Portland Getaway

Being able to sightsee and have adventures at off-peak times may be one of the top perks of homeschooling so far this year.  Gabe had a meeting in Portland last week, so we all joined him.  Against Gabe's better judgement, we took the kids to paint pottery.  He was a good sport about the potential "messiness" of the activity and ended up having a good time.  The kids were all thrilled to pick out paint colors and make themselves their own mugs for hot chocolate.

After painting, we visited the children's museum in Portland. Ben and Audrey were thrilled to give Noah and James a tour of the new exhibits they missed out on the last time we were in Portland. It is always great to visit a museum and have the place to yourselves in the middle of the afternoon:)  The best part of staying at the hotel, for the kids, was the outdoor pool in the middle of winter and the hot tub with a waterfall... at least it was all warm.

Bowling and Science

Homeschool field trip day is when Daddy has the day off, we need some supplies at Target and everyone is getting a little restless being stuck inside:)  We had originally wanted to take the kids candle pin bowling, but when we arrived the lanes were indefinitely closed as a result of water damage from a recent storm.  We overlooked the fact that we could bowl with big balls just down the road from our house and had a great time at a new place!

We have been spending time in science working with states of matter.  Here the kids are watching the raisins "dance" by being pulled up with the air bubbles and dropped back down again. It was more entertaining than I would have thought and kept them busy for quite some time:)

Ice and Art

We have some snow, although much below what we would expect at this time of year. The chickens are getting a little stir crazy and aren't sure what to do in the snow.  We shoveled them a path, but the top picture is of Peck stuck up on the fence because she wouldn't walk in the snow... We have been enjoying some great skating on the pond with friends.  The lack of leaves on the trees allows us beautiful sunset views in the evening!

Now that we have, mostly, settled into homeschooling, I am trying to be better about some subjects that we haven't given much attention to.  I found an art/art history book that we are all really excited about.  Ben has actually been the most outgoing about learning this and puts his siblings to shame when it comes to remembering artist's names and facts about their lives.  On this particular day we were learning about Giotto.  The kids made their own paint from egg yolks and chalk.  It was a really fun project and turned out much better than I could have hoped for!

Winter is Really Here...

While we were away we FINALLY got some snow! Not as much as we would like, but enough to play in and, hopefully, ski in.  The chickens were a little put out that snow was covering their normal roaming paths, so we took some time to shovel them out. The temperatures were quite warm today, so we will see what lasts... it is January, right?!?!?

After Christmas Trip North 2015

We had a lovely time, as always, spending time with our families in the Millinocket area.  The day we arrived we were playing outside in light coats and then, for the next day or two, we got several inches of snow!  We opened more gifts and got to visit with lots of friends and family whom we don't see often enough:)

Christmas 2015

Well, what a Christmas Day it was! Santa brought everyone what they wanted- Noah a tool set, James a droid carrier lego set, Ben Magnatiles and Audrey (who didn't state a preference) a Trobo robot interactive toy. The kids were so sweet this year, they were more excited to see each other's reactions when they open the gifts from them than their own gifts.  The boys were all jealous at Audrey's new Star Wars shirt... it only came in small sizes.

The weather is crazy! On Christmas Day we were all outside taking down the Christmas lights without coats! Gabe and I both got to take awesome long runs outside with perfect weather and no snow on the road. We spent most of the day playing with new toys and taking down all of the decorations in preparation for our trip north tomorrow.  The bottom picture was a casualty of James pretending to be the Grinch stuck in a, "mangled up, tangled up mess" while retrieving ornaments for me... it really just sped up the process;)