Bedtime routine

Lily has taken lately to Bret (daddy Bret that is) reading her to sleep. That is their new "thing". He reads her a few books and when she is ready and tired she tells him she is ready for "Little Bear". Little Bear ALWAYS puts her to sleep and she knows it. Then in the morning they hang out and watch tv together for a bit. She won't want to do these things forever. Take it while we can get it...

Zombie Bret

We got this App off Facebook to make a person into a Zombie. Here is Bret as a zombie. All the girls want to do it. It is on my list. LOL.

Marley and her art work

Marley has been asking me daily for a craft to do. We have been collecting and pressing leaves for several crafts for the upcoming weeks. A week ago we went on a walk with the dog and collected some things for our daily craft. This is Lily's "We are not Weeds" garden that we keep in the house.

Happen Art Work

Wednesday's art work at Happen, Inc. was making spiders. Bret came for their open Studio while Brenda was at photography class. I sculpted a gourd. Bret sculpted a duck with an open beak to hold candy in. I can't wait to see how they will turn out! Pictures to follow.

This Year's Christmas

This year each kid gets a stipend to spend on Christmas presents for the whole family. I take them shopping one by one to pick out their loot. We go out to lunch and make a great exciting day of it. I think the kids are really enjoying the time they spend with me shopping. So that is really cool. Then I got this great idea off a borrowed Family Fun magazine. To make our own wrapping paper designs, AND to write on the wrapping paper why we picked this present for each person. I love it! So personalized!! So here is Marley organizing all the snow globes when we went together. She turned them all on at the same time because they sounded better. And Bret having a great time trying on clothes for fun with the hangers still attached. Bret and I both LOVED that hat. I told her she better not go back and buy it for me, because I will know she just wants to steal it!! LOL.

Toy Lab

So here I took Brenda one day and Lily the next day. Technically the toy lab is for 6 and up because the younger kids want to just PLAY with the broken toys. Lily did great! AND they even let ME do one!!!!! I will add pictures of Brenda, mine, and Lily's creations soon! Soo cool. The picture of Brenda and me, courtesy of Brenda's friend. I am always holding the camera and seldom get pictures of me with my kids.

Girl Scouts in October - Juniors

This month's activity was earning the Outdoor Creativity badge at a local preserve. We came across a cool wall that had been an art project for Girl Scouts in the past. We hiked, made stamps out of things from nature, wrote nature Haiku's, and created frames from sticks. The fruit leathers I brought were a big hit for the ride home!

Greenacres

We were invited to a program at Greenacres through a friend who has a child at the same photography class as Brenda takes. There are a set of these classes that are advertised through a homeschool group we are in every year but they fill up quick. So there was room for us and we went. The weather was supposed to be great and I wanted to get the girls outside. The topic was outdoor survival. We made shelters, built a fire, and fished. And we were introduced to the group of 3's. A person can go without air for aprox. 3 minutes, without water for 3 days, and without food for 3 weeks. The food thing was a shocker for me. Three weeks to starve to death. Anyway it was a great program. And even Marley found a friend to hang with. The program was until 1:30 but was still going on at 2:05 when we had to rush away to pick Gaige up from school. We hope to make the class next month.

Our trip to the Cemetary

Our town has one of those awesome cemetaries where it is a park as well. We went on a tour and learned so much. I had no idea so many famous people came from this area...

Greatest unknown Homeschool Resource of the Week

These are Bret's Toy Lab creations.

M&M Girl Has the power of shooting M&M's at people. Putrid Pinkie makes people eat their veggies. Her hair turns brown is the cold and pink when breathed upon by warm breath. BuzzWrestlerYear speaks for itself. lol.

Ok Here we go. Now I don't have a Homeschool resource of the week really but this is a fabulous amazing spectacular experience. First I should say that we attend a pottery program through a company called Happen once a week. It is a community outreach program. I am sure I have mentioned it before. Through Happen we found out about this community outreach program that where kids 10-15ish could take a photography class and learn about community outreach through their photography. So I signed Brenda up for that while Bret and I take the pottery class together. Through Happen I learned about their Happen Toy Lab. Now this is the coolest place of all. For $15.00 a child can take 7 broken and taken-apart toy parts to invent their own toy(s). The Toy Lab workers take the pieces and turn them into the toy that the kids want it to be. The kids name their creation and give it super powers and take their super power guy home.

WELLLLLLL, P & G recently gave Happen a grant so that they could provide 9 or 10 months of Toy Lab for free. That is right folks I said FREE. My Brownie troop went today as our October Outing. It was soo much fun. And I have scheduled Brenda to come with me alone for our special time. I cannot say enough about the people who run these programs. They are animated, fun, and make each experience we have a blessing.

Check it out at http://www.happeninc.org/toylab_index.html

It is a blast of a deal at $15.00. It is amazing for free!!!!