Wolves, windstorms, and pumpkins... oh my!

We started out the day early, with a morning drive to Wolf Haven in the rain. What a wonderful field trip that was! They have three different kinds of wolves and a pair of coyote. Our wonderful tour guide (Megan) walked us through the entire place, telling us about which wolves were which and a little story about each pair. Some of them were super skittish, some were friendly enough to rub up on the fence while we were there. But all had been rescued. The tour ended with a great slide show about the lives of wolves and what they need in the wild and then a game about pack behavior. It was a wonderful morning.

And we came home to this:

This tree branch had fallen across our street two houses down from us. It is the same tree that had the two racoons living in it last month. It had taken out a power pole, and the whole neighborhood was out of power for 8 hours. (No, I still have not checked my freezer, but it wasn't hot today, so I have faith everything will be ok.)

It broke off right at the tree. In our area, we have seen a lot of this type of brakage lately. I am starting to feel like it must be the excess rain we have had over the last two years. It wasn't super windy during this storm, but it must have had just enough to tear this branch right off this tree. Crazy!

This is the neighbors house and the power lines it took out. Luckily, it didn't seem to do much damage over there, except for the power lines.

And I think we misnamed the pumpkin city. Instead of SpiderVille, we should have named it SlugVille. Apparently, that is the only type of clientele that our city has attracted.

One for the journal

Sometimes our kids are smarter than I give them credit for. A few weeks ago Kevin FINALLY lost his last dangling front tooth. He then followed our routine of putting the tooth in a snack bag and then under his pillow. He showed me with excitement the next morning the $ that had been left in the snack bag in place of his tooth. That would normally be the end of the story...but not this time.

The next night Kevin fell asleep on the couch and Steve carried him in to bed. While tucking him in he noticed that the snack bag was back under the pillow WITH another tooth in it!! He brought the bag out to me asking.."Did someone lose another tooth today?" ME: "Not that I know of." Steve: "Well then whose tooth is this?" ME: " I don't know..let me see that" I then proceed to look at the tooth that is in the bag. It looks like a primary incisor...possibly a lateral. I then took the tooth and pinched it between my fingers and it broke. It was at this point that the light went on. I started to laugh as I told Steve what Kevin had done. He had taken a candy corn and bit off the white portion and put it in the bag. It looked amazingly like the real thing. This kid was going to TRICK the tooth-fairy!!

Steve decided that 2 could play this game. He took a $10 bill and color copied it. He then cut it out and wrote on the back of it...NICE TRY....THE TOOTH-FAIRY and put it back under Kevin's pillow. The next morning Steve woke Kevin and asked him if the tooth-fairy had come a few days ago. Kevin said that she had and then remembered his little experiment...he looked under his pillow and his eyes got HUGE! He pulled out the bag and held it up so Steve could see. Steve: "What is that Kevin?" K: "$10!!!" S: "What's it for" Kevin was embarrassed to tell us what he was trying to do so he just said that he didn't know. Steve told him to take it out of the bag and look at it. Kevin took out the $ with a big grin and opened it up. Turning it over he then read the message on the back side and busted up into big belly laughs. He then had the guts to tell us what he had tried and that the tooth-fairy was too smart to fall for his trick.

What a kid.

Famous Quote

"Mama, when we move, we have to remember to turn the power off... and take it with us." ~Cyan

Our pumpkin city...

The kids decided that this city was for the spiders. This is Spiderella's Castle. See her pumpkin coach driving away? (Sometime I have to get the pictures of the pumpkin patch field trip so you can see the story behind this beastly pumpkin that my daughter brought home and designed into a castle for me.)

This is Alex's SpiderHobbit hole. He did the window with my drill due to left hand issues. But I think that he did a great job. Especially considering he didn't have a right hand!

The one on top of the other pumpkin is Cyan's jail. She said we needed one...

The two to the left are houses of Spiderella's subjects, as is the one below.

This was Alex's idea and creation, although I did the head. He wanted a sea monster in the 'moat' of the castle. So he cut these cute little pumpkins in half and then added tooth picks for spines. I was inspired and made the beasty a head complete with sharp, gnashing teeth.

Sometimes kids imaginations are the best things to play with.

Carving Pumpkins!

We got to carve pumpkins this morning... I can't wait to show you what we made. :)

Fall Foods From Scratch Day

Cyan and I are talking about fractions. Alex is working on dividing fractions in Algebra. Lets talk fraction application... ie: COOKING!

So today, I set the kids to two separate items to cook. Cyan and I had planned on making pumpkin pie from scratch (like from a pumpkin) for a few weeks now. Alex wanted to make Zucchini bread, but I asked him to make something savory instead as we already had pie, and he found Zucchini Cheddar Bread in my Joy of Cooking.

