More Grad Pictures

Grad Invitations. One of the moms made these and they are very nice. I did the decorations for the reception. One of the other parents helped me brainstorm for ideas and then Jake and Emily helped me set up. Hopefully I can get some more pictures up once I find the jetstick.

I love this one! Jake looks like he is planning something in the background.

At the Reception

Jake, Kier and Frank

Frank and Bree-anna

Jake and Frank

Gratitudes

1. That it seems to have cooled off alot overnight.

2. That a friend is loaning me the Iron Man movies, so me and Emily are going to have a movie night.

3. That I found a stove on the garage sale site for free this morning, since mine decided last night was a good time to die.

Meal Plan Monday

So the last few days have been hot and we have been taking it easy. We watched the fireworks on the last day of Stampede from our front yard. Emily and I cuddled and watched movies one day, she loves the movie "Overboard" which is also oneof my favourites. We have managed to fill 6 of the arge orange yard garbage bags to take to charity, and I have another one almost half full. So today that is my goal get that bag filled and then drop them all off and do the recycling.

I don't know if anyone is following me on pinterest but I have been pinning alot of stuff. I love having a place I can keep all the great ideas I find online, instead of them piling up in my favourites. I have decided that I am going to try at least one of those ideas every week.

Did pretty good last week so here is this weeks menu.

Sunday - fish
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - tacos
Wednesday - spaghetti
Thursday - quiche
Friday - salad
Saturday - chili


Gratitudes
1. That the lady I give my extra coupons too gave me a whole bunch of fpc for Mcdonalds, the kids are really happy.
2. That we have so much that we can give stuff away.
3. That I have lost 2 lbs.

Sunday Links

Dissolving Rocks :: Reading Confetti - The kids will try some of these experiments out.

How Minimalism Kills Fear  :: The Minimalists

If Joy Could Be Bottled :: Time Warp Wive


Loving Small Family Spaces ::Minimalist Living. This article explains exactly how I feel about living space.

Gratitudes
1. That it is another beautiful day.
2. That Frank called yesterday and he is having alot of fun and is feeling alot better.
3. That Tracey and Mathew came out for a visit.

My New Kitchen

So yesterday David and Maria took Emily and Rebekkah to the stampede and fair. Both the girls had a really great time. They loved the rides and David and Marie bought them fries and cotton candy. Emily won a door prize, it was a craft kit too make glow in the dark flowers. She is pretty excited but has decided to make them after Rebekkah gets back from holidays, so she can do some too.

Jake was supposed to go but had stayed up too late the night before then skipped breakfast and walked up to the bank at lunch in the heat. Needless to say when he got back he did not look well at all and he said he was feeling sick. I told him to go have a shower and when that didn't help I sent him to bed. He slept for over 3 hours and when he woke up he ate and was fine. He decided to just take it easy and go to the fair Saturday instead. So he relaxed for awhile and then David called and said that he wanted to take Jake to the movies with Uncle Joe. They had a good time.

Jake wasn't thrilled about going to the fair today by himself so David said he would go and hang out with him, even though he won't go on the rides. Now Tracey has called and is going to come out today too, and she doesn't get sick on the rides. So Jake is pretty  happy that he gets to go with his big brother and big sister.

Now onto the kitchen since thatis the title of this post. LOL

Let me start by saying "I LOVE MY NEW KITCHEN!!!!!" 

I know it isn't new, it's just paint but to me it feels new. I still come out in the morning and love how bright it is. The blue adds a nice splash of colour and makes me smile whenever I look at it . The white just looks so clean that I don't even mind the yellow counter tops anymore. LOL

One morning last week I came out of the shower and my neighbour was on a ladder at my kitchen window. The screen for our window has been ripped since we bought the place and we have just made do. She told me that she had some extra screen that would cover ours and since her ex is the one that broke it in the first place, she was going to fix it for us. I thought that was really nice, so while she was doing that I washed that window too and it needed some serious scrubbing.

Now when I look out my window I alwasy look twice because it looks like it isn't there. I guess I had gotten used to the grime. Yuck!

Gratitudes

1. That Emily had such a good time at the fair.

2. That Emily and I staightened up last night and woke up to a clean house this morning.

3. That Jake is feeling better.

Art Show

Emily had some of her art submitted or an art show and this is the picture that was chosen to be displayed. It was her first time doing paper quilling and she really enjoyed it.

Here she is standing underneath her picture at the show. 

Her class looking at all the art. 

Gratitudes

1. That David, Marie and Jake are going to stampede and the fair and have invited Emily and Rebekkah to go with them.

2. That I get to stay home and relax while the kids get to go and have fun.

3. That my raspberries are growing really well and we have picked a bowlful already even though none of them have made it inside the house. LOL

Our New System

This school year I decided to try something different for Emily. I usually just tell her what she needs to get done in the first subject and then when thats done I tell her the next subject and so on. It means that I am always stopping and going over what she is doing and it makes it hard for me to get any tasks completed in the day, and i felt she was becoming to dependent on me instead of becaoming an independent learner. I want her to want to learn not just do it because I am there and told her too. While looking for ideas to be better organized this year I stumbled upon Sue Patrick's workbox system.

 I LOVE IT!!

This woman is brilliant. She used boxes on a shelf and each box is a task they need to get done. The kids start with the first box and when it is done they move to the second box and so on.  Here is what Sue said about it during an interview with Love to Know Homeschool.

