Beginning Our Journey

Sep. 19, 2008

Homeschool Baking Day at the Burtts

Carrie and I were going to sign our kids up for a homeschool  co-op, but the response was not high enough and it got cancelled. So we decided to get together once a month and do a little cooking class thing with our own kids. It was today and was super fun! My daughter had a BLAST and has been asking already when we are going back! I was impressed at how good the kids were and took to each other right away. Here are a few pictures. We theme "dogs" . We painted suncatchers, did mazes and made puppy chow. The only thing we did not get to was our book. But that is ok, I had picked a tear jerker that neither of us was sure we could read without crying anyways :) Alyssa and Mattithia, I pulled her hair back with a tie as soon as I got done taking this picture. See A good friend online, Melly, homeschool mom to 3 kids, sent Flat "Logan" Stanley to us so we took him along. He wanted to help lick the bowl! It was a really nice day! Thank you Carrie for opening up your house for us! We cannot wait until next month!

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Aug. 31, 2008

A Day at Pymatuning with just our family. It was nice :)

We had a very educational day today. Justin decided we should take the kids to Pymatuning to feed the fish. So off we drove 1 and a half hours to feed the fish. I had a TON of bread saved. I give Tristan his chemo on sandwiches sometimes. But I only use an inch square. So I had lots of crusts saved in the freezer. I thought someday we would feed ducks or birds with them. It came in handy today. First we went to the spillway and feed the fish/ducks/sea gulls our half bag of bread. Then we hurried over to the educational building as they were closing in a half and hour. That was so fun there. They had tons of stuffed animals for the kids to see and enjoy. And other touch and feel stations. I had to laugh at my mischievious little son. Signs said what you could and could not touch. Well daddy told Tristan not to touch these certain displays. Alyssa and I walked away, Tristan eyed us leaving and HAD to touch. He forgot daddy was behind him. He is such a stinker. We left the educational building and went on a nature walk. Then we went back to the spillway to feed our whole bag of bread to them. It was neat that we happened to see Justins aunt, uncle and family there! After that we went and found a picnic table and grill by a play center and had a little cook out. That was really nice. Then we ended the day with Brewsters Icecream!  And the nice thing about the day - besides gas, is we only had to buy a $3.50 bag of charcoal. We brought the rest from home. And even our icecream was free because the kids got babies. Tristan was under 40 inches. So his was free and we asked what we owed for Alyssa and the girl said - it is just a baby. You do not owe anything! Yay for us! And thank you to them! Here is a picture bombard of our day. Can you make tracks. What is in the box by sense of touch (but of course the kids had to pull it all out) Do NOT TOUCH... Justin and Alyssa are just pointing... Tristan... is touching. Whos skin is it? Who's Skull? On our Nature Walk - Excuse the hair! Dh had the TOP off the jeep and I had hairspray and mousse in from church! It was a mess!!! Back to feeding the fish/ducks/sea gulls Then on to a picnic The End Sorry Dial up People.

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Jul. 14, 2008

First Field Trip of the Year

Today was our first field trip of the year. It was the most AWESOME DAY I have had in a long time! I decided last night that I would let my mom watch Tristan. That was probably the best decision I could have made. I know he would have had fun but Alyssa and I were able to get so much more out of today. I know he had a great time with his Grandma and Grandpa. Although when he found out we went berry picking he had a meltdown. The day started out with my good friend, and field trip planner, Danielle Picking us up to go to her mothers out in Slippery Rock. Danielle, her son, Her brother in law, Alyssa and I. We met another lady with her two kids that were going to follow us there. Once we get to her moms and do our potty breaks (hey, kids or no kids, this pregnant lady has to keep herself looked after) we headed over to see the Purple Martins. What a neat learning experience that was! The kids even got to hold a few of the babies. I was very impressed with Alyssa. This was her fist "real" trip where she had to listen and learn. She did really well for her age at paying attention and not causing a fuss. I had to laugh though, the kids seemed to enjoy finding the dead dragonfly as much as seeing the birds. After the birds, we went to a bird store. There they had a big window to view many different feeders. There were a TON of different kind of birds out there. Even, of course, a pesky squirrel, feeding from a feeder in the back. Alyssa asked the girl there lots of questions and was very interested in it! Then we headed back to Danielle's mothers house for blackberries and ice cream! Yummy! After our treat we headed out with buckets to pick some. Alyssa was so happy, she was not even whining when she got pricked with the thorns. Being around all the boys was making her brave. I had to chuckle at her. It was like she was trying to impress them all day. She was the youngest and also the only girl there. Well besides the moms. The berry trail ended at Danielle's Stepfathers workshop. He is a bee keeper! We did not get close to the hives but we did stand by the fence. We learned that the electric fence was to keep the bears out and the BACON on the fence was to get them to lick it to get a jolt and know "Ouch, I do not want to be around this!" We went inside and saw how honey was processed. We got to have a taste of the comb, Alyssa thought that was the coolest! You just had to spit out the wax. I have to admit, I like honey but not a ton. But it was amazing tasting! Then we headed back to the house to get ready to go home. Don't step on the Raccoon poop! On our way home we looked for baby monarchs under milkweed plants but did not have success yet. I think we are a tad early. But we will keep looking. Last year I believe it was more end of August, beginning of September when we got ours. We are getting anxious for them though. If you have never raised a butterfly you have to try it this year! It is so super simple. Just got find some milkweed plants and look under the leaves. If you find tiny or even bigger caterpillars then just cut the whole stalk down. Put a few leaves in a jar with a lid with holes, I use kleenax over a canning jar. Then change to fresh leaves when it needs them. If you take a big stalk and put it in water it will be enough to last the life of the caterpillar. You need do nothing else but sit back and enjoy! Here is a picture of the milkweed we looked under - incase you need to know what it looks like, like I did! And to end our trip, Alyssa had to climb the tree in our front yard as always. Tristan was still out to dinner with my mom and dad so I took Alyssa to Long John Silvers and then Wally world. It was a full and fun day!

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