January 2010

Happy New Year!

For Christmas my husband bought me the Star Wars trilogy (yes, the ones from the 70's and 80's) only they've added some scenes to the new DVD's. (Slightly off-putting to those of us who were very used to the original, but also cool with the new scenery.) The kids have shown a lot of interest in the movies, so we've spent the first part of January 2010 experiencing Star Wars again, for the first time. August got a lot of the action figures for Christmas too, so we are re-enacting parts of the show too! All Star Wars, all the time!

Today I did kick my kids outdoors despite the cold. We got super bundled, checked for eggs in the coop and spent a little while playing a very unusual version of capture the flag (or yellow boot in my case). The chickens don't seem to mind the weather, except that they can't get out of the coop (they really don't like the deep snow) and their water sometimes freezes, despite twice daily water changes.

Bret is away at a conference this weekend, so I decided I needed a painting project. The next room on our project list from last year is Katie's. So I took on the closet. It was a dull yellowish color with brown trim. It is now white and fresh and clean. Yay! Tomorrow afternoon I plan to put Katie's room together again and get her help with sorting and removing some toys to send to Goodwill. We generally try to purge toys before or after the holidays to make room for the new acquisitions. :-)

We haven't had our New Year goal setting/planning meeting (sans enfants) for 2010 yet. I'm hoping we'll find time to do this, if only for the good feeling we'll get from crossing off the things we've gotten done. Of course, we'll also be confronted with the goals we have completely forgotten about or abandoned. But, perhaps we'll get some new energy to tackle projects that seemed overwhelming before. Well, Happy New Year to all of you! I wish you success in reaching the goals set before you!

May the Force be with you! ;-)

The Christmas Tree Hunt!

It's become a new tradition. Every year we go to a nearby tree farm in mid-December to select the sacrificial tree which will adorn our living room for Christmas. I am in charge of the final selection, however I generally choose trees which will not fit in our living room, so I rely on my wonderful hubby to tell me if they're too tall. I love the free cider, and the beautiful wreaths (I often buy one for the front doorway).

Lest you feel we are wasting valuable trees by using fresh trees and cutting them down... The tree's life does not stop there. It is stored in the back "40" until the following November for a special purpose. Then on Guy Fawkes Day (also Bret's birthday) we burn the lovely dry ex-Christmas tree. This serves several purposes: it celebrates a birthday, remembers Guy Fawkes Day (which we learned about while living in Labrador), and gives my husband an opportunity to express his pyromaniacal tendencies in a socially appropriate way! :-)

Our First Christmas Band Concert

August's Christmas Band Concert was an eye-opener! The fifth graders played first, then the sixth graders and finally seventh and eighth graders together. It was really remarkable how much the students learn in the course of those few years. Each group did really well! You can check out the video to see how things sounded!

School Christmas Program

Katie marched in with the other second graders. She got to carry in one of the christmas trees that helped to tell the story about the christmas tree that didn't feel very important (because she was small and not very fancy) but became a very important tree in the end.

I always cry at school programs. I don't know if it's just because I'm a pathetic emotional crybaby, or if it's because I'm sad because my kids are growing up so fast. :-)

Fall Leaves

These are happy memories now. Fall at our place is busy with LOTS of leaf-raking, lots of outdoor work, and this year--a fair amount of lawn mowing. We had beautiful days interspersed with rain until the end of the fall and, of course, our acre of lawn was green and growing!

Bret spent some time reducing the leaves by shredding them in our shredder/chipper. Don't worry--he is still quite far from the blades. Does look scary though!

This is what our fifth grader looks like on most evenings during the school year. Every night we have at least 1 hour of homework. He also has to read. He points this out often and uses it to justify the sometimes 3 hours of reading in the evening! :-)

Here's my puppy. Schwarz is about 5 1/2 years old now. He stopped chewing furniture and shoes and slippers after about 2 years. We are enjoying our middle-aged dog.

Harvesting Chickens

WARNING! This blog is not for the faint-hearted. Vegetarians will not understand. If, however, you enjoy a good spicy chicken wing...or you crave chicken and dumplings...if you have a soft spot in your heart for teriyaki chicken on the grill...AND if you understand that chicken (what you buy in the store) and chicken (that says bok, bok) is the same thing...go ahead and check out this blog entry... :-)

What we didn't expect is the many partially formed "baby eggs" that one chicken might have (up to 7 or 8) of varying sizes waiting to be ready to lay!

We felt very farmer-ish, harvesting some meat for the winter. Our process was planned out in advance (thanks to good advice on the internet and in a book on homesteading we had at home). It went very smoothly, although it took pretty much the whole day to butcher 14 of our chickens!

It was a good learning experience and we were glad we did it. The chickens went right into the freezer, except one which waited in the fridge to be dinner the next day. I was pleased at how humanely and kindly we treated the chickens. Bret made fun of me for singing to them so they would be happy up till the last moment. But, I think it helped them--and me--remain calm and peaceful! :-) We don't know if we would do this again. But, I think it gave me new respect (as a meat-eater) of the process of how food gets to the supermarket. (The kids were away at school--although they did know what we were doing.)

Sorry about the pictures--I entered them backwards for some reason! Wasn't sure how to switch them around and since I'm sooo behind on my blog entries, I'm hurrying! :-)

Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

Rendezvous with a Comet...
These Fifth Graders were put to work today. Their assignment--Rendezvous with a Comet! They spent half their time in Mission Control and the other half travelling into space to intercept a comet. While on this dangerous and exciting mission they managed to "discover" a new comet which they named Holmes2009 (after Mrs. Holmes, their mighty leader). Above, August is recording data about some meteor samples and using the information for further discovery.

Oh, no! The humidity in the space capsule is decreasing--causing static electricity. August suggested that if someone takes a shower that would increase the humidity. ;-) Instead they use a humidifier--a little better for the computers in the room!

Below the kids are in the space shuttle. August's job was to weigh some meteor samples and use a robotic arm to move the rocks onto the scale. He then needed to record the data and give it to the Data personnel

All in all a successful rendezvous! The kids really enjoyed the opportunity to learn about space and to be in command of the vessel. It was totally up to them to work toward the goals of the mission! August enjoyed the robotic arm! They had to learn words like eccentricity, velocity, ellipse, coma, among others. A great learning experience. It made me wonder if I'm smarter than a fifth grader???