Friday, February 17, 2012

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/

Linky Love
Favorite Resource This WeekThe Homeschool Mother's JournalTots and Me
Classified: MomHip Homeschool Hop ButtonMagical Mouse SchoolhouseTeach Me Tuesday at Preschool Powol Packetslearning ALL the time!!Chestnut Grove Academy
3Boys&aDog DEALS!Photobucket

29 comments:

  1. So glad you liked MEP! we really do love it and plan to use it all the way through. Hope you all get to feeling better soon!!!

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  2. I hear you on the history. I have been kinda bored with stuff lately too. If you come up with anything let me know. I have been using Story of the World. We really enjoy it. I got the 2nd book off Barnes and Noble text books used, for like $7 and shipping. They have a good selection. I also found this new site Cheaptextbooks.com, which I found some good deals on as well.

    Looks like he had a great birthday party! Hope he had a great day! Looks like he did. A teenager? Oh my, I'm not ready for that yet.

    Little Monkey had a great birthday too. She is anxiously awaiting her party now, in the middle of next week.

    I've decided I wish we lived closer so we could get together. We need to meet up a few times this Summer, maybe do some hikes. I got a state park pass this year! :)

    Alright, guess I yacked your ear off enough. Talk to you soon! :)

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  3. Stopping by from the Friday Blog AND Google + Hop! http://queenofsavings.com

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  4. Happy Birthday to your boys! Is it nice to celebrate them together or do you find it complicated?
    I am sorry for all your illnesses being sick and being a mom just should never be allowed. I hope you get some rest this weekend.

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  5. Happy birthday!
    it sounds like you needed Monday off. I can't imagine any of the boy scouts got any sleep. After not feeling your best...get some rest this week too.
    The Bento boxes are so cute. I need to get some of those put together. First to find some cute containers...maybe after pay day. lol
    That pond vs. lake drawing is awesome.

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  6. They grow up way too fast - don't they? Happy Birthday to your cute boys! Hope you are feeling better soon!
    Sounds like you had a good week anyways - We are taking part in the Great Backyard Bird Count too! today we saw a handful and reported our findings. got a great few shots of some sea gulls while we were at it. Thanks for the math resource- needed it! If you want to resize buttons/ pics you can right click and copy/save to your computer - then go to picnik free program (for now) and resize or use your own program - you said you can't get codes copied on your blog or html? are you on blogger? I can help if you are. :)

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  7. Happy Birthday to both of your boys! May God bless them with many, many more years of love, health and happiness! :-) I'm glad they had such fun parties.

    Hope you are feeling much better and get can some much deserved rest this weekend.

    Your cheesecakes look delicious! I am now hosting a linky called "Try a new recipe Tuesday." I'd love for you to include the recipe for your cake next week if you'd be willing to! :-)

    We are using Sonlight this year for history and we've enjoyed it. We just love cuddling up on the couch and reading together. And, yes, almost everyday is jammie day here! (they usually only change if they have to go somewhere and as soon as they get back, the jammies go right back on! lol)

    Have a great weekend!
    Many blessings,
    Lisa

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    1. I promise I will work on the button by next week's linkup. A friend helped me do my other one. I am relatively new to it and probably need to be coached again, lol. :-)

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  8. Happy Birthday to everyone! My mother had the same experience with my sister & I. We are 7 years a part & our birthdays are 3 days a part.
    Hopefully you have gotten some rest by now. Sorry that you all have been sick. It has been a rough winter for us too.

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  9. Happy Birthday to your boys :) Good job on the cheesecakes!

    Thanks for linking up with Favorite Resources.

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  10. Happy Birthday to the boys!! Kayleigh was actually born on Mackenzie's due date. lol Today is their party and I'm thrilled to declare birthdays officially OVER. Especially after what Kevin bought them last night. lol

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  11. I love the idea of the homemade lunchables. We've done these, but I've not seen the containers before. I'll have to find some of those. I'm also going to try out both your recipes this week. The energy bites look like a great choice for the fast approaching spring sports season and, well, rasberry cheese cake, my mouth is watering just thinking about that. LOL

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  12. Visiting from the blog hop. I am now following your blog. Hope you can follow back.

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  13. Stopping by from the blog hop. Hope you'll stop by my blog aswell.

    Thanks!
    -Jessica

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  14. thanks for visiting my blog
    happy birthday to your boys!!

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  15. The teenage years started a whole new adventure for us with my boy who's now 16YO. Awesome birthday celebrations.

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  16. That bento box was adorable. Well, it was I'm sure before it hit the floor. Happy belated birthday to your boys :D Sometimes slow is good for schooling. It's one of the blessings of homeschooling right? Have a blessed weekend :D

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  17. Thanks for stopping by Cupcakes & Cucumbers and Blueberry Squash! I am a new follower, ad I love your Energy Bites! Yum.

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  18. Happy birthday to your sons. February is a hard month for schooling, I find. Hope you all get healthy and get back into the groove of things:)

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  19. What a fun birthday party--I LOVE cheesecake! And those notebook pages are incredible--nice work to you and your boys! Thank you for sharing this at Teach Me Tuesday!

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  20. Happy Belated Birthdays to your boys!!

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  21. Lots of great stuff here! Thank you for linking up!!

    Happy Birthday to your boys!

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  22. What a great week! Happy Birthday to your boys...very cool that they share a birthday:) The energy bites sound yummy- we've got to try them. Thanks for sharing.

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  23. You have so many exciting things going on. We, too, got rid of cable and just have netflix. Even though we still have the basic channels--abc, cbs, nbc, fox--we rarely even watch them. Netflix is more convenient.

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  24. Wow, lots going on. Happy Birthday to the boys! When I look around in the middle of a party, I always think I must have been crazy to spend so much time cleaning. Sorry you had to deal with some sickness. Hope everyone is better now.

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  25. Happy birthday to your boys :-) Amazing that they have the same birthday! And thanks for sharing on Happy lil ❤'s are baking :-)

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  26. Aw, happy birthday boys!!! What a great cake!

    I need to be more purposeful with portable lunches.

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  27. mmmm I LOVE cheesecake!! The EYE BOOK is a favorite here!! Thanks for sharing at BTT!!

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  28. Congrats to your little one for reading 4 books! That's fantastic! Thanks for linking up!

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