Remember the top picture? I gave it as a heads up in my weekly wrap up post. You'll find out what it's all about at the end of the post!

Here are some more pictures from the Kirby Science Center. I took even more than this, terrible I know! We were lucky to basically have the place to ourselves. We went on a school day (Mic had no school that day) and saw only a few other families. There were some school classes there periodically, but we never saw much of them. Because we were there by ourselves, you tend to get some extra special treatment. This kid was nice enough to help show the boys around. He came in handy when it came to the station that had all the electrical equipment on it. I'm not very knowledgeable there, but he made up for what I lacked!


He also took out the hognosed snake for the boys to pet and hold. Oliver loved this!
We also went to there cinedome and watched Dinosaurs Alive! We missed the last ten minutes because the boys got antsy. We took tickets for the 12noon show. What was I thinking!? They were famished by the time we left at 12:40. Heck, even I was whining about how hungry I was lol!


They did find the seating kind of spooky. It looks like a straight drop, here Mic is pretending that he is falling. Which is totally in line with his character. He's all about anything that will rake in the shock value.
There were wheelchair racers.
climbing walls, race tracks, stationary bikes, dance games and a few other activities in the motion area. I definelty worked up a sweat myself!!
And this was the highlight of the day for the boys. They asked nicely for $2 to try out the tornado simulator. I can't remember how high the wind got in there, I'm thinking 70 mph? But I could be wrong. They really really enjoyed it. Except for Oliver that is lol! Sorry it is sideways!





But there you have our school day for Friday The 13th! Perfect day for a trip hahaha!

Kirby Science Center: Take One!

The closest hands on science center is a little over an hour away. It pains me to admit that this is the first time we have went to this one. What a shame, because the kids had a blast. We bought a year long membership and will have to make it back a few more times this year. Which is what I'm hoping for. The boys have been begging ever since we got home to go back again. I feel bad for not bringing them sooner, but unfortunately I take the boys on these trips by myself 95% of the time and I'm only one person that can take on so much. Now that they are getting older, it's becoming much easier :)

The pictures are pretty self-explanatory. Most of them anyways :)



Jack loved filling the hot air balloon and watching it rise to the second floor!


And Oliver loved putting the foam shapes on the air tube to see which ones would stay in the air.

Mic lighting up light bulbs with his man muscles. He had a very hard time with the 50 watt bulb, heck I even found it to be a lot of work!Making space stations (can you tell the air and space floor was a hit!?).
Landing a space shuttle. None of my children should ever attempt this in real life. The results would be horrific.



Stan The T Rex

Dino Dig :)


Cool tornado thing
Just had to throw this one in there, thought it was cute haha!


I'll post more tomorrow. I have lots more pics but right now there are 3 loads of laundry calling my name!

Weekly Wrap Up : Getting Late :)

Okay, it's getting late in the week and another is about to begin :) I really can not believe we are so close to Thanksgiving. I can't wait :) I ordered, from the library, a ton of books on Pilgrims and their lives, the Mayflower, Wampanoag Indians, and other general Thanksgiving History and that will be our focus this week and next. I was able to print out some great word finds, story builders, coloring pictures, crafts, and other fun activities to supplements all the great books we found so it should all be good and fun :)

So, to make this short and sweet here are some highlights of the week :)
Thanksgiving word finds, coloring, and mazes.



Some lite reading, with our feet!

Mastered that bike riding. Short legs can make it quite difficult! He's pretty proud now :)


Coraline in 3D lol :)

Pilgrim door hangers colored, cut, pasted, and hung!

Veteran's Day program at Mic's school :)

Trip to the science museum (more to come on this!!)

Birthday party with the cousins. They have been over a lot this week.

So that is the short of it. Even though it was a long week with things planned every day. Jack and Mic also did an after school program at the school put on through 4-H. Mic had his conferences and got his first set of grades for the school year. He's doing pretty good, but struggles in history. Not from his lack of knowledge, more so on his lack of decent test taking. Which is sad to watch, the kids loves history and knows more about it than me. But, what do you do?

Weekly Wrap Up, Just Keep Plugging Away :)

This week wasn't too busy, but it was productive. Jack continues to plow his way through chapter books and is on the 6th MTH books. He's also read a few other chapter books we have. Right now, since we have misplaced the 6th MTH book (he's on chapter 7 too), he is reading a book on silly laws for each state. He laws and giggles each time he reads it. Which is my favorite part of watching him become a better reader.............is the pleasure it brings him. I am getting slighlty frustrated with the misplacment of books. It's becoming a chronic problem. He reads where ever it is quiet and doesn't always remember to bring it back to our schoolroom. So he's finish 1/3 of the book at a sitting, then misplace it for 3 days, then finish another 1/3, then misplace for another 2 days, then find it and finish it. This particular book, has been MIA for 3 days now.

We also finished up a few read aloud books that we really needed to get done. As much as I always aim to read from these every night, sometimes we end up reading other things instead. Which is fine. We finished up Bunnicula, Kermit The Hermit, and The Mummy Research Guide.

We are waiting on some books to arrive, such as The Twits, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Miraculous Journy of Edward Tulane, The Mouse and The Motorcycle, and I think I'll put in an order to get some $1 books off Scholastic. I rent all of our other books from the library that we use for school.......but for some reason I do like to own the chapter books we use for read a louds. Mostly because I want the kids to be able to go back and reread any of them at any time they like. Mic has went back and reread certain books many times. I love that. Anyways, on with our week :)





We finally got back into our Story Of The World again and the boys really enjoyed learning all about mummies and pyramids. Clay is coloring a picture of the Sphinx above while I read aloud to them. This works SO well for us.
Oliver and Jack enjoyed using up the rest of the Halloween face paints, hahahaha. Jack still has green spots left on his face.


