Books and Movies from January

Do you ever find yourself reading a whole bunch of books at once? I am usually reading at least two books at once and listening to a book on CD in the car. I am comfortable with reading two books at once and listening to one. But lately, the pile of books I am taking with me to bed at night has become ridiculous. There's not enough room for me, my husband, the dog, AND my pile of books!

I'm reading three books as "school-prep." I try to read the novels that I assign to my children so that we can talk about them and, sometimes, so I can write down reading comprehension questions for them. So, I'm reading "Calendar Mysteries: January Joker" by Ron Roy for my youngest, "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan for my middle child, and "The Wanderings of Odysseus, the Story of the Odyssey" by Rosemary Sutcliff for my oldest. I am enjoying all of them immensely.

I'm also reading three nonfiction books right now, breaking my general rule of reading just one nonfiction book at a time. I'm reading "Google Blogger for Dummies" by Susan Gunelius, "Why Gender Matters" by Leonard Sax, and "College Prep Homeschooling" by David and Chandra Byers.

Lastly, I'm reading two fiction books, "A Highlander Christmas" by Janet Chapman and "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. While I am fascinated by "Fahrenheit 451," I can't read too much of it in one sitting - it's just too depressing.

Hopefully, I will finish a number of these books soon and get back to my one fiction, one nonfiction, one book on CD rule for my reading life!

So, what did I finish reading in January?

• Only With a Highlander by Janet Chapman ****
• Secrets of a Highlander by Janet Chapman ****
• Get It Scrapped by Debbie Hodge ***
• Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke ****

I have to admit that I watched all of the movies this month while folding laundry. I only managed to walk this month on our treadmill less than 10 times. January was just such an incredibly busy month for me. Hopefully, I'll do better in February with walking.

• Terminator Salvation ***
• The Princess: A Modern Fairy Tale **
• State of Play ****
• Ghosts of Girlfriends Past ***
• Post Grad ***
• The Ugly Truth ****

Lastly, I was quite thrilled when my local library contacted me to let me know that my prize was waiting for me at the library for completing the 50 Book Challenge last year. I received a lovely commemorative coffee mug! So, urged on by my great gift, I signed up for the 2010 50 Book Challenge. I should have no problem meeting a 50 book goal, if I just finish some of the books that I am reading!

Atelier Art - Curriculum Review

One of my goals for my blog is to post curriculum reviews for all of the curriculum that we are using. Making curriculum choices is quite difficult for new and experienced homeschoolers, so hopefully, sharing detailed information about what we are using will help somebody else make decisions about curriculum. The following is a slightly altered version of a review for Atelier Art that I wrote for Curriculum Choice - a fabulous site for learning about all different types of curriculum.

I have been homeschooling for almost 7 years now and for most of those years, I felt guilty about the lack of a structured art program within our homeschool. Now, we did lots of art projects and the children took art classes outside our home but I always wanted a structured art program that we could do at home on a regular basis. I wanted an art program that would be easy for a non-artist to teach (me) and I could use with all three of my children together (13, 11, and 8). I also wanted a program that would not require me to scour the edges of the art supply store every week to find the obscure materials needed for that week’s lesson. Finally, I wanted integration of art appreciation within the art program.

Last year at the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention, I found exactly what I was looking for with Atelier Art, The Video-Based Art Program. We have been using Level 5 in this program since August and absolutely love it!

After talking with the representative at the company extensively at the conference, I decided to purchase Level 5 originally for my children. There is a very helpful chart to help determine which level would be most appropriate for the age span of the children you are teaching on their website. Having used the program for several months, I would agree that Level 5 was a good choice. My youngest child (8) has only struggled with one of the projects which was a drawing project. So, while all three of my children are working to their individual abilities, they have been able to complete all of the projects at a level that was satisfactory to them.

I purchased the complete kit for Level 5 which includes the DVDs for all three Level 5 modules (A, B, and C), the Parents’ Manual (one time purchase), the lesson plans for all three Level 5 modules, and GA-M1 Art Print Guides and Art Prints. I did not purchase the art supplies kit as I already had the majority of the art supplies that were included in the kit.

