It's that time again! Past that time. If I don't hurry up and post this it will be the November month in review post. Looking back through my photos, I can't believe October went so fast. We had a fun and busy month with twelve days of special company -- there went almost half the month!
We are well into school for the year, but we about to make a curriculum change in math. I do love Teaching Textbooks, but I have at least two children who would benefit greatly from some Charlotte Mason-type learning. I am having a hard time breaking out of my box, but thanks to my dear friend, PlainJane, we are getting some very practical math and taking a break from TT for a bit. Introducing Your Business Math Series. Amy and Elisabeth will be bookstore and pet store owners, respectively. They will be responsible for ordering stock, selling product, recording sales and figuring sales tax, and calculating their monthly profit. But first things first! Each girl will have to come up with a name and a logo for her business! They are going to love this, and I think I will, too. (Please, God, let us have only happy faces at math time from now on!) But wait, that is what is going to be happening THIS month. Back up!
October started with lots of creative play. I love this stuff! Elisabeth contructed a covered wagon and roped a horse to pull it.
Betsy's interest in things western continued throughout the month. A friend left us a couple of felt cowboy hats. Within a few minutes Betsy had rifled through her drawers and come up looking like a real-live cowgirl, minus boots. Boots. Boots! Cowgirls have to have boots! What ever will we do?!
On a whim I stopped at the Salvation Army to find a pair of kids' boots. No cowboy boots, but look what they did have, in unopened boxes:
This was such a fun find, because while some people are always in the right place at the right time, I am almost never in the right place at the right time. I'm in church at the right time, of course, which is the right place to be at church time. But I rarely get in on a deal. This time I did, and I am thanking the Lord. For a song, we are now the happy owners of a Lego train station, cavalry soldiers, bandits, horses, garbage truck, and even a bicyclist -- that one's for Daddy, you know -- and lots of extras! There you have it. That's what the little girls have been busy with the entire month.
In the few moments when no one was Lego-ing, we had a couple of birthdays...
Emily was so excited to get If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and its accompanying kitty, that she made all of listen to her read the book out loud before she would open the rest of her gifts! Daddy and Em had their Dad and Daughter birthday date at the famous In-N-Out Burger. Good choice, Em. She's been in a big hurry to be six ever since she turned five.
The other October birthday was Alison's 15th. I can't believe we didn't get one birthday photo. Where was my head?? Where was everyone else's head?? It's so wonderful to have a teenage daughter. It such a blessing to see the Lord working in her life and making her into a responsible and very pleasant adult person. Here she is working like crazy on a hat for a friend's little girl's birthday.
We enjoyed a nice visit from Grammy and Grampy, complete with art and art lessons. Amy and my mother seem to be kindred spirits of sorts. They share a common interest in artsy stuff; add to that the same genes for height and slenderness and energy. I now have more of my mom's paintings and pastels hanging in my living room. They are very special to me.
Elisabeth learned to crochet! Here is her first complete project, a hot pad:
Emily helped make supper. It was one of those days. One of those days when the man of the house needed to be fed with something delicious and filling, to know he was loved and appreciated in his castle. We got a huge auto repair bill that day. Medical bills were piling up. But the man of the house came home to an experimental meal. I meant well, really I did. The website said this one was a keeper. It wasn't in this house . Disaster struck! And there was enough of this horrid dish to feed an army and a half! It was so bad that it became a sermon illustration! But a prudent wife doesn't throw bad food in the trash -- she figures out a way to make it edible. Next day it was salvaged and gobbled up.
The western theme continues:
We had special meetings at church with special friends from Kansas and here in Arizona,
we witnessed a gun fight in our local gold-mining ghost town, Oatman,
climbed Sitgreaves Pass (in the car),
climbed a mountain at sunrise, on foot (using the word "we" very loosely, I admit),
played music, participated in speech co-op, and enjoyed our first cold weather, complete with hot cocoa, layers of clothing, extra blankets, and long underwear. But not the furnace. Not yet. (Don't laugh. It's cold here, too.)
And finally, the month was finished off with a surprise package in the mail!
Isn't God good? Yes, he is!
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psalm 107:8
How did October get here so fast? While many of you are delighting in autumn leaves, pumpkins, bonfires, hot cocoa, and fall decor, we are finally turning off the air conditioner! My DH put an extra blanket on his side of the bed last night. Two of the girls had hot chocolate for breakfast. Emily grabbed a jacket for her bike ride this morning. After all, it is only 70° out so far. As for me, I think they are all crazy -- I am finally cooling down! Emily has lived here for all but three weeks of her life, so she is a real "desert rat", but the rest of us have had six years to acclimate. Looks like it is working for everyone but me. ...Maybe I'm just a grump, huh? No, not today. Today I am thankful!
Well, September wasn't all that exciting. Actually it was wonderfully uneventful! It was hot. The kids did school and played music. Amy got her top brackets put on.
Here are the highlights:
Betsy made clothes for her new Build-a-Bear bunny. The mother (that's me) measured incorrectly for the skirt that Betsy is sewing here, so it didn't fit. I found the last scrap of that same purple fabric and quickly whipped together another skirt, this one with four gores, and a couple of matching scrunchies for Cuddles's ears. The disappointed child was appeased.
I cleaned out the freezer for the first time in five(?) years , okay, maybe two years, and somehow there wasn't room to put everything back in! How does that happen? There were benefits, though. Three cups of blueberries had to be used up. So Amy made blueberry buckle. (Yum!)
Emily worked on kitchen fractions, adding with carrying, and subtraction with borrowing. I am dating myself, I know. I think they call it regrouping now. Do you like how they change the vocabulary every few years so that parents look like they don't know what they are talking about?
Amy got stuck on exponents. Solution? Worksheets. In math we no longer go on until there is mastery. I created a monster when I let her forge ahead in math, and now we are paying for it. Worksheets are great. And homeschooling is great. We just stop where ever we are in the text book and do free worksheets until she gets it. More worksheets here. And here.
Our mountain-biking pastor (that's my husband) wowed the kids (and himself, lol) with his Kings Kids devotions on Ezekiel 10:13, "O wheel!" Did you know a wheel has three parts, just like God does and like we do? And did you know different wheels have different purposes? A wheel even has a testimony!
And, we experimented with rag curls. I used old nylon tights cut in approximately 6" strips, cut down one side. That way they could be folded over the ends of the hair. They worked great on Emily's fine hair, but Betsy's super thick hair was still wet in the morning! That was disappointing to a little girl who would live in a make-believe princess land with lots of flowers and pretty things.
Some friends gave us their Wari game (also called Mancala if you change the rules a bit), and all of the strategy-lovers in this house are wondering why in the world they got rid of it! There are many variations of this game, easily found on Google. When I was a kid we played this with two half-dozen muffin tins placed end-to-end, and a bunch of marbles. Free games are great!
