Archeology

Trying to get back into a system of learing with the girls. We are talking about archeology this week. Here is their project. I "planted" a bunch of things from rubber bands to magnets, legos, thimbles, etc. into the dirt. Their job was to excavate the artifacts and make educated guesses as to what purpose their artifacts served in their civilization that they were creating.

Fabulous UC

In our November group meeting (both troops meet once a month together through December) we had a visit from the Delta Kappa sorority. They came to put on a program called Uniquely Me. It was a one hour program about self esteme. We were very blessed to be selected for them to visit us. They were wonderful and we were thankful for the great program. We talked about differences and similarities between eachother. We chose sides about what we believed and disagreed about. We even played the age old game telephone with a purpose. Great ladies, and a program that was well worth the time!!

Thanks Giving Fun

So I bet you are wondering why there is a picture of Brenda's monkey hanging out on the back patio chair on this blog entry. Well as I sit here drinking wine and eating the remains of my pumpkin roll at 12:31am it seems slightly funny (possibly because of the wine influence) that this picture is the only Thanksgiving picture I have.

The day before, we cooked and baked to our heart's delight. The girls' friend Emma came over. And we made Pecan Tassies, Martha Stewart's Crescent Cookies, Pistacio Bread, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Pies, Pecan Pies. Plus I mashed the potatoes, cut the onions and celery, peeled the sweet potatoes... it was right about here when we finished peeling the third sweet potato that I realized I was about to get the stomach flu that I was fighting all week, that the girls (and big Bret) had suffered through one at a time for the last week and a half.

And so poor Bret had to do all the cooking and cleaning and child tending and dog and puppy tending on Thanksgiving Day while I lay in bed puking my little head off. lol. I know there is something to be thankful in all of that, but I can't remember what right now. :-)

LOL: Editor's Note: I forgot to mention why the Monkey Picture. Brenda had just puked in the middle of the night before. The monkey was one of the many casualties of the sickness. He was out airing off after the wash cycle. Poor guy. He is doing better now though. All better snug in bed with the girls.

Thanksgiving Birthday Weekend

So Marley's birthday has finally arrived. I planned on a pumpkin pie with candles. Marley remembered that I bought a princess cake mix on clearance last February and told her she could have a princess cake for her birthday. So when she woke up, she hunted the box out of the pantry and brought it to me, telling me we had to make her cake. Here it is... My baby is not a baby starting today.



So here is her big present. Thank goodness Walmart is overstocked on bikes for the holiday. We were able to find a bike that WASN'T princess. So we didn't pay an arm and a leg for it. I hid it in my bathroom under a sheet. That was evidentally not a good hiding place. Especially since she was in there hunting for her presents. That little sneak. At least she got to ride it before it got dark, since she found it so early. lol.

Happy bday to my toothless poppet. She grew up, damn it.

I host the 4H

So I hosted the 4H meeting this week. Since I had no idea of a creative meeting agenda, we went to the Museum Center to make a day of it. I wasn't taking any pictures because it was really just another day at the museum.

Until the older kids got together and produced this amazing bench! A usable, sittable bench made of BLOCKS. Those kids are just great! Leave 'em together without adult supervision and you never know what they will do!

Invention Convention

Every month it is a new experiment. Last month's egg drop was cancelled on account of Laura's early birth of her TENTH child, Tori. Tori has just been operated on in the last week. Pray for her and the whole family. I know it is not easy to continue on with all that happening in their lives.

This month's Invention Convention was bridges. You get 100 popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun. Who's bridge can hold the most weight??

Brenda and Jessica came in at a strong first place with over 135 lbs!!! Brenda swears that her bridge could have gone further if only we had more weights to put on it! Bret's was in 4th place with 36 lbs. And Marley who made a brige, air plane, picture frame, and a couple other unrecognizable things with her sticks and glue gun, decided not to put weights on her bridge.

Boonshoft Museum

Two for one at the ol' Boonshoft Museum Center. This was our activity for November. December is glass blowing. Well we went to earn a badge and hang out to play at the hands on science museum. After we earned our badge, the museum informed us that they had a chemistry program going on. We made blood and scars, boo smoke, quick sand, glow in the dark snot, fake snow, fake rock, and so much more. We barely got time to play!! What a fun adventure.

During our badge work, we checked out our finger prints, worked with a tuning fork, experimented with color, played a bunch of games, and just had a blast!!

Finally we got to hang out at the museum, check out their new meercats at their zoo and play a bit before it was time to go home. I wish we had had more time!

