Our Week That Turned Into 2 Weeks

The weekend got away from me, and I didn't get to share pictures from last week.

This was from one of our art projects, called Fish on a Dish.

This was a video lesson from Arts Attack.

The kids did the oil pastel part one day, and the painting part the next day.  We have one more lesson in this program.

Birds, birds, birds.  They matched up our toy birds with the corresponding bird cards, and looked up information about the birds in one of our bird books.

We learned about concave and convex lenses in our Groovy Lab box.

We actually finished up one box and moved on to another one.

Paper Mola was our final lesson in Home Art Studio, fourth grade.

Although not every single project was a hit, I really like this series.

I would really like to order another disc.

I think we would finish another one by the end of the school year, but I'm also trying to focus more on using up what we have around the house, so maybe I'll just do Pinterest ideas for the rest of the year.

Both Brianna and Eli have been willing to help out from time to time by scoring the other kids' work, which I really appreciate.  Getting backed up on corrections is one of the hardest parts of homeschooling for me.

The weather is nice, and we got to play at the park!

So happy to see spring arriving here.  The trees are bursting into bloom, the daffodils are up, I'm not freezing cold all the time.

Hannah and Jack discovered foos ball when we attended an adoption fundraiser dessert auction at a local church.  We came home with a plate of cookies, a pan of brownies, and a box of ice cream cone cupcakes.

I had a birthday.  My dad sent me flowers.

And Paul took us out to dinner at Black Bear Diner.

Paul's burger looked a little bit scary when it arrived.

Dentist appointments for 4 of us this week.  I'm so glad our dental office will take them in pairs or groups, lol.

Our next Groovy Lab box is about flight.

We're learning about wing shape, and lift, and all sorts of interesting things.

I've always been a holiday craft kind of person, but since I did the Ancestry DNA test and discovered I'm 18% Irish, I feel like I need to step up my game for St. Patrick's Day this year.

So we made these really cute construction paper rainbows.

And I read the kids The Story of St. Patrick.  Did you know he taught literacy?  He was a Britton, who went around to Irish villages, teaching the people to read and write, and telling them about God.  So reading a book is a great way to celebrate.

We have various logic puzzles around the house, and this one keeps getting left out on poor Katie's desk.  She can do it now!  I'm so thrilled!

Another day, more hands on science about principles of flight.

We made thumb print shamrocks for art one day.

And then I got out the thumbprint art book.

The kids loved the idea!

I liked how they really took off with their own ideas.  In fact, Jack included some thumb print art in his next letter to Sam.

Sam's old room is getting PAINT!  I'm so thrilled.  We picked a sage green, and it looks really nice.

So, this isn't how it looks.  Brianna made apple juice, and she was pouring it into the glass on the desk, but the green shirt, and the pitcher...  It looked like she was "indulging" on St Patrick's Day.

Little Miss Katie has finished her first grade math book!  Woo hoo!  She's working on XtraMath (an online drill site) while I figure out what to do next.  I thought I was going to have her use a math app on my iPad, but my iPad is being stupid.

Hey, look!  More hands on science.

We made our own airfoil.  This project called for the use of some air dry clay.

Which led to the kids playing with the clay.  (Hannah's shirt that we glittered last year still fits!)

So, we'll call this "creative art free play" since we were done with book work for the morning.

And there were several airplanes made, which made it relevant to our science study.

And then this weekend got away from me, too!  I was much better about posting every week when I was on the Review Crew, and was required to have an active blog!


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Hurricane in Paradise

Author Deborah Brown is back with another wild tale of the exploits of Madison and Fabiana.  The story opens with a bang, as Mad is forced to flee her home due to an impending hurricane.  Once it's safe to return, she finds squatters living in her beloved beachfront home, which she inherited from her aunt.  Forced to battle them in court to get her own house back, Madison prevails when the chief squatter doesn't show at the hearing.  But the victory is short lived when his body is discovered, and Madison is a suspect!

Over at The Cottages, Miss January is in failing health, and 2 more bodies show up in unrelated incidents.  The real crisis, overshadowing all the rest of this, however, is that Madison's brother, Brad, has vanished.

Brick is still a shady character, and he's replaced Bitsy with someone that Fab likes even less (how is that possible?) who appears to have no past, when the girls ask their bartender/info source to look into her.

If you like hilarious adventures, you'll enjoy the Paradise series.  Don't be afraid to jump into it in the middle, as each book can be read on it's own, but once you've read one, you'll be hooked, and want to go back and read them all!

Set against the steamy backdrop of Tarpon Cove's sun-kissed, tropical waters, sexy sleuths and best friends Madison and Fab are at it again dealing with the occasional dead body. Hidden just below the surface of the small town lies an underworld, one steeped in deceit, corruption, and deadly secrets. It's only a matter of time before Madison and Fab find themselves on a collision course with the police, who consider them likely suspects in a murder.