This month all four of the girls entertained the special people at our local nursing home. Hooray! They were ALL brave this time! If we can just get Amy into strings we'll be the next Eden String Quartet, lol. I LOVE this. It makes my heart just swell with joy when my girls all play together. Betsy and Emily are making tracks now, ever since Daddy laid down a new practice rule. Yay, Dad! The bookmobile ladies were there again this month, and the lady in charge featured my girls on the library website! What fun!
Well, I think that's it for September. October is going to be packed with a 15th and a 6th birthday, special company, special meetings at church, playing outside (yay!!!), and the start of our homeschool speech/public speaking co-op. See you around!
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare his works with rejoicing.
Psalm 107:21,22
First of all, this was the month I was going to begin learning how to be the prudent wife. I'm a late bloomer, okay? One of the great things about homeschooling is that EVERYONE is learning, right? And we never stop. So even though I just turned forty-something years old, it's not too late for me. I started the choystercash couponing class. Week One had to do with freebies from Rite-Aid. We don't have a local Rite-Aid, so I got the week off. This is Week Two. This week's deals are Walgreens deals, $50 worth of free stuff. I am still looking at the list and trying to get through the brain fog. You do have to pay for this stuff, but you get money back to use on later purchases. I can see that I am going to have to be real wise (and brainy) about how to shop Walgreens if I do this. Will I actually save money, or will I just spend more on stuff we don't normally buy? I'll let you know what happens. Come on, someone join me on this class so we can compare notes!
Okay, August. We started school. The first day was horrid, but things are now much improved, almost wonderful. Here we are actually studying, well, three-fourths are studying. The remaining fourth is playing...
Some dear friends in Minnesota sent us this stuff in a box. My husband ran when he saw it, but the girls thought it was great! We are eagerly anticipating a visit from the PlainJane family, and we are brushing up on our Minnesotan: "You betcha", "hot dish", and "Do you want to come with?"
I have been gaining a small interest in lentils, beans, and unusual grains for their nutritional value. As we are not big cooked lentil fans, I tried spouting some. Lentil sprouts are supposed to be REALLY good for you (translation -- probably bad-tasting). Surprise! They taste good! Kind of like a cross between bean sprouts and snow peas. We girls all enjoyed snacking on them. (Dad didn't -- he preferred his hidden M&M's.) You don't need a sprouter. Just soak about 1/2 cup of lentils overnight in plenty of water. In the morning, rinse very well and pour the lentils into a colander lined with a clean dishtowel. Cover with the overlapping part of the towel, then run water over the whole thing. Set the colander in a bowl to catch the drips. Do this again each evening and morning for two or three days. When your lentils have sprouted, rinse them well, drain, and refrigerate in a zip-lock bag. They are a great snack or addition to a green salad. And when you are tired of snacking on them, you can have your little kids plant some. They come up super fast.
Elisabeth has been spending much time at Build-a-Bearville, and desired a real Build-a-Bear so bad it hurt. We are lucky enough NOT to have a Build-a-Bear store nearby ($!$!$!), but since we were going to go to California for my birthday last week, I did a bit of research and found a store reasonably close to my parents' home. Betsy spent her own money on a very cute bunny and the special code that will allow her to spend even more time at Build-a-Bearville. She is now a Junior Cyberguide and "owns" a beautiful home in Build-a-Bearville.
From there we went to Balboa Island for a fun day by the ocean. I got a pair of Crocs sandals -- what a relief to my poor diabetic feet -- in a neat little clothing and accessories store called "Fresh Produce". What a funny name for a clothing store! Then I got home and looked up Crocs on eBay... LOL! Oh well, next time I'll get them online. But my feet were thanking me all that day. Wouldn't you know Crocs is going out of business?
From there we rode the little ferry to the Fun Zone,
where my folks treated the girls, but especially Emily, to a ferris wheel ride:
And the carousel:
Then we had lunch at Ruby's on the pier and met this guy:
One evening we took a walk along Alamitos Bay
And found these,
and watched the sun set (you didn't know the ocean runs downhill, did you? lol!):
And the girls did some more artsy stuff at Grammy's:
I had a wonderful birthday with people who love me! I'm sure there's more, but this post is long enough already.
Oh dear, I am tardy with this post! Good thing I don't have much to tell you. It was July. Hot, above or below 115°F, with average LOW temps at 85°. We've lived here nearly six years, and it's still weird to me to see the bank thermometer at 103° at 9:00 or 10:00 at night! We spent a lot of time in the house, and some at the lake or river. I posted photos of the lake already... And we did art, which I also told you about.... So I will just go look at my trusty camera and see if anything else exciting happened. * * *
While I'm looking, I'll tell you about my reading list. Lately I have been reading some of the literary classics, to reacquaint myself with them and to see if I would now consider them decent reading for my growing girls. My criteria for good reading material changed drastically when the Lord saved me, and as I am responsible for the hearts and minds of a few voracious readers in my house, I am trying to be careful about what we have on our shelves. In the "done" pile are The Old Man and the Sea, Pride and Prejudice, Flowers for Algernon (definitely NOT recommended by me for tweens or teens), and To Kill a Mockingbird. I can't pre-read everything my kids get a hold of, and I thought that the classics should be relatively safe. But I had a nagging feeling that they might not be. I don't know who decides a book is a classic, but we don't have the same standards. Okay, blanket statement forthcoming. Seems to me a book is called a classic if, in addition to containing great writing, it does one of two things: One, either it challenges cultural mores and norms and ideas about what is right and wrong, or two, it challenges GOD'S authority on the subject of right and wrong. I don't mind the first at all. I would put Mockingbird in that category. It's a great book. But I don't consider Mockingbird okay for my kids to read, simply because of the mature content. I know, I read it for the first time in junior high, and I survived. The testimonies about the rape must not have made a big impression on me, because I had forgotten all about them. But do I want to feed that to my kids? And what about the language? Garbage in, garbage out? **sigh** Algernon, on the other hand, challenges both societal behavior and God's law. The story idea is great, but the philosophy is entirely humanistic, and the content is definitely "adult". Many of the classics have excellent ideas and excellent writing, with all this other stuff thrown in. Why do they have to do that? Do I want my kids to learn about humanism or immorality from a book? I haven't figured out if or when it's okay to read something as a family that is completely contrary to God's thinking, just so that we can discuss contrasting ideas. What are your reading recommendations?
* * *
Okay, I found something. I picked up this great book at the library. Amy took it over as well as my sewing machine, and she created several bags:
Here's the first one she did. I had this fabric map of the USA hanging around, which I intended for years to at least hem (even had it on the wall with just its raw edges for a long time), and Amy made much better use of it than what it was doing in my sewing stuff. Using an old mattress pad for batting, Amy machine-quilted the fabric then constructed a big bag and lined it.
My artist mom went to the Provence region of France with her artsy friends for a couple of weeks (wish I could say it was us -- now THAT would have been something to tell!), and that sort of inspired Amy and me to make her a brush holder from a pattern in that same book. (Excuse the tacky brushes.) Here's the process:
Next week we'll be starting "school". Yippee! Actually I am considering unschooling this year. Or should I say, unschooling again this year?
