R.I.P. Fuzzy 1/28/11

You were a good spider.

(and strangely enough, my pet orb weaver in the kitchen died/disappeared the same day)

UFO Contest

Busy, busy, busy, that's me!  Friday, the kids participated in a homeschool UFO building contest hosted by a local family.  Each kid built a UFO out of whatever they wanted and had to present them to the group.  This was such an excellent way to incorporate public speaking into our homeschool!

This is one of our friends, presenting his IFO, or identified flying object.  He built an airplane.  I loved it so much I gave it the "Most Unidentified" prize at the end. 

Here is E presenting her UFO.  Each UFO needed to be measured, weighed, and described on entry forms.  After each presentation there was a question and answer period for each kid.  The most popular question was, "How fast can it go?" followed by "How slow can it go?"

S's UFO won the "Largest UFO" prize.  Grandad wasn't too sure about letting S glue his vegetable steamer to a cardboard box, even though the steamer is broken.  I promised to buy him a new one.  Some of the kids had real lights and moving parts!

IJ, looks handsome in his "homeschool field trip" outfit that I make him wear when his laundry hasn't been done.  See his new haircut?  Remember how he feels about having his hair cut?  That is why there are no pictures of him in the cherry tree a few days ago.  He still wasn't speaking to me.  Anyway, his UFO has old CD's for shields and a...

...gun that actually works.  He won the "Most Guns" prize because he had the most guns that actually shoot something.  The boys who imagined guns on their UFO's didn't like that IJ's two blow guns won to their 10,000 guns.  This was such a fun event!

Walking in the Dark

Every evening either M or I needs to go outside, in the dark, and close up the chickens for the night so the raccoons don't eat them.

When I go, I usually I wait until the kids are in bed, grab a flashlight (or head lamp, which ever is more convenient) and Pathetic Doberman, and head out into the dark.  I get a little spooked out there.  But I know that Pathetic Doberman will chase off any scary wild animal...or domestic cat.

Every night, as soon as it starts getting dark, the chickens know they need to get back to their coop to roost.  I have no idea how they know this.  It's just they way God made them.  Even if they have been free-ranging all day long, they still come back to their yard.  If a chicken escapes the pen and doesn't get put back in before dark, she will roost under the coop-as close to the door as possible.  This is when I have to get a long stick and prod her out to where I can reach her.  She is always very sleepy and confused when I shove her in the door.  Once we accidentally locked them all out of the coop and I had to shove 30 sleepy confused chickens in their door.  I think they slept piled on top of each other all night.

Tonight, D and I went out together to close the chickens without a flashlight or a dog.  It was very spooky.  D was uncertain because it was dark, so I talked to him as we walked.  I couldn't see where I was going and I had to just trust my instincts... just like the chickens do.  I had to find my way to the coop and back by remembering where the compost container, fences, fruit trees, old tree stumps, and random toys and tools where.  I chatted with D that he had no idea where I was going, but he could trust me to get him back to the house safely.  And then I had my profound thought (or was it God speaking directly to me?).  I just have to trust God will guide me on my path, and even though I have no idea where I'm going, He does and He will get me to where I need to be, even though I'm sometimes spooked (uncertain?) along the way.

And that was when the domestic cat jumped out of the shadows and scared me!

Winter Interrupted

We interrupt this stretch of miserable, rainy, gray, winter weather to bring you a blissful day of sunshine!

 M and D, checking our baby trees

Today, being Wednesday, is the day after Cub Scouts.  We always need a day to recover.  Cub Scout meetings, specifically pack meetings, zap our will to live.  We needed to spend the day frolicking in the sunshine and hiking around the property.

Two Little Naturalists 

Lucky for us we can call it a forest ecosystems field trip, complete with animal observations:

Rough Skinned Newt

Stopping by the Pond

This used to be a giant old maple that M remembers playing around when he was a kid.  Part of it came down in a wind storm, but was hung up on another tree.  It came down completely in the last wind storm and IJ has decided to live in the stump.

Home, Sweet Home

E wants a home in the woods too.  

 D enjoys the view from his dad's back

After F fell in the pond, we came inside, had baths, lunch, and haircuts, and went back outside to climb the cherry tree.

Monkey #1

Monkey #2

Monkey #3

And D finally went down for a nap!

Lions, Snowleopards, and Dragons!

Who are these beastly creatures?

Oh, my children.  Whew!

Soccer

We are pretty excited over here on our remote peninsula in the middle of nowhere.  Finally, the homeschoolers are becoming more of a unit.  We are organizing and doing more fun things together!  Today's plan was to try Frisbee golf again or just play soccer. When it was time to go I told the kids to choose between packing Frisbees and rubber boots for hiking in mud puddles or soccer cleats and balls.

