The coolest picture!

The Daisy and I noticed thousands of blackbirds in our yard and she ran out to get their picture and captured this one on the road in front of our house. A lucky shot and very good!

Scary!

That's my most creative pumpkin ever!

Here is The Daisy's witch hat (using positive and negative space)
And the kids' pasta skeletons (The Daisy's is jumping off a diving board, she says)

Field trip: Newport Aquarium

Last week was homeschool day at Newport Aquarium. Since my memory is short, it wasn't until I was in the will call line that I remembered I said LAST YEAR that I would not go to the aquarium during homeschool day because it was so crowded. I must make a note of it!
Really, it surprises me how many times the kids can go to the aquarium and still find it enjoyable. This go round, The Daisy decided she was going to sketch fish. This lasted through only two fish then the sketch pad was pocketed. Dadgum fish wouldn't hold still!

So I love this ... at the display of this alligator snapping turtle (and there's one this big in our creek), just look at The Boo's eyes! "I'm not turning my back on THAT thing!"
In two places in the aquarium there are plexiglass walk-overs. Well, The Boo would have nothing to do with the first one and then ... he found himself on one quite by surprise. Uh oh. When he realized that he was NOT going to fall through, this became the highlight of the aquarium visit and he walked over this one four times back and forth. Then he did a little dance right in the middle and yelled,"I'm brave!" Yes, you are, little man.

Now The Daisy is up for anything and I've never had to hold her back from anything so from the time she was little, she was always at a touch tank. Not The Boo. When the sharks swam by here, he gave up the whole bravery notion ... then reconsidered after he saw his sister hanging around with her hands in the tank and remaining intact. So he did pet one and, again: "I'm brave!"

We had a little time to kill after leaving so the bookstore is always a good stop ... if I can get out of there without spending any money! The Daisy grabbed a book on mythology and The Boo played trains with another kid until time to go. Note to self: skip next year's homeschool day at the aquarium.

What happens when Mom naps

The homeschool art project becomes your brother.

"Please don't make me pet the chicken."

This week we added three new hens to our flock, bringing our total up to eight hens and one rooster. Over summer, I had four total roosters and the crowing was non-stop! At least this remaining rooster wakes us around 5:30 every morning and then it's done.
While I am scared of birds - don't ask me why because I don't know and one day I'll share with you how my daughter THREW a chicken at me last year - the kids are very attached to most of these hens. And now The Daisy has grabbed a pretty tame hen from the neighbor's house, named it Flicker, and had it sit in on school last week. Meanwhile, The Boo had one of the kittens "petting" the hen. Just look at that poor thing's face - "Please don't let anybody see me petting this chicken." I had to get in on the action by setting up this Transformer dude to face off against Flicker. Just so you know, the other roosters were sold at an auction, and I get about three eggs a day from my producing hens and I'm overrun with eggs! These new ones are pretty young so I don't know if they're laying yet.

Prepping for winter

After last year's $500 heat bill one month in which I kept my heat at 63, thank you very much, I knew this year I was going to rely more on my fireplace.
So my neighbor, Devon, picks me up Sunday to go cut wood. I mean to tell you this is what happens in the country. Somebody just out of the blue says they're going to get you some firewood because they don't want you to be cold this winter. And then the neighbor kids came along to haul and split wood, In between hitchin' up their pants:
And you see what my kids are doing ... sittin' on the back of the truck.

I LOVE this tree!

Since moving out here a couple of years ago, I have watched this tree the past three falls and don't think there's any tree more beautiful. I always wanted to get a picture and ... Thank You, Camera Phone!
The first picture was actually the second I took a couple of days after this one:
Then this is the road leading down to my house and it's really pretty too.

Regular Wednesday riding

I dropped by my friends' house last week and got invited riding, which they usually do on Wednesdays. This was an all-day commitment since we driving about 45 minutes out of town to a state maintained riding area.
Cristal let me use her gelding, Redwine, and, I have to tell you, I really, really like this horse. He did everything I asked and nothing I didn't. My kind of horse. Just to show you how beautiful the area is we were riding in ... and this picture doesn't do it any justice:We got a little lost - easy to do in this place because it's HUGE. And everything's been so dry lately but we found this creek and stopped for awhile so Scotty could have another beer. This is him with Leroy:
This is Regina, Scotty's wife, with her friend Susan, who talked the ENTIRE time. I'm not kidding.

I bet they don't do THIS in school ...

One of the things about homeschooling is that there is a lot of time for creativity and it's times like these that I hate to interrupt impromptu learning - like this car set up they got going one morning that involved dominoes too:
We got out the Halloween decorations Monday:
Of course, we're always going somewhere ...
Part of The Daisy's schoolwork is learning to cook. She took it upon herself to make deviled eggs from her Usborne First Cookbook. She and The Boo are peeling the boiled eggs here.
They hadn't boiled long enough so the deviled eggs were a bust.

Here The Daisy helps The Boo with his worksheets on smallest to largest:

We're continuing to work the multiplication tables and this week was the 3s. The Daisy knows all but 4s, 6s, 7s and 8s. I find this remarkable for a child who was struggling with "1 +" a matter of weeks ago. I hadn't laid a very good math foundation, expecting her just to KNOW IT after all this time but I got a math curriculum that has worked wonders for her ... and me, who is not the most patient of teachers at times.
Part of science this week was the game "Gross Anatomy" because we studied digestion.
In this game, you work your way through the intestines and, depending on whether you land on a gas bubble or a piece of food in which you must answer a trivia question about digestion, determines how you advance .... and win by landing in the toilet.
I bet they don't play games like this in school.

A pile o'leafy fun

Unprompted, The Daisy and The Boo, aided by neighborhood kids, raked up a leaf pile for jumping. I liked seeing The Boo using his wheelbarrow. Here's Anthony getting covered: And while this is a good one of Corey jumping into the leaves, his previous swan dive was the best! My yard looks good, by the way.his

Never pet a buffalo without permission

At Big Bone Lick State Park, there is a herd of bison. We took an impromptu field trip to see them one morning and many of them were near the fence.
The Daisy isn't scared of anything so she got right up on the fence to watch them feed.
And we watched one take this dust bath.I was able to get up close as one was grazing at the fence and a tuft of her fur was sticking through the fence. So I ... and I knew better ... reached to pet her and she jerked her head right up, jamming my finger against the wire.
I knew better, I knew better, I knew better. Should've asked permission.