Merry Christmas from The Clarks!

And...

Because it's my favorite and I have to watch it every year:

Callenisms on Mommy & Snow Angels...

Callen dumped out the basket full of clean clothes, laid down on his back and moved his arms and legs back and forth.

Me - "What in the world are you doing?"
Callen - "Making a snow angel!"
Me - "Oh, well in that case, carry on."


x

Callen was playing with Michael.

Callen - "Daddy, when I grow up I wanna be like you!"
Michael - "Aww, thank you.  But I bet you'll be something even better."
Callen - "Like Mommy?"

Yessssss!  Ha!

x

Our Christmas Tree and Decor 2012!

I forgot to post about how we went to cut down our own Christmas tree last week, and then... well, didn't end up cutting it down afte rall.  We went out to Canton, stopping to have lunch at Dairy Queen, of course, and fully intended up hunting down and chopping down the tree of our choice.  But, turns out, the selection was terrible.  All of the trees were too big or too small.  I mean, we weren't being picky or snobby, at all.  There literally were not ANY trees that would work for us.  Pretty disappointing.  We did end up with a tree, though.  It was just already cut and ready to go.  No sawing for the Clark Family this year.  Oh well, hey, at least we got a tree!!!

Callen made a better tree than the actual trees.

There's a tree in the house!

Trimmed in blue!

Michael did a fantastic job of doing the Christmas lights on the house this year and came up with a neat way to make use of the branches we had to cut off the bottom of our tree!

Our big tree in the front blocks the view if you're too close.

Got our Nativity and Peanuts Gang.

Love it!  The branches and lights look so pretty!

Homeschool Recap, December 14th (Week 19)...

In my life this week...

It's been a crazy couple of days.  Monday was my birthday, and it snowed just a tiny bit.  But that was a really nice birthday gift for me!  Callen and I have been sick... just a cold or something, coughing, lots of yucky drainage, etc.  Well, it seemed we were getting better.  Michael and I dropped the boys off to spend the night with Grandma on Thursday, so that we could have a date night.  We used Christmas money my Grandma Evelyn gave us to go see the Dead Sea Scrolls in Fort Worth.  That was a neat experience!  We also found a revived Bennigan's and had dinner... oh, how many times we ate at Bennigan's back when we were dating, haha!  Meanwhile, Callen threw up a bunch of times while at my parents' house... not sure what the real cause of that was, but... oops, sorry, Mom & Dad!  Eep.  Friday morning I turned Michael's TCCC grades in for him, dropped a present off for a friend who just had a baby (a month early!), stopped by Auto Zone to see why my check-engine light came on (no big deal, whew!) and then finally made it Chickfila in Southlake to set up for their last Women's Expo.

Half way through the event, I heard the news of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.  I couldn't stop shaking and my eyes kept filling will tears... 20 sweet children killed along with 6 adults at the school.  Plus the shooter's mother and himself.  Unbelievable.  I know that we can never understand such things... there is no "answer" for something like this.  It's completely unfathomable and utterly heart breaking.  Last night, as I watched classic Christmas tv shows and movies with my little ones, all I could think of was how there were so many families who weren't doing the same thing that evening.  It's hard to celebrate a holiday after losing a loved one... but to lose a child so near to Christmas.  Wow.  Their precious ones were taken from them in what is supposed to be a season of cheer and goodwill.  I can't do anything but pray for peace and comfort and that despite what they're going through right now... that the family and friends who have gone through this tragedy will turn TO God and not AWAY from Him with their grief.  And as people scream and argue about gun control, better school security, etc....A friend of mine, Layne Rogers, posted this as his status yesterday and I just love it, and I pray we all remember it forever: "We do not eliminate darkness by destroying everything that casts a shadow, we push back the darkness by increasing the light."

Anyway, a quick recap of what we did earlier this week...

In our Homeschool this week...
Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "N" for Net (insects)!  We read a lot of fun bug-themed books:



Bible:   This week's name of Jesus was Lamb of God. Preston's memory verse is John 1:29 and we looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that talked Jesus being a lamb. We also made a lamb out of the boys' hand prints and cotton balls.  They did not... um.. come out as I had hoped... Preston has a bit of trouble writing that day (due to his bad attitude about it, mostly).

Not exactly what I had hoped for.

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure.  Continued with lesson 40-42 in Primary Language Lessons. We finished our read-aloud, Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Preston wrote a short book review on it. We have been reading a ton of Christmas books as well to go along with our Advent/Christmas countdown. 

Writing the Farmer Boy review.

History: 
This week Preston learned about Johnny Appleseed, moving to Ohio and the state of Ohio.  We recreated a New England Primer, and Preston stumbled over the use of the letter "f" in place of an "s."


Math: Preston continued Part B of Math Mammoth, Second Grade.  Working on hundreds and skip counting by different numbers, using addition and subtraction.  He is zipping right through this stuff.

