Apple pie

 We chose not to do a big Thanksgiving dinner but thought it would be fun for the girls to make an apple pie.

It was quite yummy!

Laundry Lessons

For years the girls have been sorting clothes in preparation to be washed. They have been shown how to use the washer and dryer and PF even helps make our laundry soap. Dragonfly is our expert dryer emptier. I have always sorted and folded the clean clothes. Well I have been teaching the girls the fine art of folding and hanging their own clothes.

 Ladybug helped to fold up her daddy's clothes. She had a proper lesson in folding t-shirts.

Butterfly and PF set up a laundry shop. When the girls incorporate what they are learning into their play, I  know they are enjoying what they are learning.

Lake Johnson Park

 We headed out this morning to Lake Johnson Park to complish one of the hikes the girls need  inorder to earn their hiking keepers pin. Keepers at Home is a club similiar to Girl Scouts. The sky was a bright blue and it was warm enough that we were all comfortable as we walked along the 2.8mile trail.

 The lake was beautiful and I am sure if we had been there for the peak of the colors of fall it would have been spectacular.

 We found a cool "L" shaped tree.

 Huge Leaves!

Amazing view and a great spot for a picture.
Dragonfly made it the whole way without a stroller. Butterfly and Ladybug told each other stories the whole way. This hike was a wonderful way to spend the morning together as a family.

Exploring Countries: Mexico

This year, we will be "visiting" other countries to learn about the culture, language, animals, and environment. We will also be discussing how Christianity is impacting each of these countries. While on our vacation this summer, the girls each received one of these suitcases. I thought they would be a great addition and prop for our travels. The girls each decorate their own travel tag to attach to their suitcase making it easier to know which suitcase belonged to each girl.

The curriculum included pretend passports. The girls created their own stamp for our first country: Mexico.

While in Mexico, Butterfly helped to make tacos and cheese dip. The girls also enjoyed their favorite Quesdillas for lunch.

Learning colors in Spanish.

Mexican flag

Mexican yarn art

Marbles Children's Museum

Nov 2011



Mar 2010




May 2008

 Marbles Children's Museum is one of our favorite places to visit in Raleigh, NC. Marbles, and the children's museum in Chicago are tied as my favorite. When we travel, we try to visit the children's museums along the way. Today, our return to Marbles was made even more fun as we were joined by friends whom had lived near us in New Bern. For laughs, and a comparison of our previous visits to Marbles, I posed the girls in our traditional picture spot. I love to see how much they have grown since the last time we visited. After this picture, my camera died, and I realized that I had forgotten to charge my battery before leaving home. Thank you modern technology! My phone came to the rescue. Problem with the phone's camera is that I have yet to upload pictures so all the fun we had isn't "postable" yet. To sum it up however, the girls got to pretend to be doctors, vets, and waitresses. They learned about life on a ship, created with fabric, painted with water color pencils, played hockey, scooter basketball, dominoes, and learned about running a business.

Exploring Countries: From Mexico to Canada

We left Mexico and headed north to Canada. We didn't have a lot of time today to spend on Canada so we briefly talked about highlights of the country, from it on our big world map on the wall and colored the Canadian flag.

The girls also have a flag sticker book for all the countries of the world. For each country we visit, we have been placing their flag on the country.

Later this evening, Butterfly made a Canadian blueberry dessert for dinner. It was delicious by itself but we were all bummed that we didn't think to get any ice cream to go with it.

Home Economics: Organization

It seems to be very easy for my girls to have a clothing explosion in their closet. Typically this happens when one of the girls tries to get a specific article of clothing and knocks down or pulls out other clothes with it. I had planned a month ago to have a room organization day and really go over everything with the girls. It worked out well that that morning Ladybug tried to get a pair of pants and knocked all the pants to the floor. Dragonfly has also grown quite a bit from last winter and so I knew there were clothes she didn't fit into anymore in the drawers. We decided to move their drawers out of the closet so that it was easier to get to.

We started by taking each drawer out and dumping the contents on the floor. We sorted through and took out all of the smaller clothes. We folded and placed everything back in the drawers neatly. I made labels for the girls so that it was easier for them to put their clean clothes away in their proper locations.

The closet was next. We separated the clothes out into sections: Dragonfly's clothes, Middle girls' clothes, short sleeves, and light jackets. The jeans were also separated into size piles 4,5,6,7,and 8. PF took all of this knowledge back to her closet and organized it on her own. I love how neat and organized everything is. I hope after proper instruction the girls will be able to maintain their closet properly.