Sunday, November 23, 2008

Digital Scrapbooking

I found a cool website for digital scrapbooking and thought I'd give it a try so forgive my silly playing around but it's fun!
Click to play Game Day
Create your own scrapbook - Powered by Smilebox
Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Science Fair

We did our first ever science fair and somehow we survived! I told Hannah that I couldn't believe we had conquered our first science fair and she said, "What do you mean? I thought this was just for fun." I guess Mom's see it differently! This is Hannah showing our homeschool group leader how to play the game she invented to go along with her Arctic display. Dakota and Kayla somehow are always ready for a picture!
This display was really neat and I assume the people involved had much more experience with these kinds of things! The kids all got to do hands on learning about the body.

Hannah is showing Grandma her display. She made an igloo out of sugar cubes and frosting. It was harder than it looks!

This is Jacob showing Papa his display on the Rainforest biome. We had products that came from the rainforest there as well as an aquarium with the plants we grew.



The biggest fun came in the form of legos that someone brought with them for their display. All the kids enjoyed sitting between the booths and building their own creations. No it had nothing to do with the science fair itself but did they care???




My little saleswoman hooked quite a few kids with her game and display. She had so much fun and had so many kids interested-I am very proud of her!


Of course what would a science fair be without an exploding volcano??? I think it was the hit of the fair!

Here's the proud Zachary in front of his display on deserts. He had a small desert complete with sand and cactus as well as a book of all his research and display. He did most of it on his own. I am very proud of him!!


This is the proud Jacob in front of his rainforest display. They were so proud of themselves!


Hannah completed her display with a foam demo of an ice cap. She labeled all the sections of the ice. She did her science project all on her own. I honestly didn't help her much at all except for a few suggestions. She is extremely independent and I think this will serve her well!
The kids learned so much not only about the biome that they chose to do the project on but also on each other's. I am amazed at all the knowledge they gained!









This child will amaze you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43yCiKlbCo

You guys will get quite a kick out of this toddler!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Hannah's Birthday Part 2

Maybe I should have labeled this one, "Who says homeschoolers are lacking in socialization?!" Well we finally finished the week-long birthday celebrations for Hannah! She had so much fun! There were 12 girls that came to celebrate with her and I marvel at how well behaved every one of them were. They watched the movie "Kit Kittridge, An American Girl Story" first. Then they came upstairs and we had cake and sang Happy Birthday. Then back down to open presents which I must add she loved every one of them! Then they played hide and seek and some other games until parents came. I am so thankful that my daughter is blessed with so many amazing friends! Thanks you guys!









This one is a little blurry because it was dark downstairs but I just couldn't believe how quiet 12 girls could be so I'm showing everyone the proof!





Friday, November 7, 2008

Our egg experiment

We learned that the shape of an egg (arch) is one of the strongest and sturdiest shapes in architecture. We proved it! First we tried to crush an egg with our bare hand wrapped around it. We couldn't do it! Then we opened the small end of the egg and emptied out the insides. We tried to make them pretty even and started stacking books on top of the four eggs.


We made it to 29 books. The 30th did the eggs in!


What an amazing example again of the wisdom and creativity of God! We had such a great time with this experiment!



The beauty of God's creation

Fall in our backyard is stunning and I praise God daily for His creation! How creative He is!









Letter to the president;unedited

This is a letter that 10yo Hannah wrote after the election the other day.

Dear Mr. President,

I am 10 years old. I just wanted to say that me and my family didn't want you in office. But anyway, here's my message-Remember YOU have four YEARS as President, use them wisely. This country is huge and it's up to you to save it-School bond issues are not issues at all-Taxes are in your hands. Don't forget I'll be praying for you! Another thing, Taxes, If you lower them for people under a certain limit of wages, pretty soon they'll be making above that limit of wages, (with raises for better attitudes etc.) Then when taxes are raised for them, it will be harder for them. But the people who own small businesses making more than that already struggle with taxes today. Your plan might even cause them to shut down their business, creating less jobs for people. One more thing, ABORTION. Don't you understand? Didn't your mother care enough to have and take care of you? In Indonisia who got you up at 4:00 am and taught you English? Ask yourself these questions, and hopefully you'll change your mind about abortion.

Think about it and write me back,

Hannah

Out of the mouths of babes.....!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

School update...

I thought I would update everyone on our school projects. This is our "rainforest" since we are studying different animal habitats this year. We also went to the zoo and investigated the jungle there more closely.
This was an experiment we did to see which would grow faster, the seeds in the cup with saran wrap covering it or the seeds in the cup with nothing holding the moisture in. The one on the left had the saran wrap over it.
We are studying the missionaries that inspired the movie "End of the Spear" and this plane is a replica of Nate Saint's airplane. We hung them from our school room's ceiling.



We made these kazoos out of straws. They were so simple to make and the kids had a ball! I had no idea that you could make straws make those sounds!

Jacob's toothless!

Aint he cute?!!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Hannah's Birthday Part One

My little girl is turning 10! In our family we have a running joke that our kid's birthdays last for at least a week and this will be no exception. We had a party with my family tonight and then on Friday Kayla is throwing Hannah a party for her and her friends. Grandma and Papa got Hannah's American Girl doll Felicity some new clothes and Hannah a new dress and tights. Don't they both look beautiful!


What would a family get-together be without football?!



It was such a beautiful day that we spent a lot of the evening outdoors



Grandma and Ben enjoying the fire



My good looking husband!


My brother and Lan



The gang eating pizza outside on the deck.




I included a video of Hannah opening her presents with a little help from Ben. Notice it doesn't even seem to phase her a bit!

Halloween

We went over to Uncle Leon and Aunt Shirley's house for stew and for the beginning of our trick or treating route. We started out with Teresa, Matt and kids and somehow lost them and ended up with about 7 kids from our neighborhood and their families. The weather was so nice that the kids ended up trick or treating for hours and got a boatload of candy! Jacob was sick so I ended up leaving the crowd and took him home so we could hand out candy. My kids, Kayla and Dakota
Teresa and Jackson-He's so cute!

The whole gang including our dog, Izze who was dressed as an angel.






My boys!





We carved pumpkins after our trip to the pumpkin patch




Notice the tongue!