Our Homeschooling Journey and Beyond......

Marshmallow Molecules

2011-09-09T14:50:00.000-07:00

Silly Guy is learning about Chemistry this year using the Real Science 4 Kids curriculum. This week he and Little Man made marshmallow molecules.

Supplies: Large marshmallows, small colored marshmallows, and toothpicks.

First he had to make shapes using any number of toothpicks and marshmallows.

After learning the "rules" and assigning each "atom" a marshmallow he was to create molecules.

H2O NH3

CH2Cl2

Town of Genoa

2011-09-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

We took a short trip to the town of Genoa. It was a quaint town nestled on the eastern slope of the Sierra's. It is the first recorded settlement in the state of Nevada, 1851.

While in Genoa we visited the Mormon Station Memorial State Park. Some things we found most interesting in the museum...

The woman to the left is Eliza Mott. In 1852 she was the first woman to settle in the area. In 1854 she started the first school which was held in her kitchen.

To the right is a pair of skis belonging to "Snoshoe" Thompson. He would brave 20-50 foot snow drifts with a 50-100 lb mailbag strapped to his back. He made his own skis and only used one pole in his travels. Not only did he deliver mail, he also delivered medicines, newspapers, and has been given credit for many daring rescues.
Interesting medicine remedies-
Baldness: Smear your head with fresh cow manure.
Cuts: Pack the cut with axle grease.
Coughs: Put some cow dung in water and bring it to a boil. Gargle the water three times per day.
Crick in the neck: Go down to the hog pen and find where a hog has rubbed his neck against the fence, then rub your neck in the same spot and the crick will be gone.

While we were in this adorable town we decided we would do some geocaching. It was a fun trip!

Our Summer Part 3: Nature Hikes

2011-09-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

We went on a few hikes this summer. I am hoping as the weather begins to cool we can go on a few more-taking my camera;)

If you are interested in hiking this beautiful and historic trail click here to download a map.

Dad and Little Man

Sweet Girl and Silly Guy

The Susan River

We stopped to rest and my camera couldn't resist the daisies

Foxtails-very dangerous(especially for dogs) but beautiful colors

To find out more about foxtails and the danger pose on dogs visit this website. Our dog had one imbedded in her ear and it was extremely painful for her. We had to take her to the vet in order for it to be removed. I was shocked when I found out they can even be fatal.

Our Summer Part 2: Camping

2011-09-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

We went on a camping trip this summer to Eagle Lake. It is located in the northeastern corner of California at the juncture of four major geologic provinces: the Sierra Nevada, Cascades, Great Basin, and volcanic Modoc Plateau.
It was a serene, peaceful area. We enjoyed nature hikes, relaxing on the beach, and some much needed family time away from everything.

In this picture the kids were giving swim lessons to our puppy Boomer. He's not a proficient swimmer which gave us a lot of entertainment.

If there is a tree, there my boys will be...

When we came home this little guy was resting above our front door. He must have enjoyed the quiet while we were gone but that night he took off never to be seen again. We were a little disappointed it would've been neat to observe him for a few days but I guess our front door was a little too busy for his taste:)

Our Summer Part 1

2011-09-04T16:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in quite some time. I am hoping to come back now that we've started the new school year. I thought I'd catch up a bit:).

We finished our school year around the end of June. All in all I am very happy with our school year. Then we enjoyed the summer by getting caught up on things around the house, some reading, an art class, gardening, planning for the school year, and I even was able to read a few books other than curriculum ;).

Silly Guy finished baseball season in June. This was his first season playing baseball and loved it. However, he did break his hand and was out for about 5 weeks. He healed and came back strong, ready to play.

Little Man turned 4 years old!! He is such a fun little guy and is growing so fast.

We have had some visitors to the neighborhood this summer. A couple of wild herds have been hanging around the house. They are beautiful and we've enjoyed watching them. They were gone from early spring until August. It is the same herd we observed over the winter plus a few foals and new members too.

We experienced our first wild fire which was on Fourth of July weekend. It was a bit scary. This photo was taken from our neighborhood. It was a bit too close for me but was reassured by neighbors whom have experienced this before that it was far enough away from the houses. What a blessing that the wind was only about 3 mph that evening.

Fourth of July is the biggest event of the year in our new town. They had a huge parade down Main Street. Little Man, Dad and I watched from the curb while Silly Guy and Sweet Girl participated in the parade. After the parade there was a huge festival with activities planned for the entire day. At the end of the day there was an enormous display of fireworks.

Sweet Girl entered in the 4H dog competition at the county fair. She did very well for her first year.

She entered Roxy in the Rally, Showmanship, and Obedience categories. They were supposed to have an agility trial but couldn't get the equipment there on time for the show. She was disappointed because agility is where Roxy shines. They did place 1st in Rally and 2nd in Showmanship. It wasn't their year for Obedience. She knows now what they have to work on.

Joining 4H Clubs

2011-03-01T22:01:00.000-08:00

Shortly after we moved here I signed Sweet Girl and Silly Guy up for the 4H club in our county. They both picked out a few clubs they wanted to be involved in. Sweet Girl chose the dog club and the skiing/snowboarding club. Silly Guy chose the skiing/snowboarding club, shooting club, and rocketry club. This has been our first experience with 4H and so far it has been wonderful! They have been making new friends, learning new things and getting involved in the community.

Silly Guy

The skiing/snowboarding club has been a great time. I have enjoyed watching them learn and grow to love this sport. They still have a couple more times this season to hit the slopes:)

Sweet girl

The shooting sports club hasn't started yet but I am told it starts when snowboarding club is over. Silly Guy can't wait!
Sweet Girl is in her element with the dog club. So far along with"business" meetings, they've been to a clinic which involved a veterinarian talking to them about dog nutrition. They went to a veterinary clinic and watched a dog under anesthesia have a few teeth extracted and cleaned. This week they will be having another clinic about vaccination.

Roxy-Sweet Girl's project dog

The club is also organizing a dog show that will take place in our town this May. Sweet Girl volunteered to take on the project of advertising. She has chosen Roxy to be her project dog. When we live in Hawaii she trained Roxy to do an agility course,basic obedience and a few tricks. However in the past six months or so, Roxy seems to have forgotten some of her training and is giving Sweet Girl a challenge. Such a loveable girl though:)

Observing Nature in the Winter

2011-03-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

This winter we have ventured out a few times to do some nature observation...

Tracking

Little Man wanted to leave his own tracks behind

Collecting

Driftwood-LM thought... triceratops horns

Watching

Beauty

A Good Deal

2010-12-20T23:51:00.000-08:00

I am not sure if I've mentioned this before on the blog but we recently bought a home. It was a foreclosed home so it needed some tlc when we moved in. Other houses needed less tlc but we really loved the location of our home, the yard, and the potential it had.
Besides deep down cleaning here are some things we've checked off the to do list so far...
1. Every room in the house had to be painted. We had walls that were black, flouresent green and blue, bright yellow and blue, and other walls that just needed a fresh coat. Not only were the walls these wild colors but we had ceilings that were yellow, black and red(which I will say was not fun to cover). So we've painted every room, ceiling, and trim/doors.
2. All of the carpeting had to be replaced. Not only did it smell in some rooms but in other areas it looked like it had been chewed or scratched down to the padding. It was also missing a big piece in the family room. In the bedrooms we installed carpet. Master bath we installed new flooring too because it was carpeted. In the family room we installed laminate flooring. We have intentions to replace the kitchen/dining/foyer and the hall bath floor in time.
3. We replaced/updated little odds and ends such as towel racks, tp holders, faucets, etc.
4. Appliances- refrigerator, washer, dryer, and garbage disposal.
5. Almost all of the lighting was missing in the house. The only lights that existed were in the kitchen, laundry room, bathrooms, and the hallways. We have installed ceiling fan/lights in all of the bedrooms , a new chandelier in the dining area, and...our newest addition... the foyer light. This is the light that was in the foyer.

and this is the good deal. I found this light on the clearance rack at Lowe's for $15.00. I love it and we couldn't pass up the price. The foyer isn't huge but I think it dresses it up and defines the space as "an entrance". It has the pineapple design which symbolizes "hospitality and a warm welcome" which I thought was perfect for a foyer. The color of the glass and metal(antique bronze finish) both match the dining chandelier.

Here is a picture of the foyer. Now I just need to hang something on the walls. I have a nice mirror I am thinking about hanging with maybe a console table underneath. My husband wants to wait until after Christmas before we move anymore furniture;)

I have a question for you though...

Do you think the light looks to big for the space?

A Snowy Day

2010-12-19T00:18:00.000-08:00

We woke up to snow on Friday. It continued to snow throughout the day. When we went to bed there was about 6 inches on the ground. It was my husband's first day off for Christmas vacation. He was very happy not to have to drive in it. The kids were excited that there was enough to build a snowman. The snow was soft so we kind of sculpted a snow man out of a pile.

Then we had a fun snow ball fight. The kids against dad. I joined in after I put the camera away;) Fun!

The kids taking shelter and getting ready behind dad's car.

Gone are the days of making sand angels...but Little Man loved making snow angels.

It was a fun time!

I was surprised when we woke up this morning it was all gone. Little Man was very upset to see his snowman had melted. He carried around the carrot for a few hours. He even took it to the store with him. We told him he could put the carrot in the garden and maybe the bunnies would eat it. That was the wrong thing to say. Right away he said, "No! A bunny can't eat my snowman's nose!" lol.

We are enjoying the change of season and can't wait for some more snow.

The Mark Twain Museum

2010-12-18T23:34:00.000-08:00

Tom Sawyer was on Sweet Girl's literature list this year. She really enjoyed the story. While we were shopping in Reno a few weeks ago, there was a statue of Mark Twain at the outlet center. She started telling us what she had learned about the author. We decided it was a good time to go back and visit the Mark Twain Museum in Virginia City.

The writing desk used by Mark Twain when he was a reporter and the city editor of the Territorial Enterprise in 1862.

The printing press used by the newspaper.

A proof press. Newsprint paper was placed on the type after inking. Then the huge roller was pushed over the type to make the impression.

Nevada's first switchboard(1901).

A water wheel which was used to power the printing press.

Yes, I took a pictue of a toilet . Sweet Girl thought it was funny they had a sign on it that read "Mark Twain Sat Here".
It was interesting to learn about the tools and history of the trade.

Nature Hike

2010-12-18T22:50:00.000-08:00

We headed back to Fort Churchill this time with my husband for a nature hike. This place is becoming a family favorite. It was beautiful to see the change the season has brought. Last time we saw about four different kinds of lizards. We didn't see a single lizard. However, the desert was full of rabbits. They were running and jumping everywhere we walked. The dogs were going crazy with all of the scents. Roxy our boxer would point and then a rabbit would jump. We haven't trained her to do this so it was kind of funny.

