Caffeinated Moments

Thank God for Dirty Dishes

2009-12-31T07:53:00.000-08:00

Thank God For Dirty Dishes

Thank God for dirty dishes; They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry, We're eating very well.
With home, health, and happiness,
I shouldn't want to fuss;
By the stack of evidence, God's been very good to us.

Awhile back I found this poem on Jammin's Blog. I really enjoy her fresh outlook and thought it would be fun to share here.

"Once In A Blue Moon" comes around this New Year's Eve

2009-12-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

A friend shared this link with me and I thought it would be fun to post here.
This is the definition of a Blue Moon from NASA:
"Most months have only one full Moon. The 29.5-day cadence of the lunar cycle matches up almost perfectly with the 28- to 31-day length of calendar months. Indeed, the word "month" comes from "Moon." Occasionally, however, the one-to-one correspondence breaks down when two full Moons squeeze into a single month. Dec. 2009 is such a month. The first full Moon appeared on Dec. 2nd; the second, a "Blue Moon," will come on Dec. 31st."

Click here to go to the NASA page where it explains more about this.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:37:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Why Jesus is Better Than Santa Claus

2009-12-23T05:40:00.000-08:00

Wow! I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted something here.....it has been a bit crazy around our house and well, to be honest, I haven't been as disciplined as I should be with my time. But I came across this and wanted to share it with you all (if any of you are even checking in here anymore). I promise to try to be more consistent in my postings in 2010.

Why Jesus is Better Than Santa Claus

By Rev. James Spellman of Ohio

*Santa lives at the North Pole... JESUS is everywhere.
*Santa rides in a sleigh... JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
*Santa comes but once a year... JESUS is an ever present help.
*Santa fills your stockings with goodies... JESUS supplies all your needs.
*You have to wait in line to see Santa... JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
*Santa lets you sit on his lap... JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
*Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, what's your name?"... JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our head.
*Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly... JESUS has a heart full of love.
*All Santa can offer is HO HO HO... JESUS offers health, help and hope.
*Santa says "You better not cry"... JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."
*Santa's little helpers make toys... JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
*Santa may make you chuckle but...JESUS gives you a joy that is your strength.
*While Santa puts gifts under your tree... JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.

Its obvious there is really no comparison! Jesus is still the reason for the season. Yes, Jesus is better, he is even better than Santa Claus.

I found this poem over at the 1+1+1=1 blog. It is part of a lovely FREE Christmas Symbols lapbook she has put together!

IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN

2009-09-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

I saw this posted on The Old Schoolhouse's Facebook Account and couldn't pass up posting it here. It is so great!!! I think it might turn into a writing and art assignment for my boys. I'll let each of them pick something (ie. muffin, football, schoolbook, etc.) and then write about them and that item. When (or if) we finish it I will post them here!

IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN…

If you give a mom a muffin,
She’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She’ll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she’ll find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She’ll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook (”101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger”).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.S
he will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year old’s diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are…
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

by Kathy Fictorie

Fishin on the River - the Salmon are coming

2009-09-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

We have been to the river 2 times so far. The first was in our boat and we didn't have the right set up or bait. But it was sunny and warm.

The second time we went we had the right bait.....sandshrimp. We didn't take the boat since we went with friends. We were fishing on the sandbar and still didn't have MUCH luck. We had a few bites but couldn't get one to stay on the hook.

Here is the sandshrimp.

I HATE using live bait because I feel so bad for them when they get skewered onto the hook. The boys don't seem to mind though.

Josh, Marcus and Darren are on the other beach.

Tammy came to visit with Mungi and I since none of us "girls" fish.

Here is Ken's BIG CATCH. Poor little fishy!

Day at Dad's Company Picnic

2009-09-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

The day was beautiful, the food was FABULOUS (T-bones, salmon, corn on the cob, Hagendaaz ice-cream bars, etc.) BUT the wasps were everywhere when we were eating. Poor Josh - they really like him because he is SOOO SWEET. He went and sat in the truck while we were eating. The entertainment was the best. The Reptile Man came and showed off some of his collection. His zoo is really cool but we don't get there often enough - a bit of a drive for us.

Here is Josh holding Alice the Alligator. Jacob holding Alice. Looks cuddly, huh?
Jacob holding the Blue Tounged Skink. She was pretty cool and yes, she has a blue tounge.
She looks kinda like a hot dog with legs. Learn more about her here.

Jacob holding a boa constrictor. He was in heaven.
**He wants a snake but I told him he will have to wait till he gets his OWN house.**

Dad and Josh sharing a bonding moment while downing Mt. Dew....their drink of choice.

This was taken while we were waiting for the raffle drawing. We didn't win anything but it was fun waiting for the numbers to be called.

Football Jamboree

2009-09-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Jacob has his first "game" which consisted of 2 short games - 10 offensive plays per team. We won one and lost (or tied - I got a bit lost in the excitement). I will have better scores for the "real" games.

After these pictures I am convinced that I am in NEED (I'm sure it isn't just want!) of a new camera.......with a good zoom and the ability to take pictures right after each other. Jacob really is on the field in these pictures - I'm just not sure where. He is #11.

Who are we? COUGARS! Who are we? COUGARS! Who are we? COUGARS!!!

GO TEAM!

Finale of Summer - Waterslides

2009-09-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, summer has come to an end here. We started Math and Language Arts last week and will add more this week. We should be up and running full speed by Sept. 14. And, as I look out the window right now, it is storming and yucky. The caner is going with green beans in it which confirms that fall is upon us.

So, before the summer was over we had to do an afternoon at the waterslide park. The boys had a blast and the moms did too. We sat and visited while the boys ran and ran and ran. The day was beautiful and the park was not crowded so there were no long lines to wait in.

Here are the boys ready for water fun.

Football Season is here - and my BABY is playing

2009-09-06T18:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I knew it would come sooner or later but it is here NOW! My baby - who is 9 and reminds me that he is NOT a baby anymore - is now playing TACKLE football. He has played flag football for the past 2 years but has just been itching to get into tackle. His team is called the Cougars - which is a bit of a problem for the parents who are HUSKY fans (Go DAWGS!!!) - but he has good boys on the team and a wonderful coaching staff.

They started the season off with practices and a car wash to help offset the cost of the BLACK pants for our team. The Boys and Girls club provides white pants (I wonder if any of them have had children play football in white pants and then try to get the grass and mud stains out of them?????). I would have been more than happy to pay full price for the black pants just to save on laundry. I thought I would get carpal tunnel syndrome last year when Josh played tackle and wore the white pants.

Coach Darren and the boys trying to get some customers.

Jacob taking a break and playing with Wally.

Check out those good looking boys...Jacob and Marcus.

Working hard - Jacob is at the front corner.

Public School e-book

2009-08-19T06:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a chance to read this yet but I LOVE anything that comes from The Old Schoolhouse magazine. Check out this link for a FREE e-book about Christian kids in Public Schools. Click Here for your free download.

Why God Made Moms

2009-07-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

I know this is probably not new to you but I just got it in an email and it made me smile so I thought I would post it and create more smiles.

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad...

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Camping Finale

2009-07-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

Here is how we set up our tent sites.....we have 3 side by side and put the tents and the kitchen on the gravel and then the kids can play on the grass.We walked up from the campground through town to the upper lake (boy was it a hike!). Then we sat on the dock for moral support until we were too frozen to talk......we decided that since all the boys were out on the lake and we couldn't even see them we would be just as supportive back at the camp by the fire. So we drove back to camp.

Poor Obbie was so cold on this night that he crawled into Ken's sleeping bag before we went to bed. It looks like we tucked him in but he did his own tucking!

Jacob found a lizard.....are you surprised after all his animal adventures when we first got here?

This is our knitting circle. Angie learned how to knit this year and I actually finished a whole dishrag in this trip. I learned last year but it took me all year to finish the dishrag I started last year.

Jacob had to go for one last ride in Tammy's new kayak. He sure can move in that thing!

Jacob caught a nice rainbow out of the lower lake.

This is the annual group photo.Here's the boys before Aaron and Marcus left on Friday. We stayed until Sunday so the boys were a bit sad to see their friends go home earlier than us.

Gene, the owner of Liar's Cove, even got in on the silly picture!

Once everyone left, we walked to town and got ice cream cones at the store.

The boys got to kayak with Averie - the granddaughter of the owners. They were helping around the campground so they earned free kayak rides. They went all the way across the lake and explored the irrigation dam and then raced back.

The boys got a raft from Uncle Scott and Aunt Val. Jacob took me out for the maiden voyage while Josh watched from the dock.

Obbie was exhausted since the boys and Averie took him on a walk to town Friday and Saturday.

We had a close encounter with a nice deer. Jacob and Grandpa were able to feed her.

Jacob even got an eye to eye look!

The kids were using the golf cart to help with picking up garbage and pinecones.

