Kirsten & Kirsten

Which is the real girl and which is the American Girl?

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Jesus' birth today with an angel food birthday cake, candy cane candle, and egg nog ice cream (a blend of the meaningful and the timely.)

ICE!

ICE! The Opryland version, of course! After being inside the 8 degree building, the outside temperature of 50 seemed more like a summer day! We had a lot of fun, and no one got hurt sliding down the ice slide!

Happy 50th Birthday!

Today we had the final celebration of Eddie's (November 13) 50th birthday, as his gift, a pellet stove, was installed. It looks great, cranks out the heat, and will be forever a remind of this special occasion!

Emily is Baptized!

Got the Fever

Daniel got the fever for a four-wheeler! Emily posed for this shot after riding as a passenger in the front, but Daniel did all the driving he could (with help from Grandpa Euel, of course.) Grandpa Euel and Grandma Wannie are Eddie's "other parents," as we call them, with a ranch in the mountains of NM.

Part four in the series on our trip to see family and friends in TX/NM last week.

Carlsbad Caverns

We took a side trip to Carlsbad Caverns on the way to visit other family. Considering that our last science class was on caves, this couldn't have been more timely!!! It was great to explore with only a few other people around.

Part three in the series from our trip last week to TX/NM.

Our girls

Second in the series from our trip to TX/NM last week.

Swimming is Grand...

with our kids, friends, and grandson!

Part one in the series on our trip to TX and NM last week....

Christmas Program

Emily was part of the dance routine and Daniel played 3 Christmas songs on the fiddle.

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

On Thin Ice

We went ice skating this week with our co-op and had a fantastic time! Daniel and Emily figured out how to spin on one skate -- I can't even do that!

1-2-3-1-Awesome

1-2-3-1-Awesome is the phrase Daniel says when he sees certain times on the digital clock -- on the hour, or 11:11, 5:55, etc. Interesting.

Colonial Occupations

As part of our co-op history class, Daniel and Emily have been learning about colonial times. As a final project, each child presented about a colonial occupation.

Daniel was a cabinet maker, and he served as my apprentice while making a cabinet for our doll house. It turned out really cute, and he was a confident presenter this morning, smiling the whole time.

Emily was a printer/binder, and enjoyed making letter stamps and stamping out words and phrases. She was nervous about presenting, but did a really good job.

I am glad that they were both assigned jobs that we could do a hands-on project with at home, and that they liked it.

I watched all the kids present, as they are the same kids I teach in Science. It was so neat to see them!!

Happy 6th Adoption Day!

Eddie Turns 50!

This handsome boy (pictured here with his Granddad) turned 50 today!

Emily Turns 7

Emily turned 7 today. Thank you, Birth Mother Natalia, wherever you are.

Emily asked to start the day opening presents in her bed, and we were happy to indulge. We had pancakes and sausage for breakfast, pizza, popcorn and birthday cake for lunch while watching Barbie's Magic of Pegasus, and we are going out for dinner before gymnastics class.

It is an interesting age. She wants an American Girl doll, says she is too old for baby dolls, but is perfectly tickled to get the the My Little Pony "Baby Bella" (as she calls them) from her brother.

E's Birthday Party

E's 7th birthday party theme was Littlest Pet Shop. We decorated treat bags with LPS stickers, played unwrap the package for LPS critters, colored LPS pictures, ate LPS cake, and played musical chairs.

It was a lot of fun!! Emily wanted to dress up for the party, and have her hair up in a bun, which she likes for special occasions. Some friends couldn't come, but we had a good mix of family, neighbors, co-op, and church friends.

Finally Fall

I really missed the cool crisp clear days of fall in October with all the rain we had. November has sure started out nice! We've enjoyed bike rides, visiting the park with friends, and just generally enjoying outside play at our house. How lovely!

Blustery Day

Halloween

Soldier & Pocahontas

Best Ever

Today's Science Projects

Separate salt from pepper:
http://www.andybrain.com/sciencelab/2007/11/25/how-to-separate-salt-and-pepper/

Lift an ice cube with a string:
http://www.sciencefair-projects.org/physics-projects/lift-an-ice-cube.html

Ben Ten Went to the Pumpkin Farm

Circus peanut cut in half, stuck together with a slice of gummy worm, rolled into a ball, toothpick to make lines, gummy worm slice stem.

Photo Fun

I read in Family Fun magazine about putting colored sticky notes over your camera's flash to create colored photos. We tried it today.

Purple and blue were my favorites:

Sad Dog

While petting Koko, our 11 year old black lab, yesterday, I felt a lump. Took her to the vet, he did a needle aspiration and found some cells he didn't like. We had the mass removed today.

She came through surgery OK. She has to wear the collar for 7 days until she gets her stitches out. Pathology results will take 7-10 days.

Right now she just wants a drink, and can't have any until the morning. She also has that post-surgery odor.

I have to add this photo from better days:

Beach Houses and Ballet Footsteps

The kids are usually crabby when we leave co-op on Fridays.

They got re-energized back at the house. Daniel made a beach house out of Keva Planks. Emily wrote two songs, The Wind and Ballet Footsteps. The Wind initially sounded like the Theme from Twin Peaks meets George Winston. Ballet Footsteps is the video clip below. She initially was teaching it to Daniel, but then decided she didn't want to.

Science Lessons

We did a couple of fun things for science today -- fireworks in a glass, and color collisions.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2077266_make-fireworks-glass.html

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crafts-by-type/educational-craft-activities/science-projects/a-mad-scientists-blast-706339/2/

Kentucky Down Under ... as in Australia

We had a great day at KDU today. It was damp, and chilly, but we made the most of it! I still think it is amazing to find a piece of Australia in Kentucky, USA!

My favorite part was bottle feeding a lamb. The kids loved feeding the lorakeets and parakeets as much as last year. We got a much better pet of the kangaroos this year than last. Watching the kids milk the cow was fun, too.

Two Years - Photo Comparison

My, how they've grown in two years!

Give-Away to Bring Freddie Home!

http://lyndishupp.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-first-give-away.html

My friend Lyndi is trying to raise money for the adoption of Freddie, by her family or someone else's. She is doing a weekly give-away for anyone making a donation that week.

This week the give-away is what I'm making, so please help her out! And stay tuned for future weeks!

Good Family Time

We got to do a lot of things together as family this week since Eddie unexpectedly had the week off. We are trying to pack in some good memories, as he will be heading to Equitorial Guinea, Africa, next week, for SIX weeks. 44 days....

Hiking at Fall Creek Falls