First day of . . . .

our Christmas Unit Study. We'll be spending the next three weeks looking into various things that have become tradition in our culture. Everything will be tied back to scripture as it's our desire that our boys learn to appreciate December for more than just Christmas Break or the things that they'll get. It's a time to reflect on the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel ~ God with us. It's a time to learn to keep God with us at all times.

Here's the boys (& Gremlin) with the tree:

A Blustery Black Friday

The weather today sure is wild. It's been rather windy all day, which brought in a quick hail storm. It left, just as quickly as it came and now we have blue skies.

With these winds we have been having today, a squirrel's nest came down from our Oak Tree out front. The boys and I were rather curious and they wanted a few pictures taken of it as well. Have to admit, I did too. Here's what it looks like:

Up close of what might have been the "front door".

The front of the whole nest.

The back of the nest.

The boys with the nest.

This is what happens . . .

when you take the week "off" from school ~ you forget to change the sidebar with the current book. We're reading "Thanksgiving on Thursday" by Mary Pope Osborne. We've already read, close to all the Magic Tree House books, however this seemed appropriate for the week. The boys enjoy it to, so we're keeping their brains a bit active during our Thanksgiving holiday. The boys did some math at Breakaway yesterday (need to keep doing math so that they don't forget - it doesn't take much to help them remember though, just a few problems). Otherwise the days are filled with goofing off and a some cleaning. No birds here, but need to get ready for Christmas.

A weeks worth of pictures

Actually, about eight days worth. This covers things from last Sunday, which I never got around to posting, through this weekend. Enjoy the photo's.

Christmas Child Box
Thing Two's donation

Christmas Child Box
Thing One's Donation

Our church had a goal of 200 boxes.
We collected over 330. Way to go
Burke Community Church.

Going away party for a friend. She's moving to
Hawaii to be with her husband. Our lose,
his gain.

Don't you hate it when someone
snaps a photo and you aren't ready.

The guys chatting. Probably about
basses, guitars, and the latest music
software. They did end up in Al's office
playing something or looking at something

Wish you could see how blue Thing One's
teeth were. They were almost day glow blue.

Starting of my long awaited Craft Room. That is Kevin's
marriage proposal from 13 1/2 years ago. The room may still take a
bit of tweaking, but it's mostly there.

The rest of the craft area. Things have been hung!!

Yes, I'm posting the laundry area. I was pleased
with how it looks with the pots on a shelf.

Not a school post

nor a Science Friday post (more directed at the title of my blog than anything else). I was struck, earlier, at the beauty of the sun rise. It seemed so bright this morning, probably for two reasons. First, it had been raining yesterday, so it was dark, drab, gray, blah, blah, blah!! Secondly, being toward the end of November, most of the leaves in our neighbor have dropped, giving a better view of the sun through our living room window. Through the glory of the the light, short comings are often seen however. The shortcomings here ~ dust everywhere. On each entertainment component, the tv screen, the screens to our windows (screens are inside as the windows crank outward), on EVERY surface of EVERY nic nac that I have. It was still a great sun rise and I know I can be kept busy with what has been set before me. Makes me think of Proverbs 31 and feel blessed that I have things to do for our family. Here's the portion I was dwelling on and desiring to be like:

^{10 [c]} A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

¹² She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

¹³ She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

²² She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹ "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

³¹ Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

So, with that in mind, I'll sign off to check on school progress, grab a dust cloth, and get to work.

Have a great Friday readers!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Friday Science

To wrap up "All Those Secrets of the World" we discussed how in the 1400's people thought the world was flat and that by sailing toward the horizon they would eventually fall off the edge of the world. Christopher Columbus figured out that the earth was a sphere by observing a butterfly and orange.

On a flat world, a ship (or puppet) would always be seen,
it would just get bigger the closer it got.

With a spherical world, you wouldn’t see the ship as it begin to sail.

You would then begin to see the top most part of the ship
or puppet ears in our demonstration.

Finally you would see the whole ship or puppet.

2 by 2 . . . .

. . . I'm not speaking of all the rain we've been getting and wondering if an Ark is being built. Today, with Thing Two, we quickly covered counting by two's. In the manual, for All Those Secrets of the World, it is suggested using marbles for counting. We have plenty - check. Quick, grab the camera, because this week seems to be more of a conversational week with some photo's for the memory. Here's what we discussed:

A group of ten marbles
and another fuzzy photo :(

The digit 10 made out of marbles.

Five groups of two. They were lined up in groups of two to count off.

Thing two rattled off the even numbers, then had to show what the odd
ones were as well.

Art and Shadowing

Today, for art in "All the Secrets of the World" we discussed shadowing, how a shadow is cast from it's light source. If the light source is above you (think bright, sunny day, at noon) you won't have much of a shadow; when the light source is in front of you, your shadow is behind you; when the light source is behind you, your shadow is in front of you. Here's our photo demonstration:

Here's the light source in front of Thing Two and his shadow
behind him.