They were nice and gave Grandpa a ride up to his cabin.

One last trip to the upper lake to catch bass. It sure does taste good. Josh likes it cooked with butter and Johnny's seasoning. We like it deep fried with beer batter or panko crumbs. YUMMY!One final kayak ride Sunday morning before we left.

On the way home we stopped in Winthrop to get ice cream, caramel apples and caramel marshmallows. Josh has been wanting a gold pan so he found one there. He was very excited (don't mind the false smile - he is in a goofy stage when it comes to pictures right now).

Jacob and I played mini golf. We didn't keep score but we were both pretty even.

Day of fishing on the Columbia River

2009-07-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Each year we drive about 1 1/2 hours to the river to fish near the "pens". A company from Eugene, OR owns HUGE fish pens in which they raise tripiloids to sell to restaurants or whomever will buy them. The pens are just big nets in the water so when they get holes in them some fishies can swim out. The workers feed the fish each day so the fish that escape stay around the pens to get "free" food. We are able to fish right next to them and boy, have we seen some BIG fish!

Ken, Josh, Clint and Aaron were in our boat.

Tammy reading in Big Blue (Pops' boat - Tammy's dad)

The many poses of Jacob while fishing!The messy work of fishing!

Marcus is exhausted after a hard day of fishing.

He is sitting with Grani while Pops is driving us back to the boat launch.The cattle are open range around this area and have a trail down to the river to get water.

It's the first time I've seen cows lounging on the beach!

The boys examining their catches. The dads got skunked but between the boys we got 8 fish!

Josh caught the biggest one we have ever caught. It was 8 1/2 pounds. He had a great time bringing it in and had to work his muscles overtime! Even with his bum finger he was able to land the fish!

2009-07-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

On Monday, July 6, we decided to go to Pizza Hut for the Lunch Buffet! Little did we know that was good planning because there was a HUGE storm that blew in for the 2 hours we were gone. The rain drops were the size of gumballs (according to Jacob). It rained and blew and then it was over and the sun came back out!

Fishin' Stories

2009-07-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

The fishing was good! Ken cleaned the boys fish (he didn't want to end up in ER with a severed finger incident - Darren didn't have enough tape for that!). The boys really enjoy fishing for bass since they are always casting and reeling in. They get a bit bored still fishing for trout. Our friend Angie cleaned her own fish! What a gal! She even built the best campfires!!!

INJURY

2009-07-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

On July 4th, after dark of course, the dads took the kids up to the earth dam and shot off fireworks. It is fun for all! And the best part is going on July 5th to look for fireworks that got missed in the dark. The boys usually come away with some fun treasures. This year, Josh came away with an injured pinkie finger. We thought it might be broken but once again, Darren came to the rescue and tapped it up. I was ready to run to the clinic but the men all conferred that for fingers the Dr.s do the same thing if it is broken or sprained.....tape and a popsicle stick.
Good thing Darren came prepared to rescue us more than once this week!

July 4 Parade

2009-07-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

It's the big day- the Conconully July 4th Parade. The boys have been waiting all year for this.....and Jacob had some problems. First, they each decorated their bikes so they could ride behind the Liar's Cove Resort's float (that is the resort that we stay at - just remember it is a fishing "resort" no spas around here!). Well, here is Jacob's bike all fixed up and ready to go.
As he was taking a ride through the campground to test out the decorations, he blew a tire. Not just got a flat but it popped! What a BUMMER. But our friend Darren came to the rescue and said that Jacob could ride on the back of his bike.....so we transferred all the decorations to Darren's bike. They did a test drive and Jacob thought that it would work.

As soon as that was finished, Jacob got a bloody nose that lasted for a while. He was just about ready to throw the towel in. He said, "Maybe I'll just skip the parade." Poor guy! I told him that we could find the float and see if he could ride on it instead of the bike. That made him feel a bit better.

Off to town we went, the kiddos on the bikes and the parents walking (just a few blocks through a trail)....did I mention that it was a hot day? I heard one person say it was around 103*. All I know is that it was hot and I was sweating. Jacob and I walked around the 3 blocks a couple of times trying to find the float....it was at the front of the line and we were looking at the back! Anyway, we found it and Jacob was able to ride on the float. He was sure happy that it all worked out!

I'm not sure if you noticed that Jacob (in the red shirt) is in 2 different spots in the pictures. The parade is so fun (and a bit short) that they go around the parade route (2 blocks) 2 times. So, he must have gotten bored and moved himself once they were in line again.

First Day of Camping

2009-07-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

We arrived at our campsite in Conconully on Friday evening. While we set up camp the boys started fishing.

Josh caught fish - which of course is the purpose of this trip!

Jacob caught three different kinds of animals in about one hour between dusk and dark......this was after he caught a few fish.

First, the turtle.......

Then the HUGE frog (which he promptly put right in my face so I could see it better!).......

And FINALLY the bat....yes, I said BAT! He was fishing for bass but the bat must have done something wrong with his echolocation sensors and ended up wound up in the fishing line.Yes, my son gets the award for the most "unusual" catch of the trip! And it was just the first day! Ken was able to get the bat unwound from the line but the little bat was not happy. He kept opening his mouth like he wanted to bite all of us. When it finally did get free, guess where it landed? ON ME!!! I did run around yelping but thankfully it didn't bite me. I didn't really want to spend our first night camping back in town at the hospital getting rabies shots. So, he flopped off of me and sat stunned on the gravel for a few minutes. Then Ken took a branch to touch it to see if it was alive and he flew off. WHEW! What a start to our trip!

Jacob's Smilebox for our 2008 Conconully Trip

2009-06-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Josh's Smilebox for Pasco fishing trip

2009-06-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrap pages

Another NATURAL Happy Face

2009-06-10T04:38:00.000-07:00

Nancy, this one is for you!!!

Jacob got a scrape on his arm and if you use your imagination......you can kinda see a face - the 2 eyes, nose, and the straight mouth - not really smiling 'cuz it hurt a bit!

Memorial Day

2009-06-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

We went to visit my brother and sister-in-law for Memorial Day weekend this year. What a great time we had. The boys went fishing on Sunday and the girls went to lunch and did some shopping! That is my kind of relaxing!

My brother was in the military so he took us to their local cemetery to see the Memorial Day celebration. There were flags everywhere! Each flag stands for a soldier who has passed away and has a small name plate on it. Talk about a powerful visual! I have been very interested in supporting the soldiers - especially since a boy that I watched grow up in our church went to Iraq a few years ago to drive tanks. I was blubbering on the back row of the church when the pastor prayed for him before he left for his mission. I was holding Josh who was quite small at the time and just kept thinking - "I couldn't do that - let my baby go off to fight in a war!" His mom was very well put together and she told me "If God is calling him over there, then who am I to say no?" WOW! What maturity she has shown me over the last few years.

So, needless to say, I saw all these flags and just couldn't help but think about the family members who were remembering those who fought for my freedom. I did get a bit teary eyed while walking through the cemetery. Boy, this sure does make it very clear that FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!

Thank you to all who are willing to sacrifice time and life for our freedom! Our prayers are with you!

Here are the boys with their cousin Seth. He is 4 and did not want his "new friends" to leave.

Here is a pathway with the flags displayed along the sides.

In the center of the cemetery there was a pond with a couple of swans and some REALLY BIG fish - the boys wanted to get their fishing poles but we calmed them down and explained that you can't fish in a cemetery! They were not happy since they could see the HUGE bass just being lazy in the shallow pond but they did cooperate.

Here is a picture of the area for the service that they had set up on the other side of the pond (with the HUGE fish -did I mention that already?)

More flags on display.

More flags.....

My brother decided that he wanted flag with his name on it. Then I reminded him that he had to die before he could get one! I told him not to rush it.....we might just have to get him one for Christmas as a joke!

Lucky the Mourning Dove

2009-06-10T04:28:00.001-07:00

This is Lucky Bird! My mother-in-law rescued it from their backyard in Yuma, AZ. So, what to do when they came home for the summer? Bring it with her of course! She has been hand feeding it and all the way up to the Pacific Northwest it sat in her lap or on her shoulder or in it's little box. The bird is really cute but we like to give her a hard time about being the CRAZY BIRD LADY! Here is Jacob holding Lucky. Every time Grandma would walk away and the boys would go over by him, he would start cheeping and ruffling his feathers. By the end of the night he was a bit more relaxed around the boys.

Here is one of Lucky sitting on Josh's hand.

Josh thinks he has died and gone to heaven. He has been wanting a bird and now we can live vicariously through Grandma (aka CRAZY BIRD LADY). He was trying to convince me to buy it from Grandma but the poor little bird follows her around and thinks she is the mother. I couldn't bear to take it away from her - and, for the record, she won't give it up. Now the only problem is what to do with Lucky when we go camping in a couple of weeks.....she didn't think of that when her soft little heart got her into this predicament.

