New Home

You can now find me at my new home Toes in the Sand.

Darn

I have lots of pictures to share unfortunately blogger will not let me. Bummer. We have done 3 really great crafts. I hope to have them up this weekend. We also went on an amazing field trip. :(

Gone But Not Forgotten

Alligators, Goats & Snakes

It was a beautiful day out. I did not want to be stuck inside. We went for a walk around one of our outdoor malls. While there the children noticed that there was a creature had parked itself by out car. It was a 4ft alligator getting some sun. After that we decided to go a local farm. I wanted to check out their produce market. On the way to the farm we saw a "U Pick Grape" sign. Dh pulled a U turn and we ended up picking some grapes, $5 for a small basket. We were done in 5 minutes. LOL. We are going to try and make jelly out of some of them. Dh wanted to do this as an experiment. If they turn out well they will be Christmas gifts.

Once we got to the farm we went into the market and saw a ton of tomatoes. If I had the space or the materials to process them I would of bought them. There must of been ten pounds of big tomatoes for $6 and a bushel of baby romas for $13. Unfortunately, I do not have the space. After we picked up some goodies we went for a walk around the farm. We had fun walking around looking at the animals. I thought that I took a picture of a goat trying to eat from the feed machine. It was rather funny he just climbed the fence and was putting his tongue inside trying to get treats. We also met "Pooper". His real name was Humphrey, but my kids renamed him. He followed us around everywhere. The first time that he came up to us he came right up to me and put his head in my pocket. I jumped the first time. The kids thought that it was the funniest thing that they had ever seen. I would move away and sure enough he would follow me. It was rather cute. We also saw about 6 of the world's cutest piglets. They were precious. Squirrel went running to try and see them & was surprised when they took off. She thought that they were very fast. They were also very clever. I had a lot of fun watching them run around. They would approach us and then take off.

We also had an amazing opportunity to observe a turkey hen defending her nest. The nest was in a stall and a hen(chicken) and her chicks entered it. The mama turkey did not like this at all. When the chicken would get close to the turkey nest the hen would defend the nest. The kids watched for a little bit and thought that it was neat.

The funniest thing happened about 10 minutes later. Dragon wondered where the peacocks had gone to. We found then and started walking to their pens when all of the sudden Dragon let out the biggest scream that I have ever heard in my entire life. He went running with tears running down his face. I was wondering what was going on and then I noticed the 3 or 4ft grass snake that was coming fast. I scream and jump back then just start laughing my a$$ off. I found it extremely funny. I was trying to comfort him while not splitting a gut. Tracker and Squirrel came running and to see what happened. I am seriously surprised that a farm employee did not come out to make sure that everyone was ok. However, Dragon and I both started to laugh when we saw that Pooper had come hurrying to make sure we were ok. He went right to my hip. He stayed there until we started to move again, and of course he followed us.

It was a great day. We had some laughs, thrills and some more laughs. The entire way home the kids just kept saying that it was the best day.

Thankful..

I know that Thanksgiving is still a couple of months away, but tonight I am thankful.

I am thankful that we have the money to get groceries.
I am thankful that we have a roof over our head.
I am thankful that we had a great week of school.
I am thankful that I have lost a little weight.
I am thankful that tomorrow is a day off for me.

But most of all... I am thankful that it is bedtime.

Mandalas, Symmetry & The Noun Game

Today we started off focusing on life skills. The boys tag teamed the dishes and Squirrel learned how to properly fold clothes. Of course, she would not fold her brothers' clothing. She had a lot of fun. After we all did a little cleaning the kids jumped on the Wii and played for about an hour.

While I was cooking lunch, the children were coloring in mandalas. While Dragon was coloring his, we noticed that it wasn't symmetrical like the others. This lead to a conversation about what is and is not symmetrical. Dragon argued that there really is no such thing as a mirror image. He said that it cannot be the same because the mirror image is backwards and it is our eyes that fix it. I told him that I was proud of him speaking up. That he did a very good job of making his point. I honestly did not know what else to say. LOL.

After lunch, I read to the children from our current read aloud: The Seekers: The Quest Begins. The children are really enjoying this book. I am only reading one chapter a day. Today we talked about jealousy, compassion for those that are sick, and parental love. There is bear in the book that thinks he is a burden to his mother because he is healthy. I talked to the kids about how mothers never see their children as burdens. We see them as individuals and we love the fact that they are not alike.

After reading a chapter we moved onto math. The kids did their lessons. I have notived that Tracker & Dragon are really getting distracted during math. If I am not sitting at the table, they are goofing off. I have tried to talk with them. Nothing is working. Dragon is taking 45 minutes to do 3 problems. I know that this are a little bit more difficult, but he is spending most of the time staring into space. I am going to have to come up with something else, that or I cannot leave the table to go to the bathroom. LOL.

After math we took a break and watched an IMAX movie, Deep Sea. I get all of the IMAX movies from Netflix. We love them. This movie was no exception. We saw the Pacific Giant Octopus eat a crab. Talk about amazing. The kids favorite thing to watch was the sun star. This thing is HUGE and fast. I am going to try and find a way to make one. I am not quite sure how to do it. After the movie and a snack we moved onto grammar. We played the noun game. I asked Dragon if he wanted to play and he said No, but in the end he had just as much fun. What I did is label the board A-Z. We had to come up with three nouns for each letter. But they had to be different. They had to be a person, place or thing. The kids had a blast. After we played the game the kids then created their own Mad Libs. It was alot of fun.

The kids went out to play until they got hungry. All in all it was a good day.

The School Year is Back!!

We had the official launch to our homeschool year. We had the first ever NOT back to school picnic yesterday. My kiddos had a BLAST! They played for almost 4.5 hrs!! They were very excited to see their old friends and even made some new ones. It was a wonderful day to meet new people.

I am going to host a picnic at the local state park next month. I am hoping to get even more people to show up this time.

Right now we are just going to be a park day & field trip group. I do not think that we are going to start with co-ops yet. I want to make sure that everyone participates in a co-op instead of just one person.

How to Pick a Color

Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow. ~Douglas Pagels, These Are the Gifts I'd Like to Give to You

I saw this quote this evening and it really made me think. I have been told that I need to get my blood pressure under control, it is very high (check out my Beach House for more info). We all know that moms have to do a lot. I am sure that I am not the only mom that has out herself last while everyone else is getting their checkups & dental cleanings. I am now paying for these mistakes. I have always put the kids and dh before myself. I have come to a realization that I can no longer do that.

So far I have turned over several chores to the kids, turned off the TV and turned on music, watched what I ate today, and I took the time to put together a puzzle with Squirrel. :)

I just need to learn to relax during the day. I have been letting the little things get under my skin. I need to toughen up.

So how do you choose your color?

Photo courtesy of USBR