Sorry about my absence from the blogging scene lately. I'm uninspired. As a matter of fact, as we speak, I should be working on my ladies' church newsletter, but nothing is coming to mind. (A pathetic confession from a saved person, I know.) I thought it would be better for me to blather away here than there, and since I have a nice, quiet morning to myself I will be able to do this without the usual plethora of interruptions.
My month in review for the month of June is going to be short, unless I can think of what all we did this month. I haven't taken many pictures!
Here's the recap:
We ate red raspberries. Not locally grown, of course. But it wouldn't be summer without raspberries!
We did Art in the Park, a city-sponsored program for "kids" of all ages. We have done acrylics (see previous posts) and clay; next week we'll experiment with charcoals.
Starting a face.
Can you tell what this is?
How to make a flower. Or a pine cone ...Or an artichoke?
And art at the kitchen table:
Amy took on a geometric challenge, courtesy of George Hart.
Elisabeth experimented with her new camera:
We went to a luau birthday party!
And Emily made her own grilled cheese and turkey sandwich. (Can you tell? Whoa, Sweetie, not so much cheese. LOL! )
Alison and Amy started playing classical music at the nursing home this month. I was surprised to find out the home has NO musical activities at ALL! The residents seemed to enjoy themselves very much. And we had a nice thing happen. The library bookmobile ladies were in attendance also on this day, and one of them really grilled my girls about homeschooling. She said, "I could tell you're homeschooled," and Alison asked her how she knew. She replied, "Well... because homeschoolers have a ...different demeanor about them. And they have better social skills." WHAT? I was amazed to hear her say that, not because I doubt it's true, but because "socialization" is usually the big issue with these people, isn't it?
And I can't forget our visitor to church this month:
Sorry she's out of focus. This black widow spider has an egg sac just out of the photo. I didn't think we wanted a whole family of these critters visiting, not that we aren't friendly at our church, but, well, there are some types we just don't want. Finding no critter spray in the closet, I tried gassing her and her babies with Lysol. She didn't like it, but it didn't kill her. Mama grabbed her babies, sac and all, and disappeared into the end of a pipe. I felt kind of sorry for her until my dear friend reminded me that this mama had recently eaten her husband. And judging by the size of her, she has eaten several husbands... Mrs. Black Widow still resides outside the back door of our church. For now.
And now, back to my newsletter. I'm past my deadline.
I'll be back later to report on how our new school year is shaping up!
The month of May started out with a bang! (No, we did not finish "school"...) For the past three years we have organized an area homeschoolers' music and fine arts recital. Since not all of the kids are musical we have added scripture and poetry recitation to the program. In an effort to feature only God-honoring music the program is limited to classical and sacred pieces. This year we had seventeen child participants, up from eight the first year! Hooray! Maybe we'll have to find a bigger facility to host our big event next year!
Here's Emily confidently reciting A Child's Prayer. She also played Nothing But the Blood on her harmonica, and she did a super job!
Elisabeth met a younger girl who was also going to play the violin. Positive peer pressure kept her from backing out when her turn came, as she did in previous years. (Love that positive peer pressure!) Elisabeth chose to play Lightly Row and Come Thou Fount. I was so proud of her.
In addition to a nice arrangement of All Hail the Power on the piano, Amy played a Telemann flute duet with a friend. Alison's violin solo piece was Gigue, from Sonata in d minor, by Veracini. She and a friend played all three movements of Bach's Concerto for Two Violins, having abbreviated the first and third movements in an effort not to keep the audience up all night. Amy and Alison teamed up for a duet, SaviourLike a Shepherd Lead Us, and they both had a part in a group ensemble for Air on a G String, by JS Bach.
The grand finale included everyone who knew the words or the tune to Send the Light. It was lots of fun. (I know, I know, the kids do it because their parents make them, but my own even admitted it wasn't so bad after all, lol!) In this photo, Alison is out of sight at the piano.
The next big event on our calendar was a tour of our local police department. The whole thing was very interesting, but I was most impressed by three things: the organizational skills involved in the storage of evidence (these are the guys to call if you need your house organized), the special forces teams, and the forensics laboratory. Look at all that algebra on the walls! And you thought you'd never need to know this stuff. The kids were more excited about playing with the sirens, sitting in the back of the police car, and seeing honest-to-goodness bad guys handcuffed and taken off to jail. Too bad we aren't in Maricopa County, where the tent jail is.
Oh my, I can't leave this out. Elisabeth bought herself a digital camera. I don't need to take photos anymore -- I have two resident photographers!
In preparation for our our trip to Joplin, Missouri for family camp with our old church, Amy and I sewed a couple of dresses for Emily. I pinned, she sewed. It's great to have a partner at the sewing machine! (Now why didn't I get a photo of her sewing? It would have been much more interesting.)
At long last we packed up for camp. I was certain we would never find room in our little van for all the stuff we would need to take. Besides needing jackets, church clothes and shoes for just one day, plus the iron, plus six sleeping bags and our own towels, you should see the list of stuff they recommend to bring to camp: broom, cleaning supplies, rugs, curtains, lol, yes! I'm serious! Well, we skipped all that stuff, except for a couple of throw rugs which we didn't need after all, because we were unexpectedly blessed with deluxe accommodations that included carpet. Alison and Amy handled all the music on Sunday at our old church, and included in their dad's plans for the special music was a couple of violin/flute duets. Where, you ask, did we ever find room for a violin? If we had had to bring it, it would have ridden on Alison's lap for 2600 miles. But we were blessed to have Mr. Simon McHugh, of the fine McHugh Violin Shop in Wichita, loan us one for the weekend. Here is the pile of stuff we traveled with:
That doesn't look too bad, does it? Actually there is a large laundry basket hiding under the pillows, and a suitcase, too, and a few sleeping bags. For a one or two night stay, each girl packs her own bag. But on longer trips I pack the girls' clothes in the laundry basket, rather than in a suitcase. It's much easier to find things in there, since clothes are visible through the sides of the basket. We wear the same clothes two days in a row as we travel, only bringing into our motel room a bag with pj's and clean underwear, plus our necessary bathroom stuff. That saves us from unpacking the entire contents of the van each time we stop for the night.
It was a big blessing to see dear old friends in Kansas and Missouri, not to mention green prairies, flowers, trees, and some rain... My husband preached all the services on Sunday, including a good message titled, "What Will You Do With Your Sins?" On Monday we took off for camp in Missouri. This was the perfect time for us to play the Cow Game. Rules: Players on each side of the car count the cows on their side of the road. If you pass a cemetery on your side of the road, all your cows die. The team with the most cows at the end of the trip wins. Because we didn't know ahead of time where all the cemeteries were on this particular stretch of road, it was a lot more interesting than during the first part of the trip. Coming into Wichita from the west there are cemeteries on both sides of the highway, so your cows are as good as dead before you even leave Arizona. Variations on this game include counting yellow cars, Peterbilts, or sheep (but "sheep" never die). We played 'em all. And, of course, there's this to do:
Other activities to keep the kiddos, even the young ones, busy on the road included easy Sudoku, books, mazes, sewing plastic canvas, coloring books, and, one of my favorites, MP3 players! We have collected hundreds of audio files from Homeschool Radio Shows, and while we don't often listen to them any other time, being on the road is a great opportunity to hear these great programs. They're even educational. Split earphone jacks (available at Radio Shack) make it possible for all the kids to listen, while Mom and Dad have private conversation or simply enjoy the peace and quiet.
