Two Weeks of Scrapbooking

The scrapbooking room isa happy place for the girls and I and this is a happy season! We have spent a lot of time in the scrapbooking room this week and the coming week will have us there even more. Last week we made 20 cards which we gave to a friend as wedding gift. Then on Friday we prepped materials for 120 cards for a church event. With the help of several ladies at church, we finished the cards on Saturday so a team could deliver them on Sunday to local firefighters and law enforcement as thanks for their service to our community. With that behind us, we are looking forward to our upcoming projects. This week we will be making 12 seed packets for our swap. Then we will be making sample projects for my Scrap Birthday Party and prepping materials for the attendees. Pictures will be coming soon...

Spring Cleaning

Spring is coming and the cleaning has begun. I am purging things that we have not used or unpacked since our move over the summer. I am also trying to get rid of things that simply take up space. The girls are getting on my bandwagon of downsizing and simplifying. Even our DD 4yo has been going through her clothes and toys to put them into the "give-away" box for the local thrift store. Tonight we went through a box of toys that we still had packed up from our move. It contained mostly Little People toys which we began listing on eBay. We will use the proceeds from the sales to purchase homeschool materials for next school year. Check out our sales!

Collecting Postcards

My girls are doing a cursory study of the United States. We have put a wall map up and are eagerly awaiting postcards from around the country. Last summer we took a road trip from our then-home of California to Florida where we stopped for a week, then to Missouri where we spent another week, and then back home to California. I think we visited 14 states all together. I prepared a packet before the trip so that we could learn about each state as we drove through. As we drove, the girls followed our journey on an atlas, finding the highways, points of interest, and major cities. Because they love art, I had them draw things they saw along the trip as well as taking photographs. I am pleased with how much the girls still remember from the trip. Another thing I do to help the girls learn the states (and a few countries) is to point out the places on a map where our friends live. When letters or emails arrive, I have the girls find the location of origin on the map. It is helpful as we begin this study. Our lesson had us label California, Hawaii, Alaska, Florida, Maine, Washington, and our home state. With all of our casual studying of the map in the past, I only had to point out Maine. Mission accomplished!