Gibbs Farm with Little Urban Explorers:

Twice a month I'm likely going to be doing "outings" with the kids and another group of home schooled kids called Little Urban Explorers.  We've only been to 2 other events so far, but I'm going to try to make it a priority to go twice a month at least to help get a small community going for the older 2.  LUE is a secular group of homeschooled kids (not that they are all secular, but they don't do anything related to religion when they get together, and most of them do not homeschool for religious reasons), and that's sort of what I'm looking for right now.  People who homeschool for religious reasons kind of make me roll my eyes much of the time, and I tend not to be great friends with them...haha.  ;)  So this will work well for us for this year, I think.  

This past Thursday morning we went to the Gibbs Farm and learned about life around the mid 1800s, along with life for the Dakota people around that time (we went into a soddie house for farmers, a bark house for Dakota people, and a teepee created by Dakota people), and then we made candles. 

A sod house.

The barn.

The White building in back is the school house.

The main house.

Kids doing guided tours.

A few photos I send to J from my crappy phone camera.

I brought my real camera with me, but there was honestly no time to take pictures because: Cora.

In the school house from 1865, learning the rules and doing some work.

Checking out the pigs.

Finn is disgusted by the smell and sound.  

They are holding the candles they made out of bees wax.

You guys.  It is EXHAUSTING to take Cora on a field trip for older kids.  So not smart.  This Mama needed a contained space where they could run around for a while in safety.  AND I packed lovely lunches, which I then left on the counter when we left, so off we went to the McDonalds play place.  No shame, people.  No shame.  Do what you gotta do to survive!

Another North Shore trip: Duluth and Gooseberry Falls

We took a one night trip up to the North Shore to go to Gooseberry Falls with the family.  I took TONS of photos, so I need time to edit those, but I'll post a few videos now and update this post later on with pictures, hopefully.  :)  (I'll also post some of J's photos from his camera now)

Pictures from J's phone:

At the very top of the falls, looking down from the bridge.

That's me in the blue with my arms out, waving to the big kids up on the bridge.  I'm standing at the very top of the falls.

So many cool places to explore!

She had so much fun crawling around and splashing in everything.

Finn found a "clue" on the log, as he did on many other surfaces that day, and wanted J to take a picture of it.

We HAD to eat at Betty's Pies for lunch when north of Duluth.  It's a rule.

We stopped on the point on our way home.  The waves on the north side were crazy, but the south size was warm and nothing.  

The spot of pink is Cora running through the tall grasses.

Finn hiding with his pringles can.

We stopped at a really fun park down by the Duluth DEC, and wandered into the area where they hold festivals like Bentleyville, etc.

Finn does this post a lot.  We're not sure why.  It's starting to make me uncomfortable...haha.  Time to have "a chat."  :)

Mr. Invention's KiwiCrate #1: The Water Wheel

Layla and Finn putting his first invention to good use with toys...

I'd highly recommend Kiwi Crates for any kid into creating / engineering around Finn's age!  So fun.

Layla's Birthday!

Yes, I know, I've been a bit tardy lately with my blog updates...sorry!  :(  I'm still getting my feet under me when it comes to homeschool, and how to do that well without sacrificing the rest of life as well, so for right now extra time-consuming things get put on the back burner.  Hopefully I'll get things figured out sooner rather than later, and I'll be back to blogging more regularly.

Layla turned 7 on September 20th, and there has never been a child who counted down to her birthday longer, or more meticulously, or with more delight than Layla this year.  WOW is she happy to be 7, and to be having parties...haha!

We had a small family dinner on her actual birthday, then her Berube family party is this coming Saturday (a shared party with Jonas and my Mom...we're doing the August-October birthday then, haha), and then her party with her friends is the next day.  Word to the wise:  DELAY parties with friends as long as is humanly possible!  For us, that was age 6.  Small.  Unimpressive.  Nothing fancy at all.  That is what kids birthday parties should be until then.  ;)

Here are a few photos/videos from our dinner together on the 20th.  Thank you, Grammy and Aunt Laura and Co for sending your very thoughtful presents!  Layla loved them all.

Layla opening Grammy's first gift:

Layla opening Grammy's second gift:

Opening the Calico Critters from Aunt Laura and Co:

Elephant and Piggie

One of the very first type of "I can read" / chapter books you might move to with an older child might be some of the Elephant and Piggie books.

I read a few of them earlier this year with the kids, but if I had been on top of my game I would have been reading them last week, because this past Thursday Jonas took Layla and Finn to see "Elephant and Piggie:  We are in a play!" at the Children's Theatre.  Finn came home SO excited about it...I think it was exactly at his level in every respect.  :)  Layla enjoyed it too, but Finn was bounding around the living room and giving me a play-by-play re-enactment of it.

Here are a few photos Jonas took before the show:

The theatre is in the same building as the Minneapolis Institute of Arts...hence the sculpture.

Yeah...nosebleed seats.  Hey, what can I say...that is what $10 gets you.  :)  You can still see pretty great though, even from way up there!

Updates

Layla:
I just kissed my sweet 6-year-old girl goodnight for the last time...because tomorrow she is 7.  And boy, let me just tell you:  no one on this earth is more excited about a birthday than Layla Schaefer.  She has been planning her birthday, and her party(ies), for ages now.  She keeps lists.  She wants to go over her lists nightly with me in our bedtime discussions.  She is SO my child.  :)

If you haven't been around her lately, let me just remind you:  Layla is quite possibly the sweetest spirit in this world.  She has such a tender heart, and gentle manners.  She is concerned about the thoughts, feelings, and actions of everyone around her.  She is a peace-maker.  She is such a fantastic model of an older sister for her younger siblings to follow.  I could not be more proud of her.

