Halloween

Sometimes I'm inspired to have a little fun, *smile* usually when I've remembered to take my Vitamin D!  I've never made poached eggs before.  We have one of those egg poachers, but cleaning each cup never sounded like it was worth the effort.  And boiling water in our non-stick pans ruins the surface (says my professional cook turned biologist husband).  But after my fun weekend that included brunch with my dear friend, I needed poached eggs!  I have the perfect pan in my stash, I don't know why I never thought of it!

Eggs look so spooky when they are being poached, especially when the temperature of the water is too hot or too cold.  This caused my brain to spiral out of control and I had to serve these eggs with a side of Halloween toast on a full moon plate.

Then we had to keep catching up with schoolwork.  We are about two weeks behind in science, thanks to the school district's new policy on ordering things for us (they run behind so materials don't arrive in a timely manner).  Next on our agenda: worm dissection!  A perfect Halloween activity!

This girl is seriously great.  I knew at this moment that my little girl was a natural at science of the ookie sort.  Dissecting at home is not as scary as it sounds.  I put a movie on for Fiona and Daniel and Lula was sleeping, so the three most annoying interruptions were taken care of.

These kits come with everything you need (but could use a few more pins).  I honestly didn't know what to expect with my kids' ability to stay focused or learn anything.  But I've learned that if I let potential problems get in the way of starting, then I'm the problem that gets in the way.  If I just pull out the supplies for a project, the kids usually do a great job and my fears and "what ifs" go away!  This goes for science, art, and well, any project I dream up for the kids.  Does that make sense?

I wasn't sure if the kids were going to be able to cut the worm open without cutting it in half.  But they could!  And they could pin it and look at the dissection diagram and match their worms' organs to the picture's organs!  I didn't make them draw anything or write anything down.  We talked about scientific words (dorsal, ventral, posterior, anterior, etc).  I let them get a closer look at anything under the dissection scope.  And they had fun.  That was the most important thing for me.  The harder stuff can wait for high school.

After that, there really wasn't anything to do but assemble Halloween costumes.

Ian is a mad scientist, Evie is a cat, Shane is a magician, Fiona is a clown, and Daniel is...a tiger-giraffe-clown-cat with spiky hair that almost had a mustache.  Because he is two and wanted everything his brothers and sisters had.  We went to our church's candy carnival and had a great time!  People who go trick-or-treating have to wear waterproof jackets and dress warmly.  People who go to the Candy Carnival better dress light!  We were so hot I made two trips back to the van to shed extra layers.  The church had to turn on the AC!  The kids came home with plenty of candy to eat and share.