This whole situation kinda reminds me of a story Ken's parents tell about Ken when he was younger. He was on his way home from school and found a poor chicken in an alley in town. The chicken didn't have any feathers and had been played with/chewed on by the neighborhood dogs. Ken (and his soft heart - wonder where Josh gets his compassion for animals?) rescued the chicken and brought it home. His dad said he could keep it if it lived (and all of us parents know.....that is not a smart thing to say because the love and care of a child can bring anything from the brink of death back to a rip-roaring life!).

Well, guess what?! She lived and Ken named her Henrietta. Well, Henreitta was quite the part of the family. She would ride on the back seat of the station wagon while they traveled to see the grandparents. WHAT A SIGHT THAT WOULD BE, huh?! She even made friends with the family German Shepherd.

Soooooo, all that to say.......no wonder we are where we are!

Oh, and I just happened to find the book "Are You My Mother?" at a garage sale this weekend and thought it was appropriate for the situation. My mother-in-law got a good chuckle out of that one!

New Learning Opportunity

2009-06-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

This year the boys have tried some online learning programs. I enjoy them because there is less planning for me but I also miss "teaching" the concepts. But, sometimes it is better to have someone else explain - especially the math that Josh is getting into now. I know how to do it but am not very good at explaining it. We started with one but I wasn't happy with how the boys could click through the explanation and then just do the problems and not understand the concept at all. I also didn't like the record keeping part of it. I had a hard time figuring out what the boys had covered and what they didn't get. They enjoyed the freedom of doing their work on the computer independently but I felt like I didn't have a clue about what they were doing.

I began searching google and checking with other homeschoolers online and..........I was so excited to find Time 4 Learning! What a great program. We signed up for the 14 day trial and now I am hooked! We will be doing 1 lesson a day throughout the summer in the Math and Language Arts areas. If the boys want to do the Science or Social Studies lessons that would be fine by me but we will see. They have lessons from pre-K through 8th grade. Then next fall the boys will use it for their 4th and 7th grade curriculum.

This program is the best! It has all the lessons laid out for the parent to see and the kids have the chapters on the first page they open. They can either first listen to all the lessons or try the chapter test if they feel confident that they know the concepts in that chapter. If they pass the test, great. If they don't, then they just do the lessons and activities and then do the test again. The lessons consist of small animated video clips and then questions to review the information given in the clip. The boys know they are doing "school" but it isn't as painful as pulling out the book and working in it. I also like that they get immediate feedback on a wrong answer, rather than waiting for me to correct their lesson (sometimes it would be a few days before I would get to their book) and then having to do the lesson over because they missed a small piece of the formula.

I can print out a report of their activity with test and quiz scores daily, weekly or monthly. I am printing weekly right now and think this is working well. I will just keep this with our weekly schedules so I know where the boys are in their progress.

Can I say it again? I AM SO EXCITED TO FIND THIS! Check out the website at http://www.time4learning.com/ and see how well it will work with your own kiddos! The 14 day trial period leaves you with nothing to lose! And, being as un-techy as I am, I have already had to call the support number. The people on the other end of the line are so helpful and friendly!

If you sign up, please say that you heard about it from me. Time4Learning does most of their advertising by word of mouth and members can earn a free month by referring other people to them.

Crystals

2009-05-13T04:34:00.001-07:00

The boys got crystal growing sets for Easter. This went along great with our Future Rock Hounds of America program since we just were working on the Crystal Badge.

Jacob wanted to show the steps of how to make crystals. So, here we go!

First, open the crystal starting package:

Then, make sure the goggles are in place and pour the crystal starter in the mixing container.

Add boiling water.

Then stir until all the mixture is dissolved.Pour the dissolved mixture over the rock in the growing box.WAIT, WAIT, WAIT for those little crystals to start growing.

Patience is a virtue!

Pool and Gecko Fun

2009-05-12T20:52:00.001-07:00

Have I mentioned that I love the sun and relaxing by the pool. I could definitely live somewhere warm (year round as opposed to the NW where it is cool and usually rainy). Although I do realize that I am just enjoying vacation and don't have the daily responsibilities, I still think that the daily routine would be nicer in the warm sun!!!!

Jacob lounging in the pool!

The pool felt soooo good!

Lots of splashing and jumping in to make bigger splashes!!

Once darkness falls, it's time for GECKO PATROL.

Here are some of the geckos we found out front. There weren't many in the backyard this year. Or else, they had really good hiding places in all the crevices and rocks.

We found this guy just after he caught a moth. He didn't eat it in front of us. Maybe he thought we would want some too. But, not to worry~ we were full from our own dinner.

This year, I don't think any geckos lost tails due to us. Last year the record was not so good. The good thing (for us) is that we discovered the tails wiggle all over to distract the attacker so the gecko can get away!! God sure did cover all the bases in His creation!

We did find one gecko from last year that had 2 tails - the original one and the one that started growing back.

These are the Mediterranean Gecko. Click here to learn more about them.

Time in YUMA, AZ

2009-05-12T18:57:00.001-07:00

The Yuma Proving Ground is a HUGE area of desert used by the military to train soldiers for desert work. Sometimes when you drive by you can see tanks doing maneuvers. This time we didn't see any action on the field but we did see a few convoys of soldiers driving back to the base. It was amazing to actually see them ready to protect us like they will overseas! They were in all their gear in the back of military jeeps. It was hot for us in shorts and t-shirts. We finally understood a little of how hot it must be for them while they are protecting our freedom! THANK YOU to all those who choose to protect us!!!! FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!

Here are some of the tanks that are on display at the proving grounds.
The boys love the piccolo pete's on Fourth of July and we found a giant sized one!!! Can you imagine the noise this must make???!!!

Here is a picture of a bee hive that sprung up on one of the missile launchers. Ken didn't get too close to take the picture and the boys and I were running the opposite direction incase he made them mad!

I think this one is called the Johnny Rocket. WOW! Are they big or what?! I sure am glad that I am on our side and not on the receiving side of these missiles!

Here is a shot of a tank. Once again, I was reminded of the heat of the desert and being inside a metal enclosure....can anyone say, "HOT!!"? I'm not sure if they have A/C now but in the older tanks I'm sure they didn't!Check out the photo gallery from the Yuma Proving Ground website...some amazing pictures!

MEXICO!!!! What fabulous food they have! We always eat at Lupita's Taco Cart when we go down. This year we got to go there 2 times!!!! YUMMY! They make fish and shrimp tacos right in front of you! And boy are they good! I am going to try to make one at home but I'm not sure it will have the same authentic taste.

This is Lupita's brother making our tacos

After you get your tacos you proceed to the topping area where they have shredded cabbage, sour cream dressing, 2 types of salsa, and limes. Here is a picture of mine. I just put cabbage, sour cream and lime on mine!!!! Oh sooooooo good!

Here is Jacob eating his 3rd taco and working on his 2nd bottle of Fanta.

This was after he gave us a bit of a scare. His blood sugar dropped to 36 while we were standing in line for our tacos. Ken went and grabbed him a Fanta and we had him start drinking it. Then the hunger kicked in. It is God's way of making the body kick into survival mode when the blood sugars drop so low. Normally he can eat 1 or maybe 2 tacos but he chowed down on 3 today.
We stopped in Oatman, Arizona this year to let the boys see the wild burros. Usually there are quite a few that wonder into town each day to get snacks from the tourists. This year there were only 2 in town so they were getting all the attention and carrots they could eat.

This is a picture of REALLY WILD burros. We saw them in the desert just a few miles outside of Oatman. They were just off the road munching on whatever it is that they munch on in the desert. It all looked pretty dry and yucky to me but they must like it! As luck would have it, we had carrots in the car so the boys wandered out to feed them while I stayed in the car and chewed my nails hoping they wouldn't get kicked or stampeded. The burros were very nervous as the boys approached them. They patiently waited to see if one would get close enough to feed.

AND.........persistence finally paid off.

Josh got to feed this one. He is the only one that came to eat our goodies.

The others trotted a ways off and watched with their ears twitching.

While we were at Grandma and Grandpa's we played games.

The boys liked to try to beat Grandpa at Skip-Bo. They got pretty good at it, too!
We also had almost nightly games of Mexican Train.

Of course, one of the highlights is ROCK HOUNDING in the desert. Once again, did I mention how hot the desert is? And it's not even summer yet! That gets me to thinking about how the pioneers survived coming across the desert to settle the west. It is really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter. I can't even imagine!!

Exploring the mountain. They found lots of Rose Quartz and some Copper.

Here is a picture of an ocotillo in bloom. They grow very tall so I couldn't get a great picture of the blooms. Check this out to see more blooming pictures!

END OF THE YEAR....getting close

2009-05-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Each year at this time I get spring fever! I want official school to be over and I want to play (and have the boys learn without really knowing it). I also get excited about planning for next year. I like to go over this year and decide what worked, what didn't, and how we can make next year even better!

