busy weeks

We have been very busy these last few weeks.

Science classes where we are studying the cell have been lots of fun!

My class was about the plant cell.  We made our own onion slides to look at through the microscope.

This was a lot of fun.  We saw the nucleus in each cell.

We also survived 4 earthquakes!!!

Yes, I said 4!!!

These paintings fell off the wall along with some other frames that broke and

some things fell over.

The first, and biggest quake, was VERY scary!

The kids and I were home and I honestly thought to myself, "This is the big one!"

But it ended by the time we ran into the hallway.  The epicenter was just a couple of miles away, which explains why we felt it so strongly.  I have lived in California my entire life and been through many earthquakes.  This one scared me more than any other!  Goose and Binky were terrified!

The second one scared them even more.  Poor things!

We have definitely been talking about earthquake safety and preparedness all week!

This little guy has been having lots of fun with Cody the dog.

They really have fun together. 

I am surprised at how much Cody loves him!

And no, we don't have a name for him yet.  We can't agree on anything so far.

Any ideas?

More cell stuff with Shrinky Dinks and a mitosis flip book.

Binky loves snuggle time!

I finished this scarf!  It is a Christmas gift for someone special!

And we've been enjoying the season with candles,

cups of tea, baking, and leaf collecting.

Happy Tuesday!

Please join me here for a Halloween Party

hosted by

A Fanciful Twist!

You won't want to miss a thing!

Happy Haunting!

spider webs and a diorama

This spider is living right outside my bedroom window.

I watched it build this web the other day after heavy rain and wind

destroyed the first one.

Every morning when I wake up I check to see if my new neighbor is still there!

Binky finished his ocean diorama today.

He made the kelp, the rock that the eel is poking out of, and the red coral with air dry

clay.  I like the school of fish he painted in the background.

This goes with his Oceans study.  He just finished listening to "The Cay" on disc.  This was the first time we used an audio book.  Binky loved it!  He relaxed in the living room while listening so intently.  I checked out "Island of the Blue Dolphins" to start this week. 

I also can't wait to try this project before we head to the Monterey

Bay Aquarium in a couple of weeks.  The jellies are one of our favorite exhibits.

It's not even 9pm and I am exhausted!

Looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Harvest Festival

The kids and I spent yesterday at a local farm for their yearly Harvest Festival.

It was warm, crowded and lots of fun.

We said hello to the animals,

picked a lot of corn,

really beautiful corn,

found some pumpkins, made a corn husk doll, and had some yummy snacks.

This is our bounty of Indian corn.

Isn't it beautiful?

I love, love, love the colors!

They are like jewels!

These kernels remind me of garnets.

Goose likes to remove the kernels and grind them in her mortar and pestle

for potions and the like.

I am saving some for displaying around the house and

some for art projects like kernel mosaics.

Last year I made a corn kernel necklace.

I hope you are enjoying the season as much as we are!

Happy Autumn!