So, okay, we finally got to camp. The time before camp went like this: Tick........ Tick........ Tick........ Tick...... But as soon as we got to Joplin time passed like this, ticktickticktickticktick! We had a great week of preaching, fellowship, food (lots of food), singing, swimming, boating, learning, playing softball and volleyball, making friends, slapping mosquitoes, and climbing hills. The weather was gorgeous, not at all the sauna that I expected. It even rained! Praise the Lord! We desert people were freezing, but it was wonderful.
The camp facility is an old hotel/resort, and in the days of prohibition it was a hang-out for the likes of Al Capone. Do you see the door in the side of the hill in the photo on the right? That is the entrance to a cave where the bad guys hid from the feds during raids. The place has quite a story.
Dad and the girls canoeing.
Amy sings at talent time with her little friends.
Our pastor and his wife, celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary.
Alison and her new friends learn some new music.
The Ed Fort family has an international ministry in Chicago. Sokvary, the mom, in the pink jacket, was an adolescent survivor of the killing fields of the 70's in Cambodia/Vietnam. She has a horrifying, amazing and wonderful testimony of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ and of God's working in her life. You can read it here.
Emily and Zeanne, friends forever.
Elisabeth patiently enduring twelve hours of sitting still.
As we were homebound and whizzing through Amarillo, we spied this travel center. It is officially called the "Jesus is Lord Travel Center", and surprise, there were no customers. Figuring a witness that bold deserved our business, we got off at the next off-ramp and turned around to get some gas. They had just opened a week ago, and I do wonder how long they will be able to stay open. It was delightful to see the good ol' KJV out there for the whole world to see. I love this sign on the upper right. I need that one by my back door for a reminder to myself! Several miles down the road we saw a semi pulled over by the highway patrol, one that belonged to this outfit. I wonder if he had "Be sure your sin will find you out," on his rear bumper, hee hee!
For those of you who keep weather stats, May had 27 days above 100°F. Gotta love it! It was a fun and very busy month. We're all looking forward to a quiet June. Maybe next month I'll be able to report we are done with school....
Okay, here it is, by request (as if I don't know who asked), the Month in Review!
WARNING: Long post!
What a busy, fun-filled month we have had! No, we aren't finished with school yet, but we will be one of these days... maybe by the 4th of July...? sigh. Well, the other things we did this month were oh so educational, that makes up for our putzing along. Right?
First of all, and this is a biggie, Amy (Booklover) finished the dolls she was asked to make for a sweet fellow blogger's Keepers of the Faith club. You can see Julie's lovely blog entry about them right here. Although she has been given gifts of cash for playing her flute from time to time, this was the first time Amy was actually HIRED to do something. It was a great experience in time management, ingenuity, and keeping commitments. Thank you, Julie, for being our teacher of life skills this month, and our friend! Here is the dolls' "class picture":
Since the dollies were completed and lovingly packed and shipped, many other crafy items have found homes here. These are Amy's. I see I am missing a few photos. She also made spool dollies and bead dollies and who knows what else. That kid is always doing something with her hands.
And these are Elisabeth's (Carrotlover). Remember, I told you I run from crafts. She came up with this on her own, marshmallow people making smores in their foam campsite.
And, more crafty people.
This was so fun. We dried apples! A friend of ours showed me this, and it is so obvious -- we do live in a dehydrator, after all! We strung these sliced apples on a piece of ribbon in the afternoon, and the next morning we had a fun snack!
(Whose poor little waif is this? She appears to have no mother to care for her messy hair...)
The same friend came up with a wonderful idea for us homeschoolers -- a shoebox science fair. Each child brought a science experiment or demonstration. All of the ingredients/equipment had to fit in a shoebox. We were supposed to also have an 8x11 piece of paper stating the title of the experiment, the equipment/ingredients, the method or explanation involved, and a conclusion. We forgot that part, and I think everyone else did, too. This was my kind of project -- it took only a few minutes of exploring a backyard science book and my Science Concoctions ebook, and four demonstrations were ready to go! It was great fun, and a good opportunity for the kids to practice following instructions, communicating by demonstration, and even their audience manners. We had a good variety, too: DNA extraction, surface tension, light and reflection, gravity and air pressure, fingerprinting, molecular "grabbing" (for lack of the correct term), boiling water in a balloon, and mind/muscle coordination.
DNA Extraction
How many pennies can you add to a full glass of water before it spills over?
Fingerprinting
Mind/muscle Coordination
Why doesn't the balloon pop?
Light Reflection
Air Pressure/Gravity
Grabby Molecules
We made a trip to my parents' in So. Cal., which just happened to be the cheap take-off point for my DH to fly to Kansas for a preachers' meeting. Isn't it nice how those things work out? We arrived around midnight, then got up at 5:30 a.m. to take him to the little Long Beach airport. He drove, and I worked at waking up so I could drive myself back to the house and go back to bed! It was a wonderful whirlwind trip for the girls and me. We did lots of shopping (found a GREAT thrift store and spent too many hours there), but we also got to do some really fun things. One of those fun things was visiting puppies! They were too cute. Lucky for me, neither Daddy nor I want a dog, so the girls knew better than to beg for one and make me feel guilty for saying NO.
Back to thrift store shopping, here's an idea for those of you whose little girls wear long skirts. Once upon a time, many years ago, little Alison and I were perusing the ladies' skirt rack. She picked up a mini-skirt and exclaimed, "Look Mommy!! This skirt is for a lady with VERY SHORT LEGS!!" Hee hee!! I laughed and told her she was right, and then I got an idea. Ladies' skirts in small sizes are perfect for little girls -- little ladies with short legs! And ever since then, we have gotten many of our little girls' skirts off the grown-up racks. We found several nice ones last week, and I am thankful for that. Modest girls' clothes are hard to find!
My wonderful mom is always ready with a quick art project idea, so while the older girls and I shopped some more (sorry, girls), Grammy and the little girls made tie-dyed tissue paper for wrapping. It's so simple. Fold a piece of white tissue paper, and dip the corners into bowls of food coloring. Let it dry, then unfold carefully.