Orienteering

So we connected with our old troop... well what we thought was our old troop. Turns out our "old" homeschool troop has split up into other troops as well. We got an email from a friend saying they were looking for some girls to do an orienteering program with them. We are always up for a new activity. We grabbed a couple Girl Scout friends and away we went. It turned out to be far better than our Orienteering experience at Girl Scout camp. It was great to meet some new girls and start working toward our soon to be Cadette status.

Swimming Again

Although swim team is over for the season, our high school pool opens up once a week for kids to come swim from 7-9. We try to show up every week for some exercise and fun with friends. Marley and her friend have been coming here to see eachother for two years. They were making plans to get together when I took this picture. She came over the next day to hang out in Marley's new play room.

Observation Day

So yes, Bret is missing from these pictures. She asked that we DON'T come to watch her at observation day. Marley's day was easy. Nothing else is happening on Tuesdays. But Brenda's Wednesday?? Wowee. We cooked muffins and brownies for Gaige's PTO bake sale, I sat in on the PTO meeting (I am the secretary of the PTO), I headed over to meet Bret at Brenda's dance class for Observation Day, and we went to the pool afterwards for an hour swim with friends. That day WORE me OUT!

Anyway here is the one chance I get to photograph my girls in their dance class until May's recital. Marley is wearing Bret's recital outfit from two years ago. I remember I took dance once when I was little. I quit real quick though when my sister told me that it was not cool. My girls, they love it all of them!

Treasure Hunts

So while Brenda and Bret were off delivering flyers for the neighborhood watch, I took Marley on a treasure hunt. She and I found mini pine cones, leaves, and a play spatula. Come to find out the spatula works out as a great weapon. Just put a cherry with a stem in it and fling it across the street. That thing flies all the way to the other side of the street and hits Frank's house. What fun we had with that catapolt!!

Christmas Ornaments

The holiday season has officially begun at our house. We spent the day making sequint ball ornaments. They look soo good that the girls want to make a bunch more to hang up. Brenda and Bret area already working on their second ball.

"Thrift" Shopping

Marley and I hung out at the Thrift store while Dad was shopping at the men's store for suits. We were buying time, basically, but we came home with plenty! This is Marley's favorite aisle.

Afterwards we headed to the Men's store with Marley's new toys to occupy her while I helped Bret pick out matching ties...
Yet still trying on the jewelery was the best part for her.

Tea Party Style

This is all Marley can think of lately. Tea Parties, picnics, banquets, fall feasts, etc. Every day she plans a food get together of some sort or another. Usually she sets the whole thing up herself, sometimes we even get invitations if she thinks we are too busy to show up. I am considering inviting her friends to a Tea Party for her birthday party in a few weeks.

So this first picture is Marley setting up a beach picnic for lunch.



Here, Marley invited me and a whole shlew of other guests to share our tea (juice) lunch party get-together.

Another Halloween

Trick Or Treating together. Gaige even got on a mask to get some candy with us this year. Last year in our town was a crappy time so we went to a friend's neighborhood instead and the festivities seemed a little more cheerful and good natured. No I don't think that putting on his hunting gear = dressing up for Halloween. But I am sure it was warm and toasty!



Leftover loot from one bag. The good stuff!!

Pine Cone Owls

My fried, Lisa, had one of these as a tree ornament last year. I have been dying to make them with the girls ever since I saw it... but where to find a round pine cone. Marley and I located some under a tree at the park a couple weeks ago. Aren't these the cutest little things? Bret's is in the middle. It looks like it is whispering something to the guy next to him!

The missing tooth

So Marley, who is not quite 5, has lost two teeth already. The first one she lost the day we went to the forest park to pick acorns for Bret's deer hunting. We were at the park for several hours, ending with making a big leaf pile and playing in it. (That is where I got this picture from). So from there we came home, had dinner, and... realized Marley's tooth was missing. No one knew how long it was missing or where it was. It was just gone. We did have apple slices for dinner. So we scoured the house to no avail. Finally Marley got tucked in to bed without her tooth, devistated. While I was reading to her, Dad frantically hunted his drawers until he "found" the tooth. Marley said, what is all that brown stuff in it? "Oh the blood must have dried up real fast." She went to bed satisfied and the tooth fairy didn't disappoint. So take a good look at this picture. I think it proves that her tooth fell out before we even got home. lol. I will show it to her when she is much older. We will get a good laugh at the Tooth Fairy's expense.

