Lake Lanier camping 2017

Portugal trip :day 2- Paris/Lisbon

We landed in Paris and decided that we had a long enough layover to catch mass at Notre Dame. We took the rail to the island on the Seine that has been home to this little church for quite a few years. Navigating the metro and the airport was a feat. Thankfully Chris excels at that and I was free to hold his hand and people watch as we walked or ran(when we got back from mass and needed to make our flight).
We got into mass a bit late because there was a long line to get in. Once we got near the entrance we saw a sign for a much shorter line- actually so short there was no one in it. It was the mass line. So we cut out of the tourist line and into the line/door for the mass.
Mass was in French and Latin. I could keep up between the two.
So after mass we headed in a quick walking manner back to the subway and to the airport. We got back in the nick of time with just a bit of time to pick up some food for the flight. I got a salad(all produce is organic in France) and it was yum.
We made it to Lisbon and had a long wait for our bags. While waiting I received my first Portuguese language lesson. Sagres. For Beer. Pronounced Sah-grsh.
We stowed our bags in the back of our little stick shift rental- a cream clubman Mini Cooper.
Our hotel was swanky and entirely free- thanks Marriott frequent stay points! Fontecruz Lisbon is affiliated with Marriott. It had cinnamon orange water at the front desk and a few steps further into the lobby is a 2 story wall with projected films on it. Random film. Sometimes weird film. Very chic. Very random and weird. The hotel is on Avenida de Liberdade- an upper crust commerce and fashion street. Chris and I fit in extremely well.
Naps- immediately in the room. I rolled out my yoga mat and stretched out first so maybe "naps immediately" isn't exactly accurate.
After naps we changed and went to dinner. We chose a Brazilian steak house off Avenida de Liberdade.
We walked further and had drinks in a little plaza- more like a part of a sidestreet that widened out a bit. We returned to the hotel for bedtime which wasn't at all adversely effected by our giant late afternoon nap.

Portugal trip day 1- travel

We übered to the airport and got comfy in our first class seats! We got upgraded thanks to Chris's frequent travel. We flew the red eye from Seattle on Saturday and landed in Paris on Sunday.

Pumpkins 2017

Halloween 2017

Arnolfini wedding portrait study

Picture study 10/3

F- there were two people in the picture

G- one was a man and one was a lady

MJ- the lady was pregnant

F- there was a pink bed to the left of them

G- it was red!

F- pinkish red!

G- red

MJ- there were like light colored fruits in the background.  Like whitish yellow

F- there was a pinkish reddish couch in the background

G- the chest and a window was to the left and a *chair* was in the background

MJ- you’re saying so much stuff!

F- who’s next?

MJ- there was a gear mirror in the background

G- you are supposed to say it looks like a gear.

MJ- whatever!  I don’t care!

F- there was a little dog that was brown in between

MJ- no it was black.

G- the guy was wearing a huge top hat.  

MJ- the guy was also pregnant.

F- the man was next to the chest and the lady was next to the bed.

MJ- there were shoes next to the man

G- they were in front of him.  And the guy was wearing a poncho thing- furry.  long.  It looked like a dress.  It had no sleeves.  He had sleeves- it looked like he had a shirt on under the poncho/ dress thing.

MJ- there were shoes in the background under the chair- in front of the chair- they were red or something.

F- the lady was wearing a green cloak, a white veil, and she had a blue dress under the green cloak.  

G- she had a belt high up on the waist- indicating she was pregnant.  And they were holding hands.

MJ- the mirror was another image maybe.  In the mirror there was no man.

G- the lady is looking down and the guy is looking to the left.

F- they were regular faces.  Resting faces.

MJ- the lady had white eyes.

G- she was looking towards their hands.

F- it was soft.

G- they were in a bedroom and it was in the morning.  They looked depressed.

MJ- it was dark.  They looked like they didn’t want to have a baby.

G- the floor was dark wood.

F- the walls were light white. 

MJ- the lady had brown hair.

F- more like orangish brown

G- more like blonde  her hair was shaped in a triangle.  Like a clown coming out with two points.

MJ- the guy didn’t have his shoes on.

G- he had blonde hair.

MJ- he had brown hair.

Homeschool 2017/2018 so far

we are on day 11 here.  and things are going smoothly.  I knew my inclination to overdo it and so earlier this summer I made my big fat list of things I want to do and things I think NEED doing.  two days later I went through the list and cut things out.  two days later I went back through and cut some more.  and some more.  until we had what we always have ultimately- the 4 Rs.  

Reading

wRiting

aRithmetic

Religion

I had the master plan book last year.   I really loved it.  But couldn't do the EXACT same thing this year because...yawn.

so I just got a nice leather bound $12 journal from Walgreens.  and I keep the master plan and the daily plan in it.  then every morning (or evening before if I plan on taking a class at the gym in the morning- that way the kids can start school without me) I transfer the daily plan into each of their spiral notebook planners.  here is a photo of John's for today.

Here is a look at the master plan.  I look back at this when I make the daily plan.  and then I look at the daily plan when I put kid specific plans into their spiral notebooks.  we keep my master planner and the kids spiral planners in a basket on the kitchen counter.  I learned this from the Read Aloud Revival lady- I think she shared this in a blog or podcast or something.  

something I've already adjusted to the schedule is the picture study. we are going to do it about once a week.  I love it and want to do it more but I know there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  I want the kids to beg for beauty- not be overwhelmed by an onslaught of it.

I made room for seasonal things at the bottom- at first they were stickies then I thought, "I'll just do it in pencil."  So this is where I write "pack your soccer bag for practice later tonight". or "it's garbage day- get the cans to the curb."  and whoever is doing laundry that day has to do their personal load and a load of common laundry- rags, towels, blankets kind of thing.