seem to enjoy it.

Seems as though, he's had a great day.  He got Poke'man cards from his brother and a green nerf football from Kevin and me.  If you know our kid, both are a great fit for him.  When he's talking, the subject are either Pokeman or sports, so these were good for him.

Yes, there are photo highlights as well:

 Chocolate milk this morning with whipped cream!

 The cake that almost didn't happen (Ugh! again this week).

So I'd mixed the wet ingredients and was getting ready to alternate the flour (et al)

with milk into the wet ingredients.  I went to get a measuring cup and the crisco fell out of

the cabinet, knocking he flour bowl onto the floor.  Also in that process

something hit the oven temperature knob and it got turned up.

Wasn't to happy when all was said and done, but still able to create a

descent looking Poke' Ball.  And for what it's worth, we still have
flour in the grooves of the kitchen floor!  PSA ~ don't install hardwood floors
with "V" grooves in between planks; it catches all sorts of dirt or FLOUR!!!

 Just what every cake needs, bunny ears.

 Candles lite, singing "Happy Birthday".

Decorated birthday chair!  There are only eight 8's

on the banner, 9 by Thing Two's first count.  Had to

tell him that one 8 actually had a shadow.

So ends our crazy birthday week.  51 more weeks and we get to do it all over again.  Love you birthday dude.

Baptism

Big day for Thing Two!  It has been his desire, for a few months now to be baptized.  Today was the day!  Before the actual baptism, the kids get video recorded giving their testimony.  Turns out our son was in good company, in that, 6 out of the 10 kids favorite verse is John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave His one and only son

That who ever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And those were 10 baptisms over 3 services.  Anyway,  here are some of the photo's:

 Pastor TJ at the beginning of the baptisms.

 Thing Two's video testimony.

 Not the greatest photo, but thought it was cool

to see TJ and Thing Two watching the video.

 The photo above and two below are the actual

baptism.

What a happy day for our family!

Pinewood Derby

Another year of Pinewood Derby!  It is Thing One's fifth and last year as a Cub Scout, but only Thing Two's second year.

Following are a few photos from the building phase:

Almost completed cars.  Still need wheels and more weights

Few "tools" of the Pinewood Derby.

Scale!  Need to be able to figure out if your car is at the 5 ounces or 141 grams

Paints used, but not put away!

As an after note, neither boy won anything!  As someone put it "That could be good to come home with no trophy".  For Thing One, kind of disappointing though, that after 5 Races there were no trophies.  Oh well!

Eleven years ago today

Thing One was born at 2:33 PM.  He sure has enjoyed telling everyone how old he is as well, "Hi stranger, I'm 11 now!"  Okay, maybe not much, but seems that way.

Here are some photo highlights of the day!

 A certain younger brother was not to happy.  He couldn't

win at the video games!  Not that the games are rigged, but odds

are not in your favor kido!

 Blowing out the candles!

 Yes, there are only 4 candles.  Yes, he turned 11.

A certain someone, who will remain nameless, did not grease

the pan well, so the top of the cake did not come out well.

 However, if the messiness of the kitchen indicates how

tasty the cake is, we have a winner!!

 Decorations done last night!

 Balloons added this morning, because there wasn't

enough around the house.

 Streamers near the top of the window

and "Happy Birthday" Streamers across the middle.

Ribbons and streamers from the chandler.

YES! Annual chair birthday banner has been

poorly photo shopped by me.  Thought

I'd keep the boys blog names going!

LAST TWO PHOTOS

These were taken with Thing One's new camera.  Not the

best available, but he's happy with his present.

So ends another birthday for our oldest and begins the one week where I can say that my boys are 4 years apart!