Layla still has some "little kid" things about her that I am clinging to tightly, as I know they'll slip away soon.  For example, just tonight as she was putting her hamster in the closet (so his running on the wheel wouldn't wake them as they sleep) she said "Goodnight, Guinea!  My little (insert some nick name here)."  She looked at me and said "That's my knick-knack name for him.  Everyone can have a knick-knack name sometimes, if they want one."  Knick-knack name.  Sigh.  Love it.  *And I will destroy the first person who corrects her on this one*

Tomorrow Layla has planned her day from start to finish.  What we will do every minute of the day has been decreed!  So let it be written, so let it be done!  Down to the very number of bacon strips she will be eating for breakfast...Layla knows all.  Should be fun!  Pictures and posts later.

Finn:
It's amazing to me how much science excites Finn.  Every time we go to the library he manages to find a new movie that is somehow both a cartoon and a science lesson.  The girls are not fans, but he gets his one pick every time!  He also always finds books on Science...the current find today was a National Geographic for kids book on planets.

Finn introduces himself as "Finn the Science Kid, Expert of Inventions."  No lie.  Everyone, new and old, gets told this is his name.

Today at the park Finn came running up to me and said "Mama!  Mama!  Mama!  God just did THIS to me!"  He gave me a big thumbs up sign, and pointed to the sky.  Finn and God are tight...real tight.  They have conversations all the time.  It's the sweetest things ever, right next to Layla's little heart.  :)

As far as school goes, Finn really isn't doing much this year.  I have a writing handbook for him that he'll do 1 page of, every now and then, but he's not really into it, and I'm frankly not sure if I'll even push it at all...research doesn't support pushing it, so I'm hesitant to go against that for sure.  We'll see.  What I HAVE done is try to focus on and encourage his passions right now, and see where they take him.  If not during preschool, then when else, right?  Haha.  So, I signed him up for a Kiwi Crate box to arrive monthly:http://www.kiwicrate.com/shop/.  Oh man, you guys.  This is EXACTLY where he is right now.  Exactly.  The first one arrived last week and he and Jonas put it together one night when Cora was asleep and I was out with Layla.  It's right at his level, and he loved it.  I took it apart to store it yesterday, so he put it together again today.  This was  a good move on my part.  I'm also going to buy a membership for my Dad to the MN Science Museum soon, and he can take 1 person with him free every time.  He has agreed to bring Finn to the Museum 1X a month...which is just awesome.  So there you have it...science for Finn the Science Kid, Expert of Inventions.

Age 5 has been great for Finn so far.  I can see and sense his emotions calming down just a bit, or rather his brain maturing enough to allow him to manage his own emotions as he wishes.  It's a lovely thing, that brain development, I tell you!  Reading the book "The Whole Brained Child" by Daniel J. Siegel gave me some great tips and insight into Finn that I simply didn't need with Layla at this age.  So, the emotions are coming more under control...but the pitch of the voice remains just as high as ever.  In case you were wonder.

Cora:
Cora gives me a run for my money more than the other two combined at this age.  She is FEISTY, this little one! :)  We now have to lock the back door and set the alarm continually, because Cora has learned how to unlock the dead bolt, and she will.  She'll just leave.  Not enough fun for her?  She's OUTTA HERE.  I came down this past Thursday morning to see her wandering out in front of the house...so, after I stopped freaking out, we instituted the alarm policy.  If ANYONE leaves my house, I know about it.

Her vocabulary blows me away.  That is all.

The most horrific thing in the world to Cora is being left out of something.  That is pure torture to her.  This past Saturday, when Jonas took the older two to Como Town?  Torture.  Poor Cora was in agony.  Or when Jonas happened to mention that he took the sail boat out on Sunday?  Cora was crushed...dejected...that she was not invited.  She has a special pout that she reserves for the "being left out" situation...I'll try to film it sometime soon.

Lisa:  For the past 5 months I've been having some breathing issues, but over the past 2 months they've gotten bad enough that I decided to see a Dr about it.  2 appointments later, we still don't have anything figured out...but we do know based on a spirometer that I can't exhale nearly as hard as I should be able to...200 "points" short, in fact.  So I'm on a new allergy med, and we're looking into other things as well.  Sigh.  Going to the Dr for pregnancies is way more fun that this type of visit.
My body is also doing all sorts of other odd things right now, so it's probably good that I'm regularly in a doctor's office anyway.

We're slowly finding our way into a homeschool rhythm.  I keep switching some things around, which annoys me, but I've gotta keep finding better / more efficient / more simple ways to do what we are doing and keep my focus where I want it, not just on "accomplishing tasks" in a certain amount of time.  Today was a GOOD day, so that's always incredibly helpful and encouraging.  I don't need all the days to be good days, but if 60% of them were, I'd be super happy!

Jonas:  Jonas has been having a good time sailing with his new boat, and building the new front steps.  Nothing gives him more pleasure than getting something done and making something himself at the same time.  This is a major win for EVERYONE.  :)

~Lisa

Mr. Handy takes on the front steps

Our nasty, crumbling front steps met their match this year!  Jonas took them DOWN and is in the process of building new, nice wood steps.  I'll never cease to be amazed at what life is like being married to a man who knows his way around some tools!  :)

He started the process with a sledge hammer.
HIGH estimation of his own abilities.  :)

Then he quickly moved on to some fun power tools.

Getting there! Looking pretty.