Garden - fall makeover

Each fall, when we start school we spend our first week getting the garden areas "fixed up".  It's time to clean up, add new soil, and plant new seeds.  This week we did just that.  We now have:

Eggplant (made it through the summer)

Tomatoes (made it through the summer)

Potatoes
Carrots

Cucumbers

Bell peppers

Onions

Radishes

Lettuce

Herbs

Festive gourds

Micah built our herb garden box.  We pulled out our last 5 watermelon to make room for the festive gourd seeds.  Whew, we made it before October 1.

"WINTER" Day

It's the first day of fall, but it's been all about "Winter" for us today! We have been waiting since spring for this day to arrive - the day "Dolphin Tale" came to the theatres. When we met Winter a few months ago, while visiting Nana & Papa Joe in Clearwater, FL, we learned of the movie and marked our calendar. Today we wore our Clearwater t-shirts and took our neighbor, Kyle (who'd also been talking about going) to the show.

Here are some pictures of our trip to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. It was really neat to see these places on the big screen.

1. Micah with Nana & Papa Joe pointing to Winter

2. Winter and her friend

3. The boat they used in the movie with the advertisement for the movie

We enjoyed the movie very much and highly recommend it for families!

School starts with a Dolphin Study

We are looking forward to the Dolphin Tale movie coming out on Friday.  So, we decided to start school with a Dolphin study.  It will include:

• Reading Dolphin Adventure by Wayne Grover (A true story about a diver's incredible undersea experience!)
• Dolphin coloring pages
• Drawing dolphins
• Reading dolphin facts and writing out notecards
• Visiting the official "Winter the dolphin" website:  http://www.seewinter.com/
• Learning more about dolphins through video:  http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/bottlenose-dolphin/
• Learning about prosthetics:  an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part; on humans (http://www.rslsteeper.com/) and animals (http://www.lifewithinme.com/2009/11/animal-prosthetics-amazing-stories-of-rehabilitation/)
• Reading a board book:  Dolly Dolphin and creating a similar version about Winter
• Going to the movie!

Eastside Explorers "FALL KICK-OFF"

Tonight was the Fall Kick-Off for Eastside Explorers (our homeschool co-op).  It's a huge carnival with games, prizes, information tables, and snacks.  It was fun seeing familiar faces from our previous years of homeschooling and to get to know some new families joining in.  I worked the yearbook table for most of the night.  From my post I could see Micah & Lilly running around the gym (Matt was keeping his eye on them too), going to their favorite games, getting more of the same prizes (we have 15 bath ducks), and getting their faces painted.  It was a FUN night!

Summer Catch Up

Over the summer the blogger website has been doing some updates.  I was upable to publish my entries for most of the summer, so I'll be catching up on those and putting them in chronological order.
However, we are ready to begin school and get some of those entries online.
Don't forget to come back and scroll down!!!

Basketball Season begins

We signed Micah up for the YMCA basketball league again this fall.  It's September and it's time to begin.  Micah's first practice was September 1st and his first game was September 10.  His coaches are:  Coach Stearns and Coach Rich (Matt).

"Let's go Cheetas, let's go!!"

Summer Chapter Books

The first chapter book of the summer was - Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater. It was highly recommended by one of Micah's friends, Joey. Joey read it at least 3 times, he liked it so much. We did too! A modern-day movie was made about it and came out in theatres right when we finished it, but we decided not to go because the differences were so drastic. We didn't want to tarnish the pureness of the family dynamics and relationships in the book.

Next, The Trumpet of the Swan, by E.B. White. The beautifully written sister book to Charlotte's Web. By accident we learned that we were reading this book on the anniversary of E.B. White's birthday. One day when we were at our friends' house, the Bubar family, they said "We're reading The Trumpet of the Swan." We said "We are too!" They were one chapter ahead of us. The kids loved talking about what had been happening so far.

Our last chapter book to read this summer was - The Original Adventures of Hank, the Cowdog, by John R. Erickson. It was a birthday gift from our neighbors, Dave & Ruth H. They remembered reading it to their son, Max, who is now in the Army. It was about a mystery investigation from the viewpoint of the dog, Hank.

Lilly's Summer Goals

Without saying "this is my goal", Lilly definitely set a couple of goals for the summer.

1. Get a library card (needed to write first and last name legibly)
2. Improve her cupcake stand and move it outdoors

These goals were met in great speed.  Library card: 6/28/11; Cupcake stand: 7/8/11. When she's determined, it happens.

