A little...decorating

Here we are the end of September. Again! It amazes me how quickly times goes. We started working on our Halloween decorations this weekend. We did a couple of things yesterday. Okay, one thing. We put Scully out on the porch. Scully is the name, John chose, for our new skeleton. He is sitting on the front porch in one of our rocking chairs. He likes to rock and wave at passersby. He is quite alarming.

Today the remaining decorations came out of the attic. Somehow I thought we had much more than what we actually have. We did a little more shopping today; John had a new idea for the living room, so we needed a couple of items.

John and the girls made a spider. We actually saw the idea in a magazine. John and I both loved it. The picture was a yard with a skeleton (standing), wearing a hat, tie and carrying a poison sprayer. The skeleton was surrounded by spiders, BIG spiders. We can't afford to do a swarm of spiders this year, but we are making seven (one a little larger than the rest, the queen I suppose).

Jesse has also been creative. She found another picture in the same magazine of decorated pumpkins. But they were not decorated like you would think. They were wrapped in fabric. Well, the picture was next to a duct tape ad, so we put the two ideas together. She found some great white duct tape with black mustaches.

Chloe has also been using duct tape. She came up with her own idea by making witch hats, with cardboard and duct tape. She even put one of them on our nutcracker. lol

Of course, John's Halloween town is back out. And again, two years in a row, it has a new home. I like where we put it this year because last year it was in the dining room. This year it is in the living room, so we get to see "live" with it. You know?

Anyway, John and the girls are working on the last project. They are sewing a curtain. Yes, John can sew. In fact, my sewing machine likes him better, everytime I try to use the tension is wonky. He won't change anything, just sit down, and it works perfectly. Of course!

I'll post pictures once everything is done.

Nothing really to say

I don't really have anything in particular I wanted to write about; however, I have a minute while the girls are working quietly. I hated to waste the time. ;)

We're doing well here. There is always something to do or somewhere to be, but life is good. This week we are attending another play at CCT, "Goodnight Moon". The girls are excited and Jesse keeps asking who all is going to go. I really don't know, so she'll have to see when she gets there. It will be nice to see Jim and Jerry again. It feels like an eternity since we've been. We'll be doing the CCT S.T.A.R. show in November. The girls are not performing, but they will be handing out playbills and I'm working the concession stand. We should have a lot fun doing it.

We are gearing up to paint the front porch. I admit I could put it off another year or so, but it is beginning to look pretty shabby. John is going to power wash it for us; the girls and I are going to paint it. I'm hoping this turns out to not be a bad idea. lol

Jesse is back at the library, but I have to admit it is just not the same. I'm still trying to figure out who is permanent and who is a temp. And don't even begin to ask me people's names...I haven't got a clue! The only good thing is school is back in session so it is much quieter than it has been. Of course, that helps Chloe to focus on getting her school work done, which makes my life easier.

What a week!!

We were out of school last week. Yeah, I know, "I thought you guys were just on vacation?" Well, that's true. But last week was the week we were going to go to Disney and John was off. We spent a couple of days at the beach. One of the best trips we've had, in my opinion anyway. We went to Donut Man, Ripley's aquarium, mini-golf (Treasure Island style), and, of course, a trip to the Disney store and Steak-n-Shake. Awesome!

We spent a few days working on the house and the yard. I admit I'm pretty happy with most of the outcome. I actually found homes for things that needed homes (well, most things) and didn't pile anything into a bag to stash anywhere. I still need to get to some grading; I'm still behind.

Today, we had a family reunion (my mom's mother's side). I admit it was a small turn out considering how large that side of the family is but it was nice to see some we have not seen in awhile. But this afternoon my Mom called to tell me we lost cousin Judy's husband this morning. We didn't know he had gone to Hospice (yesterday) until we were at the reunion today.

This week will be another busy week for us. We have our usual stuff: taekwondo, library, and schoolwork. We also have a play at the theatre and hoping to see Baby Smith, for the first time. We are all looking forward to the "extras" this week.

Lessons Learned

Today was our first homeschool zoo class. The girls finished the "homework", sent via email, and were very prepared for their individual classes.

Chloe's class was about feet. Well, it was about the prints animals leave behind. How scientist can tell if an animal is walking or running. What kind of animal (carnivore or herbivore) it is by looking at its prints. Chloe was very quiet in class today. She was surrounded by people she didn't know and her class was in the classroom (which we had never been in before). Mrs. G. realized this and picked her to answer a couple of questions. The first she didn't know. Mrs. G. was holding a hoof and wanted to know how we could tell the animal was a herbivore, something we have not covered in any of our science lately. The second, of course she knew, it was "what kind of print is this". A grizzly! That girl knows her bears! A question right up her alley. :)

Jesse's class was on conservation. And honestly it was not what I was expecting. We took a tour of certain animals around the zoo and discussed the variables that would dwindle the number of that species in the wild. Mrs. G. mentioned a few years back the lions in Africa were getting sick. I remember reading a article about it, but didn't know what had caused it. Today, she told us it was distemper. People were not vacinating their pets, the pets were spreading the disease to the wild African dogs and the lions were eating the dogs. The problem was eased by teaching people to vacinate their domestic dogs. It just shows that we really need to think of the chain of things. What we do, or don't do, really effects the world around us.

I learned that I'm going to have to figure out a plan for me to eat. There was suppose to be a thirty minute break between classes; however, we wound up with only about fifteen. We had time to eat a granola bar or a pack of crackers. But I was feeling awful by the end of Jesse's class at 1:15, fifteen minutes over. So, I before our next class I need to figure out how I can eat something before Chloe's class and before Jesse's.