This plant has probably seen better days. I loved the way the sun reflected off of it. It was breathtaking. Taking this picture made me realize something about myself, why I love to take pictures. When looking through the camera lens I am able to slow down, observe, pay attention, and appreciate these little things I find so beautiful.

The kids spotted this hole in a rock which looked like a pretty comfy winter home.

As we were walking we saw...

a mule deer. She surprised us when she just popped out of the brush. Pretty neat!

It was a great hike:)

Time to Catch Up

2010-12-18T12:10:00.000-08:00

It has been a challenge for me over the past few weeks to find time to blog. We have been busy with school and getting ready for Christmas. We also recieved our storage shippment so I was getting that all put away. I had a goal to finish A History of US book 5 before Christmas break(didn't get done). My husband's schedule has been weird too. He has had off various days during the week then working weekend days. It's always tough to stay on track when dad is home;) but we love having him home with us.
We usually spend the Christmas season baking and crafting but this year I feel like I have fallen short. We baked a batch of yummy White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies last night. I hope to bake some more over the next week since we will be taking off. As far as crafting we haven't made one single Christmas decoration:( A lot of that has to do with the lack of a craft store in our town. Next year I will have to prepare better, make a list and go into the city to shop for supplies. I have been scrapbooking a lot though. The kids pulled out their books and pictures too. We also made some embelishments together using the Cricut.

Sweet Girl finished Tom Sawyer. We went on a field trip to the Mark Twain Museum. It was in the dark, damp, kind of creepy basement of the once Territorial Enterprise which is where his career as a writer began. I will post more pictures later.
History we are studying the California Gold Rush and the emigration West. I was excited to have found a state park just south of Carson City called Mormon Station State Historic Park. I was reading they have a replica of a trading post built in 1851 and pioneer-era artifacts. How great! It would fit in so perfectly with our studies. Then I was bummed to find out they are closed until May. It's on our to do list for spring field trips.
The kids also wrote "Mini Reports" last week. Sweet Girl chose to write about Robert Fulton. Silly Guy wrote about The Louisianna Purchase. We recieved our household goods shippment from Virginia a couple of weeks ago. It was full of stuff that has been in storage for four years. Inside was our encyclopedia's. So the kids used them for their mini reports. I don't know what I was thinking putting them into storage in the first place but am so happy to have them back in our home.

Silly Guy dissected an owl pellet finishing up the bird unit in Science.

After dissecting the owl pellet, using the identification key, he came to the conclusion this owl had eaten a pocket gopher. Since then he has started learning about mammals. We borrowed a bag full of books about mammals native to Nevada from the library. He has been busy reading.
The kids have been keeping up with the rest of their subjects too. Math is Math. In writing they have had some interesting assignments. Silly Guy wrote some poetry. He also used a story starter picture to write a short story. It was about two girls who wandered into the woods to find a mysterious house. Inside the house they found hidden treasure. He loves the creativity of assignments like these. I had to help him with composure because he's at an akward writing stage right now where his thoughts can't seem to come together on paper. I get frustrated at times. My husband reminded me I went through the same thing with Sweet Girl and that it will come with maturity.
One of Sweet Girl's writing assignments was to read the compostions in Tom Sawyer(if I remember correctly Ch. 21) and determine why they were bad. Then create her own "horrible" composition. It sounds easy but it wasn't. I heard these words all week..."I can't...but how...what...why" I couldn't help but smile that she was having such a difficult time writing a horrible compostion. I can remember not that long ago....but I won't go there. In the end it was a fun assignment and I think she learned a lot from it. She just started working on writing a literary analysis. I found this resource useful when I had to write a literary analysis when taking a literature class. So I using it again while teaching Sweet Girl to write one.

We also went on a nature hike this week. It was a beautiful day! I will share more later:)
Hope you had a wonderful week! and Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Card Picture 2010

2010-11-29T20:17:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I decided it was time to take our Christmas card picture. It always sounds so simple. But it is so difficult to get everyone to look at the camera and smile at the same time. Every year as I go through the pictures on the computer I just giggle. I smile as I look at the faces and how they change with each frame. I think it is funny how out of 66 pictures there is only one where everyone is looking at the same time, lol. This is how it went...

To prepare we pulled out the matching outfits(this year was kids choice-football jersey's), washed faces, brushed hair, and the camera was ready. Sixty-three pictures later I realized I was missing the secret weapon...Dad

Picture 1 through 23: Was me trying to get Silly Guy to give me a natural smile.

While attempting to get Silly Guy to smile I started to loose Little Man.
Picture 24-30: Ahhh Haaa! Got him to laugh but a little too much

Picture 30-35-Little Man is now laying on the floor. Ooops!

Picture 38-The Kids wanted to bring the dogs into the picture. We had to keep moving the dogs around so we could see everyone in the picture. Roxy(the boxer)didn't like the fact Wally was sitting on her girls lap.

Picture 47-We found a good spot for the dogs. Roxy girl was excited to be sitting on Sweet Girl's lap she couldn't resist giving her kisses, lol.

Meanwhile...Silly Guy is hanging in there holding his smile, lol.

Picture 63- I brought in the secret weapon DAD. We are almost there...

Picture 66 I got it!! Dad was able to get the children smiling at the same time and looking at the camera. The doggies were even looking too:)YAY!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-27T21:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write Happy Thanksgiving wishes a few days ago but my internet was down. It was frustrating trying to figure it out with the operator. I decided to wait and we'd figure it out after the holiday and it somehow fixed itself(for now).
Anywho, we had a wonderful time celebrating turkey day: watching and playing football, phone calls from family, cooking, baking, putting up our Christmas tree, just relaxing and enjoying time together. I was thankful to have Sweet Girl help me in the kitchen this year. She was totally grossed out by the turkey prep but we had some laughs and created some memories together;)
We were a little afraid for the turkey. My oven has had a mind of it's own lately. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it burns, sometimes food is undercooked ,yup a mind of it's own. At first I thought it was because we are living at high altitude now but it just seems too inconsistant. I have to add that to my to do list"call the repairman". Good news for Thanksgiving though it all worked out. The bird made it and was yummy:)
I am most thankful for...

a wonderful husband to share my life and love with
three beautiful blessings who fill my heart with love and joy
family and friends who are always in my heart and thoughts
our two puppy dogs whom we love so much
a house to call home
my husband being on shore duty
spending quality time together
homeschooling our children
growing and learning everyday
all things warm...slippers, socks, sweaters, blankets, gloves, scarves, hats, etc.
a pantry full of food
having someone to laugh with
memories and creating new ones
finding beauty in the little things

Wishes of Thanksgiving and many blessings from our family to yours!!

Pyramid Lake Hike

2010-11-20T22:31:00.000-08:00

About a month or so ago we went to Pyramid Lake.

It is one of the largest natural lakes in Nevada. It is the biggest(125,000 acres) remnant of the Ancient Lake Lahontan.

Very peaceful and serene. It was huge and there is much more to explore.

Weekly Wrap Up-13!

2010-11-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

This week we celebrated Sweet Girl's(my oldest)13th birthday. I can't believe she is 13!! How time does fly!! I remember when we brought her home from the hospital I couldn't put her down. Holding her in my arms felt so right. I literally held her for the first two weeks of her life. In every picture we have I am just gazing at this little baby girl with amazement. I am so thankful God has leant her to me and made me her Mommy. She brings such joy to our lives!!

My week has been busy with lesson planning. We are about 1/3 through our school year. I made some new timelines for the kids and notebooking pages. The other timelines we were using worked but I wanted a timeline that had boxes. The timelines I made have boxes with lines for writing and some empty boxes for drawing. I will be putting them on my page at HSLaunch.com . I also finished Silly Guy's Science notebooking pages for Christian Kids Explore Biology. I worked on record keeping a bit but have some more to do. I also started thinking of next year already. I am trying to decide what to do with Sweet Girl for high school.

This week we made(and ate)Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies. I used to have a good recipe but couldn't find it anywhere. So I searched through some online recipes and one at http://www.pickycook.com/. I will post the recipe in a later post:)

Some of our school week highlights:
Well, much of this week we seemed to be in auto drive:( I think it was the fact Thanksgiving is coming. The kids (and I)are looking forward to having a break to recharge the old battery.
Little Man learned the letter B. One thing he did was made this baby. I just think it is so cute.

For Science we went back yard bird watching. Silly Guy has started the bird unit in Christian Kids Explore Biology. Can you believe we didn't see one bird!! It was kind of a bummer. Then later in the day they heard a bird twittering around in the juniper in front of the house.

Silly Guy also made a birdhouse to put in the back yard. We realized during the bird watch we had to make our back yard more bird friendly. In writing he wrote a friendly letter to his friend in Hawaii. He is really hoping to get a letter back in return.

Silly Guy's birdhouse

We started reading aloud Mocassin Trail by: Eloise Jarvis McGraw this week. It's about a boy who ran away from home when he was 11. After a grizzly bear attack he was adopted by an Indian tribe. After living with the tribe for 7 years(now 19), has been contacted by his family who needs him. It's an interesting story so far.
Silly Guy also has been reading Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman(History).
In Math he continues to work on fractions.
Sweet Girl worked on study guide question's and reading in Apologia. She finished Streams to River, River to Sea which she said is a great book. She continues to read Tom Sawyer in Lit. Her writing assignment this week was to take Aunt Polly's soliloquy(in chapter 1)and then translate it into modern day language. This was fun and a little challenge.
I bought a new devotional for the family, The One Year Bible for Kids. Until now the kids have been working on their Bible assignments in Alpha Omega's Bible Lifepacs. These are great, but in addition I wanted something we could study together.
In History we are still reading History of US book 4.

Art-The kids finished painting the Turkey bowls.

This week I signed the kids up for the 4H Sking and Snowboarding Club. They meet twice a month through March and go Lake Tahoe. They are thrilled to join!!
Friday morning my husband called to give us the upcoming weather report-snow. We made a Walmart trip to buy snow boots, salt, and a shovel. By Sunday, we are supposed to get around 6-8 inches of snow. Little Man was born in HI so he's never seen snow before. He's so excited to see snow, make a snowman, and thow a snowball.
So that was some of our highlights. Hop on over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers !

Weekly Wrap Up- Time to Make New Friends

2010-11-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

Our main focus over the past month has been to get the family back into a normal routine and settling into the house. I felt like it was time to find a home school group in the area. So last week I was searching and emailing and was contacted by a couple of kind ladies. They were welcoming and asked us to join the group for park day on Wednesday. We woke up in the morning eager to go meet some new friends. We arrived at the park and were welcomed with smiling faces. Soon after we arrived it began to sleet. The kids didn’t mind and were having fun so we hung around for a little while. It was so great to be around other homeschooling mommies again. The group sounds just the right pace for us. We are looking forward to meeting up with them again.

