Waiting on Spring

It seems like this winter never ends.  Spring where are you?  We are ready to see your beautiful, sunshine filled, joyous, green face.  In the mean time we are maximizing the moments of spring we  can find and keeping ourselves active with inside play.    

Meeting friends to play at the gym to burn off some energy.  

We are so thankful to have a place to play close by our house and we love all our outings to Pirate Park.  

Exploring along the trail with our friend Ariel.  

Sliding Swingers 

Its pictures like these that I stare at on my phone after she has gone to bed and I think about how she really is a dream come true.  

 Playdate with his buddy Evie to get some fresh air.  

Giving baby Elizabeth a push on the swing at the indoor playground resulted in lots of smiles.  

Saturday morning donuts with Daddy (while Mommy was in Colorado).  

Jumping at "Get Air" on their Daddy Day.  

When I told Hudson, "Daddy spoiled you when I was gone."  He quickly responded with, "Well Mimi spoiled you while you were in Colorado."  Smart kid, point well taken.  

On Sunday's following Daylight Saving Time the kids are invited to wear their pajamas to church.  They declared it a PJ Day.  

We made green pancakes for breakfast on St. Patrick's Day.  

 And we prepared a green lunch = green milk, green mac and cheese, peas, lettuce salad for me, and Thin Mint cookies for dessert 

Spring calls for a few home improvement projects, which we seem to have plenty of.  Thankful for these cuties in their pajamas, working together to install the new light above the dining table.   

 Wednesdays are "Girls Day" with Mrs. Irene to do errands while Hudson is at school.  Irene and Greta chatting while we waited at the paint store.   

Homeschool Life

Homeschool life is the good life.  Honestly, I would have it no other way.  I love spending my days with Hudson and Greta, and figure that even on the hard days and hardest moments (which there are plenty of) I would rather face the hard with them than anyone else.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to teach our children at home, its a gift and a blessing that I hold near to my heart.  Homeschool life also provides great flexibility, which blesses our family.  We can work hard when we need to and take time off when we want to.  We build in breaks throughout the day to play, do errands, watch tv, go to the park, whatever our hearts desire. We learn what we need to and do unit studies on things we are excited about and interested in.  

One day this winter we went bowling with our coop friends.  

Hudson is like a foot taller than all the other kids.  When I see pictures like this I understand why people are constantly telling me..."He is soooo tall."  

Other homeschool days involve trips to the Science Center for plenty of hands on learning.  

Little ones learn through play so we always try to make plenty of time for that.  

The Ball Wall at the Science Center is Hudson's favorite.  

Exploring with circuits, which he has some experience with thanks to his Snap Circuits.  

Blasting off the rockets creates such a thrill.  

A video to see Hudson's rocket in action.  

Greta's favorite place to play was the car ramp.  We built her LEGO car and she was on repeat mode pushing the car down the ramp over and over again and watching the clock as it tracked its time.  

Hudson is learning the names of our 50 states.  

Greta has started doing some school work too and she is picking up her letters and numbers quite quickly.  

After she completes her work we do a "fun activity" together.  Fixing puzzles and playing her Princess Matching Game are the most requested activities.  

We recently got both the kids ears checked.  The Area Education Agency sent someone to our home to evaluate since they aren't tested at school.  The audiologist made it into a fun game and they both passed.  So thankful for good ears.    

Hudson's piano teacher is on maternity leave so he is taking lessons for a few months from Mrs. Pat.  She is a friend of Nana Sue's and we are thankful for her willingness to work with Hudson.  

Hudson did a book club on Abraham Lincoln with his buddy Grayson from Arkansas.  Hudson read 4 books about Abe's life (pictured below) and we wrote down new and interesting facts on sticky notes along the way.  We then collected and consolidated all the information from the sticky notes, typed them out and found some images to correlate with them and made a poster.  We both get excited about projects like this.    

A few weeks later we spotted Abe Lincoln at the mall and thought we better take a picture with him.  

We have been learning about the instruments in the orchestra via Peter and the Wolf, a symphonic fairy tale for children.  I purchased a listening guide online and printed it out for Hudson and Greta.  They have had coloring the instruments and animals in their books and recording their observations and feelings about the music.   

Bible time happens at breakfast.  These ABC's of Theology cards from Tiny Theologians have been a big winner and assisting us with learning the meaning of some "big words" we hear in the Bible (A is for Atonement, B is for Baptism, C is for Communion, D is for Doctrine).  

One day Greta girl didn't come down even though her quiet time was over.  I went up to check on her and this is what I found.  Lights on and her music blaring.  Zonked out on the floor.  

Greta likes "reading books" on the iPad.

 Hudson working on his 2nd Tinker Crate, the Light-Up Planetarium.  

This girl insists that she is done napping, but hard work wears a girl out.  

Storytime at the library creates fun and learning for this cutie pie.  

And Hudson is getting pretty good in the kitchen.  He impresses me with how he can read a recipe.  He most often makes breakfast food, like his Daddy and Papa Ed.  Here we are making a double batch of waffles, some to eat and some to put in the freezer to toast and eat later. 

Homeschool life is the good life.  I would have it no other way.  

