Fun Friday: Dad's Day Off

 Today we were going to go on a field trip, but we decided not to because of the rain.  It was also Jay's day off.

 He took the kids out to lunch so I could get some work done.  I'm not sure, but I think I might have been even more excited than the kids were.  Obviously I was enthusiastic about the idea if I took a picture of them backing down the driveway.

 I snacked on the Mitt cookie Jay brought home for me last night and got to work on an article.  The rest of my afternoon was filled with cookie dough, apple butter, and baked potato soup.

This evening Jack showed off his hula hooping skills.  He can even tell jokes while he's spinning it around his neck.  I told him he was Branson bound.  After that we watched a movie--it was going to be Babe until I realized we didn't actually own it, so we ended up with Swiss Family Robinson.  Have you watched an old Disney movie lately?  They are so. so. long.  It was good, though!

Happy Friday!

Science With Dad

 This year Jay has taken over science instruction.  Jay has a microbiology degree, so he's spent a lot more time with a microscope than I have and is much more scientifically-minded than I am. (I'm not sure that's an actual word, but spell check isn't marking it, so I'm leaving it.)

True Microscope Story (Yes, I have a microscope story.):  When Jay proposed, he gave me a ring, but he wanted to be sure I really wanted that ring, so we spent a day visiting jewelry stores.  At one place the guy wanted us to look at the ring under a microscope (since we know everyone's going to be looking at your ring like that) and told Jay, "When you look in there, it makes things look bigger!"  I tried to contain my laughter at the look on Jay's face and now I feel compelled to explain that microscopes make things look bigger any time I see one.  You know, just in case they didn't cover that when he was getting a degree in using a microscope.  And I kept the original ring.

 Jack has made some great drawings and they are going to make some of their own slides.

 To learn about the scientific method, Jay modified an activity from the chemistry unit study at Homeschool Share.

 Jack had several different labeled boxes that each contained a different item.  He could shake the box, smell it, listen to it, read the labels, etc. to try to figure out what was in each one.

He recorded his data and made some guesses.  He really enjoyed it and learned a lot!

(If you can't tell by these pictures, I don't always enforce hair combing on days we don't leave the house.)

This week's post at MetroFamily is all about team teaching!

The Pumpkin Patch

 We had beautiful weather today and Jay got off work early, so we went to the pumpkin patch.

 The hay house was still a big hit.

 Jack really liked feeding the animals.  Unfortunately, a goat bit Alice.  Yes, that's the same child who was stung in the face by a bee and ended up with cactus needles in her rear end the last time we took a road trip.  She's going to start refusing to go anywhere with me.

 She got brave and tried it again--thankfully with no more bites!

 Time for the hay ride!

 Alice loved the pony rides.  She literally tried to jump off the step ladder onto the pony.

 Picking out pumpkins!

Happy fall!

The Kitchen is Open

The Grand Canyon, June 1994

The Brainerd Family

Unless you've known me quite a while, you might be wondering what these two pictures have to do with each other and what either one has to do with cooking.  For four years, I paid for choir trips (to Washington, Oklahoma prisons--really!, Alaska, and California) by selling homemade cookie dough.  My parents and I spent many, many evenings making huge batches.  How huge?  When I asked my mom for her peanut butter cookie recipe, it was for six times the normal amount.  I had to cut it in half because I don't own any bowls that big.

What does that have to do with the Brainerds?  Ami and Jason are the owners of Homeschool Share, and if you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know how much I love the resources there.  Of course, I could be a little biased since I also write for the Homeschool Share blog, but really, HSS is such a wonderful (FREE) resource for homeschooling families.  But I digress (as I often do).  

The Brainerds are in the process of adopting a sibling group of three from Colombia.  If you want to read more about the specifics, you can read this post, but let me share with you one huge detail about almost any kind of adoption.  It's expensive.  Crazy expensive.  And you can help them by eating cookies.  After 18 years (yes, I'm old!) I'm opening the kitchen back up to help the Brainerds raise money for their adoption fund.

What are your choices?

For $3.50, you can buy a pound of peanut butter cookie dough or a pound of snickerdoodle cookie dough.  If you buy two pounds of either kind (or one of each), it's just $6.

