Random Five on Friday (June 28th-July 5th)

What have we been up to the past two weeks? Well . . . the move exhausted us and we aren't unpacking as fast as we hoped. After food poisoning for three days, a week of migraines, and catching up on my workload I decided to take a short break from anything that deals with moving and unpacking. Therefore, the house and classroom remain a mess. My friends keep telling me to just take it one box at a time. Here's what we have been doing.

People We Saw and Places We Went . . . 
1.) We took a quick road trip to Houston last weekend for my nephew's first birthday party. Alyssa had a blast playing with Patrick. She played indoors most of the time, because it was 108 degrees outside (or higher) that day. Patrick loved his Melissa and Doug birthday truck! We stayed overnight - thanks to Jeff's brother and his reward points. Alyssa visited with many relatives and enjoyed playing with all the kiddos. We stopped at IKEA on the way home. We often stop at stores to break up the road trip a bit.

Alyssa Holding Patrick (my nephew)
Last time we saw him was the day he was born. 

She's not usually fond of little boys so I had to capture this moment. 

Papa and Alyssa Making Faces

The Grandgirls . . . I know that's not a word.
Alyssa (5), Hadyn (Almost 5), Izadora (5)

All of the Grandchildren

Jeff took Alyssa swimming and to the library for some father-daughter time. They ate ice cream and nachos, played miniature golf, and more. My daughter even saw the preview of a Circle Theater of Arts show at the library during their visit last Monday coming home that night. Jeff had to pull her away from the actors and actresses. She was so tired that she put herself to sleep that night.

Happy Late Fourth of July!

We visited our friend, Pam, for the Fourth of July. Alyssa adopted her and met her at the local library. Her husband works in Russia. She invited us over for snacks and fireworks. It was fun chatting with her and her friends on the back porch during our evening visit. What a view! Her words of wisdom and kindness seem to have an impact on us all.

Pam and Alyssa

I love this view!

In Our Homeschool This Week . . . 
2.) I finally posted my review for Moving Beyond the Page. Alyssa is still working on a few components of her final projects. She did a GREAT job with it and I was impressed with how hard she worked.

She has been slowly learning cursive using Prescripts from Classical Conversations. I recently posted my review for this product. If you are in the market for a cursive handwriting program, then this may be the product for you.

She is also currently trying to work through the entire Reading Kingdom program. We have been using it off and on throughout the year. She has been consistently using it on a daily basis. She is now 97% through Level 3. Her subscription was supposed to end at the end of July, but we just found out that we made the review list so we'll have access for another year. Here is my Reading Kingdom review from last year if you are interested in reading about our experiences with the earlier levels. The updated review will cover our experiences with the higher levels.

We started using an outstanding Bible curriculum as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew. It's called Bible Study For All Ages - Primary Level. I can't wait to tell you about our experiences and write the review for this product.

Alyssa has been reading a lot this week. I recently typed up and post titled Popular Chapter Books for Girls containing a list of books your children may want to read this summer. You might find a few book series to use as read alouds or for independent reading.

We Are Cooking . . . 
3.) Jeff made delicious beef enchiladas and cornbread while I edited my reviews. He used the cornbread recipe from Simplified Dinners. I reviewed that product and we are consistently using the recipes in our menu planning. Check out my Simplified Dinners review. Last Wednesday, I made beef stew using another crockpot recipe from her e-book cookbook. I love it when the meat falls apart. I cooked it for 8 hours! This e-book is such a lifesaver for us. I also made one of our favorite recipes, The Italian Sausage Penne Pasta, from her book. I loved the product so much I pinned it! Here is a link to my Pinterest boards if you'd like to peek.

In Our Life This Week . . . 
4.) We watched our first family movie in the house last Tuesday. We watched the Jungle Book 2. It was a short movie and kept our attention. Alyssa danced throughout the entire movie! We have been watching a lot of movies in the evenings since then, because we haven't connected the cable yet.

Our Favorite Things . . . 

5.) Alyssa's favorite thing lately has been her Tinker Toys. They have been in her closet for months. The Tinker Toys was one of her Christmas presents last year. I was about to pack them up for good when I noticed her digging around. She pulled them out of her closet and began creating. She created several different microphone designs. Then, she asked me to play some music for her to perform. I loved her creations! These pics are old, but she made the same creations the other day and performed again.

My favorite thing has been the view off our back porch and the animal visits. We have seen many deer. Two mamas have triplets that visit our deer feeder and walk the property. We had a fox stop by the back porch one evening. I miss being able to enjoy God's creations and the great outdoors. I am very thankful for these moments. The photo below is through a glass window from our classroom.

What did you do this week? I would love to hear from you!

I will link this post up at Random 5 on Friday hosted by Miranda at The Pebble Pond. Please join the fun and link up your random five thoughts, facts, or occurrences. I will also link this post at Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

God bless, 

Tracey