A day at the Lake

Walking at the lake.

The other day we had a break in the weather. All the girls and I were c-r-a-n-k-y!

We have been borred and suffering from a case of cabin fever...

Therefore there has been limited tollerence and lots of bickering...

So when I saw the chance I announced to the bickering gaggle that we were all to suck up our issues (mom included) and go out to get some exercise and sunshine for the sake of our...

individual mental well being. Shockingly, they agreed. So we headed down to Seneca Lake where we parked the van...
and got out for a long cold walk. It was beautiful. Half spring, half winter. The geese were back!
Hundreds of gulls were hanging with the geese. Maya skootered to the play ground and...
Emma was grateful for the outing....
The girls all had fun on the playground then we made it back to the van and to Mother Earth store to pick out new organic deodorant ;) Good afternoon. Everyone felt much better afterwards. Later Elanee timidly admitted that my idea as a 'good one'.

Rock Candy

Rock Candy

Elanee and Vayda gave Maya her first cook book for Ayyam-i-Ha. On Friday (Science Day) we found a recipe for Rock Candy.

Maya read the directions, did all the measuring and cooking, ladled the hot sugar water into the jars and dyed them 3 different colors- red for her, purple for Saige and green for Vayda.

I dont have a pic of the finished project because they ended up in the belly before I got that far.

Ayyam-i-Ha PARTY!

For the final day of Ayyam-i-Ha we had a family party. It was great. We had a simple dinner and lots of deserts ;)
Aaron and Shelley came from Syracuse...
Lynde came from Ithaca...
Dan flew in from Virginia and he brought his friend Becky from Ithaca...
Emma got all dressed up for the occation.

Lynde brought gifts for everyone. I gave Aaron & Shelley 4 cloth shopping bags that I bought on Etsy. They were made of recycled fabric. I bought two denum bags for Dan but they were too girly for him so I gave them to Becky. I made Dan 3 nice sturdy black bags and 3 brown butterfly cammo bags for Lynde. Now- I just hope they use them. ;)

Ayyam-i-Ha presents!!!

Happy Ayyam-i-Ha!

2008

This Ayyam-i-Ha rocked! Around Dec Jody and I decided that it was high time to real in the Xmas thing here and to place our focus on Ayyam-i-Ha and Naw Ruz. So we made a plan. I just wanted to make sure that we didnt transfer that over stressed, over spending, crazy making Xmas thing onto another day. We did really well.
For starters we decorated a little. We made a list of people to give modest gifts to. It was kind of our theme. In a Yahoo group of mine a woman wrote about how her family kept their gifts "modest". I really like this. So did the kids.
We gave small gifts to some friends but not everyone we know. Jody and I went to dinner alone as a gift to one another. The kids each got 4 gifts. This year Ayyam-i-Ha was actually 5 days but just did 4 nights of gifts. The first night they got random things like....Maya got a book and a Leap frog game, Ben got long wanted slippers and Elanee and Vayda got a CD of very hip n happenin Baha'i music to share.Another night was a theme night. Books for all. Then there was a second theme day.....food. I know thats wierd but these kids dont see much that isnt home made and organic so Ben got peanut butter crunch cereal, Elanee got pringles, Vayda got Kraft mac n cheese and Maya got Teddy grahms. They were thrilled!!!! Beyond thrilled when they heard that no one was to mooch and no one had to share!
On the final night Ben got a write and wipe board, Maya got a Bop it game and Leap frog game and Elanee and Vayda got custom necklaces with their names in stainless steal.

Oh- one cool thing is that all of Mayas toys were recycled....Ebay and hand me downs. Cool.

Sand Critter

One of Maya's birthday gifts was a sand critter kit. A few days after she got it she had fun building them then taking them into the dark bathroom to see them glow.

Maya turns 8 !

Maya turned 8!!!

We just wanted to have a quiet family party so we didnt ivite anyone but Maya asked if Saige could come so she did. I told Maya that if she wanted to have a cake she needed to read the directions and bake it herself....can you say home school? Sugar is a great motivator! So she and Saige -with the help of Elanee- baked and decorated a nice little cake.
Saige went home for the afternoon then came back for pizza...
and cake.....lots of dancing and dress up.....
music and finally ....
presents!
We all had lots of fun!
I happened to hit a bunch of clearance sales at Walmart so Maya made out like a bandit. Happy little camper she was!

Body Chart Finished

This Friday morning Maya and I finally got back to her life sized body chart. She colored in all of her internal organs then identified each one and labled them. Now its hanging on the family room wall. Its very impressive. :)

Queen Maya

Maya and Emma were playing dress up here. Queen Maya and pricess Emma where O So Cute!

