Gabe: Rat update

Yesterday I went into the bathroom with the rats. They did great. I loved it. Mario wanders everywhere. Luigi and Bowser climbed on me. The rats are doing good.

Daddio: Nice Win

I was in Court for three hours today waiting to make a ten minute argument, but it all paid off because I won the motion I was there for. It will make a big difference on how the case proceeds. It was a good day.

Avery: Sleep Over Plans

This Tuesday Lily and I are going to have another sleep over at her house. Here are a few of our plans:
sleep in the the school room
sew our Halloween costumes
sew clothes for our American girl dolls
and play Marco Polo
We have a lot more plans than that, but I don't feel like listing them all. We have to have it in the school room because we are going to be loud and we are going to laughing a lot. We are going to make Halloween costumes because it is almost Halloween. I am going to be an Elf and Lily is going to be an eyeball witch. I can't wait!

Mommio: Our Week

We had a great week- Avery even had an unplanned sleepover with Lily that went so well they will be trying it again this week. Gabe's had a long, exciting birthday week and we are all recovering from that! This week we are getting ready for Grandma and Grandpa to arrive and:

Monday- Roanoke Unit Study, music (recorder duets), art (clay relief portraits) and yoga with the Weaver's, chemistry night with Daddio
Tuesday- Nana Day, Connor neurologist check-up, Avery sleepover with Lily
Wednesday- book club (finish Midwife's Apprentice) and reptile projects at the Weaver's, afternoon school, D&D
Thursday- school, Roanoke Unit Study, Connor Teen Library League
Friday- park, house chores, Grandma and Grandpa arrive!, family movie night
Saturday- Inks Lake, Mikenna's birthday party, game night
Sunday- letterboxing or Witte Museum

Marney: Gabe's Birthday

Gabe's birthday is tomorrow. He made his cake at Nana's house. His cake is a target cake it broke in half. He said it was fun making the cake. Today he is going to sleep at 8 0'clock tonight because he is super excited about it.

Avery: My sleep over with Lily

The sleep over was awesome! We played store twice. In the game Lily was the cashier and I was the shopper. We switched places so that we could have more fun. In the morning we had to do school. But that was okay with us.

Rex: My Action Adventure Part 2

Hi there again it's me Rex. Yeah so I just found out that I have a new boss. I ran into the bathroom near the laundry room for that is where I heard a voice coming from. The voice says to me "come in here and I will give you your new mission." the moment i get into the bathroom I notice that the voice is coming from the toilet I ask "Is Kent the fish in there?" and then I started to think "why the heck am I, a very intelligent dog, talking to a toilet" and then the toilet speaks to me and said "there is no one named Kent here, pup. I am your new boss and no you aren't crazy I really am a talking toilet." I was confused. I mean why would there be a talking toilet? Oh i guess a talking toilet was not quite weird I mean I did fight a talking washing machine. The toilet talks to me again "you must defeat the evil vacume creature. In order to defeat it you must find sing songs from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory." Luckily my favorite book was Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. I run into the kitchen and here Avery, who was the panda in my last story because of the panda hat, is vacuming I leap at the vacume and miss. Then Avery pulls the plug out of the wall. the vacume starts napping. I attack it while it is asleep. it blows up and I report back to the talking toilet.

Mason: A Book Review

The Mouse And The Motorcycle
By Beverly Cleary

I read The Mouse And The Motorcycle. It has lots of hard words. But it is a fun book. It is about Ralph and Keith. My favorite part is chapter 6, the title is funny. It is called "A Peanut Butter Sandwich". Ralph lives in the Mountain View Inn. A boy named Keith comes to the Inn. Keith brings his toy cars with him. Keith goes to help unpack. Ralph gets on the toy motorcycle and rides around the Inn. At the end of the book Keith gives Ralph his toy motorcycle. I think that people should read this book.

