Halloween 2009

We had a lovely, cool, crisp night to prowl the neighborhood in search of sweet confections.  And a full moon to boot.

It’s hard to get a good pic of the moon.  This is the best one I got and it doesn’t do it justice at all.

Here we are before we left.  That’s an animated rat on ds2’s head.  He stayed behind to give out candy this year.  Ds3 is Luigi and ds4 is a pumpkin.  You have to guess who I am.  ;)

The neighbor girl tagged along as is the tradition.

Pics of what greeted the trick or treater’s at our home.

One of the neighbors had a cool jack o lantern.

Luigi in action!

He has the cutest expression on his face in this one.  :)

We had a super fun time.  Happy Halloween!

What’s On My Nightstand

Well, just two books on the old nightstand this time.  I’ve been reading a lot lately, making my way through half of my Fall Into Reading list already, but I have gotten “stuck” on Consumption.  It’s a good book, it just hasn’t really grabbed me and made me want to pick it up lately.  Then the other day I saw a trailer for New Moon and of course that led to me re-reading the book, which led to me re-reading Eclipse, and on and on lol.  So right now I’m in vampire land and loving it.  ;)  Can’t wait for November 20th!  To see more reading lists and join in on the fun head over to 5 Minutes For Books.  Happy reading!

Cats On Tuesday: To Each His Own

It’s a rainy, dreary day.  The cats have all taken shelter inside.  They each have their own favorite place to cuddle up.

Mimi chose an empty basket in the schoolroom.

Smokey and Katy chose ds2’s unmade bed…this is as close as they get to sleeping together lol.

And sweet Winnie blends right in on my bed.  Very hard to resist joining in and napping the day away with my kitties lol.  :)  For more Cats On Tuesday head over to Gattina’s.  Maybe the weather will be better over there.

MFW Kindergarten: Ii for Insect

Ds4 has been looking forward to this week in MFW for a while, ever since he saw the letter sound card with insects on it lol.  There is a lot we have done, but a lot more we can do with this unit, so I may actually extend it into next week as well.

One day we learned about butterflies.  Ds made a book about how butterflies change.

I love this page where he drew a little butterfly (on the left) and told me to write “Yea!” underneath.  Too cute.  :)

He put some cardstock circles on a pipe cleaner to make a caterpillar.  Although we don’t have to go far to observe a caterpillar…

Meet “Poopers.”  I found him on my hibiscus plant quite a while ago and he has been happily munching on fresh leaves in a jar on our schoolroom bookshelf ever since (and pooping like a madman, hence his name. ;)  He is so well taken care of I believe he has decided not to complete his metamorphosis and remain a fat little leaf eating poop machine.  I would, too.

This was ds’s favorite part of the week I think, learning about and creating a firefly.  I only wish it were still warm enough for him to have seen a real one.

We simply cut out heart shaped wings and glued on a glow stick.  And then waited for it to get dark of course.

How’s that for a cool pic?  Please note, we did not do all these things in one day.  The boy is  wearing that pumpkin shirt every day for the rest of his life lol.

Another little book he made about what insects can do.  This is his personalized page.  Not sure what he is doing, but it’s cute.

To see what others have been up to this week head over to MishMashMaggie’s for more Weekly Homeschool Highlights.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like…

Halloween!  We’ve been knee-deep in the Halloween projects and crafts lately.  My house is downright spooky (and I can blame it on the decorations, not the lack of cleaning lol.)

Not a great pic at all, but the boys made a bat mobile, complete with glow in the dark bat eyes and moon.

Again, not a great pic, but ds4 made the CUTEST pumpkin shirt ever.  It’s simply a white shirt dyed orange after gathering bits of it up in rubber bands.  After you cut the rubber bands off you have white circles that you can paint jack-o-lantern faces in.  What fun!  He has worn it every day…literally, folks.  I should have had him make more than one lol.

After our pumpkin study, ds4 glued some of the leftover seeds into a cutout pumpkin and added yarn to show how stringy it all was.

