Cutting Firewood

     This year, instead of trying to find someone nearby that has wood that doesn't cost a fortune to burn in our little woodstove/fireplace, we got ourselves a permit and went and did the work ourselves. We've already gone once this fall before it snowed, but we wanted to get another load of firewood since it was a nice day on our day off. So, we drove up the the forest, and got to work. The boys love doing it, and have a blast lugging logs out of the woods! I remebered to take pictures this time, so I figured it was worth a short post so people could see them. :-)

Leaf Glitter and Handprint Turkeys

     We've done a few craft projects lately, and since we were sending them to people as surprises I didn't want to post anything until they got them! Now that everything has arrived, I figured I'd share these, at least for next year since they're really cute ideas.

Leaf Glitter:

One day while we were at the park, (of course this was while it was still really "fall" and there were leaves on the ground instead of snow...), and there were a bunch of really pretty red leaves. I had seen the idea on Facebook of doing leaf glitter, so we collected a bunch of them to take home and use. I put them in a container and we let them finish drying out before we crunched them all up and made leaf glitter. So, when we started the activity I told them they should pick out different shapes, like leaves, a pumpkin, you know...something "fall", and I will draw the shape in glue and they sprinkle the "leaf glitter" on the glue, knock off the extra leaves, and then let it dry. Well... instead of wanting to do fall shapes, they wanted things like circles, triangles, a W, Pacman, and even a smiley face... so we went with it...lol! They had fun, and did a good job, so I figure that's what matters anyway.

Handprint Turkeys:

     I wanted to do something fun for Thanksgiving, so I went with an art project that we'd never done before; Handprint Turkeys! They're cute, the boys get to paint, and they make fun little gifts/surprises. So, I found a template on Pinterest and got to it! Here is the link to where I got the template if you want it: http://littlegiraffes.com/teaching-ideas/385/thanksgiving-turkey-art-activities-and-crafts/. I painted their hands the first time to show them what we were going for, and then they took over. Some turned out better than others, but they did great and didn't turn my kitchen into the Paintpocalypse so no complaints here. Now, the really fun part is that when they were done I took a picture of two of them to see the completed product... and somehow the picture magically disappeared from my phone. Ugh. But I have a picture of them before we put the beaks and eyes on and wrote their names. I think you'll get the point anyway, and the link above shows you the finished product a bit bettter...haha...oy. Anyway, here you go! 

Celery Rainbow Fish Art!

      I was surfing Pinterest one day when I saw a really cute idea for a fun art project; Celery Rainbow Fish! The basic idea is you take pieces of celery and cut them into short sticks that you use to dip in different colors of paint in order to make what look like fish scales. It's a really cute idea, and a good way to use up some of the last celery we have that we picked from Miller Farms a few months ago. The intention was for them to actually try to make them look like real fish scales do... but honestly I like how they turned out this way too! They had a ton of fun doing them (which is what I'm REALLY going for), and they are colorful and pretty. We sent our beautiful works of art to some people we love, and we hope they love them too! If you want to see the original Pin where I got the idea from, here is the link to the site: http://www.craftymorning.com/celery-stamping-rainbow-fish-craft-for-kids/

Camping/Archery Trip

Last week we decided to go camping for one last time before it got too cold, so instead of doing the normal beach trip to the lake at the campground (it was closed for the season... and brrrrrrrrrr anyway...) we decided to let the boys try their bow and arrows at the archery range by the campground instead. We found the bow at a thrift sale for $5 last year sometime, and it's been sitting around waiting for the chance to use it. We bought a few cheap target arrows to go with it and we were ready to roll. We went once, the day we arrived to see how they liked it... and they LOVED it! They actually did a really good job with it too; I was impressed for sure. They ended up loving it so much that we went back the next day again instead of going fishing. They are already looking forward to going again soon!