We made a trip to our favorite music store (always a necessary stop when we visit my mom and dad). My five-yr-old, Emily, begged and begged to buy herself a violin. (Know anyone who wants to get rid of a 1/4 violin?) I told her we'd have to discuss it with Daddy first. So then she asked for a recorder instead. No, we have one you can play at home. An ocarina? No, we have one of those, too. Okay, how about a harmonica? My, the child is persistent. Lucky for me, Grammy stepped in and said Emily could play her harmonica. *whew* We went home, and in less than 24 hours Emily had figured out how to play "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus" on the harmonica. I like that determination!
Speaking of music, one of the highlights of this trip was something we have been trying to do for two years -- we attended a rehearsal of the world-renowned Musique Sur la Mer Youth Symphony Orchestra, founded and conducted by Marcy Sudok. Check out their website. The group was awesome, and I was very impressed with Mrs. Sudok. Alison was hoping to sit in and play along on her violin, but they were learning new music for a concert the following weekend. (That is some good sight-reading going on, there!) This youth orchestra started out as a little group of homeschoolers who needed some musical comraderie and instruction. Now there are dozens of members, and much of the group is still made up of homeschoolers. If you ever get a chance to see them in concert, do! One of the pieces we heard the strings section practice was "Irish Legend", composed by Robert Kerr. The MSLMYSO played it much better than any of the groups on YouTube did. The first violinist really made his instrument sing. Oh, it was very lovely!
While Alison and I did yet MORE shopping (sorry, Honey), (and I did say SHOPPING, not buying), Grammy and the other girls went to the El Dorado Nature Center and had a wonderful time exploring, playing, and discovering.
I grew up in the Long Beach area and never even heard of this wonderful, FREE, attraction, Rancho Los Alamitos, until last week. The human history of this site dates back thousands of years and is quite interesting. Read all about it here. The house is actually made of adobe and has been covered up with "real" house-building material since. Windows in the inside walls reveal the mud structure underneath. Booklover Amy and I drooled over the book shelves in the family library! Such a great collection. Unfortunately, taking photos is not allowed in the adobe, but there were plenty of things to photograph outdoors! The landscape is lush and just gorgeous, with such a huge variety of colors, textures, and sizes of plant life. I could have stayed a lot longer... I loved these "hairy" trees!
And here's the house. Look at the variety of palms in the front. The ones in the back with the broad stumps are elephant palms, and the short, prickly, thin ones are dwarf palms, I believe. What do I know. They needed to have placards with the names of all the plants for people like me!
And here's a small sampling of the rest of the flora (oh yes, and one of the girls at the base of the huge fig tree):
Most of these photos by Booklover
We recently met a friend's flute instructor, a very nice German lady who spends half the year in Germany and half here in the desert. Long story short, she was disappointed to hear Alison was not playing in a group of any kind, and she arranged for her to play violin with a few other ladies in town once a week. Last week was the first time, and both Alison and Amy (flute) spent two hours doing nothing but sight reading. It was a good experience for both of them, and they were more capable than they felt. Playing with others is a lot different than playing alone! Alison will be replacing the nice flute lady for the summer -- what a great opportunity for her. Thank you, Lord.
I just had to post this photo of the artistic cupcakes a couple of our church girls made and then shared with us at Kings Kids. Aren't they festive-looking? They were also very yummy!
And for the rest of the news... Amy Booklover got her "braces" this month -- really they are removeable appliances, palate wideners to make her teeny mouth a bit larger. The braces will be coming later. It is amazing how fast these doohickeys work -- she has had them less than two weeks, and already the gap between her front teeth is closing. I will be glad when her molars meet, and she can chew stuff like lettuce and meat!
We also had company from Washington, a family with three adorable adopted kids and a beloved foster child who goes "home" when they get back. Being foster parents must be one of the hardest things in the world, especially when they are hoping to adopt the child they have loved and nurtured since his birth, and that child gets sent back to a parent who didn't bother with him for the first two and a half years of his life. I think being a good mother is by far the most difficult thing I have ever done, or tried to do, but being a foster mother would be harder. God bless all you foster moms out there who are lovingly raising other people's neglected children.
And that's the end of this month's review. I hope to be around more in May, but it's another busy month...
March has been a lovely month! Up until the past couple of blustery days, the weather has been perfect. It was so perfect, in fact, that we took a couple of weeks off school and played outside. So, this school year is going to end in August, so what? I don't mind doing school through the summer, but I'd much rather be ahead than behind. And we definitely aren't ahead!
The desert bloomed this month, hooray! Here are a few early morning pics of the blooming desert. The landscape has blossomed nicely. Lots of winter rain brings a thin blanket of green to the local mountains and provides us with blossoms in profusion. Notice our flowers are mostly in "hot" colors. How fitting. If you don't care for yellow or orange flowers, this is not the place for you.
We finished The Wheel on the School (Meinert DeJong), and it comes highly recommended by all the children, and by me, too. Daddy and Emily are reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl) together, and the rest of us are really enjoying the fourth book in the autobiographical Little Britches series by Ralph Moody, Mary Emma and Company. It is such a heartwarming story! The children are happy, hard workers and so resourceful, and, as I told you, Mrs. Moody is my character hero. Any mom who can cheerfully battle a smoky, sooty furnace, freezing temperatures, and a "new" house that was left absolutely filthy by the previous occupants gets a big star in my book. On my personal pile is a garage sale find, Jim Trelease's Read Aloud Handbook. A very good read. I don't completely share his criteria for read-aloud selections, but he gives enlightening info on the benefits of reading to your kids, the serious detriments of the television, and a great list of recommendations.
Amy is still crafting away. A very sweet blogging friend has hired to her to make several of those little dollies that I posted photos of in last month's Review. We have begged and groveled for wool, acorn caps, and felt. Below, Amy is washing mohair from PlainJane's goats. And thanks to OldSchoolMarm, these dollies will be complete with their acorn cap hats. Thank you, friends!
More crafting, miniature appliances by Amy:
Elisabeth has been busy with her Sculpey clay, making tiny culinary delights for her clay people.
roast beef mashed potatoes and corn
spaghetti and meatballs, of course
ice cream sundae!
the eaters
Below, my handyman operates on the nasty swamp cooler guts. It's quite ingenious, actually. A small hose drips on thick pads surrounding this squirrel cage. As the fan rotates air is pulled in through the wet pads and is cooled, then it is forced into ducts that come into the house through the ceiling. The windows have to be open to prevent blowing up the house, so we get lots of fresh air. I do like that aspect. A swamp cooler costs pennies to run, but in our house it's only good to about 105°. After that we seal up the place and run the AC. I feel rather foolish about my earlier rant. It only took about fifteen minutes to clean up the dust that blew in. How silly of me.
Alison is pretending to be Anne of Green Gables, balancing on the "ridge pole". We need a little bit steeper pitch on the roof to be more authentic.
