i have to say...

i don't know where she gets it!

Yesterday we were doing a science project involving fruit and seeds, when all of a sudden she grabs a camera and starts shooting.

I wonder where she get this from?

Hmmm...maybe it's from seeing me grab my own camera to photograph dinner or fabric or simply anything in process.

Makes me laugh!

If she keeps this up, I will need more storage space for our photographs, since what I use is almost full.

I love this kid!

the last weekend...

...before our lives get serious again. 

It was great!

My hubs and I got to spend a little time alone, seeing an Alison Krauss concert at Red Rocks and just generally messing around for a couple of days.  It was much needed time together!

We also went to a Hot Air Balloon Festival in Colorado Springs.  This event is the only time of the year that I am actually functioning and dressed at 5:30 in the morning.  The event started at 7:00 AM so it has to be that way.  Lots of coffee got me through.

We could only talk one of our kids into going with us.  Apparently my kids get the distaste of all things "early-morning" from me.
Hot-air balloon events are so full of fun color and pattern. 

It's really amazing to me that people actually get into these contraptions.  There is no motor or steering wheel, just wind and hot-air to guide the balloonists where they want to go.  The baskets are so tiny and it just freaks me out to think of being up in the air in one.

We completely enjoyed the weekend and then spent Monday cleaning and just generally getting ready for school to start this week.  My boys will be attending a Classical Christian School for some of their classes while doing some at home, and Aubry will be doing homeschool with me. 

I am ready for a routine again.  All of our summer free-time seemed to be losing it's charm lately and the thought of having time slots for things is relieving.  It's funny how we change with the seasons, isn't it?

Have a lovely Tuesday!

my mini-ornitholigist

This past week Aubry's science topic was birds and she has really taken to this one.  She built a birdfeeder with dad's help and spends time each day sitting in a chair with a mini pair of binoculars, just waiting for her subjects to show up.  The cool thing is that I have not asked her to do this, she is just dying to see some action at her feeder.

The problem is that nothing is coming to feed.  Not one bird.  And she is feeling a bit disappointed.

Any tips for attracting birds to a feeder?  We could use some advice.

Hopefully I can post some pics of the birds at her feeder soon.  :)

a brand new school year

Today is our first day back to school.  Yes, I am starting on a holiday, but it is a holiday we don't celebrate and it seemed silly to add one more day to summer vacation.  We are ready--so ready--for a routine!

My schedule looks great on paper, but it remains to be seen how it will work in real life.  This school year my word to remember is "focus".  I need to focus on the task I am working on and quit getting distracted by everything around me.  This summer I have developed a habit of allowing distractions to take me away from the things I want to do the most.  Little time eaters that nibble away at my goals and get me nowhere.  This means that the computer will be off for a good part of the day and if is not mommy's computer time, mommy stays away from the computer.  No more checking the shop, checking comments, checking blogs, checking other shops.......you get the idea. I need to pretend that I am one of the kids with a set time on the computer.  That way it remains a good thing.

Last night we made bagels to bring in our first school morning.  This recipe is simple and the finished product is SO GOOD!.  Give these a try and you won't be disappointed, I promise.  I added some cinnamon and raisins to my dough, but you can keep them plain or get creative.

Happy day to you!

it's baaa-aaack!

Walking through Wallyworld the other day I saw the most amazing sight: the school supplies aisle! It's back already!

Don't the decision-makers in that store know that I am not ready for this?  Don't they care that the sight of those notebooks and pencils and glue sticks makes me feel just a little sick?  Aren't they aware that my summer gotta-do-this list is still really long?

They need to consult me on these things!

On today's schedule is a trip to the library to get the book Backyard Ballistics so that we can make a tennis-ball mortar.  Then I need to dig out my Little House on the Prairie Cookbook so we can make butter.  Swim lessons start next week.  The tomatoes have just barely started getting red.  We need to make homemade ice cream.  When are we gonna go camping?

And on, and on, and on...

What's on your list?

he discovers the microscope

Josiah is my science man.  He is interested in the ways things work and the way they are made.  He also likes to take things apart, so I always toss the broken small appliances to him.  Half the time he gets them to work again!

Yesterday he found the microscope and started playing with it and found all kinds of cool things to look at.

After looking at this website I realized that he was mostly looking at bubbles, but I must say that they were pretty neat looking:

Somehow I need to figure out how to take him past the bubbles and into bacteria.  Where is my biology-lovin' daughter when I need her?  :)  I just love the internet, because there is access to just about anything you want to learn about.  It makes homeschooling a bit easier!

