Our new baby

Sometime at the beginning of the year I was searching around and came  up with this wonderful idea. It's time to take care of an egg or in our case, a 5 pound bag of cornmeal. Most of us remember this exercise in futility from our Junior high or High school days. I had happened upon a program that even let you print off exercises! We have a Birth Certificate and everything! We planned during the month of January which elements we wanted to include.

Hali began her journey by sitting down and figuring how much of everything she was going to need. Then she figured up her "estimated cost" of how much she though it was going to be. We then went shopping and registered at Target so we could keep track of her needed purchases. She was so under budget I could only snicker at the time. I am glad that she learned this lesson.

One of the points section is planning and creating  your own baby. They get points for originality, point for creating a carrier and in our case she also got points for it's bed and a safe environment.

We set to work creating our little bundle of joy. I have packed away all of my old pantyhose and only had 2 pair of black stockings available. We all LOVE how the baby turned out.

 

Hali cut out her batting and covered the baby so it would be soft. She also cut out batting for the arms, legs and head.

 

After double wrapping the bag of meal we stretched the pantyhose over the body going 2 seperate directions. Hali then filled the head and sewed it closed. 

 

She then filled the arms and legs in and sewed them closed.

 

She used Large goodlie eyes and made a thread nose and mouth. By cutting out 2 colors of light blond and brown yarn, she created a head full of textured hair. She used a glue gun to keep it in place. She then trimmed the yarn giving her baby it's first haircut!

 

She wanted her little one to be properly dressed. Here she created an undershirt for warmth. She did all of her sewing by hand.

 

Meet Jeremiah Daniel Seaholm! He is inside of his carseat, which is attached to Abby's grocery cart! The baby followed Hali around and was much easier to take care of this way.

One of the things that was part of this unit was making sure your child ate. That means that everytime Hali ate, her baby had to come to the table with her also. She was also required to change the  baby and keep a care log.

If Hali should happen to leave the baby because of activities, it was a $.25 per hour cost to her. She also had to get a physician in case of an emergency. Our neighbor Dee filled this position for us.

 

Here is our little sugar bear! Isn't he just precious!

Pregnant for a day....

every woman who has bore a child knows how very uncomfortable those last few weeks can be before the little bundle of joy graces us with it's presence. With this in mind, my timing for Hali's "pregnancy" was near perfect! just the day before she had started soccer boot camp! She was tired, uncomfortable and very sore. Sounds like the perfect mix to me!

We arose in the morning and Hali put on her pregnancy suit. At first she thought it was going to be SO MUCH FUN!

 

Oh yeah! She had better keep that attitude!

 

We tried to make this the most realistic baby bump!

 

Here we are at Target. We registered to have our "baby" and scanned our purchases! Hali had a boy, Abby had a girl. Hali was SHOCKED at how much a baby could possibly cost!

 

Here is Abby with some of her most favorite items! PINK!

 

This was a hard decision. Decorating the Nursery took a TON of time. After lugging a baby around all day, being sore from soccer, and THEN having to go shopping... Hali was absolutely exhausted!

 

She was SO ready to head home!

We got some fantastic experience!

Hali's 12th Bowling Party

Miss Hali turned 12! To celebrate her birthday we took her and the family for a day of shopping and bowling. We then let her invite some friends to go skating the following week!

I simply cannot believe my little princess is almost a young lady! Where has the time gone?

I am so glad that she enjoyed her birthday celebrations! Did I mention she is a savvy shopper? Train them up in the way they shall go...

 

She thinks she is going to out bowl us all!

 

Abby has switched from being a left hand bowler to a right handed one!

 

Our vast collection of colors.

 

After a few too many strikes and spares, Aaron was being a show off!

 

He SO thinks he is the bomb!

 

Micah was like a hustler. He didn't tell us he bowls strike after strike... frame after frame... SOOOO not fair!

 

Even Nick got in on a few games! By the end of the 7th game his hand was swollen again. I have made an appointment with the surgeon who reconstructed his hand back in the fall to see if everything is okay.