Science:  This week's theme was animals, so we read from the First Encyclopedia of Science on different kinds of animals.  We also played the Memory Match game included in MFW, helping to categorize different types of animals.  Oh, and we checked on and threw out our milk/bacteria experiment from last week... nasty!

Music/Art: Skipped music and art this week.

Spanish: Continued with the next episode of Salsa. We reviewed words having to do with "LaGente" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish. Unfortunately, I just realized that the box set of La Clase Divertida was incomplete and did not, in fact, include the second DVD with the last half of the lessons.  It had two audio CDs in it instead.  Oops!  So, we're on pause with that type of Spanish lessons for the moment till we figure out what to do about it.  We can order the Lesson 1 DVD set (of two discs) for $40, but dang... that's a lot of money right now.  So, considering my options and will hopefully have something figured out before we start up again after New Years.

We will take a break from MFW lessons, and do "Christmas School" next week, which will be fun things like crafts and simple lessons using the holiday theme.  And then we'll have a two week break off of school!

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Homeschool Recap, December 7th (Week 18)...

In my life this week...

We celebrated Preston's 7th birthday this week, and had his party on Tuesday evening.  So much fun!  We also had a cub scout meeting on Monday and AWANA on Wednesday.  Friday evening we had an open-house type event for my Usborne business... trying to do some last minute Christmas sales.  Then some of the Power FM crew came over and hung out.  We had a blast, the kids really enjoyed having them over and getting to perform and do "tricks" for them all evening, oh man.  I miss those people!!! Callen and I have been under the weather... coughing our heads off.  =(

Michael put up our outdoor Christmas decor on Friday and Saturday and we also went out to Canton and got our Christmas tree!  We walked around, prepared to chop down our own tree but were really disappointed in the selection this year.  Couldn't find a good one that was the size we wanted, so we had to get one that they had all ready to go... a blue spruce.  It's pretty!  We haven't decorated it yet, but did some indoor decoration as well today.  Woo hoo!  And on Monday (my birthday!), there's a slight chance of snow... we'll see!!!

Got our Christmas cards mailed!

In our Homeschool this week...
Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "M" for Mouse!  We read a lot of fun mouse-themed books: Mouse's First Day of School, As Quiet as a Mouse, Whose Mouse Are You?, Mousekin's Thanksgiving, Cat & Mouse and Louie & Dan are Friends.

Bible:   This week's name of Jesus was Lamb of God. Preston's memory verse is John 1:29 and we looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that talked Jesus being a lamb. 

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure, doing our Chapter 18 review.  Not sure if he wasn't focused enough, but both tests we did this week didn't go so well.  Continued with lesson 37-39 in Primary Language Lessons. We continued our read-aloud, Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We have been reading a ton of Christmas books as well to go along with our Advent/Christmas countdown.  Preston read his little brother a night-night story the other night, and it was so sweet!

Getting along!  Yay!  Haha.

History: 
This week Preston learned about Eli Whitney and the cotton gin.  We read from our Story of the U.S. and a biography of Eli Whitney.  We studied about the state of Tennessee and read Daniel's Duck and Casey Jones.

Math: Preston continued Part B of Math Mammoth, Second Grade.  Working on hundreds and skip counting by different numbers, using addition and subtraction.  He is zipping right through this stuff.

Science:  This week's theme was living things... what makes them different.  We read four pages of First Encyclopedia of Science on living things and cells.  We created a cell model out of Jell-o and fruit chewies.  And we have an experiment going about growing bacteria.  Do NOT drink the milk we have stored in our cabinet... eww!!!

Cell membrane, nucleus and organelles! Yum!

Music/Art: Started learning a new patriotic song called "There are Many Flags."  We also continued our World's Greatest Artists, Vol 1 unit study, and our first artist is Leonardo Da Vinci. We read a couple more biography books on him (Neo Leo, Leonardo and The Mona Lisa Caper), and looked at a bunch of his art online. Preston and Callen also colored printed out sheets of the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.  I thought Preston did a really good job coloring in the Last Supper, especially since he doesn't really like to color all that much.

Spanish: Continued with the next episode of Salsa. Reviewed body parts via La Clase Divertida, Lesson 7.  We reviewed words having to do with "La Ropa" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish. 


We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Preston's 7th Birthday Party...

We decided to do Preston's party on his actual birthday this year, which fell on a Tuesday.  We have run into holiday parties and all kinds of other scheduling conflicts in the past when we've done it on the weekend... but wow, I was so surprised at the fantastic turn out!  There were a ton of kids filling my living room floor last night!  It was awesome!  His party was Lego themed, and the kids dumped out the blocks and got to building right away!  And Preston was blessed with some fun presents, including lots of Legos!  Thanks to everyone that came!!!  And super big thanks to Lizz, who made the cupcakes - regular and Lego-bricks!  So fun, and tasty!

