November-homeschool

So, I had to do some preparation to do homeschool in November since we would be in Utah for pretty much the whole month. So, here are some of the activities we did.
For art I had Nan talk to the kids about sculpting.
We studied about some water dinosaurs and fossils, so we made some of our own. We tried to see which material would make the best fossil- sand, clay, or dirt.


Nan had a real fossil very similar to the ones we made.I also wanted to visit the dinosaur museum in Utah for science since we were studying dinosaurs. It just happened to be a plus that my siblings wanted to see the brand new Natural History Museum at the U of U as well.
I have been trying to set up occupation visits for the kids to see what different people do, so they can start thinking about that for themselves. My best friend Wendy's little brother Brad is a pilot. He was so nice to be willing to talk to us about being a pilot and then even take us up in his plane!!I went up in the plane first.Austin was the bravest of the kids. At first, he was the only one who wanted to go up.Rob had a great time with Brad.He took this view from above.

When Austin came back and said how much fun he had, Isabelle got up to courage to go too.I also wanted them to learn more about the Utah pioneers and some of our ancestors. We watched the movie "17 Miracles" and then went to This is the Place monument.

Halloween

So, we are leaving on a trip for Utah tomorrow, but I wanted to get out our pics of Halloween before we took all the pics of Kip and Gabby's wedding etc.

So.. Here is Austin and he preschool friend Ivy on their school party day.
For homeschool we did some volunteer work at the local homeless shelter. We did cookie decorating and some musical chairs. The kids picked out toys of theirs to give to the kids and we handed them out as prizes.Everyone was so gracious and happy. It was awesome.

We had a little get together with the Trevisanuts for Halloween. We celebrated Heather's birthday.We had yummy treats.Rob and I were "pumpkin pi".Here we are Halloween night. Neighborhood kids.Neighbors- the Crouches.Kim.Our pumpkinsTrunk or Treat

I asked Rob if he could fix our DVD player before we went on the trip for the kids. How many other husbands get this deep into their electronics? I thought it was cute.

Homeschool-Japan, Australia

For our homeschool unit on Japan we made "carp kites", like a festival they have in Japan. I was so proud of myself for being organized enough to do this. I normally HATE projects like these. But, it was really fun and the kids loved it!
I also made a Japanese meal. I made terriaki beef, sesame broccoli, rice, and clear soup. We didn't use spoons because they just drink their soup in Japan.

For our unit on Australia and the aborigines there, we made home made boomerangs out of paint sticks.Then, we made a "moth mix" since the aborigines eat all sorts of strange things like moths and lizards etc. (We did replace the moths with nuts though...)


For science we have been learning about coral, so we went to the IMAX movie at Omsi about coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef that they talked about is right by Australia- so that was really cool to have learned about Australia at the same time too.

football, 1/2 marathon, lost tooth, talent show

So, a lot has happened since I posted last. Rob got tickets for us to see the BYU vs. OSU football game in Corvallis. We had to go since Rob was an alum of both schools. The weather was nice and BYU won! It was all good.
We stayed with our friends the Clements that night. I can't believe we didn't get a picture of them. They made us a wonderful dinner and were so hospitable, thanks guys! We had a great time. :)
We went to church in our old Philomath ward. We love the people there.

We got to visit with our friends the McFarlanes after church. When we grow up we want to be like these guys.This is the welcome my kids got there. They are so good with kids.
Jeremy blew bubbles and picked apples with the boys.This is my fun friend Angie that I used to go running with. She has one of the most tender, compassionate, and forgiving hearts of anyone I know.
Lately Austin has really gotten into being "fancy". He loves to wear button up shirts, ties, vests, dressy pants, belt buckles, corduroy jackets, etc. He complains that people aren't fancy like when in older times people used to wear gold and jewels. Anyways, I took him to a Knuckleheads sale the other day and he picked out this whole "fancy" outfit. I think he is a cutie.
Our kids have been attending a craft workshop for kids put on by this awesome woman in our ward.
I ran a half marathon for the first time in my life. I honestly never thought I would, or could do anything like this, so it is a big deal for me. I was running alone, and nervous about it. I started talking to a woman and her daughter right at the beginning. After the first lap around the track, her daughter wasn't feeling good and cut out, and she asked if we could run together. It was such a blessing to me. She was a seasoned runner and had run in like 20 marathons. I asked her advice, we talked about our beliefs in God, our families, it was amazing. She really helped me to do much better than I ever could have on my own and made it a joy.

The first ten miles were actually pretty fun. The 11th mile I was starting to get tired, and I thought I was almost done because we were coming back onto the raceway from the cross country trail. When I found out I had to run 2 more miles I was not happy. It was really difficult for me to finish, but Vicki stayed by me the whole time and I was determined to run the whole time. But we did it! Yay!During my run, they had a free kid's run that our kids participated in. I really think Isabelle gave it her all, because she had a hard time walking today, poor girl!
They gave all the kids little medals afterwards too.Later that night was our ward talent show. They tried to make it like American Idol. Rob was the MC, or Ryan Seacrest. We had Simon, Paula, and Randy Jackson along too. They all did a good job and were super funny!
Isabelle lost her first tooth there. She has been feeling bad that every kid her age, and younger have been losing teeth, so she was super excited to finally have a loose tooth. Unfortunately, she actually lost it, lost it at the talent show! We couldn't find it anywhere, luckily the tooth fairy still came. Phew!
Here are a couple other fun Knuckleheads finds ...Talia update- this girl is wild and crazy. The older kids love her, but are afraid of her too! She likes to hit them with sticks and chase them around the house. She get really jealous if another kids is on my lap, or someone else (like Rob) is holding my hand. I love her to bits and she makes me laugh, but she can be a handful too.