Marney: A Story

The Poodle
By Marney

Once there was a poodle named Chocolate. She was brown. All the people liked her so much because she was so cute. Then one day she came to a dog. They had so much fun together that they lived together. But the poodle's owner was so sad because that poodle was gone with the other dog. Then one day the owner bought a new dog and it was brown too. But she didn't call it Chocolate she called it Cookie Dough. She loved her new dog and she decided to keep on walking her.

The End

Gabe: A Book Review

1000 Facts On Bugs
Edited By Barbara Taylor

This book is all about bugs. I like the order that it is in. My favorite bug is the rhino beetle because it looks cool. I think people who like science and bugs should read this book.

Kiki: What I Learned Today

I made a collage of chameleons. And I did a report on chameleons and I learned how they eat and talk. They talk by changing colors and they eat grasshoppers and other bugs by sticking their tongue out and catching it. I learned that they can move their eyes when in different directions when they are looking at something. They live in Madagascar.

Kiki: A Story

Marney: New Name

Now I am not called Marney anymore. I am called Alice, Alice Reese Jones. I want all of my friends and family to call me Alice for now on. Also when I post on the blog I will be posting as Alice. By.

Avery: A Book Review

The School Story
By Andrew Clements

I think that The School Story is an awesome book. It is about a girl named Natalie that wants to get her book that she wrote published. She gives herself another name so that people won't know that a twelve year old girl wrote the book. Her other name was Cassandra Day. Her best friend name Zoe was her agent. Zoe's other name was Zee Zee. At the end of the book everyone knew that Natalie was Cassandra Day and her book got published. Later Natalie and Zoe were super famous. I loved this book and I hope that other people will love it too.

Daddio: Bowling Update

I went bowling today and scored a 108 and 85. I'm really just bowling for fun right now because I feel like I can't do much on my technique using the normal "house" balls (the ones you use for free in the bowling alley). But that will all change soon because...

NANA GOT ME A BOWLING BALL!

It's an early birthday present, but it's pretty sweet. The Roto Grip Cell Pearl (pictured above). It will be hear soon and I'll be able to really start working on using proper form.

Thank you, Nana!

Marney: What I Did Today

I got my hair cut by Robin today it was really cool and it's like Kiki's. And we made a pinch pot it was really cool too. I love making pinch pots it is really fun to make. And my mom took a picture and Ava and Lily had a sleepover. And me and Kiki are having a sleepover.

Mommio: What We Did Today

Had the
lake all to ourselves!

Mommio: Our Week

We had a really busy, really fun week and we did everything we had planned to do and more. We got to swim twice this week (at the Slab and at Barton Springs) and are going again here today. We had a great field trip with homeschool friends, you can look at the pictures here. We finished our World Religions Unit Study and got started on some new ones. And no one was sick all week! Here's what we are planning for this week:

Monday- introduction to Roanoke Unit Study, music (recorder duets), art (clay pinch pots) and yoga with the Weaver's, chemistry night with Daddio
Tuesday- Gabe's Alone Nana Day/Night, Inks Lake swimming
Wednesday- morning school and book club (finish Midwife's Apprentice), afternoon school, D&D
Thursday- school, Roanoke Unit Study, Connor Teen Library League
Friday- school, Roanoke Unit Study, house chores, family movie night
Saturday- Gabe's turns 8!, birthday party, bow and arrow/slingshot practice, lake swimming
Sunday- yard chores, groceries, science (Wright Brothers)

Avery: What I Did Today

Today we moved a lot of mulch to the Japanese Yew. We had to fill up the buckets and then pour the buckets out in the wheelbarrow. Then Dad would pour the wheelbarrow out at the Japanese Yew. It was a lot of hard work. Also we had to weed our rows in the garden. My rows are the Zucchini and the peas. It takes a long time to do everything to our garden. Later we had to do some other chores like recorder, homework for art class, and our reading. I love doing work on Saturdays!

Marney: Book Review

Molly Learns A Lesson
By Valerie Tripp

Molly Learns A Lesson is super fun to read. It is awesome to read the book. It was awesome because in the book the girls had to make a blanket. They had to carefully put the blanket on the back of the couch so when they had to sew it back on they could just lift one part up and just sew it. People who like American Girls should read this book.

