My Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend we did a lot of travel. Since dh was driving, I did a little bit of crochet. First we traveled from WI to Indianola, IA.

First I started with trying out a new stitch I saw Wednesday night on a recorded episode of Knit & Crochet Now! It was a crochet cable. I made a pillow front using the stitch, and it turned out pretty neat. Of course, it's too small for the pillow I intended because I didnt' measure before I left and the pillow wasn't with me in the car!

While at Indianola we did a bunch of yard work at the house. Trying to keep it looking nice for potential buyers. Please Please Please let the house sell quickly! The yard got mowed, the weeds are pulled from the driveway, and we cleaned more out of the basement and loaded the van down so that the basement looks bigger and more open. Then it was time to drive to Thompson, IA .. so we could attend an Oleson/Escherich Reunion in Mason City on Sunday.

I finished the pillow back while at my parents on Saturday & Sunday. Also on Saturday and Sunday I took two sport weight skeins that I had (partial skeins) and put them together to make a baby hat and a snack mat. Or I suppose it could be a doll's blanket.

On the way back to WI on Monday, I grabbed another sport weight skein of yarn from the back of the van and made a baby's hat, and started a second one .. but I ran out of yarn on that skein, and decided to put the crochet on hold for the moment .. I'll finish the second hat with white sometime .. this week hopefully! maybe today?

My friends at One Stitch At A Time really like embroidery, and it's been a long time since I got out my embroidery floss.  I used to do quite a bit of cross-stitch, but haven't picked that up in a long time either!  They've inspired me to do a little bit.  I had some flour sack towels in my stash, so I took one, and traced this birdhouse design on it ... and well, this is what I got done yesterday .. just a bit of green for the wood of the birdhouse... not bad fo rnot having done it in awhile! ... :)

Well, I'm off for now.  We are going to the first activity of the Ozaukee Homeschool group ... I joined the group (it's basically an online forum) a few weeks ago, but today they have a field trip activity for the kids to do archery/boating/candlemaking/disc golf .. and Joel would love to do some archery, so I decided to sign us up.  It's at a local campgrounds/retreat center called "Jewish Community Center".  I suppose it's a lot like the Methodist church camp back in Indianola. I think Seth is coming too .. hopefully the boys will have fun and I'll get to meet some of the moms .. ..

Picket Fence Creamery

Our homeschool group had a field trip to Picket Fence Creamery in Woodward, IA. I took both my boys and we had a great time. (Joel & I more then Seth, but I think Seth enjoyed it a little bit too.)









I encourage anyone to go and visit them. Their chocolate milk is delicious, the ice cream is also wonderful. Friendly people. :)

After our time at the creamery, we met up with Rob at Applebee's in West Des Moines. I tried their new stuffed meatballs and fettuccine, and it was good, but the meatballs were a bit spicy for me. Seth had the fried chicken salad which he enjoyed, Rob had chicken fingers & fries, and Joel had shrimp as usual.

1st day back to school (2nd quarter)

Well, today the boys got back in the school mode. Joel went off to his 2nd quarter for 5th grade, and Seth got going in the 2nd quarter of 8th grade at home.

Rob & I hadn't walked in the morning since before fall break, so it was nice to once again start the day with a short walk with Joel to the crossing guard. We then continue around the block. It's nice to be able to start the day together like that. I'll miss it when it gets too cold to be walking in the morning.

Seth & I did well today. We had one small bump first thing, but we'll he did great and got all of his assignments done. Also got his Pre-algebra text book in the mail today. I now have an extra teacher's key, but I've listed it on the homeschoolclassifieds.com site, so hopefully it will be sold soon. :)

A 20x30 Verse Puzzle

So, I'm one of the teachers for the preschool class for my Homeschool Group.

We are teaching the kids a verse throughout the year, and will be putting actions to that verse. We'll be introducing a new word or phrase of the verse each time we meet, and I thought it would be neat to have a puzzle that we would add a new piece to each time as well.

Anyway, I've been busy this afternoon cutting the foam board and printing out large words and images for this puzzle. I had designed the puzzle in a 8x11 size which each child will get at the end of the year, but today I transferred that design to the large 20x30 foam board.

Here it is:



The foam board is not actually yellow as it seems in the picture, it is white, just not as white as the paper.

What do you think? Would love to know! :)

Benefits of Homeschooling

One of the biggest benefits of homeschooling is that when someone isn't feeling well, you can take a break, take a nap, and then do school when you are feeling better.

Our school got cut a bit short this morning. Seth was doing fine until he was 3/4 of the way through with his work, with the occasional sniffle and blowing of his nose. However, it got progressively worse until he just didn't think he could concentrate well enough. So, I gave him a cold pill, and he had a snack and went to lay down. He's now sound asleep. When he wakes up we'll resume schooling and try to finish today's work, but the important thing is that he'll be better able to fight off the cold if he can take this rest.

Homeschooling is great :)