For $4.00, you can buy a pound of chocolate chip cookie dough or a pound of oatmeal cookie dough.  If you buy two pounds of either kind (or one of each), it's just $7.

For $4.50, you can buy a pound of chocolate chip with nuts or a pound of oatmeal with nuts.  And guess what?  If you buy two pounds of either kind (or one of each), it's just $8.

(And you're not limited to just two pounds.  Buy four.  Or six.  If you'll buy it, I'll make it.)

All of the dough is homemade and will be delivered to you frozen.  The chocolate chip cookie dough is frozen into a bar so you can cut off a little (or a lot) at a time and put it back in the freezer for later.  All other kinds of cookie dough are rolled into balls, so you can make just the right amount.  All profits will go to the Brainerd's adoption fund.

And if you don't like cookies or you don't like my cooking or you're on a diet or you live in another state, you can still help out.  If you visit Ami's blog you can donate with PayPal.  If everyone who read this gave just $5, it would make a huge difference!  If you do like cookies and you live in the Tulsa metro (or the OKC metro, if you don't mind waiting until I make a visit), please email me or send me a message on facebook and I will be glad to bring them to you!

Please consider buying cookie dough--it's great to have in the freezer for your family to snack on and is an easy way to bring homemade treats to get-togethers.  I cannot tell you how much Ami has given to so many and this is a wonderful chance to help her out, too, because this is such a huge task to tackle alone.  And really, how many times do you get to feel good about eating cookies? 

Happy Weekend!

 Jay had to work Saturday morning, but we still had a nice weekend.  The kids played, I made cookie dough (come back here in the morning!) and in the evening, Jay and Alice watched Cinderella for their first Daddy-Daughter Movie Night.

 While they were doing that, Jack and I watched the first three episodes of the new TMNT series.  (Have you read this article yet?  You should.)

 Today we went to my mom and dad's for Sunday dinner for the first time in three weeks!  On the way, Alice kept talking about how tight her seat was--and it was.  And it was filthy after two and a half years of road trips and errands and we could not get the cover off to wash it.

After dinner Jay and I went to Target and came back with a new big girl seat!  She was just about as excited as Jack was to move out of the little seat.

I hope you had a great weekend!

Fun Friday: Nothing Much

 Alice did a little dance this morning about learning letters.  It was mostly a stay at home day, catching up on school stuff and housework since we've had something out every single day this week.

 Around noon, though, we got a call from the bookstore that Jack's order was in, so we made a quick trip to town.

While we were at the bookstore, Alice noticed a Corduroy book and toy set.  Both of my kids have LOVED Corduroy, so I said yes.  When we got home she wanted to show Corduroy (she says it Cohdaroh since she can't make the -oy sound) the Corduroy movie.

A few links:

Check out the Adoption Auction over at the Homeschool Share Blog!  There are some GREAT prizes you could win!

This week's post at MetroFamily is about election activities!

Happy Friday!

Artist Study: Andy Warhol

 Our first artist of the month for this school year was Andy Warhol.

 As usual, we loved the Getting to Know... biography.  We also watched the DVD version of it, which was slightly different from the book.  I also love the Great American Artists for Kids book--so many great ideas!

 We checked these books out from the library but didn't read all the way through them since much of the content was similar to the other book we read and the Dropping in on Andy Warhol DVD we watched.

 Both of the kids enjoyed these books, which were written by Andy Warhol's nephew.  (I think that as soon as I type in "Artist Study" for the title, Blogger decides how many pictures it will rotate.)

 Alice enjoyed this book, too.

 We did this Handy Andy project one week.

 

 I painted around the edges for Alice and she was able to do the rest all on her own!

 

 I love how these turned out!

We talked about how Andy Warhol painted things he saw around him and I asked Jack to think of something he would like to draw.   He decided on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and asked if he could do a repeated image like Warhol did but with different colors--which he did in each turtle's color.  I was impressed!

We didn't get to many projects because September was a crazy busy month!  I think I am going to switch the day we do it on so we can be sure to get more in.  Check out my artist pinboard for more ideas!