So, having said that, I haven't been as strict about getting all our work done. BUT, miracles haven't ceased! Yesterday, we did almost all of our subjects (we ran out of time before we could read our Geology chapter) and the boys didn't complain one time! I couldn't believe it. I think it was God's grace to tell me that we can make it through the rest of the year and finish up what needs to be done.

I am very excited about next year. We will be doing a Unit Study from My Father's World called Exploring Countries and Cultures. This curriculum will take us around the globe following missionaries, learning geography, science (different eco-systems of the different countries), art and music. I am so excited to be challenged by the true missionary stories.
I am looking at using Switched-On-Schoolhouse for math next year. Does anyone have any comments about that? The boys have been using ALEKs math for the last couple of months and really like doing the work on the computer.

FIND OF THE LIFETIME!!!! (well, that might be a bit dramatic but wait till you read the whole story) I have been struggling with both boys to get the multiplication tables memorized. Then, my friend Tammy told me about Timez Attack. I can't get the boys away from this! It is a fun little video game that helps the kids visualize multiplication. It is really working! Hopefully, you will find it as helpful and fun as we did (if you are looking for multiplication help).

Baseball Season

2009-05-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Jacob decided to play baseball this season. He played T-Ball back in Kindergarten but hasn't played on a team (he is always wanting to play catch in the yard) since then.

His 9th Birthday was May 9 and he had a game that morning. Friday at practice he told the coach that he would like to try pitching. He neglected to tell us this or we would have practiced with him. So, Saturday came and guess who pitched the first inning???? OUR SON! Whew! I was a nervous wreck for him. He did pretty good for never having done it before. He concluded that pitching is hard and a bit nerve racking.

Here's Coach Jim helping with a few pointers to get him started.

THEN, he decided that he wanted to try catching! Well, like before, we would have practiced with him if we would have known. He gave it a try and decided that catching is a bit scary and would just stick to fielding.

Right after the replacement catcher came in, he got his thumb hurt by the ball. That cinched it for Jacob. Yep, sticking to the fielding!

Jacob Made Lunch

2009-05-12T12:53:00.001-07:00

I think we have been hanging around Nancy too much, as we are now taking pictures of food! Jacob was making lunch and he arranged the tater tots in this way and said, "I have to take a picture of this and put it on the blog!" So, here it is!!! Talk about a Happy Meal!!

Tis the Season

2009-05-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

I know, you're thinking "It's not Christmas!" and you are right! But it is the season for TADPOLES. We have a tadpole nursery here in our house. God has blessed the boys with a water retention pond (aka swamp, mosquito breeding ground, etc) across the street. What a heavenly place for boys in the spring and summer. All sorts of fun things can be found there. They came home with frog eggs- thus the nursery in our house. As they were setting up the eggs in the jars and tank, they were able to actually WATCH a couple of the tadpoles hatch out of the eggs!!! It doesn't get much better than that!

Here is Jacob's set up. He put the eggs he collected in a small fish tank that was in the garage. Now I know why I keep these kinds of things!

Here is an up close picture of his eggs. It's kinda blurry, but you get the idea.

Here is how Josh set up the eggs he collected....He has them in separate jars for the separate stages in their young lives.
Here is the jar with the eggs in it.

Here are some of the babies that hatched last night. They are so tiny!!

Here are some of the babies that are bigger. He boiled lettuce so they could munch a bit. We will be letting these little guys go pretty quick!

Now, of course, the research starts. We know that tadpoles each boiled lettuce but I think they are going to need more than that. Google and Wikipedia here we come!

Vacation Update

2009-05-12T12:30:00.001-07:00

Here we are at the Grand Canyon - it took a bit of encouraging to get the boys to sit this close to the edge - there was another small ledge behind us but it was still kinda spooky!

Our trip to the Grand Canyon was better than expected - except for the multiple heart attacks I almost had when people were not using the common sense God gave them. If you have never been to the Grand Canyon all I can say is GO! It actually took my breath away when we got the first glimpse. BUT the trail is VERY, VERY close to the drop of the canyon side. There was a lookout that actually was built on the edge (I can't imagine cleaning the windows...it makes my knees shake just thinking about it). It was amazing to be able to look straight down and not be too nervous. The park has done a great job of making safe places to check out the views but people tended to make their own lookouts right next to signs that said something like: Stay on the trail. Death may occur when people fall. Duhhhhhhh!

Here are the boys by a model of all the layers of the canyon.

Check out the cool cave God formed for us! It was amazing!

Thankfully the boys were very cautious around the edges and stayed on the trail. So I didn't have to worry (too much).

We saw a cute little squirrel. Of course the signs say "Don't feed the animals" but how could you not feed this cute little guy????? (I can tell by his "fluffy" tummy that we aren't the only suckers out there!)

And guess what??? The boys just happened to have sunflower seeds in their backpack. It was so cute to watch him shell the seed, throw the shell away, eat the seed and then look up for more.

In Psalm 46:10 God says,"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

Well, let's just say I was speechless (which is quite a feat for me) and boy, did I know that God was exalted in the earth when I gazed at the Canyon. The picture above shows me God's power. It looks like He was just playing with the rocks and stacked them up like that for us to wonder - HOW IN THE WORLD DID THEY GET THERE?!

These pictures don't even do the Grand Canyon justice. If you want to check out a really cool book from a Creation view GRAND CANYON: a different view is a great find!

Vacation & Field Trip Update

2009-04-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

Greetings from cool Northern Arizona! We have had a very busy few days since we started our journey on Wednesday. We flew out Wednesday morning and then were able to visit with family friends in Phoenix. We were greeted with a cold wind (that I hear came from Washington) and cloudy skies - the sun was shining but boy, the clouds were dark. I thought I was back home except for the palm trees!Thursday we went to Montezuma's Castle and Well. The weather was sunny with a few clouds but VERY COLD! WOW! I can't believe how the early native people lived! They had to climb the ladders with their babies, water or anything else that needed to be brought into the living spaces (and I complain about carrying the laundry up and down the stairs. Here is a link to the castle's website http://www.nps.gov/moca/. Check it out because the history is amazing! The boys even found a baby rattlesnake crossing the path at Montezuma's Well. It was so cold the poor little thing could hardly make it across the sidewalk and he was trying to shake his little tail but it wasn't working very well.

Below is a picture of the well. The water is a constant 74*. The people lived around the well and also used the water for irrigating their crops. Check out the website here http://www.nps.gov/moca/planyourvisit/exploring-montezuma-well.htm.
After we got warmed up in the car.....we headed to Prescott to visit more friends from the past. You will never guess what happened while we were eating dinner....it SNOWED! We couldn't get a picture of it but it was very fine snow BUT it was still SNOW! Brrrrrrrr....... The boys got to play video games with Matt and thought they had died and gone to heaven!

Friday morning we went out for breakfast at Waffles 'n More and it was YUMMY! Then we headed of to Sedona to see the beautiful sights. WOW! God is amazing in his creation. How can people look at things like this and not believe in Him? Here are some of the beauties we saw.

Scriptures for Focusing on

2009-04-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was with our Mom's In Touch prayer group and Julie from Herding Grasshoppers did the prayer focus on purity. WOW! When I used to think of purity I always thought of the sexual and physical dress aspects. She pointed out how our children would be saved much heartache if they could filter their lives, actions, and attitudes through Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

After a powerful prayer time yesterday where we prayed that scripture over each and every one of our children, I decided that I needed it printed out and PLASTERED around my house. I am putting one on the fridge and in the bathroom. I should put one on the steering wheel to remind me when I am driving! ;o)

I also added a couple more scriptures to this page -

Ephesians 6:12 - 18
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Romans 12:14
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Romans 12:17 - 19
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

I am hoping the ones from Romans will help with a bit of sibling rivalry that is going on (and also for my driving frame of mind!) SHEESH! I didn't realize I had so many things to work on too!! It's like God is chuckling when I find scriptures to share with the boys about behavior and attitude and He says, "Really???? I think you should look at those and learn to apply them to your life too!!!" Boy, do I still have a LONG way to go! But THANK YOU, JESUS that you could look on me in all my impurity and still love me enough to die on the cross and rise again - conquering death for me ONCE and FOR ALL!

Simple Woman #1

2009-03-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

FOR TODAY March 23, 2009

Outside My Window... my boys are skateboarding on a ramp they made on the sidewalk

I am thinking... that I don't like feeling yucky and really want to be better

I am thankful for... small blessing and super friends

I am wearing... sweats and a sweatshirt

I am going... nowhere today.....

I am reading... My Son, the Savior by Melody Carlson

I am hoping... to get caught up on laundry and ironing

I am hearing... Jacob munching on chips and salsa

Around the house... are Star Wars toys and Legos

One of my favorite things... sitting in the boat (on a warm sunny day) watching the boys fish

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... work on Wednesday and Friday and homeschool in between

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Jacob and me in the kayak - sooooooo relaxing!