Math U See

This year I broke down and bought each of the girls a fancy-do math program. All 3 of the girls are very pleased with it. Its called Math U See and I highly recommend it! Here Elanees work was abandoned on the couch....but at least it was done :)

Vayda's Painting

Vayda got inspired to paint one evening recently. I think I was painting too. She made this wonderful painting of the Greatest Name (A symbol of the Baha'i Faith) for Lauretta and family. She did a wonderful job and I am happy to report she was please with her work. Lauretta and her family was thrilled!!! and vowed to hang it up immediately.

Our Family Room

I like this zone too. It is our family room but over the last 2 yrs it has morphed into our school room. This space is mostly about function. There is a school corner (which is rapidly spreading;) with displays of Maya's work and things we reference daily like letter combinations, letters in general, a number chart for her math program...
We keep many of our reference books here too. I aquired these awesome book cases back when Vayda was a baby. Now they hold science books, how tos, history, series of novels etc. We of course have a large world map. Maya has labled it with N,S,E, & W as well as the equator and various countries flags....
We used to have a large craft table in here but that moved to Maya's room and now we have a great little metal topped table for school work. It was broken in pieces at a yard sale when I got it. Got a stool there too. That still needs to be dolled up. I hung another metal table top on the wall for a magnet board. This is where Maya's written work and everyones cards and art work hangs for a mo till I hoe it all out. I found the little school desk on the side of the road in front of another home schooling familie's house. These days Maya's skooter lives here too.

This is where we hang out, some times eat, some times watch movies, have kid parties and make a mess! :)

Bendy Vayda

Vayda says she thinks she doesnt look like a person who can do this.
I have to say she surprised her ol mom!

WOW!!!

Our living room

One time I saw a blog where a lady took pictures of all of her favorite things. Now that I have a great camera (that isnt attached to a cord of all things) I thought I'd do that too.

So- Here is one......My living room. I love it! Its just pretty and peaceful.

This is where I read with coffee in hand with the morning sun shining in on me through the three windows. This is where I love to nap with the pets in the afternoon sun. This is where we celebrate most family holidays.

Most everything is used/ second hand. I did get the furniture new but it was the discounted floor modle. I got the carpet from my friend, Rett. Its old. Got the little green dresser from Rett too. Painted that and fixed it up. The coffee table I found in pieces in the basement of the house when we moved in. Rebuilt that. The big rocker is lovely. Retta gave me that one too. I gave it a new seat. Everyone lands there first.

These are the first shelves I ever hung.

This rocker was my fathers. Its in need of repair now. The blue dress doll I put on lay away back when I was 20. I paid on it for months. Just liked the sad but pretty face so much. After Elanee came along it always reminded me of her. The blonde we found face down in the dust in a corner of the attic here. The print above I got at Kmart years ago. I fell in love with because it made me think of my Vayda when she was that little.

English Wed

On Wednesdays this house is all about English and Foreign Language.

Elanee and Vayda unschool themselvs for english. That means they read what they want when they want. And- They read LOTS! Just tons. Novels, biographies, self help, how tos- you name it. Then they write. Once in a blue mood I assigne a writting assignment but mostly they write using Email and their blogs.

For their languages- Vayda does Spanish because she is trying to keep up with Romulus school district...thinking that she may go back later. Elanee does Farsi. She has hopes of being able to speek and read Farsi (Persian) one day because she plans to visit Haifa Isreal and also would like to be able to read the untranslated writtings of Baha'u'llah (the founder of the Baha'i Faith)
Both of them have an awesome computer game/ program that teaches them their chosen language.
I work directly with Maya Rae. I read to her, she reads to me, she does a spelling program and copy work as well her own dictated writting projects including a dream journal.

On this Wed the 3 were hard at work. Maya decided to practice spelling with her leap from game. I thought they were cute with their faces in a screen and I wasnt particularly needed so I ran around playing with my camera. :)

Maya got a penpal!

Maya Rae is working hard on her reading and writing skills. I posted on a Yahoo group for a penpal for her. About a week later Maya got her very first letter from her new penpal, Hazel, from outside of Nashville. She is a cute little home schooled, Baha'i girl. She wrote a lovely little letter with beautiful penminship. When Maya got the letter she flumped on my bed and got right to reading it.
She composed a letter back to Hazel. She chose to type it. Over a few mornings she learned so much about the key board and basic computer skills. This is great practice in both reading and writing.