Week 8 and the pumpkin patch

Rose and I decided to go visit Gma and Gpa Irvin next week in Kentucky.  So this week we did 1 1/2 weeks worth of school and the week we get back we will do another 1 1/2 week.  So next week we can take an unscheduled Fall Break to KY and not get behind in our studies.  win-win!

This week we learned about George Muller, Canadian nature, farming and industry, plant life and so much more!  

Here is pic of her Celery xylem experiment...

At Keepers Club we always begin with scripture and singing our theme hymn.  This week we learned embroidery and the girls started a sampler.

Family dinner out at our favorite restaurant, thanks to an online coupon.

Rose and her two great friends!

At swim this week Rose has been practicing the underwater flip you do when you are swimming laps and get to the wall.  I don't know what it is called or how to do one myself.  It is encouraging to see some of her skills go above what her former lifeguarding mom and dad can do.

playing dress-up while skyping with gma and gpa...  While I was chit chatting, Rose would come in and out with various outfits to model for them.

Our friends invited us to go their favorite pumpkin patch, so we took a Friday Field Trip over to California to  Wemble's Pumpkin Patch.  We had a picnic lunch at a campground with some beautiful deciduous trees.  Rose was excited to catch a falling leaf before it hit the ground.  

On Saturday, Rose and daddy went to a community free-swim at the local pool.  We played board games in the afternoon.  Then before heading over to the UNR football game, we stopped by the corner church's fall party.  Rose had fun playing games and making s'mores with one of her homeschooling friends that goes to that church.

Week 6 and a trip to Phoenix, AZ

This was a fun week.

A playdate with Carissa....playing vet with stuffed animals and then crafts...

Heading to the library....

 Mrs. Ruby teaching Plastic Canvas stitches at Keepers Club...

In school this week we learned about Mexico's fascinating facts, nature, farming and industry.  We continue our study on deserts, learning about oases, coping with dryness, and rain in the dessert.  Rose loves her passport and getting it "stamped" as we "enter" new countries in our studies.

We made a 4 day weekend to go visit my sister, Jennifer, and her family in Phoenix, AZ.  It is a 15 hour drive, but we listened to Lamplighter audios and Jonathon Park audios to help the day go by faster.  About 4 hours into our drive we stopped and had brunch at this yummy bakery.

We had a great visit in Pheonix!  Loved, loved, loved it!  We miss them so much.

May ~ finishing up 2nd grade, a new kitten, and various other happenings

Rose was so excited that summer break was almost here.  But on some days we had to double up on work to make sure we would be done by Memorial Day.  We know that just because you are doubling up on work doesn't mean it can't be fun...

Here we are doing school outside on a nice sunny (and windy) day.

 ...finding north with our homemade compass....

...and doing schoolwork with a kitty....

Wait!  What?  A kitty?

Yes, that's right!  We got a cute little kitten!

 Rose is such a good mommy to her new kitten.  I wanted to keep the kitten in the bathroom a couple of days so she could learn to use her litter in the right place.  (which is actually on the toilet, because we are using the  litter kwitter system to train her to use the toilet)  anyways.....we stayed in there with her all day, but at night when Rose was in bed the sound of her meowing just melted Rose's heart.  So she slept in the bathroom to comfort her baby kitten.

  
We named her Tigris (like on Kung Fu Panda)  because she kind of looks like a black and white tiger.

 how precious is this?

 Now Tigris sleeps with Rose in Rose's room...

Here she is waiting for Rose to wake up.

Rose makes toys for Tigris to play with...

And here are more photos from various days, showing that school work is just better when you do it with a kitten in your lap.  :0)

  

And waking up to a kitten is pretty nice, too.

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A photo from Mother's Day

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Neighborhood freinds doing some dot painting with Rose....

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Rose at ballet...

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Keepers Club end of the year award ceremony....

Oh, I love this.  A few days before the ceremony the coordinator asked if anyone else would like to perform something during the program, so Rose decided she would brush up on her American Sign Language and perform.  She did a fabulous job.  Here is the video of her signing....

The girls also performed using their choral skills, singing a few hymns they learned.

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Veiwing the eclipse....

Chad bought us some eclipse viewing glasses and made this huge cardboard viewer.   What a neat daddy!

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 Now is this retro phone attached to my cell not nifty?  I purchased it for Rose to use when she calls her grandmas, but I use it too.  :0)

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 I greatly appreciate my wonderful husband.  Here is just one ...of the thousands things he does that I really respect.   After supper he reads a chapter or two from the Bible to us.  Then asks us questions from Balancing the Sword about that chapter.  

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 Rose and Carissa playing with sand in the backyard...

And even though we had some some great sunny days this month....I am throwing in this picture to show that we also had snow.  The weather sure is crazy here in the high desert.