Japan with the kids

We studied Japan this past week.
We:
Learned about the Japanese Tea Ceremony and drank some tea.

Made origami.

Learned about Hokusai.

The Great Wave at Kanagawa , c.1829

Ate with Chopsticks
Tried Sushi. Yuck! (that is only my opinion of course.)

Learned about Sumo Wrestling. Of course the kids couldn't believe the outfits they wear! There was a lot of giggling going on that day...

Colored pictures of Kimonos

Here are the materials we used. (Along with Story of the World and Mystery of History CDs)

Project 365 - Day 16

We were in charge of snack time at church this week. That meant baking lots of mini muffins...

Project 365 - Day 15

We have been studying Japan this week. Ellie cooked up some Japanese noodles for us to enjoy.

Project 365 - Day 14

Ellie was proudly chopping up vegetables for tacos.

Project 365 - Day 13

We always have tons of fruit in a bowl on the counter. The kids are free to take what they like when the want a snack. Now that we have been showing the house however, I have added some more colors to make it look prettier. I normally don't have lemons in my fruit bowl. :)

Waiting

Our house was on the market a total of 5 days when we got our first offer - can you believe that? I wasn't expecting someone to want it so soon.

They didn't offer enough for us to break even, so we have counter-offered and are now waiting to see if they accept it. If it goes through, we'll be out of our house by the end of February.

That means that we will be living in something temporary for 2 months. It's doable, but until I started calling around to various hotels that offer extended stay suites, I didn't realize that they won't allow us to get one room with 5 kids. The thought of having to pay over $3000 a month seems a bit steep to me. We're going to continue looking around and hopefully we'll be able to get into the temporary billeting on post, but I'm not sure that they let you stay for that long.

Things will work out, I know it.

Car Schooling Tomorrow

Looks like we're going to be car schooling tomorrow.

This selling a house thing can be rough. I'm excited that we have 2 showings tomorrow, but that means that we have to be out of the house all morning. I think we're going to head to the library and then go swimming. That should keep the kids entertained.

I really do feel bad for them. We aren't total slobs or anything, but this past week I have been very adamant about keeping the house perfect. It can't be very fun for them. :(

I am thankful though. It just went up on the market and we have people looking. That's a good sign.

This isn't the best time to be selling a house - especially one that you have only owned for three years and don't have any equity in. It's kind of scary. We're setting aside our tax return to pay for closing costs, replace the bedroom carpets, and possibly pay part of the mortgage if the sale of the home doesn't cover it. I'm praying that everything works out and we end up breaking even.

Of course there are other concerns beyond selling the house.

What if we do sell it? We aren't leaving here until late April/early May. We would be homeless.

The thought of living out of a suitcase until we get to Savannah in June is a bit daunting. What do we take? It might be kind of fun though, living without all of our "stuff". I would get a break from cleaning a large house and keeping all of the stuff tidy and neat.

I'm not going to worry about it too much yet. I just have a lot of things going through my head right now...

Project 365 - Day 12

It was a little bit chilly out today.

"Gold Leaf" Pictures

Today, the kids painted pictures and added "gold leaf" to them. We used gold foil origami paper to get the same sort of effect. Ellie modeled hers after "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt and Kate decided to do a landscape scene.

Project 365 - Day 11

One thing we have a lot of during the winter is static electricity. I took this with my iPhone yesterday while we were out and about in town.

Nick's Cucumber

Yes, you read that right. Nick likes cucumbers. Loves them actually. He could eat them all day long. So, here is a picture of a cucumber.

Ellie is teaching him to write his name. Not too shabby for a 3 year old. :)

Project 365 - Day 10

I can't deny that we are addicted to books. We just can't seem to help ourselves. We are quickly running out of room though.

I sure hope that we aren't over our weight allowance when we move in a few months. Books are heavy. :)

The bad part is that this isn't all of them. There are 4 more single bookshelves in the bedrooms.

I think that when we build our own house, we're going to design our own library - complete with a fireplace, overstuffed chairs, window seats, and a secret door. I can't wait!!

Project 365 - Day 9

As we prepare to sell our house, I haven't had much of a chance to take "artsy" pictures. Today, I went around the house, snapping photos of each room. Not very exciting, but it's all I have for now. Here is the kitchen.

Project 365 - Day 8

Wow, we were busy yesterday. Our house officially goes on the market this Monday, but we had our first showing today. You know what that means. We spent ALL DAY Friday cleaning. Which means we had pizza for dinner. :) Tori loves pizza.

Project 365 - Day 7

Poor Andy spent most of Thursday painting. And painting. And when he was done painting, he did some more painting.

Freaking out - just a bit

I am starting to get a bit nervous.

Our house was supposed to go on the market next Monday. We were going to spend the entire weekend decluttering and cleaning in preparation.

Then, someone wanted to book a showing - this Saturday!!! Luckily, Andy is taking the day off of work on Friday so that we can scramble to get everything ready.

I really don't like the whole home-selling process. It is a pain.

We aren't leaving here for another 4 months, but we decided to put it on the market now rather than let it sit empty after we leave.

So there is a possibility that if the house sells, we could be homeless for a while. But living in a hotel or apartment is better than paying a mortgage for a house that we aren't living in.

I am trying not to think about any of it too much.

Project 365 - Day 6

We had an early appointment this morning and then some time to kill before a class. I decided to take the kids out to eat. They had never been to Denny's, so I thought we'd try that. Chocolate chip pancakes kept everyone happy!! I am happy to say that they were all very well behaved. As we were leaving, I noticed this sign outside of the restaurant. Our Denny's happens to be the Northern Most Denny's in the world. I can believe that. There isn't much north of here.

Project 365 - Day 5

Thankful

I received a letter from Roza today, thanking me for the money that I sent a few months ago.

We're by no means rich, but I am grateful to be reminded how good we have it.

We have running water and a clean floor beneath our feet.

We have a refrigerator full of food and a comfortable home.

We have electricity and cozy beds.

My children have shelves and shelves of books and toys.

I don't think that Roza has any of those things and it makes me so terribly sad.

A portion of the money was to be spent on her specifically and the rest for her family.

She is beaming in her new dress and shoes, isn't she??

It really hit home how hard their lives must be though when she wrote that besides the dress, they had bought soap and buckets for hauling water. Can you imagine having to haul water in those buckets??

I only wish that we could do something more than a few hundred dollars a year.

Project 365 - Day 4

I've only hit day 4, and I can already tell that this project is going to be a challenge. I love taking pictures, but there are days when I don't leave the house and I really don't do anything interesting.

I made myself pick up the camera while my kids were playing with the Thomas trains and I took a few pictures. The more and more I looked at them, the creepier the faces on the trains looked to me. Maybe I'm just being weird.