Caroline's Last Soccer Game of the Fall Season

Here are a few pictures of Caroline's last soccer game of the season. We were so lucky this year because we got nice weather for almost every game!! The girls had so much fun playing together. Go Flyers!!After the game, we went to Caroline's favorite place, Wheaton Delights, to have ice cream. (Luke didn't want to get in the picture)
It was a blessing for Caroline to be on a team with so many of her friends from school. She had a great season!!!!

Jake is TEN

Look who is TEN years old already!!!

Jake got the traditional breakfast in bed. He wanted a pumpkin pancake and a fried egg.

Caroline, Luke and I went to Jake's classroom and surprised him with some balloons. We brought in cupcakes for him to share with his class and I read his class a book. It was so much fun. He thoroughly enjoyed having us there, but he wasn't too thrilled about the balloons . . . he wanted me to bring them back home, but his teacher talked him into keeping them. I guess ten year olds are too cool for balloons? Who knew?

When he got home, I made him orange chicken (his favorite) for dinner and then we opened presents. He was very excited to get a cell phone! We got him one of those "pay as you go" phones. He cannot believe he has one. Jake is very reliable and responsible so we know he will manage his minutes well and hopefully not lose it. :) His number is (630)346-8710 if you'd like to give him a surprise call. Of course he will have it turned off during school and bedtime hours. :)I can't believe he is ten years old already. Before he went to bed, we got out the baby book (sniff, sniff) and reminisced about the tiny little bundle we brought home from the hospital ten short years ago. So much has happened and changed since then. We are so blessed to have our sweet Jake. He loves the Lord with all his heart. What more could we ask for?

Happy Birthday, Jake. We love you!! You are a blessing to us!!

Aunt Carole Strikes Again!!

Well . . . Aunt Carole sent us another very fun package. This time it was for Jake's birthday. He turned TEN today!!!! (yikes!!)

He got a U of M shirt, some CHOCOLATE, a baseball book, a Rubik's Cube, and a subscription to a magazine. Wow!! He immediately put the shirt on and shared some of his chocolate. :)
Thanks, Aunt Carole!!!!

Getting Pumpkins at Cosley Zoo

I took Caroline and Luke to Cosley Zoo so they could pick out little pumpkins to put around the house. It was a cold and rainy day, but the kids had fun!!!

One of the things that I love so much about homeschooling is that we get to do fun things like this during the day. It is such a blessing !!

Apple Fest in Long Grove

A couple of weeks ago (I know I'm late in posting these!! I just can't keep up lately!!) we went to Apple Fest in Long Grove, IL. We went with Auntie Diane, Uncle Colin, and cute little Caleb. We had to wait soooo long in line for the apple cider doughnuts, but, OH MY!, the wait was worth it!!!!The butter . . .I mean corn. . . was pretty good, too! ;)

Instead of waiting in line the whole time for the doughnuts, Diane and I took the kids for a pony ride . . . when we got back, they were STILL waiting in line!

Caleb sure had fun on his "horsey".Luke did, too . . . don't let this picture fool you!

Giddyup!!

Caroline loved every minute of it. She took her gloves off and kept stroking the pony. When she got off, she kept trying to find just the right word for the feel of its fur. I told her about the word "coarse" and she accepted it. (She still thought she could find a better word.)

It was a great way to spend a beautiful fall day!!!!

Cooking Class

Look at what my little sweeties were whipping up today!! yummmmmm . . .

We got the recipe out of a book called Cook-A-Doodle-Doo which was written by Janet Stevens and was illustrated by her sister Susan Stevens Crummel. We checked out many books by these sisters at the library because one of their stories was in Caroline's reading text last week.

This book was very cute. . .it was about a rooster, turtle, iguana, and potbellied pig who wanted to make the most magnificent strawberry shortcake in the whole world. They set out to make it, but then realized that no one knew how to cook except for the rooster who ended up teaching them the basics of cooking. After much hard work, they achieved their goal of making the most magnificent strawberry shortcake in the whole world, but it ended up on the floor and the potbellied pig ate the whole thing. :( But, don't worry . . .they made another one real quickly because after making the first one for "practice", it wasn't as hard to make the second. :)

** I especially liked this book because it had notes along the margins of the book explaining things such as "greasing the pan", "breaking eggs", "1 stick butter = 1/2 cup" . . . loved it!!

We Didn't Know Homeschooling Was Going To Be So Much FUN!!

Luke and Caroline are having a lot of fun learning at home. So am I ! :) It's taking me a little while to figure out all of our little systems. I figure by summer, I'll have it all figured out! :)

Here are some pics from last week.

A little "silent" reading time. :)

Eating a Friday doughnut after gymnastics class.

Practicing sewing on a little machine before we try the real one.

Making Buckeye candies. Yummmm. They were a big hit!! We made them because when we were at the Revolutionary War reenactment, we kept finding buckeyes on the ground.

Doing a little home repair.

Oh yes, and a little math, too. :)