ART CLASS IS FABULOUS

2009-03-22T13:51:00.001-07:00

Here is a creation that Josh spent about 8 weeks working on at Art Class. It is a Republic Venator Class Cruiser. He used a glue gun, LOTS of glue, and popsicle sticks. I am amazed at the detail that he added to it. You might not be able to see it in the pictures but there are tiny toothpicks that are part of the radar gear (I think). He even made stands for this out of popsicle sticks but I didn't get those in the pictures.

Catching Up!

2009-03-22T13:25:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I have been blogging here. God has done many things to show his presence and his power. My brother had his foot amputated March 6 and is already in his new MAN CAVE to celebrate. We went to visit with some other cousins and here are the pictures of the kiddos with their "gear" on before heading into the room.

And of course we had to make a joke and get him the FOOT BOOK since his foot was leaving!

God has also blessed us with another season of Coach Brian for Josh's soccer team. Now, the rest of the story.......Brian is coaching 3 teams now and he doesn't even have his son on our team anymore but he was willing to coach us for one more season IF he could have someone help him with coaching. Well, Joanne and I were DESPERATE to keep him as the boys coach for one more season so.....in a weak moment (without really thinking) we said that we would be his assistant coaches. I was thinking more in the area of helping with practice. BUT as my luck would have it our first game was yesterday and Brian coached the first half of our game and then had to go coach one of his other teams during our second half. Joanne and I did our best but we were definitely floundering. We made it through but I just checked out SOCCER FOR DUMMIES so I will have more of an idea as to what the REAL rules are. I have only watched for the last 5 years and NEVER played so I really don't have a clue as to what the specific rules are. We did end up with enough kids on the field each time and I think we did a pretty good job of subbing. Hats of to Coach Brian!!!! Coaching is a really hard job.

Let's see.......God has also blessed us with steady income during this time of economic distress. Ken's job is still strong and we are continuing to pray that it will stay that way. I will also be working more days (I just work on-call so I can be available for the kids more than a strict schedule).

God has also blessed me with amazing friends. I haven't been feeling well lately and Tammy has stepped up and helped BUNCHES with the boys and even shared her heating pad! God know who to put in my life and I am so thankful that it includes Tammy. She has also been teaching our Geology lessons and it is amazing! We are doing the Future Rockhounds of America badge program. The boys already have earned one badge and are getting ready to start on anther.

We are also blessed by planning for family vacations......We will be heading to Arizona in April - which I am counting the days down to SUN and WARMTH. Jacob on the other hand has a countdown on our fridge of the days left to go fishing. Today marks 103 days left - we don't go till July 3 but that hasn't stopped him at all in the planning of the trip. He has the tackle boxes out on the counter and his fishing poles already rigged and ready to roll!

In June, we also get to go visit my family for a reunion in SUNNY California! We might even be able to hit Six Flags for a day!

AND the boys have been taking piano (Jacob) and guitar (Josh) lessons. Each of the boys had a kid sized guitar and Josh has been using that. BUT since he is almost 12 his poor fingers have to scrunch to get the chords right. On our way home from soccer yesterday we passed a garage sale. We decided to stop, since we all LOVE to find a great deal. They had a guitar that sounds GREAT and we were able to pick it up for Josh for only $50. Talk about a blessing from Heaven! He is loving it and learning to stretch his fingers a bit more to get the chords right.

Then FINALLY, yesterday Julie called me and asked if the boys could come over. I had a meeting to go to (with my mom - who usually watches the boys if we have plans) and so did Ken so we were going to leave the boys home which makes me a bit nervous but they are old enough. Well, God just took care of my worries and the boys went to play at Dino-opolis at Julie's! THANKS FOR BEING A BLESSING, JULIE!

Weekend Pictures

2009-02-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

I was blessed to be able to go along on our church's Middle School retreat this weekend. We went up to the Mountain near us and had an awesome time meeting with God. We had a great speaker who explained the love of Jesus to the kids in really concrete ways and also explained how to be contagious for God (there were a few germs flying around so we were trying to be ONLY contagious for Jesus and not germs!). God cultivated some hearts and the speaker planted the seeds. I can't wait to see what God grows in these hearts!

Here are some pictures of our sledding day. It was so beautiful up there! The sun shined the WHOLE day and we even had to take our jackets off at different times because we got so warm! It still amazes me how you can be on snow but be hot and have to take your coat off! The kids had a great time and there were no serious injuries - just some bumps and bruises.

SPRING - not yet!

2009-02-25T18:41:00.000-08:00

So, being that is February 25th and a few of my little flowers are poking through the ground, I was hoping that spring was JUST around the corner. Did the groundhog see his shadow this year? I never pay attention since God does have it all under control - shadow or not! BUT I was sure that spring and the warm summer sun rays were close in coming.

That is until today! We now have 3 inches of snow on the ground! This morning it rained HARD and I continued thinking "Yep! It's spring!" Then there were the few RANDOM snowflakes, THEN it started snowing instead of raining but it wasn't sticking....YET! I took a bit of a nap - I know, I know, I know.....but I am still recovering from a weekend with 48 middle schoolers at a church retreat! SO.....when I woke up around 5ish I could see NO grass! We shall see if this lasts or is gone in the morning! Here is what it looked like outside our back door! It was snowing so hard I couldn't even see the hill behind our house!

I guess I shouldn't be surprised (whoever invented Global Warming is crazy!) at the snow since last spring one of the boys soccer games was cancelled due to snow and then it SNOWED again on the make-up game! I am thinking it is more Global Cooling in this part of the country but I am no scientist - just an observer of actual happenings!

Jacob's Biggest eBay Find!

2009-02-25T18:29:00.000-08:00

Here is Jacob with the lot of 19 Star Wars action figures he found on eBay.

Josh was just beside himself since he didn't have enough money to purchase this set and Jacob did. Now, Jacob has come close to catching up with Josh on the number of action figures he owns. They had to name each one for me and explain who it was. Hmmm....they keep forgetting that I DON'T REALLY CARE about Star Wars people. THEY AREN'T REAL!!!!!!!! If only they would remember the mulitplication facts as well as Star Wars facts, my life would be complete (well, not really, but it would be closer!).

Scriptures that spoke to me today

2009-02-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

We are taking a 12 Step Spiritual Journey class at church and it is a bit hard to look at all the yucky things in our lives. As I was doing my Esther Bible Study homework today I came across these scriptures and am going to apply them to my 12 Step Class as well. No, I don't have any "major" addictions but if we are honest, we all have "stuff" to deal with. This class is a great eye opener for me and lets God open the door to the places I haven't wanted to look. But it is ugly in those dark places and then I get discouraged thinking that I will never meet the mark. Which is true, I won't on my own but that is the best part of the story! The Holy Spirit will never leave me and this is proof to me today! These scriptures show God's grace and mercy even when I feel I don't deserve it.

Joel 2:13
He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

Psalm 40:1-3
I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. he lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

Psalm 56:3-4
When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

Acts 3:19-20
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you - even Jesus.

Favorite Quotes from The Old Schoolhouse magazine

2009-02-16T10:18:00.000-08:00

"I don't want my children fed or clothed by the state, but if I had to choose, I would prefer that to their being educated by the state." - Max Victor Belz

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". . . the measure of your life's accomplishments is not in the number of failures but the tenacity of your spirit . . . Your distinction is not in the fact that you have failed. Most, if not all, people fail at some point. The distinction will be when you get back up . . ." - David Shibley

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"Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb, brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pinecones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries, and hornets; and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education." - Luther Burbank

New Year's Day "fun"

2009-01-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

We had a very mellow New Year's Day. We celebrated New Year's Eve at a friend's house and stayed up WAY past our (the adults) bedtime. So we slept in and just hung around the house in a daze of too little sleep.

Around 4 pm Jacob slipped as he was running by this desk ...

and fell with his eye landing on the corner pictured. He started yowling and being concerned parents we jumped off the couches where we were dozing (again) and ran to him. He was laying on the floor, so I picked him up and saw blood trickling (thankfully it wasn't gushing) from his eye. Ken got a wet rag and we were able to assess the damage.

Funny side note: Josh came running from the back of the house yelling, "I didn't do it!" Do you think we have a guilty complex?

God, in His mercy, kept Jacob's eye safe and he didn't need stitches. He didn't even get a black eye out of this. Just a swollen eye the next day and then he was back to normal! Whew!

HAPPY NEW YEAR - a little late, I know!

2009-01-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I am back now - took a small break over Christmas to get regrouped. That didn't turn out quite as well as I thought it would. Turned out we got snowed in and since I work "on-call" I had to work quite a few days for vacation time. Well, I am back now and ready to go - I think!

This is our snowy view out our back windows. The playhouse is in the bottom corner and that shows a bit of the snow we got piled up here.

