County fair part 2

Today was "school" day and we were having so much fun I totally forgot to take pictures. We continued on our county fair theme and focused on math today. We talked about what rides are at the fair and how many tickets it would cost to ride each ride. Then we gave each kids some coins so they could really buy their tickets. After they bought the tickets, they glued them on a chart to show which rides they rode. It was great to see how each kids handled it differently.
After that we read a great John deer book about the fair. D (one of our moms) printed out mini book so the kids could color pictures of what is at the fair. We will put these in a lapbooks at some point. Then finally, they got to play while us moms talked.
This evening jaiden and I did a little more talking about tickets and money and we even did some skip counting. I did manage to take a picture of his finished chart as well as his completed leaf collage from yesterday. I'm sorry to the grands that there are no smiling faces but they wouldn't sit still long enough. :)
Tomorrow we will actually go to the real fair so that should be fun. Can you say funnel cake?
In love and light,
Stephanie

Busy day

So I didn't post anything yesterday but I'm going to make up for it today. Yesterday was a weird day but mostly very productive for me (meaning not so much for the kids...)
Anyways, we started out the day with yoga (more me that the kids but I think they will get it soon). After breakfast I knew I needed to get us all out of the house so we took a nature walk. I had told jaiden I wanted to do a craft today so I asked him what he wanted to do. He said something with glue so we decided on a leaf collage. On the walk we looked for all of the different colored leaves we could find even though there are not too many out yet. When we got home, he cut lots of little leaves out of paper (see below) then glued them down on another sheet. When that dried, he turned it over and glued down all of the real leaves we found on our walk. While all of this was happening, Lilli had her first playdough experience and loved it.
Then we went to the library. Jaiden was playing a new game called math blasters and he was very good. We haven't done any formal math yet and he got it. I was amazed. After we picked out some books we headed home for dinner. While I was making dinner, both kids thought it would be great to play in the yard with their flashlights. They were having so much fun we had to go back out after dark!
Anyways, they are both pooped! Tomorrow is "school" day so that's always fun.
In love and light!
Stephanie

Grocery day

Mondays are a bit crazy around here because I usually teach on Monday nights. Add to that grocery day and that's hectic. We did get a little playtime and "school" time in though. Lilli has discovered hats and LOVES them and Jaiden has discovered tumblebooks. I found it through our library web site and there is so much online for him. He is into "Ace Lace Bug Detective" now and it will read the kids the books then there are games you play about the books. Really cool stuff! Anyways, here are a few of lilli's hats so enjoy. (I didnt get any pics of jaiden on the computer but I will try to put up the links later.)
In love and light,
Stephanie

A birthday party

Today is Saturday and it was the day of the 5th anniversary party at Lotus of Life Chiropractic. I have been working with them for about 2 years I think and they are all truly amazing. It was an honor to help celebrate their 5th birthday and the kids had a blast! With the jumpy house, face painting, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, cake and a bunch of other kids, jaiden was asleep before we got on 285.
So if you are ever in the area and need a Wonderful chiropractor, stop by and see dr. Liliana Warner. Their site is www.lotusoflifechiropractic.com and chiropractic care is not just for hurt backs anymore. I dare you to ask me more. ;)
In love and light!
Steph


Update- I think my upload failed yesterday because this was supposed to be for Saturday. Owell, you get the point :)

The end of summer

Today officially marked the end of summer for the Banguilan household. Today . . . we/I took down the pool. We had so much fun with it and go figure, just as the season was coming to an end, that's when I finally figured out how the keep it balanced. Owell. It's all clean and packed up and ready for next years adventures.
Anna was actually home today so it was mostly a couch day for her and the kids (even though Lilli helped me occasionally). It was a great day and the weather was perfect. With all of the tv time, I decided we needed a little walk so after dinner we trekked up to our corner store for "desert". (pictures below)
So I have to admit that the last few weeks have been a bit challenging for me but today I realized just how lucky / blessed I really am. From my neighbor who has mowed my grass all summer to my amazing partner who is working her butt off to support us, to my kids who surprise me everyday, to my amazing parents (all 4 of them) who never waver in their faith in me. If I know anything, I know that today I am loved! My only hope is that I can give even just a fraction of that love back out.
In love and light,
Stephanie

Friday

So today is Friday and I didn't get any good pics of what the kids and I did as far as homeschooling but I did take a few at dinner.
This morning we got up and did a kids yoga tape together. It wasn't much of a work out but we had fun. Then we had breakfast of homemade bread, yum! after that j and I started his pot holder weaving. You know the one. I think it's a right of passage that we all did as a kid. He did pretty good. He got about halfway through one. I'm defiantly going to get different bands though. The ones that came with the kit are really thin nylon. Anyways, after that we did sone errands and ended up at the shop. They played and played while I cleaned and heatpresed name badges. After I was done of course jaiden wanted one so Anna did one for each of the kids.
When we were all done at the shop we went to dinner. Jaiden had forgotten he wanted his face painted but promptly remembered once we got to the restaurant so, Anna painted both little faces. After jaiden's was done, Lilli kept saying, "eyes, eyes". She was quite distressed about her brothers new look but soon realized she wanted to be once again, just like him.
In love.
Steph

Our homeschooling adventure for the day

So I've decided to pose here again. It's not that I stopped but I just ran out of time. Anyways, in case you can't tell by the title, we are homeschooling. We have been for a while but since j is "starting first grade" I thought I could share what we do in the hopes of helping another homeschooling family. I'm in a small (and wonderful) hs group and we meet every thursday morning. We have decided to do monthly themes and this month is "the county fair". I taught today and decided to talk about quilts. I have to admit that I wasn't too excited about it bus as usually, the more I get into it, the more I really get into it. There is so much you can talk about with the fair. We started with talking about the history a bit then we read a WOnderful book called "the elephant quilt". The story is about a family making their way from Missouri to la in a covered wagon. As they go, they record their history in a quilt.
After that, I had each of the kids make their own quilt square out of precut paper. I just had them tape or glue the pieces down but the kids did awesome!!! After we were all done, we tape it together to form a big "quilt". Below is a picture. I'm actually really excited about next weeks lesson. I'm not "teaching" so we will just have to see what d and r have planned. :)
In love and light,
S