Some other highlights...

We woke up to snow capped mountains this week

Little Man came to me this week and wanted to make a necklace for Grandma. We pulled out some penne pasta, pony beads, and yarn. He found this bead in the container(the only one like it)and thought it was “so cool”.

While he was stringing on the pasta and beads he was talking about how much “Grandma is going to love this necklace.” “I think this necklace will make her happy!” Such a sweetie pie! Then he wanted to model his creation-he, he.

He has become mama's little helper in the kitchen too. Everytime I am baking he's there "I want to help!". Then he drags the step ladder over to the counter top ready to be of assistance. His favorite part is licking the bowl of course:)

We also worked on numbers and counting a bit this week. Most of the time he was enjoying tag along lessons, baking, and hanging out with mom. We had a lot of cuddle time on the couch reading books and playing with his toys(doctor and his Thomas trains were his favorite this week).

Sweet Girl has finished A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal. She wrote a book report about it for her writing assignment.  She has now started reading Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. We'll have to check the weather reports and plan a trip to go back to Virginia City. There is a Mark Twain museum and it's where he started his career.
She started Module 4: Science, Applied Science, and Technology in Apologia General Science. She has had a couple of experiments this week learning about simple machines( making a lever and pulley). I can't say enough about how wonderful this curriculum is. The book gives wonderful information and explanations of what was supposed to happen and why it happened. I am no scientist and Dr. Jay L. Wile has made teaching Science painless.
For her independent History reading she has started reading Streams to River, River to Sea which is about the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Which brings me to History...this week we started A History of US: The New Nation(1789-1850)Book 4. Some of the topics included in our studies-President George Washington, President John Adams, President Thomas Jefferson, Judicial Review, and Lewis and Clark. Some links I found this week- Washington is Elected , Thomas Jefferson, Judicial Review and Construction-the nature of the Supreme Court, Biography of John Adams, and Lewis and Clark Expedition.  We only viewed a couple but I figured I'd share what I found;)
Silly Guy wrote a newspaper this week in. It was to take place in 1803. He had a lot of fun with this assignment. Many of the topics he wrote about we've covered in his History and Literature lessons. However, he did some additional research for the assignment. Usually for writing I have him write out his assignment. But being a newspaper, I gave him the option of choosing a template and to type the assignment. Writing a newspaper was a hit with my Silly Guy.

Literature-he finished reading The Lewis and Clark Expedition which he really liked. I also had him read some short stories (historical stories)in an Abeka book I picked up at an used curriculum fair.

In Science this week he learned about trees. Mostly reading the text and some books I grabbed from the library. We did do some tree and leaf rubbings. Today he finished up the "Plants Unit" with a quiz.

I enjoy decorating the house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So for art this week we started a two week project "Ceramic Turkey Bowls"using air drying clay. Little Man had a different idea about the clay project. At first my 3 year old refused to allow anyone to help him. Then he made a HUGE mess with the sponge and water. I had a small pond on my kitchen table. So, I helped him to form the bowl. I think he'll enjoy painting his bowl more. Not to say he didn't have a blast splishing and splashing clay water everywhere:).

Oh, I think they're gonna be cute filled with nuts or candies.
I am so glad to have worked Art and Music into our weekly schedule this year. In the past it has been on the schedule too but it was one of those things-If we have time. With our schedule not jammed packed with so many activities we now have the time. It's really been a gift. A gift of time together to create:).
One thing that arrived in the mail this week is our new wall map. Our old one was ruined in the move. The kids(especially Silly Guy)loves to look at the map. They'll quiz each other for fun. Just by having a map on the wall since Silly Guy was 4(when we started homeschooling) he can pretty much locate anything on a map quick too. This year we've used Sonlight's maps(which aren't labeled) for our History/Geography lessons. We've had fun with these maps and have turned Geography lessons into a daily Geography bee.
Let's just say Geography has become quite competitive around our home. Fun!
Join in at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

Delicious Coffee Cake

2010-11-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

I have been in the baking mood lately. Maybe because I get to stand beside the nice warm oven;) Perfect compliment to a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter-softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

For brown sugar filling you'll need 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2-3/4 cups chopped nuts(I used a combo of walnuts and pecans), and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Make the brown sugar filling and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease your pan. I used a 9 X 12 but you could also use a bundt cake pan.
Beat the sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture alternately with the yogurt on a low speed.
Spread 1/2 of the batter into the pan, sprinkle 1/2 of brown sugar filling and repeat.
Bake for about an hour.
Enjoy!

To Fort Churchill

2010-11-07T21:28:00.000-08:00

Silly Guy had a project to go on a dry seed hunt. I wanted to take him somewhere we would find a more native selection. I thought...the lake. We hopped in the van across 10 miles of desert. The drive was nice and much shorter from our house than the hotel. The lake is such a peaceful place so the kids and I are excited it isn't far from home. As we were driving we saw three herds of wild horses grazing. It's like seeing sea turtles swimming in the ocean...beautiful.
Once we reached the lake and since we got there so quickly we decided to go a little further to somewhere we hadn't been-Fort Churchill. We were so glad we did! It was a neat place!
A little history...

The fort was established in 1860, as a United States military post. The fort was established to protect against Indian raids along the Carson River. Also it was an important factor in preserving Union allegiance in Nevada and California during the Civil War. The fort was constructed of adobes made from material from the river flood plain. Rocks for the foundations were taken from nearby hill and lumber was brought in from the Sierra's(hauled by mule). The total cost to build the fort was near $180,000.

The fort had one surgeon in a 20 bed hospital. The hospital remained full most of the time due to small pox and measles. There were also two storehouses, a powder magazine, and a guardhouse.

The Mess Hall- The diet of the typical frontier soldier consisted of beef, beans, saltpork, coffee, and some condiments such as sugar, salt, molasses, and vinegar. The men rarely were able to eat vegetables. Gardens were cultivated to supplement their diets. Each company had their own cook rarely trained. The favorite cooking method was boiling. They would combine meat and vegetables into stews called "slumgullion" or just "slum". The company cook was called the "slumburner". Sound yummy?

Barracks...Enlisted life was tough on the fort. The fort was an isolated, dreary outpost with a $13.00/month pay day. The hardships and low pay caused many of the men to desert. Enlisted barracks(lower right)had dirt floors were furnished with bunks and chairs. Unlike most of the frontier post, soldiers had the luxury of their own bunk. The bunks were furnished with a blanket and made of straw. However, the officer quarters(lower left)were excellent. Each had a parlor, dining room, two bedrooms and an attached woodshed with an indoor privy. The officer quarters were described in 1864 as "the most comfortable quarters on the coast. Many of the officers had their families living on post with them too.

We saw a nature trail path and the kids were begging me to go. I am just not comfortable enough with the area yet(especially without dad) and because of these guys...

I felt like such a chicken but I can't help it. I have a BIG fear of snakes. Ever since childhood I've had this fear. My brother used to have fun with it and put rubber snakes under my blankets. I can remember it like it was yesterday. So yeah, then you throw in the factors...no one around for miles, hospital an hour and a half away, barely a cell phone signal, poision, venom...no thank you!! I told them next time we'll bring dad and go on the nature hike. Not that my husbands presence will change the factors but having him with me makes things better:)

Learning more about our new home...Great find!

Weekly Wrap Up-A Week of Perfect Timing

2010-11-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

When I started writing this post I didn't know what to title it. As I went through our week I realized we had some perfect timing.
Some highlights for the week...
Our week started off with a much needed nature walk. It always is relaxing and therapeutic to spend time in nature and appreciate His creation.
I might be behind the times on this one but wanted to share a link I found. It is an online field guide for identifying wildlife- enature.com . Which is going to be useful to us being new to these parts. We found this lizard sunbathing on some rocks in our front yard. This website was great and user friendly.

the desert spiny lizard

Art this week, we stepped away from the picture study. My kids love picture studies and are learning a lot about art and the artists. However, I chose to do a "lesson" from Incredible Art Lessons. The objective of the lesson was to create a design by reversing positive and negative space. They used leaves that we collected from our nature walk to develop the designs.

This week in History we finished A History of US Book 3 From Colonies to Country. Some

topics studied this week: the Constitutional Convention, Constitution, the Northwest Ordinance, and the Bill of Rights. Perfect timing #1- learning about the forming of our government during election week. We ended it with the question"Will you preserve America's democracy?". Which lead us into thought and discussion about voting and some current events.

Anywho, what an amazing time period! We are loving this series. Mrs. Hakim writes like she is sitting in the room having a conversation with you. Anything that grabs their interest(and mine-he,he) and provoke's thought get's a thumbs up in my book. The kids also worked on memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution, finished up their timelines(for this period 1735-1791), maps, etc. I wanted to share a couple of links The Constitution Preamble Song- Schoolhouse Rock video

Ratification of the Constitution- video accompanied by text

The Bill of Rights- a slide show naration

Sweet Girl's History notebook

Perfect timing #2-Sweet Girl read some poems about autumn this week by Robert Frost. She finished Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold this week for her independent history reading. In Literature she began reading A Gathering of Days: A New Enland Girl's Journal, 1830-32 by: Joan W. Blos. She also read the tale of Rip Van Winkle.

Which leads me to her writing assignment. It was to write two epitaph's for Rip Van Winkle. One that might have been on his gravestone before he fell asleep for 20 yrs, and one that may have been written after his actual death. Perfect timing #3-We set out for Silly Guy's dry seed hunt project at Fort Churchill. At the fort they had a cemetary where she was able to read some epitaph's that were on the tombstone's there.

She had a quiet week in Apologia General Science. Basically reading and finishing up Module 3 with studying and taking the test.

On to Silly Guy, this week in Science(Christian Kids Explore Biology) he continued learning about plants. His lessons were focused on plant reproduction and fruits/vegetables. Along with reading he had an experiment and a project. His experiment was to dissect fruits and vegetables and then classify them first into either a fruit or vegetable. Then into different groups: dry, juicy, pomes or drupes/stone fruits. The best part of this experiment was all of the taste testing going on by both Silly Guy and Little Man. It was funny. It was as if they had never tasted a fruit or a vegetable before. Little Man ,who loves Science, was chiming in,"Ohh, it has seeds...Yup, it's a fruit!"

Big knife but under my supervision!! Kids don't try this at home!!

Silly Guy's Science notebook

Then they(the boys) had a project- a dry seed hunt. We pulled into the parking lot at Fort Churchill. Which brings me to perfect timing #4- I almost didn't park in this lot and we wouldn't have seen these trees otherwise. Little Man got out of the van, pointed up to the tree and shouted..."Seeds!!"

