Mummies In the Morning

The other day we hosted another Magic Tree House book club. I think this is a lot of fun for the kids. It's a good book review for Audra and the others.

We did Mummies in the Morning since Halloween is next week.

We discussed the book- characters, plot, climax, etc. We played a game asking different questions from the book to make sure they understood the plot.

Then, we talked about Egypt and mummies. We watched a short video about pyramids (we are studying a lot about Egypt right now in school, anyway, and it is so cool to be learning so much about this awesome time period! So many cool things to learn about- the girls are loving it!). Then, the kids wrote their names using Hieroglyphs.

 And, the favorite part of the day: Wrapping each other up as mummies! The kids LOVED this part!

 Audra on the far left, and Claire second from the right:

Audra's Playing Basketball!

We finally signed Audra up for a team sport- basketball!

She has been so nervous about this. It's a no-score, just for fun league, but she was still super nervous. I told her coach that she was nervous, and he said his daughter was, too- but that his #1 goal was to have fun. In fact, he said the #1 priority for the first practice was to pick out a team name. That is my kind of coach for this age! I really just want this to be a fun experience for Audra (though I do have fond memories of my dad continually asking the ref if he needed to borrow his glasses).

They had their first practice last Thursday, and then Saturday was her first game.

I know I am her mom, but I was quite proud of her! She did great! She is more of a defensive player, but she has the defensive shuffle down incredibly well.

After the game she said, "I wish I could have shot the ball." But, she is very unselfish. Plus, she follows the rules. So even though all the girls double dribble, or forget to dribble for 10 feet at a time, Audra knows she can't double dribble, so when she stops the dribble she throws the ball. All the other girls just keep the ball, but not our little rule-keeper.

She ended up having a great time! She said she really likes basketball. Ben is going to go out and work with her a bit (even though I played varsity in high school, Ben is actually the far better player. Plus, he is pretty excited about teaching her how to play).

 She is so cute out there!

 The girls don't really know each other yet, and they also don't know how to high five. After a score, they clap their hands and say "YES!" but they don't give each other high 5's, which is super cute.

 Camille didn't like the noise, so she burrowed her head in Ben for about half the game. Then, she got used to the noise and became a handful. We aren't sure if we should bring her to future games, but neither of us want to miss the games, either.

Sewing!

The girls have been so excited to start sewing! Seriously, for months they have been asking to learn how to sew.

Finally, I signed Audra up for a sewing class at Jo-Ann's. It is hand sewing.

She came home super excited and now wants to sew ALL. THE. TIME.

She is "teaching" Claire how to sew. In fact, she said, "Mom, now you don't have to sign Claire up for 4H. I can teach her how to sew!" She also said, "I love teaching Claire how to sew!" She is convinced she knows it all.

 The orange cat on the left is the purse Audra made at her class. Then, she sewed together a snowman and a doll bed.

Below is what Claire made. We'll just call it modern art:

The girls inspired me to finally finish Camille's baby blanket. It has been complete except putting the back on since before Camille was born. But, now it is finally completely done- now that she is almost 2 1/2:

Anderson Farms

Today we loaded up the kiddos and made the hour long trek to Anderson Farms- a pumpkin patch north of us.

The girls have been so excited to go! They have been counting down the days. There was a great disappointment, however, because we originally intended to go last Friday. Unfortunately, the weather interfered with our plans. We let the girls choose whether they wanted to go in the rain, or wait a few extra days to go when the weather warmed up. As anybody with children knows, it is really hard for kids to postpone something they are greatly looking forward to. I was very proud of them for choosing to wait.

It paid off- the weather today was perfect. If anything, it was a little too hot.

Get ready for a bajillion pictures...

They had some go-karts which was a blast:

 Barrel rides:

 As you can tell by her expression, Camille really enjoyed the rides. It was super cute, too, because her little head didn't quite pop up above the barrel:

 This is how a picture with Camille looks:

 And without:

 We went in a corn maze. They had a "mystery" for the kids to figure out. There were different stations with pictures which showed a weapon, suspect, and place (like Clue). You crossed off what is in the picture until you narrow down who it was.

 Here's the duck races. Claire took this race VERY seriously.

 Then, we made our way to the pumpkin patch. We have actually never taken our kids to a pumpkin patch to pick out their own pumpkins. It was really cool.

 We told them they had to pick out a pumpkin that they could carry. It worked out well.

 Ben picked out what he thought was the perfect pumpkin for Camille. He put it down right in front of her and said, "Look, Camille- isn't this pumpkin perfect?" She said, "No!" So, he would move the pumpkin over a few feet and say, "Look, Camille- isn't this pumpkin perfect?"

I call this next picture, "The Negotiation:"

 The pumpkin she is holding is NOT the one Ben picked out for her.

This next picture I have dubbed, "The Result:"

 Camille won the round.

 Claire started out by pulling the wagon, but quickly realized it was much better to be pulled by the wagon!

It really was a great day. However, we learned a few things:

Next time I think we should leave a little later in the day. Pack a lunch, and eat it when we get to the farm around noon instead of getting there right when it opens at 10.

There were a lot of school kids there, but by 1 they had pretty much all left. By the time we left at 3, the farm was completely empty. It would have been nice to stay later. If we arrived later in the day, we could stay later.

We can then leave when it closes at 6, stop for dinner on the way home. We would still miss traffic.

Definitely a good day...even if we are EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!

Co-Ops

When I first started thinking about homeschooling, Ben simply said, "You need to be in some sort of co-op."

I agreed.

Luckily, I found a really great one. It's very low-key. We get together for park days and moms nights out, but we also do different classes. Basically, each mom or dad hosts a class. By offering to host a class, you can sign up your kids for any classes offered. It's adds for some great diversity, a chance for the kids to get to know other kids, and for the kiddos to be taught by somebody besides their mom. It's nice.

We have a lot of fun with co-ops!

 At this co-op the kids got to be different artists. Here they are being Christo and Jean Claude using sheets to cover things.

 At this co-op they became Matisse:

 And, we got to go hike Lair O' the Bear- one of our favorites:

We are finding lots of different ways to stay busy- and we are very much enjoying it! I hosted a Magic Tree House book club which was a blast, and we are also hosting a Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas party. It should be a blast!