So off we went. Alex grating Zucchini

And Cyan scooping pumpkin flesh out of the baked pumpkin from last night and putting into the blender to puree.

~From Pumpkin to Pie Recipe Link~

It was a wonderful morning. I did realise though, that Alex isn't quite ready for my cook book. Which is fine. He does great with the more simple recipes (he has made pancakes three days in a row out of one of the kid cookbooks), but the more complicated ones he gets easily frustrated. Completely understandable.

The Zucchini Bread is still in the oven... but smelling OH so good. And the pumpkin pie will be perfectly cooled for the best after dinner October Dessert EVER!

Fractions? Who would have guessed?

And done!

Raiders advance to the Section Championship game after a tough fought 7 - 6 victory over the rival Cleveland Clippers. It was a defensive game as both teams had trouble moving the ball with any consistency. It was a 45 yard pass play that got Nicollet out in the lead in the 2nd half and the defense was able to stop the 2 point conversion on Cleveland's score to seal the victory. As you can see Tabor had his hands full blocking Cleveland's biggest player. We missed a few opportunities to put this one out of reach early in the 2nd half, but were able to buckle down on defense to hold on. Jason, Angie and Collin came down to give Tabor a raucous cheering section and if you ask Collin he will tell you Tabor's not so tough cause he tackled him several times before the game. And then gave him a high five that just about tipped him over. Friday we are off to Alden/Conger to get pay back for the double overtime loss we had 3 weeks ago. Winner will advance to the state quarterfinals game held at SMSU in Marshall MN. We are hoping for a very Happy Halloween.

Pumpkin Patch Trip

To the pumpkin patch with the kiddos!

Alex, Don and Logan. Dressed for the weather that is for sure. Brrrr!

This was just the cutest picture! Isn't she a doll?

Here is me... with my Canon around my neck. lol! As always.

And here is Cyan and Jacob with her pumpkin. He was so cute and chilverous to help her with it. Normally, she would not have been able to get this pumpkin, as the kids have to carry their pumpkin out of the patch by themselves... but Cyan was determined and Jacob was so cute to help her! They thought it all up by themselves. I think Jacob thought it as a challenge. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around the pumpkin... to which Cyan said "Oh! You are going to get your shirt so dirty!" and he replied "That's ok. It's totally worth it." What a sweet heart!

Cyan's review for October

Language Arts: She finished her 2nd Explode the Code book and we are waiting for the third to arrive. While we are waiting we are working through the Dolch Word lists (the most common 200 words in the English language). We have played a bunch of games to try to get her reading speed increased. She knows all the rules, very very well... but her speed is still slow and forced, so the games are working well.

Math: She is FLYING through MathUSee Alpha. We will be needing Beta before the end of the year... but, it is helping her build confidence in her math skills and that is helping with reading because she can do something, everyday, easily and well.

Science: We are working on Nocturnal Animals/wolves right now. Later this month we are going to Wolf Haven for a "howl in" and we are getting prepared. She is studying the difference between the eyes of a wolf and the eyes of a human. It has been terribly interesting.

Social Studies: We are currently studying ancient Egypt. She is working on finding places on the globe and using an atlas. She works with a map, a coloring sheet of relevant material, and a story that goes with each chapter. We have also been reading books about ancient Egypt and I got her a coloring book about ancient Egyptian fashions. She loved that and colors the relevant page nearly every lesson.

Fine Arts: So far this month we have studied both Van Gogh's life and his two most famous works: Starry Nights and Sunflowers. We have just started studying Bach as well. She has copied both works (in her own way, using specific techniques) and really is enjoying working with the different mediums.

Alex's review for October

Language Arts: Alex is still enjoying the red pen. :) Even since he broke his arm, he has been correcting others work via ABC Animal Edits and Editor in Chief workbooks. He is getting much better at it. We are working a lot in oral presentation because of his broken arm. He has been reading Runny Babbit and other poetry selections to us and has been reading aloud to Cyan. He has also been writing some of his own poetry, and that is a treat. He is actually really good.

Math: Pre-Algebra is going well. He is moving slowly, but is really getting the ideas down very well. Right now he is working on divisions with fractions.

Science: We are working on Nocturnal Animals/wolves right now. Later this month we are going to Wolf Haven for a "howl in" and we are getting prepared. He is studying the difference between the eyes of a wolf and the eyes of a human. It has been terribly interesting.

Social Studies: We are currently studying ancient Egypt. He is versed in using an atlas, finding places on the globe, and has been putting his findings from our lessons in order (timeline). In social studies he has also been working on paraphrasing different types of information. This, I think is the more valuable, for it will lead into him being able to find out just about anything he wants to. We have been working very closely with Cyan, who is following "The Story of the World", but we are also doing many of our own lessons with help of several encyclopedias.

