~Pumpkin Carving~

Last night was our family pumpkin carving night. What a GREAT time we all had. Even our bird, Coconut, was enjoying the night. We spent about 2 hour from start to finish. After everything was cleaned up, we celebrated with cupcakes Holly made all by herself earlier in the day. They were YUMMY!

Where did we get our pumpkins you might ask? Well, we went to Hunter Farms Pumpkin Patch that is a little over an hour from us. Well worth the drive for us. It is a wonderful

farm with loads of things for the kids to do and see there.

I will post pictures and more information about our trip ASAP.

Enjoy the pictures!

Weekly Report: Week 7

7 Down, 29 More To Go!

This is a little late due to the fact we were out of town from Friday-Monday. I can't remember all we did, but I will provide a few highlights from last week.

Jessica was blessed to go down to OR to see the Lewis and Clark Trail, their fort and so much more. She had a wonderful time and learned so much. We will be making a separate post about her trip so keep checking back from more information on her trip.

The kids were busy working on their Zoology 1 lapbooks. We are currently on Lesson 10. I am excited to say I am even learning along with the kids. I know know what the differences between complete and the 2 different types of incomplete metamorphosis. Well I knew about complete, but it never really clicked about the 2 different types of incomplete with me before this study (ex: nymphs vs. naiads). And the kids are retaining the information wonderfully.

Jessica took her Latin Test 2 and received an 87%. She did well on the Latin part of the test, but didn't quite have the culture/history part down. Still a B is pretty good in my book. And she is proud of herself too.

Here are some pictures from the kid’s art class (Atelier). Jake and Holly did "The Polar Express" art project. Timmy did a City Stamping art project. It was similar to what Jake and Holly did last week, but a little more in-depth. He enjoyed creating his own stamps and using them to create his city.

(will add a picture of Timmy holding the picture ASAP.)

We didn't get any further on the Lewis and Clark lapbooks, but we are hard at work on those this week.

Oh another neat event was that Holly changed her caterpillar zoo, allowing them to have more room to roam. Thanks to Costco's All American Chocolate Cake (our favorite chocolate cake), they have a wonderful new home.

Next week we are starting a study on Russia. The kids can't wait to get started on this fun study! And as a added bonus, Russia is the country Jessica choose to study for her Elementary Report Writing topic with her Home2Teach class. Therefore Jessica will not only have a completed notebook on Russia but also a wonderful report to boot! We will post her report at the end of the study.

That is all we have for last week... Short and sweet!

YUMMY Chicken Salad

Yesterday I made my mom's yummy chicken salad. With each bite I take I love this salad more and more.

After church I had some errands to run and my thoughts, my hopes, my dreams... were to come home and enjoy a dish of chicken salad. But... Greg ate all of it this morning and left me with less than a teaspoon. His response, "I wanted to save the last bite for you." I was so sadden... Now I am back to making another batch of chicken salad and figuring out a way to hide it in the frig.

Here is the recipe if you would like to make some YUMMY Chicken Salad for your family:

Chicken Salad

2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken
2 chopped unpeeled red apples
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup toasted almonds or sunflower seeds
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp grated onion
1/4 cup light cream or sour cream
2 tsp lemon juice

Mix mayonnaise, grated onion, light cream or sour cream and lemon juice. Add other ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste.

In the past I have added bacon bits to it. I omit the celery. Greg doesn't like it... Hey, maybe I SHOULD added some to the next batch I make. LOL

Weekly Report: Week 6

6 Down and 30 More to Go!

What a busy, fun filled week we all had! Our "school" week started off on Saturday night we when we all sat down to watch a National Geographic DVD on Lewis and Clark: Great Journey West. That got the kids excitement up to want to learn more about these two amazing men and their incredible journey.

Some pictures to share:

On Sunday, we took a peek at a Lewis and Clark Traveling Trunk that was filled will all sorts of information and hands on items for the kids to touch. They touched buffalo fur, hide, and a tendon (called buffalo sinew) that Indians used for making their bow string, peace medal, plants & seeds, and so much more. The trunk was AMAZING and included a teacher guide. I will be looking into renting this trunk and others in the future. It is very hands on!