Ride along on their adventures when the duo realizes that a family member is missing and pull themselves away from all jobs to track him down. Theories: walked away, freak accident, kidnapped? If so, then why no ransom demand?

Hurricane in Paradise is book ten in the thrilling and humorous provocative Paradise series, which finds the two waist-deep in mystery and romance. It is a smart, adventurous read that delivers heart-thumping, non-stop action. Join Madison and Fab as they solve the most twisted of cases, through unconventional ¬– and highly entertaining – measures… sometimes in flip-flops.

The Paradise series, are Florida Keys mysteries, “great as stand-alone reads, but they're like chips...you won't be able to devour just one!”

Available to buy from.....

Amazon.com    Amazon.co.uk   Amazon Paperback 

"Deborah Brown's Florida Keys mystery series is highly addictive! The characters are quirky & amusing. The dialogue is snappy. The plot highly entertaining & thrilling. All the oddball cast of characters are back as well as Mad's & Fab's deliciously hunky loves, Creole & Didier." 

"Madison and Fab are so much fun to read about along with their better halves. This time there's murder (of course), a missing family member and a crazy grandma! You'll love this book so much!"

"Once again Deborah Brown has written a wonderful humerous highly entertaining book."

Above reviews from Amazon

About the Author

I've been writing, in one way or another for as long as I can remember; writing poetry, short stories, a romance novel secretly stashed under the bed and sappy love letters. Fiction should be fun. I wanted to create the perfect beach book, to make the reader laugh, cry and cheer... and then run out and tell their friends about it.

My love of reading began when I was seven, the day I opened the cover of my first Mrs. Piggle Wiggle book. Mrs. P gave lessons to other children in how to behave and to me I learned to love the written word. I live with my family and demon children aka rescue cats in South Florida.

Find the author on the following sites...

Website  Facebook  Twitter  Pinterest  Google+  Goodreads  Amazon Author page

Also available in the Paradise Series

              

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Holiday Spanning Dresses

I often dress my girls in matching clothes.  But sometimes it's fun to do coordinating styles instead.

Last year, I chose red and green solid dresses from Primary as one of their Christmas outfits.  The girls looked adorable in them, and I found myself thinking, "Hannah can wear hers at Valentine's Day, too."  Which led to me thinking, "And Katie could wear hers at St. Patrick's Day."

It was this thinking that led me to place another order from Primary, adding a pink dress and another green dress to their closet.

Hannah and Katie then wore red and pink dresses to usher in the start of February, and ended up wearing them several times that month.

Now that it's March, they are wearing the green dresses.

After wearing them for St. Patrick's Day, we'll probably pair up pink and green for spring things like Easter egg hunts.

These dresses are just one of many styles of cute, simple children's clothing available at Primary.  If you click my link here, and place a first time order, you'll get $10 off, and I'll get a credit on my account.  I'm foreseeing us shopping at Primary again for school spirit wear, since they have a wide selection of solid colors.


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Montana Rescue series from Susan May Warren

I whiled away the hours (well, some of them, anyway) on the long flight to Hong Kong in November with Wild Montana Skies, by Susan May Warren.  I had every intention of coming home and telling you all about it, after I finished it in China, but life got busy, and somehow, I let it slide.  Now that Rescue Me, book 2 in the Montana Rescue series, is out, it seems like a good time to talk about both books.

These were so good!  I really enjoy the way Susan writes.  Her characters are realistic and have a lot of depth.  If you've read any of the Christiansen family series, you'll know that she creates a place and a group of people, and then each book in the series takes a closer look at some of those characters.  I like that you still hear about old favorites in other books within the series.  And while each book stands alone, it's nice to read a book 2 where you already know several of the main players.

Wild Montana Skies sets the stage for this series with a fast paced tale of an old romance being rekindled with some delightful complications.  But it's not just Ben and Kacey's story.  There's steadfast Sierra and driven Ian.  There's flower child Willow and innocent Audrey.  And overshadowing it all, the search for Esme, who's been missing for 3 years.

The heroics continue in Rescue Me, a suspenseful story of a youth group outing gone wrong.  Way wrong.  Here we meet new characters, like young loves, Quinn and Bella.  Sheriff Sam is brought into the limelight with Willow struggling with her feelings for him.  Then there's co workers, Pete and Jess.  Really, that's all they are.  They just work together on the PEAK Rescue Team.  Only maybe... there's the potential for more.

I'm already looking forward to finding out what comes next in A Matter of Trust, due out this summer!

Susan May Warren's books prove that a story can be compelling and handle sensitive topics realistically and with discretion.  Although pregnancy out of wedlock occurs, there are no graphic sex scenes, and I feel good about letting my teen daughter read them.

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