Kiki: Zilker Park

At Zilker Park I swimmed across the lake.

Daddio: We... have... TAHINI!

I went to Sprouts today at lunch with Scott, because he needed to pick some groceries up. I wanted to make a second attempt to find the elusive Tahini there.

Tahini is a traditional Mediterranean and middle-eastern cooking ingredient. Essentially it is sesame seeds ground into a fine, oily paste. From what I understand, it is essential to making your own hummus. I scoured our local Marble Falls HEB for it, but couldn't find it anywhere -- and I even ASKED someone if they had it.

So I went to Sprouts and immediately checked the most likely location: the "ethnic" food section. This is where they have the Asian fish oils and cooking sauces. Much to my dismay, they had pre-roasted sesame seeds, and tons of sesame oil in this section, but no Tahini.

Oh crap. I was convinced I was never going to find it.

Then inspiration struck. I thought, "I wonder if they keep it over with the pre-prepared hummus. Maybe in the deli section." I rushed to the deli and found shelf after refrigerated shelf of different kinds of hummus: roasted garlic, jalapeno, red pepper, etc. But no Tahini. Just as I was turning away, set on top of the refrigerated case... BAM... Tahini. I forgot that Tahini isn't refrigerated, so of course they wouldn't have it inside the refrigerated case. Five dollars and a short wait in the check out line later, and I'm walking out with my Tahini.

Score.

So fasten your seatbelts, toes, because this weekend we have a date with the Tahini, a can of Chick Peas and the food processor. Next stop -- Hummus Heaven.

Daddio: Why Mommio is Awesome

You toes have really busy lives. In the course of a day you have about a thousand things to do all day: school, morning chores, afternoon chores, reading, blogging, eating, and then finding time to do fun stuff like play outside, play electronics, or just have fun with your siblings. But it's a lot of work still, right? I mean, the day is pretty structured and it takes a tremendous amount of effort from all of you just to make sure you get it all done. And sometimes you do and sometimes you don't, but in the end you are all becoming much more responsible. I'm so proud of all of you for how hard you work and how much harder you've been working lately.

Now take all the work that you guys do every day. Not separately, but combined. Take everything that each of you has to do everyday and add it all up. That's like the work from one of you multiplied by eight, right? That's how much work your mom does every day... plus a little bit more.

Sit back and actually think about that. Everything each and every one of you does every day is something that she sets up-- either that day, or through the system she's created with the schedule. Do you guys realize how much work it is to just feed, watch over and care for eight kids every day? And that's not even half of what she does because then she teaches the oldest six of you on top of that.

That's a lot of work.

When each of you toes are done reading this entry, I want you to go find your mom and give her a big, long, tight hug and tell her how much you love her. She works hard for you guys and she like's to hear from you that you appreciate it.

Mason: What I Did Today

Today was a fun day we went to the Nature Center, we saw lots of animals. And we went to the dino ditch, we found dino bones. Then we went to Zilker Park. We had lunch then we played in the park. Then we got on a train. It was fun when the train went in the tunnel. Then we went swimming. The water was cold but we still went swimming. Zilker Park is a fun park.

Avery: What I Did Today

Today was exciting! The first thing we did is we went to the Nature Center in Austin. We saw bones and dead bugs and some animals. We saw plenty of birds and turtles. Some of the birds chirped a lot. After we went to the museum we went to Zilker park. It was very fun. All of us played tag and Kiki was it the whole time. It was hard to get away from her. Also we played on the small zipline that it had. It was small but very fun. After playing we went on the train. It was huge! Lily and I sat next to each other. The whole time we talked about Halloween and what we are going to be. I am going to be an elf and Lily is going to be a eyeball witch. After the train we went swimming in the lake at Zilker park. The water was super cold, but we still liked it. After a long time we had ice cream and went home. I love being with our friends.

Marney: A Story

A Girl Who Lost A Shoe

Kim was late for school. She could not find one of her shoes. She lost it because at night she was flinging them off. She had to go to the store to buy new shoes for school. She bought blue shoes. They had sparkles on them. Then she went to school. When she got to school everyone said ''Wow great new shoes Kim". Then the teacher saw the shoes and she said ''Wow''.