The boys also had a blast during this trip because; A. There is a park RIGHT next to the camping spot we always try to get, and B. There was another family next to us camping with 3 other kids their age that homeschool! They were SO excited! LOL! I only took pictures of the boys at the park since it's always weird to creepily take pictures of kids you don't really know... but the point is they had a blast. :-)

Kindergarten Book List

     I think I've mentioned in a few posts about the ridiculously long list of books I wanted to read in Kindergarten, and how I got through most of it, and I'm finishing it up this year before I start on the ridiculously long First Grade book list... Anyway, I kept a list of all "my" books that I read with the boys this year. Now, if you remember, by "my" books I mean the ones that go in "my" shelf on the bookshelf. It's books that I've chosen either before going to the Library, or while we were there. If it wasn't a book based on a TV show or superhero; I included it. Well, I finally got around to taking my list and making it into a bunch of jpg images so that other people can enjoy some new, different books for a Kindergartener or even younger! If you have any questions about a certain book, or the list at all, feel free to ask! There are a lot of great ones on here, and many I'd never heard of before! Enjoy!

Twin Test Kitchen: Apple Pie

     We were looking through Pinterest for new meal ideas (and what I really mean is I was looking for meal ideas when the helpers came along and saw food on my computer screen....haha) and Wyatt saw an apple pie. Immediately he remembered that he had wanted to try baking a pie, and I had told him we'd made one in the past. So, of course now we HAD to make a pie!

     After we got all the ingredients from the store, we organized our ingredients from the recipe I found and got started. We, and the recipe I used, decided to just go with a frozen pie crust, especially our first time. I can't imagine the three of us attempting to figure out how to make a pie crust... so I figured it would be much less frustrating, and probably more delicious this way. Here's the link to the recipe:

     First thing we did was get everything we needed out, and then I peeled the apples and cut the side of the apple off the core so the boys could cut up the apple into chunks. This was their first time ever cutting anything (butter knife of course) and they loved it! Plus they did a pretty good job!

After all the apple was cut up we mixed all the rest of the ingredients with the apple and put our pie together. Once it was baked it actually looked really good, and tasted good too! The boys learned that they don't like cooked apples, which pretty much ruined it for them, but Andrew and I thought it was delicious! :-)

Science Experiment: Acids and Bases!

     Wyatt asked if we could do a science experiment from his science kit, so we went looking for one that looked interesting. We settled on an acids and bases lab because we had all the materials, and it sounded like fun to pick out lots of different liquids we could test to see if they're an acid or a base. Now, I did my best to try to explain, at a 6 year old level anyway, what an acids and bases are, but, let's be honest, most of it was kind of like I was speaking Hebrew to them or something...lol! They do know that they've heard of acids, and that there's a scale of acids and bases, and that bases are sort of "opposite" of acids, and are at the other end of the scale. They understood as best they could, and we moved on to the fun! Here are some pictures of them testing out different liquids! We made an pH indicator with red cabbage powder provided in the kit, and got to work! I also included a picture of our chart we made (so charting was involved too!). Chances are not all the answers are 100% right, but we had fun, and they did learn something, so we'll worry about being correct with acids and bases in a few more years. <3

Library Days - 6/19 and 7/3

Here are the library books from 2 of the last 4 weeks... I always end up in such a hurry on library days that I end up forgetting to take a picture. When we come to the end of  Kindergarten when we start First Grade material in August or September, I'll put up a word file of all the books we read (that weren't superhero type books for fun) this year! It's so long it's crazy!

The boys really love the choose your own adventure type books, so we had Scooby Doo and Batman ones that week! Plus they think the Ducking book is hilarious so we had to get that for the third or fourth time. 

This week's collection of books is pretty small since it was 4th of July week! Still read some good ones though; with their favorites being the rock book, the ninja turtles and the Peabody and Sherman. 

The boys love to collect rocks, so when I found this book I knew they had to see it. They really liked it, and had it out comparing their rocks to the different types of rocks listed in the book, which is exactly what I had hoped would happen! I may even look for some more fun rock collecting books! Until next time! :-)