Ha!!  Not our household, just our homeschool blog.  Go check us out at http://jjchristianacademy.blogspot.com

I introduced my friend, K, to lapbooking last fall.  Here is our very first lapbook (we co-oped a Thanksgiving study with another friend and her 2 boys) Thanksgiving Co-Op  Then, we tried a Groundhog's day thing Punxsutawney Phil together.  And then, my friend gets it St. Patrick's Day Lapbooks and gets it The Human Body, and gets it Easter Lapbooks!  And I could keep going, but I won't.  I am telling you, I am impressed!!  And then....and then......she gave a class on the secret to her success (cuz I can do all those pretty folds and such....I just don't know what to put in the lapbook!).  So, here, for the first time published, is how my good friend K, develops such incredible, information packed lapbooks.  Voila'!!  Planning a Unit Study or Lapbook

Isn't that amazing?  And she's MY friend!!!!  Talk about blessed!! 

Well, life is all topsy-turvy right now anyway, and we were missing our friends, SO....I decided to "crash" the tail end of their annual Bear Lake vacation.  Check out the link for lots of fun pictures and even MORE links to even MORE stuff.  We had a great time and hope to visit that area again (next time we hope to be bringing DH as well!)

Thanks to the "students and staff" of Matchstick Adventure Academy!!

Summer school has just begun;

So much laughing, so much fun.

Won't you have some tea and crumbs

and join us in our playing?

Okay, so really, we haven't started summer school, but I couldn't resist rewriting that little "ditty" after seeing these happy smiley faces (the one in pink is our new next door neighbor).  We've been thoroughly enjoying the beautiful outdoors in this springtime weather.  We haven't fully gotten back into school since our Daddy deployed last week.  But we've got 7 months to fill, so I'm sure we'll catch up!

(if that's how you spell it)  She was Fonzy's girlfriend and loved bikes (motorcycles, but let's say bikes for this). 

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing our own "Pinky"....we found a PINK bike at Airman's Attic (that means, free) and brought it with us to visit our friends.  Pinky, who had always heavily relied on training wheels (on the few times she actually rode a bike), learned to ride the bike without training wheels in less than an hour....without any help other than trailing after her best buddy "Roo"

 Check it out!!

Hubby has off this week to get ready for his deployment, so we are doing a little "paper school" here and there, and lots of outside, doing stuff with Dad kind of things.  The weather has been beautiful so we have really been enjoying the outdoors.  We've been planning, or should I say dreaming all kinds of ideas for the back yard.  I may actually get to have a sunflower fort this year!  I can't wait!! 

So, we've been a little scarce as we've been getting some great family time in! 

Not much more to report on though, as school's been kind of slow.  We have been playing a lot of games though, so I guess that's a good thing.

Wow!  The snow is gone (again!) and the weather has been beautiful!  But my friend K assures me NOT to give up on winter yet.  :)  But I must say, spring fever is still rumbling and bubbling in me!!  This weekend I finally went out and cut the grapevines back.  My backyard neighbor wasn't home at the time, and I'm sure he felt pretty "nekked" when he came home and saw almost the entire fence (it was so entangled with old vines!).  But I'm assured that we'll get a good crop of tasty grapes this year because of it.  I hope so, cuz I really hacked them!

We're finally all better, which is great because it's been really lonely sticking to ourselves!  G still hasn't gotten his orders yet, but they'll come any day now.  *sigh*  We finally met our new neighbors too, and G said they seem really nice and they're children are pretty well behaved (5yog, 3yob, 10mog).  So that will be nice!  Just hope we can still enjoy our privacy too. (I dread having kids over all the time, other people's children, doing as they please....but that's me.)

So that's what's been happening lately.  That, and, I'm already planning out next year's school.  We'll be using http://amblesideonline.org and adding some stuff to that.  I'm really looking forward to it!

