THINK project - Apples

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!!!!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!