From this to that and back again

I just had a wonderful morning of homeschooling. It was full of exactly why I love my decision to homeschool my kids. We started out reading the book "How to Bake an Apple Pie and See the World". That led to checking out our world map and finding all the different countries...Italy, France, Sri Lanka, England, Jamaica and back to the United States. Then we explored our map and found all the different oceans, which led to finding the capitals of various countries. We talked about our summer vacation to our capital, Washington D.C.

The discussion of D.C. turned into a discussion about our three branches of government. That led to discussing how a bill becomes a law. We made up some silly laws and talked about why they would be ridiculous. :) We talked about some real laws and why they were necessary.

One law we talked about was in regards to illegal drugs, which led to us discussing where they come from and why people want them. We talked a bit about Colombia and the impact that the illegal drug trade was having on a country that is tied to the girls' heritage.

All of that led us to a discussion on war and why they are fought. We talked about World War II and our recent war with Iraq. We talked about September 11th and what it means to have national pride.

We tied it all up by having apples for a snack and talking about how to make an apple pie. All in all it was a great day to homeschool. My kids gained lot of new knowledge that led to meaningful discussions and we got to have a yummy snack.

Tickles my heart....

Lately, Annie has become enamored with a new series of books.....The Puppy Place books by Ellen Miles. The books deal with something that is near and dear to Annie's heart, animals. Puppies to be specific. She has loved animals since she was small and has always been interested in anything that has to do with animals. I fully expect her to grow up and become a wildlife veterinarian. In fact, she has told me several times that she plans to do just that and work at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. While I am not thrilled with the idea of her moving so far away, I am happy that she is willing to do someting so scary (to an eight year old) in order to achieve her dream.

This morning she spent about an hour reading about the author of her new favorite books. She got out her little calendar and wrote down the dates of upcoming releases and planned how/when she would buy each one. I found it quite charming. She is currently writing a letter to this author. I have taken this opportunity to explain the proper way to write a letter and address an envelope. It just tickles my heart when homeschooling just ties into our everyday life.

I found winter!

Remember how I was complaining about the warm temps a few weeks ago? Well, that is long gone. We have actually had two decent snows here since Thanksgiving! Two! I am pretty excited! I love snow this time of year but hardly ever see any until later in January. The kids have been busy enjoying it and I have been busy taking pictures.

I am crossing my fingers that we get a few more good snows before the holidays! A white Christmas would be perfect!

New looks all around...

On Friday, I was feeling very ambitious. I managed to take Noah for his first ever haircut as well as visit Santa and get new haircuts for the girls and myself! I find that pretty impressive considering most days I am huddled on the couch in a sort of coma state while I wait for this first trimester of pregnancy to end. Here is the photographic proof!

This is Noah prior to getting his hair cut. Notice the adorable blonde curls. It was almost painful to watch them be cut off, however, he now looks like a little boy instead of a little girl.

Much better!

Annie's new style. Of course, it's not really new since she gets her hair cut like this once or twice a year. She goes back and forth between wanting long hair and short hair, so this is a perfect compromise.
This is Meg's new style. She opted to go the shortest she has ever gone. She kept telling the stylist to cut a little bit more and a little bit more. She is thrilled with the fact that it is straight, however, that is not how it will be most days. Meg has curly hair and I don't have the time to blow dry it straight each day. The good news is that it looks adorable when curly too.

This is what I did to my hair! I cut off almost 9 inches! You can't tell from the photo but my hair is actually shorter in the back than it is in the front. It's kind of a funky bob. So far I love it! It's so much easier to fix. The only drawback is that it's not long enough to pull back, which may end up driving me crazy. Hey, it's only hair though and it will grow.

I don't have a photo of our visit with Santa. Well, actually I do have a photo but I just haven't scanned it in yet. I was pretty excited because I have a pic with all four kiddos sitting with Santa at the same time! I had to beg and plead with Annie to get her to do it but she eventually gave in. Noah loved Santa this year. In fact, he was upset when it was time to leave Santa! I think he could have chilled on Santa's lap all day.

So, it was a fun day. One for the memory books.