Monday, August 30, 2010

ECC Week 8 Canada....and race results

Well I did it. Yep, me, number 199. Ran in my first EVER 5K this past Saturday. It was AWESOME. The atmosphere was SO friendly. It was a 10K and 5K race. The 10K folks lined up ahead of us little 5K peons. We all had ankle chips so we could find our EXACT time after the race.
I felt so 'official' with my 199 bib safety pinned on to my shirt. Lots of butterflies floating around my tummy pre-race!
I made the first timers mistake of not pacing myself and ended up going a little too hard in my first 1/2 which means I was running on LESS than fumes at the end (werent purty).
BUT I did finished in under my goal (goal: 34 minutes....actual time 32:19). AND I placed 13 out of 21 in my age division.
Anyway, I have officially been bitten by the racing bug and cant wait to sign up for another one. I think I am going to have to start donating plasma or renting out my children to pay for all the races =)

On another fun note, I got a bike this weekend!! Ok, you might be saying to yourself, 'Doesnt Anna HAVE a bike? Didnt she post a couple few times ABOUT her bike HERE or HERE?' Well, yes, yes I did. BUT after riding it only a few times, I just knew it wasnt right for me.
THANKFULLY Walmart took it back and I PATIENTLY waited until hubby and I could so some serious bike shopping.

We did just that this past Saturday. We went to 3 or 6 bikes stores. Some were good, some not so good. One place we walked around for TEN minutes and not one sales person approached us. At another, they did not have even ONE bike in my size....So we saved the best for last. The little hole in the wall place that looks SO run down from the front. This is where we got our bikes from 12 years ago and is the only place in town that carries Raleigh's (which is what we had 12 years ago and I just a little bit loved)....
The guy worked with me for TWO hours. Let me test ride numerous bikes and fined tuned all the gadets, adjusted all the adjustments and tweaked all tweakments....ya know, just generally made me feel pretty stinkin' special =)
I didnt take a pic of my sweet ride as I put in the garage and dont feel like traipsin' down there right now, but here is the sales stub. Hey, I had to take a picture of SOMETHING! =)


Anyway, lets talk a little bit 'o school...

For science today, we read about plants and did the 'celery' experiment. We (tried) to remove all the xylem from the brocolli on the right and left the xylem intact in the celery on the left. By tomorrow we should notice wilting in the celery on the right and should notice the leaves on the left getting purple-showing us that the xylem takes the water up to the leaves. Now I didnt have any food coloring (except green and yellow which would have defeated the purpose) so I used grape kool-aid. I hope it doesnt mess up the experiment. Hope the celery has a sweet tooth as its VERY concentrated!

We read about Greenland in Window on the World and learned that the language there is...Greenlandic! The girls have so much fun saying that.

Learned about Industry and Nature in our Illustrated World Atlas, which for some reason prompted my 8yr old to draw a blue print for her zoo/animal exhibit....


The animals in her sisters animal/zoo exhibit prompted my ALMOST 10 yr old (12 days!) to draw a picture of the animals (real live breathing animals) that she would like for her birthday.
Not gonna happen sister. Sorry.
Its suppose to rain over night, but I am HOPING it will stop by 630 and be dry enough for me to take Mr. Raleigh out for a ride tomorrow. I ran 2.5mi this moring and was TEMPTED when I got home, to grab the bike for a quick spin but I was already pretty pooped (SUPER humid here today) so I decided against it. I broke him in last night, but cant wait for our next time together....*swoon* =)




Wednesday, August 25, 2010

ECC Week 7 Day 3 CANADA

It was another uber lovely day today here in the good ol Cornhusker state so the girls and I decided to head out for another walk, this time to the Fruit and Veggie stand near by (and near by Culver's which the girls keep looking at with such longing that I ALMOST caved in and took them. But my resolve held and we managed to escape with out stopping).

*the following pics were all taken by Savannah and Ariel (my older 2 girls)....










These are what we came for. We ALL love a good fresh peach. Last year we went almost everyday to a fruit stand to buy some and would throwdown a good 6-7 of them in one sitting!

Of course it WAS a school day, so I made sure we got to the books when we cam home.
Coloring in the Canadian flag and writing down a few facts about it....

Then, since it was still such lovely weather out, the girls had lunch out on the covered deck. Well, 3 of them did. My oldest was fearful that an insect invasion was going to take place so she choose to dine on her jelly sandwich and fresh peaches INSIDE the house where the only 'insect' she would have to deal with would be the 2 legged variety- and there's only ONE of him. =)

Today we made our canoes to go along with the Paddle To the Sea book we read and video by the same name (we all preferred the video)....we watched a YouTube video to see how to make the canoe (Youtube has taught us SO much...how to count in French, how to cut an onion without crying, a few Irish Dancing Steps and last, but definitely not least, how to moonwalk. That was a fun one)

We cut a curvy line in a piece of blue cardtock, taped a popsicle stick to the canoe and were able to make him glide thru the 'water'. The girls want to add dirt and twigs to make it more life-life.
We'll see.

