We celebrated Keegan's birthday yesterday!  His birthday menu requests were: peach smoothie, homemade pizza supreme, green beans, and blueberry snack cake.  He donned an imaginary chef hat (I've got to get him a real one), and helped make both the pizza and the cake!

His smile is ever-present (or almost) and lights up my heart!   If anyone is hurt, sick, or sad, he's ready with a hug and a prayer.  Even in the middle of making his birthday pizza, he asked to pause for a moment to go hug Kieran, who was frustrated or impatient about something and had given a cry of protest. 

His presents were primarily things with wheels--tractors in particular.  Even the bear kit that he gets to stuff  was a John Dere theme.  I'll have to get a picture of him with his bear by our little tractor.

Happy Birthday, Keegan--my big four year old boy! 

"It shall be a violation of section 19(a)(1)
of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2068(a)(1))
for any person to which this subsection applies to manufacture,
sell, contract to sell   or resell, lease, sublet, offer, provide for
use, or otherwise place in the stream of commerce."

Because of the vast amount of books (Ah, the wealth of the public library and Amazon!) for our studies this unit, I'm only putting out two weeks worth instead of the usual four.  This was met by much lamentation from my eldest two, who do not believe "too many books" is possible to achieve.  It will be good for them to pace themselves a bit instead of gobbling it all at once.

In the next two weeks we are studying the Erie Canal, Chopin, Louis Braille, John James Audubon, The Cherokee Indians, Hans Christian Anderson, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson. 

Ken was off work last week, and we postponed most the regular school work to focus on hands-on projects! 

They built a solar powered hopping frog:





They did fizzy experiments:

They played palaeontologist  and found "dinosaur bones" in a rock.  (This kit said "hours of fun", and meant it!  They still haven't finished getting all the bones out, but have indeed been having fun.  It takes a lot of patience to carve away the rock without damaging fragile fossils within!)






Keegan received a tool box with real (albeit small scale) tools.  He's been perfecting his hammering skills and put together this little train (from a kit).  While the girls and I worked on beading, Keegan painted his handiwork.




Tomorrow it is back to business as usual.  The projects are fun, but I'll enjoy being back to the normal routine--except for the part about Ken going back to work--that part is tough. 

Keianna and I enjoyed a photo adventure on the last day of 2008.  We'd been waiting for a calm and bright--even if cold--morning, and siezed the day when it came!  Even at that we made lots of "warm up" stops along the way and found a place in town that mixes up delicious dairy-free smoothies.  (I had mine with the dairy, 'Anna took hers without.)

December 2008 was a special time for Keianna.  She had her fifth birthday a week before Christmas, then right after Christmas prayed and committed her life to serving Jesus.  Her love for Him has been evident for several years, but her understanding of our need of a savior has only recently matured.   

Keianna Noelle: Our sweet Christmas song:

Happy New Year!  We spent New Years Eve rearranging the house a bit, which I hope will give our days better flow.  Yeah, rearranging furniture New Years Eve--I guess we aren't party animals.  It seemed appropriate though, preparing to do a few things differently next year, even in the way we organize the house.

I've also tweaked the schedule again and am trying something rather different.  To keep me from feeling like a ping-pong ball I'm alternating my teacher-instruction days between the two oldest.   

We school 6 days a week (always have), so on the circled time on the charts I'll meet with Kendra on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and assign for two days.  On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I'll meet with Kaira and assign for two days.  Then on the tapestry/Kieran buddy time they will alternate as well... some days they will do reading and other days play with their little brother for me. 

My children don't focus in tiny little bits here and there, but tend to do better in bigger clumps of time.  (They come by it from me, no doubt.) I hope this gives me time to really focus on each child and allows them to dig in a bit better on their lessons. 

(And with a Keegan and Kieran keeping me busy, I'm thinking it might be just right for this season.)  Little boys sure are fun bundles of energy.

In my collumn, the things listed are what I'm available to do, but I do bounce around.  (For example, I don't necessarily help Kaira with her whole piano practice time.  I check on the littles, read Kieran a story, play blocks with Keegan, etc when she's chugging away fine.)

We had a fabulous Christmas!  We began with Christmas Adam (it comes before Christmas Eve, you know...) and had a quiet celebration with just our little family.  We wrapped up our Advent devotions, lit the last of the advent candles, and unwrapped our gifts to each other.

Gifts were especially fun this year.  Each child bought a five dollar item for the child younger than themself--and then little Kieran bought for Kaira.  They absolutely loved these gifts, and their joy and appreciation was so sweet!  For the whole next day, they kept hugging each other and thanking one another over and over.  Ken had to go to work right after our exchange time, but I was hugged and thanked at every turn as well.  Their gratitude was adorably excessive! 

My parents arrived Christmas Eve, and the children entertained us with a Christmas play.  They memorized their lines from the Biblical Christmas story, and Kaira especially committed whole passages to memory.  Kieran played a shepherdless sheep running amuck--the part suited him.

On Christmas day,  my sister's family (including her adorable children), and Ken's parents came to join those of us already here.  It was festive and absolutely fantastic.  We ate my mothers wonderful baked goods and my mother-in-law's wonderful cooking, visited, and just generally had a wonderful time. 

Ken's off this week, and has been being a fantastic homeschool dad--doing hands-on projects with the children.  I hope to post pictures soon, but have overwhelmed my hard-drive with oodles of Christmas pictures.  (My poor computer can't keep up with my photo habit. )

And, just for fun, here's a few pictures of Kieran from last week.  He entertained himself for extensive periods of time by moving the nutcrackers from window ledge to table and back again.

Kendra lost one of her "front and center" teeth during the Thanksgiving meal, and the other one wasn't far behind.  After much wiggling it fell out today! 

As I type she's singing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth."

My Keianna turned five!  We seem to be in an odd trend on birthdays.  Kaira had a misserable flu bug on her birthday.  After that made the rounds, we PrairieFrogs have enjoyed great health--until the next birthday.  Poor little Keianna woke up on her birthday  morning with her eyes and nose streaming--she'd caught a cold. 

Always a trooper, she insisted she was well enough for cake and presents--and for her birthday menu.  The theme of Kaira's birthday seemed to be buttery, while Keianna had a sweet tooth this year.  She chose meatballs with sweet and sour sauce (more sweet than sour!), acorn squash (with sweet maple syrup!), and sweet, hot, apple cider for the beverage.  After the main meal's sweetness, I wasn't sure my tongue could handle the cake!

Having a cold made her bleary-eyed and off kilter.  See--even in the picture she's blurry and off kilter!  I've had days like that...

She was indeed well enough to open and enjoy her presents.  Her doll from Grandma Kay (a Gotz American Girl type doll) has barely left her side.  She named it Noelle--borrowing from her own middle name.  Ken and I gave her a "Loving Family" dollhouse, and my parents gave her people for it!  Several hours a day have been spent deep in play with her new toys!   

And it was a nice day to snuggle with Daddy.  (There's no better place when you are five years old and have a cold on your birthday!)

Her birthday photo-shoot has been postponed until she (and I) are over the sniffles.  It wasn't a great day for nice portraits.  In the meantime, here's a shot of Keianna from last week:

Happy birthday, Keianna Noelle!  Born a week before Christmas, you are our precious Christmas Song.  We love you and thank Jesus for the blessings you bring each day!