Homemade bread

We got the bread maker down from the attic - after 10 years - and put it to use this summer.  Our main reason was because the price of bread seemed to have gone up quite a bit and we were wondering if we could make it cheaper - or the same, but healthier.  It was a hit!  The kids loved measuring the ingredients and dumping them into the pan.  Then we waited.  The smell of the house throughout the day was delicious.  Having warm bread for dinner - priceless.  We made lots of loaves, experimented with different recipes and flavors, and liked them all.

When Kyle, one of the neighborhood boys, was over for the day he'd ask "what kind of bread are you making today?"  He liked being in the house with the smell.

Hello Haboob

 

A huge duststorm, called a "Haboob", passed through the valley and made major headlines around the United States.  My Aunt Vivian in Florida called the next day to make sure we were ok.  Not long later, on Monday evening (July 18), around 6:30pm we had a smaller version near our house.  We were leaving the neighborhood and caught these photos.  This is the beginning (leaving our house) and the end (exiting the 51 on Cacus Road) of the storm.

A new pet

Micah found this 'different' worm and decided to keep it.  It's transparent.  He put it in the "observation container" with some dirt, moisture, and leaves.   We've googled it, but still aren't sure what it is.

Swim date - Skotnicks

It's the week before 4th of July, so you know Shellye has a great craft/painting project in mind - and she invited us. We had a fabulous afternoon of swimming, eating, and painting ... and swimming again to wash off any paint. haha!

Tanzania Mission Trip - Matt

Matt was gone for 10 days on a mission trip to Tanzania (June 22-July 1).  He was able to call us and talk one time via our iPad.  It was a marvelous opportunity and adventure.  He met our sponsor child, Nehemiah, visited the schools which his fall bike rides (Tour De New River) raise money to build, and experienced life in Africa.  The stories he brought home have been captivating for the kids and I.

An apple experiment

This week our neighbor, Marie, told us about her brother-in-law making dried apples.  We had some apples on hand so we decided to try it ourselves.  We talked to our friends, the Gravel family, and told them what we were doing.  Ryan decided to do it too.  We selected different apple types and said we'd bring them to church today to trade.  Both were delicious!

 

Here's what we did:  Making Dried Apples (completely natural)

1. Slice apples into 1/4 inch thick slices (leave peel on, leave seeds in)
2. Find a nice sunny place outside to let them dry
3. Place the slices in a single layer (Optional:  put them on a pillow case and put a pillow case over them - keeps them clean and keeps birds from eating them)
4. Let the apples dry out (in the AZ summer heat it only takes a couple of days)
5. Put in a baggie
6. Eat
7. Share

Neighborhood Wildfire!

Picture this: It's Friday afternoon. The kids and I are playing in the backyard. I smell smoke and say "wow, the winds are blowing the smoke smell down from the wildfires up north." Then we look to the west and see this plume of white smoke going up. That's close! The kids run in the house and I take some pictures. I go next door to make sure Ruth knows and that if we need to leave the neighborhood that we want her to jump in our car. While I'm in her house, we begin to hear the fire engine sirens. I get back to the kids and within a few minutes we hear that the firemen are there and it's under control.

The location of the fire was on the left hand side of Cave Creek Dam Road, which is the entrance road to our neighborhood. When we are entering and/or leaving the neighborhood it is directly across the street from Robin Road. When Matt got home, we went down to see the damage.

Father's Day Weekend

It was a great celebration of Matt/Dad this weekend.  The kids loved hanging on him and just goofing around.  Matt is an amazing, thoughtful, and fun dad!  He's a great role model for these kids.

Lilly's week (during VBX)

Lilly and I dropped off Micah and the girls and spent our mornings together. It was some great one-on-one time! One day we went to McCormick Ranch Train Park with Dana & Kaley, one day we went to swim with the Bubar girls (Kristina, Charlotte, & Katie), one day we went to the Children's Museum, one day we ran errands, and one day we stayed at the church and joined the kids for worship.

SBC VBX 2011 - "Jump"

It's an "extreme" week this week at church. SBC's VBX is themed "JUMP". There are over 800 children registered and we pray for their softened little hearts to understand God's love for them. There will be many that acknowledge they are sinners in need of a Savior and will ask Jesus to fill them with the Holy Spirit. Oh, what a beautiful thing!
The memory verse for the week is 1 Timothy 4:12 - "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young. But set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." (Check out the back of Micah's t-shirt he wore on Monday.)