Nature Studies

We have decided to do a tree study a while back and never got around to it. This week we finally did it. I made a notebooking page for our tree study and that is what we used along with the book Handbook of Nature Study. We still have to do one more thing. I want them to take the boys outside to do a tree rubbing but I'll wait till the mosquitoes die down some.
I loaded up those pages on the Homemade Homeschool group. Along with the following one about hummingbirds.
Since we have had a ton of hummingbirds at our house I had to make a notebooking page for them and read up on them.
As you can tell these pages are pretty easy for the kids of all ages to do. I want them that way because I do have a little one and then the older ones. Even if you don't have hummingbirds you can still read up on them and have some nature time with the kids. Did you know that a hummingbird nest is about the size of half a walnut? Amazing isn't it!

Amazing Find!

A Word of Caution: If you are not interested in seeing something that has a forked tongue STOP now and turn away. hehehe

Most of you know by now that if it comes too close to our house that we will catch it and observe it for some days. hehehehe We have our empty aquarium ready for that purpose and today was such a day. Now introducing our new find.........

It is a hognose snake. The boys were all excited and wondering if it was poisonous or if it would bite. Of course, I had to find some information about it to be sure. Our trusty resource online is wikipedia. So we read up on him and then came across another page thru wikipedia. You have to go to this page and read a little about him then go to the bottom of the page and see the video.
This is truly an amazing snake. This snake hissed at me when I was trying to pick it up. It also flattened his head making it look like a cobra. I'll have to try to see if this snake will "play possum" with me. hehehehe
I also added another generic notebooking page here and to my sidebar that you can download and use it when you observe anything that crosses your path like we do.

Can you believe I talk that much?

Can you all believe that I, me, by myself have posted 200 posts? Do I actually talk that much? What in the world do I have to say? hehehehehe Well, stay tuned for another scary, squirmy, slithery post. Have you all guessed already?

I just can't help myself. hehehehee

By the way, I added a Picture Study page if anyone is interested.

Interesting Creatures

For the past couple of days we have been watching hummingbirds out our school room windows. They are so fascinating to watch zoom by. They do actually zoom by. You can hear them. I went outside to watch them and actually had to move out of their way because they would go so fast I thought they would hit me. I'm sure they know better but that is our normal reaction when we see something coming at us that fast. hehehe
If you click on this picture you will see not one but three hummingbirds at the feeder. There was one male and he was very aggressive in defending "his" feeder. He would perch on top and not let any others come to feed on it. He would attack them and was very vocal in his intentions. I never heard a hummingbird call before so this was a treat.
Now this has been very distracting for our normal school work because when we see one zip by we run to the window to see if they are on the feeder or the tree. We looked up some information in the Handbook of Nature Study on pages 115-117 and found some interesting tidbits. Do you know how small their nests are? I was totally shocked. It said that they are about 3/4 inch in diameter and 1/2 inch deep and covered with lichen. It also mentioned that they usually attach the lichen with silk from spiders or caterpillars. How smart these birds are!

My Baby's 1st Bible Reading

6yrs old and Aaron had his first bible reading today. It can't get much nicer than that. Talk about a nervous mom. Whew!! Glad that is over with. We worked on that reading for about 2months and he did great.
Doesn't he look like a big man? Wish you all could have heard it. There were lots of ooohhhhhs and aaahhhhhhs. hehehehe
His new school book and his first counsel. I can't believe he is growing up.
Of course, his favorite part of today was the cake and fun afterwards. I can't say that I minded too much the chocolate covered strawberries. YUM!! Really wish you all were here for that.

Art Fun

The boys had a fun time at art class. Can you tell by the look on their faces. I can never take a picture of my middle son without that look. hehehe Today they learned about shading and shapes. I am so glad that this class is only for our kids. That way there is no holiday stuff to deal with. I didn't realize how many kids we have that homeschool here in our town in both english congregations. I love it!

We Headed for the Hills

This is where we stayed. It was a log cabin/home. It had 2 bedrooms and one of the living rooms was another bedroom too and it had two bathrooms which I was very grateful for. More on that later.
We went outside when I felt ok enough to venture outdoors and took a picture of my mom racing my baby. Mom wearing flip flops, my baby in sneakers....baby 5, mom 70....hehehehe, guess who won?
These were the ugly clouds in the direction of Houston. We were heading home which was NOT in that direction.
Can you see the long road home with the long line of cars heading back home? It was going fast, at least.

Now about me being sick....we went out to eat at a cafe in the town we stayed at. (Should have stayed in the cabin and cooked.) That soup I had was good but not good afterwards. I started getting stomach cramps while out in town. I told hubby we needed to get back fast. We got back and I went to bed with bad stomach cramps. Not Fun!!! Needless to say I was in bed most of the time we were there and the rest of the time I was very glad there were two bathrooms. The little time I spent outdoors, I felt very weak and when I did get back indoors I went straight to bed. So even though we were at a very nice cabin I didn't enjoy it much. Too bad, cause there were some neat things to do but I was afraid to go out and then need to run looking for a restroom.

So there is my not so fun story of our adventure with hurricane Ike. We got home to no rain but had a few branches down. Small stuff. Anyway, I just hope everyone is ok in Houston. I'm sure hubby will be busy with the RBC in the coming months.

A Left Curve

Life is happening again and we are preparing for this hurricane. I hope it doesn't give us a direct hit but then I pray it doesn't hit anyone else. We have been thru one hurricane which was a category 2 almost a 3. We might stay put for this one too so let's see. I'll try to keep everyone up to date as long as I can.

Amazing Clouds

I was out as the sun was setting and loved the way it looked outside so I got my camera to take some shots of the clouds. There was an orange glow.
Amazing looking clouds! Some with that orange glow and some that were darker and........
Have you ever played that game with the kids to see if you could see an animal or a familiar figure? Well......what do you see in these clouds?

Do you see two faces? One in the background and one kind of laying and orange looking. I'm glad I was outside and was able to take these. I just can't believe I took these pictures at the right time. So leave me a comment and tell me if you see it.

P.E. Time

It was too hot to stay outside too long but they did stay for a while and rode their bikes. They were all red and hot. hehehe So they came indoors. Don't you think my baby needs a bigger bike? I do!
We also have a few flowers left. This is one of my favorites. It smells soooo good. This year has not been the greatest for our flowers. Oh well, maybe next year.

First Day of School

Well, today was the first day of school. We took pictures and here they are. This is the oldest. Doesn't he look older?
Then comes my middle one which is so handsome. hehehe Don't tell him I said that.
Last is my baby. He is so excited to be doing 2nd grade math. Don't ya just love that smile?