Thank God I'm a Country Boy!

2 things for background:
1. Monkey has the deepest brown eyes you can imagine.
2. We just got one of those makeup mirrors that magnify everything.

Monkey - I was just looking in that mirror that makes everything big, and you know what I saw?
Me- What?
Monkey - Well mom, I am really a country boy. I was looking in my eyes and I saw a fence and a prairie. I really am from the country.
Me - Really? That is cool! (thinking to myself, ohhhh I can't wait to tell somebody that!!!) LOL!

That boy has my heart!

Puppy really likes TV, he has learned how to turn it back on, no matter what we do. He can plug the cord back in. He can find the switch on the power supply. He is very observant, and has learned how to do all these things. Therefore, anytime we turn off the tv, it is back on within seconds. See? He is very good at it.

Well, I have decided to really start reading with Puppy on a regular basis. He used to hate to sit still for a book, but now it is like it is a whole new world for him. I read Yellow Ball by Molly Bang to him the other night. He was enthralled. He loved to find the ball on each page. He especially loved to do some hand motions on each page. Then at the end of the book, he hollers, "Turn it back on!" I couldn't contain my laughter or my motherly love for him, as I read him that book 2 more times. Too precious!

Since that night, around 3 nights ago, we have read it each night. Each time, he says "Turn it back on!" I read it one more time. He can tell me the story now. It is amazing how much he parrots us!

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving filled with family and feasts. It was very relaxing and refreshing. Mouse had a great idea. She collected fallen leaves and other items to make a seasons wreath. We took cedar limbs and wire to make the wreath, then added leaves, berries and a deserted wasp nest. We enjoyed a long walk through the woods where we found deer rubbings and a rabbit.

We are so thankful for the beautiful world we have been provided by the Lord. We especially love the woods in Fall.

Yesterday Papaw shot an 8 point deer. We were invited to come see it, and ended up staying for a lesson in how to dress a dear. It was a little gruesome. Puppy was all good until they took the antlers off. Then he was sad they killed the deer. Mouse and Monkey enjoyed all of it. Wierdos!

It was a good lesson in providing for our family with wild game and a good anatomy lesson. Did you know that a deer does not have a ball and socket joint in their front legs? Only muscle joins the shoulder and leg. Pretty cool. We also saw what a bullet does to muscle. Pretty gross.

Annual FIAR Ornament Exchange

Here are the ornaments we made this year to exchange with other families from the Five in a Row Message Boards. The kids and I enjoyed our time together painting and visiting. We ran out of trains, and the local stores ran out of trains too, so we had to improvise with rectangles and make stamps. Our ornaments are from the book Mailing May. This was a book about how a little girl was mailed as freight on a mail train in Idaho that her uncle worked on. He delivered her to her grandmother's house in Lewiston Idaho. The cost was .53 cents. Very cute story.

These are the ornaments we received this year. These include the 2 we made and an extra from our friend Heather W's family. It was so fun to check our mail each day! Thanks FIAR friends!

Reading Made Easy - RIP

The other day Monkey came up and patted me on the back as he shook his head side to side. Very forlorn and sympathetically he tells me
"Well, Mom, too bad we don't need that Reading Made Easy anymore."
Me - "Really? Why not?"
Monkey -"Well, I just finished reading that book. (points to the Easy Reader on the table.) Now I know how to read, we won't need to do that anymore."
Me - "Oh yeah?"
Monkey - "Yeah, and I am so sad, because I am going to miss all that snuggling and reading on your bed! And I love reading those books with you!"
Me - "Don't worry buddy, we still have lots to learn about reading."
Monkey - Sighs happily. "Oh good!"

Nice Award

I got the Nice Matters Award a while back from my friend Heather W. Which is very nice!! So, I wanted to pass it on as it says to do in the rules from Bella Enchanted, the creator of the Nice Matters Award.

My nominees are:

Marcygirl: for her constant encouragement on this journey.

Jill: Well, we Texans gotta stick together, but also because she inspires me to love each of my kids with all my heart.

Shawn: For her incredible recipes and inspiration to make even an ordinary dinner, extraordinary!

Ivy: For her "Up and At 'Em" spunky funky attitude.

Shonda: She is the voice of reason to me in many times, and she always has my back! LOL!

Jessica: Her inspiring adoption story and sweet countenance is a blessing to me.

Jackie: She is the homeschool mom I want to be when I grow up. Thanks for all the great ideas.

I am thankful for all the wonderful ladies who support me in this marathon that is homeschool. I am remiss to only pick 7.

The Pumpkin Runner

We finished rowing The Pumpkin Runner by Marsha Diane Arnold illustrated by Brad Sneed. It was so fun. We spent two days on identifying Australia, and how Australia is a whole continent. We talked about how Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, so the seasons are opposite from our seasons. The kids love watching videos from United Streaming. We especially love the show from Animal Planet, The Jeff Corwin Experience. That man is simply hilarious.

We talked about using true incidents to create a good story. We looked up information on Cliff Young, the person Pumpkin Runner is based on. B-6 was especially sad to find out that he was eventually too old to run anymore.

One of our favorite activities was from the Identifying Places Through Famous Architecture lesson. We pointed out different landmarks on our map from the book, It's A Big Big World, and identified where they are located on the map.

We also put together a paper diorama from http://www.papertoys.com/ of The Sydney Opera House suggested by Holly from the FIAR boards. We found this landmark in several shows and movies we watched that week. It was so exciting for the kids when they recognized it!

Other topics we covered from the FIAR manual: Jeeps, disagreeable people, cheating, reactions, motivation for participation in sports, bragging, vocabulary, Metric System, hot air balloons,art: perspective. Common Sayings and their meanings.