Basketball player, Man with the Yellow Hat, Ninja, Fairy
This one deserves a close up shot. (consume credit: once again my resourceful mother is the heroine of the day.)
Neighborhood Pals
Monday, October 31, 2011
Buddies
This is Caleb’s friend, Adam, whose family came over for lunch on Sunday. Don’t be fooled by the sweater vests! They are wild Indians together in the nursery.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
North Georgia
Today the kids and I and a friend enjoyed an outing to Blue Ridge and Elijay.
What’s a visit to a quaint mountain town with out a little fudge?
The kids took turns viewing Amicalola Falls through this telescope, then we hiked to the base of the falls to view it up close.
Pumpkin shopping at Burt’s farm.
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Side note: Meg and Nate have accumulated a little money through allowance, acorn collecting, birthday gifts, etc. It is entertaining to see how they handle their newly acquired wealth. Among other things, today they funded their own telescope viewing, purchased their own pumpkins, and (they’re currently on a benevolent kick) also bought mini pumpkins for Kate and Caleb.
Nature Walk
On Tuesday Meg and Nate presented their Roman speeches at a homeschool group Social Studies Day. Then we took a picnic lunch to the Autrey Mill Nature Preserve and walked through the woods. Nate was stepping across some stones in the creek when he looked down and saw a snake. I’m not sure but I think it looks similar to pictures of a Northern Water Snake (non-venomous).
Botanical Garden
Last week friends from church generously gave us passes to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. I wouldn’t have guessed fall would be such a nice time to visit, but we spent a wonderful five hours enjoying the pleasant weather and beauty of God’s creation.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Family Reunion
Over Columbus Day weekend Erik took all the kids to his family reunion in Michigan while I stayed in Atlanta to attend a women’s conference (and I had a whole day ALONE in my own house—extremely enjoyable and productive! Thanks Babe!) Everyone had a great time at the reunion. Here are a few photos taken by Erik’s cousin Kali.
Sand dunes at Lake Michigan
Game night
Good meals
Movie time
Fall festival
Deer sighting
Family time
Craters and concrete
Since much of Mercury is covered with craters, our astronomy text recommended a crater experiment. We took a bowl of flour out to the deck and dropped rocks, marbles, and balls from various heights into loose and packed flour, noting the various diameters, depths, and shapes of the craters. We spent a pleasant 30 minutes on this activity and then Meg and Nate recorded some observations in their notebooks.
Then (and sorry I don’t have a picture of this) they asked if they could play with the flour. It really does feel nice to sink your hand down into the cool powdery dust. A few minutes later I looked out and water was being added. My better-judgment-sensor sounded a warning alarm, but I snoozed it because they were playing so nicely together and besides they were outside. Next time I looked, the tables were lined with dough balls and a solar oven was being constructed for a little al fresco baking. By late afternoon Caleb had joined the project and there were smears of goo hardening all over the railings, gate, chairs, tables, and swing set (not to mention clothes, hair, etc.) And that’s when I called game over.
We never did get to eat the “bread” since the oven became shaded and the bakers abandoned it and I think the sprinklers gave it a good soaking early the next morning. I half-heartedly hosed off part of the deck but it was too late to clean it up with a quick squirt, and I wasn’t in the mood to chisel, so I tried to ignore it and hope for rain. We did get a few light showers, but I think my mom, whose spiritual gift is cleaning, scrubbed the rest of it away when she came to visit the next week (she also cleaned the green house from top to bottom, and the refrigerator, and whittled away at the laundry and the mending pile…)