One of the things I love about Atelier Art is that even though a wide variety of art media are used, most of the supplies are items that I already had purchased. The Parents’ Manual includes a full list of all of the art supplies required for each level and module. I always preview the DVD lesson the week before to make sure that we have everything we need – usually we do.
The Parents’ Manual contains a wealth of information including the art concepts taught in Atelier Art (line, color, shape/form, pattern, texture, space, and composition), artists studied, how to visit an art museum, a complete scope and sequence for all 8 levels, how to teach the program, how to use the art appreciation program, how to evaluate art projects, how to give an art show, lesson objectives for every lesson in every level, and a glossary of terms. The Parents’ Manual is a one-time purchase as it is used for every level.

The lesson plans for each module are quite detailed and correspond exactly with the DVD lesson. I especially like the DVD portion of the lessons. At the beginning, the teacher goes over exactly what art supplies will be needed for the lesson. After that, she teaches the lesson in a slow, clear manner. Then, various children of different ages are shown working on the art project. Finally, the teacher highlights a few of the completed art projects. We usually watch the entire video before starting our own art projects. The videos usually run about 15 minutes. I particularly appreciate seeing a wide variety of completed art projects of various abilities.

Each module has 6 lessons but some of the lessons are quite long and are completed over a two to three week period. So, the first module in Level 5 took us 8 weeks to complete. All of the children have been particularly pleased with the art projects they have completed thus far. To end this review, I will share some examples of the projects my children have completed, using both Levels 4 and 5.

Lessons on Color with Horizon Line and Expressionism…

Lessons using Media Techniques and Perspective...

Lessons on Composition with Still Life paintings and Charles Wysocki style paintings...

Lessons on the Color Wheel, Primary and Secondary Colors with a hot air balloon painting...and lessons on Color Value with a fabulous Wild Things Collage…If you would like to see detailed pictures of this art project, go here.

After working through the first module of Level 5, and doing further investigation on the Atelier Art website, I decided that I also wanted my children to complete the projects from Level 4. The projects all looked really interesting to me and I thought my children would enjoy them. So, we have been working back and forth between Level 4 and Level 5 projects. When we are completely done with both levels, I do plan to purchase Level 6.

The Atelier Art website contains a treasure trove of information with lots of examples of children’s art from all of the different levels. If you are interested in learning more about Atelier Art, I would encourage you to spend some time on their website. For us, the program has been a great fit – I just wish I had discovered Atelier Art 7 years ago!

Week in Review - A Completely Normal 5 Day School Week!

It's Friday, it's Friday - happy dance, happy dance! I am just SO happy that it is Friday, not because we had a bad week or anything but because I finally get to slow down a bit this week-end. For the first time since early in December, we have absolutely nothing going on this week-end! We have no swim meets and no family parties and no holidays to celebrate! I am really looking forward to having some down time and getting a head-start on the week ahead. I have felt like I've been just desperately trying to catch-up for over a month now!


This week was our first FULL week of normal school since before Christmas break! Our first week back was a short 4 day week because we were away for the week-end at an out-of-state swim meet. Last week was only a two day week since we went to an indoor water park for my daughter's 13th birthday on Wednesday and then we took Friday off as well. So, it was really "back to the grind" this week!


We continued our Ancient Greek Mythology and Ancient Greece unit study. I am extremely pleased with one of the resources that we are using for the unit study, D'Aulaire's Greek Myths Teacher Guide and D'Aulaire's Greek Myths Student Guide from Memoria Press. These two books coordinate perfectly with D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. The Teacher Guide and Student Guide divide D'Aulaire's Greek Myths book into 25 lessons complete with vocabulary and comprehension questions. These resources have been incredibly helpful in working through the D'Aulaire book, which we are all enjoying immensely.


We learned about the Agora, the military, clothes, and travel in Ancient Greece. As one of the writing assignments for the week, my children had to design their own little sign for their shop at the Agora. On the back, my youngest had to write one sentence advertising his business, my middle child had to write at least 3 sentences, and my oldest had to write a paragraph. For some reason, both of my boys decided to sell fish. Maybe they just wanted to go into business together!

We sell big and small fish.


We have big fish, small fish, lard fish, catfish, goldfish, fried fish, crunchfish, and munchfish. Top it all with an extra large fish shake. (I know it's only 2 sentences but I thought it was pretty catchy so I let him slide.)