Four very tall people took an evening stroll:
Oh, and I can't forget to post photos from the manly men's mountain climbing expedition! (See previous post.) It's really difficult to get the right perspective in a photo. This was a very steep climb! My husband is the kind of guy who climbs a mountain because it is there. Is your husband like this? To be honest, I really don't understand this kind of thinking. I enjoy looking at mountains, but I don't ever feel like I have to climb them. Must be a guy thing. Anyway, these guys all did some research before tackling Spirit Mountain, and everyone agreed the directions were very vague. So they just drove out there and started up. The supposedly six-hour, moderate climb up and back down the mountain took them over eight and a half grueling hours, and they never did get to the top. My DH did a little more research when he got home, and he found that there is marked trail on the west side, which is a nice level two hike. Ah. They had scaled the level fivesouth side of the mountain, blazing their own trail. LOL! So they are already making plans for the next climb, but it will be later in the year, AFTER snake season, you know. Speaking of snakes, they didn't see any, but they did see this critter, a chuckwalla. Chuckwallas get up to 18" long, almost as big as a gila monster. Scary. That body of water in the lower right photo is Lake Mohave. In the lower left photo you can just barely see the Laughin casinos waaay off in the distance.
Alison got her braces this week. After much deliberation, she finally settled on metallic blue bands (not pictured yet). Poor kid, her mouth is still sore, and she is on an unanticipated diet. The orthodontist yanked out four teeth, leaving her nothing to chew with. Amy gets her brackets and appliances next month, and she has already made up her mind to get glow-in-the-dark pink. It's a nice thing those band colors can be changed each visit, hee hee. While Alison was being held captive in the chair, Amy spent a couple of hours asking questions and exploring the contents of the cabinets in our dentist's office. (No, Amy is not a toddler, lol.) Three or four of the nurses and the dentist/ortho asked her if she wanted to be a dentist when she grows up, and Amy replied, "No. I want to be a full-time mom." Good.
Tonight I opened the fridge to get a hard boiled egg for our salad, and look what I found -- gospel eggs! You can see which one I cracked before I decided to take a picture. This verse, "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good," brought a smile to my face. God certainly is good. I thanked him for my daughter, who left these subtle reminders.
Three days left this month, but we have no plans other than church and a funeral. If anything exciting happens I'll be sure to let you know!
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?
or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children:
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Luke 11:11-13
The month of February started off with a bang for our family. We made a short road trip to central Arizona, which is, IMHO, the most beautiful part of Arizona, unless you prefer rocks and desolation. We got some good preaching and some good fellowship, and brought home the stomach flu and some bad colds. But it was worth it. I had to laugh when I saw the sign announcing the Cococino National Forest. It's not what most people think of when they see the word "forest"! But I do love the saguaros.
Elisabeth played some beautiful music on her neglected violin, which was a thrill to my soul. Go Elisabeth! Keep it up!
My very culinarily challenged child found a way to cut a banana into her corn flakes. There's more than one way to slice a banana!
Our Virginia grandparents drove all the way to rainy Arizona to see us, and we had such a nice time. When the sky cleared up, all of the kids and grandparents, plus half of the parents, hiked up to a mine shaft. Since our van only seats seven, one of us had to stay behind. I'd have enjoyed the walk, but I was stuck all alone in a quiet, empty house. Poor me. These beams and boards are here to prevent clumsy miners and curious children from falling into this deep, deep hole in the ground. It does not , however, prevent worried grandparents from having heart attacks when the curious grandchildren get too close to the edge. I suspect at one time there might also have been a winch attached, to pull up buckets of GOLD. These things are scattered all over the desert, and to me they seem like the perfect place to toss broken TV's, used car oil, garbage, evidence, or dead bodies. Who knows WHAT'S in there? I don't want to find out.
Nana and Papa brought stepping stone kits for each of the kids to make. Amy had the great idea that all of the grandkids should make one for Nana's garden. Good idea, Amy. We'll do that.... someday.
We always enjoy time at the park. Sometimes we concentrate on the playground equipment, sometimes on the swings, and sometimes on the things growing in and around the park.
Amy crafted her head off.
Everyone but poor ol' me, all alone in the house for a second time in a week went for a water-hunting hike in Grapevine Canyon. Once upon a time, five years ago, there was actually running water here, I suppose from an underground spring. The hunters didn't find running water, only standing water. The boulders make this a favorite hiking and climbing place. I have posted photos previously of the petroglyphs ("Indian graffiti") on the rocks here.
Alison took on the February Madness challenge and is, at this moment, whacking away at her last 500 words out of 30,000 words for the month! Whoohoo! She is going to make it!! Good job, Alie!! She has been stuck in this position for much of the month of February:
In other news, the nice camera that Amy got for her birthday last month conked out, so I called Canon to see what we could do about it. Mind you, this is a used camera, mfg in 2004, and we didn't buy it. Canon has great customer service! They are going to repair it free or replace it, and pay the shipping both ways. I like that kind of deal! Amy is very excited to get her camera back, and so am I, so that next month we will have more photos to choose from for the March Month in Review!
And, speaking of great deals, we girls all went to Target after Valentine's Day and made a big investment in female necessities, you know, Snickers, Dove, Hershey Kisses. That stuff. Everything was 75% off, which meant it was like, 79¢ a bag for the good stuff! I was so excited. And then, and this was the most exciting thing that has happened to me in a long time, I got ten bags of Ghirardelli chocolate chips for only 69¢ a bag, because they were stocked on the clearance shelf by accident! (I should have grabbed everything they had!) We should be good for at least two weeks now...
We had a great blessing this month. In spite of things being tighter around here, my husband increased our missions giving, and the Lord has really been paying us back. You can't out-give God, and he keeps proving that to us, though we know it already. Our two older girls need braces, and our orthodontist is going to do both mouths for only the cost of the lab work. This is a tremendous discount!!! God is so good to us. He also blessed us with a free plumbing job this month and some nice cash anniversary gifts. The Bible calls giving to the Lord beyond the tithe an "experiment", and it keeps turning out better for us than we could hope. I wonder if this kind of experiment lends itself to the scientific method??
Monocogman and I had a nice anniversary dinner out last night, and a hot date to Wal*Mart for buttons and a few groceries. Did you see the sweet anniversary post he wrote on his blog yesterday? It made me cry. Yeah, I'm a diamond in the rough, all right. Sometimes I not even that good. At least a lump of coal is good for something -- you can burn it. (Am I the only one who feels that way? Probably not. Probably most of the female population feels that way at times. ) But Monocogman says my worth to him is far above rubies. That's another reason I love him -- he's crazy.
PS. I have one more thing to add to that list: #23. He prays. On any given morning I can find him on his knees, in the dark, praying for me and a plethora of other people and things. That one thing, more than all the other things he does for us, means the most to me!
O taste and see that the LORD is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Psalm 34:8
For being a slow month here, it sure went fast! We have had company, special meetings at church with late nights, and all manner of schedule-interrupting activities. We are having a terrible time getting back into school, and we never really got out. Every day I am asked if we can skip this or that, and it's never anything like computer time, lol. It's usually geography or chores. Or the entire school day. Well, here's our summary:
We went grocery shopping. Who didn't?? Our local store had this cute stand set up, and Elisabeth pretended to be a farm girl selling apples, so that Amy could take her picture.