Well, at the moment, Hubby (who stayed home sick from church) and all our little "chickies" (who have been to church and back already, and had to be reminded to change out of their church clothes BEFORE getting BACK on the sleds)are outside working on a luge (sled run) they built in the back yard.  I will post pics later, but let me try to draw this picture for you.  We are in the city limits, neighbors to the left of us, rear of us, and empty house to the right.  Our yard is a nice size, fenced in, I'm guessing maybe 120 feet long (I totally stink at estimates though).  The yard is kind of terraced with a short, maybe 3 foot slope in the middle....not really very exciting for sledding.  Well, several years ago, visiting our parents in CT, Hubby spent 4 days making this huge, beautiful sled run (luge) with jumps in it and banked turns and all.  So, of course, the kids realize that they really need a luge in order to sled in our yard.  And so it begins!  And don't laugh, cuz Hubby takes this VERY seriously!  He'll be out there even when the "sledding team" isn't out there, in order to build and perfect this thing! (In CT he actually convinced my Dad to use his tractor with a bucket on it to bring more snow over to the luge for him!  I have documented proof!)  The luge is finally reaching a fun, usable stage (these things take time to build ya know).  For a bit, the kids would start out and then just slide off the edges, so while they sled, Hubby is continually packing in snow and shaping.  And don't think there's a whole lot of snow out there, cuz really, there's not.  I think there's 4 or 5 inches that fell last week.  So other than the sled run itself, the yard is looking pretty skimpy on snow.  And you know, packing all this snow in one place, it's gonna last longer than the rest of the snow.  This is gonna be cool!  Maybe even sledding in t-shirts on the warmer days.  Now.....if we can only shake this stupid cold, or whatever it is so that we can actually invite friends over to enjoy this thing with us (miss ya, play day buddies!!)

So, when are YOU coming to give the luge a try?? 

The kids and I met up with my youngest sister, "M" and her two little girls in Boise, ID, and together we drove down to Redwood City, CA to see "Beeker" and her family, and my Dad!!  What fun!!  We had never met Beeker's children, so this was WONDERFUL!  We had a fun, busy time.  We visited a Redwood grove ~~incredible!  There was a "cave" in one of the trees that had once been a temporary home for a surveyor!  All of us could fit inside it and stand up!  Very neat!  We also saw 10 banana slugs  One night we went to the boardwalk in San Jose and rode the carousel, walked on the beach, walked out on the pier and saw a sea lion lounging on the beams under the pier.  The children also braved some fried calamari....I tried a bite, but when I saw litte D biting and stretching "something" I just couldn't eat it....my Dad and I ate the fries!   We got to meet many of Beeker's friends, which was very nice too!  We stayed for about 5 days and though we had lots of fun, it was SO nice to return home to our own little nests.  Unfortunately we picked up a nasty cold along the way, so we've all been laying low since returning home.

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Well, this past week the kids have been playing outside in just jeans and t-shirts!  And you know what that means??  Spring fever has hit, and hit hard!  I am dreaming about my garden....that will be summer school for us!  I can't wait!!  I'll get to plant corn this year (first time we've had a garden big enough), and do another sweet potato experiment, and plant carrots and parsnips (yep, why not!), and lettuce, and tomatoes, and....and....oh I just can't wait!!  I'm hoping to get an herb garden going as well!!  Yikes!!  I'm telling you, I got the fever bad!!!  Then it rained all day today and everything is VERY soggy, and literally puts a bit of a damper on things. :)  But that's okay, it's a great day for curling up and reading seed and bulb catalogs!  Did I mention I want a lilac bush, and lavendar, and.....well, you get the picture!  

Be careful, I hear spring fever is VERY contagious!!

(go to http://gallery.parentleafarm.com/Hubby-projects for more pictures)

Glenn, having idle time on his hands around New Years, decided to see what was under the berber carpeting that covered most of the upstairs.  Well, we were happy to find oak flooring!  It wasn't in the best of shape (dull, stained, paint drippings, nails) but with some hard work he got them looking GREAT!!  I just love it!!  It adds so much character to the house!  He's hoping to pull the linoleum up in the kitchen as well and just have the wood in there.  Right now the living room, dining room and two bedrooms are down to the wood (still need to refinish the bedroom floors though).

Well, my dear hubby decided to see what was under the berber carpeting on the main floor.  Much to his delight he found oak flooring, so he ripped up all the carpet and refinished the floor.  It is GORGEOUS!!  I love it!  It adds so much color and life to the house!  So that was quite an adventure.  Daniel was excited and honored to be the apprentice on the job.  He's now a pro at pulling up carpeting, tack strips and staples!

We had a wonderful surprise on Friday.  I was grocery shopping with all the kids in tow and had just headed into the checkout line when my cellphone rang.  It was my baby sister.  I told her I was standing in the checkout line and she said, "Oh, I hope you bought lots of groceries."  I just said, "Yeah, right." and she then told me that they were indeed planning a quick trip to Ogden to buy a truck but that they wondered if they could crash at our house.  Woohoo!!  They live about 6 hours away.  So they came!  We had invited Fr. Carl (from Glenn's work) to dinner on Saturday, so it was interesting, but we all had a great time.  The kids loved camping out in the family room! They left Sunday morning after treating us to breakfast at IHOP.  That was fun!

