Family Closet

I mentioned in my last Wrapping up the Week post that I was working on a major reorganizing and de-cluttering project.  The project was inspired by this post at Starry Sky Ranch.  I had never heard of the the family closet concept until my sister forwarded that blog post to me.  It was life changing!...well at least homekeeping changing!  The last two weekends I have kept my dad busy installing closet bars and shelves in our master closet, as well as a shelf in our hall closet.

My dad and his helper "Hi Poppa!" she says, six thousand times!  Anyway, we moved all the clothes from the kids closets and dressers to their new permanent home in our master closet.  In the process I switched out summer clothes for fall, got rid of and stored outgrown/wornout clothes.  I do believe I touched every piece of clothing in this house.

The kids hanging clothes are on a bar under Bob's hanging clothes, and the drawer items are in new storage containers.

Each child has one small container for socks, under.wear, and pajamas.  Each child has a larger container for everything else.  So far it has worked wonderfully.  No bedrooms with clothes erupting from dressers and no floors covered with tried on and discarded clothes.  No one coming downstairs with a younger siblings clothes on (yes, that has happened!) and no one coming downstairs with jeans and a sweatshirt on a day when it is going to be 90˚.

Each evening I can quickly grab their clothes for the next day and leave them on their dresser.  Putting clothes away has been very easy too.   Every little bit helps when it comes to cleaning and maintaining clothes for a family of eight!

Book Give Away!

Please go see Lisa at The Little House that Grew for an opportunity to win a new book called Stories for the Homeschool Heart.

Never mind that I just gave away a bookcase full of books - this sounds like a good one!

Family Day

Yesterday we celebrated Jacob's Family Day.  Nine years ago we stood in a Russian courtroom nervously waiting to be granted permission to be Jacob's forever family.

Our day was fairly low key, Family Day's usually are compared to Birthday's.  Jacob helped Bob make pancakes for breakfast after mass, the boys played football in the yard with Bob and then Jacob chose what we had for dinner.

His choice?  Macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, with brownies for dessert.

Happy Family Day Jacob!

Wrapping up the Week - 9/25

What We Are Reading→ 

Moving A Puddle 

On my Kindle: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Bob is reading The Hobbit to the boys

Around the House→ We did a major closet reorganization over the weekend.  Lots of items were either donated or tossed in the trash.  I will post more about this next week.

Fall Kitchen→ We had Tea Time on the road so to speak.  Donuts do start with “D” after all!

(note the missing tooth!)

Happenings→ Sarah is testing for a new Tae Kwon Do belt this weekend.  We are fully immersed in Tae Kwon Do this fall.

Discovery Time→    

   Bird Unit:  Reading Burgess Bird Book and read Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier.  We have learned so many interesting things about Audubon, just from two picture books.  Two very well written and beautifully illustrated picture books.  I have been looking at some of the resources on Homeschool Share and I think Jonah would enjoy the Backyard Bird notebook.  We haven't had such great luck with Lapbooks in the past, Jonah is a bit older and he is my crafty student, so this may interest him.  Friday after lunch we all watched Bird: an Eyewitness DVD


       Jacob has been Lego crazy since we went to the Lego Store in Toronto.  His Legos are organized by color!  This doesn't have anything to do with birds, but Jacob wanted me to include this and Legos certainly have a lot to do with learning :)

   Along the Alphabet Path: “D” Week - We read lots of books about ducks and dinosaurs.  I decided to take a short hiatus from a D food on Friday, we were at our sugar max for the week with our mid-week donut run.  Next weeks Tea Time snack will be equally as sugary (stay tuned!) and besides Friday is pizza night, doesn't deep-dish pizza count?  Instead of baking, we played with dinosaurs in dough.  

We also spent a bit of time learning about St. Dominic. 


 I am making a simple alphabet book for Anna, I will share after we have a few pages complete.  She needs some extra reinforcement in remembering her letters and I think this will help.