We played this fun pumpkin matching game, where he copies a jack-o-lantern face using bits of black construction paper shapes.  The game can be found at Kidssoup.    I have even more ideas up my sleeve, if we get to them I’ll be sure and share.  :)

Cats On Tuesday

 

Hmm, this box has a tail…

 

and a cute kitty inside!  I love how the flash made her eyes look.  Mimi loved this box leftover from ds’s bday party, it seemed to be made just for her.  :)  For more kitty fun head over to Gattina’s.  Happy Cats On Tuesday everyone!

Product Review: Listerine Oral Care Challenge

Thanks to Mom Central and Listerine,  the boys and I were able to participate in the Listerine Oral Care Challenge.  They sent us a box of supplies to help us with the challenge…

The boys got some cool new Reach toothbrushes and two Listerine products, the Agent Cool Blue pre-brush and the Smart Rinse post-brush rinses.

  I got some Listerine Total Care and we all got floss.  Now I had a rough time of it with cavities and such growing up, but as an adult I have had very few.  In fact, I had a small one filled last week and it had been so long since I’ve had anything but a cleaning done that WOW it was a shocker lol.  I want to do any and everything to make sure that doesn’t happen again.  ;)  The boys have good oral health so far, but it is a hassle getting them to brush (and usually I only win the battle once a day.)

Well this challenge really gave us a boost in the right direction for oral health!  The boys bugged reminded ME when it was time to do our new routine (dubbed Listerine time) and gladly brushed, rinsed and flossed twice a day.

As is suggested at Listerinekids.com, we tackled this challenge as a family.  Which is easier and less messy when you have double sinks in the bathroom, but that’s a whole other post.  ;)  Every morning and every night we gathered at the sink and did our thing.  The boys used the Agent Cool Blue pre-brush rinse to color their teeth and gums blue.  This helped them see exactly where they needed to brush.  This is not like the little red tablets we used to get from the dentist to color our teeth…the Agent Cool Blue is easier and tastier to use and it rinses off well.  By the third day both boys had mastered the measuring and pouring by themselves, thanks to an innovative and easy to use bottle.

After brushing away the blue it was time to floss.  I didn’t think they would go for this part very well, but the Reach floss we received was so easy to use that they didn’t mind at all…you should have heard all the “clicking'” as the floss was pushed in and out, in and out lol.

Now it was time to do the post-brush rinse with the Smart Rinse.  This stuff is great.  Not only is it an anti-cavity rinse, but it also clings to the particles missed during brushing so they can see them in the sink.  Oh how proud they both were to show me the results sitting in the bathroom sink lol.  But it got the point across that the efforts of brushing, flossing and rinsing really do pay off!

The Listerine Total Care that I got to use was also great.  The cinnamon flavor was my fave.  It not only helps prevent cavities, kills germs and fights bad breath but also helps restore tooth’s enamel, very important as you age (notice I said as you age…something I’ve decided not to do thank you very much.)

All in all I am very impressed with the Listerine Oral Care Challenge and the Listerine and Reach products we tested.  My boys are brushing more and looking forward to it!  I’m sure we will see the positive results at the next checkup.  :)  Be sure and visit the Listerine websites for coupons and other tips on these products.

"I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Listerine and Reach and received Listerine and Reach products for the Oral Care Challenge and a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate."

Excited About Exercise

Susanna at My Family My Forever has started a McLinky to join in on her quest to renew her relationship with exercise.  I, too, have recently become reacquainted with my old friend fitness, in my quest to lose some weight.  I began seriously counting calories and logging in workouts in August and have lost 11 pounds.  Go me.  So sure, I am more than happy to join in and get continue to be “Excited About Exercise!”

First off, I love exercising at home.  I have a pretty good collection of dvds and tapes…that’s right, exercise tapes lol.  Some of them are pretty cheesy but I have the routines down pat and I like them.  So there.  ;)  Yesterday I did one of my favorite workouts to an old The Firm dvd.

