An Outing to the Falls

Skyeler has been working on a Photography Elective this year for school.  Part of the work for her elective is actually practicing taking different kinds of photographs.  In February (yes, I am shamelessly behind on posting...if you are observant you'll notice that Aly has long hair in some of these posts and short in others *sigh*) we had lots of snow and rain.  Lots!  Skye thought that the falls would be looking very pretty and wanted to practice some nature photography.  The only problem...Mom hates being cold.  But I sucked it up and then bundled up and with cameras in hand we made a trip to the park...

so Skyeler could do this!

It was very icy on the trails and the steps, like these heading down to the falls.

Skyeler and I played around with the settings on our cameras so we could take this waterfall picture at normal speed...

and this one at super slow speed.  I'm partial to this one.

Aly is partial to this cave.  She meant to bring along her flashlight so she could explore, but forgot.  

Aly taking a break on the bench.

Aly and Skyeler with red noses, finally getting cold and ready to go home.  

Our Little Engineer

Aly likes to make a mess, um I mean build things :)  When I saw this book recommended on the WTM message boards, I just knew that she would love it.  Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction will show your child how to make a catapult, a mole gun, and many more interesting little contraptions.  These little "mini weapons" can be made out of pens, pencils, rubber bands, paper clips, binder clips, and other items you might find around the house.  Aly spent some of her own money to finance a couple of her projects and hours working on them.  We had to remind her not to shoot them at the cat or her sister.  She had more successes than failures.  I had more messes all over the house than not :)  

Wordless Wednesday ... no it wasn't staged

News Bulletin: Aly Gets a Haircut!

That's right folks! Hot off the press! Aly has cut off 12 inches of her hair! 12 inches! How does she feel about this change (that she has been pestering, um, I mean asking to have done)? She is beside herself with joy :) Three weeks she has waited in anticipation of this day. Three. Long. Weeks. that Daddy made her wait to make sure that she truly wanted to part with all that hair. She will be proudly sending off those 12 inches to Locks of Love this week.

It looks so totally adorable!

January School In Review

So I've done my job as a parent well. Aly and Skyeler are very good at sharing. With each other. And with me. Aly caught a cold (exactly when she caught it is up for some debate, but her bad days were Monday and Tuesday). Being the loving sister that she is, she promptly shared with Skye. Skye woke up Wednesday feeling simply horrid. I have had my round of sick...bronchitis...last month...I think that is my quota for the winter. I wanted it to be my quota for the winter. Skye, on the other hand, thought she should share with me. I woke up Friday with that feeling. You all know that feeling and by last night I was sick with the cold. So Aly is now bursting with energy, and Skye and I are dragging. Skye is on her second roll of tp (should have bought those Kleenexes) and I'm on my first. I don't know which is running more, Skyeler's eyes or my nose. Maybe they are competing in the cold Olympics. Bleh. So we are all a little restless and I thought maybe it was time to crop some pictures to share here.

January school went well. We are plugging away at all of our studies. Aly spent the month learning about Brazil (and South America) and the Rainforest. She is doing fine in math though she is struggling a bit with getting those multiplication facts down. I bought the full version of Timez Attack to get her practicing. It's a cool multiplication computer game and she is working through the levels slowly. All About Spelling is going well, she really seems to be a natural speller. She has just a week or two left in her Junior Analytical Grammar book and is pages away from finishing her cursive handwriting book. We have been reading "It's a Jungle Out There" for our science read aloud and we finally finished our fun read aloud, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Aly read "Alice in Wonderland" and began "Through the Looking Glass" for her independent reading. We haven't done any writing or poetry since Christmas break.

Skyeler is coming along with her studies as well. She is continuing through her Truthquest Middle Ages book and reading "The Emerald Sea." Algebra is Algebra. Progress is being made at a steady pace and I'm am pleased with that. The photography unit study is getting close to completion and I need to start looking into what I want her to study next to fill out that Photography 101 credit. She has been reading "Understanding Exposure" and lots of "Popular Photography" magazines already. Chemistry is getting a little tougher. She enjoys the "Elements of Faith" book that she is doing alongside her textbook. I've also added "The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe." It's a bright, colorful book with some great, as it says, visuals. She spends a lot of time practicing her piano and writing. Conversations with Jane, our Jane Austen Lit Study, is going great. That's a separate blog though, you can get there through the sidebar link "The Austen Sisters."

Since I don't usually take pictures of our normal school days, (it really never crosses my mind), I thought I would post some pictures of what has been going on at our homeschool co-op. We take lots of pictures at co-op for the yearbook, and with three co-op days in January, I have plenty to share.



Aly in Art Class. We made Yarn Bowls with knitting yarn and glue. We are doing "Global Art" this year and this was a variation of a project from Ecuador. Very messy but the end results were great. Somehow I missed taking a picture of the finished project.This little guy is a Hexbug Nano. A cool little toy that you turn on and he buzzes all around. Aly got one for Christmas in her stocking...a cool looking green one.

This is Dan the Science Man's version of a Hexbug Nano. The kids paired up and made these in Science Class. They had a battery and a motor and a toothbrush head. It was a big hit, even though some of them only went round and round in circles and some just kept falling over and scooting on their side. I love watching the kids work on these projects. They are so intense!

Here is Skyeler urging her little bug to go straight and not on its side. She finally achieved success, just not in this picture :)

Aly is working on her next "Global Art" project, a Carnival costume from Brazil. Fabric paint and pillowcases, really. They wore them the next week in Music class and danced to Samba music! I have video but not on my computer yet. It's ... loud :)

Aly with a big weird face...

Skyeler with a big weird face...

