Slices of Life

By far one of the most memorable things about our trip to Myrtle Beach has to be the night we went to see the Pirate's Voyage Dinner show.  It was amazing! I had stumbled upon this attraction quite by accident on Pinterest one day before our trip and after watching the short video on their site I knew my boys would LOVE it! Boy was I right! It was an amazing show and my boys had the best time.  They're still talking about the show and their favorite parts. Inside is set up like a giant pirate village  We enjoyed all the pre-show trivia questions We were blown away by all the decorations and details (like this map on the ceiling) We were entertained by singers and jugglers They had live California sea lions as part of the show & the pre-show  The boys were thoroughly entertained and the show hadn't even started yet! Once the pre- show was finished the door were opened and we were allowed into the dining and show area.  It was immense!  The show was spect...

We had so many plans this week but they kept changing at that last minute; mostly due to the weather.  It's been a dreary and cold week with rain threatening most days.  I didn't mind though; all that nasty weather and canceled plans allowed us to really focus on schoolwork this week.  We managed to get so much done and still have lots of fun. Math:  Ian started book 3 in his Key to Decimals book and is just flying through the pages.  Alec has finished up his Math Made Easy 5th grade book and will start in his new book next week.  Evan is close to finishing up his Multiplication Facts Made Easy book and has been working hard at understanding multiplication.  For now he is using his multiplication chart to help him on facts larger than 5 and we'll soon focus on memorizing them.  The older two boys completed two more pages in Are You A Math Genius and all three boys worked on the next set of pages in Multiplication Games .  Ian and I played ...

I forgot to look up this week's list assignment until last night so I didn't have much time to think about it.    When I saw:  Share your wish list all I could think about was.... "my wish list?" I was totally stumped.  While there are always thing I want I never have a list going and when asked by my family what I'd like for my birthday or Christmas I often start to think that the things I want aren't that important and begin crossing them off in my head.  After all; they're just things and ideas for people to buy me.  I try really hard not to be materialistic and want things.  I tend to focus more on family and experiences than things and so it's hard for me to think in terms of a wish list.  If I do give out gift ideas they are often practical things that I need and not necessarily things that I want.   But as the night wore on I realized there are some things I wish for.... they just aren't things that can be bought! For example more ...

I thought I'd be taking a bit of a break from reading for the fall since I seem to get so sucked up in all the books that I start neglecting the housework and the boys' schoolwork and all that "other" stuff.... but I just kept on reading!  I've read some really great books this month and thought I'd share. The Pursuit-- I love Janet Evanovich books and started reading Fox and O'hare novels as soon as they came out.  In this book Fox and O'hare must stop a madman from releasing a small pox virus onto American soil using their usual friends in the con.  With many plot twists and turns it was a fun novel to read. When I'm Gone-- This novel by Emily Bleeker was so gripping I finished it in two days!   A man who looses his young wife to cancer mysteriously starts receiving letters from her after her funeral.  He struggles with the secrets these letters reveal and tries valiantly to both hold onto her memory and to find a "new normal"...

My boys use this series for writing called Draw Write Now and we just love that it combines art with writing.  There are so many benefits to drawing and my kids are often reluctant to try having been frustrated with drawings that they didn't like in the past. Since we've just jumped right into our schoolwork this year we have already pulled out our new Draw Write Now book as well as our older two books.  We also have a Draw and Write Through History book that my boys can choose to work with.  We have found so many wonderful benefits to using these how to draw books to teach drawing. As they were painstakingly following the drawing directions the other day I was struck by what wonderful lessons they really were! Usually we are focusing on these books for the writing, spelling, penmanship and punctuation.  I always looked at the drawing as a fun bonus for the hard work of writing but it struck me this week what a great art lesson it was and so we had to incl...

Today I'm linking up with Spiel the Beans to talk about those things we pin that we know we'll never use. I knew I couldn't be the only one who Pins things on Pinterest I know I'll never use!  Don't get me wrong most of what I Pin I do think I may use someday.  I pin tons of crafting ideas, school things, and food recipes but more often than not I just don't get around to trying them all out.  That's OK because my intent to use them is there!  (If you'd like to follow me or my boards you can click here ) However, there are other things I pin that I know I'll never use!  EVER!! Sometimes the pins are crafting or teaching ideas and I know I'll never find the energy or the time to put them together.  Like this beautiful pumpkin flower arrangement.... (I hate the smell of cutting open a pumpkin and I never have fresh flowers around). Click here for tutorial  Sometimes the pins are recipe ideas where I am the only one in the house that wo...

One of our favorite stops on our Myrtle Beach vacation was the Ripley's Aquarium.  My boys love aquariums and as soon as they found out there was one in Myrtle Beach I was told that he HAD to go there. It did not disappoint!  It was a smallish aquarium but it was packed with so much to see and do.  I love when we can combine learning with family fun.  These are the types of lessons I know my kids will never forget. Alec and I learned about the history of this log by reading the timeline We loved the ray fountain Waiting patiently to pet sharks and sting rays  Watching the poison dart frogs  They loved this ray tank!  There were so many large sharks and rays swimming around Leafy sea dragons  Learning about coral reefs  We got to touch horseshoe crabs  Alec inside the puffer fish tank  Evan took a turn too!  We read and learned all about horseshoe crabs  Alec made sure to touch each shark in the tank As well as a few horses...