Random Good Things In Our Day

I am so happy to have discovered these Teacher CDs that go along with Saxon Math. Saxon is well-accredited as the best math instruction for homeschoolers, but it does require some effort on the part of the parent. Each lesson starts with instruction on new concept(s) being taught, which makes it nice when I am teaching Ashlee, but there are days when I just don't have the time to sit down at that moment and instruct her. That is why these CDs are so nice- now, when it is time for Ashlee to do math, we put the corresponding CD into the computer, and if she has a question about a problem she can go to the computer and see it get worked through. These CDs are also a great self-correcting tool, because whereas before I was correcting each day's math lesson with her from the Teacher's Book, now she can simply go to the CDs and correct the lesson herself.

I tell you, these gems are so nice to find and make my day so much easier.
Rachel loves to play the piano and will crawl over to it and protest until someone places her on the bench.
Thankfully I have a couple of patient kids who are willing to do so.
She really goes to town.
See how she's mimicking Ashlee by turning the pages?
The kids help in so many other ways, too. I am discovering the many benefits of bottle-feeding. Thank goodness being a mother of five lets you relax your standards a little bit. =)
Jacob has a friend coming over today whom he hasn't played with in a long time, and this morning I found him writing this letter:

(I think his grammar and spelling are pretty good for having no help from me.)

Ashlee spent about 2 hours cleaning her room today, and when she was finished the girls couldn't wait to get in there and play.
Rachel just cruises around, looking for the action. Her new thing is to pull to a stand (no steps yet.)
Poor Noah was out playing in the field today (barefoot, of course, he's my kid,) and he came in to tell me he had stubbed his toe. We were both a little surprised to look down and find that it was pouring blood from a big gash.
I doctored him up and got him set up on the couch with some cartoons (don't really want blood dripping on my rug.)
And because the T.V. was turned on during school time (a usual no-no) Ashlee relocated to my bedroom to finish up her school work. Looks cozy, doesn't she? I wish I could've done my work like this as a kid.