Dan. Yes, we actually let him teach our children. How to make big weird faces with a magnifying glass and put a box on their head. Enlightening. I don't know what he's doing here but the box and the magnifier are going to be put to good use roasting marshmallows on the next sunny co-op day.

We took a break from our "Global Art" book to do a winter craft I ran across on a blog. A winter tree watercolor. You make a tree with painter's tape, paint watercolors all around, and you get...

This when you take the tape off. I have to admit that I made one of these myself :)

Here is Skyeler's bodice for her Regency gown. It is almost finished, the bodice, not the gown. I don't know how Beverly does it, teaching sewing to all six of the girls. Seeing as how sewing is alien to me, I think she is amazing!

I didn't post any pictures of Stewardship (think Business Math) or Yearbook or Gym or the Patricia Polacco Unit Study or Music Class (where Aly is learning the recorder). But you get the idea of what goes on.

It's kind of nice writing this all out. I should do it more often. It makes me realize just what all we are doing. Maybe I'll shoot for a month in review from now on.

Now off to take some yucky grape medicine ... Ick!

Getting Acquainted with my K-r

I mentioned in my last post that my darling hubby bought me this pretty little camera for Christmas.

My film SLR was a Pentax and I loved that camera. Now that everything is going all digital...and I'm not entirely sure that I love that direction...I'm trying to adapt. Even though I have been shooting digital with a great camera for at least the past three years, I still have yet to find that groove and get the quality pictures that I was getting before I began homeschooling. In an effort to find out if it is me or the camera, Dan bought me a Pentax digital that will fit my Pentax SLR lenses (namely my zoom lens!).

My first practice session has left me thinking that I am totally rusty and therefore it must be me :) But getting to know a new camera, especially a digital, takes some time and practice. I endeavor to find my groove and master this new digital age. **Cool hats courtesy of Granny and Papa!

A Christmas Montage

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! It was quite busy around here but it was good. Since my poor blog has clearly been neglected in the craziness of the season, I thought it right to post a montage of our Christmas festivities. This doesn't include the Christmas drama that we were all a part of at church (where Dan sang "The Grinch" song), our co-op Christmas Party, or the evening we spent exchanging presents with our dear friends. Come to think of it, there is probably more that I've missed. Oh, well. Maybe I'll get to posting some of those and maybe I won't :)

My wonderful husband bought me a new Pentax DSLR for Christmas! Isn't he amazing :) I spent Christmas Eve wiping the Canon's memory cards and backing up my files. I put the Canon on the bench so I could put a charged battery in it Christmas morning. Well, the Canon wasn't where I left it. As I'm looking all over for it, I realize my camera bag was full. He had put the Pentax in the camera bag to surprise me! It's a cute camera with a black and white body. It fits my hand perfectly AND it will fit my zoom lens from my film SLR. I'm still trying to figure it out so excuse the quality while I get used to it.

Dan and Aly getting the Angel on top of the tree.

Dan, Granny, Papa, and Skyeler playing foosball. It took Dan, Skyeler, and I to get that thing in from the garage to the downstairs bedroom! Many bruises (on my part) and tears (again, on my part...I'm such a wimp...Skye is stronger than me!) later, we got it. The plan was to give the kids something to do when Dan's family came for Christmas. The irony...none of the kids played. Papa enjoyed playing with the girls, though :)

Aly on Christmas morning trying on her new coat.

Papa loved the present that Aly picked out for him. We put a picture of him and Granny with the girls and Bryce and Carter in it. It was his favorite!

Aly and Skye both got new hats from Granny and Papa. Poor Skye. My new camera's flash is really bright. Add that to an early morning and she's a bit bleary eyed :)

Dan giving Aly a hug. Her present to him...two magnets for the car. One said "26.2" for his marathon run. The other just says "Run."

Skyeler got many new journals for Christmas. She writes poetry and finds these small journals to be perfect for recording her poetry. If you would like to read some of her poetry, check out her blog "A Maiden's Notes," it's linked in the sidebar.

Skyeler also got a coat from Granny and Papa. I got a picture of them with their coats and hats.

After Granny and Papa headed back home, we all just bummed out :) Both Dan and Aly received an ITouch for Christmas. Oh. My. Goodness. They were like this most of Christmas day LOL! Dan is addicted to Plants vs. Zombies :)

We got to host Dan's family Christmas get together at our house this year! We had such a wonderful time having everyone here. The family has grown and we were quite packed but the kids were great and we had plenty of food. It was nice to spend time with them considering we usually only see them once a year. Here are Zac and Skyeler. I take their picture every year. I can't believe they are practically all grown up. Zac turned 18 December 29th. Where did time go? He used to play with Power Rangers and give Skyeler the pink one because she was a girl LOL! Zac got Skyeler to play the piano for him...in front of all the family... quite the amazing feat :)

Aly and Elena and David Henry playing together. Elena will be as tall as her Aunt Angel very soon!

Diane's husband Tim got all the kids together for a picture. This was the best of my four. I don't know if anyone else got anything better!

Then someone had the big idea that all the adults needed a picture, too. I'm glad we did. As my dad says...it's great to be making memories!

Jordan, Oliver, Zac, Skyeler, and Skyeler's friend Elizabeth. I had some great shots of them cracking up and being silly but they were kind of blurry from all the movement.

After opening presents we played LCR for pennies, dimes, and nickels. Even though Oliver was cheating by pulling more coins from his pocket (yeah, Skye told on you!), it still came down to Dan and Skyeler. Dan ended up winning. The funny thing is, the game is totally random. Dan gloated about getting change to go to Starbuck's with.

It really was a great holiday! I love spending time with family and friends. We still have one more Christmas to go, though. Cheryl and I haven't got a chance to get together yet. I know the kids are really looking forward to that too.