Finally some updates!!!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've done an update! We've been so busy with the holidays, baby preparations, school and just having fun! We had a wonderful Christmas. The Christmas Eve snow was just amazing to BabyGirl and she thoroughly enjoyed her first official white Christmas!!! The time spent with family at home during Christmas was the best. We didn't mind staying in a bit, and wouldn't change it for anything.

Needless to say, after the snow melted (finally) we were left with a horribly swampy and muddy yard! But, after staying in for so long I decided it was high time that BabyGirl get out and enjoy some fresh air! Here she is after a nice long afternoon squishing in the mud!!

I can't believe how time flies! Today my youngest Bub got his drivers license. I still remember holding him as a newborn and how much love I felt for him. I treasure every moment of his childhood. His birth was such a gift to me and my husband. We were able to truly grasp the reality of what it is like to have a child come into your life and turn it around. To want so much for them and their future. And we still feel this way. We love Bub as if he were our own child, and are so proud of the young man he has become. He is amazing, and our hopes is that he never gives up on his dreams, never loses sight of what is important in life, and lives a life that is full of HAPPINESS! That is what it's all about. And we will be here for him every step of the way.

We've been moving right along with our studies. I will give a brief summary of what's been going on with our Joneschooling.

For science, we've covered land, fresh water, salt water, air, different kinds of rocks & minerals, soil, Earth preservation, matter, liquids, solids and gases. She is loving science, as usual. It is her absolute favorite subject, so we do some every day that we do school. That's how we can cover so much material in a month and a half!! Here are a few pics of some select experiments.

Here we are learning about liquids. She drew the shape of the liquid in each container, then made a guess on which one held the most and least amount. We then measured each one to test her hypothesis.

After that experiment, BabyGirl began her own experiment using the same materials and a spoon. She began playing the glasses, noticing the changes in pitch achieved with different amounts of liquid. Nothing like self discovery!!

Here we took a coffee filter, opened it up and drew "trash" on it.

We then took the filter and placed it in a plastic cup that we had poked holes in the bottom of. She filled the coffee filter with dirt. This represented a land fill.

We took water and poured it onto the soil that we covered the coffee filter with.

We noticed the water was very contaminated. We found out what happens to rain water as it runs through the land fill.


Here we were experimenting with floating and sinking matter. We took some clay, made it into different shapes, and tested our theories.

We learned that the shape of matter determines whether it sinks or floats.

Here we were experimenting with gas. We noticed the glass was filled with air. Then, we put it under the water to see what happens. We were able to do so much with this experiment!

For history/geography we've finished up Mexico and began studying Early Civilizations. We've gone over what life was like with the woolly mammoth...leading into farming...and into civilization. We've learned about the Maya, Aztec and Inca cultures. This week we've gone into Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes. As always, she is fascinated by our history lessons. I also noticed her concern for the native peoples during these lessons. We've had lots of interesting conversations, and I am always amazed at her thoughts and feelings on a variety of subjects...especially history. She is constantly surprising me with the discoveries in her mind.

The drum lessons are still going great. She looks forward to them every week, and loves to jam out with her daddy. She does not want me to post a video of her playing them at this time....so, when she's ready we will have an update.

We've kind-of put most of our other activities on hold for now since we are preparing for our new baby. We've got everything down from the attic, washed and are just waiting now. BabyGirl is so excited that she can hardly stand it!! I had some "practice" contractions for about 5 hours last night and she kept watching closely to see when I wrote one down. She kept saying "you never know mom...it just might be tonight!" When I look at her I think of how lucky this new baby will be to have such a wonderful big sis. She is going to be so amazing, and I look forward to my heart overflowing with joy as I become a mama of 2. It's hard to believe that soon we will be starting a new chapter in our book. I'm ready to embrace every aspect of it.