This one hits all the muscle groups and throws in some aerobics for good measure.  The music is fun, the routines blend together well and the instructor is not annoying.  A great all around workout.  Thanks to Susanna for hosting this and good luck to all who join in on the challenge.

Product Review: Disney World In-Home Party

Thanks to MomSelect and Disney World Resorts, I was able to host an in-home celebration with an all-out Disney World theme.  Y’all know how we love us some Disney World in my home, so it was pretty much a no-brainer when MomSelect offered to send a celebration kit so I could host a party.  And what a kit it was, complete with decorations, games, recipes and giveaways for our guests (oh, and a super cool gift for moi, the hostess.)  The only thing I had to do was decide what to celebrate.  Well ds4 made that easy…he turned 5 lol!

I did make some Mickey Mouse Rice Krispy treats and they were a hit!

“Look, Mom, a hidden Mickey!”

Here is one of the cute tote bags that I got to fill with goodies to give the kiddos.  The adults at the party got cute cartoon sketches.  We played Disney trivia games and bingo too.  Ds4 had a blast and everyone enjoyed getting a little of the Disney World magic at home.  :)  Thanks MomSelect!

Autumn Nature Series: Pumpkins

This is week 5 of the 10 part Autumn Nature Series.  I had dh pick up a pumpkin while he was out running errands with the boys.  Ds2 recently remarked that he missed our nature studies since starting public high school, so we did our pumpkin study this weekend so he could participate as well.  We finally had fall-like weather, too; sunny, cool and windy.

Everyone had a turn picking up the pumpkin and seeing how heavy it was.  Then we filled a tub with water and predicted whether it would sink or float…there were 3 votes for sink, 1 for float.

It floated!  We then discussed why this happened and headed inside to check out the pumpkin’s innards. 

Dh was in charge of pumpkin cutting.  Ds4 was the supervisor.

Ds2 was in charge of the de-gutting.  I tried to get them to estimate how many seeds there would be and all I got was “5” from ds4 and “a lot” from ds2. 

As usual, ds3 was not interested in sketching, so I had him fill out a “sink or float” prediction worksheet from kidssoup for his journal entry.

Ds4 and I drew pumpkins and seeds for ours.  This was a fun study, and I know the boys all learned a little something.  Head over to Barb’s for more Outdoor Hour Challenges.

Galloping The Globe: England

We have completed our second country study in the Galloping the Globe curriculum;  England!  I was excited about this one because dh and I lived in England for 3 years while he was in the military…ds1 was even born there and (up until a year ago) had duel citizenship.  I was eager to revisit this place and share my memories with ds3 and ds4.

I always check out Jolanthe’s site to get ideas for our GTG studies.  Her crew studied knights and castles as part of their England visit and we did, too.  The boys loved it!

Here they are in all their naked and pajama clad glory, coloring the templates for a castle.

Pretty cool what you can do with tp rolls and a little imagination.  ;)

This led to a morning of Lego castle building of course.

Instead of doing individual lapbooks this year, I’m having the boys put their mini books in a journal of sorts.  This makes a lovely keepsake/portfolio of their school endeavors.  Ds3 had the most fun designing his shield.  He also got a HUGE kick out of the English expressions I shared with him, such as boot and bonnet for a car’s trunk and hood, mate for friend and bobby for policeman.  We spent a lot of time one morning volleying funny phrases back and forth (“Hey mate, get off the bonnet and call the bobby!”)

This book was a big hit as well.  I read it to the boys, a chapter or more a day, while we sat in the pickup line at ds2’s school every afternoon.  Not only did it teach them a lot about castles and knights, but it was a great story that kept them on the edge of their car seats.  :)

We also used these books for our research.  Love, love, love Usborne books!  On our final day we had a little tea party and stamped our passports.  This was a fun study and the boys (and I) learned a lot.  :) Next stop…France.