My oldest made a lovely sign for a wine shop. "We have a wine for everyone's tastes! Pick up something for your next symposium. Or pick out something nice for your wife. Our selections have been aged, just right, for maximum satisfaction!


Thanks to Kris at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers, all three of my children are now systematically reviewing and practicing their multiplication facts. After reading her positive review of Facts First, I tried the demonstration on their website and was impressed. So, I was happy to find a good resource to fill a needed hole in my children's math work each day. As Amber moves into higher level math, knowing those basic math facts as quickly as possible is important.


I was quite happy that my 7th grade daughter wrote another chapter in her novel this week! Amber has been working on a novel of her own since last summer loosely using Learn to Write the Novel Way. She seized the curriculum last summer when it arrived in the mail with our school books and she really made it her own project. I have been trying to just be as supportive as possible...and stay out of the way. She didn't have swim team one day this week and she chose, all on her own, to work on her novel. Her plan is to really focus on her novel more once she is completely done with Growing With Grammar 7 for the year, which will be in March. But, for now, she has 4 of 10 planned chapters completed. Way to go, Amber!


Lastly, we completed a normal art lesson this week! Once again, I was so pleased with the process and the results of the art lesson from Atelier Art. This week's lesson was on Composition and the art project was modeled after the art of Charles Wysocki and other similar artists. Since Charles Wysocki is one of my most favorite artists, I was so very pleased with the paintings that my children created. I think I may even have to invest in some inexpensive frames for these gems. All three of my children really took a lot of care and time creating their paintings and the crayon-resist technique turned out great.

I adore the quilt hanging on the side of Amber's farm house and the pumpkins in the field. She also did a good job of using perspective in her picture.

Mason's painting is so colorful and he was even able to sneak a bit of his quirky personality in the picture - note the little alien ship up in the corner!

My youngest, Duncan, was really pleased with his artwork this week. I thought he did a fabulous job putting his farmhouse in the front and a ship on the river in the back. Good job, Duncan!

That's our week in review! Next week we will start working through our Spectrum Test Prep books in preparation for standardized testing in April. I expect HUGE groans from all three children next week! If you would like to see what exciting things other homeschoolers were doing in their homeschools this week, check out the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Publishing Ideas for Student Writing Part 2 - Lapbooks and Folder Books

Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of recognizing the importance of your young writers' work. One way to accomplish this is by paying attention to the publishing part of the writing process. Yesterday I talked about publishing your children's writing projects through bound books. Today, I would like to focus on lapbooks and folder books.

There is so much information about lapbooking available on the internet! Here are a few of my favorite websites:

http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking

http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/index_lapbooks_master_list.php

I enjoy lapbooking with my children because it gets them writing a whole bunch in little chunks. By the time they are finished with a lapbook, they have written a great deal about the subject - often as much as would be in a big report - but for the student it doesn't seem like they've completed a big report.

I also like lapbooking because it is easy to incorporate a wide variety of writing into a lapbook. For example, children can take notes, write sentences, write paragraphs, describe a sequence of events in steps, summarize information, write creatively - the list is endless. For the children, writing on a mini-book just seems more interesting than writing on a plain piece of paper!

I have been lapbooking with my children for several years now. We often make a lapbook as part of a unit study over a 4-8 week period of time.They have made lapbooks on many topics including:

• Medieval Times


• Human Body


• Lizards


• Butterflies


• The Ancient Aztecs


• Electricity


• Ohio


• Colonial Times


• Rocks and Minerals


• Multiplication


• Ancient Greece


• Cinderella Stories Around the World/Fractured Fairy Tales


• Animal Classification


• Germs


• Light


• Ancient China


• Ancient Egypt

As an example, here is the butterflies lapbook that my youngest completed a few years ago. I used a Project Pack from Hands of a Child for this lapbook project.

As another example, here is my youngest's Middle Ages lapbook that he completed during the 2008-2009 school year. I used a Project Pack from Hands of a Child for their Middle Ages lapbooks but we added lots of mini-books and other materials from other sources as well.

Based on the lapbook idea, we have also used file folders to publish lots of short reports on various topics. For example, during our study of Animal Classification last school year, each of the children had to complete a short report on an animal from each of the five categories of animals (reptile, amphibian, mammal, bird, fish).

