Playing Catchup

I have really neglected this blog over the past ...year almost!!! So here's the lowdown of what we've been up to.

Our 'Finca' rennovation in Spain is complete.We first stayed in it in December and although a little chilly it was wonderful to finally have it finished.

Christmas and new year at home were quiet and peaceful, followed by a reasonably uneventful

few months.Rose turned 4 in March and we had a little family get together, as are proving popular for both kids to celebrate their special days.

Here is the cake which I made for her, which I'll admit is a little out of shape LOL! but it made one little 4 year old ver happy indeed.

There can only be one word to describe easter here -FREEZING.But aside from that we did quite alot of crafts ,stories etc.for easter this year. Here is our lenten garden before it was transformed....

into an easter one.
And here are our Easter gift baskets...
So back to birthdays namely mine -it was a big one,I was 30 on March 31st and as dh's was April 4th we decided to go back to Spain.Weather was glorious this time and the highlight for Sam was that he got his new bike with money given to hm by my parents at christmastime.Here he is outside the house looking very pleased.

We are still using math-u-see and Sam has now moved on to Beta,Rose will be using Primer in September,LLATL and of course Five in a Row.We have rowed many books this year and made lots of lapbooks and a notebook.At the moment we are doing a really fun unit study on 'Charlotte's Web' which I got free from homeschoolestore some time ago.When we finish it we will watch the movie -in Spain,because that's where we're headed a week today.We will be there for 16 days. Dh and my MIL are staying for the first 9 and then we'll be on our own.We will be going back again at the beginning of august probably for another couple of weeks,fortunately the fights are good value at the moment.Another thing which we plan to go to this summer is something I quite by accident stumbled across online last week -Expo 2008.It's in Zaragoza in Spain,which is the other end of Spain from where we are, but we may fly there and drive home or something,still working on the details.I was at Expo '92 in Seville with my family and I am always raving about it to people,I think it will be a really fun educational experience for us all.

Well thats pretty much it for now,I'll try not to make it so long before the next post and then maybe it won't be so long-winded !!

The Bee Tree.

I'm a bit late posting these pictures of our unit study on 'The Bee Tree' but here they are.We spent just over 2 weeks with this book as we were in Spain for some of the time.Here are the vocabulary flap books that Sam made by writing the word on the top and inside he stuck pictures which we got from HSS.He also did some fingerprint bees to decorate this page and stuck in some images.


I printed out a few quizzes about bees which Sam completed (one is on the page underneath 'the life cycle of a bee' circle),and he learned about hexagons.
For geography we found Michagan on the map and also observed that as the state bird is the Robin and state flower Apple Blossom that the climate must be very similar to here as both are native to here also.Sam also colored Canada's flag which he knows well as he is abig maple syrup fan!
We also learned about the Klondike gold rush,the Yukon and gold in general.I added a page on the Klondike gold rush to our timeline notebook.
Finally we read and talked about the Pslam from HSS,identified and painted string instruments, and on the theme of hospitality; invited Granny to a Honey Tea Party, complete with baking powder biscuits,an assortment of honey,banana pops(to dip in honey)orange honey butter and camomile,honey and vanilla tea!Yummy!
The children also LOVED making beeswax candles (which we burned at the tea party)as the did doing a treasure hunt which dh and I set up for them in Spain.

Here are Rose's notebok pages too!

Michaelmas Celebration.

For the first time ,we decided to have a Michaelmas celebration this year.We had a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings and invited granny and nana and papa.We had been reading all about the archangels and I decided after getting a few ideas online to make it more memorable for dc by making a dragon cake for them to slay-as St.Michael did to banish Lucifer from heaven.To make it really authentic we coloured the cake red inside.It was a memorable evening!

Holidays!

Our Holidays.

We just returned from our holiday in Spain last Thursday.It was a lovely relaxing time for all of us with way too much good food,gloroius weather and lots of swimming for Sam and Rose.
We spent our time in my parents finca(spanish for country house),as our new house is not finished yet.It is looking really good though,and will hopefully be completely ready in about a month,it is very close to my parents.I am going back to Spain next week with dc,my mum,aunt and cousin to furnish the house.Unfortunately dh can't come as he is really busy in the midst of the apple harvest.
While we were there we spent a day in Malaga-Picasso's birthplace.I had an appointment so dh took dc to the Picasso museum which they seemed to enjoy and we went on a horse and carriage ride around Malaga.It is a really beautiful city which up until recently was very neglected by tourists.There is a magnificent cathederal,the alcazaba (old castle), port,tropical gardens,many traditional streets with pretty pavement cafes, and much much more.We agreed that we must go back in the winter when it's cooler and spend a few days staying in the city.
We also went to see where honey was made just down the road from the finca.The man keeps his beehives in my father's orange groves amongst other places.We bought some Orange Blossom and Milflores(which is made from wildfolwers)honey and also saw Avocado and Eucalyptus honeys.We tasted some of the Avocado honey which my parents had in the finca and
were surprised that it was qiute mild and very good!!
The only slight problem that we encountered during our stay was an unbelieveable thunderdstorm on our second night there.Some time in the middle of the night it began and I had never seen or heard anything like the thunder and lightning.Then it rained torrentially for hours on end during the night and finished up with hailstones the size of icecubes!!!
Thankfully it had ceased by morning and while it took all of the day to dry up,there were no repeats.

Beauty and the Boy.

On Thursday 13th September,I took Sam & Rose along with my aunt and cousin to see the Disney musical 'Beauty and the Beast'.It was a fantastic show and just by luck while we were returning to our car we met the Inventor(Belle's father) and the Beast leaving the theatre! They kindly signed my aunt's programme while stopping to chat.I absolutely adore musicals and this one was no exception,my aunt admitted that she too chokes up at the final curtain,so hopefully we will go to some more musicals together as dh doesn't really share my passion for them!

Weekly Menu

Our menu for this week reflects that we are all cutting down,and trying to eat a bit lighter as we are off on holidays to Spain next week.Dh and ds especially have had to loosen their belts recently so we're trying to be in healthy mode this week.
Monday
Trout baked with lemon and pepper,with lightly creamed leeks,corn on the cob and
baby new potatoes.
Followed by fruit and yogurt.
Tuesday
Carrot and Parsnip soup,with baps and Avocado butter.
Followed by banana muffins with strawberriesand blueberries.
Wednesday
Sausage and Lentil stew with garlic mashed potatoes.
Followed by Tropical fruit salad.
Thursday
Chicken Curry with Rice.
Followed by Tropical fruit salad or banana muffins.
Friday
Fish cakes with Pea and Garlic Puree and cabbage with bacon.
Followed by Stuffed baked Apples.