We really didn't know what kinds of seeds we would be finding in the desert. Much to our surprise we did find some. It was a beautiful place to go on a seed hunt too!! Silly Guy added his findings to his Science notebook.

Silly Guy's Science notebook

Although he didn't want to leave, Little Man couldn't wait to make a collage with his findings.

Silly Guy finished Sign of the Beaver at the start of the week for his Literature study. Now he is reading Lewis and Clark Expedition by Richard L Newberger. For his independent History reading he read and finished If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution.

I added Easy Grammar to his Language Arts curriculum last week. I felt he needed more grammar practice. The lessons are short, sweet and to the point. It's great for him and he's picking it up(getting 100%'s ). Now if I can get him to use what he learns in his writing!! In writing he had a few journaling assignments. He loved this assignment!! He is my journalist. He carries his journal with him everywhere; the house, outside, the car, to bed, to the store, etc. Always writing about something:)

Math went a little better this week. Previously, I was having him complete his Math assignments in the school room/office. Well, I decided I would move him into the kitchen. He said he likes having me in the same room with him for Math. So that's what we did;)

Always growing and learning what works best for them.

This week a milestone was reached in our house. I was in the shower and a little boy comes into the bathroom with a shirt on his head..."Mom, I am going to get dressed." I replied,"Okay honey.I'll be out in a few minutes to help you." "No mom. I am going to do it all by myself." I giggled as I peeked out of the shower door watching him walk away. A few minutes later that same not so little boy walked back in completley dressed from head to foot. He had picked out his clothes and got dressed all by himself. He knew how proud we all were and asked me to get the camera. This is his pose-he, he. We were so proud of him(holding back the tears)!!

such a proud big boy

Along with learning by his big brother and sister side, Little Man worked on writing some of his letters and numbers. He is very interested in learning how to read. He is pointing to words on the page and asking me,"What does that say?" Also if a book has sight words listed he will ask me too. At bedtime after we read some books he will then tell me a story of his own. I can not express in words how much this excites me!!!

Ruins at Fort Churchill-more about the fort later:)

It was a great week where lesson plans worked with perfect timing!
Join in the fun at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Time for a Nature Walk

2010-11-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

We set out for a nature walk.

filling pockets with natures treasure

observing flowers on hillsides

neighbors greeting us as we walk by

a little fellow waiting for us to return home

The Desert Spiny Lizard

Scary Lady

2010-11-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

Scary, creepy, poisionous, deadly....the black widow spider.
This past Saturday my husband and I decided we would start to unpack the garage. We started clearing out and unpacking.  Suddenly we were taken back by the presence of black widow spiders. Up until this point we hadn't spent too much time in the garage.My husband started squishing them with a hockey stick-so brave!! We saw about six of them and decided we had an infestation.
While unpacking I had put together a couple of boxes to take to the thrift shop. After we finished in the garage I loaded them in my van, shut the garage door and we were done for the day.
Monday came and after our school day was over the kids and I hopped in the van to drop off the thrift store boxes. On the way home(while driving)Silly Guy yelled out There is a black widow!! One had gotten into my van.I'm guessing from the boxes.   It was climbing up Sweet Girl's seat right behind her leg.
She quickly jumped to the back of the van. I had to pull over to try and squish it. I missed and to make a long story short...we had to be brave and drive home with this poisionous spider. We only had a couple of miles to go. I just drove a little faster;) We made it home and called the exterminator.
We were so excited and relieved to have him come and spray the house today.
He also bombed my van.
This is a picture of a very dead black widow. Scary!!

A Pumpkin Kind of Day

2010-10-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

Little Man's smiling pumpkin

Silly Guy wanted to carve his pumpkin with the spirit of football in mind- The Baltimore Ravens. My husband found stencils on NFL.com that you can print out at home and use for pumpkin carving.

Sweet Girl's pumpkin...she loves wolves.

We made some chocolate chip pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese icing.

and some pupmkin seeds. Yummy!!

Weekly Wrap Up- A Bit Chilly

2010-10-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

Our week was great but very COLD!! We just moved from a tropical island a little over a month ago to the desert. We had no idea it would be getting so cold so fast. One morning we woke up to a temperature of 26 degrees!!! We are not prepared at all for the weather. We had to make a trip to the store to get hats, coats and gloves.

When my husband came home from work we had to drain and shut off the sprinkler system. Inside the access panel we found this little guy all cozied up. Immediatley the kids asked..."Can we keep him?" I convinced them that he looked like he was ready to hibernate for the winter and we should leave him be. Sweet dreams...

On to our school week...Some highlights...
Silly Guy is studying plants in Science. This week he learned about photosynthesis. An experiment he did was to compare the effects of keeping the leaves of a plant in the dark and in the sunlight.

He covered one leaf with a black trash bag. Then after a few days we brought both leaves inside to investigate.

He boiled alcohol and dipped each leaf into it. Then afterward he used iodine to determine which leaf contained starch(product of photosynthesis). Kind of neat! The leaf left in the sunlight turned black which showed that it had contained starch.

He did a research assignment on George Washinton Carver. Now that it is getting colder, I asked him if he wanted to finish studying plants in the spring. He replied,"No mom. I am having fun learning about plants." He decided to purchase his own plant with some of his birthday money -a venus fly trap.

In Math Silly Guy did an invesigation about fractions and percents. He loves the Saxon investigations acutually now that I think back Sweet Girl did too. He has been struggling with math lately. I am not sure if it's just been the move. I am hoping now we are getting settled things will become less frustrating for him. He usually does well in Math so I am going to give it a little more time to adjust.

He is still reading Sign of the Beaver and enjoying this tale.

In History this week we are still learning about the American Revolution. Some things we read about is week: Battle of Bunker and Breed's Hill, the surrender of General Burgoyne, women and children of the revolution, soldier life during the Revolutionary War, the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge and how important that winter was, and The Declaration of Independence. They memorized some of Thomas Jefferson's words from the Declaration:)

I did find a couple of links I wanted to share...

Valley Forge on Youtube - this a 5 minute slide show about the winter at Valley Forge.

John Adams-Declaration of Independence on Youtube- a 5 minute scene from the John Adams mini series.

The Road to Independence - this is an online Revolutionary War simulation. The kids enjoyed!!

A Revolutionary Webquest - I went under the" lifestyle and culture" icon and we listened to some of the music played during the time period we've been studying.

Art this week we studied Winslow Homer's "October Day". Here is a link to the Winslow Homer page at the National Gallery of Art for more information about the artist. This is Silly Guy's interpretation of the painting using pastels.

Science for Sweet Girl involved some reading and three experiments. She made these cardboard boats each having a different motor- chewing gum, soap, tissue, and no motor. Which motor would make the boat move?

Soap was the winner, but why? The next two experiments gave her the answer...

The pepper didn't do much with either the chewing gum, tissue, plain tweezers...

but wow look at what happened when she put the soap in the pepper...

After the third experiment(much patience and some help from mom. no pictures)she learned that the soap decreased surface tension causing the boat to move through the water.

Sweet Girl took a Math test this week and got a 93%. She is doing very well with Algebra. She finished up Indian Captive but is still reading The Case of Benedict Arnold.

In writing this week Sweet Girl finished up her assignment-writing a colonial newspaper. Dad and I thought she did a good job.

Little Man had a great week too!

(Coloring and counting in his pumpkin counting book)

He was intrigued by big sis's science experiment. So he joined in too.

On a home improvement/moving note...I am happy to report the last of the carpet has been replaced and the last of the boxes have been unpacked(excluding the garage).
Great week!!
Join in " Weekly Wrap UP" over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers!!

More From Virginia City

2010-10-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

A quaint little town...

The Way It Was Museum- Historic Virginia City

2010-10-22T21:51:00.002-07:00

We took a field trip to Virgnia City. This is such a neat little town. As you walk down the board sidewalks you are taken back in time.
In the 19th century this was a booming mining town. The mountains were full of gold and silver and turning folks into millionares. It was the most important settlement between Denver and San Francisco.
We stopped in The Way It Was Museum to learn something new. This museum was full of artifacts from the period.

I am not sure if you can tell in this picture but the water pipes were made of wood and then wrapped in wire.

Timbers used in building this "Square Set" and thousands like it came from Lake Tahoe region. Most of them were floated down the mountains in "V" flumes to the Carson River(and other locations along the river). Then they were hauled up the mountains to Virginia City.

This "cage" is one of the older ones used to lower miners into the comstocks. No safety features here...they were added later. Men would just hold onto the iron bar in the middle. More men died from accidents on the cage than on the mine floor

Don't think anyone could get into that safe.

Okay...my biggest fear!! Snakes and not just any snake...the rattlesnake. I am hoping to NEVER run into one of these guys. So far so good.

Nevada's state flag at the time it was admitted into statehood. October 13, 1864

Now I thought this was the sweetest thing.

I am not sure I would've been brave enough to sit in this dentist chair. Notice the tools(on the tray)!! Yikes!!

Weekly Wrap Up- We're Back!

2010-10-22T18:12:00.009-07:00

I have been reading on other homeschool blogs their "Weekly Wrap-Up". It's a weekly meme hosted by Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers where homeschoolers can share the happenings of their week. It sounded fun and thought we would join in too.
This was our official first week back since the big move across the Pacific Ocean. It went pretty good!! It is a great feeling for normal life to begin again.
Anywho...Silly Guy started studying flowers and plants this week in Christian Kids Explore Biology. We don't have many plants or flowers at our new house. We did find some snapdragons along the fence. Perfect for a little science dissection!
He dissected this guy here...

After taking the flower apart he made a page for his science notebook labeling the parts he found.

One project we created this week...planting a fall garden in front of the house by the entry.

We bought some mums, pansies, and kale. The kids worked very hard and were so proud with the end result. It added some color and life to the house.

What started out as Silly Guy's "Science Project" turned into a family project. It was great fun!!

In art this week we studied John James Audubon's "Blue Heron" from the Birds of America collection. Click here to check out the website we are using for the picture study. I hadn't prepared anything ahead of time since I'm still unpacking. We always enjoy picture studies. Not only do we learn a lot from studying the art of others but it's a great last minute lesson.