So this week we're just kind of taking it easy, getting school done with lots of games and such.  Haven't had any more snow this week, but it sure is chilly!

Well, that's the excitement here (which is not much, but I kinda like life that way!)

Hmmm....I was trying to think of what I could write about, and decided to count my blessings.  2006 has been an incredible year!

• I have a brand new niece, Laura Joyce (Marion's 5th) and nephew, Michael Sean (Becky's 2nd)
• My husband finished cross training into a new AF career, and is now a Chaplain's Assistant
• My oldest son hit the double digits
• My Mom and Aunt/Godmother came to visit us while we were in Louisiana still
• Glenn finished remodeling our Louisiana home and we sold it for a pretty little profit
• I helped out at River Valley Church's first (and VERY successful) VBS
• I walked a couple times a week at the park with a friend
• I finally met my brother-in-law, Brian, and my other "new" (1 yo) niece Faith....and they are SO cool!
• I finally got to visit my sister Marion at her's and Brian's house
• I got to spend Thanksgiving with my Mom, sister Marion, and her family....for a week!
• Okay, okay.....WE FINALLY PCS'd to Utah
• We've had the opportunity to work as a family at 3 Air Force retreats put on by the base chapel for families with a deploying spouse
• We lived in hotels for a month, eating out the majority of the time.....I thought that would be so exciting, but it did get old fast.  I'm blessed to have a home and my own kitchen again!
• We got a new dog, Suzi, who is a wonderful (and challenging) addition to our family
• My great uncle Joe passed away....the blessing.....having known him.  He was such an interesting man, added such flavor to my life!
• We bought a beautiful, 2 story house in Ogden, UT
• I have new friends here in Utah that are already dear to me
• I have old friends who still get in touch with me frequently

I'm sure I could keep going.  God has been so rich in His mercy to us!  We have been lavished in His love.  Through tough times as well as prosperous ones.  God is good ALL THE TIME!!

May you all head into the New Year with your eyes on our loving and faithful Father.  He is SO in love with YOU!!  (and me)

Well, this past week we traveled north to visit my sister in Lowman, ID.  She had a brand new baby on Nov. 16th, so we got to meet her as well as my sister's other daughter (18 mo) and husband.  That was very exciting.  Another blessing was that my Mom was also there and together we all cooked Thanksgiving dinner!

Lowman is a very small community way up in the mountains of Idaho.  It was an incredible drive!  My twin nephews had school Monday and Tuesday, and on the teacher invited us to visit Tuesday afternoon.  My sister is also going on and on about the one room schoolhouse her boys attend.  I think there's about 10-12 students total, the youngest being 6 and the oldest being 14.  As you can see from the photo below, the school is run a lot like a homeschool classroom with multi-ages.  I LOVED it!!!!  I got so many ideas and it was all I could do not to drool all over all the bookshelves!!  This is like a dream homeschool classroom!!  Thank you to Mrs. K and the Lowman Elementary students for an awesome visit!!!!

This is another view of the Lowman Elementary School in Lowman, ID.  Yes, near the end of the day, all the kids grabbed books and just flopped down anywhere to read.  David is holding a guinea pig!  And though you can't see her, Alycia is holding another one.  The school also has 3 dogs and some fish, and GOATS!!  The dogs often just wandered around the room, checking the kids out!  Felt very homey!!

Today we were invited to a homeschool swim time at the local aquatics center.  Rather intimidating meeting new people while in a bathing suit.  Yah, and a bathing suit you're not sure will fit!  Whew!  But I went, kind of dreading having to entertain 3 kids in a pool with a bunch of other people.  Imagine my surprise when I walked in the pool area and there's this really cool water park kind of thing with lifeguards all around and such.  The kids had a BLAST and I got to sit on the side of the pool and visit with other Mommy's.  I did brave going down this really big spiral slide with David in my lap....yeah, cuz all my friends were doin' it......like I didn't learn better in high school, right?  Well, the thing is, I didn't want to wear my glasses and get them all wet and water spotted, so I left them on a sill at the bottom of the slide.  I climb (and climb) to the top of the slide and realize I cannot at all see the lifeguard who is supposed to signal you when it's okay to go down the slide!  I figure that blurry blob with a bit of red might be the lifeguard and the blob moves a bit so I sit down to go.  Behind me, another Mom suggests that I hold David up when I hit the water at the bottom(it's only about 3 1/2 feet deep).  So there we go, and we're going, and we're laughing and I'm thinking this ain't so bad.....yeah, then I get to the end of the slide....yes, I remembered to hold David up, but I was sitting on the bottom of the pool!!  Yes, got a good drink of "pool-aid" which is just so fun!  Ugh! 

