Wordless Wednesday: Signs of Spring

Spring has sprung around our home ...

Rainbow Cupcakes

This week we will be learning all about Spring and discussing Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. To get things started I decided to make Rainbow Cupcakes with the kids today. The recipe I had was from Family Fun Magazine. It seemed pretty simple though I realized that simplicity may have been just a tiny bit deceiving. I will share some of the tips I learned.

Even though our cupcakes did not turn out looking like a perfect rainbow they were delicious and pretty neat to look at. The recipe calls for a white cake mix - we chose a coconut flavored mix and it added great flavor!

I ended up having huge cupcakes because I added too much batter to the tins at the beginning and so they were almost overflowing by the time I had put all the colors in. Next time I will use less batter at the beginning - starting with 3 tablespoons of each color.


Do you have a fun craft idea to share or would you like to find a ton of great crafting ideas then head on over to FUN to Craft and join her Spring Has Sprung Party.

Spring Baseball

Today was Devin's second game of the Spring Baseball season. I would have had a wonderful post last weekend for opening Saturday but, after arriving at the baseball park realized I had a camera with no camera card. It was a great game today - the Rockies won 8 - 5 and Devin made some fantastic plays at First Base.

It might have been a little more enjoyable had our game not been at 8:30AM and the temps been in the 40's with a gusty wind.

Looking forward to some truer Spring weather when games resume after Spring Break.

Field Trip: Hyde Farm

Today we took a great field trip to Hyde Farm. It was quite educational - we learned alot about the early settlers in our area including the Native Americans who called East Cobb home. It is always amazing to me to think about the fact that when the original log home and barn were built on this property little did those settlers know that 160 years later school kids would be coming to look up close at what their life was like.

This year we studied a little about the Native Americans and early settlers so it is always nice to follow that up with a field trip that ties into our learning.

It was a marvelous day weather wise! I just love, love Spring!! Here are just a few snapshots of our day. Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch with our dear homeschool friends.

Unfortunately, I forgot to put the camera card back in my camera before our field trip so my photographs are all from my iPhone. Not the best means of taking photos but, at least I had that with me.

Ballet Magnificat

Last night the girls and I attended Ballet Magnificat - it was a Mother/Daughter Event and we had a wonderful time! We started the night at California Pizza Kitchen with some of Lexi's fellow Pre-Invitational Dancers and their Moms then it was off to the ballet. The program was just amazing. The ballerinas truly showed what it meant to dance for the "Glory of God". It was a night of worshipping God through dance.

Ava Mae made a very important decision during the evening - she decided she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart. She was so overyjoyed that one of the Ballet Magnificat Company dancers chose to pray with her. It will be a night I will not soon forget.

The pictures below were taken by Lexi - I love that she shares my passion of capturing life through photographs.

Weekly Wrap Up

This week we studied Ireland and learned more about the St. Patrick's Day holiday. The kids enjoyed hearing more about St. Patrick. I had found this awesome book at that great Discount Christian Bookstore I had written about previously. They also worked on polishing up some of their Gaelic they have learned.
Of course, my kids were not into a traditional Irish Meal. So, instead of Irish Stew, they ended up eating Chicken Fingers and French Fries though they did have green lemonade to go along with it.
Lexi's first tutoring session went great! She really likes her tutor and I feel pretty confident about the new approach we are taking to Reading. I like the curriculum so much that I plan on using it with Ava Mae also.

We continued to work through final lessons in all of our workbooks. I feel like we will be done with school by the 2nd week of May. Then it will be on to review books, reading and journaling for the summer.

Those were our highlights ... tonight the girl's and I attended a Mother/Daughter Event. We saw Ballet Magnificat - it was amazing! I plan a separate post tomorrow on that. Lexi took quite a few pictures and I wanted to highlight a few.

Want to read more Homeschool Weekly Wrap Ups ... head on over to Kris' blog - where she hosts the Weekly Wrap Up.

Weekly Wrap Up - The Post Disney Week

Weekly Wrap Up: Post Disney Edition.

We are joining Kris over at Wierd, Unsocialized Homeschoolers blog and posting our Weekly Wrap Up. Jump on over and join in on the fun.

Post Disney blahs it what I should officially name this past week. It took us a day or two to come down from our Disney high and refocus on school work. We decided to take Monday off as the weather was beautiful outside and I needed a day to get us reorganized for school work. It worked out well as the rest of the week it has rained and we have not enjoyed anytime outside.

Devin has finished up his Horizons Math and we are in the middle of reviewing for his mandated State testing this year. It is his first year to test and so I picked up a CRCT Review Book to go over everything that will be covered on the test. We have mainly been reviewing Math but, we have also touched on areas of Geography, History and Grammar. Some of it I am just not going to worry about as obviously we do not align ourselves with the State of Georgia when it comes to things like History and Science. Other than that, Devin is continuing to work through Explode the Code, Handwriting, and Wordly Wise.

Lexi is about one week away from finishing up her Math. I picked up a great review book for her to go through once she is done. Originally, I had planned on just moving ahead to the next Horizons book but, with it being so close to the end of the year I figure we might as well just hold where we are. Lexi is also almost finished with her Explode the Code book. We have decided to hire a private tutor to help Lexi with her reading. She has been struggling still and though I see some improvement I feel a new approach may help us both. Lexi begins on Monday and she will start with a new method of learning how to read called the "Wilson Method". At first she was really apprehensive about starting something new but, since meeting her tutor and sitting in on a session with a friend, who also uses this tutor, she is excited.

Ava Mae has been working on Kindergarten level subjects since January. She does Horizons Kindergarten - Book 1, A Reason for Handwriting - Kindergarten Level and Get Ready for the Code - Book A. Ava Mae has also really been pushing to learn to read so we began this week with "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" - so far so good. I was never a huge fan of "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons", so I was glad to try something new.

Other than core subjects this week, we did our daily bible devotion and that is about it. Next week we will pick back up with other subjects - including art and a study on Ireland and St. Patrick's Day.

Amazing ...

Amazing is the one word that I think sums up our Walt Disney World vacation. Devin says it was seven days in pure paradise and Ava Mae thinks our resort looks like it might look in heaven. They were both right ...

We love staying all over Disney but, The Grand Floridian, is Disney's flagship resort and you know why from the moment you step on the resort property. The grounds are so beautiful, the restaurants are wonderful, and the staff cannot do enough for you. I have to say I am missing nightly turn down service and those chocolates they put on your pillow.

We spent six days in the various parks and ended up with many special experiences - including Lexi being chosen to dance on stage for the High School Musical number at Disney Studios, Devin being chosen to help the street performer in the Italy section of Epcot, Lexi and Devin being chosen from the audience to interact with Crush at Turtle Talk with Crush and both girls getting made over at the Bippity Boppity Boutique in Cinderella's Castle. That would be just a few of the experiences that made our vacation truly magical!!

Make a free photo slideshow

We also chose to do some unique activities with the kids this time - at our resort all three kids went out on a 2 hours Pirate Cruise to find buried treasure, the girls went to a special tea party with Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter, and Daune and Devin took in a Braves Spring Training Game at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.

We came home with hundreds of pictures, including the ones that the Disney Photo Pass professional photographers took, and I am still wading through them all. I know we will look back at these photographs for years to come and remember what a special vacation this was for our family!

Wordless Wednesday

One of the kids' favorite places to pose at Disney ... inside the shark's mouth at Living Seas in Epcot.

We're Home ...

from the "Happiest Place on Earth". Now, back to reality ... more pictures to come soon.