 

Aaron really enjoyed the lesson on keeping good form. He LOVES to hear himself talk!

 

Happy Birthday little Princess!

Valentines Day Hearts

Ever had a group of friends all create something that was very lovely? Well, some dear ladies from my homeschool board made these pretty little crochet hearts. Considering I cannot read a pattern, but I can crochet I was excluded from this project.

Really quite a shame because they were lovely!

So while we were creating our dough fun, I collected some of my own and make these little hearts so I could in a sense "Keep up with the Jones". Now don't laugh at them. They took forever and I was COVERED in paint for 2 days! I am not exactly patient when it comes to letting paint dry.

 

  

  

  

Now I don't feel so left out!

Dough and more dough

I was surfing blogs the other day and came across a recipe for what was hailed as the best paint-able dough. I thought to myself~ That's exactly what I need! So I gathered  up  my ingredients and went to work in the kitchen.

 

So we mixed all the ingredients together....

 

And began making these....

 

  

  

  

The next morning we laid out the kitchen table and sat down to work. Note here~ See that blue box of watercolors? This was the first time we had used "real" water colors. Not those dollar ones  you get at the back to school sales. These were AMAZING to work with. I cannot believe how much of a difference good paints made!

 

  

  

 I think Abby did a wonderful job!

 

Hali created a super woman! She even has a "S" on her back!

 

  

 

Weeks 24 And 25 of School

These last couple weeks have been crazy in our household... however we have managed to get some school work done! I think I am going to show more pictures than actual comments since I have blogged about so much here in the last few hours!

Enjoy our two weeks in review!

 

We got a lovely break of two days, no snow and everything melted nicely. The weather was in the low 50's and it was such a relief.  Here Abby is playing touch football with the kids in the neighborhood.

 

And the big kids were playing football in the street. The boys had their friend JB over!

 

These are a few handwriting samples of Abby's. Her handwriting is greatly improving.

 

I am still loving the copy work from the book of virtues

 

The quotes are so excellent!

 

Our extra reading material for our Biomes unit study. Funny note here. I asked our librarian if she had any further recommendations and she didn't know WHAT or how to spell a biome.

 

I have been looking forward to reading this book with the family. Corrie Ten Boom has such an awesome Christian testimony during WWII

 

We have began our book reports!

 

And my FIL got us a new book with writing promps. Note~ Our kids do creative writing on a daily basis. We always use fun and exciting story starters. Then they read their writings which help with oral reporting.

 

Got some new writing software thanks to my FIL

 

I thought this book sounded appropriate. There is even a cd full of lists and organizational helps!

 

Been reading and planning some biology experiments for the spring

 

We participate in the homeschool book it program

 

Planning more graduation party fun.

 

You just have to take time to  play a game or two. This one is memory verses.

 

Abby has been reading stories and REALLY advancing and TRYING to learn more words. This is a cause for major celebration in our home.

 

Isn't Hali's little Parrot just adorable?  Can you tell it's a female? We are began our rain forest unit study!

 

And this one is Abby's little rain forest buddy!

 

We are still studying hibernation, winter time in the animal kingdom, and adaptation. 

 

 This was a 6 page book with fold over flaps and facts in the middle.

 

Did you know the Woolly Opossum lives in the Rain Forest? This one also happens to be female!

 
 

Winter migration Routes.

 

We have a winter stow away! Because his ship will not be fixed until it thaws, our creature much camouflage himself and blend into our classroom. Can  you see him?

 
 

How about his brother?

 

More winter activities

 

The inside lists all of the items that will help you keep warm!

 

Lastly, I wanted to share Drive Thru History with you all. I just LOVED how this was presented and believe it or not, everyone from Abby to the oldest sat and watched... and get this... REMEMBERED what they learned! Amazing! This was the Greece and the Word version. We finished the first 2 episodes (About 1.5 hours each) in one sitting! We would have finished but we ran out of time for the day!

I think I would like to invest in the whole American History collection. I am kicking myself, because DH found this when he was in Springfield at a CPO on clearance for $60.00! I should have said YES HONEY! BUY IT!

Whew.... Some week huh?