Misc October 2009

Finally,

Here are the rest of October 2009 pictures (minus Krystin's birthday)

The kids' halloween costumes

Front

(Krystin is a monkey)

Back

Carving our pumpkin

Krystin was unsure about the slimy guts
Ethan mostly scooped out the gunk.
Kaylin mostly seperated out the seeds for toasting.


Enjoying the finished product while snacking on seeds

Praise God, Dan made it home in time for Ethan's Cub Scout meeting.

Ethan earned his Bobcat badge.

That same night was the raingutter boat races.

Did I mention Dan JUST flew in from China?

The kids were sure glad to see him :)

I love their matching outfits ;)

October 09 - Misc

Ethan's 3rd Spiritual Birthday was on October 1st.

(3 years ago he asked Jesus into his heart)
The gift was an "Armor of God" board game

precious babe

will all her "cuddlies"

Kaylin's been into nesting blankets

Ethan is now in Cub Scouts

(isn't he such a handsome boy in uniform?!?)

Kids just having fun together

O-kay. This could have technically gone in the homeschool bit as this was an Art project.

But here you go anyway.

Sponge-painting leaves on our "Autumn" trees.

4 of us have formed a close circle of friends.

No, you aren't counting wrong, Kelly wasn't feeling well the evening we took Jenny out for her birthday.

Kim, Jenny, Me

(see garden post from May to see Kelly)

DAD,

These pics are for you.

The kids loved finding the note you left on the table for them to read.

We are counting down the days 'till you are back home!

WE LOVE YOU!

(Dan has been gone to China since Monday, the 19th on a business trip. Will be back this Wednesday night - the day before Krystin turns 4)

(The chain is for Dan getting home AND Krystin's birthday. On each link is a reminder of how many days till Dad is home and what the main plan for the day is. Some are normal, like "Awanas tonight" Others have been special things like "Mall trip for lunch" or "Pizza/movie/cuddle night")

(Prayers for Dan's return flight accepted and appreciated. If he makes all connections and they are on time, he will drive straight from the airport to Ethan's Cub Scout Pack meeting for the boat races and to see Ethan earn his bobcat badge. Thanks)

Dan - prepare yourself, you MAY have to KISS me in front of several cub scouts and their parents. I don't think I can wait till after the meeting! ;)

Sept 09 - Misc

I believe she was pretending to be Pharaoh.

(towel is a whip and pillow a shield)

Last trip to the Christian bookstore I found a series of Adventure in Odessy Cd's.

The kids like to cuddle in bed together and listen to them at bedtime

Why are they covering their eyes with their fingers?

I don't know.

But using Ethan's beginner erector set, they made up a "board game"

called "Aliens" Weird shaped bolts are your "alien" and you have to move them across the board, which is full of dangerous things waiting to happen, or ships to take you past the bad parts.

Personally, I have NO idea how they keep all the rules and what happens on any particular space straight!

Master Builder


This one is for Kari.
A new set of goggles.
These came with a dino-dig kit



The kids like to draw on the whiteboard.
Here Kaylin drew me, on a hill, with earthworms in the dirt
(she is really into making sure all of her people are drawn with a belly button right now.)


Now, Ethan is not an artist. And writing non-fiction, or about his feelings/real life does not come easy.
But man. You get that boy on the topic of math, or give him free reign to invent a make believe story, and he will surprise you!

Sorry, I don't know what the story was, but this was the illustration that Ethan drew.
(It had something to do with numbers and an angry sun hiding.....)
(oh - pink numbers are girls, blue were boys, I remember)

Sept 09 homeschool

Doesn't this look like a fun project?

Making coil pots like the Egyptians?

Does it still look like a great idea?

The culprits

Next Unit study we learned about sheep.

Fortunately my friend Jenny hooked us up with a girl from her church who raises sheep

I even purchased a lamb roast.

I didn't cared for it, too gamey.

Next unit was on Mammals.

So we went to the zoo and classified the animals we saw as mammal or non-mammal.

We broke them down further into their sub-classes and orders.

(Just ask Ethan what a monotreme is.... we didn't see any at our zoo)...

... we did, however, see these cute animals below.

There were some similar characteristic traits, so it was hard to choose my personal favorite! :)

This is the first time we actually had a good view of the penguins swimming

This was also our first trip to our zoo since the completion of the African exhibit

Our zoo now has a giraffe

And elephants, too!

Just the fountain sub-class kind, though :(

Slushies for snack

Oh yah,

we did run into a herd of cement elephants...

Krystin took this lion photo.

Nice framing.

(too bad I was supposed to be in the picture!)

Driving out of the zoo, we saw a huge NASA trailer in the parking lot.

So I stopped.

(can't pass up a learning opportunity, can we now, Papa?)

The kids really liked this robotics display

Ethan was at the end of a unit that covered a lot of material.

So the day before his test we had a review.

I was thinking the day before of what a good way to review would be. Nothing came to mind except to trudge through it. Next morning durning quiet time, I remembered to pray about it... and Voila! This idea was born:

"Build Bricks to Beat Mom" Game.

Basic concept: Ethan had to cover his 100 unit square with bricks before Mom filled hers.

Ethan got to choose his category (SS, Science, or L.A., or Bible) and then Mom would read him a question and tell him how many points (bricks) it was worth. (usually 1 or 2 - but he could double up if he was confident of the category).

It was a success!

Thank you, God.

Ethan: 100+

Mom: 1

(note: I only got 1 point because I only got points if he passed a question or got 1 wrong)