Odds and Ends of my week

Tea Party with Daddy
Princess #2 helping Daddy fix the car
Happy 8th birthday
What happens when you go away for four days... laundry!!!
Don't worry I found the bed eventually!

So now you are basically caught up with my life. This week I took off and played catch-up on all my chores. (like catching up this blog) Hopefully I will find more time to keep it up on a regular basis. I definitely feel like I am in a better place and not running to keep up, never the less catch-up! Have a Happy Sunday and see you on the flip side of next week!

Moosehead Lake, Maine

A couple of weekends ago Prince Charming and I went away without the girls for a four-day excursion to Maine. For details on why we went read this post. We had a great time! It was such a wonderful get-away that we have already decided to do it again next year... maybe not Maine but somewhere for a four-day weekend where we can sit and talk and get things done without interruption. We spent most of our mornings working together in workbooks and discussions. We spent the afternoons doing touring, and the evenings we went moose hunting. We did find one moose, quite close too. We also saw a bald eagle, another bird (the name escapes me), and large deer. We went hiking one day to a beautiful waterfall. We also went to the coast on our way home and had lobster, visited LLBean, and walked up the street in all the little outlet shops.

We stayed in a B&B in Greenville, ME and I think we came to the conclusion we are not B&B people. We went away to be away and spend time with each other and we did not like having to socialize with others. We wanted a little more privacy to be able to climb into our PJ's and watch some cable TV (a treat for us) while lying in bed. But it was still ok and we still had a wonderful time.

Princess #1's kindergarten class has a stuffed animal, Itchy that gets to come home with them when they go on special trips or it is their birthday or a special day for them. We took Itchy with us on our trip and took lots of pictures for Princess #1 to take to her classroom. We had a lot of fun photographing Itchy it lots of places.

All in all , Maine was GREAT! B&B was wonderful! Marriage conference was a success!

Weird oreo cows we saw

Prince Charming at LLBean

Prince Charming and I having fun with camera at our hike to Moxie Falls

Itchy at Moxie Falls
Prince Charming and Itchy on the hike to the falls
Moxie Falls on the Kennebec River in MaineItchy at the falls
Itchy at the falls
Prince Charming and I at the falls
The "roads" in Maine. You will be driving along on pavement and poof it turns to this...Itchy and the deer
Itchy and Prince Charming moose gazing
The one and only moose we saw
Itchy and the moose
Our B&;B.. The Greenville Lodge
Prince Charming and Itchy at the lodge
What we could be seen doing most mornings
Itchy found the biggest moose
The scenic route... beautiful views in New Hampshire

Our quick pass through the shore of Maine
Prince Charming and his lobster and rock crab
My very first full lobster
Itchy and the lobster

B is for Bubbles

The second week of preschool was all about bubbles, the letter "B", the color blue and the circle shape. On the first day we did a bible lesson on Jesus walking on the water we did an expierment about what sinks and floats. We learned that people do not float so it was a miracle that he walked on water. We read some books, painted bubble pictures blue, blew bubble in water and in milk to see which created more bubbles, ran across our bubble wrap bridge stomping out the bubbles many times and made a large B and cut out things that started with B to paste on. We also did "B" worksheets, name worksheets, and a "circle" worksheet. For math we worked on putting our 1-5 flashcards in order. We had bananas and berry juice for snack.

On day #2 we read more books about bubbles, we made placemats for each family member, painted with blue finger paints and made bubbles, we blew bubbles and caught them. We then had blueberry bread and berry juice. We did worksheets with her name, "C", "cicle" and "patterns". We also did patterning with our counting animals.

This week was especially hard because we just got back from Maine. I did not have the proper supplies. I could not find bubble items anywhere as this was a seasonal item and is already gone. I also wanted to get a small wading pool to make big bubbles from but could not find them anywhere. ARGH!! So anyway, the next week Mommy is taking a vacation to get caught up on school and get back on track with the schedule. So next week will be "C is for Cows"
Princess #2 painting bubble pictures

Princess #2 working on pattern worksheets
Princess #3 just needing to be silly
Princess #2's journal: she drew a picture of Princess #1 and her playing
Princess #2 finger painting with blue

Princess #2 blowing bubbles in water and then milk (milk makes great bubbles by the way)
Princess #2 running across the bubble bridge

Princess #2 blowing bubbles and trying to catch them
Princess #2 first practices writing her letters in whipped cream

A is for Apple

We started our official "preschool homeschool" two days a week. We started with the letter "a" and the theme of apples. Princess #2 seemed to really enjoy it and I had lots of activities planned for her but her favorite time was time at the table writing her name, doing worksheets, book work basically. (really surprised me) Our first day was at MomMom's house because we went over and took care of her in the morning. Princess #2 was a great help pushing her in the wheelchair, getting breakfast, and fetching things for MomMom.

As for our lessons, Day #1: we did grouping with apples (2 red, 2 green, 2 yellow), in which we grouped them according to color and then by size. We than talked about what we could do with them and came up with applesauce, apple juice, and apple pie! Then we read some books about apples and answered some questions about the books. We learned about Johnny Appleseed and the states he walked thru and planted apple trees in. We colored maps of those states. We made a stained glass apple, (wax paper with red tissue paper). Finally we did worksheets, one with Princess's name on it to trace and one with apples to color. Then we practiced the letter "a" by tracing it, saying it, and then words that started with "a" like "apple".