With the kid now having the Lewis and Clark "Bug", they wanted to make a lapbook. Yes, it was their idea. So I located a free one here: FREE Lewis and Clark Lapbook. Below is a couple of pictures. It isn't completed yet, but will be by the end of next week. You will notice that this isn't done in typical lapbook format. We used those 3 prong pocket folders and card stock. This way I can add activity sheets to their study and keep it with the mini books. (Holly and Jake didn't complete the lapbooks)



And as a bonus, my little girl Jessica is on a trip with LisaWa and girls to the trail head of Lewis and Clark's: Corps of Discovery journey!

Side Track.... Last Friday, Ms. Holly found a "ton" of caterpillars at her friends house. She wanted to make a insect zoo (part of our zoology 1 study). So on Saturday she got to work. 1st she found a container, dad helped put holes in the lid with a hot poker thingy so they would have air. The she went out side and found grass, rocks, and bamboo sticks and created a nice little habitat for her furry creatures. Here are some photo's:

She has cleaned it out a couple times and is very good at gathering fresh leaves daily. The caterpillars like the broccoli leaves best.

On Monday we watched 2 DVD's on Colonial Life that would have been part of our Colonial Life Study from Amy Pak. We didn't get around to watching them until today. The titles are: Colonial Life for Children: Jamestown and Pilmoth Plantation by Schlessinger Media. We checked them out from our local library, so check your library too and see if they have these wonderful movies. If they don't have it, request to have them purchase it.



Tuesday was Jessica's Online Latin Class. I am amazed at how well she is learning Latin. I was watching her for a while and the teacher kept giving her a VG (means very good). It is all Greek (LOL) to me. I am planning on getting the teacher manual so I can try and understand what it is she is doing. Here is a picture of a story that was writing in Latin and she translated it (most from memory) into english:

On Wednesday we changed our Walking Sticks Habitat. Jessica and Holly dumped out the dirt that was in there and replaced it with sand. Jessica gathered new blackberry twigs with leaves. I changed the bowl, added fresh water, placed it in the tank and stuck the twigs in the water and arranged them so the walking stick could climb to their hearts content.

While we were doing this, we were careful to try and find their eggs before we dumped the old dirt. Jessica counted over 100 eggs. We separated some out into a separate container (web research told us we could do this), added a little twig and will continue to keep the sand moist so hopefully they will hatch. They can take from 10-12 weeks to hatch. But some of them may not be fertilized.

Enjoy the habitat change pictures:

Thursday was co-op day. First it was off to co-op where the kids take art (Timmy, Holly, and Jake), Latin (Jessica), Human Body (Holly & Jake) , and That's in the Bible (Jessica and Timmy).

Below are some pictures of Holly and Jake's masterpieces. Using thin packing material (the type for plates), they cut out different shapes and glued them onto pre-cut square cardboard, coated them with paint, and then created a stamping pattern with their homemade stamps.



Timmy Created a fall farm scene using color crayons and water colors.



At Zoology Co-op, we went on an Egg Dectitve Hunt, looked at Stick Bugs, reviewed reading material, Holly gave a presentation on her Caterpillar Zoo, and we played Creepy Crawly Critters JINGO. It was another fun filled science day!

And for the cultural event of the week, today (Saturday) we are heading to a Lutefisk dinner. Greg's side of the family (his Dad's side), are Norwegian. This even only happens 3 times a year in our area and today is the 1st one of the year. So our family is going, Greg's Dad, Grandma, Aunt and cousin will be there too. I will post more on this event later today. And no, I do not eat Lutefisk... I go for the meatballs and lefse.

And some extra photos:

Jakes Math Test:



Timmy's Growing With Grammar:



And Holly's Explode the Code work:

More pictures from our Pioneer Farms Field Trip

Here are a few more pictures that were sent to me from the our field trip to

Pioneer Farms on 10-5-07.I just had to share these too.

If you live in WA, you must visit Pioneer Farms! We can't wait to go

back again. Hopefully dad will be able to join us the next time too.

For more information/details about our field trip,

check out: Weekly Report Week 4

Jessica Makes Creamy Chicken Soup

Our family has been fighting a bug for a couple weeks. I finally got the little microscopic critter Saturday night! So come Sunday, I wanted some creamy soup. I didn't feel like making it all myself, so I had little Miss Jessica a.k.a. as chef Jessie help me make some soup. This soup is WONDERFUL on a cold day... or really anytime you would like some homemade creamy chicken soup.

