Homeschooling Whitney

So I know that it has been a little while since we have posted, but I have recently started homeschooling Whitney.  It has been a bit of an adjustment going from mostly playing over the summer time to doing real schoolwork.  But I think we are adjusting well.  We just finished week three today.

Our school day always starts with reading our book.  We are currently reading Charlotte's Web (thanks to Michael and Allison who gave the book to us).  Whitney is not a huge fan of the story and says it is kind of boring and yet she always sits really close to me and looks at the pictures intently and knows what is happening.  So I think she likes it more than she claims.  We also read some 'little' kid books that we have gotten from the library.

This is Whitney doing her math.  We spent the first two weeks reviewing numbers and how to write them correctly.  Now we have moved onto simple addition.  Whitney does some problems everyday and then she gives me math problems.  I don't mind this because it helps her learn how to write mathematical equations.

Will made this number chart that we are also working on.  Whitney is starting to hear the differences between like 'sixty' and 'sixteen'.  Things like that.  So that has been really helpful.

Whitney points to the continent of Europe.  I don't think she will memorize this year which continent is which.  But we have a book that has some pictures of interesting sites in each continent.  We had an interesting conversation the other day on whether it would be more fun to visit the Great Wall of China or Buckingham Palace.

This is Whitney's favorite part of school work - science.  We are studying the human body.  Mostly we have just gotten through with the brain.  We got to do little experiments about the five sense.  That was fun.

And everyday is an 'extra' thing.  So one day a week is music, one is church, one is art, etc.  The girls had learned about Noah's ark on Tuesday, so on Wednesday we pulled out some wooden animals and got to color them for art and pretend to put them on the ark.  That was fun.  Of course, Megan picked a button.  I don't think that really belonged to the ark, but oh well.  

Not shown is Whitney's work on reading and writing.  My mom gave us a neat phonics book and we are learning to distinguish between beginning, middle, and ending of words.  Everyday gets a little better.  That is what is so neat about teaching, you get to see progress.

This isn't from homeschooling, but has become a part of our everyday living.  Megan thinks she should "help" me wash dishes.  She has kind of become a water hog and she spills a ton all over herself and the floor.  But it just makes her so happy that I don't have the heart to tell her no.

Anyway, homeschooling and Umatilla are going well.  

My Baby

How is that my little baby has turned two.  I have been kind of dreading this day because then she wouldn't be my little baby anymore.  I figure two really makes her a toddler.  But I still call her 'baby'.  Oh well.  I am trying to break the habit because I figure I have only three more months before another baby joins us.  Anyway, we did have a fun little birthday.

I hung up a big Happy Birthday sign on our back window.  Megan woke up and in typical Megan style asked immediately "What's That?"  (Her newest phrase which only gets slightly tiresome).  Megan loved the butterflies on the sign.

I tried to teach Megan how to hold up two fingers.  She made a very good attempt.  We will have to keep working on it.

I blew up a bunch of balloons and we played balloons for like 15 whole minutes (a long time for a baby - I mean a toddler).

Megan got to help me make the brownies.  My girls love helping with the cooking.  And they even all waited until after the pan was in the oven to start trying to eat the batter.

My family came in the evening to celebrate with us.  Megan liked opening all her presents.  Whitney and Rachel only had to be stopped from helping a few times.

She got fun presents like books and candy and diapers.

Getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday".  It was cute because Megan sang along.  And she did an awesome job blowing out her candles.  She is such a big girl.

And popsicles instead of ice cream.  So it was a fun evening.  They even got to go to the park with grandma in the evening.

And the next day a package came from Grandma and Grandpa Keeler. Inside was an awesome cash register and some playdough toys.  The cash register has seen a lot of action already.  It will be well loved.

My baby is not a `baby anymore.  So it is a good thing we are having another one.  But we did have a good birthday.  Thanks for the presents everyone.

Pasco Activities

We had a couple of other fun activities we did in Pasco while we were there.  Here are some random pictures.

We thought the kids would like splash park, but there were too many kids there and not enough Bingham girls.  So I think they were a little nervous.  Megan got a little wet with grandma.  The other two stayed out.

We went to a buffet for dinner one night.  The kids did pretty good eating.  Megan was eating ice cream - with a spoon and a straw.  Who knew I had such talented kids?

Rachel shows off her red tongue after eating an icee at the restaurant.

We went to the library one day.  The kid section there is much bigger than ours.  The girls liked sitting on the mushrooms and bringing me lots and lots of books to read.

This is from my dad's work fair.  It was on the Saturday and we weren't sure if the guys would make it back from camp.  The fair was fun (and not too hot).  Megan and Rachel liked the bubbles for a long time.

Whitney and Kaitlin for their faces painted.  It is hard to see Whitney's face paint, but she got to be super girl.