Here's the light source behind Thing Two.
Yup, you guessed it, his shadow is in front of him.

Don't recall which photo it was during, but he got a bit confused, because there was enough light coming in that he told me the wrong direction of the shadow. I had to rephrase the question to something like "Which way is your shadow going as a result of the flashlight?" He got it then the correct answer.

Sesame Street

Today's Google image!!

Christmas To Do List

Only 47 days until Christmas morning. Actually less, as I can easily see our boys waking us up at the crack of dawn. There still seems to be a lot to do in preparation. Here's my list:

• make Advent Calendar
• finish coming up with a plan for school in December
• make boy's blankets
• make homemade coupon books (possibly one for each month; things like trip for ice cream, stay up late, extra time TV, etc.)
• make tye die hoodie's
• printed name banner

Yes, there will be "store bought" things for them as well. Fortunately, we already have a few things and know what else we'll be buying. Think one of the coolest things we've seen, and plan to buy, is the Crayola Crayon Maker. It seems like a great gadget for our kids as we have a lot of partial crayons. We also bought these Wii Lightsabers as well (mind you, we didn't buy them at Toys R Us, so we paid a lot less!!!!!!!)

Now that I've typed things out, it seems like we're pretty much finished for the boys. At least with ideas. The follow through, shouldn't be to difficult either.

Happy Shopping Readers!!

Sesame Street & Google

Have you checked out Google this week? They have been changing their logo, which they're known to do, to various Sesame Street characters this week in celebration of 40 years. There has been Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, and I'm probably missing one. Today's is Oscar!!

Double Posting Friday

Had hopes of totally organizing the basement today, but lost a lot of steam when it was time to pull dinner together (it's Pizza Night; we needed dough and sauce this week). Thus far I have managed to:

• get the big furniture into it's place
• hang one of two pieces peg board
• vacuum most of the room
• mop most of the floor, but it really needs another pass over
• paint the drywall over the duct work and I beam
• wipe down a couple shelves and put things back
• sew a make shift curtain for the laundry shoot
• rearrange a couple of shelves to put painting supplies on
• load up the work bench shelves

Our old dinning table is my new sewing/craft table. I've
already used it to make the laundry shoot curtain.

Cleaned up washer and dryer. The wall behind the
utility sink is new. There wasn't anything behind it a
week ago.

New spot for workbench. It's by the door
near the washer and dryer.

Curtain around laundry shoot and laundry basket
at the bottom. It's there to hide the dirty laundry
until I'm ready to wash it.

Yes, there are still many piles left to organize. It's a busy weekend here
with meetings, life group, lesson planning, church, and all those activities
that keep a family of four busy. Hope to get most of it finished by the
end of the weekend.

Finally Friday!!!

Yes, finally Friday. We've wrapped up our school week this morning with science and a lesson on friction for both. They enjoyed experimenting with ice, sand paper, hardwood, cloth, and pledge.

Seeing how easy it is to "skate" across the hardwood
on rags. It was fairly easy, even easier after I sprayed
Pledge on the floor. Yes, I really did. I've also cleaned
it up well after with vinegar. It's not to slippery now.

Trying to skate barefoot. Definitely the more difficult option.

The boys first rubbed ice against ice. This slipped fairly
easily. Second, they tried rubbing ice on a piece of sand paper
that was on the ground. A little more difficult. Third, they tried
to sand the sand paper, while pressing down. This was the hardest
to do. This was to show how friction works with two rough
surfaces rubbing against each other versus being lubricated.

Monday Musing

It's still early today (5:41 AM by our Set Top Box) or "6:41 AM before we changed our clocks" according to Thing One. It is still VERY dark out side, but there is enough light outside to "see" the shine on our vehicles to know that it rained over night. There very well may still be a light mist coming down. Another week begins in the cold and dark.

We'll begin our school week with the second week of "Hanna's Cold Winter" and a week with "Mr. Gumpy's Motorcar". I'm looking forward to this week, because the outside activities have slowed down a bit. On the same note, but not so fortunately, we are battling what may be common colds or could be the flu. Because I just don't know yet, we're trying to take it easy, lay low, and get healthy. Our school days may be a little less organized as a result, but we'll get everything done that needs to be.

On the home remodeling front, progress is being made in the basement. The whole utility room has a dropped ceiling now, the HVAC trunk and steel I beam have been drywalled, and the second window well has been drywalled. Our contractor will be back today to do the final sanding and priming. I'll hopefully be able to paint those areas later today. My end of the job isn't finished though. Another trip to Home Depot for a piece of drywall, more spackle, an outlet cover, HVAC register cover, and return a couple of things.

Window well drywalled

Framing for wall behind sink