Now for the recipe:

Creamy Chicken Soup

• 2-3 large carrots
• 1/4 cup green onions, sliced (I didn't have these on hand, so I used Walla Walla onions)
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 3 Tbl. butter or margarine (I always use butter)
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup Orzo
• 1 (10 3/4 oz) can chicken broth (I used 1 cube and 1 cup water, and added really chicken broth since DH cooked up some chicken thighs)
• 1 can chunk breast of chicken (I used Kirkland)
• 1 cup Cheddar cheese (I didn't have any on hand so I substitute)
• 1/2 tea. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 tea. black pepper
• 1/4 pre-cooked crumpled bacon

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, cook carrots and onion in hot butter for about 10 min., or until tender but not browned. Stir in flour. Slowly add milk, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in Chicken and cheese. Cook and stir over low heat until cheese melts. Serve hot.

Note: Extras I add sometimes are hash brown potato's, pasta, broccoli & bacon.

(This recipe is from Kirkland Signature Chunk Breast of Chicken, but I modify it to my liking)

Weekly Report: Week 5

5 Down, and 31 More to Go!

This week went by so fast! Our biggest treat was to have Dad home a lot this week. A regular week is WAY different when dad is home. But we still completed "almost all" our school assignment goals for the week.

Monday was a holiday so we took the day off. The girls and I did go to JC Penny's and did a little class on ecomomic and bought them some new clothes for the girls during their AWESOME Columbus Day sale.

This is also the day Timmy got his cast off. To read more about this BIG event and see what he still needs to get done, click here.

Also, Jessica's friend came over after church (on Sunday) and they ran into JoAnn's to get the needed items so Jessica could make Pot Holders! She made her first one on Sunday, and now she has the pot holder making bug...

Tuesday, Dad was still home with us. We did accomplish school, but it was a challenge. The kids just wanted to "play" with dad.

Wednesday, Dad was home with us yet once again. But today we went on a field trip with 2 other families to the pumpkin patch. This place is a little over an hour away from us, but they have a hay maze, tractor ride out to the pumpkin field, farm animals (and one of the goats butted me...), and fresh produce stand/market.

Dad told the kids that they could get any size pumpkin they wanted as long as they could move the pumpkin to where the wheel barrows are located. The kids were on a hunt for the largest pumpkins ever. And they did pretty good. I did go out into the field and helped Jake get his pumpkin back. REALLY, how big of a pumpkin can a 6 year old get on his own? Of course he needed some help.

(I will add pictures in an other posts of our Pumpkin Patch visit)

Thursday was Co-op day. At our 1st co-op, First period was art for Jake and Holly, and Timmy and Jessica were learning about the bible in "That's In The Bible". Second period Jake and Holly were learning about their bodies in "Basic Anatomy" class, while Timmy was in art, and Jessica was doing Latin.

But Timmy didn't stay at co-op until the end. He wasn't feeling well, and since Dad was home yet again, I called DH and he came and picked Timmy up so he could go home and rest. Therefore, he didn't complete his art project. But since I am the teacher, he will get to finish it up this upcoming week.

Then it was onto our Zoology Co-op! We had a GREAT day of review & quiz taking. All the kids did a wonderful job at learning and remembering the information we studied.

Friday my grandbaby was suppose to come and visit for a little while, but she bumped her head on her mom took her into the doctors to get checked. She is doing fine and was sent home with a band-aid on her forehead.

We got most of our work done then it was time to go and visit friends, aka Lisa, to check out the Lewis and Clark Trunk. What a wonderful visit we had! I wish we had more time in the day as I would have stayed longer to chat. Prior to going over to our friends house, we made arrangements to get some stick bugs, but they said we can have them all, cage and everything. My kids are just tickled to death! I am still adjusting to the fact of having "bugs" in the house, and I vow to get to the point where I will hold one someday... Someday...

Oh and in case you were wondering... Dad went to work this day.

Saturday was PSNS Family Day at Dad's work. This is a big treat because they don't open the ship yard that often for families. The last time was 12 years ago and Greg took our son Michael, then 6, to Family Day. We left the house around 9:30am, and stood in line until the gates opened at 11am. I am glad Greg wanted to leave that earlier as there was so many people there (12,000 were registered for Family Day). Then we quickly walked to the line up area to get aboard the U.S.S. Alabama.

We stood in line well over an hour, but made the tour. Many folks that were in the line didn't get a chance to go aboard the sub. Greg is a welder and has been working on the turtle back of the sub for some time, while it is being over hauled. We were able to see approximately (we couldn't get to the exact area), where daddy is working on the sub.