They chose soccer and so did everyone else.  Whew!  This is the only picture of kids playing soccer and they aren't even playing!  It was wet and muddy, just perfect for kids!  At one point in the game, the parents looked over to see IJ and another (taller, stronger, bigger) boy on the ground fighting with IJ on top.  The other mom started running over saying, "What are you doing?"  The other parents thought a real fight was going on.  The boys broke it up and the other boy said, "We're just wrestling, mom!" 

This guy wanted to get down and really experience the grass and mud for the first time.

Rugby Anyone?

And he really loved the soccer ball.  I shouldn't be surprised.  The baby behind D is 1 1/2 years old.  He's so tiny compared to my Big D.

Where's the Baby?

Just a Little Somethin'

...I whipped up over the weekend:

 A pretty purple dress for my 2 year old who only wears purple and dresses.

 The Clan Campbell diaper (made two)

and the Road Hazard diaper (made four)

The insides of the diapers were lined with receiving blankets I picked up at Goodwill for a few cents (discounted due to stains) and an old pillowcase.  Yay!  Diaper changing is fun again!

D's New Trick

We used to have a walking toy for when the kids went through this phase.  But they never used it for walking!  So I sold it when we moved.  And I don't regret it.  That thing with all it's lights and sound was irritating!

The Big Bago

Setting: Driving in the van.  The four talking children are playing the silent game.  The mom is thinking about how messy her house is.  The baby is sleeping.

E: Let's play again!  One, two, three, Go!
Me: I lose! (laughs)
S says something. What is was is no longer important.
E: S loses, I win!
S: See! You always treat me like a bago!
Me, aside to IJ: What's a bago?
IJ: It's a dumb thing.  Dumber than a space case.
S: Besides, I didn't even know I was playing!

H is for Habitat

Sometimes I get a nice jolt back to reality and how I really want to homeschool.  Like today.  We were supposed to make bird feeders last night at Cub Scouts, but never got around to it.  And we are supposed to watch for birds and keep track of what we see.  And we are supposed to be making a poster about a bird.  And I've been meaning to take the kids to see some ducks that aren't mallards.

But we are consistently behind in our workbooks and we are always running off to this sport or that activity.  So when the weather is this gorgeous, and the tides are cooperating, and I can herd my frogs into their wheelbarrow, we go on a hike.  Today's destination: Penrose State Park.

We all have hiking boots!  That fit!

Today's Mission: bird watching.  I think the birds knew we were coming! Or maybe they just heard the 2yo and baby.

"Quick, get outta here!"

We had fun hiking nonetheless.  IJ and S already know so much about native plants, habitat, ecosystems, etc.  Now it is E's turn.  I've been trying to remember how the boys got so knowledgeable about everything, and I think it's because we took them to the beach a lot.

IJ, bird watching

This tree was a great lesson on erosion.  You could see that once upon a time, it had been growing upright in soil.  As time and tides went by, the bank eroded, the tree fell down, and it kept growing.  The roots still grow into the bank, but you can see that in another ten years or so the tree will be completely down.  Whether it will be a result of human traffic on the bank or the tides is anyone's guess.

Arsty Fartsy example for my kids that humans are part of the environment too!

On we hiked to explore some forest habitat.  D wasn't very quiet.  He also wasn't a very good Cub Scout and didn't follow the Leave No Trace guidelines.  He kept picking leaves from his perch on my back.

E learns that even that this tree is dead, it is providing habitat for living things.  Maybe even owls!

S is a tree.

The trail looped back to the beach, so we took another beach walk.  This time having fun with the invertebrates...

...and other sea life.

E found a cluster of mussels, seaweed, barnacles, and isopods: a cool little community!

 Gorgeous!

 F in her Dixy Lee Ray outfit.

And D had his first crawl on the beach and his first taste of beach rocks!  He couldn't get enough of that!

Frisbee Golf

This afternoon we went to play Frisbee golf with three other homeschooling families that we know.  Two of the families are also in Cub Scouts (the third only has girls) and since we had a committee meeting last night that lasted until 10:00, it was like we never parted ways.  The weather was just right for January!  Windy, sunny, and chilly.  NO RAIN!

 S and E get ready to start. 

IJ had to stay home because of a foot injury (running barefoot in a forest is never a good idea).  Too bad for him!  I thought about keeping us all home, but after being cooped up in the house all weekend with nothing but rain, rain, rain, I thought it was a good idea to go out and get some fresh air.

 F purposely walked through the mud puddle!

S "does his best" while our Cubmaster looks on

S didn't understand how Frisbee Golf is played and was really worried about whose Frisbee went the furthest and getting "lapped."  But once I explained the game in S-ish, he got it and loved it.

 One of the goals and some of our friends

I am the only one that has younger kids and a large family.  Having friends makes taking trips like this really nice.  F got a shoulder ride from her special friend and then got to walk with another along the trails.  S was able to finish the last two "holes" with the group while I took the younger three back to the van for a snack.

It was just one of those warm, fuzzy days where I am thankful for where I am and what I have.