My youngest chose to do a Puffer Fish for his fish report. Using a colored file folder for the base gave me a great way in which to publish his finished report.

Lapbooking and folder books are fun and creative ways in which to publish children's finished writing projects. In future posts, I'll talk about paper bag books, Bare Books, 3-ring binders, paper plate books, HUGE tri-fold display books, and posterboard books.

Publishing Ideas for Student Writing Part 1 - Bound Books

As a homeschooling parent, I have become quite familiar with the writing process over the past seven years:

1. Planning
2. Drafting
3. Revising
4. Proofreading
5. Publishing

In an attempt to encourage the young writers in my homeschool, I have tried to publish their writing projects in a way that makes my young writers feel as if their work is important - because their work IS important! The first way in which I have tried to do that is to give their finished projects a special place in our home.

In our school room, each of my children has a special box or boxes in which their published writing projects are stored. This keeps all of their finished writing projects in one spot and they can easily be located to share with others.

Over the years I have used many different methods to publish my children's writing projects. I am writing a series of posts focusing on the different methods that I have used to publish their writing projects. Today's post focuses on Bound Books. A child's finished writing project can be bound into a book in a number of different ways. One easy way is to take the finished project and simply place a comb binding on the edge to keep the pages together. I purchased a comb binding machine several years ago and use it to bind writing projects into books. Comb binding machines vary tremendously in price and I purchased mine on a clearance sale. I actually prefer the spiral binding to the comb binding so I take some projects to my local Staples and have them spiral bound.

In the example below, I took my youngest's fractured fairy tale, "The Three Little Goompas and the Big, Bad Piranha Plant" and glued each page to a larger piece of cardstock. Then, I used my comb binder and bound the pages together to make a book.

Here is another example of a bound book that my youngest son completed during his kindergarten year in his math course. I used my comb binder to bind the finished book together. For each of the numbers 0-10, he completed a page in which he practiced writing the numbers and then pasted the correct number of featured animals onto the page. I also included some of his worktext pages in the book as well. The finished product is a precious reminder of some of his math work from kindergarten.

Here is another example of a book that I bound together with my comb binder. This particular book is a compilation of pages that my youngest completed during preschool. The book is all about Thanksgiving and a wide variety of materials are used throughout the book on the pages. Lastly, a simple way to bind books together is to 3-hole-punch the book's pages and put them together in a 3-pronged folder. Below is an ABC book that my youngest completed during an art co-op several years ago. The teacher kept all of the pages until the end of the class and then bound them together in a 3-pronged folder to make a lovely book and keepsake.

Binding published writing projects using comb binding, spiral binding, or 3-pronged folders is just one way to celebrate your children's writing projects. In future posts I will discuss publishing writing projects using a wide variety of methods including paper bag books, 3-ring binders, lapbooks, paper plate books, and poster board projects.

Swimming Bears Birthday Cake

Auntie Kim and Amber pose for a picture after Amber blew out her candles on her birthday cake.

On Saturday we had Amber's family birthday party. I adore making cakes but have not made as many as I used to in the past few years. We have been purchasing birthday cakes either at Dairy Queen or the local bakery. For my daughter's birthday, I decided that I would carve out the time to make a special cake. She is a competitive swimmer who is incredibly dedicated to her sport so I thought a swimming-themed cake would be perfect. So, I spent a bit of time on the internet looking for swimming-themed cakes. After a trip to our local cake-decorating shop to purchase some decorator's gel, I was ready to make my daughter's birthday cake. I was so pleased with the finished cake!

I used clear decorator's gel that I tinted blue for the pool. I had never worked with decorator's gel before and it was quite easy to use. I also added a light dusting of edible confetti to the pool.I used Teddy Grahams for the swimmers and sun-bathers. The little circle floats are Gummy Life-Savers and the blankets are Fruit by the Foot.I even made a little diving board. My daughter piped the swimsuits on the Teddy Grahams.The best part, though, was that the cake was really yummy! The cake was a Funfetti cake with a vanilla pudding center.

