Studying Clouds

This week in Science we are studying Clouds. After learning about them we did a cool experiment and art project. I gave them each their own cloud (cotton ball). We talked about how it felt and if it was heavy or light.

Then we dipped the tip of the cloud into a small bowl of water. We talked about how it felt now as it absorbed water.

Then we lifted it up to show what happens when a cloud gets heavy with water: it rains! They loved this and keep doing it over and over. It really helped them grasp what happens to a cloud when it rains.

So then Micah decided that we should try to add some food coloring to the water so we could see it being absorbed.

Then we used more cotton balls to make different types of clouds.

They crack me up because they are really into drawing arrows so there is no mistaking which word goes with which cloud.

Then I had them take an index card and draw the clouds with the cloud's names so we can take those with us in the car and identify the clouds we see. Yesterday we were able to do this and it was so cool to see the clouds we studied about, right in front of us!

Christmas Happenings

We have a tradition at our house on the day after Thanksgiving. No, we do not shop the crazy sales on Black Friday-we actually have never been to one!

We decorate for Christmas. I love how our house looks at Christmas. The kids love to help decorate the tree. They each have a box of their own ornaments. This was something that I had as a child. Every year my Grandpa and Grandma Vanderbilt would buy each grandchild a new ornament to add to their collection. Now my parents do the same thing for my kids. They love getting out their ornaments and re-discovering them each year! Naomi has a special ornament from Swaziland that she is showing in the picture.

We decided to make gifts for our friends this year but the gift we decided to make needed to be delivered on December 1st because it is a countdown to Christmas. Every night you eat one candy out of the jar and when they are all gone it will be Christmas!

Last year we also started a tradition of making an Advent Calendar. Go to Activity Village
to find the advent calendar. You click on the number for the day and then a page will pop up with something to print. This year the theme is ornaments.

It is fun to watch the string fill up. Each ornament is 2 sided so you can choose to do all numbers, all pictures or a combination of the two! Let us know if you try it out!

We LOVE Justin!

The REAL GUANTANAMO BAY!!

Quick Update

I feel like I barely have time to get on the computer lately. So instead of writing a long drawn out commentary on everything that has been going on I am going to just make a list! The list is in random order, in whichever way it comes into my mind!

• We had out first snow today that stayed on the ground!
• Skittles and Butterscotch, our 2 dwarf hamsters, got in a fight and Skittles did not make it. Jacob was devastated. Micah was too...
• Jacob picked out a new pet-a leopard gecko he named Arthur.
• Naomi has been having terrible flashbacks for about 2 weeks now. She recalls with vivid details what happened to her before we adopted her. She is terrified her birth mom is going to find her and take her away from us.
• The kids and I went to see a middle school production of Suessical and LOVED it.
• The boys and I went to the Harvest Crusade. Mercy Me was there!
• I have met a new friend and she has started coming to our church!
• The battery in Darrick's van died, Josh jumped it for us.
• Celebrated Naomi's 2nd Adoption Day with friends, pizza and ice cream cake.
• The police came last night. Our house alarm went off and said the downstairs sliding door opened. I grabbed the kids and locked us in my bedroom and waited for the police. They checked everything out and it was just a system malfunction.
• It is one month until my whole family is here for Christmas!!!
• Naomi has started going to counseling again at Bethany.
• I tripped over the kids mini trampoline in the dark and got huge bruises all over my body.
• Micah has been losing teeth like crazy.
• I attended the Everett Christian School Fall Auction and won tickets to a Viking Museum.
• I miss Darrick every day...

Micah's new pet

About a week after Jacob bought Skitttles, Micah decided that he wanted to spend his allowance on a dwarf hamster too. Welcome Butterscotch!

The boys have been taking their time letting the girls get use to them. They finally decided to try to hold them. Jacob was a bit nervous so he thought he should put some socks on his hands!

They are easy pets to have! The only one who does not like them is Oliver. He barks at them so we have to put him another room while the girls are out.

Their little tails are so cute!

Sesame Street:Song: I Love My Hair

Happy Halloween!

We actually celebrated Halloween last night with our friends, the Timmermans. Every year they take their kids around to trick or treat at all their relatives and they invited us to join in with them this year but first we made one quick stop!

We attended Trick or Treat on 3rd street, which we did last year too. All the stores in downtown Marysville open up their shops to Trick or Treaters. By the way, the boys were Lumberjacks and Naomi was Princess Tiana from the movie "Princess and the Frog".

Our favorite stop, of course, is the Dutch Bakery where they hand out candy and fresh baked Snickerdoodles!

Then it was on to meet the Timmermans and our first stop was Jenn's parents. We took pictures, visited and each kid got to pick as much candy as they wanted out of the candy bowl!

Logan was a monkey, Kayla was mustard, Hendrik was ketchup and their dog was a hot dog!

Our second stop was a quick stop to one of their neighbors. Our third stop was Jenn's sister and her family. We visited for awhile and each kid got a ziplock bag full of candy.

Our fourth stop was Jenn's Aunt and Uncle where we visited and each kid got another ziplock bag of candy. Her Aunt had snacks also for the kids : oranges (bless her) and juice.

Our fifth stop was Jenn's cousin Leroy and Tammy. Visiting, another ziplock full of candy and playdoh!

Our sixth and final stop was another of Jenn's cousin, who is also Naomi's preschool teacher. We visited and the kids could pick whatever they wanted out of their bowl.

All the families we visited all attend church with us so it was fun for them to see the kids dressed up.

By then all the kids were on sugar overload and tired. They each had an entire pumpkin FULL to the brim with candy!

So tonight we are just hanging out and handing out candy! Happy Halloween!

Skittles

When the school year started, we also started a chore and allowance system. Jacob decided that he wanted to save his allowance to buy a pet one day while we were at PETCO. He fell in love with the dwarf (Djungarian) hamsters he saw and set that as his goal.

Yesterday was the big day, that he had enough money, to go get his pet. I have to admit, it is super cute and he named it Skittles.

Jacob has the most tender heart for animals and he adores them so much.

Chickens

I truly believe that Homeschooling is about way more then just teaching my kids to read, write and do math. I try to take every chance we get to teach the kids about the world. I seek out opportunities for them to experience new things first hand.

We were invited by our friend Debbie, to check out and feed her neighbors chickens. They have them for pets. At first the kids were unsure but after awhile they were having so much fun that they didn't want to leave. We were able to hand feed them, touch them, and hold them.

Micah was especially fond of one of the babies named Penguin. He sat on Micah's lap for a long time. It was enough to convince Micah that he wants a chicken.

We had such a great time and learned a lot.

Happy Fall from the Hays Family

Our Frogs

We really love our pet frogs. We started out with one-Yoda. We now have 5. We have found them in the yard or the park. Their names are Hopper, Joe, Lily and Princess Ruby. We have just been learning how to take care of them for the past few months. Now the boys are working on bonding with them and taming them.

Robothon

Saturday, the boys and I, attended Robothon at the Seattle Center. We had a great time checking out what people made and trying to work some of them ourselves.

The boys with their new friend Peter. His family invited us to this event.