Guess I was gone there for a bit...
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 11:40AM Sorry about that. No real excuses or anything...just busy with life. :) So. Quick recap and then some other stuff, okay?
Shortly after the Groundhog saw his shadow and I explained about 6 more weeks of winter to the boys, we had a stretch of unseasonably warm weather that led to backyard picnics, bubble play and more time at the park. Since then, we've also had a couple bouts of snow but appear to be back to weirdly warm.
Schoolwork has continued as usual and we're really enjoying it. Last week, for example, we were studying about medieval China and the introduction of wooden printing blocks...which turned into a fabulous time carving our own rubber stamps (rubber = much easier for kids to carve than wood). Will try to stamp some samples this weekend, as the boys came up with some really nice ones and are itching to do more!
Of course, not all schoolwork is easy. Having a difficult time this week with math actually. How does one explain to an 8 year old who can do the math in his head that sometimes it's necessary to show his work? Long division this week and still working on getting him to write out 735 divided by 4 rather than just telling me that it's 183.5...incidentally, also working on at least showing him about remainders, though generally he's converting to decimals and fractions in his head automatically, too. Yes, I know it's wonderful he can do it in his head...I just want him to also know *how* to write it out. After he shows me he gets that part, he can go back to doing it in his head. :)
Been loving my special times with each boy. I spend one-on-one time with Micah every Monday while the other two are in Options (doing stuff like errands but also reading together at the "love berry" (aka library)) but we've also been trying to get back to the special nights we started a couple years ago where Nathan or I take one boy out for some special one-on-one time. In January, Nathan took one boy each weekend. In February, I've done that. Noah and I spent an afternoon chatting and visiting the Discovery Science Museum. Asher and I went bowling. Fun times!
All about Valentines around here for the past week or so. Together, the boys and I made more than 120 Valentines for them to give out to cousins and at our homeschool group party last Thursday. Nothing fancy...Ash made a little topper to go on these popper things he put into baggies:
Noah made a card to go with the little gliders that he handed out:
And Micah drew a colorful picture to go with the Valentine fortune cookies he handed out (when not snitching them):
At the party, the boys distributed their Valentines to the other kids' boxes/bags, having decorated their own bags to collect theirs in earlier that day. There was also bingo with conversation hearts as the markers, LIMBO (hilarious to watch!), freeze dance (Micah freakin' cracks me up) and the annual decorating of the cookies and cupcakes. :) Yup, lots of good times.
On the 14th, the boys, Nathan and I celebrated on our own at Whole Foods...where they were having a chocolate fountain and dipping all sorts of cookies, cupcakes, fruits and brownies. Had lunch and dessert there. Yum! I then spent the rest of the day with my awesome girlfriends...Molly & Melissa...it was fabulous just chatting and eating and chatting some more. :)
Monday, the 16th, Asher's class at Options had their own little Valentine's party so more Valentines were made over the weekend...didn't remember to take any pics but they were adorable...little sand buckets with shovels, a note from Asher saying "I dig you...happy (heart) day!", and a couple pieces of candy. I must here apologize that I did not make any Valentines of my own to send out this year. But I think that's okay, don't you?
What else? We've also taken the boys swimming a few times at our gym, pre-registered for next year's Options program, and continued to watch American Idol as a family (strangely good time). Nathan's been busy with work. I've finished up an ad (for the boys' music class/school) and three layouts (for CK). Yup, stuff like that. :) This weekend I'm doing a little book signing at my local (awesome) scrapbook store and will be there all day with some friends cropping. If you're in the area, stop by!!
Whew. Now. Three other quick things:
1. Don't forget about the February Month by Month challenge! Details can be found through the links over on the left here. Also, if you want to plan ahead, March's challenge is already up as well. :)
2. Creating Keepsakes has a new BLOG! Check it out, okay? And promise me you won't go listen to some of the videos that were shot at CHA. We won't mention which ones but let's just say that I hate how your own voice always sounds so different when recorded, kwim? ;) In any case, fun stuff.
3. To answer some of the questions that folks had about my Weekly 2009 album (soooo sorry I haven't gotten back to this till now)...each 8.5x11 page represents one week. Yes, each page has nine slots and each week has seven days. This means there are extra slots. Sometimes I've been using them for pictures, sometimes I simply leave them blank. :) Roughly speaking, the idea is to use the little slots to document daily happenings...it's actually turned into a 365 sort of project since I've been recording a bit for each day, even if it's nothing more than writing "went to the library" or something. Many of my days have turned out to be just a list of stuff we did but some (and this is really the reason behind the whole thing) are days I'll want to remember because of something a boy said or did so I try to add those notes, too. Things like the day that Asher finally ate meat are things I'm going to want to be able to go back and find, kwim?
And, since I'm at it, here are quick (not great) shots of my weeks since the last time I posted pictures from my Weekly 2009 album:
Beyond being able to go back and see what was going on, I'm still just so in love with the fact that I used up so many scraps of paper to put this together and continue to use up lots of little stuff that might otherwise get neglected in my stash. Yay!
Okay, I think that's probably about the limit of what one can be expected to read (past it really, huh? LOL!). Thanks for hanging with me till the end here and I'll do better about not letting so long pass next time. In fact, I'm hoping to get heaps of layouts done this weekend and will try to share some of those shortly thereafter!
Reader Comments (7)
WOW!! I love the week by week album! I wonder if I have enough info to start one of these now? I have been doing "Photo a Day" so I am pretty sure I could figure out what we did the first few weeks of 2009. Man, I sure do wish I was going to the crop on Sat. This would be the perfect project to start!
Hi! I love your 365-project concept. I have been taking a photo (or so) a day, but not sure how to showcase them. I like your idea, as well as one I read about using 12 of the brag-book style slip-in cheapie albums from Target. now I'll have to decide which one I like best. Thanks again for sharing.Also, I love your list album idea--thats a good one for me to fill out for my kids.
I have had those page protectors and have been skeered as what to do with them.Weekly is such a great concept I guess maybe I need to be brave and jump out on a limb and try it.
lol! Payback time! I had the same problem teaching Nathan to write out his math problems! He was so fast at figuring it out in his head and it didn't make sense to him to have to show how he did it on paper. I really had to force the issue. It wasn't that he couldn't do it; he just didn't see the sense in it.
PS: I'm glad you finally posted another blog. We were about to call to and see if you were sick or something was wrong.
I am scraplifting your Project 365 album. My boys has extra album pages (used for their yugioh/pokeman cards). I love the idea of using my scraps (I have tons w/ no purpose). Glad you're back.
First of all, I LOVE that you share what your boys are doing with their homeschool group. We're homeschooling and sometimes I just wish more people knew that there are a LOT of people who do it...and yes, we are normal.
Second, I lifted your layout of how many states you've been...on my blog!
And of course, you have something that inspires me again: your 365 album! I really enjoy making ATCs and have been doing similar things in an 8.5 x 11 album. This is awesome. I'm going to try to do one a day!
Thanks for explaining your weekly album. Just wondering if you would mind asking your "readers" if anyone has found the cool acrylic album? I've tried Office Depot and Office Max with no luck. Has anyone else found something similar?
thanks! Jennifer