Knights of the Kitchen Table

The boys have been anxiously awaiting our study of medieval knights and castles all year and we just spent the last two weeks learning about everything from weaponry and jousting (the highlight) to chivalry and the feudal system. We learned about many of the famous knights and what it actually took to become one. We also included the Armor of God in our study.
The boys designed their own coat of arms.

The Cheetah (of course)


Cade’s new favorite color is yellow.


They designed their own castle.



They can now tell you about all the different parts of a castle. Do any of you know what a garderobe is? How about a bailey?

They also made their own catapults.

Here is some of their work; (sorry, I haven’t figured out a way to digitize their work yet.)






Stay tuned for the big conclusion to the Knights of the Kitchen Table…

Monster Jam!

We have been wanting to take the boys to one of these for a while now and decided upon last weekend to do it.  Being the novices that we were, we thought it rather odd that people were selling earplugs outside the parking garage.  “C’mon I thought, how loud can it be?”  The closer we got to our seats, the more little kids I saw with ear protection and adults with ear plugs.  That’s when I started to worry.  And sure enough, as the trucks started up their thunderous engines we were all deafened.  I have never EVER heard anything so loud!  Poor Levi tried to be brave but started to cry and I had to rush him out the door (no easy feat in a stadium) and stand in a really long line to buy $20.00 (!) ear protectors.  I was kicking myself because of course we had a 50 pack at home that cost only $2.00.  If only I’d known!!!!  The other boys suffered through ok and we managed to have a good time.  Needless to say when we were done, our ears and arms hurt.


Yes, we looked ridiculous, but it was so painfully loud I did not care!
 

Here’s a video of one of the races.

One of the highlights of the show was three motocross bikers who came out to do some stunts.  The boys LOVED this, in part because they could take their hands off their ears!  I caught their excitement below.

Levi suffered through, whimpering every once in a while.

I felt horrible for bringing him until we were in the car on the way home.  The older boys couldn’t contain their excitement.  So Levi piped in, “That was so cool!”  Rock and I were shocked and said, “Really, Levi?  What was your favorite part?”  He answered gleefully, “Every part was so awesome!!”  Ah-huh.  Sure.  But hey, as long as he has good memories, it’s all good, right?

Sick Boy

Levi has been sick the past few days, but not quite sick enough to need a nap… or so I thought.   During quiet time he was in the basement playing. When I opened the door to check on him, I found him like this:

Totally out with the lights on.  This may be common in your households, but not mine!

The Big 35

That sure sounds really old. (At first, I wrote “hideously old” but I’ll save that title for Forty). On my birthday the boys made me breakfast in bed, sort of. Rock woke up to find them all in Liberty’s room with her naked on the changing table having been waked up way before she was ready to get up. They were trying to change her diaper and get her dressed. He quickly and somehow magically put her back to bed and she actually went back to sleep. He then shooed the boys downstairs to prepare their breakfast downstairs.

When I came downstairs Reagan said to me, “We tried to make your birthday exciting since you are getting older.” Gee thanks!
They took me to dinner at our favorite restaurant that night. The next day Rock took me to see Lion King on Broadway! Sorry for the bad pictures. All we had was my cellphone….

And here are a couple random funnies for ya.  The other day we were busy moving all the furniture around to make a better home office for Rock.  When I came down to check on Libby, I found her like this:

Later that night after we had moved the three boys in together to make Rock’s office, Levi came up to me and said, “Mom, can I sleep with Libby in her room cause she’s my favorite person in this house.”

I think she’s everyone’s favorite, Levi!

Pinewood Derby 2012

As Cubmaster this year, Rock was in charge and also very busy with job interviews, so he and Reagan decided to go sleek and simple.  Reagan did everything but the wheels this time.  
 

The Grey Wolf
 
Though he didn’t set any world (or ward) speed records, he had a good time.  And so did Liberty.  She wandered all over the place getting into things….. 

First she scored some lip gloss,
 
then some tissue.
 
In the end she decided to share the loot with a friend.
A good time was had by all!  So looking forward to next year when we get to make TWO Pinewood Derby cars!

A Weather Report

We were beginning to feel jealous of our Seattle friends and family because of all the snow they’ve gotten. But the snow finally came a few weeks ago and I’m just now blogging it. It didn’t snow a ton, but enough to get out and play in. The boys got to break in their new sleds and Libby got to play in her first snow. She’s been preparing for weeks now….

Hopefully we’ll get some more, but with the way our weather has been lately, I’m not holding my breath.  Unfortunately, this means we’ll get to hear more moaning and whining from Reagan.  He has been so spoiled with snow in his life that he thinks nature owes him several feet of snow every year.  Rock and I, on the other hand, are happy that we haven’t had as much as last year.  Shoveling our driveway is NOT fun.

Big Changes

Back in November we decided that it was time to find a different job, preferably one where Rock could work from home. He has loved working at Fog Creek, but his three hour commute into NYC was wearing on him too much. We also knew we wanted to go back to the west where it’s cheaper and closer to our immediate family. So…after a grueling interview process at several different companies Rock accepted a job at a company called TrackAbout. http://corp.trackabout.com/ They are paying him almost the same salary we are making now AND he gets to work from home! Now he’ll have more time to help out with our homeschool and to pursue his hobby of coding for the Kahn Academy. http://www.khanacademy.org/
Now instead of fabulous catered lunches overlooking New York Harbor, he’ll get to have chicken nuggets and apple slices overlooking the sandbox. But I’m so grateful he is willing to “sacrifice” to be at home with us! And I think he’s very happy to trade in his NYC walking shoes

For his slippers

His office will now be exactly 3 steps from his bedroom instead of 3 hours. Woohoo!

During this whole process, and after an actual interview in Boise, ID, Rock and I feel like Boise is the place for us next. It is right in the middle of both of our families, I have a brother and aunt in Boise, and we can afford a nice house with land for our boys to explore and run free on. (Reagan has informed us that he wants a yard like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. ie. climbing trees, lots of room to hide in and a stream with fish in it.) Rock and I both want a drier climate and with all the great amenities of the Boise area I think we’ll be happy there. We'll probably move in June when our lease is up here. We have loved our time here in the East. And have loved spending time with all our eastern relatives. It’s been a huge growing experience for all of us. And now we are looking forward to being back in the west and near many of you again!