There was a craft station.  Lately Megan likes coloring or doing anything with more than one.  I guess coloring goes faster if you use six pencils at once.

Enjoying a popsicle.  That is my grandpa sitting in the back.  He came and that was fun.  He lives with my parents but isn't able to make it to many activities.  He told us that he use to get creamsicles for a nickle when he was a kid.

It was a super hero theme.  So my kids met lots of 'important' people - like Harry Potter.

And Bat Man.  The kids weren't too sure about some of them.

And finally we spent the end of the day playing in bounce houses.  

Anyway, those were fun days hanging out with my family.  And it was good to get some time with my sister who is heading off to BYU.  But it was also fun coming home and spending time with Will again.

Hermiston Parade and Fair

Such fun times have been had lately.  Last week was the Hermiston fair.  To kick it off, we went to the parade on the Saturday before.  This is the long parade where the kids get lots of candy.

Megan's favorite part was still the horses, just like last year.  She points to everyone all excited.

A pair of eyes were watching us.  I thought that was kind of neat looking.

Whitney and Rachel called this the Magic School Bus.  I think it was actually a preschool bus.  Just imagine all those animals going to school next year.

And for the first time, we received a stuffed animal.  This frog has been much loved over the last week.  Unfortunately, Will still didn't get his watermelon.  Oh well.  Maybe next year's parade.

We went to the fair last Friday.  Here we are checking out the animals.  Look at my cute little peeps.

We are lucky no little bunnies bit little fingers.  I was constantly pulling Megan back from the cages.  She is so fascinated with animals.

For the first time ever, you got to practice milking a cow.  There was a cool machine that you would use and it would tell you how much milk you got.  Whitney and Rachel both got turns, poor Megan was too short to reach.

A picture to show how windy it was at the fair.  There was a major dust storm.  I think everyone came home all gritty and gross.  We had to hold our food down so it wouldn't blow away.  This made the girls a little extra grumpy, but we all survived.

My favorite part was watching the juggler.  He was pretty cool and witty.  He even said something like "I bet your dads can't do this" which made made us chuckle because I bet my dad could.  

The girls got to meet Benny the Beaver.  He was handing out sunglasses and fake backpacks and other Oregon State University memorabilia.  Kaitlin got to "meet" him too.  She must have really wanted those sunglasses.

Watching the cloggers perform.  We missed most of this show because we were eating dinner.  But the part we saw was neat.

The girls wanted to do some dancing afterwards.  The stage was empty, so the girls got up and performed for us.

And the reason we went on Friday was to see Hinder perform.  The crowd was huge.  Kaitlin stands on a bench to get a good look at him.  We didn't stay very long though because we weren't really sure that it was Hinder and the songs were not so clean.  Oh well.  It was still a fun day.  Everybody was exhausted by the time we made it back to Pasco.

Going Camping

It has been a long time since I have been camping.  I was a little nervous to take three little girls and to be pregnant, but it was fun.  My mom invited us to go with their ward to a camp site called Teancum Timbers ( about 1 3/4 hours away).

Megan and I take a selfie in front of our tent.  We shared a big tent with my family and everyone fit just fine.

There were some games to play in the evening.  

The girls watch in amazement at Conner's ability to climb a rope.  What an impressive uncle.

There was a zipline at the camp site.  It took Whitney awhile to get brave enough to want to go down. (I think I was more nervous than her).  But after watching Conner and Grandpa go down several times, she decided to take the plunge.

And she loved it.  I wouldn't let Rachel go down; she still sometimes lets go of the chains on the swing.  But Whitney did a good job.  And no broken bones.

There were several families who did skits in the evening.  My poor mom was in charge of this evening of camping and she also ended up holding Megan the whole time who really wanted Grandma's lap.

And audience participation time during one skit (see how well Whitney participated).

Getting all warm for the evening.  Will went to bed with the girls; I stayed up late playing card games.  It actually didn't get too cold in the evening, so that was nice.

The next day, we went on a hike.  We made it to a bridge and the girls took a break to throw sticks into the creek.  For some reason, that never gets old.

Megan got carried up by Grandpa.  I don't know why we didn't take any water; that wasn't too smart.  But the girls did well on the hike.  The view from the mountain was pretty.  There is greenery in some places.  Megan calls them 'ho ho ho', which is what she calls trees that look kind of like Christmas trees.

So that was a great camping trip.  Thanks for inviting us.  The food and company were wonderful.

And not from camping, but still cute.  Megan has learned how to strip, she can even get her diaper off if given enough time unsupervised.  I blame two older sisters who take off their clothes to put on pajamas just wherever they happen to be.  Because Megan cannot get into the room where her clothes are, she finds her sisters clothes (usually some dirty ones that are on the floor) and puts them on.  It is a good thing they are so cute because they sure get into a lot of trouble.  Oh well.