Book Review - Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke

A few years ago I discovered a new genre of books that I really enjoy - the "cozy" mystery. One of the delightful aspects of cozy mysteries is that the books are usually centered on a theme and are published in a series. I've read cozy mysteries where the settings are scrapbooking shops, a very small town in the Highlands of Scotland, a home soap-making business, a bakery, and a cookie shop. I've also read an entire series of books where each of the murders takes place during a holiday season and the sleuth is a mom with three children. Cozy mysteries are just that - cozy. Even though a murder does occur in each book, the murdered character is not a central character, or even a sympathetic character. The focus of the book is on solving the crime and on the everyday life of the sleuth.

I have been working my way through a series of books (13 in the series right now) by Joanne Fluke which are all set in a cookie bakery in Minnesota. Hannah Swenson is the main character who runs "The Cookie Jar" and gets involved in solving the murder mysteries which occur in her town. I suggest reading the books in order to see how the relationships develop between the characters. I have been reading the books in order and have particularly enjoyed reading about the developing relationship between Hannah and her sister. While they were not particularly close during childhood, as adults they are getting to know one another and becoming good friends. So far, I have read:

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder


• Strawberry Shortcake Murder


• Blueberry Muffin Murder

The Hannah Swenson books are filled with memorable characters, not the least of which is her saved-from-the-streets cat, Moishe. Hannah also has two suitors for her attentions, Norman the dentist and Mike the police detective. I am eager to see which one, if either, she ends up with as the series unfolds.

As if the interesting plots, memorable characters, and quaint settings are not enough; sprinkled throughout the books are recipes (usually for cookies)! After reading Blueberry Muffin Murder, I am anxious to try the following recipes which grabbed my interest during the book:

• Multiple-Choice Bar Cookies
• Short Stack Cookies
• Peanut Butter Melts
• Grilled Cream Cheese Sandwiches

As soon as I finish my current "book for no other reason than pure reading pleasure" I'm going to start on the next Hannah Swenson mystery!

Kalahari Birthday Celebration

We returned today after spending a lovely night at Kalahari Indoor Waterpark for my daughter's 13th birthday. Happy 13th Birthday to my wonderful daughter!

Amber and I both treated ourselves to unbelievably good ice cream at the little treat shop at Kalahari. I love the sign there about how the ice cream is made - "If you want nutrition, eat carrots."

It was great to just get away for a night and hang out as a family. Since we went in the middle of the week, it wasn't at all crowded so there no lines for any of the rides. We were even treated to a room upgrade! I was able to relax for the first time in weeks - perhaps it was because I got away from the piles of laundry I need to put away here!

My older two spent much of their time going from ride to ride and hanging out in the wave pool.Duncan doesn't enjoy the big rides but he does like the wave pool and the "frog jumper" pool.Duncan also really likes the "lazy river" ride. Kevin and Duncan lounged on the lazy river quite a few times.Other than a dip in the hot tub, I stayed out of the water and just enjoyed taking pictures and relaxing with a book by the rides.

Happy Birthday to my teenage daughter!

Letting Go of Curriculum Guilt

I’ve been homeschooling for over seven years now and over that period of time I have managed to let go of the curriculum guilt that I used to experience. What is curriculum guilt?

Well, I think curriculum guilt takes two forms:

• The feeling that you must use a certain curriculum because you spent your hard-earned money on it, regardless of how the curriculum is working for you and your children. This type of curriculum guilt sounds like, “I bought this and I’m going to use it – I don’t want to waste my money!”
• The feeling that you must use the curriculum exactly as the curriculum provider says it is supposed to be used. This type of curriculum guilt sounds like, “I need to follow the directions exactly or I won’t be using it like I’m supposed to be using it and that is bad.”

I can remember very clearly a time when I let curriculum guilt guide me in how I was teaching my middle child math. He was in first grade at the time and he was a very active seven year old boy. Really, my middle son was incredibly, bouncing-off-the-wall, climbing up the refrigerator active. He was a true ring-tailed tooter......

To read the rest of the article, join me at The Homeschool Classroom where I am writing today.

Color in Winter Nature Study

Our nature study this year has been sporadic at best. Having said that, we are doing more nature study than we ever have before so I am encouraged by that fact. Inspired by one of my favorite bloggers at Handbook of Nature Study, we participated in one of the challenges based on the first chapter of the book, Discovering Nature in Winter.