7 Years Old, How Is This Possible?

Well, today's the day... my oldest boy is officially 7 years old.  I don't know why, but this birthday is hitting me hard.  Five and Six, no big deal... but SEVEN YEARS OLD?!  No way!  That's crazy.  How in the world did this happen?!?

SEVEN YEARS OLD!

Preston James Clark, you have grown up before my very eyes... and it's happened so fast, I can hardly believe it.  You are tall, handsome, smart and funny... and though you have an attitude and tend to be a bit moody and over-dramatic at times... you are amazing and I wouldn't trade you for the world.  Just thought you should know that.

Six Years Old!

Five years old!

Four Years Old!

Three Years Old!

Two years old!

One year old!

One day old!

Another Lost Tooth, and I Do Mean Lost...

When I got home on Sunday, Preston showed me his haircut and his second lost tooth.  This tooth has been loose for a LONG time, and the adult tooth was grown up behind it already, so I'm glad it finally came out!  So far both of Preston's bottom adult teeth have grown up behind the baby ones before they fell out, no gaps for that boy!

Hair cut and second lost tooth.

Michael brought me the teeny-tiny baby tooth and I didn't want to take it, so he put it somewhere out of the way... or so I thought.  I didn't pay attention to where he put it and quickly forgot about it until bedtime.  I asked Michael, "Where did you put Preston's tooth?" And when he told me he had put it in a little plastic dish on the cabinet, I suddenly realized that must have been the little dish I took away from Callen earlier.  But there hadn't been a tooth in it when I found it.  Meaning... I have no idea where the tooth went!  I asked Callen, he said he didn't know.  I looked everywhere... I had already done dishes so if it had been near the sink, it went down the drain.  I swept the floor earlier and hadn't noticed anything unusual.  So, seriously, I have no idea where that teeny-tiny tooth went!

I had to break the news to Preston that I lost his tooth!  Eep.  He wasn't thrilled, but at least he wasn't upset.  I told him we could write a note to the Tooth Fairy, and instead he said, "I'll make you a deal..."  Uh oh.  Lol!  He said, "Why don't you just pay me for the lost tooth?"  Well, ok fine.  Let's just skip the whole Tooth Fairy thing, then.  Deal.

Sigh. That boy turns SEVEN tomorrow.  :::freaking out:::

November 2012 Tweets & Instagrams to Remember...

Nov 1st - I'm thankful: that my husband doesn't take part in No Shave November.

Nov 3rd - Usborne BFFs: Cuddle Bear and WhatIf Monster http://instagr.am/p/Rk4JedIvAe/

Nov 4th - Callenism: Yay! I love waterlemon! (watermelon)

Nov 4th - They have informed me that they are, in fact, superheroes. http://instagr.am/p/RogWfyIvNC/ 

Nov 5th - Sitting in the shady breeze, kids playing, doing our read-alouds in the backyard. This is the #homeschool life! 

Nov 5th - Watching #Nashville might be causing ill effects: bringing out my twang & I'm not hating the country music. Yikes! 

Nov 12th - Glad they are playing nicely together, but does it have to be right in the doorway of my bedroom? http://instagr.am/p/R8JhTpIvG7/ 

Nov 16th - Because my kids have never had these, had to #Hostess http://twitpic.com/bdrpfy 

Nov 18th - Happy birthday to me (3 weeks early). "The Scoop" has replaced my Senseo! #coffee http://instagr.am/p/SLUT3WovBM/ 

Nov 18th - German food-ish. Kielbasa and Spaetzle. http://instagr.am/p/SMI8paIvIH/ 

Nov 20th - The pineapple is officially dressed for Thanksgiving! http://instagr.am/p/SREpcGovKh/ 

Nov 21st - Callen points to a bump on the wall, "What's that?" Me: "Just a lump in the wall." Him: "Yay! I LOVE LUMPY THINGS!" Um, ok. Lol. 

Nov 22nd - Oh my gosh, I cannot even handle the military/American Airlines commercials. #blubbering 

Nov 22nd - And #Folgers commercials..... Aughhhhh! Continue #blubbering. I am such a girl/baby. 

Nov 22nd - I love that even our #homeschool Morning Board looks nice and festive today! #thanksgiving http://instagr.am/p/SWJU6RIvI2/ 

Nov 22nd - Happy #Thanksgiving 2012 from The Clarks! http://instagr.am/p/SWoPNtovEd/ 

Nov 23rd - Wow, Callen got REALLY good at Hide & Seek! He says, "I fit in here just fine." Haha. Can u see him? http://instagr.am/p/SZIBMCovFN/ 

Nov 24th - Last piece of my mom's chocolate chip pecan pie. Noooooooo! http://instagr.am/p/Sb0yZPovKQ/ 

Nov 26th - Ok, here's a new one: #Pumpkin Pie Spice Pringles. http://instagr.am/p/SgfecxovAm/