Wicked

Jon and I bought tickets for Wicked back in November. It has been on my bucket list for so long! I loved it! The story was so cute. The songs were fabulous. And I had the sexiest, most supportive, awesome date possible. I'm a lucky lady.

School

This was a really fun science project we actually did a month or two ago but I never posted it. You make bubbles that are filled with CO2 from dry ice. It's pretty fun. They're called boo bubbles. Because they look like ghosts. It was something I saw online and thought the kids would enjoy them. They definitely did.

This was the only snow we have gotten so far this winter. It was declared a school snow day. We still did a little school but we definitely took the opportunity to play in the snow. Annabelle wasn't a fan.

This is at our local library. The libraries are by county here and we only have one. Which is a huge bummer. But they still have lots of books! :)

I usually let Brig and Vanessa stay at the house while I walk Benson to the bus stop. One day Brig decided to follow after me, without bothering to get dressed. Don't let the sunshine fool you, it was freezing. Crazy boy.

Vanessa helped me build this 'word wall." It was some intense work. But it has been really good so far. We put up the trickier of the 74 phonograms (mostly ones that have multiple sounds or multiple ways to spell them). Then we have lists of words under each phonogram. We add words each time we do a spelling list. It's also a good way to review ones that we have learned. We'll see if it helps with her spelling.

Benson got a frog hatchery kit for Christmas and the frog embryos finally arrived. We thought they were dead and then after four days they hatched. The boys were crazy about them and messed with them all day long. On day five they were belly up. So, we'll try that again some other time. Ugh.

And while we are talking about school, lets not forget that Benson also is still going to preschool two days a week. Some days he is happier about it than other days. We went to a group music class in the morning and then I drove him to preschool rather than him riding the bus. We refused to drive his chair out of the car, screamed and screamed and screamed. Needless to say, he won the battle. Because, well, who could force their kid to go to preschool when they are this upset?! I mean, it's preschool. I haven't really figured out what the deal is. He said he just wanted to be home to play. I talked to his teacher who also said that she almost brought him to tears a couple weeks ago. Apparently he was getting something off the floor from his chair and scared her to death. And she yelled at him for not being safe. And, it was the very next class after this incident that he didn't want to go. They seem related but he says he just doesn't want to leave. I don't know. I guess we'll see if he changes his mind here soon. He was happy to go to his class Valentines party.

We also had a co-op Valentine party. The kids exchanged Valentines. We also did a group lunch. And each family set up a store and the kids would work at their store and then earn money to go buy things from other stores. It was a lot of fun. There was a nail salon, a drink shop, cookie store, toy store, popsicle store, and a gift shop. I have no idea if they understood the economy effect we were trying to simulate, but we discussed it. In the end, it was still fun.

It has been a crazy whirlwind the last few months. We are taking a break this week, going to St Louis for Benson's ISIS injection. It'll be a nice break for all of us. Vanessa is doing second grade month, We have been going really slow. For the last three weeks we have been working on addition with renaming. She has it down now. I'm scared to move on to subtraction though. We probably should after the break but we'll see how it goes. We have just started learning cursive. We have done four letters is all. She is reading Level 3 books. We are working on spelling but she is doing so much better than just the beginning of the year. We have learned about a few composers, some famous artists, different countries, we have read several fairy tales but Hans Christian Andersen and Brothers Grimm. We are currently reading a child version of Shakespeare. Other than the shear amount of work homeschooling takes, I love it.

In Their Words Feb 2016

Art By Brigham: This is a picture of you being mean to a lion!

Driving home after picking up Vanessa from gymnastics. 

Vanessa (excited): "Dad, guess what. I did a handstand and my coach saw me and he said 'Do it again.' Then he said 'Everyone watch Vanessa," and everyone watched me."

Jon: "Wow. He said that because you were doing it so well?"

Vanessa: "No. Because I was doing it wrong."

Silence...

Laying down with Benson and Brigham as they're going to bed.

Benson: "Dad, you're the best dad in the world."

Jon: "Ahh, I'm glad you think so."

Brigham: "Yeah. I love your whole body. I promise I will never kill you."

Jon: "................okay."

February 14

"Brig say happy Valentines Day."

Brigham: "Happy Violenetime Day."

February 17

Grandma: "Brigham, go tell Grandpa to get ready to go."

Brigham walks to Grandpa. "Grandpa!......Uh, what did Grandma want me to tell you?"

Brigham is whining in the car about not watching a movie.

Dad: "It's only a few minutes away, let's listen to music."

Brigham: "No!! Mom, do you like music?"

Me: "ya, I like music."

Brigham: "I hate music! I just like how it sounds."

February 26

Vanessa: "Mom, where did you get that chocolate?"

Me: "it's a secret."

Vanessa: "a secret can't stay a secret for long."

Benson: "Mom, who would win: an orca or a great white shark?"

At around 7:30, Benson went and got his Jammie's, told me to brush his teeth and change him so he could play on the tab- in the cupboard. (With the door closed. He only let me open it for a picture).