Days at Home

 We're operating with one vehicle right now so my husband and I have been sharing our van. Some days he works from home,  some days he bikes to work but some days he needs the car.  So, we've had more than the usual amount of days at home. The weather has been nice, we haven't had much to do and, for the most part, its been nice to just hang out around the house.

 Tanner made a tunic for Aravis that was supposed to be a Jedi costume. She liked it as a dress for church.

My son, has spent hours and hours watching youtube videos about Rubik's Cubes, making variations of Rubik's Cubes with his legos, making his own youtube videos about Rubik's Cubes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbGSP8p8tWU&context=C382a0a3ADOEgsToPDskKQHc8oXjuCgVKvKYA-yIbH and playing with Rubik's Cubes.

 His workstation

 One of his creations

We brought down some old toys that have been in storage for awhile. Aravis, with a little help from her big sister, has spent days setting up houses and playing on the patio.

Rescue Heroes meets Loving Family meets Dora and Princess, the cat.

 We noticed this milkweed has bite marks in it which means baby caterpillars have been here. Every season it seems the first caterpillars fall prey to the ants. After they've devoured a few, they must realize that they're poisonous, because they leave them alone after that. It's very interesting to me to wonder how that all works. How do they "know" and then why do they "forget" again? At any rate, we should be seeing caterpillars in the garden again soon. I want to plant flowers that serve as food for other larvae this year so we can observe  different caterpillars and butterflies.

picnicking

 

 

One of the great, but sometimes frustrating, things about where we live is that plants just spontaneously sprout out of the ground and grow quickly. The weed in our shrubs that turned into a giant tree we had to remove we weren't so thrilled about, but this beautiful smelling Jasmine we'll take. 

And then, as I was nursing the baby in bed last night and just starting to drift off, Aravis, who was not quite sleepy yet, whispered in my ear "How do ants poop?" I roused myself and quickly googled it with my iPod, which was laying beside me and we whispered about bug poop for a few minutes. In our research, we came across plans to make a worm bin for composting and collecting worm poop. My little entomologist was very excited about it so that's something we'll be working on soon.

More Late Night Science.......and a few other things

Aravis and I ran to our dollar store that's just around the corner. She asked if she could get a coloring book and I said yes. Nearby, there was also a display of  workbooks for various subjects. She chose a math workbook. I'm not exactly a believer in the learning authenticity of school type workbooks but she LOVES them! So, we spent the evening curled up on the couch doing word problems. Dominick was wandering around the house with a coke bottle and asked me if I knew of an experiment he could do with a glass bottle. I didn't know of anything so I told him to google it. This is what he found.

First, Tanner saturated a piece of yarn with nail polish remover and tied it tightly around the glass. 

Next, Dominick (whose hands had not been touching nail polish remover) held it over the sink and set the string on fire. He rotated it slowly and allowed it to burn for about 30 seconds before submersing it in cold water. The glass broke in half! The contrast between the very hot temperature of the fire and the cold temperature of the water concentrated around the string causes the glass to separate in that area.

We had to try it a few times and we never got it to work on the Coke bottle but it worked the first time on a root-beer bottle.

It sounded like ice cracking when it snapped in two

We've been listening to The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane on audio book and I thought it might be fun to make an Edward Tulane paper doll for Aravis to make clothes for. She was very enthusiastic about it when I suggested it, but by the time I finished Edward she wasn't very interested in making any clothes for him so I made him some myself.

 She liked mine

 playing with Cuisenaire rods

We put a light under some plexiglass and got some very pretty results playing with these rocks and tiles.

Then, we cleaned up and went to bed!

School

Today, we woke up when our bodies woke up. I was first, before the kids, but usually Dominick is up before I am. I got some laundry started and hopped in the shower. By the time I was done, the kids were all up and watching Dominick play a video game. We got dressed, ate breakfast, did the dishes and headed out. After a quick stop at the dollar store for some journals and bags of chips, we drove to a nearby nature preserve. On the way, we listened to The Miraculous Journey of Edward Toulane on audio book.

It was a beautiful day. We took a walk on the bridge-like path that goes through the nature preserve, winding across the grass and over the water. We saw lots of large birds that were too far away to identify (we need to remember binoculars next time!) watched fish swimming in and out of the tall grasses, watched and identified two different kinds of turtles, identified a few different kinds of trees and read countless little snippets of information about the wildlife around us. Aravis colored and wrote down things in her notebook. Dominick and I took pictures and videos. And though, we were a little tired, hungry and whiny at the end, it was a great time.  Afterwards, we stopped for some lunch and headed to Target to do our weekly grocery shopping.

 The only Maple tree I've seen around here!

 Some sort of Crane......we think?

 Softshell Turtle

 Watching the Minnows

We have many days like this. Some days we stay home, some we go out. Some days are more exciting than others but most days, its the five of us, leisurely enjoying where life takes us. Living. Learning. Together.

It's wonderful.

 And it may all change.

 Dominick, who has a real talent and passion for music, auditioned for a music charter school on Saturday. And while I know music is where his heart is, my heart is aching just a little bit. It may be a wonderful and great opportunity for him. Being around music and other musicians and music classes and teachers may be something he loves. So, I've helped him find out the information, and apply for the audition and find something to play and encouraged him, but all the while, I feel like something might be dying. I love our life. I love having very few time constraints. I love not waking up to an alarm clock. I really love not waking up to an alarm clock. I love doing what we love. I love doing things together. I love being with my kids and having this time with them that I know I won't have forever. I love knowing what they've done with their day and watching them learn and grow. If he goes back to school, that will change. For him. For us.

He may not get in. It's a tough school to get into and they're looking for specific spots to fill. For his sake, I hope he gets accepted, whether he chooses to go or not. He may not like it. He may decide that two hours of music aren't worth the other five of school. He may. He may not. He may love it.  He may grow more than he would have at home. He may not. I can't predict any of that from this vantage point but I do know that if he goes, things will change and something beautiful will die. And so, I'm torn right now between wanting what's best for him and what he wants for himself and wanting to hold onto him and a lifestyle that I love. Ultimately, I believe that God has a plan for each of our lives. I believe that He knows what's best for us all, even more than Dominick and I do and I trust Him with my son and with our future.

So, 

I'll trust Him 

and I'll trust Dominick 

and I'll wait to see what next year brings.

Garbage and Melted Crayons

Yesterday we decided to visit a park that we haven't been to in awhile. The weather has been mild lately and I've been trying to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and get outside as much as possible. We wanted to enjoy being outside and also collect some things from nature for a project. This is what we saw when we got there......

 Garbage

 

   Everywhere

 It's a large park and I've never seen such a vast area so densely covered in trash before. It was unbelievable! We concluded that there must have been some event or concert in the park over the weekend but couldn't comprehend how humans with hands and feet, capable of cleaning up after themselves, could have created such a mess. There were people cleaning up and doing a very thorough job but still, it is inconceivable to me how people could leave so much garbage without it bothering their conscience.

After driving a little ways we found an area that had been untouched, or was at least already cleaned, and saw this......

Ahhhhhhhhh.....better!

So, we played for awhile 

and enjoyed nature a bit

There were LOTS of  Turkey Vultures scavenging the garbage.

 We came home and experimented with melting crayon shavings for a while.

 

 

And got some very pretty results to hang in the windows.