David wanted to go again but I convinced him we should go in another spot, which Daniel then referred to as the "flushing potty"....oh fun.  So you go around and around in this circular current around a central round hot tub spa kind of place......hard to put words to it.....and yes, by the 5th time floating around I did start wondering if there might be a giant drain I'd get sucked into.  I finally convinced David that he really had had a lot of fun over with the other little kids and the big water-sprinkling-slide-play things.....because then I could again sit on the sidelines and watch (with my glasses ON!!). 

Overall, it really was very fun.  I was nervous about Daniel having to go in the locker room by himself, but we discovered a family locker room, which was great until it was time to go and then there was a bunch of teenage kids (mainly boys) in there waiting to change....yeah, a bit awkward, so after Daniel changed, David and I went to the women's locker room.  Ack....next time I'm wearing a dress over my bathing suit and coming home wet or something!!

Remember the first time your child spoke a real word?

Remember their first steps?

Remember the first time they saw snow falling on their own home???   Yep, on Wednesday a little snow (and sleet) fell, just a few spurts off and on, but these guys were beside themselves with excitement!!  They piled on all their winter gear and headed out....by then it wasn't snowing, but they stayed out there and waited for it!  Hee hee!!  It didn't even stay on the ground, but they were so excited.  The next day we went to the base chapel to see Glenn, and being that the base is at a higher elevation (thus the name Hill), there was a little crust of snow on the ground, enough to scoop up and make a couple of snowballs!  Hee hee!!! 

  <---- Yep, there's my goofies! 

Well, Glenn has made good use of the two car deep, heated garage.  He has opened a "shop class" for Joyful Jajliardos' Christian Academy!!

Hood?  What hood?  Who needs a hood with this beautiful engine to stare at??

Okay, no front fenders either??  THAT is going a little too far I think!!

Glenn had 2 weeks off, which we spent here doing stuff around the house (and in the garage, obviously!)  We were rather surprised that the most avid "student" was David!!  The others came and went, but David just hung out, watching it all.  Alycia says that Daddy's breaking the car; David says, "Daddy took off some pieces so he can paint in there."  Hmmm!

Wow!  I didn't realize it's been so long since I posted!  Lots has been happening.  This week Alycia attended her first American Girl class.  3 hours every other Thursday; she's pretty excited about that.  We've also been attending story hour at the base library every Wednesday, and during that time, Daniel has been volunteering his time there.  Now, while Alycia's at her AG class, Daniel and I will both be working in the library (David will watch movies or charm the library staff )  As you can tell, we're thoroughly enjoying the library!

Other things....last week we attended a play day at the park on Tuesday afternoon.  It was great for all of us!  The kids enjoyed making new friends and I enjoyed some Mommy time with other homeschooling Moms!

And yes, in amongst the fun stuff, we are getting school done too.  Believe it or not I am STILL following my schedule (okay, with a few little tweaks, but still...)  Glenn came home last Monday and informed me that he had the next 2 weeks off, so that makes it a little more challenging, but we're getting stuff done none-the-less.

It has been raining for 2 days and last night there was sleet.  You can't even begin to imagine the excitement of the kids when they looked out the front window and saw SNOW on the tops of the mountains.  They are beside themselves.  Last night we even fired up the fireplace in the living room...and had s'mores.  Quite fun!!  But this morning Glenn discovered that our heater is not working, so now we really need to keep the fire burning!  However, we need a chainsaw to cut the wood that a friend is giving us.  Ah, the fun of it all.....BUT AT LEAST WE'RE HAVING REAL, SEASONAL WEATHER (my apologies to my southern friends, you are all dear to me but your climate is NOT!)

Oh, one interesting note...I've never really been big on preschool (thought it was enough to get the upper grades getting their work done) but David has really dived into it!  While the big kids work on their writing, Daniel and I sit and do several pages out of his work books, and he does really well too.  Can't believe that little curly-top will be 4 soon!  Wow!! 

Well, guess that's all for now!  Will try to get more frequent with this!

Blessings all!