This was a chance in a life time for the kids and I to see, and go aboard, this submarine. What an amazing place... This is home to our service men for 60-90 days, while being submerged under water and not seeing the day light, etc. We saw and walked between the missile launchers, looked out the periscope, saw where they slept while out to sea, went through the mess hall and kitchen, and so much more.

We also got the opportunity to see a few other places daddy goes to with in the ship yard. We are all sore for all the walking/standing, but it was well worth it! Unfortunately, they don't allow camera's with in the shipyard gates, so we couldn't take any pictures.

Enjoy the pictures:

The Cast is OFF!!!

Today was Timmy's big day to have his cast removed. YEAH! He is free!!!

After review of his x-ray, the Dr. noticed that he as a new growth of bone that formed in between the muscle tissue (cartilage formed and it turned into bone). The Dr. said this can happen with children that are in casts, as their bones heal so quickly and they regenerate new bone material fast. Doc. said this may go away or he may have it all his life. The only concern is that if that bone material attaches to his other bones and his arm becomes locked in a bent formation. But that is unlikely to happen.

Because this happened, he needs physical therapy for the next 2 months. Please continue to pray for our little guy.

He was very excited to come home and take a shower! *Ü*

Weekly Report: Week 4

We had a very busy week, which included a field trip on Friday!

Jake took his first math test and recieved a 97%! He is one smart cookie and loves math and asks to do extra days in the subject almost daily.

Jessica and Timmy were hard at work listening (yes, audio) to the Bible (Mark and Luke), for their "That's in the Bible" class at co-op. They both love this class and the teacher. They say his is very funny.

In Jake and Holly's art class, they learned about contour lines. These are the outside lines we see of any object. The kids had to look at the picture and have their hands move their pencil while their eyes moved along the outside line of the object they were looking at. When they looked at their paper, they were to stop moving their pencil. We didn't get this project finished this week, and will be completing it next week. So no pictures this week of their projects.

In Timmy's class, they learned about contour lines as well. A few of the students were models and the kids drew the contour lines of each child in different posses. Jake happened to be in that class with me (he wasn't feeling to well), and he was one of the models. Here is Timmy's completed project:

Here is a picture of Jessica hard at work at math. She uses Teaching Textbooks 7.

And she also completed the art activity Timmy did last week:

Here is a picture of all the kids working on their coloring page for Home Ec. This week we talking about peeling carrots and potatoes. They all got a chance to peel something through out the week. I never realized Timmy hasn't peeled anything before. Glad this came up in the course. But he will have to wait to peel until that cast comes off on Monday.

We also played some math games. Here is a picture of the kids playing math bingo:

For Zoology "Try This!" experiment, the kids had to find insects, observe how they move in the bug jar, place them in the refrigerator for a few hours and document how fast they move after being in the frig for a while. Since insects are cold-blooded, their movement slowed down. Here are the pictures of the bugs they collected and some of their work:

Also at Zoology, we played a mean game of Insect Trivia. The kids had a blast playing this game!

The highlight of the week is the field trip we took on Friday to Pioneer Farms! This was a wrap up field trip for our Time Travelers Colonial Life Study. We all had a wonderful time learning "Hands-On" about life on a pioneer homestead.

The kids went inside a real replica of a prairie school house. They lined up the way boys and girls would line up for school back then, ladies went first into the schoolhouse, and they sat on opposite sides of the schoolroom. We listened to a wonderful talk about a typical school day.

We also went into a real pioneer homestead house that was moved to the site a few years back. All the items were the original owners and many of the items were over 100 years old.

Then it was off to a large wooden home that is used for doing all sorts of hands on activities. They grinded up coffee, wheat, & corn, rolled dough, chopped veggies, whipped cream for butter, washed laundry on a washing board, and so much more! All of these things would have been daily chores on a pioneer farm. I don't think my kids could handle all that work...

After this we headed to the barn and learned about different types chores that needed to be taken care of on a farm. The kids were able to gather eggs, chase chickens, milk a cow, pet a pig, sheep, goat, bunny, and play in a hay loft! I just love this type of stuff!

Then it was off to the blacksmith shop. The kids actually got to stock the fire, bring out a horse shoe that was blazing red, and pound it flat on the mantle. They also played in the wood shop where they could pound nails in a board, and lift things with pulleys.

Oh and when we first arrived, they went on a horse drawn buggy ride. What a fun day!

Here are some pictures, but I will add more in another post when I get some from other fellow fieldtrip goers...