Days To Remember G's Blog

Maggie Beth made "Fluffy" the porcupine today.  

She wanted to eat it right when she got home, but I told her we would have her porcupine after lunch.

She is loving preschool and she tells us all about her activities of the day when we pick her up from school.

She has lots to say regarding the books, paint, playground, her friends & who shared and who did not (which is always interesting).

She certainly gives us the low down more than the boys ever did.  

After lunch she ate her porcupine, she asked that I take a picture of her chewed up marshmallows. 

Enjoy!

We have been reading the Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. 

Hezekiah requests it.  If I stop reading, he begs and begs, and begs me to read more. 

I am not sure how many chapters I read last night on our hour plus ride home.

Everyone listens. 

So that means Maggie understands that Tom Sawyer, gets into a lot of mischief.

Last night while I was saying prayers with her, she said we needed to pray for Tom Sawyer because he needs vinegar in his mouth.

(He lied).  

  I am not sure she understands fictional characters yet!  ( I told her that he was not real). 

We also had to pray for Injun Joe, (that bad guy -- she said).

So we did, we prayed and prayed for them.

Africa, a continent I desire to travel to.  I danced there today.

With some of the natives. 

Two of the kids thought it was funny, one did not.  The one pictured above. 

So he sat in Africa today.

It amazes me how much of our homeschooling this week went with our trip today to Africa. 

No, I really did not plan it that way.  But God knows the plans He has for us, doesn't He?  So, perhaps I should not be so surprised.  Blessed!

Eli has been learning about different cultures and we talked about Africa this week and the Massai.

Hezekiah this week learned the difference between an ape and a monkey.  Do you know the difference? 

Apes do not have tails.  We acted like apes today in Africa.

We saw a show.......The Lion King. (Theatrics)

We played some African drums and other African instruments.  (Music)

We saw some Hippos which we learned this week are mostly nocturnal (in Eli's curriculum).

We identified birds in Africa and Asia today.

We rode the river rapids twice.  With lots of screams and shear pleasure getting soaked.  

Their little faces are the best to watch as we rode the rapids.  Oh, crack me up!

The kids also got to participate in Disney's Animal Kingdom discovery club and get stamps for different activities such as identifying animals in your backyard, detecting animal tracts and dung, and learning the calls of different animals. 

This week we also learned about bats and what they eat (fruit, blood, nectar, insects), and how they serve as wonderful pollinators.

This is how our trip ended.  

School's in session whether we know it or not!

Here are the boys I SPY creations.

Included are their lists of things to find. 

They were so excited to have Page take pictures for their "I SPY BOOK!" 

They even wrote about their I SPY creations in their journals this morning. Too cute!

They need to print one still for the library and they have also decided that they need more scenes. 

There is this little girl, who teaches me more about God than perhaps the best of theologians.

It is a reminder of how simple the message is.

The message of hope, love, and waiting in expectation.

This little girl of mine is well beyond her years in understanding the things of God.

Perhaps it is because she is a child and she just trusts and believes and does not question (like her mom).

She just came out of her room to get a kissy, but she said mommy my tummy hurts.  So I gave her some gas medicine.

Then she went potty.  She said, "Mommy, God healed my tummy!"  With a big beautiful smile.

She then sings, "I love God, I love God, I love God and I love my mommy."

All on her own she gave praise.  She prays that God will heal her boo boos.  He listens.  He may not answer immediately, but He hears her and she waits in expectation. 

I love the innocence, the pureness of faith, the love.  It is beautiful and thank you God of reminding me as she sang, "And God loves me!" 

This morning we spent about 3 hours at the zoo.  Looking at some cold versus warm blooded animals.  Checking out the Rhinos, big cats (cheetahs, lions (taxodermy one), jaguars), alligators, giraffes, etc. that we talked about in science this week.  We learned a lot about rhinos -- black versus white and Indian.  So when we got back from the zoo I had the kids draw pictures.  I helped Magpie draw one, but apparently according to Eli all my animals are smiling and they do not look like giraffes or real rhinos. 

Eli declared that he wanted to start his own collection of animals and that he wanted to have a zoo.  But he also determined that in order to have a zoo he would need some helpers.  I decided that I would volunteer to help him out when he has his zoo.

Hezekiah quickly created his picture with his colored pencils so he could move on playing HERO Factory.  He said his rhino has shoes on.

Eli spent an hour creating his picture of the zoo animals.  He went into his room with his colored pencils and got books out to help him draw the pictures and write the names.  

Today was Maggie Beth's first day of preschool! 

She was so excited!

  Her favorite thing at preschool today was playing with telephones.  Maggie Beth painted, played puzzles, went outside with her friends and her friends did not get off the swings and she was the line leader today.  She said she pumped her legs on the swings.  Maggie Beth also played with the yellow ice cream and she did not want to share the stickers with her class and she made her mommy a beautiful heart picture. 

We started back to school yesterday.

Hezekiah is in second grade and Eli is in Kindergarten.

Eli said everything was easy and that he now loves pastels.

Hezekiah wanted to know why he had to read the Bible, when he already knew those stories. 

He really enjoyed his new Explode the Code book and compound words.  

Most of the morning was spent in our P.J.'s as we did math, science, art with pastels, history, etc. 

By the end of art, Maggie Beth was mostly purple.

Friday we spent most of the day at Coco Key, swimming and sliding down slides to finish our vacation.

We were a bit weary so decided to not do a park this day and instead go back and visit Downtown Disney for another jaunt in the LEGO store and to look around at souvenirs!

Aren't those carmel apples just too adorable! 

Oh, we had a blast and are thankful that God blessed us with this sweet family time together. 

We made some fun memories giggling!  

Now time to rest up for school Monday!