Day #2: we were at home for this lesson and we started by painting with apples using apples cut in half with some paint to see the different textures. We painted on paper plates to make tamborines. We then read 4 books more books about apples and answered some book specific questions. We were then supposed to make the apple paintings into apple tamborines with seeds in the middle of two paper plates, but the paint was not dry. We went to our next activity of cooking an apple pie for daddy. Then we went back to the table and worked on the name worksheet again and some red circle worksheets.

All in all I guess it was productive, but I did not feel as prepared for my first week of teaching as I would have liked to. I think in my scheduling I should have given myself this week off b/c of returning from camping, teaching school and then turning around and leaving for Maine was a bit much in my schedule! Ah well, teach and learn

Princess #2 at MomMom's house making playdough apples

Princess #2 painting with apples

Painting (her favorite activity)

Kindergarten

Yeap! I can't believe I am a school mom now. Princess #1 has officially started Kindergarten this fall. She loves it! Her teacher is wonderful. I am still trying to find my way through the world of elementary school. Here are some pictures we took at orientation (since I knew things would be crowed and rushed when everyone else was there) and on her first day.
Princess #1 going to orientation


Princess #1 in front of the schoolTaking a short bus ride to learn about bus safety
Princess #1 got a "welcome to school" package from her godparents, Auntie Veteran Teacher and the Uncle Salesman.. Thanks!!

Camping in a hurricane

Yeap! You read that right, we went camping a couple of weekends ago and it happened to be the time that Hurricane Flo was making it way through NY. It was definitely a different and bonding camping trip... yeap one of THOSE camping trips. One of those kinds of trips were you wonder if it is even worth going camping or suck it up and loose the $40 you paid for the site. One of the kind of trips were you lay awake at night wondering if it is worth it to pack up and go home to sleep... yeap one of those trips!

Our food group decided (after much debate) to try and go camping for the weekend. There were 10 adults and 10 children under the age of 10. The weather was supposed to be rainy on Saturday afternoon thru Sunday AM. So Prince Charming and I packed for rain, we went to Walmart and bought 3 of the largest tarps we could find, we brought rain gear for everyone, and a huge tent that my parents use for parties as a place to keep dry.

To start off with, Thursday night packing got a late start because Prince Charming had to do some work at church first, so we ended up packing the camper in the dark. (We did not get everything we needed because we tried to do it by memory -not a smart move) and I had not done the shopping yet. So the plan was to pack the camper and just put the food in on Friday. So Friday I went in to the hospital to see MomMom and then do the shopping. I got a late start and had to hurry shopping, lost my list so had to do it from memory and then lost my wallet (which I eventually found).... so I was late picking up Princess #1 from school and late getting home to pack the camping food and late getting started camping.... not the best of ways to start a weekend!

So Friday we got a late start camping, and ended up setting up in the dark. We did not get all of the tarps up that we would have liked but we did the best we could and then just went to bed on Friday. Hurricane Flo decided to hit early and a huge storm came in Friday night. At about 4am Grandpa G and Grandpa G decided to call it quits and head home for the night. Their tent was leaking so bad they couldn't sleep. We were up from 3-5am and even though we have a camper, rain in the camper is really loud! So we were dry but awake.

Saturday morning rolled around and everyone came out from the tents a little wet! (understatement). It fortantely had stopped raining. The Archeologist and his wife had left their stuff in the car in case of rain but forgot to shut the sunroof so their car was waterlogged, they also left a window open by the baby's bed for air, but the rain was so bad that it soaked him and the bed, so they had to get him up and changed at 4am so he thought it was time to get up... needless to say they did not sleep. The Builder and His Wife had some pooling due the sloop of the hill and did not sleep well due the the rain on the tarp. There was talk of packing it in that morning because we knew the worst of Flo had yet to come, but we stuck it out. Grandpa and Grandma G returned and The Heating Man and His wife joined us in the early morning. We had a nice lunch and then some of the group had to head out to a birthday party for a short while. Some went to get some sleep and some of us played cards. Then it started to rain... light at first and easy to deal with. But then it started becoming more steady and the large tent we brought for shelter leaked. It also started to get really cold! We planned a nice dinner over the fire for Saturday night, but with all the rain it was not working very well for a good fire. It was about 8pm before we could get anything cooked. We ended up putting all 8 kids (babies with mommies) in our camper and letting them play as it was the only place they could stay warm and dry. It was then we figured out our camper had a leak.... small and minor. The Heating Man and His wife ended up heading home because they had left all of Little Man's(10months)clothes in the diaper bag at the birthday party. We had dinner and called a night. (after an emergency run to the laundry mat to dry some clothes)

The Lord was gracious and the rain stopped shortly after we went to sleep. Then the wind started and everything was pretty dry by the time we woke up the next morning. We had a great breakfast, The Heater Man rejoined us, we hiked up to the escartment and had a beautiful church service together. The weekend ended beautifully!

All in all, I am glad we didn't call it quits. I am glad we were in misery together because now we can look back and laugh. We all have a bonding expierence. Yeah it was hard, no it wasn't the funnest camping trip ever, but the company was the best and the memories were irreplacable.
Saturday morning after the "surprise" Friday PM rain
Saturday night while Hurricane Flo made an appearance
Sunday morning after the storms
Prince Charming and the Builder making us breakfast
Prince Charming and the girls on the escartment
Our church service
The Builder's Family
The Grandparents Family

The Archeologist's FamilyThe Builder's Family
Prince Charming's Family
Our Circle of Blessing

Around KJ's Table: September 5th- September 11th

 Let's start out with a moment to remember It was also the first day of school this week: And back to prep-ahead meals since all my cook...