Savannah took these pictures yesterday evening of some flowers in our backyard. She took about 10 and these were the best 2.

Its hard to believe that in about 6 weeks, it will be October!! We're savoring the summer and soaking up the sun while we can.












Tuesday, August 24, 2010

ECC Week 7 Day 2 Canada

What a lovely day. After the soaring temps we have been having, today was a welcome respite. High 60s and low 70s with a nice breeze.

We did a teeny bit of school this morning and then decided we just had to get out and go for a walk. The girls didnt know that I had a secret ..... =)
We walked through our park, and as many times as we go, it never gets old. We LOVE this place.

SURPRISE!! We walked over to Culver's (which we have never done before) for one of the girls' FAVORITES drinks- a Strawberry Cooler.
And some french fries and onion rings.
Hey, it was a .75 mile walk-I needed to refuel, ya know? Even if it WAS only 1/2 past breakfast....

The walk back home turned into a Nature Walk and we ended up looking for a Maple Tree from which to gather leaves for our Maple Tree Rubbings (which we did today instead of the canoe craft-we'll do that tomorrow).... I have NO clue what a Maple Tree looks like, but since we know that a maple leaf is in the middle of the Canada flag and we HAD just studied that yesterday, I had a faint idea of what we were looking for...
"Hey mommy, is that a Maple Tree"?

WOO HOO! I think this is it! Gather some leaves, girls!

Photo op courtesty of Savannah. She told them where to sit and how far to lean forward. Budding photog, that one....

Then back home to settle in for some schoolin'
Dictation on the dry-erase board....

Coloring and labeling the Canadian provinces...

Demostrating a food web....

The Maple Leaf Rubbing Craft...funny-the girls thought I said we were going to do a Maple Leaf RUGGING...they though we were going to make a rug out of the Maple Leafs!












Monday, August 23, 2010

ECC Week 7 Day 1 Canada

ECC Week 7 Day 1...we are in Canada!

The girls got their passports back today and we put the Canada sticker on page 3, then we colored the John 3:16 page for Canada....
The older 3 copied the memory verse for this week, Matt 5:11.
In Illustrated World Atlas we read about Canada and learned that its the 2nd largest country (Russia being the first) but has a very low population for its size.
We learned about food webs in the Living World Encyclopedia and read about the Garifuna people in Window on the World. I love the gentle introduction this book gives to cultures around the world, how they practice thier religion, and how we can pray for them.

I also found a few videos on YouTube the girls enjoyed. One was how to count to 10 in French, another was a few children's songs in French...Aloutette, Frere Jacques...oh and I think there was one more, but it escapes me now...

We also watched Paddle to the Sea today which is a short 30min video that shares the story of a canoe and indian a little boy made that he hopes will make it to the ocean. The girls really enjoyed it. Tomorrow we will read the book, and then do a canoe craft.

I also DVR'd some nature programs, one of which was on the Niagara Falls. We watched that today as well and the girls were amazed at the sheer volume of water that pours over the falls every second. It really is breathtaking-just watching it on tv...I cant imagine what it must be like to actually visit the falls!

Its almost nap time here, so I am off to get the little fella ready to spend some time in his cage while I finish phonics with Jaidyn (age 5) and putz around on the 'net for awhile.
Have a great day!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

A Day in the Life of....ME!

Last week for the Not-Back-To-School-Blog Hop! This week features 'Day-in-the-life'. So...here's mine! *click any picture to enlarge*

Typically my morning starts out with these bad boys. We usually hit the pavement to the tune of 2-3miles...
Then back home to shower and eat breakfast and spend a little time in the Best. Book. Ever.
Then I get the school books ready....
And make sure the class room is tidy....

And then they get it up....
Little


By
Little....


Two year old makes a mess and leaves his sisters behind to clean it up-story of his life...

Last kid finally awake! Apparently the camera flash is very bright at 830 in the morning...

Doing our morning chores....

Starting our school...oops! Destroy Boy is trying to write on someones paper!

Putting him in his corral, er, I mean Blanket Time, so we can school without distraction. Well, at least with LESS distraction...

Apparently, I added that picture twice so ignore this one!

After school, its time for lunch!


After lunch we check the chore charts to see what we need to do before some free play time...

Then we put Destroy Boy in his swing while we clean...

then its time for a little free play time....

Then some quite reading w/ the book basket books....


Then a little 'recess'...whats school without a little recess??

Reading and Snack time while Destroy Boy recharges his batteries (aka as nap time)....
Then dinner time.....
And since this was Friday-it was also movie and popcorn night!

After the movie, the girls helped clean up, we brushed teeth and it was time for some quiet room time before bed.
Hope you enjoyed a peek into our day!