He also started his Spelling Workout book a few weeks ago. He had his first official spelling test last week and aced it. He really likes playing on www.spellingcity.com for extra fun practice.
Since it was SO beautiful this week, we also spent a lot of extra time outdoors on the 4-wheeler, with the chickens, or at the park. Also Chad is in the field combining corn. Which means LOTS of tractor rides lately. Oliver last 3 hours out there the other day. Mighty impressive for a 2 year old!


Then of course, there was more of this. Mic took apart a very old satelitte reciever. He even dusted the thing out haha.


While Jack took great pride in taking apart a broken CD player. He was surprised to see a small motor inside of it :)

Friday we got about 2 weeks of socialization in and no school work done haha. During the day I filled in a for a friend while she went to a doctors appointment. She does daycare and there were 11 kids there total while we were there. Crazy.

After that, my brother dropped off 2 of his 3 kids for the night. They stayed til about 10:30pm until he got off work. They had a blast playing and were so very well behaved.

Alicia and Daryl also stopped by that same afternoon and dropped off 2 huge bags of apples and the kids all did their things together. Mic, Anna, and Victoria checked on the chickens and ran around outside. Jack and Jack camped out playing computer games, and everyone else just went from here and there and had a great time :)

So, it was another great week. I really can't complain. The weather is supposed to continue being great for the next week. I really hope so because it's GREAT to have your windows open and your furnace off in November.

So, for more weekly wrap ups, head on over to Kris's site!!

Chicken Pot Pie and Pumpkin Casserole

We made this for dinner the other night and it was so good. So good. The boys gobbled up everything on their plate and have been begging for me to make the Pumpkin Casserole again. The Chicken Pot Pie, is just a generic recipe for this. Lots of veggies, leftover chicken, a gravy made from chicken broth and milk, seasonings and then a homemade pie crust made with butter on top. Divine. It looked so pretty when it was done too. Almost like a work of art. Sometimes food is hard to cut into when it looks so nice.



The pumpkin casserole however, was something I wasn't quite sure the kids would like. It's a dish that could easily be a side dish, a dessert, a breakfast or even a snack. Pumpkin is a great source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium, Fiber, Manganese and the list goes on. They are a member of the squash family and are a great addition to your diet.


It reminded me of a mix of pumpkin pie and custard. The original recipe, was full of white sugar and condensed milk, so I changed a few things and came up with something that tasted great :)

2 Cups Pureed Pumpkin
1/4 cup Melted Butter
1/4 - 1/2 cup flour
1/4 - 1/2 cup real maple syrup
4 eggs
1 cup milk
dash of salt
Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Cloves to taste

Mix all these ingredients together well and bake in an oven at 375 until set, about 45 minutes. If you want it sweeter, use the higher amounts for the flour and maple syrup. We made it sweeter the first time and then less sweet the second. They loved it either way. Enjoy!

Halloween Pictures

I'm pretty behind here, I realize this. Just be preoccupied with other things. Last Thursday we had some friends over, well a lot of friends over! Within a few hour time span, 15 kids came in and out of my home. It was a lot of fun.

Alicia and her children came over for a while and enjoyed some oh so good (but not so good for you) snacks.

I did get a picture of all of them, not the best, but it's not always easy getting a picture of 8 kids at one time! After Alica and her kids left, some other friends came and we talked, played some puzzles, made mini pizza's and enjoyed the evening. It got pretty loud and I have some great shots of the kids, but I'm not sure their moms would like me posting pics of their kids. I understand :)

After our tummies were filled with Ghoul Juice and Mini Pizzas, we went to the local school for their Halloween Party. The kids have a blast with this every year.


They get tickets to play games and receive little prizes. It's fun for all. They also receive a new book, which is always great.


Mic was old enough to help out and *work* at the event this year. He did sneak away when the game he was overseeing wasn't busy to have a little fun. Your never too old to pound nails into pumpkins :)


Then for Halloween on Saturday we spend the evening with my Mother. We ate MORE pizza and had a blast running around with uncles and playing with cousins.



Clay wore a gnome costume. Pretty darn cute. Oliver was the same and Mic painted his face green and spiked his hair with purple hair gel. Not quite sure what exactly him and Zach (Zach is one of Mic's friend from school who came along for the night ) were......but they enjoyed it.


It was a great Halloween and I am glad it's all over! I'm sure the kids would like to do it again, but I enjoy no more begging for candy haha :)

Scratches

We did it again. While driving into town last Wednesday I saw this little thing in the middle of the road. It was raining and about 36 degrees out. I pulled over and picked up this...........................
She is so sweet. She was frozen, beat up, and extremely tired and hungry. We got her home and cleaned her up and feed her. Chad is very allergic to cats, so we can't have them in the house. I have been bringing her in each day to clean her eyes because she has a pretty bad gunk going on. I'm really not sure exactly why or how to treat it. Just trying to keep them clean..

As you can see, Oliver adores this kitten and loves to cuddle her while she's in the house for those brief 10 minutes. I'm not sure who is cuter, Oliver or the kitten. Well, scratch that. Oliver is definetely a cutie haha!

Mic has named her Scratches. Funny thing is, she has never scratched, hissed, or bite at anyone. Extremely tame little kitten. She also has a fond loving for car engines, which could prove to be deadly. I lost her in the garage the first day and popped the hood only to find her curled up in a ball warm as fresh bread from the oven. That leads me to believe that is why I found her in the middle of the road, all beat up. I bet she crawled into a car engine, then fell out going down the road. At least that is my best guess.

Anyways, meet Scratches. The third cat now added to our farm. She fits in perfectly with Mittens and JoJo, well except color wise haha!