These are the trees we have out front by the road. There is nothing more beautiful and peaceful than a fresh coating of snow! I LOVE it! I just don't really like being "stuck" at home. I think it is a mental thing. I like choosing to be home but not having to be home.

Josh was pretending to jab Jacob with the icicles he took off our gutters out back. He broke off 2 that were connected so he had a handle. Looks a bit like a horror flick!

Sledding all the way! HEY!

2008-12-21T14:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to the high school just down the road from us and went sledding. I was surprised there weren't very many people sledding there. It was perfect sledding weather - no wind was blowing! Clint, Angie, Aaron, and Lia came over to join our sledding expedition.

The kids had a blast and the parents even got in a few times on the sled! The picture of Clint and Angie in the rig shows the parent's hide-out when we got too cold - none of the grown ups really had "snow" gear on. Joshua and Jacob even tried to snowboard all the way down the hill. They did a pretty good job of it too!

Merry Christmas from the Haugs

2008-12-21T13:29:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Just Don't Shoot Your Eye Out!

2008-12-15T15:41:00.001-08:00

We went over to a friend's house about a week ago and their 3 kiddos and my 2 kiddos had a blast of a time shooting at each other.....Now, I know guns are for hunting but we have made the exception that if EVERYONE wants to be in the "war" then they can shoot at each other. The air soft guns do just use plastic pellets. Yes, they do sting but that can't REALLY hurt anyone. YES, the do wear eye protection. My guys like to really protect themselves and get their snow pants and jackets and hats on as well.

Jacob just bought a new gun set and mask with money he had been saving for a LONG time! Doesn't he look great?!!!

Sledding on the Neighbor's Hill (aka PE)

2008-12-15T15:15:00.003-08:00

Here is a quick (because I was VERY cold) video of the boys on the neighbor's hill with their grandson. The video is from our back deck because I was too lazy to get my gear on - not to mention that Josh has outgrown his winter boots and is wearing mine by stuffing his feet into them. The sound you hear is the wind blowing. BURRRRRRR!

The boys had a great time and were out a LONG time. Josh took Obbie over to visit Mocha (the chocolate lab next door) but she went in before he got there. By the time Obbie got back home I think his little paws were just about frozen. He just stood and shivered and looked at me like he was saying, "How could you let Josh take me outside on a day like this?" I felt really bad but I got him cuddled in a blanket and got him warmed up. He still sneaks away from Josh if he has his coat and boots on.

Jacob is in the blue coat and Josh is in the gray and orange coat.

DEEP FREEZE Precautions

2008-12-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Well, life on the farm is a bit different when the temperatures are in the teens and twenties. The "outside" dogs have now moved inside which makes life a bit interesting. They are large enough to "share" things on the counter. We just lost a bit of butter out of the butter dish that was left on the counter after breakfast. They don't even have to jump - just reach their little (well big) noses right over the counter. That really frustrates me since we haven't had to train them not to do that. It is like having 2 100 pound toddlers poking around the house. YIKES!

Jacob sure enjoys them in the house though....but he doesn't like the doggy hair that they leave behind. They also need to have baths REALLY badly. I just don't really want 2 100 WET dogs lounging in my house!

We brought Velvet inside Saturday night and she is now "living" in a small dog crate in the bathtub. The mice are still growing (ANYONE WANT A CHRISTMAS PRESENT OR TWO?) We had to separate the boys and girls so we don't get more babies......There were 7 baby boys and 7 baby girls, so we actually had 14 babies instead of the 11 I first thought I counted. And the fish are just swimming around in the aquarium totally oblivious to the FREEZING weather outside.

Art Show Opening

2008-12-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

The boys are in an art class and the teacher has their art in a local smoothie store. On Dec. 5 she had the art show Open House. The boys were really excited to see their art hanging on the wall.

Annual Christmas Tradition

2008-12-15T11:33:00.000-08:00

Every year we go through a local Adult Mobile Home Neighborhood and look at Christmas lights. Since the boys have been preschoolers they "drive" through the display. Most of the houses put up lights and every night there is a stream of cars going through and enjoying the lights. We usually have to go through the drive 2 times - so each boy can "drive". They sit on Ken's lap and steer while he controls the gas pedal. This year Josh wan't really happy for some reason - puberty is an emotional thing you know! He sat it the back and played his game boy.

Frozen Eggs but not Chickens (yet)

2008-12-15T11:21:00.001-08:00

Boy is it cold here! The boys have been going down to the chicken coop and taking wet (versus frozen) water down to the chickens 2 or 3 times a day. Yesterday they went down and got 4 eggs. One egg was split open and frozen - I think the others were probably frozen but they hadn't cracked. We put those in the fridge and will see how they turn out later.

BUT.....what is a homeschool family to do with a frozen egg????? FIRST, try to see if it will break or explode if thrown off the deck and onto the playhouse roof. Results.....the shell continued to crack but the egg stayed together - even after 5 throws.

SECOND, see what a frozen egg looks like inside......the boys pulled the shell off and the egg white was a yellowish color. Here is the shelled egg and the boys.Then they took a knife and cut it in half. Pretty cool and slimy as it started melting in our hands. Jacob is such a goof!After it completely melted we gave each half to Hunter and Kodiak. They seemed to like it. I'm not a fan of raw eggs but they sure liked it!

Christmas Bell

2008-12-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

I received this from another blogging mom.....I couldn't help but share it here as well. I am not sure who put these together in this form but the author is definitely GOD!

THE BELL

I KNOW WHO I AM

I am God's child (John 1:12)

I am Christ's friend (John 15:15 )

I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)

I am bought with a price (1 C or 6:19-20)

I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)

I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)

I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)

I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)

I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)

I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)

Iam free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)

I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)

I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)

I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)

I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)

I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22 )

I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28 )

I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )

I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)

I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)

I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)

I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).. I have been justified (Romans 5:1)

I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10)

I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)

I have been redeemed and forgiven ( Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)

I belong to God

Do you know

Who you are?

The Month Before Christmas

2008-12-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

‘Twas the month before Christmas*
*When all through our land,*
*Not a Christian was praying*
*Nor taking a stand.*
*See the PC Police had taken away,*
*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*
*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*
*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*
*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*
* December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.*
*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*
*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*
*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*
*Something was changing, something quite odd! *
*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*
*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*
*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*
* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*
*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*
*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*
*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*
*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*
*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*
*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!*
*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*
*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*
*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*
* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*
*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*
*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*
*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*
*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*
*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*
*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
not Happy Holiday!*
Please, all Christians join together and
wish everyone you meet during the holidays a
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
Christ is 'The Reason' for the Christ-mas Season!

Author Unknown

Gonna Be A Bear

2008-11-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

In this life I'm a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that.

When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.

If you're mama bear, everyone knows y0u mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, gonna be a bear!

Author Unknown

Thanksgiving Poem

2008-11-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

I received this poem from a friend (thanks Lori!) and just had to share it....I am not sure who the author is.

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

Mouse House Update

2008-11-25T09:20:00.003-08:00

The babies are now 2 weeks old and are really starting to wriggle around. A few have "escaped" the nest and are pretty fun to watch as the crawl around since their eyes still aren't open. We did see one last night that had open eyes. They sound like little birds when the squeak. I finally cleaned the cage last night. The mommies were a bit nervous but I made sure not to get any of the babies into the garbage!

Mous Baby Update

2008-11-19T19:49:00.000-08:00

The babies are now 1 week old and the mommies have moved them into 2 different spots in the cage because we kept peeking at them. They now have eyes instead of little black bumps but they are not open yet. The moms have made a nest in one of the tubes of the Critter Trails. Today we were watching and one of the babies rolled out of the tube. In a couple of seconds the mom stuck her head out of the tube and sniffed around and grabbed the baby by the scruff of the neck and arm and pulled it back inside the tube....It was pretty funny. A few minutes later 3 of the babies and rolled and wiggled out of the tube and were squirming around the entrance of the cage. Out popped the mommy's head and one by one she grabbed them with her sharp little teeth and pulled them in. I am amazed at how gentle her grasp must be on their tender little skin. There is a little bit of fuzz on them now. I will get a picture next time they "fall" out of the nest.

Homeschool Matrix

2008-11-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

I got this story in an email from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. I wanted to share it to encourage homeschoolers when those doubts haunt us.......

