Cute Boys

My Fingertips Are So Sore!

The really hot glue gun worked for the pinecone wreath! Of course it looks a little off center in the picture, but that's ok. My fingers are sore from handling so many poke-y pine cones and I went through almost *80* gluesticks for this project. Each cone took at least one gluestick! Seriously, they don't make hot glue guns like they did when I did such crafts before.

The wreath was supposed to go on Percy The Shed, but I don't have any confidence that this wreath will hold up to wind, rain and snow. So it's hanging outside the kitchen door where is scares us when we walk by, thinking it's a burglar outside. This wreath COULD be used as a weapon- it is so heavy and sharp!

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.” – George Washington Carver

HT: thatmom.com

History Lesson Gone Wrong

Question from Hope's book "Mystery of History": What are the names of Adam and Eve's children?

Hope's answer: Slim

We have work to do.

And today, Winter Days, apparently

What happened to Fall?

Baby, it's cold outside.

Fall Days

Balloon Boy Tweets

SpunkyHomeSchool linked to tweets about "Balloon Boy" this morning. I clicked over and posted a few of the good ones:

#Balloonboy just received the Nobel Prize for Physics! He didn't go up in Balloon, but was THINKING about doing it.

Breaking News: If this story couldn't get more bizarre, it's just been announced that Obama was awarded a prize for rescuing balloon boy.

And my personal favorite:

Beyonce to #balloonboy family: "If you liked him then you should have put a string on it."

Job Update

After months and months (and years) of a less than ideal job situation, Brian met with his boss today to ask to be transferred to a different department within the company. This would mean that he would not be working for the manager who has caused so much strife and hopefully put him around people who are more appreciative of his skills and efforts.

The downside would be that he wouldn't be working closely with his good friend anymore, but they could still meet each other for lunch sometimes.

The tech job market is still bad here, so changing departments could be the best solution for Brian right now. We are mindful every day that there are those without employment and we are grateful for this job.

Fall Projects

While at Hobby Lobby the other day, I found a few "fall picks" that looked like they went together. So I made a wreath to replace the rather anemic one that hung there before. The anemic one looks better on the china cabinet anyway so she is not offended by the demotion.

The wonderful geraniums that graced the urns this summer have been replaced by pumpkins and leaves from the maple tree (courtesy of Hope). The front door wreath has also benefited from Hobby Lobby's bounty in the form of faux berries.

The kiddos and I are trying to make a pine cone wreath but the pine cones won't stay glued on. I tried googling "pine cones won't stay on wreath" but just found tutorials on glue-gunning on pine cones, which as I said, wasn't working for us. Sigh. I sure don't want to wire on a hundred pine cones!

And Hope is greatly enjoying all the silver and gold glitter we bought to decorate Christmas ornaments. The *whole house* now glitters, especially the kitchen table.

*Photo taken on the last day of summer*

It's a foggy day outside my window. Yesterday I sat in the sun for awhile and I loved soaking up the warmth, knowing that winter is on the way. It's getting near the time for the peak fall colors, so I hope we'll be able to take a drive to the mountains soon. We don't have many trees close by, so our neighborhood color is limited to the sagebrush which turns red, yellow and orange.

In our classroom, we finished our study of the Middle Ages and are now moving into the Renaissance period. After the Renaissance, my history lesson plans stop, so I should probably figure out what happens next.

Jacob's new science textbook is slated to arrive this week. He's in sixth grade but the book is the 8th grade text. You can guess what his favorite subject is. If he only liked writing half as much as science, we'd be in good shape.

Hannah got her ACT test results back and they were high enough for her to meet her graduation goals. They were not high enough for her to qualify for the "big" financial aid awards at the colleges we checked, so she wants to retake the test and see if she can do better. She plans on re-taking geometry with the "Math-U-See" curriculum (her original geometry was taught by a local tutor using a different method) not for school credit, but to help her on her college entrance tests.

Looking at colleges takes me back to the time when I was Hannah's age. Today there are so many more options for higher education that it can make the prospect more daunting at times. I would like Hannah to take some Bible and English/Writing classes and she is anxious to investigate Art classes. We are praying for wisdom for this next year as Hannah weighs where (and how) she would like to further her education.

Abby is thinking about writing an essay for an online publication. She is a good writer and thankfully, she has a sister who can help her with her spelling (that dyslexia, again!). I am excited to see her motivation for stretching herself academically. She has recovered from her flu and thankfully the rest of us didn't get it.

Hope is in third grade and loves all her subjects. She has been the easiest to teach so far and she reminds me of Hannah in her independent way of studying (plus a little of Abby's drama thrown in for good measure). I don't know what we would do without this little firecracker of a girl in our family!

Looking forward to a quiet week of schoolwork and fall walks in the neighborhood and the nearby park...