What we've been up to

Ahh my long lost friends. I am sorry I have neglected you.
I haven't taken the camera out much lately so I don't post. I CAN STILL POST WITHOUT PICTURES.

Today we had a tea party. The Easter Bunny brought Organic Echinacea Tea for the kids with a letter to have a tea party. (I can't believe the Easter Bunny knew we like Organic!!) So we sat around the table and drank. Come to think of it we could have dressed up.
Ricky's birthday is coming up. We are all going to be wearing dresses..minus the men. They will be dressing up. Ricky is obsessed with clothes so we are surrounding her with them.
I am feeling blah..and Cohen's little head on my arm. hehe. I look outside at what would normally be beautiful snow but I am just TIRED of it! Enough already! I want the warm weather with the sun and flowers so we can go outside for longer than 5 minutes.
We have just finished reading 100 Dresses and are moving onto Johnny Appleseed. We are way ahead in our read alouds. We have to keep up with the Children's Encyclopedia and Poetry.
Reagan is growing like a weed. She is almost sitting up now. This will be easier for us because we won't have to constantly be holding her.
Cohen has been keeping his glasses on. NICE! He is also starting to say a lot more words. NICER!

muffins and nature

mmmm..muffins that were made today

Organic Bananas
Organic cashew butter
raisins
Organic wheat germ
Organic flax seed meal
baking soda
sweetener
baking powder
whole wheat flour

Did I say mmmm yet? They are sooo delicious.
I think I may experiment making peanut butter and jam muffins. I plan on putting a strawberry in the center for the jam part. Anyone itching for a muffin?

We are considering moving up north if Ron gets laid off from work again.
We would like to buy a cottage in the wilderness. Get back to being simple and natural.

Banana Muffins

Yesterday we made some whole wheat banana muffins and I must say..THIS MORNING WAS WONDERFUL! All I had to do was heat them up and VOILA.. breakfast!
And I must note that they aren't allowed to ever do dishes after baking like I had to. They get to do the fun stuff like mixing and measuring. I will do the clean up..minus licking the utensils. They will do that.
Oh and this is a pic of Reagan trying banana muffin.
I don't know which is better. Making the muffins with the kids are the end result.

Cohen's bear friend

Cohen got a talking and singing bear from grandma this Christmas. We finally put batteries in it. He was shocked. We captured his excitement.
It is actually quite funny to see Roo sitting on the couch with it. They are the same size and she is all smiles.

Our life

Some of you may question why I don't mention homeschooling in every post. This is because homeschooling is a way of life. This is our life. Part of homeschooling is the closeness within our family. I feel this is extremely important. Homeschooling is not all about sitting at a table with books in hand. It is about learning in all aspects in life. It is also about our children expressing themselves (read ahead in next posts about this..haha) and about being themselves. I couldn't ask for anything more.

A king and his dog

Ricky

Ricky is the most dramatic child I have ever encountered. While taking pictures of the kids I thought I would capture Ricky's true essence. In one her shoe has fallen off. In another the dog ran across her legs. You get my point. But along with this side of her personality comes the most sweet and caring little angel that you would ever come across. If you hurt yourself she will be the first one there to comfort you. She is a very emotional little girl and I love that about her. She is not afraid to show her true emotions. Whenever I am in need of a hug I can always count on Ricky..over and over and over and over again. My sweetie!

AND she knows how CUTE she is!

Roo is now 6 months

Roo is 6 months now. Just recently we brought her to the doctor's because she spits up A LOT! We were then sent to a ped because she hasn't gained as much as we would like. We have an appointment in a couple of weeks to see what her weight gain is then. The doctor said that her soft spot is still quite big and is worried about hypothyroidism. We went for blood work the next day. The nurse didn't want me to nurse while the blood was drawn in fear of her choking "eye roll here" I was adamant that I was breastfeeding so Reagan didn't cry at all. From now on this is what I am doing. She is MY child so it should be MY decision. It felt very good being assertive.
We had company yesterday. I want my children to play with others more often. In the summer they have sports so it isn't a problem. In the winter it is hard to get out of the house. So my house was crazy with other homeschooling families for a few hours but it was nice to see them having fun. Roo has a hard time with too much noise so she wasn't all too impressed.
Cohen is wearing his glasses pretty much all day now. It was so hard to get him to keep them on but lately he hasn't been taking them off. He is also really starting to use his words. I can't wait to sit and talk with my little guy!

Ricky's hands

BEAUTIFUL! Ricky is making a book shelf out of her Right Start tiles. BEAUTIFUL

Right Start Math

Here we are doing Right Start Math at the table. I really want to start doing more. Ricky said.."Can we play math?" Isn't that wonderful? Amelie is learning to write her letters. I love the picture with me holding Amelie's hand to help her. It signifies so much.

What they do when I am not home

Today I brought Reagan in for her acid reflux (we think) The ped seemed to be more concerned with her soft spot still being on the bigger side. She is having blood work in the morning.

While we were gone Ron had an awesome time with the kids. First they made a fort outside in the snow. Then they came inside and made lego towers. Somehow I think Ron likes it more than they do. He is such an involved dad!

Homeschooling

Today we had a lovely homeschooling moment. I was sitting on the couch reading "100 Dresses" with the girls and they were folding laundry around me. We had some nice music on. Times like these make me feel so incredibly good about our homeschooling decision!
Look at this passionate face! That is the best word to describe Ricky. She is so passionate about everything that she does. I am going to make sure I follow that.