Tailgating...Military Day

My kids love tailgating with Jeff's parents and the rest of the family. They especially love it when there's something special going on, like military day. They got to climb on all of the military vehicles and see the inside of them.

Carter was the only one who wanted to do the rock climbing wall. He isn't going to turn down a chance to do rock climbing!Of course, the boys' favorite part of tailgating is eating the yummy chicken-on-a-stick that Jeff's dad makes for them! Patrick's friend, Tristin, enjoyed them as well. Madison's friend, Kaitlyn, also went with us.This was our last tailgating for the year. We have one more home game, but we will be out of town and won't be able to go to it. Thanks Mimi and PawPaw for a fun day.

School Stuff

Yes, we are still doing school :)!! I realized as I was posting yesterday that I haven't posted an update on any of our schooling since we started our school year. We started back about 2 weeks before going to Disney. It was hard to concentrate on school while planning our trip, but I knew that we had to. The kids are now in 5th, 6th, and 8th grades. Wow, that's so hard to believe.

Jeff was so sweet and had a basket full of goodies sent to us on our first day back to school.

We are continuing with Life Science this year. We have studied ecosystems, food chains, and pollution. Now, we have started studying the human body.

We tested rain water to see if it was acidic. I was surprised at how clean it was.

Then, we tested our tap water and found it high in chlorine but not overly acidic. Here is the comparison of the two of them together.

To demonstrate the food chain, we cut into an owl pellet and found bones and fur from the animals that it had eaten before it died. This was a gross, but fun activity. We are sure we found remains from two different animals...a shrew and a bird.
During our study of skin, we made a kit to take our fingerprints. It was interesting to see the different patterns on each of our prints. While studying transportation and assembly lines in Social Studies, we made an assembly line to build cars out of candy pieces. The kids learned how much faster it was to learn just one specific task to do over and over instead of making an entire car each time. The kids are all doing well with their book work. They are becoming more and more independent with their learning. I find that they retain things longer if they attempt to understand it by themselves first. I've been working towards this since I started homeschooling but have really seen it kick in this year for them all.

Art Lessons

Madison enjoyed her summer art lessons so much that we put her in a weekly class this school year. She is taking it with her friend, Emily. The great thing is that as she learns, she is teaching Carter. He loves his art lessons too :). Madison is excited about the possibility of putting her work in a gallery at some point through her art studio. Madison's workCarter's work

First Camping Trip In The New Pop-up Camper

Jeff surprised us last week by bringing home the pop-up camper that we've been thinking about buying. We love camping so much, but it's so much work with the tent. Also, we could only go in the spring and fall because of the heat and cold. Now, with the new camper, we can go year round. We were so excited that we spent the night in it the night Jeff brought it home...and the next night :). We took it to the state park last weekend for two nights. The weather could not have been more perfect. We enjoyed the camper so much and can't wait to take it again!

Halloween 2009

I loved Halloween falling on Saturday because we were able to have lots of friends over for the day. We made pumpkin shaped biscuits and orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then, Madison and her cousin, Bailee, made orange jello and poured it into skeleton head molds. After lunch, I gave them all stencils and stickers to decorate cards with. Afterwards, Madison helped them all carve our pumpkin. This year, we trick or treated with Bailee and Caiden in their neighborhood. After we trick or treated, we had frito pies with them. Jeff wasn't able to go with us because he had a fever and a sore throat. At least he was able to be home during the day when we did all of our other Halloween things. It was a very busy, fun day!80's Girl

I made a wizard costume for Carter.

DISNEY WORLD Day 6

Our flight home wasn't until 4:30, so we had time to go back to a park before heading home. One thing that we hadn't done at Hollywood Studios that Carter wanted to do was the Jedi Training Academy. Neither one of them got picked to go upon the stage, but they enjoyed watching and learning. Afterwards, Carter got to build his own double light saber. Patrick didn't want one. We did a few more things in the park then went back to the resort to have lunch before catching the shuttle to the airport.Carter got into a light saber fight with one of the green plastic Toy Story men.Waiting for the shuttle to the airport.Carter practicing some new moves with his light saber.It was sad to leave, but we were all very tired! I was so glad to be flying home and not facing that long drive. Even the drive from the airport home was hard!

Even though this was our third time at Disney with the kids, every time seems like a new experience. As the kids get older, the experience changes. I'm already looking forward to taking them back again.....I'll NEVER get tired of it!!!

DISNEY WORLD Day 5

We went to our first Disney waterpark with the kids on day 5. Jeff and I had been to Pirate's Cove before, but none of us had ever been to Blizzard Beach. It was so much fun to be in swimsuits surrounded by "snow". Carter and Patrick loved this thing. Carter had to do it until he could go across without touching the net.The ski lift was so much fun to ride....it took you to the top of the slides.

A very fun family ride!! I rode it with them then decided to get a shot of them coming down it!

More treats...we had the Disney Dining plan this year and ate so much while we were there!! I think Jeff and I gained about 13 pounds between the two of us even with all of the walking we did. I lost that and more after my surgery when I got home!!My new Tinkerbell backpack Jeff bought for me....I got so tired of carrying my heavy black one around!! Only at Disney could I carry a Tinkerbell backpack!!This is a sure sign that you have had a fun day!!! After going back to the room to change and rest, we went back to Hollywood studios....again! We watched another American Idol show....the finale of the day. Our pick won again :).Jeff bought Patrick another snack while Madison, Carter, and I rode the Tower of Terror.Then it was back to our favorite ride.....Rockin Rollercoaster!! We just couldn't get enough of it! We ended the day with one more snack. At this time, we were trying to use all of our meals and snacks since it was the last day we could use them. I didn't think I would want to eat again for a week!!!This was our last full day at Disney. We thought it was only right to end it in our favorite park.

DISNEY WORLD Day 4

I started day 4 with a classic Disney waffle...yummy! We started back at Hollywood Studios. There were still so many things we wanted to do and redo there.

Here's the Tower of Terror. I rode it for the first time....so cool!

When Jeff and I went to Disney the year after we got married, I got chosen to be part of the Backlot show. Well, I got chosen again this time :). I assumed with all of that gear that I had to put on that I would stay dry.....I was wrong!

One thing we love about Hollywood Studios are the little shows on the street...this one was so much fun.We LOVED the American Idol experience. We felt like were at the real one! It was fun to watch the singers...they had been through auditions all day long to get to this point. At the end, we got to vote for the winner. Our pick won :).I thought the Sci-Fi Theater was the funnest place we ate. We were in little cars like at a drive-in movie. They played little snippets of old horror films...not very scary....and had all of the lights out with stars on the ceiling. It felt like we were outside. It was so fun. Toy Story Mania was so cool. The ride was fun, but it wasn't all that it was built up to be. I did, however, love how the entire building was decorated with all of the old toys that I remember growing up with. Jeff beat us all in the game....well, for that matter....everyone beat me!!!Our favorite ride at Disney this year....ROCK AND ROLLERCOASTER!! We went back to Magic Kingdom in the afternoon to do some of the things we didn't get around to on the first day. Every time we go to Disney, there is one moment that I look back on over and over. This time it was riding splash mountain at night during the firework show. It was the magical moment of the trip for me. I love all of the parks at night anyway. That night we made it back to Hollywood Studios for the Fantasmic Show. We have seen it before, but the kids were very little and did not remember much about it. It's an amazing show. I think day 4 was all of our favorite. When I look at these pictures and all of the fun we had, it makes me want to go back NOW!!!