Busy Weekend

We had a busy busy weekend! Mikaela's birthday party was Saturday. I would love to post pictures today, but my camera batteries were dead so I didn't get any pictures. Rod videotaped it, and my mom took pictures, so I'll have to post pictures when I get some from her. She had a blast! It was a fun party, and she had her best friend Eden spend the night with her. Some of Rod' family was in visiting from California, and they came, also.
Sunday we had Thanksgiving dinner after church, and it was so good! We had a good time of fellowship with our church family, and then my hubby took me shopping.
I really racked up on some stuff! We went to Michael's because I had to get some supplies for our homemade Christmas gifts. On both sides of the family, this year we are making gifts instead of buying them. This is going to be great, because those gifts are treasured more. Plus my kids don't need anything! Rod and I are going to buy them each a few gifts, but nothing, NOTHING, like we usually do. I also picked up some wooded alphabet tiles and few wooden brain teaser puzzles just for fun. We also got some things to make some ornaments for our tree this year.
Then we went to Ross Dress for Less, and I got some amazing deals on some homeschool toys and games. I got a Melissa and Doug chalkboard/magnetic alphabet board/dry erase board for $10; Melissa and Doug lacing animals for $5; a huge USA floor puzzle for $6; a childrens USA encyclopedia for $7; a math game for $5; a DVD and flashcards for Mercie for $3; wooden alphabet puzzle for $10 and some gigantic workbooks full of great worksheets for $2.50 on clearance. Then we went to the Dollar Tree and I got some wooden magnetic numbers, a few beading and lacing sets, lots of craft supplies, 5 educational books, USA map coloring book, a create your own calander, and a few baskets.
I had a blast! I have been wanting some of these things for the kids for a while, and it seems like I got everything in one day! We are trying to move away from school at home and do more spontaneous learning. I want to have a huge selection of educational toys, books, and games for the kids, and focus more on hands on learning, and less on 'let's do this worksheet, then this worksheet, then this worksheet...' etc. The kids love worksheets (not math or writing, though). Eli loves sequencing, patterns, matching, etc. Mikaela loves graphing and charting. Mercie loves to have anything that looks like their worksheets!
We are taking a vacation from school this week to rest and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and Mikaela's birthday (which is actually tomorrow).