The End

Avery: What I Did Today

Today we went to Robin's house. When we first got there we went into the school room to eat muffins for breakfast. After breakfast we got to have book club. We are reading the Midwife's Apprentice. It is a really exciting book! After a little while all the kids went outside and took turns with Max in Lily's wagon. In the afternoon we went to the slab to swim. At the slab Lily and I found lots of clams. So now we are keeping our clams at our houses. I am going to learn about clams because I am interested in them. Later we had to go home. I love the slab.

Daddio: I'm a Bowling KING!

So today I went bowling again, and I'm doing a bunch of things to improve my technique. The most important thing is to move up to a heavier ball. When I started trying to hook (or spin) the ball, I went down to a light weight, 8 pound, ball. I wanted to just get a feel for it. Last time I moved up to a 10 pounds ball. Well this time I moved up to a 14 pound ball. I'm still not getting the ball to hook as much as I want it to (which means it curves out and then back in right before it gets to the pins), but I was happy.

On my first game, I had a lot of trouble getting used to the ball and bowled a miserable 53. But then I settled down and tried to adjust my technique -- specifically my approach (meaning how I step up to the foul line right before I let go of the ball) and my release. For the second game I bowled a 148! A 148! This is the highest I've bowled since high school!

I was very pleased with myself.

Gabe: Rats And Nana Day

Our rats are doing good. Mario is learning how to climb the walls. Luigi sounds like a monkey. Bowser sleeps a lot. We played outside a lot to day. We did art today.

Daddio: I've Neglected My Duties

There's a million excuses that we can use everyday for why we don't do the things we're supposed to: I was busy; I was traveling; I was sick; important things came up unexpectedly. But really those are all meaningless. I made a commitment to post on this blog for you little toes, and I've been neglecting those duties. In essence, all my excuses are merely that -- excuses. There's no good reason why I can't spend a few minutes on a couple of occasions during the week to post up my thoughts for you kids.

That being said, I apologize. I will begin posting up more and explaining my wonderfully complex observations on life to you on a more regular basis.

For example, I went bowling last week and forgot to report that my hook technique has gotten better with more scores in the 70s and 80s.

Another example, Mason was up sick last night and I stayed up with him until he fell asleep on the couch. Then Connor told me to go to bed and promised to watch over him for me. I thought that was a really mature and cool thing for Connor to do, and I really appreciated that.

A final example, we finally got to watch football this weekend when the Houston Texans hosted the season opener against the New York Jets. Gabe watched the first half before he had to leave to go watch Ponyo with Nana and the other kids in the theater. Even though Houston got their butt kicked and it wasn't even a close game, it was fun to watch football again, and even more fun to see Gabe enjoying it.

That's enough for now. There will be more of this posted regularly in the future.

Connor: Book Review

The Sea Of Monsters
By Rick Riordan

I have been reading a book titled Sea Of Monsters. I have just finished the book today. In the book the characters have to pass through a sea full of monsters just to find an ancient and powerful artifact. I recommend this book to those who love Greek Mythology. Personally I give the book five stars.

Marney: Yoga Pictures

I went to yoga today with Lily. We did poses like the tree. I love the tree because you stretch your legs. We did partner yoga too. I felt really good because we did the chair together, we did the tree together and we did one where we sit down and criss cross. We face each other and we twist our hands away.

