Erica's Chore Charts

My friend Erica posted these adorable pictures of the
chore charts she made for her kids.
I haven't seen anything as detailed and cute for chores!!

Here's a close up look.

Just wanted to share Erica's neato-crafty boards.
Looks motivating to me!
I would sure want all my rings on the smiley face! :)

John Tesh Concert

You mean, I never uploaded pictures of my special Day??

Robby took me to see John Tesh live in concert.

On the FRONT ROW!!!!

I had such an amazing time!

Several times I was moved to tears and just SO happy to be there. :)

Cooking Class

The boys ask to cook ALL THE TIME. They are so curious about the ways of the kitchen. To satisfy their need for cooking experience, I decided to have "Cooking Class" one day a week, usually on a Monday.

I snapped pictures of them making these mini English muffin pizzas. My mother let me make these on Saturdays when I was quite young, and it is one of my most special memories with her. These are easy for the kids to do AND easy for mom because it's not that messy.

• Just split the english muffins on a cookie sheet.
• Let them spoon tomato sauce on it.
• Then sprinkle cheese on top.
• Ry likes to add pepperoni to his, so I always keep some on hand.
• Pop them in the oven (350 - 400) and cook til the cheese melts.
  

Do random questions frustrate you?

My older son, Ry 11, always asks questions. Lots of questions. Most of these questions I do not know the answers to. Honestly, sometimes it's frustrating when we're talking about ocean currents and he asks how the remote control makes the DVD player work. Usually, I tell him that he can look it up after we finish our daily lessons. I KNOW that's not the right answer, but he really throws me off, and I don't always respond well. I've been thinking about it a lot though, and decided to be more open-minded about his random questions.

Today, while practicing handwriting, Ry asks how the lead gets put into the pencil. Will it surprise you that I didn't know the answer to that question? Immediately, I grabbed the dry-erase marker and wrote his question in his own words on the board. Then I told him that he needed to have the answer to that question by the end of the day. He had it done before lunch.

Then he made a notebook page to record his research:

What's Your Favorite Nut?

The boys called their friends and family to ask them what their favorite nut is.
We used this information to create a vertical bar graph. :)
They had never heard of a pistachio before!

The Results:
Pecans - 7
Peanuts - 5
Almonds - 2
Cashews - 6
Pistachios - 1
Walnuts - 2