March Activities....

Hannah holding up the dress that we are making.  

The finished dress and Avery measuring Hannah.

 Our first spring flowers.  What a welcome sight.  We look forward to many, many more.

                                             
This was the first mild day.  No winter coats!!!!  Little did we know, there would still be more snow.

Every Spring and Fall we spend a lot of time at the local playgrounds.  This one is in Sterling.  The girls love it because it is the only one around that still has an old fashion merry-go-round.

This a a picture of us with the Easter Bunny at a Relay For Life Breakfast Event in Moosup CT.  They have this event every year to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  It is a lot of fun!
It means a lot to us because our family has been touched with Cancer too many times.  Hopefully some day soon there will be a cure!

Hannah, Avery, and Santi at Santi's 13th Birthday party.  Happy 13'th Santi!!!!!!!

Hannah, Avery, Madison, and Santi having a traditional Irish meal on St. Patrick's Day.
Corn Beef and Cabbage with Nana's Soda Bread.  They were at the kids table, the adults also enjoyed
the meal, but at our own table.

We decided to weave place-mats and baskets for our annual Easter Brunch.

                                         These projects were a lot of fun.  Both girls enjoyed it.

                             The next 3 pictures are from one of our Homeschool Kids' Group Events.

The children all enjoy these events, however, once it warms up, we hold most of the events outside.  We all can't wait for that!!

                                            Avery and Hannah playing outside in our yard.


Our March so far, we still have Easter to look forward to, and we can't wait for Spring.  With Spring comes lots of outside activities, field trips, and the planting of our garden!!!  Happy Easter to All!!!!!!!

The Last Two Weeks

We've been trying to keep busy and get through the rest of the winter as quickly as possible.  Here is a picture collage of the last two weeks.

Hannah has been doing a lot of sewing projects.  This is a dress that she made for Avery.

Hannah, Avery and the toys of the day.

We may be rushing spring a little, but this is the beginning of our garden.  This is a family project.  We chose the seeds together and planted them together.

So far our tomatoes are the only seedlings that have poked through.

Hannah finished her Abeka Math for the school year.  Her reward for finishing so early was a new Betta.

Since Hannah has shown such a strong interest in sewing, we started making a dress together.  The finished dress will be for the girls to share.

This was our first step. Pinning on the pattern and cutting the fabric.  The dress is almost finished.  I will post a picture of it soon.


This is one of my favorite things about homeschooling....

Not only does Hannah read to Avery all the time but she also teaches her.  I have to give Hannah a lot of credit for the fact that Avery knows all of her letters, their sounds and all of her numbers already.  It makes my job so much easier.


These are pictures from gym day.

Norwich Library Homeschool  Meet N Greet

Killingly Library, the girls with the library mascot - Bugbee

Dress up and roll playing is a very popular activity in our house.

Hannah just lost another tooth.

Every once in a while I pull out various craft supplies and just let them use their imaginations.

 
They enjoy this more than our planned art projects.  It's interesting to see their finished artwork when they have no guidance at all.


Hannah making sugar cookies.  She's been doing more and more of the work when we bake.  As an added bonus, she is doing really well with fractions.

On March 1st we attended Dr.Seuss night at one of the local school's.  Our town has a party on his birthday every year for the children. The goal  is to celebrate literacy.  They set up a room full of tables with books and crafts, based on the books.  It is always a lot of fun.  The girls made a lot of projects and planted sunflowers.  After the craft portion of the night, there was a concert in the gym.  One of the local music teachers sang and played the guitar while the children danced and sang along.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in the car so we don't have any pictures to mark the event.  I do have a house for of art though.  We could start our own art exhibit.  

The things we forget to teach...

Hannah Avery and I had a bit of an adventure this morning.  It could have turned into a minor emergency, but luckily Hannah knew how to use the phone.  Let me start at the beginning.

Some mornings (especially in the winter) we take our time starting the day, we go slow, do our chores and complete our morning routine at a relaxed pace.  This morning was not one of those mornings.  Avery's 6 month check up at the dentist was scheduled for 10:00 am.  We had a lot to do and we had to be out of the house by 9:30.  Little did I know, there would be no second cup of coffee this morning.