The room was brightly lit and cold. She was sitting at a table, across from an empty chair. She knew the questioning would begin any minute. The door opened and a man bearing a remarkable resemblance to Hugo Weaving walked in and sat down in the empty chair.
“Mrs. Anderson,” he began, “we’ve been monitoring your homeschool. Apparently, you have been living two lives. In one life, you’re Katherine A. Anderson, homeschooling mother and wife in a respectable community. You have a homeschool curriculum. You have a schoolroom. You volunteer . . . to help out with your homeschool support group. The other life, Mrs. Anderson, is lived in your pajamas. Your kids are unable to complete their assignments, and if you can get them bathed and dressed before your husband returns from work, you consider it a good day. One of these lives has a future, Mrs. Anderson. The other does not.”
She just stared across the table at this man. “Who was he?” she wondered. Why was he accusing her of these things?
The man opened up a folder and began leafing through it. “As you can see, we’ve had our eyes on you for some time, Mrs. Anderson. I think that you should look long and hard at how you are failing in your role.” He pulled out a single sheet of paper. “Your son is 6 years old and yet he cannot read. Your 11-year-old daughter spends half her time daydreaming and staring off into space. She hasn’t scored better than a D on her spelling quizzes all year. Your teen, this . . . Melissa, I believe her name is . . . she hasn’t prepared for the SAT test. If you really loved your children, Mrs. Anderson, you would have your children at their desks and hard at work by 7:30 each morning.”
Tears started to well up in Katherine’s eyes. Was she really that bad at homeschooling?
“As far as your curriculum goes, you’ve switched back and forth from A Beka to Saxon to Bob Jones and back to Saxon again in just two semesters. I have to wonder, Mrs. Anderson, if you are teaching them correctly. How can you jump from curriculum to curriculum without causing your children to become hopeless, blathering idiots?”
Mrs. Anderson made no effort to wipe away the tears that were now flowing down her cheeks. She knew all these accusations were true. There was nothing she could say to refute them.
“Tell me, Mrs. Anderson. What’s it like, living in your pajamas? Do you enjoy being a slob?” His words began to cut deep, and somewhere deep inside her soul, a wave began to form.
“How many times did you yell at your kids yesterday, Mrs. Anderson? Can you really say you love them if you treat them this way?”
The wave began to build, quickly becoming a surge. Mrs. Anderson’s anger was rising above and beyond the shame and fears this man was exploiting.
“Your best friend, Laurie, doesn't have any trouble getting her six children ready to go to eight different activities each week, yet you always manage to run late . . .”
“That’s enough!” Her waves of anger burst over the dam and began to pour from her lips. “I don't have to listen to these accusations. I am a loving wife and mother, and I care deeply about my children. We may not get to every activity on time or complete every assignment, but we are trying. My children are well fed and clothed, and they are learning so much more than they would learn anywhere else. My son is a gifted engineer. He dismantled three phones last week to understand how the buttons work . . .”
“You consider that school?”
“Absolutely! He is learning mechanics and science. If I can get him to put things back together so that I can answer the phone, I’ll be all set. By the way, Melissa doesn’t need to study for her SAT test right now. She’s 14! We will prepare for it when the time is right.
“Another thing. My daughter may not always study with perfect concentration, but she draws the most beautiful pictures. She understands forms and shapes so much better than her brothers or sisters do. She is a very bright girl, no matter what your files say.”
These bold statements took the man aback. Mrs. Anderson’s outburst, though somewhat controlled, was clearly not what he had expected to hear in response to his accusations.
“You say I yell at my kids, and that’s true. I do lose my temper when I clean a room and come back in thirty minutes to find it in worse shape than it was before I cleaned it. But your files don’t show the breakfast we had yesterday when we sat around and talked about three things we like about each other. I enjoy my children so much more than you could imagine. And we truly love each other.
“I stay in my pajamas some days, that’s true. But we are at home and like to be comfortable while we do our work. Learning is more important than appearances.”
“But are your children really learning, Mrs. Anderson? I show that you have lost ground every time you’ve tried to set a schedule. How effective are you if you can't even maintain a schedule?”
“We may struggle sometimes. I admit, we don’t hit the mark with schedules, but we do a good job setting goals. We know what direction we’re going, and we do a good job, even if we don’t end up completing our workbooks. If anything is out of line, it’s my own expectations.” An idea began to form in her mind.
“What? We are not to blame, Mrs. Anderson!”
“Of course,” she thought, “it all makes sense now.”
Katherine looked straight into her accuser’s eyes as she spoke calmly and deliberately. “I know who you are! You’re my own expectations. You’ve been trying to trap me.”
“Nonsense. We don’t need to trap what we already own.”
“You don’t? Then you would have no problem if I made pajamas the standard school uniform?”
“Uh . . .” Suddenly, the man became quite anxious.
“And you wouldn’t mind my going to thrift stores to buy more phones and other things for my son to dismantle?”
“Wait . . . this isn't what we wanted. Stop!”
“Why? Don’t you want to hear about how we’re going to stop going to so many activities and start spending more time together as a family? I've got some great ideas, including a bug collecting expedition and a board game night.”
“Board games don’t constitute an education! They . . .”
“Oh, yes they do. Colors, numbers, counting, reading, and strategy all work together to educate my children. And the best part is that they don’t even realize it’s school.”
The man was becoming transparent, and he was quickly fading from view. “But what about your curriculum? You can’t change in the middle of the year! It’s . . . ”
“I can change our curriculum whenever I think we need to. If something isn’t working, we can try something else. That’s one benefit of running your own school. I would rather find something that works than have my children suffer through an entire year of work that doesn ’t meet their needs.”
She could see that the man was livid and shouting angrily, but now, along with his appearance, his voice had faded. He was almost gone from view when she said, “Oh, by the way, school starts at 10 a.m. from now on.”
With that, he disappeared.
Mrs. Anderson was about to scoot away from the table when she awoke with a start. Rolling across the screen on the television in front of her were credits for a fantasy film about people fighting the forces of artificial intelligence. She quickly pushed the “off” button and headed upstairs to bed. After all, she had a bug hunt to plan tomorrow.

Steve Walden lives in Colorado with his wife, and together they homeschool their three children (ages 12, 9, and 5). Steve is a freelance writer and editor. When he’s not blogging at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/SteveWalden, he’s searching for new opportunities to write about a variety of topics, including homeschooling, coping with disabilities, and connecting with God. Steve’s desire is to help others rediscover God as their first love and the source of their strength.

THE BABIES ARE HERE!

2008-11-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry the picture is blurry - it makes me a bit sea-sick looking at it but it was the best picture I could get with them burried.

The babies were born Tuesday night. We have 11 tiny, pink, hairless mice that are making faint squeeks! They are so cute but the mommies have them hidden really well and don't like us to uncover the babies. We just peek in once or twice. Today the black and white mommy nipped at me while I was trying to get a peek.

We are not sure if Josh's mouse had babies too or if they are all from the black and white mouse. If they are, Josh's mouse is a great NANNY!

Here is a picture of Jacob's mouse on Tuesday night before we went to bed. She could hardly fit through the tunnels and was trying to "run" on the wheel. You can see her little tummy bulging.

THINK Project - Catalog Tower

2008-11-13T13:43:00.001-08:00

The CHALLENGE - to build as large a tower as possible with only a catalog.

The first tower was crumpled pages put in a pile....didn't hold very well. SOOOOO.......Mungi explained that when she was young her family didn't have money for staples so the tore little "flaps" to hold paper together. She showed us how to make the blocks and then use the "flaps" to hold them together. Then we discovered that since we had so much crumpled paper we could put a ball of paper in the block and it would be sturdier.

Jacob wanted his own picture with the tower because he liked the look with 2 blocks on top of the tower.

This project ended up being a multi-generational project! Mungi (our name for Grandma) and Mom made the blocks for the tower and the boys stuffed the blocks with crumpled paper and then stacked them into the tower. It ended up measuring about 18" tall and 13" square at the bottom. It could have been much larger but we needed to get Math done today as well! There are a LOT of pages in the JC Penny Christmas Catalog.

Of course they had to end the building session by rolling in the left over supplies. Then we had a race to see who could pick up the most paper.....I think Jacob won!

Trick or Treat

2008-11-03T13:41:00.001-08:00

I am a slacker mom.....no costume pictures! Can you believe it??? I will make the boys dress up again and take a picture to post later. Josh made his own costume and Jacob used his costume from last year becuase he didn't have enough money to buy the costume he wanted the first time we saw it. When he finally had the money, the costume was sold out.

We took the boys trick-or-treating around our house and then went to Clint and Angie's for a party and they got to go AGAIN around their neighborhood. Thank goodness the rain stopped in time. It was even warmish - or at least not cold!

Josh enjoys sorting his candy but not quite as much as eating it! He hasn't weighed his yet but when he does, be sure there will be an update!
Jacob's goodie haul.....it weighed in at 5 pounds! I'm sure his doctor at Children's will be thrilled! We will definitely ration it and maybe trade it in for a prize.....then Dad can take it to work so Mom won't eat it!

Obbie even got in on the goodie sorting....he picked out his piece and guarded it! Of course, after a while he got distracted and left it so we could throw it away.....no one wanted to eat it after he added his doggy slobber to it!

Halloween Party

2008-11-03T13:38:00.000-08:00

OOPS! I found a post I started a LONG while ago. We went to Clint and Angie's for a Halloween Party. Jacob was the only one to dive in and bob for apples.

