Rockets In Science Class

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Children's Worship Ministry

One of the Songs Kyle is learning for Children's Worship Ministry

Happy Birthday Kyle!!!

First day of our school year...

Our first day of school was today and it was a success. I kept things light and simple. I think we will do that every Monday, especially since I'm going on no sleep all day due to working graveyard the night before.

I'm excited about what we have planned this year. You can check out our planned curriculum in the upper right side of this web page. I'm still working on filling it in and have found a few things that will need to be changed after our first day. I'm sure I'll be adjusting as we go along as well.

So back to blogging and hoping friends and family will follow along in all our fun adventures and learning experiences. I know we will be busy and my hope is to keep up the blogging at least two times during the week.

Taking a break...back in the Fall

Taking a summer break from blogging. See you in the Fall :-)

Yakima Valley Photography

My friend Debbie called and asked If I would like to shoot some photos with her today--a hobby we both enjoy. So we decided we would take some pictures of wineries around the Valley.
Below are some pictures from today. Our theme turned out to be "Old Barns"--Mostly

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Cooking with Kyle

So...tonight I cooked up about 15 meals to put in the freezer, with Kyle's help. He put together the lasagnas for me--layering the noodles, meat sauce, cottage cheese, and moz cheese-- while I wrapped up the meat loaves and spaghetti for the freezer.

If you read my 25 things about me, you'll remember that I don't really like to cook--even though I LOVE to bake--So anyway...I sometimes will cook up a whole months worth of meals or half a month--just to get it over with.

Of course I lost my helper as it came time for clean up--Kyle disappeared at the computer desk in our dining room just around the corner from the kitchen sink. So I said, "Kyle, what cha doing?" He said, "Nothing" and continued at the desk a few minutes.

Pretty soon he comes up behind me and says mom I have something for you. He hands me a piece of paper folded about four times. I take my hands out of the dish water, dry them off and start unfolding this very colorful piece of art work he is looking so proud of.

I open it to find a picture of a big green and brown tree with a drawing of mom and Kyle hanging out--holding hands beside the tree-- and above in Kyle's handwriting- it says, "I love my mom"
Oh.....I was so touched and said thank you honey. He says, "You're welcome mom, and look mom--
I even made you skinnier than you really are!" He then smiles with his cute little face, hugs me and leaves me to continue with my cleanup.

So I think to myself....OK-WELL THEN...Thannnks, HONEY! Then couldn't help but giggle.

Elk Feeding

This was really a fun day and the weather was beautiful. If you have children and haven't been to see the feeding of the Elk...you're missing out on great fun!
Follow the link below for more information...

http://www.nachesvalleychamber.com/info/elkfeeding.html

Make a Smilebox photobook

Kyle was bored later this afternoon, so he decided to get out the camera and take pictures of his pets. He then put it all together in a lapbook.

We belong to a group that studies one country each month. The children take turns picking the country and then at home throughout the month, each child completes a presentation to share with the group at a later gathering.

Last month we studied Austria; above is Kyle's presentation of Austria. It is completed on one board--front and back. The orange is front and the green is the back.

I've been neglecting my blogs lately. Still very busy with homeschool and having fun with Kyle. I have some pictures I'll be adding here in a couple days when I can find some time.

One of the best things about homeschooling is watching my son learn. When he was in Kindergarten I would drop him off and pick him up and left most of the responsibility of teaching to the Kindergarten teacher. I knew I was missing out and even though I would volunteer in class now and then-- I still felt disconnected in his learning process.

Today was a great day. I saw the exact moment today when Kyle understood a concept that we have been working on for the past week. He was struggling with this concept, just having a hard time grasping it. He got it today. We were both so excited, we gave high fives and danced around. He was confident and proud of himself for the rest of the day. I had to share.

Happy 2009

Playing in the snow with friends

Kyle's cute smile!

Winter is so much fun!

We've been busy around our home this past week. We decided to have two Christmas trees this year. One downstairs and one upstairs. The one downstairs is decorated with our traditional ornaments we've collected over the years.

We thought it would be fun to decorate the tree upstairs with all homemade ornaments. So we've been making, baking, painting, & stringing....yes-- every ornament on the tree was made with care by the Gaulke's this year.

Check out our pictures below. Oh, by the way.....I'm STILL stringing popcorn. There's got to be a faster way to string popcorn--other than buying already strung popcorn. I did see on the Internet you can buy it-and it supposedly last for years. But then it wouldn't really be homemade would it?

The picture you'll see shows the tree only half way completed with our popcorn garland. My plan is to finish this week between all the rest of the baking I'll be doing. --It's all fun

Make a Smilebox photobook

Music...good for the spirit

I've been having a great time with Kyle the last few days. I've been giving him piano lessons. I'm no pro that's for sure, and even though I haven't played since high school--I think I'll be able to get him started on the basics.

I remember playing the organ during church service when I was a teenager. I really can't believe I actually got up in front of all those people. I don't think I would do it now, I know I wouldn't do it now.

But I hope to encourage Kyle to grow in his music abilities. He does have talent and most of all loves music.

Later after he learns some piano, Tom will teach him guitar. I asked Kyle, "what do you want to learn, the piano or the guitar?" He said both. OK

Our family just joined a homeschool group that get together once a month. We pick a country to study throughout the month and then when we meet at one of our homes. (this month was at our house)
The children give a presentation on what they learned. We had such a great time. It was our first time so we got to choose the country. We chose Ireland and decided to do a Lapbook on what we learned. This is, by the way our very fist Lapbook.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The beautiful colors and cool crisp days make Fall is our favorite season. We headed outside today to soak up the beautiful weather. Kyle and I grabbed a treasure bag and off we went hunting for treasures in a local park. We found all kinds of special treasures for our scrap book and captured many pictures. Check out our smile box below.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Boulder Cave National Recreation Trail

Tom and Kyle visited Boulder Cave a few weekends ago. It's been one of our favorite places for a long time.

I remember taking Zaine and Aaron there several times throughout the years. It's a nice place to take your family for a small hike and a nice picnic.
The scenery is beautiful and the memories will last forever. Kyle was so excited when he came home because he said he saw a bat.

Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute, Ellensburg, Washington

If you plan to be in the area, plan to visit the Ellensburg Chimpanzees. This summer I coordinated a Chimposium trip for our local homeschool group.

Wow! I came away from that experience with such a love for Chimpanzees and an appreciation for the Central Washington University research program.

We had a great time watching Tatu, Loulis, & Dar as they signed with us and each other. You couldn't help falling in love with them at first sight.

We learned how to approach them and respect their home invironment. We learned their signs and how they interact with each other.

One thing you'll read about Tatu is her favorite color is black. She LOVES the color black and associates the color black with other things she likes.

If she likes you she will actually sign "you black" Amazing!

I wish we had visited a year earlier to see Washoe, but she passed away October 30 2007. Visit Washoe's Tribute page.