Dad's birthday Video

Yesterday was Tom's 37th Birthday.  The kids and I put together a little movie for him about all the things he does for us. Alan and William both took turns playing Tom, while Kaitlyn and Sarah took turns playing me. You might not get some of the scenes because they are specific to our family, but Tom loved it.  The file was too big to load onto blogger, so we put it on youtube. Here it is from there:

Kaitlyn's Cupcake Birthday Party!!

The theme of Kaitlyn's 8th birthday party was cupcakes.  When the guests arrived we had aprons (that we got from Walmart for $1),  and let them decorate their aprons any way they wanted.  We also made chef's hats fot them with poster board and tissue paper. So easy!! Then they went to the kitchen to decorate cupcakes to their heart's content. 

 The frostings were not only different colors, but each color was also flavored with a little bit of Koolaid. ou have to taste the frosting as your putting the Kool aid in, as it only takes a little of the packet.

 They put everything they could fit on their cupcakes!!

 Presents!!

 Time to blow out the candles on the cupcake cake!!

 And no party at the Rose home is complete without a pinata that matches the party theme!!

Alan is a TEENAGER!!

As of August 31, 2012, Alan is officially a teenager.  He had a fun hang out party with lots of friends from church.  He had such a great time he's using his birthday party as a theme for an Essay he has to write for school in October. I'll update this posting with it later.

First Day of School!!

Alan, Sarah and Kaitlyn started their first day of school at Georgia Cyber Academy on Monday, August 13th.   I turned the playroom into a school room for them.  This year I wanted to be different from last year. I wanted my older kids to be happier and feel like they were a part of something instead of just being off in their rooms "doing school" on the computer.  So, I got some "desks" for less than $10 at Walmart, and set up our classroom. I have a giant old bulletin board that I got free from a friend in our ward, and a big old chalk board from Tom's work. All of the curriculum materials come free from the school.  

There was a time when I scoffed at the idea of desks in a homeschool setting, and that's why for the past 2 years I hadn't done it. But, since my children came from a traditional school setting,  they had a REALLY hard time adjusting to such an informal school experience.  Alan cried every day for months the first 6 months he was home.  They wanted something that tied them to the same experience their friends were having so they wouldn't so isolated and lonely. So, that's why did the desks. They were a surprise for them on the first day as well as the entire classroom, and they were MUCH happier this year with this change.

 

 I try to coordinate the lessons from the 3 grades the best I can, but there are many times when they're all working on something different.

The kids were very happy to see their new "school room" and it made it a much better experience this year.