Pumpkins, 50th birthday and Camping

Halloween...is not one of our favorite times of the year.  We have never really participated in it and usually find other activities to do that evening.  That being said we have let our girls dress up in costumes at times and done activities such as pumpkin carving.  This year, they all asked to get pumpkins and carve them so after Daddy said yes, we headed to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin.  I just came to get pictures!

Kemie carved her pumpkin that evening as she was going to a carving/birthday party.  I was not able to get a picture of hers because it had turned black before I was able to.  Here it is lit though:

Can you guess what she carved?  A hint for you - there are dots between the carvings.  They just don't show up well in the picture.

The rest of the girls and Daddy carved their pumpkins yesterday.  They came out quite well!

 

G's

Hannah's

Abigail's

 Victoria's

Daddy's

Here they are all lit up!  Can you guess what they all are?

I also mentioned a 50th birthday.  Hubby's brother celebrated the beginning of his 5th decade of life this past Thursday.  His wife planned a surprise party for him so we, being 5 of us, headed down to the Tampa area to help celebrate.  The older girls were not able to go due to work and other activities.  It was sad not having them with us but on the bright side, we got to camp dog free!!

It was also a family reunion as dh's aunt and uncle also celebrated a birthday on the same day.  The uncle was not able to be there but both of his mom's sisters were there.  Below is the birthday boy with wife and MIL sharing a letter she had put together for him.  I wasn't able to get a picture of the birthday girl.

We took our camper and enjoyed a short but delightful camping trip.  We stayed at Hillsborough River State Park which is a campground we have enjoyed a few times before.  It was very quiet the first night but became quite busy the 2nd night.  We found time to take a hike Saturday morning before we left.

The girls even found a rock climbing wall!

Fall Fun

 So cooler weather has finally come, well at least what we Floridians call cooler.  At least the heat index isn't over 90!  Anyway, I went into my dining room the other day and couldn't find my table.

 

I did find the following note so I took a peek in...

  

 Definitely good and roomy.  I was going to crawl in and take a nap but some mini crisis or such took my attention and time so the opportunity passed.

With the cooler weather, G is going outside and playing more (thank you, Lord!)  She has a bow and arrow that she enjoys shooting along with chasing the chickens and pretending she is driving the tractor.  Give that just a few more years and you probably will find her driving it!

Last Friday, we took a field trip to a local crop maze.  No, I didn't spell that wrong.  You see, down here in Florida, corn doesn't grow the best (Ask me how I know that) so many places grow sorghum grass which looks similar to corn and use that for mazes. 

Amazing Grace Crop Maze is fairly close to our house which is a bonus and is new this year so we wanted to give them a try.  It was homeschool day so there were quite a few other homeschool families there. 

 

We met up with a old (as in years ago) friend who began homeschooling her youngest last year and added her other daughter this year.  Her son joined us that day as public school was also out.

 

 

We had a blast going through the crop maze, playing on a great playground complete with tractors to climb on, duck races with old water pumps along with swings, listening to a story and some history of farming and going on a hay ride.  I wasn't feeling the best that day but I managed to make it through.  G went home with her friends for the rest of the day and I went back to the house to sleep and lay around on the couch.  That is what I call a great friend!

 

 

Viva Mexico!!

It was crazy last week but I think I survived it.  We had our Apolojax meeting on Tuesday which is normally a long day but it was even longer last week.  Our good friends whose oldest daughter is getting married in December came in town from New Orleans.  I had to meet up with them Tuesday evening so we could tour the church for the wedding.  It ended up being a long night but enjoyable all the same.

Thursday was G's co-op meeting and it is my month to teach Geography.  Our family is doing Mexico!  G had made a salt dough map of the country.  Not bad for an 8 year old.

I decided to do a powerpoint to show some of the country's geographic features and history.  You should be able to see it below or you can download it as a .pptx file to watch with Powerpoint.  That way you can see all the little animations that were added.

Mexico

We also did a craft of making sombrero's.

Below are the items needed:

Paper plate (preferably all white)
Plastic cups (about 6 oz size)
Tissue paper
Tape
Crayons
Ribbon

I had the children color their plates with a crayon.  They then took a precut square of tissue paper, wrapped it around the cup and attached it with tape.  The bottom was tucked up into the cup.  3 pieces of tape were placed on the inside of the cup with the bottom part sticking out. 

You then tucked the tape under the cup with the sticky side facing down and set the cup on the plate. 

 We then added a piece of ribbon around the bottom of the cup.  You now have a completed sombrero!  Further decorating could be done at home.  The students loved putting them on their heads.

In science, they finished up the lesson on crustaceans.  For their craft, they made horseshoe crabs.

 

 The rest of the week was spent getting ready to help host a bridal shower.  I made some of the decorations along with the nametags.

 

This one is my favorite!  I love birds!!

 Sure am glad I have my Silhouette SD.  It makes projects more fun!

Links to photos in Powerpoint

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/1846361.jpg
http://imagine-mexico.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/viva_mexico.jpg
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/mexico/hidalgo-standing.jpg
http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/f168/t26103/
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-hernando-cortez-aka-hernando-cortes-everett.html
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f6/Storming_of_the_Teocalli_by_Cortez_and_His_Troops.jpeg
http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/mexico-spanish-conquest-granger.jpg
http://richard-seaman.com/Travel/Mexico/Teotihuacan/PyramidOfTheMoonFromPyramidOfTheSun.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_pyramids
http://www.mexicanheart.com/pyramids-in-mexico/
http://malinche.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Aztecs.jpg
http://historymartinez.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/fall-of-the-aztecs.jpg
http://www.globalsherpa.org/mayan-civilization-ruins-sites-culture-calendar-2012
http://www.robinurton.com/history/ancient/americas/olmec.jpg
www.edf.org/sites/default/files/slides/rainforest-bromeliad-minden-141530-718-377.jpg
http://www.americas-photos.com/mexico/images/iguane1.jpg
http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8188/8151178057_5766113cb5.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRefaRbAkQ5UkFElfMJGw7gYuVbGYRh1h36KjTPs0fQTO_i-qqaSA
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8320/8051156802_55acc4cbae_z.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig6c4tiw9fU79QvE1WAJceD8e8uTr1fDsA27WgRSIlczfvgXgYHGbWx7LmWHDDUAdZLwgzH-0uo62T0DikLm9RKahPlWuQ34uO6m774zjZ4twZDvpZHIozJGXVQdxTug8F64ocnyJ-ogYJ/s200/cactus_001.jpg
http://www.cabosanlucasbeaches.com/pics/cabopulmobeach_021635_r2.jpg
http://www.yucatan-holidays.com/yh/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/loscabosmexicanbeach.jpg
tp://traveltips.usatoday.com/DM-Resize/photos.demandstudios.com/getty/article/61/175/medwt35048_XS.jpg?w=560&h=560&keep_ratio=1
http://www.southdreamz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Chihuahuan-Desert.jpg
http://www.tomzap.com/man/FLIGHTtoManzanilloMTY-BJX03.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sierra.madre.occidental.volcanics.JPG
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQUVyvKyf66frt9M4b0zsDmg2ziwz3ejv1QWZ9MqWre2YBGO78KvaoJgFwHtpMYq0eyOg34LKpQZgh-WLrwZiBOeZMo_M_yL8BWknGjNVO-rUyrv9yx4BcnSCp_rr8Hs-cxmlVrvPCsVU/s640/6582672_f520.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Sombreros.JPG/800px-Sombreros.JPG