Just a Post....November Arrives

Halloween has passed, full of fun and costumes and trick or treating with friends, and November arrived dressed in golds and reds, and rolling, gray skies. Daylight Savings has come and gone and the darkness is overwhelming and long. Mostly, the kids are inside longer and need more entertaining! WOW! The days do go on and on...;)
Halloween was fun and full of blessing and wonder. The weather was perfect, the friends were bountiful, and the costumes were easy and a pleasure. The kids had the week off of lessons and we spent a lot of time getting ready for our neighborhood Pre Trick or Treat Party and finishing making our costumes. We also spent some serious time cleaning the basement and going through summer items and throw outs.
David came to visit for a few days and it was lo-key and relaxing. We took the kids to Pizza Hut and had a feast-it was a hoot. David and Skye were vultures....The pizza was good;)
Work has settled and a sweetie pie friend of mine has entered the "management" pool...I think he can blow the lid off it, I hope he does just great;) Things have been "hairy" there though, with WAY too much going on...The whole point of the job was to avoid "bringing it home"...Ahem....
Things ARE good though, settled, calm....I have been laughing a lot, and Halloween simply made me giddy....LOL...
Curriculum planning for the next 6-7 weeks....off I go....

Heat, Chinese Food, Homeschooling and etc...

We are back from the beach-a full five days of temperatures of 105+, and 97% humidity!!! It was fun though, the kids got to spend time with their grandparents, and also got to swim A LOT!:) They spent most days at the community pool at my folks place, and on Wednesday we ventured into the insane heat with a trip to the ocean. The heat index on the shores of Fenwick Island State Park was 115!!!! My children and I are not much on sunbathing-my legs have not seen the sun in probably 8 years-and although we slathered on serious sunblock, we all got too much sun. I was under two umbrellas, with a shirt over my legs, and I still got crisp on my legs. My daughter and middle son look like lobster faces and are already peeling. It was FUN though:)
Vacations always bring out the kid in me. Last year, two months after major surgery on my neck, I decided to play tag at the lazy river in our hotel in Va Beach. My insane competitive edge kicked in as my oldest son, Jordan, almost caught up with me. I looked up and saw a small hole cut into the giant rock formation in the center of the circular river, and in one movement, jumped up and THROUGH it!!!! It was only about a foot wide and high, and I took all the skin off of my thighs!!! Then, in effort to get away from my daughter, Skye, I dove into the water and pounded my head onto a rock wall....It was fun though....Memorable to say the least.
This vacation had us visiting one of my favorite places on earth-Ocean City Maryland. There are rides there that I have gotten on since I was 10 years old-so that's.....31 years ago!!!!!!!! Yikes!!!!:) My favorite ride, The Himalaya, plays loud music and loops you round and round while the operator yells "Do you wanna go reeeeeaaaal fast????" and everyone screams....Amazing how the operator has sounded exactly the same for over 30 years!!! I got on with my two oldest kids a few times, screamed like a 12 year old and had a BLAST:) Nothing makes you feel young like screaming on a ride:) I also got into the ocean, which I haven't done in years. I was way out, over my head to avoid getting pelted by the gravel in the breaking waves. I talked my daughter into joining me, then we decided to try to ride in on a wave...We got TRAMPLED, tristed, turned over and thrown onto the beach!!! I was lying in the sand in my bikini creaming for my eight year old to help me up out of the pit of sand that surrounded me when I got hit again and again by gravel filled waves! I was yelling and laughing so hard I couldn't get up and ended up with about three pounds of sand in my suit. That was IT for me, and I spent the rest of the day trying to get sand out of my ears.
The kids did math the whole time we were there. My mom watched as I wrangled kids in and out of the shower and into clean clothes, sitting them down in various parts of her house with their Singapore math workbooks. My daughter threw her daily math fit, acting helpless, while I ran back and forth between showers, bathrooms, and mathbooks, and just shook her head at my patience. "They would have been in school YESTERDAY" she said over and over. I just laughed and continued my running back and forth.
We have been working on Math all summer, with the older two also working on vocabulary while the younger two continuing with phonics and reading. It is making me nuts though, just trying to get those few subjects done each day-the neighborhood kids are outside riding MY kids bkes and skateboards up and down our driveway and pounding on the door every 10 minutes. I cannot WAIT for public school to start back up...Of course, we may very well take off the month of September:) I need a few weeks of peace to get my head-and lessonplans-together.
I am working doubles all weekend...Gotta run:)

Crazed Weather in Bel Air!

This is a shot I took last Sunday morning-this WAS the roof of a local auto parts store! We had a storm, around 5:30am that morning, and while there were no reports of tornadoes, this looks as though it was picked up, crushed like a tin can and dropped neatly into the parking lot-insulation was hanging from the trees and power lines!
Two weeks prior we DID have a tornado about a mile from here. I was shocked-it was the third one in this area in 3 years. I read online that this section of Maryland has a 40% higher chance of having them!!! No Idea!!! My kids and I were in the freezer section of Target...The lights went out several times then stayed out...It was so dark and quiet-it was like death! No one made a sound, and then I said, "freeze-no one move" to my kids....A few seconds later my cell rings and I answer it-thankful for the light it gave! My mom-in Delaware was on the line and she asked where we were...I told her "Target"...And she says to me, as I stand in the darkness, "There is a tornado in Bel Air!!!" Needless to say, I had NO idea what to do, the thunder and rain were pounding so hard on the roof I couldn't hear myself think....Soon, the lights came on and we continued shopping....The sky was BEAUTIFUL when we finally entered the parking lot, all the traffic lights were out, and there were leaves and debris EVERYWHERE....
Crazy crazy Mother Nature...;)

"The Wind!! The Wind!!"

Today we starting building a weather station for our weather unit. Our first experiment was to make a weather vane out of straws, rubber bands, a pencil, a nail, and a piece of card stock. The boys put it together and took it out into the backyard as I looked on, camera in hand, doubting the experiment as the cards blew off and the winter wind whipped around the kids. The weather today is cloudy, very windy, and getting colder by the minute...

They set the weather vane up on the picnic table and waited for the wind as I tested the compass with my own directional knowledge. Soon the wind whipped through, the vane shook, spun a few times, and pointed to the direction of northwest....! The boys were excited to check in with the Weather Channel for the actual forecast proof....AND, it WORKED!!! The winds today are north/northwesterly at 11 miles an hour! We added the data to our weather charts along with the temperature and rainfall and diagrammed our findings in our science notebooks. Julian said it was "fun stuff school":)

Perhaps we should inform the Weather Channel that all they really need to study the weather are straws and rubber bands...:)