Ken was a good sport and volunteered to be wrapped in toilet paper as a mummy. This was a race and his team ended up the winner. Then we added bunny ears and goofy glasses to complete his costume.

THINK Project - Halloween Candy

2008-11-03T13:33:00.001-08:00

The boys did this week's THINK project today. The directions were to use 5 pieces of Halloween Candy, 4 toothpicks, and 2 straws to create an animal - real or imaginary. Here are the final creations!

Jacob created The Floopy. It is like a flounder becuase it lays on its side in the ocean. He did use the straw (only pieces - once again, not sure if this is cheating) for eyes.

Josh created a Sucker - it sucks blood and lives on the bottom of the ocean and in the air - like a whale: breathes air and lives in the water but can fly also (not like a whale, obviously).

THINK project - Apples

2008-10-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

We did our first THINK project (check out the website - it's posted in my FAVORITE SITES). Yes, it counts for school! It is Critical Thinking/Logic! This week the theme was Apples. The project was to use an apple and 4 toothpicks and sculpt it into something with your teeth.

Jacob made his first one a totem pole (he used 2 apples - not sure if that is cheating).

Jacob then kept going once he took his totem pole apart and ended up with an airplane.

Josh had many options in his first apple.....I forgot to feed him breakfast and the Grand Canyon turned into an apple core. So, he started over and it was a bit safer for the sculpture. He ended up with ......SURPRISE......the Death Star from Star Wars. I knew that those of you who know of his obsession with Star Wars would be shocked!

This is going to be a thing we try to do every week. THINK posts a challenge each week and then you can see all the great ideas kids and families come up with!

EGGS!!!!!!!

2008-10-27T14:49:00.001-07:00

Today the boys went to check the food and water for the chickens and GUESS WHAT???!!! They came running up the steps and just about broke the door down! There were 3 eggs! It sure makes the "trek" to the chicken coop worth it when they leave us treasures!

Final Football games of the season

2008-10-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

What a great day! The sun was shining and the boys played great!

First up was Jacob's game at noon. He got a touchdown and did pull a few flags but it was a hard game and they lost by 4 touchdowns. The team he played did have all 3rd graders which gave them an advantage. But our guys had kept good attitudes through the whole game.

Here is a little video clip of Jacob (the blonde) running the ball.

After the game we went to Round Table for Jacob's party and yummy pizza.

Then off to Josh's game...they won 32 to 13 (I think). Josh got in on a couple tackles and had a lot of playing time. He really enjoyed it - but he was also glad that it was the last game. I am just glad that we made it through the season without any broken bones! Josh is #87.Here is video clip of Josh - you'll have to look hard as he was a bit hard to follow. I think he is near the back and coming across the screen. The numbers are kinda hard to see when they are doing the plays - Could someone please tell them to slow down?

We now have a week with no practices - what are we going to do with ourselves in the evenings? Oh, that's right! The boys are making their costumes this year so I think that will consume most of our time this week. Uh Oh.....I just looked at the calendar - Jacob has his first indoor soccer game on Thursday night. Well, the nice thing about indoor soccer is that there are no practices! YIPEE! And the games are very fast paced and entertaining! AND IT IS INSIDE - no rain or wind!

Unplugged Project

2008-10-24T19:38:00.001-07:00

A blog reader shared this site with me! What a great find! Hopefully this will be a weekly project that we can keep going and share our end products with you! Let me know if you are going to join the fun so we can see your projects too!

Unplugged Project

Posted using ShareThis

Mouse House Update

2008-10-24T11:19:00.001-07:00

Well, I promised a picture of the completed Mouse House and HERE IT IS! The mice really seem to like it. Josh's mouse is in the blue box on the left and Jacob's mouse is running on the wheel. They also like to be held and are very curious exploring the house in their little run-around-balls.
We have also added a Daddy mouse to see if we can have babies. So, if/when that happens we will have furry friends to share! We may have a Daddy mouse to share after our first batch of babies as well. We don't need to keep making babies but would like the experience of it one time.

THE FARM

2008-10-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

Today we went on a field trip with MP3 (our homeschool group). We went to Snohomish to check out the 12 acre corn maze in the shape of Washington State. Our family got a map of Washington with certian places highlighted that we needed to "visit" and record an interesting fact.

The wagon train dropped us off at Clarkston and our first destination was Walla Walla. Did you know that CAMELS were used as pack animals between Walla Walla and Missoula in the 1860's? It's true!

Then we were off to the Grand Coulee Dam. 81 men died building the dam. Our next destination was Nez Perce'. They were called Nez Perce by the FRENCH FUR TRADERS because some members of the tribe had pierced noses.

Then we went to find the Cascade Tunnel. Did you know it is 7.8 miles long? Well, it is!

We also went to Seattle and found out that Mary Denny's clothesline was used to measure the depth of the bay.

We then made our way around the "penninsula" to Port Angeles which, to my surprise, was the backup capital of the USA during the Civil War.

We finally made it out of the state at Gray's Harbor and back to the bus just in time to head home. We were a bit disappointed that we didn't get to explore the farm more but the maze turned out to be very educational. The boys had the map and were navigating (for the most part) us (me and Mungi) . I did have to step in a few times and say, "STOP!!! We are going the wrong way." but that was just toward the end when I was starting to panic about missing the bus. Snohomish is a long drive but would be a VERY LONG walk if we missed the bus!

Not for the Faint of Heart

2008-10-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

Well, Jacob found quite a surprise when he walked out the front door today. A DEAD (thankfully) rat. YUCK!!!!

Yes, I know that we did just purchase mice for pets - but they are FANCY mice, not just the everyday run of the mill mice. But we did NOT invite this little fellow into our yard.

Ken figured it smelled the yummy peanut butter smelling mole poison that he is tempting our pesky mole with. I guess it works for rats also.

Jacob had to put gloves on to dispose of this furry invader and of course we had to take a picture!

Super Saturday - no not elections

2008-10-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

WOW! What a day we had Saturday.....It started at 6:30 am (can you believe what wonderfully dedicated parents we are - as well as all the other parents on the team?) to get Josh ready for his 8:00 am football game. He had a great time and got quite a bit of play time. He is not very aggressive - unless his brother is really irritating him - so TACKLE football has been a stretch for him this year. BUT yesterday he initiated a tackle by wrapping up an opposing player and one of his team-mates came in a finished it off by knocking the guy over! YIPEEEE! Then in the next play he almost made an interception. He had the ball in his hands and then it slipped out - but boy was he excited! He wore his jersey ALL day!

After the game we went to get doughnuts and head to Jacob's FLAG football game. He had a great game with 3 or 4 touchdowns and pulled many flags. He sure has some speedy legs!

For lunch we were off to McDonald's to celebrate the football success of our offspring! Don't worry - we usually don't eat doughnuts and MickeyDs very often - especially in the same day!

When we got home Ken was off to chop wood and load it in the truck to take to his parents house today. I crashed in bed and took a nap since we were up till 11:30 pm on Friday night and I had to be up at 5:30 am today for work. The boys played Legos and watched a bit of Greenacres I think. Oh and of course the played with their new furry, little friends!

Then at 4:30 we were off to a Pumpkin Carving Party at Kendall's house. The boys did all the work themselves and they are very proud of their pumpkins. We didn't even have to have any band-aids or stiches after using knives!

Yes, it's true - we have 2 new additions to our family!

2008-10-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

I KNOW, I KNOW , I KNOW! We have enough animals here at Britton Barnyard - 3 dogs (2 outside and 1 inside), 4 chickens (for eggs - not meat), 2 rabbits (for pets - not meat), and 6 fish (no - I don't let the boys practice fishing in the tank)! Well, now we have 2 more little girls! I went to Cenex yesterday to get straw for our chickens' laying boxes and out we came with straw and 2 adorable little mice.

Now, before you scream, "YUCK!" just look at my boys' faces. They are absolutely radiant!

So, yesterday for science we set up the Mouse House (habitat if you want to be very scientific). As many of you know my boys are really into Legos so we found a little mouse wheel that they had to build and of course there was a matching "playland" that they also put together. While they were doing that I was diligently cleaning out the tank from when we had frogs this summer. The little girls LOVE the wheel. Last night they were both in it and while one was running the other was doing loopdy-loops.

Today I had to keep reminding the boys that they couldn't play with their mice until their schoolwork was done. ~THEY SURE DID WORK HARD AND FAST TODAY~ I think the other thing that helped is that we were studying fish and the food cycle which is another one of our family obsessions - well, really the boys and Ken have the obsession....I just get to go along for the boat ride and read and take pictures of the catches of the day!

Wow! I am now in the blogging world!

2008-10-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

Julie is helping me set up this blog! What fun! Hopefully this will be a fun way to keep track of our family's activities and learning experiences. Please join us on the journey!