Happy Halloween!

Excuse me....

Today while sitting on the couch I sneezed and said excuse me. Lucas was sitting beside me and he said, "You fart, momma?". "No, Lucas, momma sneezed", I said while laughing. I guess I should be happy that at 2.5 years old my boy knows to say excuse me when you pass gas....LOL!

Homeschooling--Lesson #4

Lesson number 4 was A--apple.

We made some crafts:




We read the story in this book called "A New House" and Logan drew a picture of the worms new house.


This is the worms bedroom (he is sleeping on his bed):



We read lots of books (here are some of them):





We did workbook pages (I'll post the previous weeks below because I finally took pictures of it all):





And we baked apple cream cookies (we aren't big apple pie fans...especially not the boys). They were super yummy!!


Apple Cream Pennies

Cookies:
2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar (I used light)
½ cup granulated sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cups granulated sugar
¼ cups apple butter

• Preheat oven to 300°.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda, and salt. Mix well with a wire whisk. Set aside.
• Blend sugars in a large bowl using an electric mixer set at medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
• Add the flour mixture and blend at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
• Shape dough into marble-sized balls. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheets, 1 inch apart. Bake 10-11 minutes. Do not brown. Transfer cookies to a cool, flat surface with a spatula.
• Prepare the filling:
• Blend cream cheese and sugar in medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy. Add apple butter and beat until filling is smooth and thoroughly combined.
• With a small knife spread 1 teaspoon of apple cream on the bottom half of a cooled cookie and top with another cookie to create a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling.

Yields about 6 dozen cookies.


Here are the workbook pages from the previous lessons.

Lesson 1--S:


Lesson 2--M:
In the above picture for the letter "s", he drew a spoon and a snake, in case you can't tell!



Lesson 3--L:

Homeschooling--Lesson #3

Lesson number 3 is L--leaf.

We went on a nature walk and gathered lots of leaves and pine cones and we pruned the rose bush and brought some of the buds in and put them in a vase.



We also did a few crafts:



I accidentally threw my list of books that we read for the week away, so I am going off of memory here (and little help from Google!). Here are a few of them (we read about 20-30 a week!):

• The Secret Life of Trees by Chiara Chevalier
• The Ever-Living Tree: The Life and Times of a Coast Redwood by Linda Vieira
• The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale by Angela Elwell Hunt
• Leaves! Leaves! Leaves by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
• Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
• Fall Leaves by Don L. Curry
• Picture Guide to Tree Leaves by Raymond Wiggers
• Fall leaves fall! by Zoe Hall

Party Pictures!

Great Party Planner....

We had a fun little party for Logan. It was just us plus one friend and her little girl. Logan was super excited to have company....that doesn't happen very often around here. I hadn't really planned on it, but in talking to my friend on Thursday (Oct. 9), we decided perhaps she could join us for a little party. Well, she had to work on Saturday and was leaving town after work, so Friday was it!

As usual, I waited until the last minute to take care of things like getting a cake and present. Actually, I bought an acoustic guitar for Logan a while back, but we decided to exchange it for an electric guitar just the night before the party. I figured I would pick up the cake and guitar once hubby was home from work. Well, he called to say that he was stuck in traffic. So, I quickly gathered the kids and we were off. I say quickly....it wasn't that quickly because by the time I made it to the mall, the bus that hubby was on was there. So, he joined us in picking up a few party supplies, the cake, and exchanging the guitar...which was nice in keeping Logan from seeing the gift.

We rushed home and arrived just 5 minutes before our guests. The kids played for a while and then we did pizza, ice cream cake, and gifts. It was great fun! When Logan opened the gift from us, he was very excited! "Wow!! My wish finally came true!". Logan has been asking for a guitar for about 2 years, so I knew he would love it!

After our guests left, Logan informed me that he is a "great party planner". I laughed and said, "Oh yeah?". "Yes. You didn't even have to do anything." Yes, Logan, momma didn't even have to do anything. I'm so glad you are such a great party planner. Folks, get your name on the list now. His calendar is filling up fast!

(I'll post more pictures as soon as I can.)

Birthday boy!!

At about this time (12:30 AM) 6 years ago, I was leaving for the hospital. I was having contractions, but nothing too bad. I knew from an appointment earlier in the day that I was 4 cm dilated. The nurses weren't sure I was really in labor, but soon enough my water broke and that was it. From the time I felt my first contraction until the time Logan was born was around 13 hours. Not a short labor, really, but I was not in pain until about 30 minutes before I was ready to push. Logan was born just after 12:30 PM on October 9, 2002. Where has the time gone?

Homeschooling--Lesson #2

Lesson #2 was M-moon. We had a great time again learning lots about the moon!
We did some crafts:




Logan drew the phases of the moon, but I don't have pictures of that.

And we launched rockets:





Launching the rockets was an adventure. We went to a park with a large field and thought it would be okay. We got everything all set up and Logan did our countdown. He got excited and pressed the button before he said blastoff and the rocket was gone before we could even see it. We all turned around to watch it and we briefly saw a smoke trail and that was it. We never saw the parachute come out to help us spot it, so it was lost. Surprisingly, Logan held it together. I was afraid he would be very upset about it being lost. We did drive around looking for it, but to no avail! My friend, Christi, sent me a link on how to make a rocket out of a film canister and Alka Seltzer, so we did that, too!





We found a Popular Mechanics DVD about rockets and Logan loved it!

I forgot to write down our favorite moon books before returning them to the library, but here are some I remember:

• If You Decide To Go To The Moon by Faith Mcnulty
• Papa, Please Get The Moon For Me by Eric Carle (also watched the video)
• Grandpa Takes Me to the Moon by Timothy R. Gaffney
• Moonstruck: The True Story of the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon by Gennifer Choldenko
• Moongame by Frank Asch

We also made a moon cake that I found a recipe for on the MFW message board (I'll post the recipe below). Logan loved making it!





Moon Cake

Mix and bake in a 9 inch round cake pan.

Moon Sand:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 T. cocoa

Form 3 craters in the moon sand, one large crater in the center and one medium crater and one small crater anywhere on the moon sand.

Add 1 tsp. baking soda to the medium crater.
Add 5 T melted butter to the large crater.
Add 1 tsp. vanilla to the small crater.

Pour 1 T. vinegar into the medium crater and watch it bubble like a volcano.

When foam stops, add 1 c. milk and mix together to form moon mud.

Sprinkle with 3/4 c. miniature marshmallows (moon rocks).

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.