Strawberry Pickin'

We never did this one before. Yesterday we went to Linvilla and picked strawberries. I must say it was more fun than picking apples. We all found our own path and picked like crazy! (and ate some too...mmm) Bill and I just loved listening to the kids..."Holy Cow! I found the mother lode!" or "Look at the size of this one!" or Matthew, "oh I guess I can eat this one too...just to try it". By the time the hay ride returned Matthew had collected a total of ZERO in his basket. He said he had about "a hundwed" in his belly. Last night I dipped the strawberries in melted white and milk chocolate...yum. We are all looking forward to  strawberry pancakes, strawberry shortcake, strawberry smoothies and anything else I can think of...

Here's a little slide show of our trip to the Please Touch Museum this weekend. It was so much fun. My favorite shots are of Bill & the kids walking on clouds, Adrienne at the supermarket, Dr. Matthew reviewing my XRays, and the last shot of Lady Liberty (Madison). We all had so much fun. They had a pretend shoe store downstairs with some famous people's shoes and there on the bottom shelf was Hip-Hop's red & white shoe and right above it was the Philly Phanatic's...too funny to see Bill's sneaker on display at a museum. Enjoy the show!

Ruhee and Her Family

We had an amazing weekend. You all know about Madison's pen pal from India, Ruhee. The girls have been writing each other & sending gifts to each other for over a year now. A few months ago, Ruhee's dad informed me that they will be coming to the United States and taking a tour all over the country. We thought there may be a possibility that we could meet them in NY so the girls could meet one another. Well it worked out that since they have family in the US, their nephew was able to drive them right to our house on Friday night! They could only stay a short while but it was so nice to meet Mangesh, his wife Aparna, Ruhee and their nephew who actually lives 20 minutes from us. They came with beautiful gifts & books for our whole family! We had dessert & coffee, looked at some beautiful pictures of Ruhee, and even saw her perform a beautiful dance. What a wonderful blessing! Madison was so excited at this amazing opportunity & is now asking us when we will be traveling to India. Here are some photos. Some did not turn out as I had hoped...it may be time for a new camera.

Here's a shot of Madison trying a pose Ruhee was showing her from the dance she learned. I believe  the dance was called Bharata Natyam. (Madison's face had me cracking up)

Here are some beautiful pictures of Ruhee performing her dance...doesn't she look beautiful!

And here's a picture of A losing her first front tooth! She was so excited and still can't stop smiling!

Favorite Book 2010

You've heard me say (an write) many times how much I LOVE Sonlght's homeschool curriculum. I just love their choice of books...especially the read-alouds. It is well worth the money to have all these amazing books! Well my favorite book Bill read to the kids this year was, "Justin Morgan Had a Horse" by Marguerite Henry. It is a story that discusses the history of the famous Morgan horse. Not sure how accurate it is, but a good read nonetheless. A young boy named Joel is asked to care for his schoolteacher's (Justin Morgan) "runt" horse named Little Bub. Little Bub makes it clear early on of his amazing strength, stamina & spirit despite the fact that he was so much smaller than other horses. Joel & Bub form a strong bond with each other and in the end, he is chosen to be ridden by none other than President James Monroe. I loved it & so did the kids (me probably more). I cried & laughed....simply loved it. So if you're looking for a great summer book to read to your kids...this is the one!

A Daffodil For My Mom

Happy Mother's day Mom...here's a daffodil for you...your favorite flower.
I am blessed to have a mom who dedicated her life to her kids, and continues to do so.
Thank you. I love you.
To my mother-in law , who did an amazing job raising an amazing man...my husband....and who is also a huge blessing in my life.
To my sister, an example to me, a passionate & dedicated mom to her beautiful girls, my neices.
To my sisters-in-law Amy & Jen, and my dear friends, Paula, Tracie, Barb, Wendy, and all my girlfriends from church....Happy Mother's Day!
I am a better mom because of all of you!

Thoughts on Homeschooling

3rd grade is a big year. The amount of material covered really increases in this grade and by God's grace we are almost finished! I am meeting with an evaluator at the end of this month (a teacher friend of mine from church), and I am working hard to organize Madison's portfolio, reading list and log so that I can turn it in at the end of June to our school district. This will also be the time I need to submit objectives for next year. According to PA law we need to submit all this info in the 3rd grade. It's a little scary but good because I can make sure Madison is getting all that she needs to learn and learn well. As I look back on the school year, my heart is filled with gratefullness! The fact that I can watch them learn their math & reading & history along side them is just so great! I am learning right along with them! I have had so many great talks with them, laughed and cried, asked for forgiveness and forgiven. I have watched them listen intently when daddy reads them a good book in an always funny & engaging accent. We marveled at God's creation of strange plants & animals, learned about great American presidents, and how to write poetry. We grew radishes, played indians and watched "Life" on TV together. Not only that but seeing Madison excel in math and do amazingly well on her IOWA test was so encouraging to me, a mom, who hated school & once not long ago, thought Ohio was in Canada :)! Watching Adrienne slowly grasp phonics and gain a new interest in language was an answered prayer. And seeing Matthew's wide eyes as we read a book about animals and hear him ask inquisitive questions just made me smile. So when people ask how long I will homeschool, I often say "we take it year by year". I believe that God will reveal to us when it's time to put them in school....but for right now, why stop a really good thing?