(Sweet Girl's "Blue Heron")

In History we are at about the middle of A History of US Book 3, getting into the American Revolution. The kids and I are captivated by the brave American's who paved the way for our freedom. It is truly inspiring. I am so glad I decided to teach them American History together. It's sparking great discussion. Moments like these I feel so blessed to be homeschooling them:)

Silly Guy finished reading And Then What Happened Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz. He loved this book and the story of Paul Revere.  Today he started reading a great book The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George.  We are currently reading aloud Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. When we pulled it off the bookshelf Sweet Girl's eyes lit up(she remembered reading it a few years ago). I have to say I am loving this story as much as Silly Guy:)
This week Silly Guy has been writing a business letter. He chose to write to The Trash Pros.   They pick up our rubbish and don't have a recycling program. So, he is writing hoping to persuade them to start a program.
                                                                             (Working hard on math)

This week Sweet Girl started reading Traitor The Case of Benedict Arnold by Jean Fritz for her independent History reading. She has also been reading Indian Captive The Story of Mary Jemison by Louis Lenski for her Literature study. She is enjoying this book. For her writing assignment she continued working on(week 2 of 3) an 18th century American themed newspaper. The topics included in her newspaper are News, Sports, Entertainment, Editorials, Weather, Obituaries, Cartoons, Advertisments, and Classifieds. The assignment has had her researching the time period a lot in order to stay authentic. My husband is always telling her she is a natural reporter. That is because she keeps us very informed with everything. I mean every little detail, lol. We'll see dad.

(She always finds a cozy spot to read)

Little Man just hanging out this week. He always joins in during art and music. He has had a great time playing with his toys he hasn't seen in almost two months. Opening up boxes has been like Christmas!!

In the beginning of the week I had Sweet Girl look over Module 2 in Apologia's General Science. We didn't pack the Science books into the suitcases so I just had her review a bit. Then she started Module 3 How to Analyze and Interpret Experiments. Some pictures of her "A Floating Egg?" experiment.

In this experiment she learned variable changes are useful. Many times by changing the variable(in this case the salt)new things can be learned...

Saltwater is more dense than pure water. A great way to illustrate the lesson:)

Our week ended with a family game of soccer. The kids vs. their injured father. He's a trooper!!

So in a nutshell that was our first normal week in a long time. Very comforting.

Lahontan Reservoir

2010-10-21T23:07:00.002-07:00

One day we took a short drive to Lahontan Reservoir. The reservoir is 17 miles long and has 69 miles of shoreline. Some of the wildife at the reservoir include wild horses, bobcat, coyote, fox and deer share the park with a variety of birds. Also, it's Nevada's only known nesting area for bald eagles. We did see what we thought were coyote tracks while walking along the beach.
A very peaceful and quiet place. We were the only people around. We did see a couple of boats in the water as we were driving past the northern end.
We took our pup's with us. Roxy girl had a blast playing fetch in the water.

Sweet Girl could hardly wait to jump in with her Roxy girl. Little Man wasn't far behind. We didn't bring our suits because when we left the hotel it was in the 70's. However, the reservoir is in the middle of the desert. It was at least 90 degrees and FULL sun. Suits or no suits we had to get cooled off.

Silly Guy has been a little spoiled by the blue Hawaiian water. He didn't want anything to do with the brown water, he he ;)

Skyscapes and Landscapes

2010-10-21T21:57:00.004-07:00

Nevada’s sky and landscapes are quite different from anything I have ever seen.

I had to grab my camera when I saw these clouds. Yes, they were actually red!

While the sun is setting the sky changes into the most vivid colors. I love to just sit and watch the sky change from blue-to purple-to orange-to red-back into purple… Meanwhile the mountains change from brown-to green, to blue…It is so serene!

The sky is so vast. At night it’s crystal clear and seems as if you could reach up and grab a star. We have become quite interested in star gazing.

The land is wide open, untouched, primitive. Very beautiful!

Celebrating 10

2010-10-21T21:28:00.003-07:00

While we were in our temporary quaters, The Navy Lodge, we celebrated Silly Guy's 10th birthday. We went to the local bowling alley to celebrate and afterward to DQ for a birthday sundae. He had a great day!!

Hidden Cave Trail

2010-10-20T22:55:00.003-07:00

After we hiked the petroglyph trail(and the rain stopped)we hiked up to the caves. The sign said these caves were used as shelter to the Ancient Americans inhabiting this area.

There is just something about caves that are so mysterious. The kids were facinated!!

We only made it to the Picnic Cave because we weren't sure what the weather was going to do. The rain had stopped but the sky was looking kind of mean.

We all agree we will have to go back and explore more!

Sweet Girl wanted to continue on. So I climbed with her to the top of this sort of steep, rocky mountain. Note to self...next time...don't wear sneakers!! It was very slippery. We literally slid down(and up), lol.

This is the cave we found at the top.

The boys stayed at the Picnic Cave while we climbed. When we came down Silly Guy was eager to show me what he did. He had tucked his sketchbook and pencil into his back pocket when we got out of the van. While we were climbing he found a comfy rock and sketched the cave. He did a great job. It was a good moment!

Petroglyph Hike at Grimes Point

2010-10-19T22:54:00.001-07:00

We went hiking on the Petroglyph Hike at Grimes Point. The hike is located at what was once ancient Lake Lahontan. Over 12,000 years ago this entire area was under about 700 feet of water. However, when the early Americans lived here much of the area was above water.

One of the oldest petroglyph styles is the wavy or circular lines dating back to around 3,000 years old.

Ancient Lake Lahontan

The straighter or angular lines are newer from 500-2,000 years old. Some of the petroglyphs we could make out shapes. We thought this one maybe resembled a rainbow.

This style of petroglyph dates back 7,000 years. The Pit and Groove are thought to be the oldest at Grimes Point. They were made by striking the boulder surface with a rock.

While we were hiking we didn't even realize the storm that was sneaking up on us. It started downpouring rain and the temperature dropped about 25 degrees.

My chilly kiddos!

On Our Way

2010-10-19T22:01:00.002-07:00

After the airport chaos we picked up the van and hit the road. It was a 5 1/2 hour trip. Which doesn't sound like that big of a trip but when you live on an island 5 1/2 hours seems long. It was great though. We were exhausted but excited.

This picture was taken as we were driving past San Francisco. The clouds were wild! They were level with the horizon. The picture isn't very good because it was taken from my car window while on the highway but it was so neat I had to share.

As we were driving through California...

Then we headed up the Sierra Nevada. It was such a beautiful drive. There was a rest stop toward the top in the Tahoe National Forest. The kids(and doggies) had fun playing in this teepee.

Little Man was ready to camp out and didn't want to leave.

Here are some pictures as we were driving up the Sierra Nevada. We were so high up in the mountains. I was a bit nervous with all of the turns and downhill slopes. I was very thankful my husband was driving.

Sweet Girl ready to go hiking

Silly Guy found something to climb

Our Last Day on Oahu

2010-10-19T20:24:00.003-07:00

Our last day on the island was a beautiful Hawaiian day! We decided we would take a walk around historic Ford Island. We stopped to take pictures of the USS Utah Memorial and then relaxed by the waters edge.

It was bittersweet leaving Oahu. As much as we missed the mainland, it was our home for four years. We made some great friends, became involved with some amazing homeschool groups, and had many adventures.

We are here

2010-10-19T20:08:00.001-07:00

We made it to Nevada! Yay!
It was quite the move but we are here now and starting to get settled. After a month and 10 days in a hotel room(not that I was counting), we moved into our new house last week.
Hubby and I have had our hands full with painting, ripping out carpeting, unpacking, major weeding, etc. We would wake up, eat and start working until about 10 o'clock at night. I look back over the past week and I still can't believe how much we've done. Now that we have taken care of the "must be done" list we are taking the next week or so off to get back to routine.
It sounds like an easy thing. Right?
Well, while we were in the hotel we were so bad and let routine fly right out of the window. Which in at least one way was very good. My Little Man is now potty trained because of that routine flying out of the window. Big Yay!! Other than that...bedtime, wake up time, mealtime, schooltime, chores, etc. are all things that have to get back to normal. I am looking forward to normal routine again. I think that is what I missed most over the past month or so...a normal routine and also my oven. I couldn't wait to bake a batch of cookies (did Sunday)and through a lasagna in the oven. Which I am planning on doing tomorrow :)

Kaena Point Hike

2010-08-13T01:15:00.006-07:00

We had a free day last Saturday. We decided we would enjoy it by taking a hike to Kaena Point. Kaena means "red hot" or "glowing" in the Hawaiian language. It is located on the most northwestern point of Oahu. The hike was very different from many of the hikes we have done on the island.

It was absolutely beautiful and we are so happy we went!

The picture above is from the left hand side of the road. I couldn't take my eyes off the beauty. Then Sweet girl and I said at the exact same time. "That is so beautiful!"

Once we reached the end of the highway and parked. We set out for Kaena Point.

I thought this formation looked like it was in the shape of a heart. Had to take a picture!

The entire hike the view is (in my opinion)the most beautiful ocean one will ever be blessed to see.

Silly guy spotted this formation, a Sperm Whale.

The view looking south-breathtaking!

This view is looking north. In the distance you will spot Kaena Point. We walked for about 1 1/2 hours. Then we decided to head back to the car. Little man was getting tired and our water bottles were low(full sun all the way). It was a great day!!

Family Pictures from the hike...

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Critter Sitters is off

2010-08-07T21:00:00.001-07:00

A while back I wrote about Sweet girl starting her own dog walking/pet sitting business. Well, this summer it has taken off. Since starting she has had four customers. It may not sound like a lot but it was. I am so happy she had this opportunity! She has learned so much from running her own business. How to manage money, proffesionalism, customer service, responsibilty, interview process, etc.
She has been so proffesional and responsible!! Recently, she let her customers know she would be leaving. They told her, "What will the neighborhood do without you!" What a compliment!!

Pictures of Sweet girls "clients". Photos taken by SG

Mimi- long time and loyal customer. She walks her Monday-Friday and has pet sat for the family a few times. Mimi is the cutest thing. Sweet girl always brings her up the house to say hi to me(and get treats of course). She is always so happy.

Marley- Sweet girl pet sat for her family. Marley's owner recommended Sweet girl

to her next customer. Marley was ADORABLE and sweet!! Lap dog all the way.

Teddy- She pet sat Teddy and Buddy for 3 1/2 weeks. It was A LOT of work.

Teddy was a sweetheart, very loveable dog.

Buddy- Buddy was a sweetheart too but was scared of everything. Bless his heart.

I am so proud of her!!

Travel Games- Find It!

2010-08-07T13:52:00.001-07:00

While walking through Target's game aisle I found this idea. The game is called "Find It!"
I thought it looked like something that would be easy to make at home. I went around the house collecting little things from junk drawers and toyboxes. Then dyed some rice the fill theplastic bottle with.

Once the rice was dry, using a funnel I put the rice and items into a plastic bottle.

I made a list of everything that is inside the bottle so the kids know what they are looking for. The object of the game is to find all of the items by turning and shaking the bottle.