Mommio: We're Not Learning Much

Last week I had a chance to ride in the car with Mason alone for a few hours and we had a really interesting talk about homeschooling. He was telling me that since we have not done much "school" lately (with people being sick) that "we are not learning much right now". It reminded me that from the kids perspective our homeschooling is so normal and so much a part of our daily lives that they don't see that we are learning all the time, even when we are not doing the sit down work that they consider "school". So, just for Mason, here is a list of what YOU are learning right now:

• all about Maine
• how to measure by cooking and chemistry
  
• geography through labeling maps and learning words like "cape"
• Spanish (wow- Mason you are doing so great with Spanish!)
• multiplication
• sequencing
• math comparisons
• how to navigate the internet
• how to take pictures
• public speaking (by running for house president)
• lots of problem solving skills through games like D&D
  
• spelling and phonics skills
• reading and sounding out difficult words
• all about religions
• reading comprehension
  
• all about reptiles- especially sea turtles
  
• how to use Powerpoint
• how to grow a garden and all the natural education that goes along with it: composting, mulch, mushrooms, bugs, watering, harvesting, etc.
• how to eat healthier
  
• all about acids and bases and how to safely use a chemistry set
• all about midwives and medieval village life
• how to make dioramas
• how to use clay to make pots, sculptures and reliefs
• how to play the recorder: including reading notes, keeping time and playing a duet
• yoga
• and so many more....
  

Mommio: Our Week

Continued sickness last week kept us from many of our plans, again. We did manage to get the garden all planted but had to cancel Max's well-check and our field trip to the Nature Center. The highlights of the week were Daddio going to yoga with us, Avery getting her ears pierced, starting our new geography study, finishing up our Buddhism unit and Daddio and Connor starting their Chemistry study yesterday with the real chemistry set. Here's what we are aiming for this week:

Monday- World Religions Unit Study, music (recorder duets), art (clay sculptures) and yoga with the Weaver's
Tuesday- Nana day, Connor dentist appointment
Wednesday- morning school and book club (Midwife's Apprentice) at Weaver's Bottom, afternoon school, D&D
Thursday- field trip with homeschool friends to Austin Nature Center and Zilker Park (trying again!), Connor Teen Library League
Friday- school, finish World Religions Unit Study, house chores, family movie night
Saturday- buddy day, yard chores, groceries, science (starting a unit on the Wright Brothers in preparation for our N.C. trip in December), family game night
Sunday- hopefully a lake swimming day (Nana and Popo's house), Gabe's birthday night out with Mommio and Daddio (going to see Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs)

Avery: What I Did Today

Today was buddy day. I was buddies with Connor. Connor is a great buddy, but he does sleep in late. Today we played on the Wii together. We played Wii sports. We did lots of tennis and some baseball and golf. My favorite thing that we did is we did Connor's chemistry class. We tried to make a burner but that didn't work good. I love buddy day

Daily Girl #54: Check This Out

Bug Anatomy By Avery

This week at Adventure Club we learned all about bugs. We learned about the bug anatomy. What I think is cool is that some bugs have compound eyes. A compound eye has plenty of lenses instead of just one. So if a bug looked at a leaf it would see plenty of leaves. Also their thorax is their main body and so is the abdomen. Their abdomen is mainly their stomach. Their thorax is where almost all of the muscles are. Another thing that I thought was cool was that beetles and roaches have a wing case. People might think that they don't have wings, but they really do! A wing case holds back their wings. All bugs have wings, some have four and others have two. I didn't know that butterflies had four wings, I thought they just had two simple wings. But I do know that flies and bumblebees have only two wings. One interesting thing about wings is that they don't have muscles in them. All of the muscles that helps them fly and crawl are in their thorax. They have no muscles anywhere else. Also I think that how bugs eat is cool. Butterflies have a cool way of sucking up nectar. They have a straw like thing that helps them suck up the nectar. A house fly eats leftover food scraps. How they eat is they have a sponge like mouth. It picks up food and water with the end of it's mouth then it spits it back up and then swallows it again. Mosquitoes suck up blood with these skinny and sharp things on the end of their mouth. A damselfly eats mosquitoes by using it's jaws. A leafcutter ant cuts up leaves and then lets mold grow over the leaves. Then it eats the mold. I love learning about bugs!

Daily Girl #54: Craft Corner

Pressing Leaves By Marney

1. Collect fall leaves in different shapes, colors and sizes.
2. Flatten and dry them over night between towels (or newspaper) and heavy books.
3. Old Method: Iron the leaves between two pieces of waxed paper.
New Method: Arrange the leaves on lamination paper and seal them.
4. Use your pressed leaves to decorate your house, make a leaf collection book or cut them out and use them for crafts.