Sue: My system simply makes homeschooling easier by creating physical and chronological structure. It makes it easier to organize curriculum and to present it in a way that is easier for the child to learn. This system allows home school families to get more schooling done in far less time, and it is especially helpful in creating kids who can work independently. So many homeschooled children can become addicted to Mom sitting there with them even when they don't need the help. My system is very visual and the children know at all times what is expected of them - whether they are readers or not. You would be surprised at how independent very small children and developmentally delayed children can be.

The workbox system also encourages parents to present work in smaller, easier chunks which will help keep behavioral problems and learning struggles at a minimum. My system for integrating a lot of review and more fun, hands-on materials will also help with attention spans, behavioral issues and learning retention.

Here is a picture of her system.

I don't have enough room for two shoe racks so I found these awesome scrapbooking drawers at Michaels. They have 10 drawers instead of the 12 that she uses but thats ok. I think they will work great and the girls are very excited about the bright colours, they can't wait to get started. Best of all they are on wheels so the girls can just pull them over to wherever they are working and I can easily move them to clean.

Gratitudes

1. That Rob is taking the kids to the parade so I get the house to myself this morning.

2. That Frank is feeling alot better and is leaving for a 2 day canoe trip.

3. That we can see the stampede fireworks from our front yard, it's nice to not have to go anywhere and stil get to see them.

Wordless Wednesday

Gratitudes

1. That it cooled down the last few days.

2. That the girls are so excited to learn.

3. That today is Rob's day off and he is going to cook some of the fish that my dad brought out.

First Flight

So yesterday Rob went up in an airplane for the first time and Emily and Rebekkah went up for the first time they can remember. Emily was so excited about it that she talked about it for about an hour after landing and even talked to the pilot. Rob didn't have so much fun, he got motion sickness. But he finished the ride for Emily and managed to not throw-up. Here is the video he took of take off.

First Flight Video

Gratitudes
1. That Jake had the chance to go up in a plane too, and that he was paid for, Michelle needed someone to go up with her kids so he went with them and she paid for Jake.
2. That it was a nice day even if it was very hot out there.
3. That we had a delicious stirfry for dinner with lots of fresh garden veggies.

Meal Plan Moday

Last week we followed about half of the menu, this week I would like to do better. When we stick to the menu our grocery budget is lower, because I only put things on the menu if we have all the ingredients already or when I need an ingredient it is on sale that week. So this week we are going to try and follow the menu completely.

Sunday - pizza
Monday - stir fry
Tuesday - spaghetti
Wednesday - salad
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - fish
Saturday - chili


Gratitudes
1. That the family air show is on today and we are sending Rob and Emily up in an airplane, Rob for the 1st time and Emily for the 1st time she will remember.
2. That I got all the denim cut upand have gone from 2 huge boxes to one smaller one.
3. That we have 3 huge bags of clothes and some toys to drop off for a family in need.

Sunday Links

I have decided to do something new on Sundays. I don't always want to write up a post on Sunday so during the week when I find something interesting I would like to share I will save the link and then on Sunday I will post a list of the links. They will be links to anything, something I found inspiring or something I might like to try, but will let you see what is interesting to me. I hope you enjoy them.

Billboards :: Mt. Hope Academy

Multi-Tasking Mom - A good reminder to give our kids our full attention.

Living With Less - Book Trailer :: Joshua Becker from Becoming Minimalist

Gratitudes
1. That today is another beautiful day.
2. That I got someof my strawberry garden weeded yesterday.
3. That we bought the paint to do some of our dining room and hallway.

More Cakes

Some cakes that I have made over the past year and never got around to posting.

Bible Cake

Bow Cake

Grad Cake

House Warming Cake

Hula Barbie Cake

Pony Cake

Teddy Bear Cake

Wedding Shower Cake

Bon Voyage Cake

Gratitudes

1.That it is a gorgeous sunny day with a wonderful breeze.

2. That we had time to go to the farmers market and the kids got some yummy fudge and jerky.

3. That the whole family is getting better about letting things go, between all of us(except Frank of course) we managed to fill 6 of those large orange yard bags with stuff to donate. Emily filled 3 by herself, I am very proud of her.

Cadet Pictures

Emily took a picture of each of the boys on the way to cadets one night and then we have their squadron pictures from this year.

Frank

Jake

Gratitudes

1. That we had a wonderful swim at Echo Dale yesterday.

2. That Rob got the fridge fixed.

3.That Emily decided on her own that it was time to get rid of some stuff in her room, and proceeded to fill a large orange garbage bag.

Reunion Pictures

Arrived at Elkwater.

Setting up camp.

Our luxury cabin.

Beautiful views.

Everyone out for a hike.

Emily trying out the pop gun.

Joe exploring.

Kids working on a craft that Fiona brought for them.

Emily's finished project.

Emily playing at the beach.

Back in town and chilling at the campground.

Kids love their smores.

 Cake decorating - Rachele's cupcakes.

 William's poo cupcake for Daddy.

 Emily's cupcakes.

 Fiona's cupcake.

William's cupcake.

The last craft we did was a handprint craft. Little kids did handprints to make the flower and the big kids did thumbprints to make the bugs. They all did a t-shirt and Grandma gets this pillow case.

Gratitudes

1. That all the kids had a chance to get to know each other.

2. That the hail did not damage our tent.

3. That I got to spend some time with my sister.