Dad got in on the hammy fun and did a Kroger's pizza commercial for us. (No, we don't always dress up to do our grocery shopping. This was a Sunday night, after church, on our way home.)
Alison learned how to do some bicycle maintenance, from the best cycling teacher ever -- Monocogman. Here she is changing her tire. Goatheads love innertubes, and we have lots of flats here. Personally I think anyone who likes cycling in the desert is a little bit crazy. Who wants to fix a flat every time they go on a ride? Well, Monocogman does. That explains that.
We had fun at the park, of course. The photographer is Amy. She has been connected to her "new" camera ever since her birthday. I can see I pasted all these photos in the wrong order. See Amy's birthday, coming up.
Amy made sock monkeys, one for her, and one for a dear blogging friend. These monkeys appear to be part squid, as I accidentally purchased knee-hi socks! (How was I to know they are normally made from crew socks??)
Mom, what's this thing? A typewriter. What's a typewriter?? Below, Elisabeth types a story on this fabulous antique. Way more fun than the computer, you know. Too funny!
This avocado had already begun to sprout when I cut it open. The pit was split in half, and roots were growing through the flesh. I love a head start on a seed! (This happened here not too long ago with an apple. Are our fruits being fed hormones or something??) We definitely do not have the climate for growing avocados, so this project will go into the round file whenever I get tired of seeing it in my kitchen window. Some questions for homeschool scientists: Will the plant flourish if it is watered with filtered soft water? And, will it survive on half the nutrition it normally gets from the pit?
The girls fed wild burros. This one is apparently not very wild.
We started Kings Kids at our church. Alison and Amy, while too old to be in the club, are not to old to be helpers, so we keep them busy making snacks and listening to the younger girls recite their memory verses. And no, we are not saying the pledge to Obama.
And, we celebrated Amy's twelfth birthday! Grammy and Grampy spent a few days with us for the occasion, and that is where the camera came from. Dad decided his nice Canon Powershot S1 was too awkward and bullky, so he bought a new, smaller one and stored the Canon away on the top shelf of his closet for .... someday. He decided Amy would probably like to have it, and he was right! It has become attached to her. She is the resident staff photographer, and most of these photos are courtesy of Amy. Just so you know, the print Amy (Booklover) is holding was on her birthday wish list. Breezy Tulip, at A Bowl of Moss and Pebbles, did this. Breezy is such a talented young lady and quite an inspiration. Amy is busy working on a fun Breezy-inspired project, to be featured here next month.
The girls served and honored their dad by washing his dirtmobile. (That doesn't qualify as work -- it's way too much fun!) Actually, they were doing this so that our visiting preacher could have a clean car to use while he was here. It would have been embarrassing to let him use it in the condition it was in before this photo was taken. As it turned out, he didn't want the car after all, but Daddy sure was happy to have it washed!
As for me, I played the part of the pastor's wife given to hospitality. Yes, I know that is a qualification of the pastor, not his wife, but since we are one flesh, I figure that applies to me, too! I'm working on it. Over three days during our missions conference, I attempted to have all of our church members at the house for lunch. We did sort of an organized pot-providence meal each day, so I had lots of help. Mind you, this sort of thing is not my forte, but it could be if I did it more often, right? It was great fun! I was exhausted when it was over, but thankful to the Lord for stretching me.
Later in the month I spent a couple of hours whipping together some of these cute oven door kitchen towels for hostess gifts. The big blessing was that I already had everything on hand to finish them, and I didn't have to spend a cent! I will be giving these away in the month of February. I know you will be waiting with baited breath to find out where we went and who got them, but I can't tell you until next month's Month in Review!
This afternoon Alison had a fun "jam session" (can you call it a jam session when it's just classical?) with her old violin teacher. We'd love to start up lessons again... but the girls need braces... and utilities are going up... and incomes are going down... God will provide our needs. (Maybe music lessons aren't a need.) But the Lord does have a way of blessing us with more than we think possible. It never works out on paper, but we always end up with more than we give him. We've "proved" him (Malachi 3:10), and he is always faithful that way.
Be sure to join us again next month for The Month in Review!
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house,
and prove menow herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;
neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field,
saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:10,11
I promised you last month that we would have a more homeschool-ish month, this. At the time I was thinking about the "school" part of that word, but actually it is the "home" part which we really enjoy, and which is really more noteworthy! And after all, our best lessons are from life itself.
In December:
We got up with the sun. It rained that afternoon.
Red sky at night
Sailor's delight
Red sky at morning
Sailors take warning
We visited our local cram-packed craft shop. Crafty Booklover is into drawing, making cards, making wee felt dolls, and making something else I can't mention here because someone's birthday is coming up, and she wouldn't want her friend to know what she is getting.
Emily made a clock, all by herself!
We preached (not me, my DH) and sang at the nursing home.
When she discovered her new unit in Rod and Staff's geography was about Japan, Carrotlover (who, with her sister, Booklover, Hates textbook reading and questions) cried with frustration and disinterest. But the stealthy mother quietly tossed some good library picture books with Japanese settings into the living room book basket. At lunch time Carrotlover arranged a private Japanese dining room scene for herself, complete with low table, cushion to kneel on, a set of make-shift chopsticks, and some green "tea". I, of course, being the great mom that I am, contributed a couple of rice balls and a slice of bacon served on a banana leaf platter, and an authentic oriental tea pot and cup. Well, nothing that fun could stay private for long. She ended up sharing her table (and her rice) with her sister.
Booklover demonstrated what she learned in Robert Krampf's science class.
We baked our best ever, most favorite cookies, Chocolate Peppermint Cremes. As you can see, they don't last long!
After working up to 70 wpm on the qwerty keyboard, Alizona decided to learn the Dvorak keyboard. She is up to 30 wpm on Dvorak, and her brain is now entirely scrambled, lol. Dvorak is faster, and it drives her crazy that it was not set as the standard. But no one uses it, so what is a girl to do?
And we celebrated yet ANOTHER birthday! Carrotlover turned nine. I am suffering the mother's aging-children syndrome. One more in January, then we will be done with kid birthdays around here until next October.
We enjoyed a bit of snow -- from a distance.
We spent some time on a small farm, with some little, adorable, one-day-old goat kids. I discovered that although NOTHING will grow on our lot except cactus, it IS possible for some people to grow all manner of veggies here. Especially those who are on higher elevations. At this time of year, this hobby farm produces broccoli, onions, winter squash, collards, carrots, and many different fruit trees, plus alfalfa to feed some of the farm-y animals who live on the one acre: sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, pheasants, bees, two BIG dogs, and five barn cats. That was a blast! For the full story and photos, see here, at Alizona's blog.
The six of us consumed twenty-one POUNDS of sweet clementines! Well? They're better for us than fudge!! When I saw them priced at $2.50 for a three-pound bag, I grabbed up a couple of arm loads. They have been soooo good this year!
What month would be complete without a trip or two or three, or more, to the library? Amy, this is the little kids' section!