Items I put inside:

A tire from a Matchbox car. I dug into my son's bin of cars and found a few stray tires.
A foam letter "E"
A BB- found on the park
A foam letter "S"
Rubber band
Lego
Long green bead
Penny
Dime
A little leaf-from a broken pair of jewelry
A ice cream cone-from my daughter's Littlest Pet Shop collection
A cup-from my daughter's Littlest Pet Shop collection
A foam caterpillar
Yellow Pony bead
A small fish-from the bottom of the toy box
A daggar- from the Playmobil box
A pebble
Jack
Piece of string
Small cork
Rope toy-from my daughter's Littlest Pet Shop collection
Purple heart bead
Blue flower-small flower from the craft store.
Green Pony bead
A small eraser
Paperclip
Sea Shell
Marble
Screw- I found a plastic one.
A small dinosaur

Art at the Zoo

2010-08-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

Something new at the zoo is this painted wall along the path to the entrance. It was beautiful and wow was it colorful!! I thought I would post this work of art:)

One Last Trip to the Honolulu Zoo

2010-08-07T13:12:00.001-07:00

Last night I was doing a blog makeover- updating pics, layout, background, etc. I realized while looking for pictures I never posted these. We took a trip to the Honolulu Zoo a little while ago. Little man always ask ,"Can we go to the zoo? or beach?" His two favorite places.

This was a laid back trip. We took our time and let him navigate us.

Our three kiddos

A family favorite... the elephant. The zoo is in the process of making these guys a better home-yay!

One of my favorite animals at the zoo, the giraffe. It was kind of funny. There was an event going on across the street at the beach. People were letting balloons fly into the air. They just so happened to be flying directly over the giraffe exhibit. The giraffe's were constantly on watch looking out for them.

Out of all the animals, Little man was facinated by the chickens. While Dad was running out to feed the meter we hung out and watched them (for about 45 minutes). It was feeding time on the farm. He thought it was hillarious that they were coming into their house for dinner time. He was watching them go up and down the ramps. The zookeeper noticed his facination. So, he brought Henry out for him to pet and feed. Henry was such a sweet rooster.

The zookeeper told us Henry loves to have his picture taken with the kids.

The sweet little goats.

Out of the Fog

2010-08-07T02:01:00.006-07:00

This past week I had a rude awakening...literally.

Every morning I have waken up with a severe headache. I don't usually get headaches this often. Maybe once a month I will get a minor one but nothing like what I experienced this past week. Every night I went to bed praying it would be gone. The next morning came and they just seemed to be getting more intense. It was taking me about 3 hours to even function.
On Tuesday, I woke up and it was the worse one yet. It was pain I can't even begin to descibe and nothing I have ever felt before. You could say I was a bit frightened !!
I struggled to get out of bed but I had to. I started to think to myself, "What is going on?"
After about an hour and no relief I called my husband at work. At this point I was in tears(which wasn't helping ).  He was growing concern too and told me to go to the doctor.  I hung up the phone and made an appointment right away. I was so thankful they could squeeze me in asap.
I arrived at the doctor's office.  I began to tell her where I was having this pain (the back of my head, radiating to the top of my head and down the neck)and descibing it to her. Her diagnosis was a "tension headache".
From what I understood, I have been storing the stress from this move in my neck. Which then is affecting the nerves leading up my spinal cord. She described it as a domino affect. She prescribed me a muscle relaxer(at night), Motrin, gave me some exercises, and suggested that I sleep with a heating pad on my neck. Usually, I don't take medicine but had to cave in this time. It was not only affecting me but everyone in the familly.  Everything was a fog.
The first two mornings I didn't have any relief. I was starting to think I should go back to the doctor(or ER).   But then, this morning I woke up with a very mild headache. How excited I was to see a light and to be coming out of the fog!!
I am praying tomorrow will even be better:)

Statue of Liberty Art

2010-07-31T15:20:00.002-07:00

We are keeping with an American theme in Art this year since we are studying American History.  I found this idea on Deep Space Sparkle and thought it would be a great kick off for the year. We are still in the Pre-History of the United States but while drawing her we had great discussion.
I am thinking our next project will be to either use oil pastels or paints(haven't decided yet) and draw the Grand Canyon.
First, we drew the Statue of Liberty, buildings, etc. in pencil.  Then, we used sharpee markers to outline everything. Next, we used markers to color everything but the Statue of Liberty.  Last, we painted her using watercolors. I enjoyed joining in with the kids.  Art is a great way to spend time together. We were happy with the way they turned out.

Sweet girl's

Silly guy's- He decided it would be the Fourth of July.

He painted a night scene and used glitter for fireworks.

Little Man's

Mama's

My Travel Journal Notebooking Pages

2010-07-31T14:52:00.002-07:00

I am trying to find different ideas to keep the kids occupied during our move.

Thekids will be without their toys/belongings for about two months.
We'll be staying in a hotel for about 1-1 1/2 months.
A 5 1/2 hour flight from Honolulu to Oakland.
Because our van is only being taken as far as Oakland, CA, we'll have a five hour drive to our new home. So, we decided we would take a sightseeing tour along the way.

We went to Target and Walmart this week and bought a few travel games. I have found some other ideas from the internet too. I am going to buy freezer bags and fill them with different activities.
A few websites I found for activities:

One idea I found during my search was to have the kids make a Travel Journal. What a great way for the kids document the trip and adventure that lies ahead of us. I made some Travel Journal notebooking pages and wanted to share. These pages would be great to journal any kind of vacation/trip, just journal, or even some pages could be used for a nature study. They turned out kind of cute. I am also going to have them collect brochures, tickets, etc. along the way to include in their journal. You can download them on my page at HSlaunch: My Travel Journal . Enjoy!!

Traveling with Pets

2010-07-21T02:19:00.004-07:00

Our move date is coming up fast. It is a BIG move from Hawaii to Nevada. There are so many things to schedule and co-ordinate: pack dates, plane tickets, check outs, check ins, hotels, shipping two vehicles, finding housing, getting rid of things, etc. Just when I think I have it all figured out something changes.
It is a bit stressful and exhausting.
We are also bringing our pooches along with us. This seems to be adding to the stress. Finding a hotels that will take dogs, vet appointments for health certificates, flight regulations, etc. I thought I would share a couple of websites I have found useful for traveling with pets.
One is Petswelcome.com . On this website you can find information about all types of travel with pets. You can also find hotels all over the country that accept our furry friends. It has great information! Another is Petsonthego.com . This website also includes a lot of useful information. You can also download the Air Travel Consumer Report which has all of the incident/accident reports for each airline.

I am praying this transition will be not to stressful for Wally and Roxy.

Our furry loved ones...

Wally- Reading up on his breed history.

Roxy- She always strikes a pose for the camera. Such a beautiful girl!

Workboxes Part 2

2010-07-21T01:42:00.001-07:00

I think we have found a solution to organization. We are only into the second week of our school year and using the Workbox System but it is running so smooth. It is almost to good to be true. I literally explained how it was going to work to my children one time... yes ONE TIME. I can't believe it myself.  They have done so well and I am so proud of them. I was even happy to hear,"That sounds like fun!" from Silly Guy when I told him we would be rotating the boxes around. The only subjects that aren't on the rotating schedule are the "together" subjects. Everyday we do History first, Music/Art/PE-second, and Read Aloud-third. I found this to work out best. I didn't want them to be waiting around for the other to finish their independent work. All of the other subjects I switch around each day.
At first when I was preparing and working this system out for our homeschool I was a little concerned about my time. How was I going to find time to fill these boxes each day?  It takes me about a half an hour each afternoon/night to check their work and fill the boxes for the next day. I will say that their subjects don't move from box to box. I just move the numbers around and keep all books/texts in the same boxes. This is also great for the kids because they can easily return supplies to the box.
Another time saver for me is I have made these cards...
Each kiddo has a box of colored cards(Sweet girl-yellow, Silly guy-green). I laminated cardstock in their colors to write their daily assignments on. I use a wet erase marker to write on them.   I bought these little index card boxes to hold the cards. At the end of the day when I am filling the workboxes I pull out their assignment cards for the next day and toss it into the workbox (which contains the subject). On Friday, I wipe off all old cards and write in the next weeks assignments. This took me about a half an hour to fill all of the cards. It is working out so far.

I thought I would also share...breaks. I decided I didn't want a box for break cards. I velcroed their break cards to the top of their workboxes. When they need a break they take off the card and put it into the finished card basket. I am leaving when to take a break and which break to choose(10 min & 30 min) up to them. This is working out great too! We have been having a few problems with breaks... One: Many times Sweet girl doesn't take breaks therefore exhausting herself. Two: Silly guy takes either a break that is too long or too many. Before he would constantly be getting up... I need a drink. I have to go to the bathroom(after he just went). My pencil broke. I am not having this problem anymore. Maybe it is because he knows he will be getting two breaks and he is able to choose when he takes them.

Picture of the break cards on top of the boxes

In my last post I talked about the chart they put their tags on after a box is complete.

I thought I would include a picture of it.

I also wanted to include Little Man in this post.

I downloaded this activity from Confessions of a Homeschooler. We used beans to count.

I made some shapes using Microsoft Word. Then printed them on to different colored paper and laminated. He made different things using the shapes; a rocket ship, submarine, and some houses.

This is another download from Confessions of a Homeschooler. He was letter matching.

Organizing Our Homeschool-Workboxes

2010-07-10T01:25:00.013-07:00

We have tried many things to make our homeschooling day run smoothly. I have made schedules with times slotted per subject, to do lists-where I just list everything the kids need to do for the day and they check off when completed, bookshelves-each child having their own(books always get bent), both baskets & dishpans with their books inside, binders-containing all assignments, etc.
I will say some things have worked. One big problem that always seems to come up at the end of the day is books were not getting put away.   I was reading about Sue Patrick's Workbox System on various blogs and thought it could possibly be a solution for some of the problems we were having in our homeschool. I figured I would give it a try.
I found three drawer containers on sale at Target. These containers seemed to work best for us. Sue Patrick recommends using shoebox size(which I am using for Little Man). I tried to make this work for the older children first. I couldn't fit many of the textbooks(mainly Science, Math, LA) into the containers. To save my books and space I choose to use these tower style boxes.
Each child has tags of a different color(Sweet Girl -yellow, Silly Guy- green, Little Man-Blue). The tags are velcroed on the boxes so they can be removed easily.   When they are finished with the work inside the box. They return all of the books back to the box.  Then they are to remove the tag, put it onto a chart (which I have sitting on top of the boxes).
Sweet Girl and Silly Guy each have six black containers with their independent work inside.   The green three drawer container is for the subjects we will do together.  With the Workbox idea there are supposed to be twelve boxes. I only have nine for now. We will see how it goes and I may add in three more later.
Here are our Workboxes...

On top of our "together" subjects I have a dishpan. They are to put completed work inside that needs to be checked. At the end of the day I have everything in one location, Yay for me!

