valentine’s day

2019-20 School Year–Week Twenty-Three

I really think February is my least favorite month of the year for school (really, for anything), but we’re surviving, and it’s already halfway done!

Turkey and Bunny started a chapter on periodic motion in physics, and did some experiments with springs. They also began The Merchant of Venice, which is one of my favorite of Shakespeare’s works. In US history, they started what is going to be a long section on the Civil War. In world history, they learned about both the fact and fiction surrounding William Wallace.

Ladybug learned about mass in pre-algebra. In science, she started reading about the five kingdom classification system, beginning with Monera and Protista. She learned about the French Revolution in history. The Door in the Wall is her new literature study, and I don’t believe I’ve ever read that book myself, so I’m looking forward to reading it with her!

Chickadee worked on borrowing from the hundreds’ place in math. She started a chapter on space rocks in science, beginning with comets. We’re almost done reading Winnie-the-Pooh already…I always forget how quickly the chapters in that book go by!

I decided to take the day off of school yesterday, not because it was Valentine’s Day, but because Moose had a half day at his school, and I wanted to share his good fortune with his siblings. We did do a fun Valentine’s Day craft, though. Since the Makit & Bakit ornaments we made at Christmas were so popular, I thought it would be fun to make sun catchers, too…they’re so pretty!

I am almost positive that next week we’re going to finally get around to one of the field trips I’ve been planning…stay tuned!

Matching Shirts on Valentine’s Day

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has been holding a special in-game Valentine’s Day event this month. One part of that event has been daily login bonuses, which included a pair of matching heart t-shirts. I assume the intended purpose of these shirts was for the player and their favorite villager to wear so they could match I decided that instead, I wanted my favorite penguin couple to be t-shirt buddies!

Aren’t Roald and Aurora adorable? Just a little over a month until the new Animal Crossing game comes out for the Nintendo Switch, and I can’t wait!!!

2018-19 School Year–Week Twenty-Four

Another week of school is complete!

Turkey and Bunny didn’t have a whole lot of new work this week. They did start graphing inequalities in algebra, and I was very impressed with how much they remembered about doing so from algebra one! They got to write a nonsense poem in creative writing, which was fun for them and me! Their history lessons focused more on Charlemagne and the time immediately following his reign.

Ladybug reviewed time zones in math. She also calculated the surface area of different objects. She read about the War of the Roses in history. Her horse science lessons focused on how to tell when something is wrong with a horse. In horse literature, she finished King of the Wind and started Brighty of the Grand Canyon. She also wrote a five paragraph essay about octopuses.

Chickadee continued to add three-digit numbers in math. She also worked on putting events in the correct sequence. Her spelling words all contained different ways of making the long “e” sound. She’s trying to read everything she sees, in and out of the house!

The girls also made a fun Valentine’s Day craft which is now hanging in our school room:

We still have a full month before we have any kind of a real break…I hope we make it that long!

Valentine’s Day Dinner

Some years, I make something fancy for Valentine’s Day, and some years, I make something fun. Whatever I choose, though, I try to make something special. This year, I decided to go with a sandwich bar similar to the one we had on New Year’s Eve, because it was such a hit:

I also made a Piña Colada cheesecake for dessert:

Valentine’s Day may not be a big deal around here the way some holidays are, but I still like to do a little something for my family to show them I love them!

And, I will leave you with this…a Valentine’s Day poem, written by Bunny:

“Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Spock wore yellow,
In pilot number two.”

Throwback (Chickadee) Thursday

I was flipping through my old Valentine’s Day blog posts this afternoon, and I came upon Chickadee’s first Valentine’s Day, which was also a (Chickadee) Thursday:

I’m not going to lie…when I look at that picture, and then look at the picture I shared of her today, I feel pretty old!

2017-18 School Year–Week Twenty-One

I think last week just might be one of the busiest school weeks we’ve ever had! Because it was so crazy, I’m just going to hit the highlights…and there were a lot of them!

On Monday, we had our 100th Day of School (Observed). We technically hit the milestone a few weeks ago, but as far as our “Doodlebug Countdown” was concerned, Monday was the day. I always try to make an extra big deal of the 100th Day when we have a kindergartener, so I assembled 100 of various objects from around the house…Lego bricks, safety pins, m&ms, cotton balls, popcorn kernels, crayons, pennies, and flashcards, all so Chickadee could see that 100 of different things can look (and feel) very different! She even counted to 100 all by herself…twice! To continue our 100th Day celebration, we also took a trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden, where we visited the Orchid Show, and took a walk around the Chinese Garden in anticipation of the Lunar New Year:

Wednesday was also a busy day, as it was both Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day. We were busy at church with acolyting and altar guild, but we found time for a Valentine’s Day craft, as well…”Valenswines!”

And on Friday, we continued our celebration of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and added in a Lunar New Celebration, as well. This gave us an opportunity to learn not only how the holiday is celebrated in South Korea, but several other Asian countries, as well. We had two more fun craft projects to add the shield kites we made last week…fans and lanterns:

An another fun dinner, where we tried foods from several Asian countries:

We’ve also kept up with our Olympics medal chart all week:

Don’t be fooled…we did all of our regular school work, too. But that’s not nearly as fun to write about when we’ve had such an exciting week!

Valentine’s Day Dinner

I have done fancy Valentine’s Day dinners in the past, but this year, I decided to do something fun. Make-your-own pizzas is always a big hit around here…this year, I found pizza bagels to use as the base for our dinner, and they were amazing! We also had a nice selection of toppings…two cheeses (mozzarella and Provel), mini pepperoni, green onions, mushrooms, and olives. Add some festively colored strawberry Crush, and Valentine’s Day Funfetti cupcakes for dessert, and I think we had a very nice family feast!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Quote of the Day

This has been our every Valentine’s Day, for as long as I can remember…and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

“Well, after I finish up here, I’ll go home, and Jackson, wonderful man that he is, will have made a lovely meal and opened up a bottle of Syrah and lit a candle. And then he and the kids and I will have a nice, romantic meal together.” Melissa McCarthy as Sookie St. James on Gilmore Girls