I personally prepared for the nature study by reading the first chapter in Discovering Nature in Winter. I adore this book and wish I had my own copy! I learned quite a bit by reading the first chapter. I didn't know that the sun is actually farther away from the Earth during winter in Ohio than during summer. My children prepared for the nature study during the week by watching some short videos on BrainPop about winter and the seasons. I also chose to read a portion of chapter one in Discovering Nature in Winter to them before our walk. They didn't find it quite as fascinating as I did!

I would like to say that everybody was excited about venturing outside in the snow, but not every member of my family was thrilled about tromping out in the snow. Once outside, though, we all enjoyed the walk, although to varying degrees.

Our mission was simple - we were looking for different colors among all of the white and brown. With sharpened eyes, we found several pretty colors amid the gray skies, white snow, and brown bark.

This is my favorite picture. I think the blue color of the evergreen mixed in with the green is so lovely.
We found some green on a tree trunk...and some red on the branches of this Japanese Maple tree.While it is brown, I thought all the different shades of brown and tan in this picture that I took under some pine trees was quite pretty.
We decided to extend our walk by going down in the woods beside our house.

We all noticed some tan leaves that just didn't let go of the branches during the fall.

And as always happens during nature study, we found a bit of the unexpected. The crusty, icy snow held a number of animal tracks in it. We think this track below is a deer track as we do see deer around our house.

Week in Review - Back to School After Break

Greetings from Argus, Poseidon, and Zeus! My middle son, inspired by our study of Greek Mythology and Ancient Greece, created these adorable clay figures. I love it when our schoolwork manifests itself in my children's independent art work.

Last week was our first week back after a three week break for the holidays. Oh, there was so much crying, kicking, and screaming. Thankfully, my children adjusted to getting back to school much better than I did! Seriously, though, it IS hard getting back into the swing of things after a break! Also, we have been uber-busy with swim meets as well, spending all of the last two week-ends at pools. We started back to school last Tuesday since we didn't return from the Mid-States Championships in Indiana until late Sunday evening. My daughter represented Ohio on the LE/Ohio swim team once again this year. Even with a short 4 day week, we did manage to get quite a bit accomplished.

We have been diligently continuing our study of the United States, state by state, using a Trail Guide to U.S. Geography. We started this study last school year and I'm beginning to think there are actually more than 50 states! Last week we covered North Dakota and we have 18 states left to study now. Hopefully, we will completely finish our study of the United States this school year.

The most exciting thing to happen this week was to finally see my middle son really become captivated by a book that doesn't have any pictures. He is reading "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan to tie-in with our Greek Mythology and Ancient Greece unit study and he LOVES it. This is the first book that he has been really excited about - he talks to his friends about it, he can easily answer all of the discussion questions I prepared for him, and he absolutely can't wait to see the movie! He has also asked if he can read the next book in the series for school. I'm so happy that the love of reading has finally seemed to click in place for him.

This week in our unit study we learned about the differences between Sparta and Athens, symposiums, food and the government in Ancient Greece. We also continued our study of Greek Mythology using the wonderful D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths.

As I was rushing through the house with a basket of dirty laundry one day this week, my youngest son flagged me down and asked for help with his English lesson. He was struggling with guide words. On his worktext page, he was given guide words and he had to identify which of the words from a list would be found on that dictionary page. He just didn't get it. Then, I remembered that both of my other children struggled with guide words as well. First, I got out a real dictionary and showed him how guide words are used. Then, I had a great idea. I grabbed index cards and simply wrote out the words from each of the lists, along with the guide words.

Then, I told him not to worry about guide words - just put the words in alphabetical order. He could do that easily. After putting the words in alphabetical order, he could actually see which words came between the guide words. I wish I had thought of this idea when my other two were struggling to understand guide words!

We ended the week by learning about Ancient Greek pottery. The children tried their hand at black on red pottery.

We also went outside on Friday for nature study and looked for winter color. Overall, it went pretty well and I took some lovely pictures. I will post about our nature study soon. I adore the blue color mixed in with the green on this evergreen tree.

We have a short week ahead of us. My daughter will become (gasp!) a teenager this week and we are celebrating her birthday with an overnight trip to an indoor water park. We have a full and joy-filled week ahead of us with our mini-trip, a small dinner party, an extended family birthday party, and a swim meet!