Little Man's has four workboxes. I have found so many ideas online for things to put inside his workboxes. A few resources for workboxes: Confessions of a Homeschooler , Toddler Workbox ideas, 1+1+1=1, Homeschool Share, File Folder Fun, Many Little Blessings, Homeschool Creations just to name a few. Here is a link for a review of the system with many links to blogs. There are also various yahoo groups for advice and ideas for using workboxes.

Lately...

2010-07-07T03:30:00.004-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while. We finished our 2009/2010 school year the first week of June when the public school year ended.   Many of the kid's friends were off of school. Since we'll be moving in a couple of months I felt it was important for them to soak up the time they have left with them. Anyway, we took the first couple of weeks to relax a bit.  We went to the movies a few times, bowling, the pool, the mall, etc. Pretty much just chillin. It has been great!

In between chill time, I have been gearing up for our next school year.  I hit a couple of the used curriculum fairs. Which I am happy to say I made out. I saved our homeschool budget about $500.00 by sorting and picking through many many tables and boxes. It took quite a bit of organization and planning on my part but with that kind of savings I have to say it was well worth it.

I have decided to have the kids study American History this year. Since both children would be studying the same thing I thought it would be best and probably more fun if we did it together. We'll be using the Joy Hakim series A History of US as our main text. Adding in various literature selections, poetry, and music to co-ordinawith the study. Sweet girl will have three current event assignmets per week. I am hoping she will post them on her blog but we'll have to see. She doesn't like when I tell her what to post on her blog;).
Science- Silly Guy Christian Kids Explore Biology , How Nature Works   and library books.
Sweet Girl -Apologia's General Science. I decided to go with General Science because after looking through the table of contents she covered a lot of Physical Science last year. She is excited about Apologia.
Math- Both kiddos will be using Saxon (Silly guy- Saxon 6/5 and Sweet girl Saxon Algebra 1)
Bible-Both kiddos AOP Lifepac Bible
Language Arts- Silly guy-BJU English 5, Wordly Wise, and Spelling Power.
Sweet girl- Sonlight Core 100 writing, Spelling Power , Wordly Wise, , and
Easy Grammar 180 Daily Teaching Lessons
I plan on doing some nature studies once we reach our new home. We can't wait to explore!
Art- I am going to be pulling lessons/activities from various websites. I am trying to stick to an "American" theme. Deep Space Sparkle , Art for Homeschool, Artyfactory, Captain Watercolor, and Sketch Tuesday all have great ideas and lesson plans.
So, needless to say we are most definitley eclectic homeschoolers.

I have decided to start our school year next week since we will be moving in September. I would love to take a couple more weeks off, but with moving the kids will be taking off quite a bit.  I want to get in a solid six weeks before getting on that big bird back to the mainland. I am planning on having them continue Math, Language Arts, Literature, and possibly History while we are in transition. Our household goods could take up to 45 days to get to our new home.
Along with all of this planning comes organization. But I will have to post about how I've been tackling that later(maybe tomorrow). I just peeked at the clock and well I have to go to bed!!

Starbase Atlantis

2010-06-20T19:38:00.002-07:00

Silly Guy participated in the Starbase Atlantis program last week. It is a free program funded by the DOD open to all students entering or graduating 5th grade. The program is 4 days of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The week is full of hands on Science experiments and instruction. Some highlights from his week...designed his own space station, built and launched a model rocket, and simulated a flight where he had to take off from Ford Island, Pearl Harbor Naval Station and land safely at Hickam Air Force Base. He also went on a few field trips to various places around base. He was completly exhausted by the end of a 7 hour day but always excited to tell me about all of the fun things he had did at Starbase. To find out if this program is offered near you check out their website Starbase . Also on the website they offer some links to various science websites shared under the link tab. Check it out!

In this picture is his group, Endeavor, graduating.

A picture of him preparing to launch his rocket.

Chinatown

2010-06-19T12:31:00.028-07:00

We took a stroll in Chinatown the other day. On this trip I remembered to bring my camera.
My husband loves to go down there to buy our veggies and seafood. The prices are usually better than the grocery store and everything is fresh. The color of the fruits and vegetables are so beautiful and bright. Not to mention the flowers; unique, fresh, and relatively inexpensive. The aroma of the lei shops alone is worth the trip. Everytime we take a visit I have to bring home a bundle of fresh flowers to brighten up the house.
Here are my pictures from Chinatown....

I want to go home with you!
In this picture, I thought the robins-egg door in the background was just the perfect contrast for the red and green.

Mangos, Papaya, and Lychee...oh my!

I had to take some of these beauties home too! Red Ginger is one of my favorites here in Hawaii.

In this picture...again the contrast of the red/pink and green against the blue + charm(the baskets hanging in the doorway).

The 50th State Fair

2010-06-19T12:24:00.034-07:00

For Little Man's birthday we took him to The 50th State Fair. We had a great day playing, riding rides, eating cotton candy, petting zoo, and a piggy race. The last time we went to the fair Little Man was too small to ride. He had such a great time and wanted to go again and again.

This is the piggy race. So cute!

Here is Little man and my hubby on the race cars.

Silly guy is not one for rides. His face in this picture cracks me up. It truly expresses his feelings towards rides.

Little man on the boats.

Sweet girl LOVES rides.

She got on this ride which flipped her upside down about 50 feet from the ground.

My 3 kiddos on the big slide.

Little Man is 3!!

2010-06-19T12:12:00.001-07:00

Our Little Man turned 3 years old! I can't believe he is 3 already. This little boy was patiently waiting for a long time for his birthday. The older kids told him a few months before his birthday was coming. So he would always ask,"Is it my birthday?" When the day finally came we had a blast celebrating his birth. By his request I made him a Buzz Lightyear cake. Happy Birthday to you Little Man!!

"It is time to give this cake a try. Hmmm, let's see if I can fit it in..."

"Yup, got it in there. Taste good!"

"Yay, it's my birthday!"

Mountain Countries Notebook

2010-06-09T03:01:00.006-07:00

I created a Mountain Notebook for Silly guy's History/Geography study "Mountain Countries." The notebook has 24 pages covering countries such as; Peru(The Andes), Nepal(The Himalayas), and Switzerland(The Alps). I have uploaded the file to my page at HSlaunch. Feel free to grab a copy of The Mountain Countries Notebook .

Our maps were included in our study but you can find some great maps by googling.

I did want to share this neat video clip I found on Watch Know . It was like a little virtual field trip:)

A summary from the Watch Know video: "National Geographic presents a short video on the physical geography, the ancient capital city of Cusco, and the Inca Trail. There is a visit to Machu Pichu and its amazing stonework is shown with explanation of some of its special characteristics. The mystery of drawings carved into the flat, dry plains visible only from the air is mentioned. Headwaters of the Amazon and the rain forest are also shown."

Also, some great ficitional reading we enjoyed with our study:

Secret of the Andes by: Ann Nolan Clark

and

Heidi by: Johanna Spyri

Here are a couple of the notebook pages(below). Have fun!

Kaniakapupu: The singing of the land shells

2010-05-23T01:12:00.000-07:00

After our hike up the Judd Trail, we drove about 1/4 mile further down the road to find this jewel.

It is the ruins of King Kamehameha III's summer palace.

We had to hike down a short trail to find it. It was built in 1845 and was a place for the King to entertain and to meet with the chiefs. The biggest event held here was a luau attended by about 10,000 celebrating Hawaii's Restoration Day in 1847.

This was a stone pathway in front of the summer palace. When we got home I googled the palace and found this website Kaniakapupu . Click on the name to learn more about this historic place on Oahu.

Some pretty flowers along the road.

Hiking the Judd Trail

2010-05-23T00:48:00.002-07:00

Today we packed everyone up in the van and went seeking the Judd Trail.

We went up this winding road which was breath taking.

We got out of the car and walked down to a trail. We weren't sure which way to go but the trail followed along this stream. We walked down and there was a small waterfall. Little man just loves waterfalls.

After enjoying the waterfall we continued down the trail. It wasn't marked so we walked on and came to a dead end. Where we just hung out for a while and played in the stream.

Then we back tracked and spotted the trail across the stream.

We were so excited to find the trail sign. The trail ends at a pool where I read is a great picnic spot.

With three choices we choose this way...

My husband giving me a smile:)

We walked up the path for a ways and Little man was beginning to tire. He decided this tree looked like a good place to rest.

Then we reached this forest where there was a wonderful cool breeze. Singing birds surrounded us. It was so peaceful. The kids wanted to pitch a tent right there and stay. At this point Little man was pretty tired so we decided this forest would be our picnic spot.

Although we didn't make it to the pool it was enjoyable for the whole family. We hope to do this hike again before we leave Hawaii.

Zucchini, Cherry Tomato, and Fresh Ricotta Pasta

2010-05-23T00:27:00.000-07:00

This recipe came from Cooking Light magazine. It was delicious and with all of those veggies you can't go wrong. When I first told my husband what we were going to be eating for dinner he said,"Where's the meat?" After we finished eating we both agreed there was no need for meat.

Ingredients:

3 cups whole milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 1/2 tsp sal, divided
6 quarts water
8 ounces uncooked fettucine
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons small mint leaves

Combine milk and buttermilk in a small heavy saucepan over medium high heat; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; drain. Place milk solids in a small bowl; sprinkle with 1/8 tsp salt. Toss gently to combine.
Bring 6 quarts water to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; cook 7 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add zucchini; saute 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper, and garlic; saute 2 minutes, stirring frequently; stir in tomatoes. Combine remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, pasta, and tomato mixture in a large bowl; toss. Top with ricotta and mint.

Sundried Tomato and Fennel Chicken Sub

2010-05-22T23:43:00.003-07:00

I have to say not having such a full schedule has given me back the opportunity to cook yummy food (something other than crockpot)for my family again. I love to cook especially when I get to be a tad bit creative in the kitchen.

Ingredients for chicken marinade:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Tomato, Basil, Garlic seasoning
2 tsp minced garlic
4 sundried tomato halves-chopped

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups sliced onion
1 cup thinly sliced fennel bulb
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1 lb chicken breast- sliced thin
sub rolls
1/2 cup tomato basil pasta sauce
provolone cheese

First mix all of your ingredients for the marinade and pour into a ziploc bag. After cutting the chicken into thin slices and add to marinade. I would allow it to marinade for about 20-30 minutes.
Once the chicken is marinaded take out of the bag and throw marinade away.
Preheat a skillet over medium high heat. Coat the pan with cooking spray. Cook the chicken until brown. Once the chicken is cooked remove and set aside.
Coat pan again and add onion, fennel, and garlic; saute for about 4 minutes. Add the chicken and saute for about 3 more minutes or until vegetables begin to brown.
Lay the rolls cut side up on a baking sheet and broil until toasted.
Spooon chicken mixture into each roll and top each with 2 tablespoons of sauce.
Cut provolone cheese in half and place on top of each sandwich.
Arrange on baking sheet and broil until cheese melts.