Hannah was eating breakfast and Avery was watching Reading Rainbow when I headed for the bathroom to get dressed.  I started to get ready, but needed something in my bedroom, so I tried to open the door.  (Here's where the adventure begins.)  The door wouldn't open!  "Hannah let go of the handle."  I shouted through the door.  "We don't have time for games this morning!"  "Mommy, what are you talking about, I'm not touching the door."  Now I start jiggling the handle, the door won't open.  I'm pulling it and pushing it, nothing.  It's locked.  Strange thing is, the door has no lock.   (I do not need this today, of all morning's, we have an appointment.)

 Hannah tried to help from the outside, but to no avail.   We have an emergency list of numbers on the fridge for her, so she got those and started dialing for help.  Mimi and Pop-Pop were both at work.  She couldn't call her Father because his cell phone was not charged and I never thought to teach her how to page him.  She finally reached my Sister.  Help was on the way.  After 45 minutes of being locked in a cold bathroom,(we have no heat in there) and worrying about what mischief the girls might be getting into, I was finally rescued.  My Sister was able to pry open the door with a knife.  Thank goodness! 

This experience taught me that even though I had prepared Hannah for different types of emergencies, we could never be prepared for everything.  We taught her the basics, she knows her address, phone number, and how to dial 911.  She knows the "Stay Safe Rules" and we have practiced fire drills and many different "What If Scenarios".  Never have we paracticed what to do if Mommy gets locked in a bathroom. 

Needless to say, what I had planned for table time got postponed.  Instead, Hannah learned how to page someone.  She also learned how to send an email and we practiced a few more phone skills.  I also added a few more numbers to our emergency phone number list.  We now have the local Police Department number listed.  As I type this, I realize that Hannah has never seen a phone book, so she obviously doesn't know how to use one.  Two more lessons to add to my lesson plans.  How to use a phone book and how to search for a phone number on the internet.  After all, what if I'm locked in a bathroom and the electric is out?  We will still need that obsolete telephone book.



An extra note.  Hannah stayed calm, even when she was frustated.  She managed to get Avery a snack, and she managed to get help.  One thing is for sure, she knows how to THINK, and that saved the day!!!!

Nemo, Blizzard of 2013

The storm started on February 8.  We saw the first snow flakes around 8:15.  The flakes were big and heavy and within 30 minutes the ground was already covered.  The girls were so excited!  Ahh, the innocence of childhood.  All they could think about was lots of snow, sledding, snowmen, and so forth.  Us adults were worried about losing power and be stranded at home for days.  We were already dreading the thought of shoveling and snow blowing all that snow.  Just thinking about it made me cold and tired. 

While I documented the storm with pictures, Hannah kept a journal of the storm.  She did a great job detailing the storm from her 6 year old perspective.  She recorded the facts and how she felt, and what her and her sister did during and after the storm.  Her journal is definitely a valuable keepsake and someday it will become a piece of history.  I was just a baby during the blizzard of 78 and all I know is what my parents told me about the storm.  Even if my children don't remember Nemo, they will always be able to look back at the pictures and read the journal.

The girls at the beginning of the storm.

As the snow accumulates.

Really cool night shots.

The  next morning.

the buried swing-set....

On the deck...

The kids enjoying the snow....

Look how deep it is.

The house...

These are pictures that I took of the girls during the storm.  We were keeping busy, waiting for the snow to stop.

The storm's entertainment, a ballet by Hannah and Avery...

Daddy needed his head shaved.

Preparing for Valentine's Day and the creation of our Valentines.

We've been studying weather and storms (the blizzard was just a great coincidence.)  We conducted a science experiment.  We tried to make a cloud.  It was not successful but we did create fog.

Since that experiment, the girls have been creating their own experiments using snow and icicles.  My freezer is full of both.  Just last night Avery conducted a snowball experiment in the bathtub.  She wanted to see what would melt first, a small snowball or a large one.