Bodies in motion for letter D:

My sister is joining in with me this week, and will wrap up her week too (it helps keep us accountable!).  Please join us in adding your "Wrapping up the Week" with Mr. Linky!  Don't be shy, feel free to use whatever format works for you.

~in this moment~

a moment to remember.......for more visit SouleMama

Kindergarten Plate

It's a tradition in our house to do a plate on the first day of Kindergarten.  The school system that Bob and I both attended did this, and when we were married our moms both gave us our plates!  We have continued to make a plate with each of our children.  It's a great way to mark the occasion and fun to look back over what the children have chosen to draw.

He did it!

he was a nervous boy before the black belt pre-test...

but he passed!  Note the look of relief :)

his final test will be in October, but the hardest part is over.

Great work Jacob!

Feast of St. Andrew Kim Taegon

"During the persecutions of 1839, 1846, 1866, and 1867, one hundred and three Christians in Korea gave their lives as martyrs.  Among them were Father Andrew Kim Taegon, first Korean priest and pastor, and the lay apostle, Paul Chong Hasang.  They consecrated the rich beginnings of the Church with their blood. "I urge you to remain steadfast in faith, so that at last we will all reach heaven and there rejoice together." - St. Andrew Kim Taegon, Final Exhortation." Magnificat, Sept 2010

We celebrated with Bee-Bim Bop and a Korean soft drink.  If you haven't read the children's book Bee-Bim Bop, it is a must read.  Ours was so well loved it feel apart.

Happy Feast Day!

*more info on saint intercession here

Wrapping up the Week - 9/18

What We Are Reading→


Me: The Domestic Church  

On my Kindle: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Bob is reading The Hobbit to the boys

Around the House→ Creating some extra storage space.  Our kitchen is without a pantry so I have been trying to come up with a spot to put some of our extras.  Bob used a space in the basement that is an unfinished bathroom as his office (poor guy!).  With his new job he doesn’t require as much space to store things - so I took over a few shelves.

Now I am moving on to dressers and closets.  My sister sent me this post, and according to her all my kids should have locks on their closets!  Even before reading this I had taken the clothes out of my 4yo daughter drawers and it has been working well.  The 5 & 6 yo girls do okay, as well as my 9yo son, but our 7yo son and 3yo son, well that is a different story!  So, I am thinking about how things could be arranged more efficiently.  My sister and I were brainstorming ideas while we were watching our kids at Tae Kwon Do, and I haven't had the “ahha” moment yet.  I must figure out a way!  One person noted that it cut her laundry time in half - in half.  If anyone has any suggestions or tips, I am all ears.

       * Leah knocked her tooth out last Saturday so she visited the dentist on Monday. Glad we had family  photos taken before the knock-out!

       * Leah & Levi both had colds this week, ugh it’s starting again!

       * Sarah had a follow up with her Orthopedic Surgeon on Wednesday, another re-check in 6 months

       * Jonah is spending Saturday afternoon at a friend’s birthday party-he can't wait!

Please pray for Jacob on Saturday, he is doing his (junior) black belt pre-test.  He will have a long afternoon of working hard.

Fall Kitchen→ We had Tea Time this week and enjoyed Apple Cider and Cheezits (!).    

Feast Day→ We celebrated the Triumph of the Cross this week.  We traced handprints and glued them in the shape of a cross to remind us that we are Christs hands on this earth.  We made a Cross cake on Friday when the cake pan finally arrived!  It worked out well that we could talk about the Cross during C week.

Discovery Time→    

   Bird Unit:  Reading Burgess Bird Book and finished up Max and Benedict.  

   Along the Alphabet Path: “C” Week - We read Christopher Counting, A Clifford selection and Clara Catepillar (lots of C words!).  Practiced making the letter C in rice and then glued the rice on a piece of paper in the shape of a C.  Spent a day collecting C words on the chalk board.  We made sugar cookies in the shape of a C and enjoyed them with coffee (decaf!) drinks.