She Did It!

As many of you know, I have been homeschooling my two oldest daughters this year. We have had our ups and downs but overall it has been a great experience. One of my biggest struggles to date has been with Annie and her math lessons. She is just not a lover of math. She is capable of doing it but really dislikes it. I have spent the past two months trying to figure out ways to help her enjoy the world of math. Well, today she took her last test of the first grading period and I was able to figure out her math grade for the first two months of school....she got an A!! The coolest part is that I have been able to see her improve from day to day. She went from dreading her speed drills each day to making a game of trying to beat her time from the day before. I am guessing that math is still not her favorite subject, but at least she is learning and that's all I was hoping for. Now, if I could just figure out a way to take away her extreme dislike for cursive writing.

Bread and Warthogs

You may be asking yourself "what do bread and warthogs have to do with anything?". Well, those are two of things that have been keeping me busy these days.

My wonderful husband and I celebrated eight years of marriage in August and we asked for/received a breadmaker. Yes, my husband wanted a breadmaker. It makes perfect sense...it combines his love of bread with something electronic. So, I have been busy baking bread! Who would have thought? I love my new breadmaker! Take a look at this beauty....

I have discovered how to make my own cinnamon raisin bread! It's very little work and it tastes divine! I am anxoius to try out another recipe I found....apple/raisin bread. That just screams Fall, doesn't it?

Warthogs have also played a part in keeping me busy. Last weekend I spent the morning with my baby girl, Lily, at the Louisville Zoo. She and I took a Zoo class together and it was great fun. We learned about how animals move. I think the highlight for her was the craft and getting the chance to pet a snake! Yep, my precious little girl loved touching the snake better than petting the super soft bunny rabbit. Yikes!

After petting various critters and watching two year olds fight over paint daubers, we went on a zoo walk. We managed to see the baby giraffe, the snoozing rhinos and the warthogs. These critters are ALWAYS tucked away and we never get to see them, however, it must have been the cooler temps that brought them out. They are quite unattractive critters but fascinating nonetheless.

I would like to say that I will do better at blogging more often, but that would probably be a bit of a lie. At the present moment I am quite busy. It is honestly hard to find a spare moment. My husband's parents are visiting us from Colombia so we are using all of our free time to enjoy their company. We are also knee deep in homeschooling and that keeps us going from morning until night. So, I will try to do better but I make no promises.

Speaking of the inlaws....my mother-in-law is wicked with a crochet hook. Check out what she is making for the girls! They wanted hats to match their American Girl Doll, Kit. Isn't that cute?