Party Time....

We made it through graduation night and on to the party!! Hooray!!
We combined Matt's party with two of his classmates, Brianna and Tim.

It takes alot of work to get a party ready to roll, we could use some help from "Super Kimmie"! We had alot of guests and alot of fun in a beautiful location.
Kim and Luke are smiling because there were storms all around us, all day, but we only recieved about 5 minutes of sprinkles.

Gracie, Clare and Nate are enjoying the scenery on "the point" surrounded by water.Matt and Alexis enjoy the last dance of the night.
Congratulations, Matt!
May God bless you on your trip into the future.

Matt's Graduation

Matthew's on his way...

It is hard for me to believe that my baby boy is graduating from high school tonight. I am going to have to sound like my mother and say, "Where did the time go?"

One reason I know that this is true is by the amount of preparations that are taking place around me. Everyone has been helping in what can only be described as a frantic whirlwind.

We are hosting, along with two other families, 300 guests tomorrow at Oneida lake.

Laura made a super card box for her brother's cards.

I did feel Matthew should contribute something to his party, so with the encouragement of his girlfriend, Alexis, they put together the photo board.

If you have a chance, leave a comment wishing Matt a hearty congratulations!! (It has been a long road to get here!!)

Author Fiesta-Tough Boris

Thanks to the Author Fiesta and Mem Fox, it has been all about pirates around here lately.

Tough Boris by Mem Fox

From Publisher Weekly: "Boris the pirate is as mean, greedy and scary as they come. But when his parrot dies, he mourns like anyone else."

This book naturally led to a full pirate study. I found this set of pirates at Michael's craft store. They have been played with constantly.

We also studied about a real pirate-Blackbeard. We read the book Blackbeard's Last Fight, and enjoyed it as a family, although some of us weren't really thrilled with the graphic depiction of Blackbeard's demise. This is to serve as a warning to folks with sensitive children, my kids thought it was gross and "cool".

Homeschool Share has some wonderful activies to do about Blackbeard and pirates. We didn't make a lapbook, but instead, we will be adding our pirate activities to our Author Fiesta binder.

We watched this fun classic Disney movie. Everyone enjoyed it!
We now have foamie pirates decorating out fridge, and we are all good at pirate talking, "argggg, matey!"
I was very surprised at the amount of piratey stuff there is out there. This is one topic that we have never gotten into deeply, but I now have a feeling that it is a subject that we will be revisiting often.

More Fun in the Sun

We took Daddy to the state park with us today.

We live 10 minutes away, and I bought a park pass, so this is where we will probably be spending alot of the summer.
These pictures are especially for Grandpa, who requested a look at our day today.

It was fun to have Daddy with us today. It was a wonderful break from getting ready for a 300 guest graduation party that we are co-hosting on Saturday.

The kids like the playground as much as the water.
Wheeeee!!!
Hold on, Grace!

We all had a great day!!

Gracie is a Graduate...

of kindergarten!!
Her fellow homeschooled kindergarteners.
The crowd that gathered for the "ceremony."

Gracie is feeling like the queen of the hill right now! What is she doing up there? Giving herself of sand bath.
It was a perfectly beautiful day at the lake.
Fun on the "island"

More Cake Baking

Another day, another graduation cake for Becky to make.

Congratulations Andrew, on your appointment to West Point!!

What a great accomplishment!!

Author Fiesta-Koala Lou

"Koala Lou, I do love you. I always have and I always will!"We have not been neglecting our Author Fiesta author Mem Fox. In fact, we have been quite busy enjoying this unique author's work.

We read Koala Lou quite a few times, it is especially sweet for children with many siblings.

I asked Amy to come up with a project for Mark and Grace to do along with this book.
She had them both send this books special message to Mom and Dad.

(We love them both-we always have and we always will!)

We have now begun a full blown pirate unit, based on the Mem Fox book Tough Boris, post to come soon!

Party Day

Today began our second week of graduation parties. (Matt's graduation isn't until next week.)

Today we got to the party at a campground and were greeted in the parking lot by this pretty mourning cloak butterfly--I knew it would be a good day!

Be warned, the following is a very photo heavy post.

Matt, looking every bit the part of a soon to be graduate.

Don't leave without us!
An unknown visitor at the campground playground. (If you happen to know what kind of beetle this is, let me know)
Wheeeeeee!!
Amy catches some air,
and Mark doesn't know up from down.
Baby robins inside the picnic pavilion.
Waiting for the boat with Daddy.
All aboard- they are tied to the dock-but they don't seem to care.
A picture perfect boy.
And off they go--tubing! Amy and Michaela.

Danny
Laura and Alanna
We are almost home--what a sight!
Sunshine on the windmils
On our return home we were greeted by this pretty doe, trying to sneak into the yard.

A wonderful day!!