AND, congratulate Monocogman for making his goal of 4000 on- and off-road cycling miles this year! Whoohoo!! (Due to his injury his goal was reduced this year, but he is still very manly, and he is still my hero!) Will he go for 4600 next year? 100 miles for each year of his life. I can't wait to see what he is going to do when he is eighty-seven, LOL.
We only have a few hours of December left to go. If anything exciting happens, I'll let you know next month!
Happy New Year, everyone!
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;
Psalm 65:11
I am being threatened with a call to the blog police for not posting anything original in I don't know how long. Well, in my defense, as one of my favorite sayings goes, "It's better to keep quiet and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt," or something like that. I had nothing profound to report. Hence my lack of blogginess. But now that we are past the first of the month I can at least report on our previous month. Here goes.
In November:
We did a couple of foam crafts from the Oriental Trading Company. These are great, and sooo cheap. Once you sign up for their catalog you will be inundated with junk mail, but if you are ever looking for something for a birthday party or a kids' church club, they are a great resource!
We enjoyed lunch at our favorite, In-N-Out Burger. Those of you living outside of CA, NV, and AZ, sorry, you are missing out on a treat. Come visit us, and we'll take you out for the best fast-food burger in the country. All fresh ingredients, nothing frozen. Started in 1948 by a Christian couple, In-N-Out was always closed on Sundays. Their burger wrappers and cups had Bible verses printed on them. Now they only print the references Jn. 3:16 or Pr. 3:5 or Rev. 3:20, very small. Do you think a lost person will see that and realize his need for Christ? My guess is that he would think it is some sort of technical printer's code. lol. Too bad. But they still beat McDonalds and Burger King hands down!
The girls made a movie! (For the safety-conscious, yes, Elisabeth did unplug the toaster before sticking the tongs in there.)
We learned about inertia and transfer of energy.
We faithfully met for Ladies' Coffee Hour (but only on school days ). This time (below) we had a few guests. During today's Coffee Hour I read to the girls Jonathan Edwards' "Thirteen Resolutions to Live By", and mentioned that he lived in the early 1700's. I also mentioned his famous sermon, "Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God," and one of my daughters, who was NOT paying very close attention, asked me if I was there when he preached it. This was not the same one who thought the War of 1812 was still going on in 1918. LOL! Are we blonde, or what??
We helped Grammy in the kitchen.
Some of us practiced being photogenic, LOL!
We had a great big picnic! Thanksgiving is the only time of year when everyone in my family can get together, and being outside is such a nice arrangement for the hosts. Lots of wild kids, you know. So we had a delicious lasagna dinner at a park close to my parents' place. Note: Some of us were wearing short sleeves. This was so funny -- the two little black girls wanted to be in the photo, and they decided to join our family. Their mama said they make at least three new friends every single day. Hee hee! I'll leave it up to you to figure out who's who. (My dad is missing.)
Okay, I'll give you a hint -- these two guys are my awesome brothers. Yes, I am the oldest sibling. You don't have to tell me I look it!
We watched Jupiter and Venus cozy up to the moon:
And, we spent our own Thanksgiving right here in our own little home, after the fact. It was SUCH a lovely, sunny day! Dad took the girls to the park in the morning for a rousing game of pitch and bat, then he took off on a long, exploratory bike ride. I spent the day measuring, stirring, mixing, peeling, cooking, baking, and washing, and that evening we had our feast.
Since we don't observe Christmas, we decided a while back to give gifts to the girls for Thanksgiving, something each of them could be truly thankful for: a new winter coat or nightie or something else needed. Due to the Lord's blessing on our family, the girls really aren't desperate for anything this year, so instead we just bought a Monopoly game and the latest release in our favorite family read-aloud series, The Methuselah Chronicles. We're looking forward to some fun evenings together!
Several years ago we began a book of remembrance. Every year on Thanksgiving , each of us names some thing(s) for which we thank God, and I write those things down in a journal. For the memories' sake it is a lot of fun to go back and read the previous years' entries, and it's fun, too, to see how the girls have matured in their thankfulness. For example, a daughter who, three years ago, said she was thankful for her nice warm bed now says she is thankful for missionaries like the D____'s and the T____'s, who are willing to take the gospel to China (closed to missionaries, hence the blanks, for their security) and Indonesia, places she doesn't want to go. I chuckled and told her there are probably also some people who are thankful for people like us, who are willing to take the gospel to the desert.
It kind of appears that we took the month off school, doesn't it? We didn't! We'll try to make our December Month in Review a bit more homeschool-ish.
For the past few weeks we have been taking a break from school to enjoy the nice fall weather here in the desert. As it so happens, the weather has not really cooperated with us until just this week, but we have had some nice time off anyway. I can tell when the break time is over by the number of times I hear, "I'm bored," and we'll be back to the grind soon. Maybe tomorrow.
Here is our month in pictures:
We celebrated another birthday:
Went to the zoo:
Climbed a mountain pass
(that's our house down there in the valley, waaaay in the distance):
Did some art:
Found a gold mine:
Played "Button Baptist Church":
Made a day-trip to Mexico
(I forgot to take pics over the border. Here are some cotton bales on the way):
Blessed the house of God:
Watched a cooking class (more on that at Alizona's):
This is the inconsistent journal of a pressured lump of coal
being ever soooo slowly conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm a child of God, preacher's wife, blessed mother of girls, frazzled homeschooler.
If you are new here, please read
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him;
for we shall see him as he is."
1 John 3:2
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:2,3
But wait, that is what is going to be happening THIS month. Back up!
I found the last scrap of that same purple fabric and quickly whipped together another skirt, this one with four gores, and a couple of matching scrunchies for Cuddles's ears. The disappointed child was appeased.
, okay, maybe two years, and somehow there wasn't room to put everything back in! How does that happen? There were benefits, though. Three cups of blueberries had to be used up. So Amy made blueberry buckle. (Yum!)
We are lucky enough NOT to have a Build-a-Bear store nearby ($!$!$!), but since we were going to go to California for my birthday last week, I did a bit of research and found a store reasonably close to my parents' home. Betsy spent her own money on a very cute bunny and the special code that will allow her to spend even more time at Build-a-Bearville. 
She is now a Junior Cyberguide and "owns" a beautiful home in Build-a-Bearville.
Starting a face.
Can you tell what this is?
How to make a flower. Or a pine cone ...Or an artichoke?
(Whose poor little waif is this? She appears to have no mother to care for her messy hair...)
DNA Extraction
How many pennies can you add to a full glass of water before it spills over?
Fingerprinting
Mind/muscle Coordination
Why doesn't the balloon pop? 
Light Reflection
Air Pressure/Gravity
Grabby Molecules
roast beef mashed potatoes and corn
spaghetti and meatballs, of course
ice cream sundae!
the eaters
That body of water in the lower right photo is Lake Mohave. In the lower left photo you can just barely see the Laughin casinos waaay off in the distance. 
