Connor: Happy All Hallows Eve

Hey there toes today is Halloween. I can't wait for tonight because I have come up with a great ghost story. I can't tell any of you yet because I am saving it for tonight. Enjoy this post and beware the ghosts and ghouls. Halloween is a great holiday. Mason is going as the red nosed reindeer. Avery is going as an elf. Gabe is a nutcracker. Marney is a Christmas tree. Kennedy is a candy cane and I think she will look sweet. Max is Santa Claus and Jack is a gingerbread man.

Mommio: What We Did Today

Today we went with Nana and some homeschool friends to see a play for young children called Farm To Market at the Zach Scott Theatre in Austin. It was really fun, all the kids enjoyed it. Especially the musical tribute to poop! I enjoyed the large puppets- especially the ants.

Daddio: Bowling was AWESOME!

So my scores at bowling today weren't exactly awesome-- a 102 and an 88. But what was awesome was that today, something clicked with my technique. I got a technique that was comfortable and felt right. And when I let the ball go, it would fling down the alley and start with a strong hook to the left (which is ideal in bowling-- you want the ball to almost go in the right gutter, then "hook" back towards the pins and hit the inside of the front pin). And by god, it happened over and over.

Now don't get me wrong- as you can see from my scores, it wasn't perfect. Now that I'm getting a good, strong hook it's throwing off my aim a bit and I have to make some adjustment. Thus, even though I got a lot more strikes, I also got a lot more gutterballs. But that's okay! I was so happy with how my technique improved, you would have thought that I bowled a perfect 300.

In other news, D&D night is tonight and I'm very excited because Marney is going to try and sit in and watch the whole session-- Connor's agreed to have her help him and roll his dice for him. It's especially exciting because if she can make it through two entire sessions, she gets to have her own character and join the group. SWEET!

Finally, everyone's getting wicked excited for Halloween. But I might be even more excited about the pumpkin carving. Everyone's picked out some pretty cool designs, and this is definitely going to be pretty spectacular when they're all lit up.

Marney: Halloween

On Saturday it is Halloween. I am going trick or treating. I am being a Christmas tree. And I am going to camp in my Nana's yard. And Kiki, Ava, Mason, Max, Jack, Gabe,
me, Lily and Elder are going to camp.

Gabe: Nana Day

It was Nana day today. Me,Marney and Avery played hotel. Max and Jack played with Mary. We had bubble pizza for dinner. Dad worked at home today.

Marney: Terrible Day

blah i had a terrible day. mom is mad at me.i hate gabe.Mom is mad at me.Mom is mad at me.Mom is mad at me.

Mommio: Letterboxing

Today we went to find a letterbox at a really amazing place out in the hill country in Johnson City. The place is called Benini Sculpture Ranch and it is a large family owned ranch (with beautiful views) created by an Italian artist named Benini. There is a gallery with amazing artwork and then huge sculptures all over the property. Take a look at the slideshow of all the art we saw today. There was one letterbox there found near a series of sculptures that represent fire, around a giant fire pit. The box was called Cock's Crow- after another sculpture by the same artist. Here it is!

Mommio: Our Week

Another really fun week was had! The weather has been just right to be outside enjoying ourselves and we managed to spend almost everyday outside doing something.... We moved art/music class outside on Monday, Tuesday Robin and I took time for a nice walk, Wednesday we were outside at Weaver's Bottom learning to plant acorns and playing in tons (literally) of dirt, Thursday we spent a beautiful day at the San Antonio Zoo, Friday was spent playing in the yard and basketball, Saturday we worked in the yard and today we went to a Sculpture Ranch. Hopefully the weather will continue for this week!

Monday- Roanoke Unit Study, music (recorder with Robin), art (silhouettes with Mommio), yoga, chemistry with Daddio
Tuesday- Nana Day
Wednesday- morning school at Weaver's Bottom (Doctor Dolittle book club, scooping out pumpkins, and much more), afternoon school
Thursday- going to the Zach Scott theater to see a play called Farm To Market, eat lunch and play at Zilker park, Connor Teen Library League
Friday- school, Roanoke Unit Study, house chores, movie night
Saturday- Halloween! carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, and backyard camping with friends
Sunday- finish up camping

Avery: What I Did Yesterday

Yesterday was chore day. It was fun, but some of it wasn't. We moved all of the mulch, from the mulch pile, along our back gate and the gate by our dog run. It took us hours to move all of it. At night Gabe, Connor, and I played Heroscape without dad. Gabe and Connor had huge armies and I had a small one. I lost and it was just Connor and Gabe playing. At the end Gabe won and Connor lost. I can't wait until next Saturday.

