I have to say that I absolutely love this town.

It is the Ice Festival weekend here in Leavenworth.  We did not go down yesterday for the snow sculpture contest nor the slooshing or even to watch the snowboarders do their tricks.  But tonight, we headed downtown to watch the firework show.  It was pretty awesome.  We can't do fireworks over the fourth of July or even New Years because it is a fire hazard during those times, but evidently the forest service feels that by mid January it is safe to shoot them off.  After the fireworks, everyone was invited to head over to the Festhalle to watch a free movie on snowboarding and skiing.  On a whim, the boys and I headed over but after a half hour of waiting decided to skip the movie.  I didn't have my phone on me and Todd did not know where we were at, plus someone had to pick up Bonnie from  youth group at eight.  Oh well.  I think the boys would have liked it if we had stayed.

Regardless, I love all the free, fun entertainment that is right out our front door.  Just a few minutes walk away and we can have a ton of experiences. 

Friday the 13th

 It's Friday the 13th and in the James household that means Oreo cookies and milk!

 To make the night even more fun, Todd told the kids to invite their friends over.  He then gave all the kids pvc pipes, duct tape, aluminum foil, foos balls, and a lot of other gadgets and told them to make a "mouse trap" sort of thing-a-ma-bob.  I don't know the real name but it is one of those things that make dominos fall over, and things fly up, and ...well, you get the picture.

 The girls worked on their creation, while the boys worked on theirs.  To add more to the challenge, the end of the contraption was to reveal a memory verse that we are working on at church.

 On of our elders popped in with his video camera, and video taped the kids' contraptions.  Todd plans on playing the video Sunday morning to introduce this week's memory verse.

 The kids got into the whole challenge and had a lot of fun.

 In the midst of the building we had the kids make their own pizzas.  I had the dough, sauce, and cheese on the pizzas.  The kids put whatever toppings they wanted on them. 

 After it was all said and done, the girls disappeared only to reappear as...

.(I like the cat and dog faces better than the zombies *Note: earlier post) Can you believe they went downtown dressed up like that.  They couldn't understand why they got stares from people.  Go figure!

Spoke Too Soon

Ok...I spoke too soon.  The end of our school day concluded with my ten year old crying at the table at the prospect of writing a page on the maxim, "practice makes perfect."  He did write it though.

Look what I got for Christmas....

 I feel like I am cooking with some space-age contraption.  It is an InfraChef.  It uses halogen lamps to heat the air in the glass bowl to create a convection oven.  Cool huh?!  I used it to fix pork chops last night and I have used it to cook sausage links, salmon fillets, and french fries. 

Bryce told me that if I didn't like it to cook with, then it would make a really cool fish bowl.  lol  Just don't turn the lamps on. 

So Far...Awesome

Today has been pretty awesome!
One of those days that make you smile and remind you why you love homeschooling.
The kids were engaged, focused, laughed, and didn't balk at writing...(ok - Brian still hates filling in his timeline but did it anyway.)

We had a great discussion on Martin Luther.  The kids and I are working on an advanced cluster diagram on him.  On one day we came up with our theme and three major points.  Today we came up with three or four sub points for each major point.  Tomorrow's task is to take all of our points and flesh out a paper.  The fact that everyone was writing and giving good points and putting their ideas on paper was thrilling for me.  Writing is not our strong point.  Math and science comes easy for us but don't ask us (at least the boys) to put their thoughts on paper.  The cluster diagram is a tool to show them how easy writing is if you break it down into simple points/ideas.  Little things like that excite me.

Right now, I am battling over next year's school curriculum.  With one in high school and a second one close behind, I need to make some changes.  I need something that will help me know that my kids are equipped for college or life.  I have been looking at on-line schools such as Abeka Academy or Bob Jones On-Line school.  My girlfriend, however, is encouraging me to look at Classical Conversations.  CC is very much like what we are currently using - Tapestry of Grace.  The positive about CC is that we would have a group we meet with on a weekly basis and they have a top-notch program.  When I have discussed the options before the kids, they have all agreed that they favor going with Classical Conversations.

Last night, I sat in on a director's meeting for CC.  If I pursue this option, I will need to attend a 3 day practicum in the next couple of months and connect with our local group (Wenatchee).  Lots to think and pray about. 

julia & julie

My Young Chef

Bryce likes to be in the kitchen.

I don't know what it is, but two of my three children love to get out the knives and cut up food and make things.  Bryce is one of them.

Over the holidays we made guacamole and everyone loved it.  When we saw a good deal on avocados at the store we grabbed some more so we can enjoy more guacamole.

 Bryce couldn't wait to chop up the onions and tomatoes and dig out the avocados.  I had to laugh.  When chopping up the veggies, he tried to chop them like a professional chef.  It reminded me of the movie, Julie &Julia when Julia Childs learns how to chop onions.

After some guacamole dip and chips it was time to play a game of Spades.  Good times for all!

Is it like this in your home....

That first day back....

  Kids dragging their feet, bleary eyed, all-of-a-sudden sick and can't sit up even if you put a board up their backs....

  That was our day to day. 

It was all I could do to not throw the towel in and jump into bed myself.  I stuck with my agenda though.  A few concessions here and there.  Our focal point this week is Martin Luther and the Reformation.   So to ease into our day we watched the movie Martin Luther (good ole youtube comes in handy again.).  I then assigned the kids reading about Martin Luther to get a deeper appreciation for him.  By that time it was lunch, then math, language, and science for the kids.  I had wanted them to write a summary on Luther but I have tabled that for tomorrow. (that's one of those concessions I was talking about.)  Bryce had it the hardest.  He woke up this morning complaining that his brother kept him up past ten.  (Bryce likes his sleep and Brian could do without any.)  So Bryce had a hard time focusing.  Brian on the other hand came down complaining of a stomach ache that was making it difficult to do his house chore and shovel off the new snow that fell last night.  Funny how when dad came home for lunch he was able to do everything.

Regardless, by five I finished with the last child and said ENOUGH!  

Bonnie still has a research paper to work on.  She printed off her note cards today, but she has a few more Renaissance artist to research to complete her paper.  I  think though we are done.  It is 6:30 outside and black as midnight.  The boys are playing a new game on the Wii and the movie I ordered for Bonnie's Christmas finally arrived today so I will let her watch it.

Tomorrow will have to be better.

Oh...I hope it will be better.

It's got to be better.