Saturday, September 27, 2008

Building R2D2

Thanks to a hot tip from Garhett and Jenny, I took the boys over to the Lego Store in Downtown Disney to help build a life size model of R2D2. First they received instrustions on how to build a brick.


Our finished product.


Next we showed our creation to a brick master who OK'd what we built.

Matthew and Justin took the bricks into the store and over to where the brick masters were builing the model. We got to watch them place the bricks they made onto the model. After they were placed on the model the boys received posters and certificates of completion.

We can't wait to go back and see what the finished R2D2 looks like.

We walked down to Disneyland and California Adventure to take a sneak peek at the Halloween decorations (our passes don't allow us to go in on Saturdays). I think I am just as excited as the boys are to go this week.



Justin wanted to eat the candy corn!

As we were walking out we were stopped by some cast members and were given the "Year of a Million Dreams" Mouse Ears. Yeah!!

L.A. County Fair


Rene took Thursday off (I think the hottest day of the week) and we went to the fair. Our friend Ann registered as a homeschool group and received free passes (including parking). Thank you Ann!

We had a blast! It's been a long time since we've been there. We checked out the Early California Heritage Exhibit where the boys got to mill corn, check out the schoolhouse (which has given me the inspiration to read Little House in the Big Woods to the boys), see how they panned for gold, and made horseshoes.

Next we went to the Kid's Zone. This building was neat! They had a room where you could build stuff with Legos, Lincoln Logs, blocks, and other fun objects. The fire safety room was cool. Firefighters were on hand to explain fire safety and to show us how to crawl on the floor if we see smoke. They were able to walk through a small room filled with smoke to practice. There was an art and bug exhibit too.




It was a hot day and to our delight we found out they had a winter wonderland building. Wow! The boys got to go sledding, have a snow fight, and visit Santa. At different times it would even "snow".




At the fair they had a program called "Read to Ride". Kids in grade school could do book reports and earn free rides at the fair. Matthew and Justin each turned in six book reports and earned nine rides each.


Once it cooled down we headed over to the barn to check out the animals. We watched the pig races and Matthew was picked to be the chearleader for the orange team. Matthew and Justin also got to try out their lasso skills. Matthew got the "calf" on his first try. Let's just say that Justin needs a lot more practice.




It was a great day and I am very thankful that we were able to spend the day together as a family.



Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Girl's Night In


Last Thursday I had the honor of hosting a Girl's Night In with some wonderful ladies. We got to watch a sneak peek at Lipstick Jungle, taste some yummy new flavors of Orville Redenbacher popcorn,enjoy a relaxing foot soak thanks to Selina and her wonderful Sensaria products, and treated with gifts from Maybelline Cosmetics. Here are a few pictures from our night:




Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Crock pot chicken burritos (or nachos)


This is so yummy! Our camera is broken so I can't take an actual picture of it. This is such an easy recipe and perfect for a busy day. I don't remember where I got this recipe but whoever you are thank you!

4 - 6 frozen chicken breasts
bag of frozen corn
large jar of salsa
can of black beans
taco seasoning and/or cumin

Dump everything into the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. The chicken will start to break apart when it's ready. You can serve on a tortilla or use it as a topping for nachos.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Justin and Angel

Sports class

Matthew and Justin are taking the EMH sports class again. Two coaches meet a group of us at the park on Wednesdays and teach a different sport each month. This month is soccer.

Story of the World

We are using Story of the World as our guide for history. I love these books! Instead of teaching history by jumping all over (US history this year, state history next year, world history the following year) it starts at the beginning. This year we will be learning about the Ancient Times.

Our first week we learned about historians. The boys are making their own history books and their first project was to be a historian. They gathered pictures, interviewed our family, and put everything together to develop a timeline of our family.

We followed that with learning what archaeologists do. Our friend, Ann, set up an "archaeological dig" in her backyard. The boys had a blast.


Our second week we learned about the earliest people called the nomads. We learned about how they lived, what they ate, and why they were called nomads. To see how nomads lived we did "cave paintings" with them. Our friend, Tara, made all the kids (we do these projects with two other families) prehistoric hunger's game bags. The early nomads would make these bags and go out and hunt for food (usually eggs, lizards, snakes, and fish). My kids found trash....figures!





This week we are learning about how they lived along the Nile River. We made a replica of the Nile River and planted grass seed. We than "flooded" the river so that it can water our seeds (just like the early farmers). We will hopefully remember to flood our Nile River every week and watch our seeds grow.



On Wednesday the boys will be at the park with our friends while I take my mom to the doctor. They will be making the white crown of the Upper Egypt king and the Pharaoh's shepherd's crook. I hope they take pictures!!!

Next week we will learn how the Egyptians learned to write. Stay tuned!

Our first day of school

We started school three weeks ago (so this is one of my excuses as to why I haven't been blogging. My other excuse....Facebook). So far so good, the students still like the teacher and the teacher still likes the students.

We are trying a different approach this year and using The Well Trained Mind as our guide. The boys and I are really enjoying it. We've been reading a lot of books and doing fun projects. I think history will be our favorite subject this year. I will talk more about it in another post.

Here are a few pictures of our first day:



Don't they look excited? I guess it didn't help that we had a late night at Disneyland.