Winter Fun

Now that we have entered what appears to be the "spring thaw" portion of winter, we are getting the  opportunity to explore more in the woods, have lots of snowball fights and build snowmen.  James and I found a spot in the back of our yard, last fall, that we think will be perfect for a treehouse.  Since that time, we have to visit periodically to come up with more and more extravagant plans and visions for the area.  A favorite part is this tree that is growing sideways... it is a perfect balance beam and hanging spot.  

Not to be outdone by the sunsets, the sunrises the past few weeks have been pretty incredible too.  This picture is taken through the window (since I was too much of a wimp to run outside) so the quality isn't great, but still a great way to start the day:)

Noah, James and Audrey worked hard to build this snowman all by themselves (while I cleaned out the chicken coop).  Where was Ben during all of this?  Well, he started outside with us, but lasted for a total of 5 minutes, then took up post inside the house, happily supervising from the window...

Art & Skiing

Our latest art project was inspired by Ghiberti and his work with relief sculptures.  This took a little more patience from the kids and they had a bit of difficulty envisioning what the final product would look like, but they were good sports and quite proud of themselves when they saw the finished product.

Last weekend we bit the bullet and went to Sugarloaf for their last Family Weekend of the season. I had not been to Sugarloaf during the winter since college. Gabe has been a few times, but the kids have never skied there, so it was a pretty exciting day for all of us! Gabe, Noah, James and I got to ski the mountain together for the day. Ben had a full day of ski lessons and was so excited to ski more with his new friends.  Audrey didn't want to leave her new friends, but was very proud of herself for taking her ski lessons too:)  Hopefully we will get another chance to visit Sugarloaf this season!

Winter Outdoors

We are taking the "this may be as good as it gets" approach to this winter.  So, this morning we all skied at Titcomb Mountain.  Audrey and Ben did a great job and were just so happy to be on skis for the first time this year!

After skiing we got the snowmobiles out and spent some time packing down the snow in our yard since there isn't quite enough snow to ride from our house and we are a bit too lazy for trailering them anywhere;)  We finished the day clearing off the pond for skating.  All in all, a fun and exhausting winter day!

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!