Off to find out how to produce bacteria for my guy...

we went to the olympics

Well, it was the Science Olympiad.  No crazy athletic skills were needed, which is great because I don't think we have any!

My boys competed in Dynamic Planet, Environmental Chemistry, Herpetology, Bridge Building, and Robocross.  The day was great fun and Josiah even brought home a 3rd place medal for Robocross:

He and a group of kids helped to put together a remote-controlled car that is able to pick up objects and put them into a container.  They were thrilled when their names were called during the awards ceremony.  Of course, I had already put the camera in the car and I have no photos of them onstage.   AAARGH!

There was a lot of free time for my hubs and I and Aubry.  We spent some of the time playing The Memory Game, and as you can see Aubry beat me BIG TIME!:

That game has always been a set-up for humility since my children always win me by a large margin.

Pool was also on the agenda: And Hacky-Sack (how do you spell that?):

We left before sunrise and got home right before sunset.   My hubs and I were exhausted! The kids, of course, still had energy to fill the house with noise and activity.   We were happy when bedtime rolled around!

During the pool playing time my hubs was secretly taking pictures of me and he said that I had to post one:

A friend and I played possibly the longest game of pool on record.  We took at least 20 minutes trying to hit our last two balls in, but I succeeded in losing the game by accidentally hitting the 8-ball in before it's time.

Really we were just trying not to make our husband's feel bad about our mad pool skills.  They probably couldn't have handled it if we had set our skills free for all to see.  Men are like that, you know.

There is a possibility that one of our teams made it to the state tournament in April.  Can I be honest and say that while I am very proud of my guys and their hard work, I don't know how I feel about redoing this day all over again, and on a bigger scale.  We will be crossing that bridge when we come to it. 

I do know that we will be requiring our kids to be at least as tired we were when that day is all over!

they're blinding me with science

I am not quite sure how I got myself into this! 

I find myself surrounded with science-y things these days even though science is not my thing.

We are a part of the Science Olympiad group this year, so we are learning about Dynamic Planet, Amphibians, Environmental Chemistry, Robocross, Bridge Building and Trajectory.  Add to that the Ecology team that we joined yesterday, and I am feeling way out of my league.

Lucky for me, my boys don't know that.

I am armed with a giant pile of books and I am posing as a confident, in-the-know homeschooling mom.  So far I have them fooled.  Thank goodness for the knowledge available on the library shelves.

Did I mention that I am also teaching an inventions class at our homeschool co-op?

Someone stop me! Or at least help me.

They're blinding me with science!

homeschooling in november

The weather is beautiful here!  75 degrees and sunny the last couple of days. Josiah and Aubry have taken to the front yard with their books to bask in the sun while they work.  Of course, roller-blading between work-pages has gone on to, but I figure we are at the end of warm days, so we can soak them in and be more casual than is normal.

Aubry came in yesterday to ask me if I have ever roller-bladed.  I answered "no", but mentioned that I used to be quite the roller-skater.  She asked what roller-skaters are!  I told her that they are people who use roller-skates instead of roller-blades.  She then asked what a roller-skate is. 

Boy, do I feel old. 

I guess my golden days of Dittos, colorful combs in my back pocket and Journey blasting while the disco ball turns over the skating rink floor, are ancient times now.

Who knew?

Our school year is progressing nicely.   After so many years of doing this we have developed a nice rhythm that works for us.  We keep a schedule but are casual at the same time meaning that we have goals, but I realize that life happens and it is OK to set some things aside to go with that flow.

Aubry generally sews after she finishes her work.  The cat is her constant irritation---oops!, I mean companion.

Maddie likes to hang out with Josiah at math time.  She spends most of her time trying to persuade him to go outside and run around, but has to content herself with sitting at his side while he works.

Yesterday we made homemade pretzels that were so good!  The four of us went through 16 of them before the end of the day (the kids ate way more than I did, by the way!).  I even scored some mommy-points by opening a can of nacho cheese sauce for dipping, something I hardly ever do!  I am one of those irritating gotta-keep-my-kiddos-healthy types who shuns cheese sauce most of the time.  Who knew that cheese from a can could be so good?

The recipe for the pretzels is here.  The kids can get involved in this one with all the twisting that is needed.  You just have to get past some of the crazy non-pretzel looking shapes the kids like to come up with.  I did manage to get a few traditional ones out of them before they went freeform:

Have a great day!