Griffin 20mo

I prefer my tongue going up.

I'm so tired I just collapsed.

My new favorite movie theme and play toy: Disneys Cars.

I want to contribute some of my fancy work to the Padme and Obi-Wan picture.

My finger is stuck, can you get it out (repeat this x10 for attention)?

I learned to how to make faces in the window from my brothers...

Nothing like a little mud makeup...yeah my brothers showed me that too.

Daddy was helping me fly the Imperial Shuttle, well I guess he was flying me too.

I've figured out how to walk pretty good in this sleep sack!

I've still got one cute smile.

This Christmas I really knew what I was doing opening presents...and I figured out it was fun to give them too.


I'm prepared for the weather, are you?

Griffin has been all about playing this month also. He copies his brothers in making noises of various kinds for spaceships, construction vehicles, or trains. He saw Cars for the first time this month and now requests watching Cars as much as he does Thomas. Then after watching for a little while he wants to find the toys and play with them just like he saw in the movie. He is coming to have quite the voracious appetite when he gets up from his afternoon nap. He often will polish off his entire dinner plate before Garrett or Bryce has finished their first bite because they are too busy talking and planning. Griffin just dives in and then wants to be excused within 5 minutes so he can play without being bothered by his brothers. Can't we all just sit down and eat together?

School December

I'm simulating a windblown beard here, don't try this at home.

Nothin' like try to butter Mommy up with a little spelling practice.

My Cat in the Hat drawing.

School this month featured some very interesting topics. On Dec 7th we studied Pearl Harbor. In order to better understand how things occurred, Brett pulled out his Axis and Allies game and used the individual pieces in the game to depict the route the Japanese navy and air force took in their attack on Pearl Harbor. Garrett wanted to dress the part of a soldier as he studied some of the details of the attack and the ensuing involvement of the United States in World War II with President Roosevelt's Day of Infamy speech. One of our most remembered science days of the month came when we heard a loud thud against our back window. Brett went to explore what happened. Upon investigation, he found the culprit...a very dead bird had rammed our window at full speed. The initial solution was to find our adopted outdoor cat and offer the bird as a meal, but sensing that this bird wasn't much of a challenge, Max turned her attention to the dead bird's friend who was not far away waiting to see if his friend was going to wake up. So the boys witnessed a cat on the hunt as Max stalked and pounced on the other bird, capturing it in her mouth and bringing it over to the window for us to see. Well that was when Max made a calculation error and put the bird down. The bird leaped into the air and took off in a mad flight that led to it ramming itself into a low wall. Dazed, it barely got off the ground again before Max pounced again, this time missing and the bird narrowly cleared our back fence and escaped capture. Besides getting to be eyewitnesses to nature at work, Garrett wanted to learn more about birds and their anatomy. No, we didn't dissect the bird, but rather he drew pictures of the bird and Joy found some nice handouts on-line that helped with the rest. All the boys participated in learning about weight and measurements. We weighed Christmas presents and realized the biggest boxes are not always the heaviest. Never a dull moment.

Does making a gingerbread house count for school if you eat a lot of candy in the process?

Garrett, you can build the whole thing, can we just eat some of the candy?

I'll draw it, then I'll eat a real one...sounds like a good deal.

Ooohhh, I can't wait to be old enough to play this game with Daddy.

My recreation of one of the turrets on the battleship USS Arizona.

I've drawn it, now I just need the snow to build it.

This is what scientists do...observe, draw, record data.

My unfortunate subject of my scientific observation.

I can't take credit for the design of this weight balance, but it did a good job helping us compare weights of Star Wars toys...I was dressed for the occasion too.

India Night

In response to a unit on India that we had just completed in homeschool, we had an India night with another homeschool family. The evening started with a train ride to the Cricket Arena, where we took "batting practice." We then ate Indian food that we had made for the occasion. Since the focus of our study was on some of the impoverished areas of India, we ate what would have been a meal prepared in the low income housing villages. We made artwork, listened to music, and played a game with seeds. All in all, the food was quite tasty and more filling than we originally expected. The kids had a good time and hopefully we understand just a little bit more about one of the most populous countries in the world.






"Merry Christmas" in Hindi

Is that you Mommy?

Not only did we go on a train ride, but we were the train.

I'm making my own tortilla, can't wait to taste it cooked.

This is where we took our cricket batting practice.

Even Griff, got some hits with Daddy's help.

Here we made Rangoli art designs as part of our celebration of the traditional diwali celebration.

Even our younger siblings (Bryce and Brianna) got in on the artwork.

Eating dinner under the tent, trying to recreate an Indian village.

Noah and I are chowing down.

We had to listen to Daddy explain how to play the seed blowing game.

The Pumpkin Patch in December

Joy found the shortest possible line to get pictures with Santa Claus and she is still tickled to death that she accomplished this with the added bonus of getting all the kids on ice skates for the first time in their lives. We didn't have any major accidents or injuries (unlike the unfortunate father who broke his leg just before we arrived). The boys took turns skating with us and with large Lowes buckets by themselves. Garrett lasted the longest on the ice. He came to almost enjoy falling down on the ice, which allowed him to ditch the buckets by the end and skate with Brett around the rink covering half of it with a few "crashes into the wall" so he could experience a hockey check...or something like that.

We were all smiles before venturing out on the ice.

We weren't sure we should trust Daddy to help us stay on our skates, but he surprised Mommy.

Sure is nice to have this bucket to hold on to, as long as I don't split my chin open on it while falling forward...don't worry I didn't.

Check it out, I'm skating by myself, ok, with a little help from the bucket.

I'm not sure how long I should be doing this by myself, but so far so good.

Mommy showed us true grace on the ice, at least we have one good teacher.

Even when your pants are wet from falling a few times, this really can be fun, and I don't have quite as far to fall when I go down.

Daddy wanted in on this one, so we let him.