I've been busy with the NanoWriMo contest (National Novel Writing Month) and am currently at 3,500 words, woohoo! The goal is to reach 50,000 on Nov 30th.

Last week was our last week of swimming lessons. Phew! That, and library, and playdates, and co-op, and birthday parties had us going, going, going on-stop last week. This will be our first boring week in a long time. So far, I'm enjoying it!

Our bean plants grew! Thanks for the prayers, because they grew wonderfully. Today was our "experience" (as the 7yo calls an "experiment") and what an experience it was! Both kids were busy planting their bean plants into planters. Dd4 picked her experiment to see what would happen if we put 1 in sun with no water, 1 in a dark closet with water, and another with both water and sun. She was so excited to do this! While my attention was turned to my 7yo, Dd4 broke her plants in half and then planted each half in containers. When I turned and saw the destruction, I gasped. I had to explain that now we couldn't do the sun/dark/water experiment because it wouldn't work. Then I had an inspiration to try seeing if her plant halves would grow - one without roots, and the other without leaves. Dd4 still sulked through the science experience and said she wouldn't smile for my pictures. Oh well. I'm not sure what Dd7's experiment is supposed to be. We planted them and then maybe we'll just track their growth. She didn't want to abuse her plants because they were living beings. I can respect that!

Then we brought in some fall leaves and did leaf rubbings. The girls loved this and it ended Dd4's *failed experiment* bad mood.

Dd7 has suddenly had a spelling attack today. Must be a phase. She keeps writing words and then asking if she spelled it right, and then correcting it. Now she is critiqueing her sister's writing ("you spelled that wrong").