Homeschool Find of the day

While shopping at Kroger for some fire pit goodies we came across a discount area that Brenda just HAD to stop at. I tried to explain that spending $.50 on something I didn't think we needed prior to seeing the dicount area didn't sound like a good deal to me. But we stopped anyway. Brenda found a bottle of "Glow Away" washable wall paint. And she has been wanting to add to the halloween deco for a bit now. This was a great chance for her to add some glow in the dark wall decorations of her own making. How could I say no??? Plus... it was CLEARANCE. lol. Anyway I hope it glows in the dark!!! :-)

Brenda's Knitting Frenzy

At Girl Scouts Got Talent a couple weeks ago, Brenda showcased some of her knitting. A couple girls offered to pay her for making hats for them. Brenda has been working all week on the hats. She figures even if she doesn't get paid for them, they are too cool. She wants to keep them. lol.

And so (drumroll please) Brenda's first ever two hats. And her first time working in the round. Her first time reading a pattern. And her first time making her own pattern.

Circle at Camp Kern

My drumming circle got together for September to be our wild daring selves at Camp Kern. No drums or rattles. Just a bunch of fearless devilish wild women (and a select few men, as well) climbing poles, standing on tight ropes high up on trees in the forest...



So, yeah, I am afraid of heights. Not so much when I was younger. I rode all the roller coasters and boasted that I wasn't too scared to do anything at the 7 Flags near my town. But since having kids, my stomach gets sick just swinging on swings too high. This was a little scary for me. But here I am, high up in the sky doing all kinds of things I wouldn't have believed I would do.



Funny enough when I signed up to go do this with my friends, I was excited and didn't really think ahead to what it meant to do this activity.



What was high ropes, I didn't really know. The Tango Tower, why I had never even heard of it until I showed up at Camp Kern ready for adventure. I conquered my fear. We did all nine obstacles on the high ropes. The first 3 were really scary. After that I remembered that I wasn't going to die even if I slipped. And I reminded myself to enjoy the ride. Then I did.



So glad I was there. So glad I have a great circle of friends. I wanted to take Brenda with me, but sometimes she can't decide whether or not to face her fears. Maybe when she is a bit older.

Time for Bed

These girls fight during the day, complain about eachother at night, then I sneak in to their room in the middle of the night and find this. They really do enjoy eachother and are bored when one or two of them are gone.

Steve Spangler Our New Science Guy

We are all into Steve Spangler and his science experiments these days. Then at the Homeschool Not Back To School Picnic this year Brenda ended up receiving a Steve Spangler Bubble making set that we had wanted but could not afford. We have been having big bubble fun.

Finally Get My Playroom After All

I think I posted a few months ago when Bret and I constructed a wall down the middle of our family room for Josh, Brittany and their new baby Callie. I had always wanted that wall there so the girls could have a play room, but Bret had said no. He wanted a real big family room. When we built the wall for the kids and their new baby, we asked them to committ to being here for a while. Or else it would not be worth the time and effort to build them the room they wanted. (But not-so-secretely I knew that even if they didn't stick around very long, I would get the playroom I had wanted from the beginning. lol.) And so Josh found a new girl friend and left Brittany and the baby here with us. About a month later Brittany decided to leave too. And guess what... We have a play room now!!!!!

Girl Scouts in Canoes

We took the girls to a camp lake to get some canoeing experience. They learned to board and exit safely; change seats within the canoe safely; paddle forward, backward, in circles (tehehehe), turn; and a bunch more. My girls have had several chances to canoe in the past few years, but this was a first for most of the other girls. They all had a great time, but river canoeing seems out of their plans for the time being.

Decorating Time Again

Halloween time might be the favorite for little Lily. I brought up the decorations from the basement and she has been decorating, redecorating, moving, switching the goblins and ghouls ever since.

Brenda's Turning 11

The last few years, we have had family parties for the kids' birthdays. This year, Brenda asked for a party with her friends. So we threw her a rock star sleepover. Dad got out the dance lights and smoke machine and they had a blast. I was tired the next morning as we all headed over to Home Depot for their kids workshop to finish off the party.

Coloring the sheets

So one day while Bret was in school (She decided to try school this year. It lasted 7days of school. She is back home now again.) Brenda, Marley, and I took crayons and colored my sheets that had gotten a big hole in them. Then we made the bed nice and neat and waited for dad to get home and pull the covers back to see our art. lol. Maybe it was not as funny for him as it was fun for us.

Knitting Time Again

Here is Abby's (that is Abby the dog) new winter attire. Brenda's first knitting sweater experience is for the dog. She has knitted a bunch of little monster animals as well.