Far Out Solar System

2010-05-22T23:39:00.001-07:00

The last time Silly guy studied the Solar System was a couple of years ago. There is just something about space that is facinating everytime we study it. He made this Solar System model last week and was so proud and wanted me to share it on the family blog.

The Start of Human Anatomy-Cells

2010-05-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet girl has started studying the long awaited Human Body. She has been anxiously waiting for this study. While learning about cells, one of the experiments was to scrape the inside of her cheek and look at what we found under the microscope.

She refused to scrape her own cheek but luckily she had a ready and waiting brother. Here is what we saw... a cell (circle object-black on the outside). Pretty neat!

A Bouquet for You...Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-11T00:51:00.029-07:00

“The most important thing she’d learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” -writer Jill Churchill

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." - Lin Yutang

"Making the decision to have a child-it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone

"The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom." - Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)

"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

The best conversations with mothers always take place in silence, when only the heart speaks. -Carrie Latet

That best academy, a mother's knee. -James Russell Lowell

Fun at the Picnik

2010-05-10T02:21:00.005-07:00

I have tried to figure out Photoshop time and time again. One I don't have time, two I don't have the patience. I was reading about Picnik on a blog a while ago and gave it a try. I loved the results of the editing and the ease of use. They offer the customer many different tools and effects. The website is user friendly and such a great price. You can upload 5 photos at a time, have many of the features for free. Or for around $25.00 /year you can upload 100 photos at a time, and receive premium features.

When we went on our hike last week I was able to snap some photos of the kiddos. I thought it would be

fun to hop back on Picnik and get creative. Now I have to order prints.

Silly guy and Little man -black and white

Silly guy-black and white

Sweet girl- black and white w/ the vingnette feature

Little man- 1960's feature w/ vignette

My 3 kiddos-auto adjust

Little man- auto adjust, vignette

Sweet girl-I think Orton-ish

Silly guy-cinemascope

Hickam Wetland Hike

2010-05-10T01:56:00.004-07:00

Last Thursday afternoon the kids and I decided to take a hike. We had never been on the Hickam Wetland Hike (located on the Air Force Base). We thought it would be fun and maybe we would see something new. It was a short hike but perfect for a weekday afternoon.

Here are some pictures of our findings.

One of the trails along the hike led us down to the ocean front. This was a short stretch of beach filled with these holes. They are the home of the ghost crab. This guy has to be pretty big.

The kids were excited when they found tracks along the hike. They found two different sets which were on different trails along the way. When we got home we researched on the internet to try to figure out what kind of animal left these tracks(mongoose, dog, cat, ???). We couldn't find anything so I told the kids when we make our next library trip we'll see if we can find a book about tracks.

A couple of plant species along the trail.

As we returned to the picnic area we found this wild animal. He was a friendly little critter who was very proud of his antlers. He was too cute! I just had to take him home:)

Chicken Chipolte Cheesesteak

2010-05-10T01:20:00.001-07:00

. The sub was a little spicy. Thank goodness everyone in our house likes spicy food because it was delicious! The recipe made about 5 stuffed subs.

Ingredients: 1 can chipolte chiles in adobo sauce, 2 tsp of olive oil, 1 lb. skinless boneless chicken breast, 1 cup of onion, 1 cup of red bell pepper(cut into strips), 2 tsp. bottled minced garlic, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp salt, about 1 cup shredded sharp cheese, and sub rolls

Take one of the chiles out of the can and mince. Also, take out 1 tbsp of the adobo sauce. Set aside.
Slice the chicken breasts very thin. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a skillet. Cook the chicken until it is done about 4-5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Heat another tsp of oil in pan. Add in your onion, bell pepper, garlic, and thyme. Saute for about 4 minutes. Stir in the chile and adobo sauce. Cook for about 30 seconds.
Add the chicken to the mixture. Add salt. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat and add cheese. Stir until cheese melts.
Add the mixture to the sub rolls dividing evenly.
Enjoy!

The Letter "B"

2010-05-10T00:56:00.004-07:00

There is so many fun things to do with the letter "B". It was enjoyable for me and my Little Man.

Playing with bubbles-which is always a favorite
playing catch with balloons
crawling like a baby race
playing London Bridge
Sing Two Little Blackbirds. For this song we made puppets. He wanted to sing it over and over again. Even though the two puppets were identical he wanted to keep switching puppets so he could be both Peter and Paul-to funny.
Building with Blocks
Look at baby pictures

Some more fun learning about the letter "B":

Little man sorted beans by color and size.

He made his very own shape book.

He made this butterfly magnet from a coffee filter, clothes pin, and pom poms.

I made him a felt board. He played a game of matching the bug to the flower. I pre made the shapes with my cricut cutting machine and glued a piece of sandpaper to the back so it would stick onto the felt board.

Making brownies! Yum!!

Some books we enjoyed:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You?

Spot Goes to the Beach

Happy Birthday, Jesse Bear!

Wheels on the Bus

My, Oh My A Butterfly! All about Butterflies

Baby Beluga

The Going to Bed Book

The Red Devils

2010-05-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the Red Devil season wrapped up last weekend with a win. It was splendid season enjoyed by Silly guy and his family. He learned so much from his coach about sportsmanship, being a team player, and skills. I think the most important lesson he took away this season was to have fun. He has always taken sports very seriously. At his age(9) I think to much seriousness can take away from the fun. From the very first practice his coach set this example for the boys. Silly guy told me this was his favorite season and I think this have fun attitude was the reason. He completly took the pressure off of them. He taught him skills during practice and the game was a chance to show they studied their homework. Before the game would begin he'd tell them what skills he wanted to see them use and they did it.

So Tuesday evening, we had the team party where the boys received their trophies. But better than that they once again had a blast. Coach and the boys had planned ahead of time to bring Nerf guns. Many of us parents had no idea of this plan. Some of the boys forgot(including my own) but no worries because coach brought enough for everyone. They ran around for 2 1/2 hours playing Nerf guns. I couldn't get him to leave.

Making Paper

2010-05-03T03:19:00.001-07:00

In Bible, Silly guy has been learning about the geography and men of the Old Testament. This past week he was learning about Moses and how he crossed Israel's children through the Red Sea. Also learning that Papyrus is a reed that grows in Egypt and was used to make paper.
So, we thought it would be fun to make our own paper. We used the eco-friendly version making recycled paper. It is really a very simple process if you are only making one sheet.

Step One: Shred newspaper into tiny pieces

Step Two: Add warm water to the bucket covering the paper completely.

Let the paper soak over night in the warm water. Meanwhile if you don't have a screen available this is how we made one. I purchased some screen from the hardware store. I found it was cheaper to buy by the foot(for a project like this). We took an old picture frame, pulled the screen tightly around the frame and nailed in some staples. If you have a staple gun that would work better.

And you have a screen.

Step Three and Four pictures are mixed up:

Step Three: you strain the old water and add new warm water.

Step Four: Take a mixer and mix the paper/water mixture.

Step Five: Add mix into a blender and pulse until it forms a mush.

Step Six: I would suggest going outside. Pour a layer of the mush onto the screen, making sure you lay a towel underneath to absorb the liquid. Spread evenly. Silly guy found this to be gross.

Step Seven: Take a board(we used a cutting boad) and press firmly on top of the mush to press out all remaining liquid.

Step Eight: Flip the screen over on a dry cotton cloth for the paper to dry.

Fun!

Economics Study

2010-05-03T02:36:00.000-07:00

Sweet girl has been studying Economics in History. It has been great for her to understand this part of society.
She had to write a report on the life and accomplishments of an entrepreneur(Henry Ford). She also chose a communist or socialist country to write a report on.  It was in the assignment to compare their way of life to her own family's. She choose to write about China; government, finding a job, shopping, education being her main points of comparision.  I have to say this report was one of her best this year. I can tell her planning process is getting much better and the way she communicates her research.
The second part of her study has included learning about savings and investments, how prices regulate supply and demand , and how government regulates money. This unit has also had her looking ahead in her own personal financial program. She had to research colleges and find out the cost to attend four years. Which can I say WOW! One assignment had her setting financial goals(immediate, intermediate, and long range)for herself. She is a saver so this assignment was not easy for her. I was trying to help her but she kept saying I don't really need anything.  She also had to compare prices from different retailers for a product(I Pod).
She was on the computer tonight and I asked her what she was doing. She told me she was trying to decide on a charity to donate too. She went on to tell me she had added that into her financial plan. I guess she found a need for her money. Her plan is to donate 10% to an animal rescue(either OSPCA, ASPCA, Hawaii Dog Foundation, Joey's Feline Friends).
She has always been business minded which I think is why she found this unit so interesting. She absorbed every bit of information this unit had to offer her . Good stuff!

Pet for the Week

2010-05-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

Little Man is getting to that age where he wants to collect whatever he finds outdoors, put it in a cage, and keep it. Just when Sweet girl and Silly guy was getting out of this stage,lol.
He found this little guy trying to get off of our porch before the afternoon sun. He was struggling and Sweet girl was certain he wasn't even alive. She said she saw him curl into his shell but he was already getting toasty.
Little Man came into the house and got a critter cage, put grass and rocks inside of it. Next thing you know, I have a snail in my kitchen. It just sat there for a day or two. I was beginning to think Sweet girl was right and he was probably no longer with us. I kept telling Little man,"We have to let him go hunny. I don't think he is alive." He insisted of course that I was wrong. "Mommy, he is just asleep in his shell."
So, now I am thinking to myself how am I going to explain this to him. It was already beginning to smell.
The next day we came down the stairs and Little man ran over to check on his snail. He was at the top!! We were all shocked that he had moved. I gave him some fresh water. After breakfast we checked on him again. He was out of his shell soaking up the water in the dish. It was so much fun to watch Little Man's face.
He turned to me and said,"See Mom, I told you he was sleeping." Well, I had to agree.
We only kept him one more day because we weren't sure what to feed a snail and the fact he was a wild animal. Although stinky, he was fun to observe.

The Polar Regions Lapbook

2010-05-03T01:40:00.002-07:00

Not only have I enjoyed making these lapbooks for Silly guy we also love to complete them together. So I made another lapbook to go along with his study of the Polar Regions. He has enjoyed this unit so much. I think it is the mystery and the fact these two regions were the last places to be discovered and explored. It has facinated him. So, here is the Polar Region Lapbook(click here) over at HSLaunch to download. In the lapbook I have included different explorers, animal and plant life, vocabulary, people of the Arctic region, map pages, exploration of both regions, etc. When we finish the lapbook I will come back and post a picture. I hope you enjoy learning about this part of our world as much as we have:)