Dear Poppy Lewis From Hawaii,

You are a great friend.  I am writing to you from school and I can't wait till school is over so I can play with my friends.  Well I love to run and I love to play but I am stuck in school all day.  How about you?  Are you ever stuck in school all day because if you are I feel so sorry for you.  Well my hand is starting to hurt so it's time to say goodbye.

From your Pen Pal,
Kaitlyn

Typing Link

I just added another link that I found for teaching typing to the kids.  These are easy and fun games that help them to become faster typer's.  We tried out Typer Shark but this was a little too hard for beginners.

New Link

I just added a new category of links - links that are useful for "running" a house.  I found a great blog about couponing so I've added this under "Helpful Household Links."  This is a great site for learning how to use coupons and how to keep track the easiest way of all the sales/store ads etc. 

Have fun!

Happy Spring!

Wow, we've stayed busy around here lately!  Seems like it's been really hard to stay caught up on things this winter but at least the time has gone by quickly!  I went outside for awhile this afternoon to enjoy the 60 degree temps and was admiring all my spring bulbs that are coming up that I planted last fall - how fun!  I was really missing having spring color around last year so between some of the landscaping we planted last summer, the spring bulbs, and the landscaping I plan to add in the next month or two we should have some good spring color around here:)

Last week we went to Kansas City to spend some time with the Fehr's.  We also were able to spend a morning and eat lunch with Emch's and pay a short but very sweet visit to the Kaeb's!  It felt like a short, quick trip but was really nice to catch up on old friendships and visit some of our favorite eating spots.

This week we are busy catching up on housework and trying to get caught up on paperwork and grading papers - something I never thought I'd ever say:)  I still want to post a few pictures from our trip back in February but with how busy life has been this has not been a priority.

More Links

I've posted a few more links that I've been using.  The first one is for Sue Patrick's Workbox System.  This book was recommended to me before we ever began homeschooling and it's a system that I hope to put into place by the end of this school year or the beginning of next.  We have been slowly angling towards this method of homeschooling anyway and it really appeals to me because of my insanely organized side:)

The second link is to the Huntley Library's Tumble Books website.  I have been using the library's resources more and more and am blessed to have a library with so many neat programs for the kids (most are free!)  I found this link the other day and used the Tumble Books today in an effort to keep Ethan busy while I was working with the twins on some of their school work.

The third link is for a website that you need to pay before you can access their worksheets but they have over 50,000 different worksheets and activities.  I paid the yearly fee and if I understood the conditions correctly other homeschool moms could partner up with me to split the fee and each have access to all the materials.  One huge advantage of this website over all the free materials out there is that it's super easy to search based on grade, subject, curriculum/holiday, etc.  The materials are all professionally developed as well and are used in classrooms around the country.

This and That

 Last week we made butter to go along with reading "Little House in the Big Woods"

 I babysit my nephew Tayden a couple days a week.  He likes to park it right in between the twins while they are doing school!

 Ethan decided yesterday that he wants to do school too so today he started.  I not really holding my breath that this will last longer than a few days:)

 Kenton writing spelling words on the board

I'd love to say that the twins get along every second of every day but that wouldn't quite be the truth!

Now we're down to business!