Alabama Capitol Tour

The girls and I went on a field trip with our local homeschool group to the Alabama State Capitol.  The girls were really excited, and I love to go view the beauty in this building!

 The amazing staircase constructed by a freed slave and Alabama bridge builder, Horace King, who later became one of Alabama's first black legislators.  It is a fleur-de-lis staircase which means it is suspended and you do not see any support below the stairs.

 Viewing the Main Rotunda is always an experience!!

 Now this is my favorite room in the capitol!  I love the paint work that is 3D and looks like molding all around the room.  IT IS JUST PAINT!!!!  I just love this room!!!!

 Lauren with Lurleen Burns Wallace who was the first lady governor.

 Of course, we had to find the Alabama flag in front of the capitol.

It was a great day on Goat Hill!!!!

State-by-State: Rhode Island

"R is for Rhode Island Red.
The roosters have plenty of meat.
The hens will lay eggs all year.
Known far and wide throughout the land,
Rhode Island Reds came from here."

  ~ R is for Rhode Island :: A Rhode Island Alphabet

The girls completed their scrapbook page and mini lapbook for Rhode Island this week.

According to The United States Cookbook, you will see containers of coffee milk alongside containers of chocolate and white milk.  Coffee-flavored syrup is used to flavor milk, milkshakes, and ice cream.  After reading that, we decided we definitely had to make Coffee Milkshakes for us and Dad!!!

A Few Swim Meets

Daddy won the coin toss for going to the out-of-town swim meets this year.  Actually, I think he voted to not stay home with little c!  Anyway, he loves to GO and I love to stay at home!  Truly, there is not much staying at home when you run a house of 7!  JM took them to Huntsville and Auburn this year to compete.  The girls did a great job in each race, and they learned how to manage themselves when an adult can not be on the swim deck to get them to their races!!

A few medals and a few tatoos to bring home!!!

State-by-State: North Carolina

"T stands for Tar Heel,

a title that we're all proud of.

Our flag, our ancestors, "good people,"

 we honor the history we love."

~ T is for Tar Heel: A North Carolina Alphabet

The state of North Carolina, the 12th State to join the Union, became a state on November 21, 1789.   As usual, the girls read T is for Tar Heel:  A North Carolina Alphabet and then completed their Scrapbook Page and Mini-lapbook.

"Now, D is for the Dogwood,
flowers gentle pink and white.
From mountains to city streets,
in spring a showy delight."

  ~ T is for Tar Heel: A North Carolina Alphabet

The girls decided to make Dogwood Bark as a birthday treat for Tyler since his birthday was Wednesday and he is leaving for a tennis tournament this weekend.  Dogwood Bark is made of 2 kinds of chocolate slightly blended to look look the Dogwood tree.  

Tyler thought it tasted pretty good.  He took it along to the tournament to share with the TPS boys tennis team.  Good thing because it was REALLY HARD not to just keep eating and eating!!!!

Tyler's birthday

Happy 15th Birthday, Tyler!

The wanted an iphone speaker for his birthday and that is what he got!  He also got a few nice shirts to wear around town!

We treated him and a few friends to dinner and a movie!  I got him an ice cream cake which is his favorite cake to celebrate!

Cat-in-the-Hat

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' Birthday.  We celebrated this week by doing some special activities while reading a few Dr. Seuss books from our collection.  This was a big week for Lyndsey because she realized that she COULD read books from the bookshelf BY HERSELF!!!

While reading One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, we munched on this snack!  It was quite a treat since I have banned morning snacks in the school room!!

A few days, Lauren helped with the reading.  Probably just to speed the morning along!

We did a few little art projects...

Of course, we had a green eggs & ham dinner!  We also made cute little Dr. Seuss hats!

We also did a few math games with the characters from the books.

It was a week of out-of-the-ordinary-FUN!  It also started Lyndsey on a reading journey!  She enjoyed sitting and re-reading the books on her own for weeks!

State-by-State: New York

The girls are still working through the states with our state-by-state study using Discover America State-by-State Books.  We are having a great time and learning a lot of cool facts.  With each state, the girls are required to memorize the state nickname, capital, postal abbreviation, shape and location of the state, state bird, state flower, and state tree.  It is quite a load for a Kindergartener, but she does great each week!  Did I mention that the tests each week are cumulative?  So there is NO forgetting what you learned last week or last month!!!

"E is for Empire State and the marvelous Erie Canal.

Opened in 1825,

this waterway carried the lumber and goods

that helped our state to thrive."

~ E is for Empire: A New York Alphabet

After the girls read E is for Empire:  A New York Alphabet, Lauren completed her scrapbook page and Lyndsey completed her mini state lapbook. 

The girls decided to make New York Cheesecake for our dessert tonight.  Mom was tired, so we took the easy way and bought a Jello-cheesecake mix!  That's okay though since a carpenter from Le Roy, New York invented Jello!!!!