Connor: My Weird Dream

Last night I had a weird dream involving Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. In the dream George was getting mad at a raven. Then the dream changed and the new dream was like the Lost Colony of Roanoke. It was kind of cool because the colony was filled with dogs. There were also wolves in my dream and their packs surrounded the colony. This dream reminded me of the time I had a dream where dogs ruled the world and humans were their pets. Unlike in that dream I was the one who came up with the idea of a dog colony and the leader of the dogs. The dream was very wacky but very interesting.

Mommio: Group Zoo Shots

Mommio: What We Did Yesterday

We went to the San Antonio Zoo yesterday with some other homeschool families. It was a beautiful day and we saw everything at the zoo. We had three grandmas along with us so all the little children (and the adults too) got everything they could ever want out of the trip! My favorite part was watching the kids feed the birds...such great reactions. You can see all the zoo pictures in a slideshow here.

Mason: A Book Review

Runaway Ralph
By Beverly Cleary

I read the sequel of Ralph and the Motorcycle, it is a awesome book. Most of the book is filled with action and excitement. At the beginning Ralph is mad at his family and decides to go to Happy Ace Academy. And at the end of the book Ralph gets back to the Mountain View Inn and gets his motorcycle back. I think that people should read this book.

Max: A Pumpkin

I catch a pumpkin. A castle one. Other one pumpkin. There's two castle pumpkins.

Kiki: Halloween

When we go trick-or-treating we are going to get candy and we are going to have costumes. My costume is a candy cane. Marney's costume is a christmas tree. Max's costume is santa. We are going to go camping at Nana's house. The Weavers are coming with us and Levi and Mikenna. We are going to carve our pumpkin. Me and Ava's pumpkin is going to be a Lucy dog. And Marney's is going to be a vampire. Gabe's is going to be a pumpkin eating another pumpkin.

Daddio: Wii Night, D&D and Bowling Update

Three quick notes:

1) Last night was Wii night for older homeschool kids. So Connor, Mason and I went over to Nana's house to play Wii on her big screen television. Cameron and Isaac joined in. I was going to set up an elaborate tournament on Mario Kart for them, but right off the bat they all wanted to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Well, they played that for an hour and a half, laughing like crazies while pummeling each other on the game. The trash talking was excellent. They played Mario Kart for a bit and then went back to Smash Brothers. Two and a half hours later, the party ended and everyone had a great time. Thanks especially to Cameron and Isaac for coming.

2) Because Gabe's having a sleep over with Elder tonight, we're skipping D&D and instead going to level up the characters. Everyone is moving up to level 5. Avery is a Monk (a martial arts fighter), Connor is a Duskblade (Elf fighter with some attack spells), and Mason is a bard (a spellcasting muscian). They all have a lot of gold to spend, and I don't know what they're going to do with it. Gabe leveled up this character this weekend and decided that his 4th level rogue (thief) was going to start taking levels of sorcerer -- so now he can sneak up behind foes and zap them in the back with spells. Very nice.

3) I went bowling today and did okay. 79 and 102. I improved what I was doing a little bit, so I was happy with my technique, even if my scores don't really reflect it.

Gabe: Nana Day

Today it was Nana day. We went jogging today. We went to the park. We went to McDonald's for lunch. The Weavers came this afternoon. We had pancakes for dinner. I am really excited about the sleepover.

Marney: Art

I did art today and I made it on the side walk at the new park. I made a picture of a lake with fish in it. I also played at the park I played tag and we went on the slide. I played the recorder at the lake and here is a picture of my lake.

Mommio: Our Week

It was hard getting back to a "schedule" this last week but we managed somehow, we even fit in a swim at Inks Lake- probably the last of the year. The highlight of the week was the archery class for the four older toes, they loved that! Here's the plan for this week:

Monday- Roanoke Unit Study, music (recorder and rhymes), art (silhouettes), yoga, chemistry with Daddio toe
Tuesday- Nana Day, Connor orthodontist, Connor and Mason Wii night with homeschool friends
Wednesday- morning at Weaver's Bottom (Doctor Dolittle, burd stuff, terrarium), sleepovers for Marney and Gabe, afternoon school, leveling D&D characters
Thursday- San Antonio Zoo with homeschool friends
Friday- school, Roanoke Unit, house chores, movie night
Saturday- yard chores, finish Wright Brothers science, game night
Sunday- letterboxing, Mom and Dad date night

Avery: What I Did Today

Today was very busy! The first thing that Gabe did after breakfast is he went and picked all the radishes from our garden with dad! We had a lot of giant ones. Later in the day we all did our chores. I had to vacuum, Mason had to mop, and Gabe had to clean the rat's cage. after we did our chores we had lunch. we had hot dogs. after we ate our lunch mom and Dad went to get stuff down from the attic, so that we could get stuff for our Halloween costumes. I am going to be an elf! At night Gabe and I had a hand and foot combat. I won! Gabe still did a really good job. I just can't wait for tomorrow.