Visiting

After a very long week here last week, I packed up the kiddos and headed to visit my parents. We had planned the trip a couple of weeks ago, and by Friday everyone seemed sufficiently well to make the trip. My sister's birthday was last Monday and my mom's is tomorrow, so it was a nice chance time to make the trip, you know before everyone comes to visit this weekend for the baby boy's birthday bash! (How did that happen, by the way?!)

I hadn't made a list or packed at all in advance, but I seem to have remembered everything we needed, except my camera, so no pictures. But there was cake, presents, and family. I let the girls decide what to give Holly for her birthday. Kate decided on nail polish and Gabby thought we should by her a book. I did a little steering away from the hot pink they originally chose and gave them a few more muted choices for the polish and they came up with a steel gray color. Then we bought Hol a copy of The Chronicles of Narnia. Evidently she forgot our childhood rule that you can't buy anything for yourself near your birthday or Christmas, so she'll have to return the book, but we tried! I will also grant her that means she couldn't buy herself anything for the whole 4th quarter of the year, so I'll give her a pass.

The girls decided before we left yesterday that we couldn't come home...because of my parents' dog. Kate told us that, "Toby would be sad," and Gabby told us that, "Toby will bark for me." We had a better guess, that the eleven year old Yorkie will sleep now that his house is quiet!

Voting

Today, despite the puke fest that has been going on at our house, I went out to do my civic duty fill my responsibility exercise my right to vote.

As I was laying on the couch later I was thinking about why I felt so compelled to do that, even though I had a perfectly reasonable excuse not to go. I think the reason is a jumbled mess many fold.

First, I was given this right, at a great price to many people. No one was currently puking (and no one has since, though I feel really rotten), so how could I let this opportunity pass by because I was too tired?

Next, I was able to give my kids, especially Kate, an important civics lesson. It was important enough to me to take the kids and go vote, even though we hadn't been feeling well.

Then I started thinking about how voting reminded me of prayer. We all can go to God with our requests corporately, but we have the private responsibility for ourselves, as with our individual votes. We are also greatly privileged to have both of these gifts, which we should not take lightly. We need to be in prayer for those who will be sworn in to office soon, and for those who have their ears.

I hope that you have had the opportunity to exercise both of your privileges today. And, if you were behind me in line--the kids didn't touch anything and I washed my hands.

Home School Books

It's been like Christmas around here this past week. My mom graciously offered to purchase us some homeschool supplies, so I had a little shopping spree. I had previously ordered two other things, which also arrived during this time too, so we have had a package (or two!) on our porch every day, Tuesday through Friday, as Amazon delivers things as they are available, instead of waiting for the whole order to be complete.

So here's what we got:

English: English for the Thoughtful Child & My First Dictionary

Math: The Brighter Child Book of Math & Addition Math Gear

Science: The Usborne Book of Science Activities (Vol 1) & The Usborne Illustrated Encyclopedia (The Natural World)

Art: The Usborne Art Treasury & Drawing with Children

Health: First Human Body Encyclopedia

Other: Evan Moor: Thinking Skills

Some of these are to be part of our curriculm for next year, but we're excited to have them now, so we can use them now too! We already have our social studies curriculm, so that's why it's not listed here.

We haven't made our way into each of these books yet, but we have started the very first lesson in the the English text. It is, slow going with Kate's reading level, but she definitely understands the material--we're studying what makes a sentence. Rather than the one day that it probably takes for an older child to use the lesson, we're taking a week, which is just fine with us!

The science books are primarily for our study of biology for next year, but we're doing a generic overview of science this year, so we'll definitely be enjoying them before next fall! They will be great for answering some of those questions that pop up from time to time, like today when she kept telling me birds were mammals because they had fur--enter the Usborne Encyclopedia.

The books I am even more excited about are the art books and the math book. I've been making math worksheets, so I am thrilled to be able to pull some pre-made work out to give her. The art books are so very neat. The Usborne book shows a famous work of art, along with a history, and then it gives directions on how to make a similar piece! I'm looking forward to it.

Kate loves books and is very excited about the collection, but really is drawn to the math gear. Yay! I'm hoping it makes memorizing her math facts more fun. She's gotten quite good with adding with her number line, so soon we'll get to move on to subtraction and carrying/regrouping, whatever the fashionable term is today, all of which will be easier as she memorizes those facts.

And can I just say--what an awesome excuse home schooling is to collect such wonderful books!

**The links are just informational, I'm not compensated for them.**

Trick or Treat

If you're hopping over from You: Create, the butterfly wings are about half way down, but feel free to read the rest too!

We've had lots of Halloween fun around here!

Our local library had a snack time called "Gross Grub" on Friday.


The menu, which included such delicacies as monster toes and used bandaids


Organ Donor Cupcakes
Did you know they were doing brain transplants now?! Me either.


Yum! I mean Yuck.


Our little Bugs:

Nate the Bumble Bee


Gabby the Lady Bug


And Kate the Butterfly, since I never got a chance to post about her costume, due to being sick, her wings are made of sandwiched painted cardboard, with cut outs to expose the colors.


I placed tissue paper between two sheets of contact paper. The two wings are connected by black duct tape (sticky sides together) and then ribbon lace through to tie them on.

Saturday we attended a "Trail of Treats" at a local park.


Then we went to "Trunk or Treat" at the church.


Family photo


Kate playing the cupcake walk.


The girls holding hands.

We're on sweets overload, especial since Justin can't eat much this year. The girls had fun, though Gabby was painfully shy. Both Kate and Nate participated in the costume contest at the church. Kate got the "Most Creative Costume" award. She tells us it is "because God created butterflies, so I got the created award." Nate got the "Coolest Bumblebee" award--yes every participant got an award.

The best part of the weekend was on the way home from Trunk or Treat the girls were trying to laugh like the gal dressed like a witch. Then we hear Nate start in with a little cackle too.

Happy Birthday Sis!

Happy Birthday to my little sister!

You always were the cute one.

Hey, be glad I didn't pick the one of me changing your diaper.

Love you!

Boo!

We had great pumpkin carving weather here last weekend, so we got our jack-o-lanterns ready then.

Each kiddo got a 'them' sized pumpkin. They posed nicely for about 2 seconds.


Then this happened!


Nate was quite proud of himself walking around with his pumpkin.


Ew!


Look out Gabby. It might bite!

Say What?!

Our music minister chose a song for the children to sing, that we may or may not fully agree with, but contains the words, "I'm not decended from monkeys." Kate, however is singing the completely noncontroversial lyrics, "I'm not defended by monkeys!"

We have had a random Happy Meal toy from when Gabby was a newborn that is a hippo that says some phrases that I assume come from a movie. It took Justin and I a long time to decipher them all, like "Alrighty boys, let's go!" Kate started shouting, "All lady-boys, let's go!"