Daily Girl #54: A Moment In History

A Moment In History: Attila The Hun By Connor

Attila the Hun was born in 406C.E, he was born in a part of Asia. His father was named Mundzuk and his mom's name is unknown. Attila's uncle Rugila,who was king of the Huns, died in 434 C.E. Rugila left the throne to Attila's brother Bleda and Attila. Attila and Bleda made deals with the Romans about hostages. They had many wars against the Romans and won most of them. Attila and Bleda were very scary from the Roman point of view.

Bleda and Attila waged war on mainly east Rome, but they also attacked west Rome. They were among Rome's worst enemies. Attila's empire included the country of Germany.
The Hunnic empire was very big and one of the many civilizations of barbarians in history. Attila the Hun and Bleda had been attacking Rome for many years.

Bleda died in a "hunting accident" arranged by his brother Attila in 445 C.E, Attila then ruled alone. Attila attacked Rome a lot. He took over much of the Roman empire. He never attacked the capital of Rome, which was called Constantinople. He captured Italy and because he scared away the residents of Italy, the residents founded the city of Venice.

He returned to his throne and he took a very short break from attacking Rome and Italy. Then he got a letter from the new west Roman ruler's sister. She said that she wanted to get away from her brother and she sent her own engagement ring to pay him. Attila the Hun mistook this for a sign that she wished to marry him.

He rode to west Rome and told the ruler that he wanted some of the empire as a wedding gift. The ruler was quite mad because his sister was going to marry one of west Rome's allies's leaders. Then there was a war with two armies against one. Attila, was not out numbered but he did only have one army. In the end Attila came out on top. Attila won the fight by killing one of the enemy's leaders. Days latter Attila died. Many think that he had choked on his own blood ,but others believe that he was killed by a traitor among his own men or that a Roman killed him. No matter which one is true, his own sons buried his body in a river bank. To this day no one knows where his body is. Attila the Hun is beleived to be realated to Gengis Khan.

Daily Girl #54: Question Of The Week

What is your favorite yoga pose and why?

Daily Girl #54: Fun Stuff

My Tie Dye Picture By Avery

Here is a picture that I like to call Tie Dye. I call it that because it looks like a tie dye shirt. How I did it is I colored the paper with soft pastels and then spread all of the colors around with my hands. Then I used oil pastels to make a target. I also folded the paper on the corners. It's my favorite picture I have ever drawn because it is really colorful.

Daily Girl #54: Special Announcements

Special Announcements By Avery

We hope that Nana and Gabe have a fun day on Gabe's alone Nana Day. Also I just got my ears pierced at Claires, in Bee Caves!

Daily Girl #54: Joke Of The Week

What did the alien say to the plant?

Take me to your weeder!

Daily Girl #54: The Zoo

Daily Girl #54: How The Garden Grows

How The Garden Grows:
Rain, Fall Garden and What's Blooming
By Gabe

We have been getting a lot of rain. It rains sideways here a lot. Our seeds sprouted because we got lots of rain. Today I checked the garden and one zucchini, some lettuce, a bunch of radishes and a bunch of broccoli have sprouted already. Also our jalapeno looks good because of the rain. My row in our garden is the carrot and radish row. That means I have to take care of that row by weeding it. I get to pick the vegetables in that row when they are ready to pick. My three favorite vegetables in our fall garden are carrots, radishes and lettuce. Here is some stuff that's blooming right now at our house: society garlic, pink and yellow roses, crape myrtle, butternut squash flowers, jack o lantern pumpkin flowers, orange honeysuckle, jasmine and portulaca. I like the honeysuckle the best because they have these cool orange flowers.

Daily Girl #54: Recipe of the Week

Cricket Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 12-ounce chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup dry- roasted crickets

Directions
1- Preheat oven to 375 F.
2- In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3- In a large bowl combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla, beat until creamy. Beat in eggs.
4- Gradually add flour mixture and insects, mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
5- Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
6- Eat and enjoy!