Artist Study - Henri Matisse

We recently did an artist study on the French painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954).  He is especially remembered for his use of color.  We read several books to learn about his life, both his trials and accomplishments, viewed examples of his work and the techniques he used.  In the last decade of his life Henri became ill and was chair and bed bound, making it difficult for him to paint.  He began creating paper cut out collages, shapes of varying colors and sizes, and arranging them to form lively compositions.  So we each made our own paper cut out collage (Hudson's on the right in green, mine on the left in yellow and Greta's on the bottom with glitter added on the bottom in red).     

This kid loves to do art and I love seeing his creativity bloom.  

At the end of our artist study the kids each had a chance to paint a canvas.  I anticipated Greta's work being a total mess, but to my surprise she did great and kept things fairly neat.  

Her painting is full of personality, just like she is.  

Henri painted a lot of vases with flowers and that inspired Hudson to paint his own.  

Step #1 was to decide what to paint and sketch out the plan on paper.  Step #2 was painting the vase. 

Step #3 was adding the lines/detail to the vase.  Step #4 was painting the green stems and leaves.  Step #5 was painting the flowers.  

Step #6 was painting the circles inside the flowers.  Step #7 was signing and dating his finished work.  

Mother Daughter Weekend

My mom asked me if I wanted to go to Colorado with her to visit my sister.  Roy was supportive of the idea (have I mentioned before that he is an amazing guy) so we started making plans.  We left on Friday afternoon and drove to Lincoln, Nebraska and spent the evening and overnight with my friend Nikki and her sweet family.  We drove the rest of the way to Denver on Saturday and arrived at Angela's house around 2:00pm.

We arrived safely and ready for some mother daughter fun.   

We had a dinner reservation that night at The Melting Pot, a fondu restaurant in Littleton.  Mom and Angela had gone several years ago and had been raving about it ever since so it was a priority on our weekend agenda.  The building was so unique, a former public library and it was also a jail at one time.  The staff was courteous and polite, making it a lovely and relaxing evening.  They served 3 courses of fondue.  First came the Wisconsin cheddar cheese with breads and veggies for dipping.  This was followed by a lettuce salad and then the main course (which was my favorite but I didn't get a picture of it).  The main course included ravioli, shrimp, steak, pork, and chicken, all which we cooked in our boiling fondue pot of seasoned goodness.  It was served with 6 different dipping sauces for extra flavor and yumminess.     

My family always does a fondue dinner when we are together at Christmas time and Angela graciously prepares it all for us.  A fondue dinner requires so much dicing and preparing the various items for dipping.  

An evening of fondue wouldn't be complete without plenty of chocolate.  We chose dark chocolate and they served it was brownies, strawberries, pound cake, rice krispie bars, chocolate chip bars, marshmallows, bananas and pineapple.    

The best words to describe the evening...a unique dining experience, relaxing, a scrumptious and memorable treat.  

Sunday morning Angela served us breakfast and then we went to a movie.  How is that for a shift in the Sunday morning routine?  We shared bakery treats and then did some shopping downtown for a few hours.  

At 2:30 on Sunday afternoon we enjoyed high tea at the Brown Palace Hotel.  This was my favorite part of the whole weekend.    

An afternoon tea with my mom and sister is like a dream come true.  I just wish our Greta girl could have been there too, she would have loved it (and talked the entire time).  

We were anticipating a simple tea but we were amazed with the spread they provided...

Two kinds of homemade scones served with strawberry jam and a homemade cream spread.  

Three kinds of mini sandwiches prepared with intricate detail. 

Several bite size desserts...lemon blueberry cheesecakes, macaroons and a chocolate fudge sponge cake.  

Mom spoiled us with love and memories all weekend long.  So thankful for how she prioritizes time together and encouraging our relationships.  

Tea time!  

So thankful for these two ladies and the countless ways they love and support me.  

Everything about this afternoon was lovely and special.  

After tea we walked around the hotel a bit. The building was filled with beauty from floor to ceiling.  

The live music/piano set a lighthearted mood.  The room was filled with mostly women, but a few brave men were enjoying tea too.  

   

The view above my seat.  

Best sister ever!  So thankful to call her mine.  

Sunday evening we went to church, Angela cooked dinner for us and we stayed up late talking. 

No pictures from Monday worth documenting.  We basically shopped all day long.  Mom and Angela exercised lots of patience with me and I spent too much money, but crossed everything off of my shopping list.  We enjoyed margaritas with Mexican for dinner and then got cozy in our pjs on the couch and watched a movie.  

Tuesday morning we grabbed breakfast out (as you can see we ate well all weekend) and then we wrapped up our visit with a stop to explore Union Station downtown.    

It was recently remodeled as is a lovely place to eat, gather or work.  

I am so thankful for a few days away from routine and mom responsibilities.  Its been a challenging season and the support and love of many to encourage and bless me is something I hold near to my heart.  I am thankful for my wonderful husband who cared for the kids while I was away and sent me pictures each day of what they were doing.  I am thankful for dear friends who took care of Hudson and Greta on Monday so Roy could have a break and go to work.  I am thankful for my sister for clearing her schedule, being flexible with us and being a gracious hostess.  I am thankful for my mom and her initiating the idea and making the time together possible.  I am thankful to have a mom and sister who would want to spend 4 days together.  Life is just full of opportunities to count your blessings and give thanks and I am thankful for that perspective to enjoy it to the fullest.