20 Birthday Candles: February 11 - 17

In My Life This Week

Happy birthday to my wonderful boys! Would you believe my sons had the same due date 6 years apart? Yes! LOL White Pine turned 13 on February 15th and will celebrate with a couple of friends this weekend. (Officially a teenager! Nooooo!) And Balsam Fir turned 7 on February 13th. He had 11 friends over to celebrate on Sunday with a "construction dig" cake and ice cream. Oh, how fast they grow up! ((sigh))

Blowing Out Birthday Candles!

Makin' and Bakin'!
Another attempt at a Bento Lunch! (Check out some really cool Bentos here.) Not-so-funny story with this latest homemade Lunchable...it ended up in poor Balsam Fir's lap! He set the attached container lid on a cuff of Sugar Maple's jacket which I didn't see. I grabbed the coat to move it and - WHOOPS! - there it went! And it held BLUEBERRY YOGURT. Yep! ((sighs)) Things happen, right?

Energy Bites with First Years spoon and napkin, ginger-
bread man shaped ham-and-cheese sandwich on whole
wheat bread with tortilla chips, baby carrots and blueberry
yogurt with fresh wild Maine blueberries sprinkled on top
 in a Tupperware lunch container

Energy Bites? I know, I know! Those of you who know Balsam Fir know that he certainly doesn't need ENERGY, but these little yummy bite-sized treats are a GREAT belly filler! Made from peanut butter, honey, oats, and chocolate chips, Balsam Fir LOVED them! I nixed the flax seed and used Wheat Germ (since I had it) and left out the coconut (since Balsam Fir doesn't like it) and added raisins, but otherwise I followed the recipe to the T. Ha! Wanna make them? Click here! Another fab Pinterest find!

Oh, and I made cheesecakes for the 2nd time ever! Raspberry and plain for White Pine's birthday celebration! I found the recipe here at Kraft Foods and pinned it to my "Tried and True...Maybe!" board. Super easy!

Homeschooling Happenings
So, we took Monday off. We REALLY needed it! Thursday and Friday I functioned with a "belly bug", still keeping up with school, activities and housework, and on Saturday we spent ALL day wrapping up basketball for the season, and then on Sunday we cleaned house and celebrated Balsam Fir's birthday. (Not sure why we cleaned house BEFORE the party...) White Pine went ice fishing with the Boy Scouts, camping out in a cabin for the CHILLY weekend. Sleep wasn't on the camping list though! When Monday rolled around we needed a SLOW day.

Now, I wish I had some totally fun activities (with photos) to show you, but by Wednesday the lot of us had come down with an energy-zapping cold with congestion. We prodded ahead with school, but didn't get to anything beyond the basics. ((sigh)) It's been a rough winter for illness around here!

White Pine's Comparison Drawing and Notes on Ponds
and Lakes for his Earth Science Notebook

Balsam Fir's Lego Instructions to Build
Something. LOL Cute though!

And on Friday we did Hodge Podge School; a little of this and a little of that. We finished up Value in How to Teach Art to Children, making spring-ish butterflies and dragonflies using light and dark colors, while listening to Handel's "Water Music". White Pine read a WHOLE A History of Us book (6). Sugar Maple conducted a "Cloud in a Bottle Experiment" from Apologia Astronomy for everyone to see. And Balsam Fir played with Snap Circuits.  We all read some and watched "Bill Nye" through Netflix streaming and made homemade pizza later in the day.

Here, There and Everywhere!

♥ Boy Scout Camping Ice Fishing ♥ Basketball Round Robin and All-Stars Games ♥ Cub Scouts ♥ Boy Scouts ♥ Clarinet/Band Practice ♥ Library Story and Craft Time ♥ 

Off the Bookshelf
The Candy Man makes chocolate lollipops for our library to "sell" for donations (fundraiser). Balsam Fir ALWAYS wants one (or two) when we visit, so I made a deal with him: read 4 books between visits and I'll get him a chocolate lobster. He was "down" for this deal! (And I'm OK with this kind of bribery if it encourages him to do something that he finds particularly daunting.) This week he read:

Our favorite read aloud was If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dussen, a EB White Read Aloud Award book. Balsam Fir found it particularly funny...and inspiring. He plans on making HIS OWN car now!

Helpful Homeschool Hint
Nicole from Journey to Excellence posted the Mathematics Enhancement Programme last week on her weekly wrap-up. Are you looking for a FREE Grade K-6 Math program with LESSONS, PRACTICE PROBLEMS, ANSWER KEY, and COPYMASTERS? Click here! It's my FAVORITE resource this week!

One of our Favorite Things
Starting our free Netflix trial! The kids don't even miss cable! We've been choosing a movie to watch each evening (since Wednesday) to watch as a family.

Ponderings
Early elementary history! My curriculum for next year is mostly set...except for Balsam Fir's 2nd grade history! I usually just do "holiday history". You know - studying Columbus and the Pilgrims and Presidents as the holidays roll around. After 2 other kids, *I'm* kind of bored with it though! LOL

A Photo, Video, Link, or Quote to Share

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

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