Our Life

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Braces are off!

Last summer, Nicole embarked on one her first "grown up" journeys. She has just completed several months of orthodontic treatment. It all started when we discovered she had a "Posterior Cross bite" and needed an expander to expand her palate to the proper size. While this was taking place, it was creating gaps that we were able to use to turn and twist teeth into place.

This is a close up of her smile from July 2014.

This picture was after a month of treatments

We had an awesome orthodontist. We highly recommend Dr. Metz and his wonderful staff.

I think this was 3 or 4 months in.

And this picture was today...just before he took the braces off.

She was SO excited!

Remember that BEFORE Smile?!?!

Check out this AFTER! Isn't is beautiful! We noticed the whole shape of her face changing as the expander worked and her teeth were placed back into place.

Dr. Metz and his staff came out and did a little song and dance (literally) and posed with this fun instagram cutout.

Then, we took off to start eating food that has been banned for the past few months.

Bubble tape was the first banned substance consumed.

Then, lunch at Five Guys...which included peanuts

And a dessert of Gummy worms.

Now she has a retainer for the next several years which she will wear constantly, except when eating. We want to keep that lovely smile!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Schooling at home

Our school days probably don't look like most children's school days. In fact, we probably don't look like any other family. I'm not sure yet if that is a good or bad thing ;) No, I think it's a good thing. We roll the way We need, and the way we feel we are called to roll. Some days, that means we work really hard and really long. Other days, it means we switch things around and let the children lead.

Earlier this week, Hannah was desperate to teach an art class with me and the other two. She set the table up with an assortment of paint and art supplies

She wanted to walk us through an assignment. It felt painfully long at times...but she loved it. She told us exactly how to paint our pictures, but also gave us the freedom to make it individual. She loves to teach. She's also been quite interested in Monet lately.

Once we were done follow her instructions, she let us paint what we wanted. Any guesses who painted this amazing tree?

Nathan! Seriously, I wouldn't have believed it, except that I saw him do it. I love this painting...it is one of my favorites.

Nicole is working really hard on passing the test and achieving Memory Master status with CC. In just a few weeks, she will be tested on every single piece of memory work from our Cycle 3 year and will need to recite it word for word! We have a study scheduled and it seems to be working so far.

Nicole knows all of the info for history, but gets the dates mixed up. So, we drew a timeline together. We picked the sentences she struggles with and designed little cards to help her remember the dates and events. She wanted to string it up on the wall.

The Missouri Compromise was in 1820 (see the little drawing of Missouri). 1853, Preseident Polk fought the Mexican War. 1861- the Civil War Began. I LOVE what she did for the 14th Amendment (far right in the picture below). The 14th Amendment freed all former slaves. So, she has hands in shackles, then the shackles broken, and finally two people walking down a road- free and holding hands. It's beautiful!

I really think this little drawings and notes will help her. We spent a couple hours working on it.

I have 4 more weeks of being Hannah's tutor....this was her presentation this week. She taught everyone how to make a water bottle out of a recycled bottle. Yeah...I don't know. But, it was special to her ;)

Freedom Park

This reminded us of a scene that Claude Monet would have painted. Maybe some time we'll bring our paintbrushes. The lilies were pretty

A friend invited us to join her for a morning walk at a park that was new to us. The kids and I enjoyed the boardwalk and sidewalks of Freedom Park.

A juvenile grashopper

This is just the place we like to visit for little trips outside.
Next time, we'll bring our magnifying glasses.

There was also a cute hands on science center to explore in the cool A/C (temps hit 90 degrees today).

My children just eat this kind of thing up! They love learning, touching, and exploring the beautiful world God made.

Matching paw prints

On a day when I was working on 2 1/2 hours of sleep....this was just what we needed.

Ahhhh! What out Hannah...it's a Water Moccasin! (The many faces of Hannah)

Nicole was teaching our friend how to tell if this skull was of a predatory or prey, if it had a good sense of smell and hearing.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Family Camping & Old Florida Festival

We got to join our AHG troop for their family camp out. It was so fun to see old friends. The girls had an absolute blast.

I, on the other hand, was miserable the entire time due to the fact that I stopped taking my allergy medicine and was overwhelemed with the pine pollen on our trip. Add to that the fact that they were burn pine wood for our fires, and I was a sneezing, water/itchy eyes, coughing, miserable mess.

This pictures proves why I was such a mess. Tampa was the #1 worst city to be in this weekend according to allergy reports- yep- that's where we were.

Realizing I was getting worse and not better, despite all the stuff I was taking, we decided to head home on Saturday night.

By Sunday morning, I was feeling much better, and ready to join the family on an afternoon outing.

We spent a couple of hours at the Old Florida Festival at our local museum. This was a seriously cool event. I wish we would have had more time. There were re-enactors spanning from the Calusa, to the Spanish Conquistadors, Seminoles, cow cavalry, pioneer families, and military personnel.

Making Sugar Cane Juice

The telegraph operator was quite interesting.

At the end of the day, they did a Timeline Firing. The different reenactors came up and explained their dress and the weapons they used. It was very interesting.

Spanish Conquistadors