American Girl Dolls

My girls have been asking for American Girl dolls for a couple of years now. So, we all saved up some money, and decided to buy them as birthday/early Christmas gifts for this year. Becca decided to buy Rebecca Rubin, and Christy bought Josefina. They love their new dolls, and it has been a blessing to watch them read about the history of the dolls' characters, and to see them playing with the dolls so sweetly.

Little Boy Troy

My youngest, Troy, decided to help clean up the "baby books" after reading time. However, all the books ended up falling back onto the floor. I thought he would be frustrated, but he thought it was funny! He has such a sweet and easy-going disposition!

Snow-covered Trees

I love my big trees...covered in a blanket of snow!

Creative Cooking

My girls' latest baking creation!

Cabin Playhouse

Eric's co-worker gave us a cute cabin playhouse for the kids! After cleaning it up a bit, and assembling it, we got a good picture of all the kids playing in it. What a fun addition to our "backyard playland"! ;-)

Practical Math

We decided to have Math class in the kitchen today! It was amazing to see my girls' attitude change when fractions were applied in such a fun way! As an added benefit, the oven warmed up our house on this blustery day.

Zoo Field Trip

We celebrated the first day of school with a field trip to the Minnesota Zoo! It was a great day, and all of the kids had fun. We learned a lot by observing, discussing, and just enjoying the wonders of God's creation. We try to balance "book work" with hands-on and multi-sensory learning. Well, today is a beautiful day, so I'm going to head outside with all of the kids. Here is a "photo gallery" of our day at the Zoo: