Acorn Treats we made a couple weeks ago- SUPER EASY! Mini Nilla Wafers with Hershey’s Kisses attached using chocolate frosting. These disappeared fast!
Cheetoh Thievery.
Just Plain Silly!
Halloween
November 3, 2009 — threelittlejewellsHalloween Pictures 2009
This year Mary and Nathan dressed up as a Cowgirl/Cowboy and Savannah was their little Indian Captive. I have been informed that this is NOT Politically Correct but I figure that if Kip, who is 1/2 Indian, doesn’t have a problem with it than no one else should!
Hayride- our kids and the Lanier kids.
Nathan (4), Mary (5), Sam (5), Caleb (9), Margaret (10) holding Savvy (2), Jack (1), Anna (2), Tim (4) and Ruthie (7).
One of the houses in our neighborhood put on a huge, animated, lighted Halloween display. There was a graveyard with moving headstones and fences, carriage, coffins, and the entire garage was an animated show based on the Halloween movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.
Can you guess???
November 2, 2009 — threelittlejewellsCan you guess what we’ve been studying for the last two weeks?
We’ve read piles and piles of books on Egypt- the above stack isn’t even all of them. The kids have learned about life in Ancient Egypt, papyrus and hieroglyphics, the mummification process, the location of Egypt on the globe, where the Nile River is located in Egypt, who lived along the Nile (farmers), types of animals in the Nile, travel in Ancient Egypt, how pyramids were built and what they were used for, we’ve looked at some pictures of Egyptian art and read about life in the desert.
As we’ve been studying Egypt, we’ve read the entire book of Exodus from the Bible outlining Moses’ difficulties with the Pharaoh and the subsequent journey out of Egypt.
We’ve mummified a potato.
We placed the potato mummy in a container and covered it with a mixture of salt and baking soda. We changed the mixture every three days or so for two weeks.
After just three days, the mummy had turned black and shrunk up quite a bit. Also, it smelled bad! Every time we changed the salt & baking soda mixture, I recorded the kids observations about the mummy.
After two weeks the mummy is ready to be wrapped up.
We made salt dough maps of Egypt.
Mixing up the salt dough.
Using a printed outline map of Egypt, the kids formed the salt dough into the approximate shape of Egypt. After they dried, they painted the Nile River, then the green farming land alongside the Nile and then the desert was painted Red. The Ancient Egyptians called the desert “the Red Land”.
Sample copy that Kip & I did so that the kids would have an idea of what to do.
Nathan’s map of Egypt.
Mary’s map of Egypt.
November is here!
November 1, 2009 — threelittlejewellsA Perfect November Day
Rain slicked leaves like water colors on the ground.
Halloween candy mounded high in a bowl.
Breakfast for dinner.
Painting and projects and messy fingers.
November books by a crackling fire.
Toasty toes around a warm glow.
Today we put away our Halloween books and started wading through our stack of November/Thanksgiving books. The Oh-So-Fabulous “In November” by Cynthia Rylant, the gorgeously illustrated “Thanks for Thanksgiving” by Julie Markes and the very funny ” ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving” by Dav Pilkey, which you read to the rhythm of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Toasty toes.
Books.
When I use the flash, the pictures come out clear but then I lose the color of the room. It’s gorgeous in the evening, by firelight, it just GLOWS in golden light.
Love the bare piggies.
Halloween pictures and Project Pictures coming soon!
Conversation
November 1, 2009 — threelittlejewellsConversation with Nathan at 10:39am on Sunday, 11/1/2009.
Nathan: Mommy, in my head, I’ve been thinking about going out in the road and messing with the hose.
Mommy: You have?
Nathan: Yes, but those things are pretty disobedient, aren’t they?
Mommy: Yes, they are.
Nathan: I don’t think I should think about those things anymore.
Mommy: Good idea.
Halloween Past…
October 30, 2009 — threelittlejewells
Why I Stay Home
October 29, 2009 — threelittlejewellsI love this short post entitled “Why I Stay Home“- go check it out!
Heirlooms: Carmen Catania
October 28, 2009 — threelittlejewellsMy maternal grandmother, Marvel Rose Barcomb Johnston has had a pretty hard life. She was abandoned by her mother when she was a baby and raised by her father’s mother. Her first husband was Tommy Keale. She and Tommy were headed home one evening with the baby, Tommy Junior, in the car with them. There was an accident on the side of the road so Tommy stopped to help out. In the course of helping those involved in the accident, he scraped his leg on the car’s rusty license plate. When the police arrived, they insisted that Tommy stop at the hospital for a tetnus shot. The nurses gave him the shot and said he would have to stay overnight for observation but could go home in the morning. Gramma left to take the baby home and put him to bed- she’d be back in the morning to pick up Tommy, Sr. The hospital was just a few minutes from their house- as she was walking in the door with the baby, the phone was ringing. It was the hospital. Tommy was having an allergic reaction to the tetnus shot and she needed to get back quickly. He was dead before she arrived.
A few years later, she married her second husband, Carmen Catania. They had a little girl, Sharon. Carmen was a Marine during World War II. He was killed in action on May 10, 1945 at Okinawa.
Marvel later married her third husband, Lyle Johnston. Marvel and Lyle had three children- Tammy, Joanne (my mother) and Ricky.
For some reason my Aunt Sharon was never much interested in her father or his medals. In fact, I believe she sold his medals at a garage sale. 
As a Marine, I felt badly that his service was not being honored. I was interested in learning more about his service so I filled out the required paperwork and sent it in the the Marine Corps requesting information about his time in service. For some reason, they mailed me all his medals! I had them framed along with copies of pictures of him taken while he was in the Marines. The lefthand picture is just of him but in the righthand picture he is holding a photograph of Marvel and their daughter, Sharon.
Memory Work
October 26, 2009 — threelittlejewellsIn addition to reading, math, history, science, handwriting & piano we also do a fair bit of memory work. Here are some things the kids have memorized so far this year and a few things they are currently working on.
Here’s what they’ve memorized so far:
Bible Verses:
Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth.
Poems:
(Mary) The Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry;
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk.
May no toad spy you,
May the little birds pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.
(Mary) “Work” by Anonymous (Nathan will memorize this one next)
Work while you work,
Play while you play;
This is the way
To be happy each day.
All that you do,
Do with your might;
Things done by halves
Are never done right.
Important Info/Miscellaneous:
Mommy & Daddy’s name
Address
Phone Number
Birthday
The Four Seasons- winter, spring, summer, fall.
We’re currently working on memorizing:
John 14:6 Jesus said unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father, but by me.
Days of the week- Sunday through Saturday
Skip Counting by 5’s: 5-60 (in preparation for learning how to tell time)
Sight Words from The 100 Most Commonly Used English Words: the, of, and, a, to. (We’ll continue through the list, 5 words at a time)
Poem:
“Try, Try Again” by T.H. Palmer (Both Kids are working on this one)
‘Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try again;
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try again;
Then your courage should appear,
For, if you will persevere,
You will conquer, never fear;
Try, try again.
Prayer:
A Child’s Prayer
Lord, teach a little child to pray,
And then accept my prayers,
For thou can hear the words I say,
For thou are everywhere.
A little sparrow cannot fall
Unnoticed, Lord, by thee;
And though I am so young and small,
Thou does take care of me.
Teach me to do the thing that is right,
And when I sin, forgive;
And make it still my chief delight
To serve You while I live.
Catechism
One thing the children are working on memorizing is A Catechism for Young Children. There are 145 questions so I imagine it may take us several years to get through it BUT I think it covers the important basics of Christianity. They have memorized the responses to questions 1-10 and are working on 11-15 currently.
Q. 1. Who made you? A. God.
Q. 2. What else did God make? A. God made all things.
Q. 3. Why did God make you and all things ? A. For his own glory.
Q. 4. How can you glorify God? A. By loving him and doing what he commands.
Q. 5. Why ought you to glorify God? A. Because he made me and takes care of me.
Q. 6. Are there more gods than one? A. There is only one God.
Q. 7. In how many persons does this one God exist? A. In three persons.
Q. 8. What are they? A. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Q. 9. What is God? A. God is a Spirit, and has not a body like men.
Q. 10. Where is God? A. God is everywhere.
Currently memorizing these 5 questions:
Q. 11. Can you see God? A. No; I cannot see God, but he always sees me.
Q. 12. Does God know all things? A. Yes; nothing can be hid from God.
Q. 13. Can God do all things? A. Yes; God can do all his holy will.
Q. 14. Where do you learn how to love and obey God? A. In the Bible alone.
Q. 15. Who wrote the Bible? A. Holy men who were taught by the Holy Spirit.
Savannah’s 2 Year Pictures!
October 25, 2009 — threelittlejewellsFinally!
Savvy’s birthday was the week before we left for the beach. As soon as we got back we were diving into school & I was still feeling quite tired and sick from this pregnancy. I can’t believe I let getting her picture done go this long! Saturday morning I took Savvy out for some 1-on-1 time. We did a little Christmas shopping, I took her to have her 2 year picture done and we went out to lunch. It was fun to have time with JUST Savvy. She is just so precious.
Our favorite picture!
I love her smile here but wish she hadn’t been pulling on her dress!
Better pose but no smile! She can be quite solemn though so this really looks like her!
Just sweet.
More sweet.
This is the face we see quite often- thumb in mouth holding onto her precious giraffy.