Fine Arts: "Van Gogh is so cool." So far this month we have studied both Van Gogh's life and his two most famous works: Starry Nights and Sunflowers. We have just started studying Bach as well.

Technology: This has been put on hold as he is not allowed to use a mouse, or a keyboard until his cast comes off. But, he has been playing 'Where in the World is Carmen San Diego"

Boyz will be boyz..... we are missing 2 others that were at Dalton's birthday party Friday after school. We went Rock -N-Roll bowling for a couple of hours then headed back home for some ice cream cake. Big day on Saturday Dalton turns 12 and Bubba has a playoff game.

New bird friends

A few new birds to add to our list. :)

Collecting the Moments

Loving this site...

I am just loving this site right now... I will have to look at it when I am not getting sleepy, but I think I have uses for a bunch of these things. Thank you Sarah!

Montessori for Everyone

And while I am on a web surfing trip, I may as well throw this baby out there:

Make your own Wordle

Fun!

Sunflowers by Van Gogh

Alex (left handed! I think that is pretty amazing!):

Mine:

And Cyan decided to copy this picture instead:

So this is what she came up with:

What a fun lesson that was! Bach is for next week. Then we move on to Mary Cassat and Mozart in November. I love homeschool.

Fun Lunch Stuff

I am a bit of an October nut. I hate the Halloween stuff... by this I mean, I hate the freaky, fake blood, jump out and scare you, decapitated heads hanging from trees in peoples lawns type stuff. But the falling leaves, worms, bugs, bird feeders, soup, naked trees, pumpkin, nocturnal animals... well, that side of October, I can't get enough.

In light of this, I had a bunch of October food things planned. Baking pumpkin pie from scratch (meaning from a whole pumpkin.) is something we do every year... pumpkin muffins, squash with butter and brown sugar. Yes... traditions run strong this time of year for me. To throw a bit of fun in the mix, I have been adding in things like this sandwich.

The kids spent all of lunch time talking about where the worms came from that showed up in their sandwiches. They finally decided that they were martian worms from Mars, and these worms drank toliet water and ate puppies. It always helps with the gross factor to have a teenage boy in the house. lol... Fun stuff. :)

Bach and Van Gogh

This is our last study of Van Gogh (formal study anyhow) and our first week studying Bach.  My idea is to have two artists for each month.  One classical music, and the other classical art. 

When we read the book The Yellow House, it talked a lot about the way that Van Gogh and the artist Gauguin lived together for those weeks, and although their personalities were vastly different... to the point where they could never live together again, they inspired each other deeply. 

Here is a website that talks more about that and the history of the pair of friends.  Gauguin painting Van Gogh, painting sunflowers.

Today, we will be making pictures of sunflowers.  We have none in our garden after this last frost... but we do have TONS of pictures as they are one of my very favorite flowers, and I am printing some out for my kids to play with.

The picture below is my favorite sunflower picture that I have ever taken.  I know it sounds funny, but I just love the composition of this picture, and the dew drops, and even the dead ones hanging out behind the big one in the center.  It's just a wonderful capture.  :)

The book that will start off our study today is Camile and the Sunflowers. 

Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole... Elliott Boyz were in attendance as the Mavericks of Mankato State put a whoopin on UND. With 3 short handed goals (one was an empty netter when UND was skating 6 on 3 late in the 3rd) the final score was 5 - 1. Also got a chance to visit with the Kividt's who were down from Campbell all dressed up in their green and white. Mrs. Kividt was all 3 boyz 2nd grade teacher and Mr. Kividt was the business and computer teacher. There youngest Michael was down at SWSU in Marshall for a campus visit. Tabor and a buddy have the tickets for tomorrow night and it should be a good one. Game got a little chippy at the end and I would imagine there will be a few hard penalties to start out Sat's game. There was no Football tonight as it is MEA weekend and we will host a 2nd round play-off game next Sat night as we earned the #2 seed and a bye for 1st round action on Tues. Win 2 game and go to State. The 2 teams we will play, 1 we beat in week #1 and the other we lost to in double OT by 2, so should be fun if we can put a couple of good ones together.

It was a cold dark night for the Raiders in Westbrook/Walnut Grove. With temps in the 40*s and a brisk wind from the north the boys had a hard time handeling the ball. With this game behind us we look forward to the playoffs. The Raiders have a bye on Tuesday night and then will play Saturday Oct 25th ( Dalton's B-Day) at home.

We had a wet Pheasant Opener but still had a great time! Tanner shot his first rooster and bagged his limit in 1 day. Blue was a trooper and was spot on and we can't leave the yard with out her.