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Last week we escaped the snow and drove down to Venice, Florida to visit Jason's grandparents. This was our first long trip since Gwen was born. The kids did really well in the car, and Tristan and Anastasia were able to sleep pretty well in the hotels. We got caught in some rain on the way home due to winter storm Iola, so we didn't stop to visit anywhere fun. We feel so blessed to have completed the drive without incident and we discovered the best stop on I-95 in southern VA, a truck stop with Starbucks, gas and food. The Davis Oil Travel plaza, in Stonycreek, VA. This was our first stop in the pouring rain on our second day of driving home, and I was very impressed with the cleanliness and convenience of this place.  On the drive down we stopped in Homosassa Springs to see wild Manatees and other animals are resident in the park (including Florida's sole native hippopotamus). While in Florida we enjoyed the beach and spending ...

Back to Five In A Row ! We'll be working through Volume 2, (the only volume not found at our local libraries) this spring. We've already done The Giraffe that Walked  to Paris , but I'm excited for the rest. Our first story: Three Names , by Patricia MacLachlan. A story about changing times and the constancy of friendship. Patricia tells Great Grandfather's story from "a hundred years" ago about life on the prairie and his dog, Three Names. This story is fun, though kind-of random. The kids really liked the dog and Alexander Pertzoff's pictures are beautiful. We were able to learn about the prairie this week. We marked off on our map the prairie of North America and Tristan put our story disk of Three Names in Nebraska. For Social Studies we talked about how the prairie's of America became populated and what they looked like before being settled. We made dried apple chips, like the settlers would have made to pack in their wagons and we at...

This week we were back to school and finishing the Frances Study Guide by Valerie Bendt. I am excited to return to the routine of Five in a Row , as much fun as the Frances stories have been. A Bargain for Frances, by Russell Hoban tells the story of Frances getting cheated by her friend to purchase a used tea set, when she had saved to buy one new. She realizes she was cheated, and she tricks her friend into doing the right thing. The story ends well with friendship and forgiveness. We spent a lot of time this week discussing tea. We talked about the word tea, and the family of words spelled with the -ea. Anastasia received a book, Little Bea and the Snowy Day, by Daniel Roode for Christmas and we were able to incorporate this story into our week. We had a tea party one morning for snack. I baked vegan sweet potato cupcakes with marshmallow frosting and we made a few different flavors of loose-leaf tea. We flavored the raspberry quince with sugar and cream, we...

Happy New Year! We are excited about 2015: looking forward to trying new things, reaching milestones and learning as much as we can. Our year went out in a flurry, Christmastime is that way. The weeks surrounding Christmas Anastasia and Gwendolyn attended their first baby shower, for Aunt Lynn. We spent Christmas week in VA visiting Nana and Poppi and visited with Grandma and Grandpa the weekend after. Not to mention the kids all got the same cold/fever. We were busy! Highlights: Celebrating with Lynn and Steve in anticipation for their new baby.                   Visiting the Smithsonian Museum of American History to see the John Bull steam Engine                   National Christmas Tree                  ...