I am so glad to be back into the swing of school. It makes me feel like a productive member of society, plus my kids have something to occupy their time, so there's not as much arguing. This past summer we did the bare minimum, just enough that we didn't have to review come September.
We did start our school year off with a vacation. I think it was what we all needed to feel refreshed and ready to start a new year.
I have the best mom and dad, which makes my kids have the best Meme and Papaw. They spoil us all and make us feel so loved. They rented a cabin in Pigeon Forge and it was so nice. I love Pigeon Forge! My kids are getting to experience the same things I did as a child. Like getting to ride the trolley. I have fond memories of the trolley. Like the bearded lady and the man chewing his nails and spitting them on the floor. And it's only 50 cents to ride! We were the only people on our trolley, which made it even better. And let's face it, it is the closest my kids are ever going to get to riding a school bus. Kristen was shocked there weren't any seat belts.
We spent an evening and a day at Dollywood.
Dallas could ride so much more this year, like the Fire Chaser, which is THE most awesome rollercoaster. Lauren road it a couple times. Dallas road it once, said he liked it, but I'm now quite sure. Kristen wanted no parts of anything that could be considered a rollercoaster. They had a new little rollercoaster for kids that all of them loved. That was the highlight. Along with the Ferris Wheel. I'm sure I have voiced my dislike of the Ferris Wheel before. I am not sure why it's so scary for me. I always get on thinking, it's a Ferris Wheel. Little kids ride this. But once we start spinning around my bravery vanishes.
The cars were still a big hit, as was the carousel of course. Although Kristen wanted me to sit beside her on the carousel, and she picked the row with the littlest horses to ride. I'm always afraid my horse isn't going to go up and down. I'll be that person with the unmoving horse and I thought for sure this would be the time. The horse I was on was definitely made for someone under the age of 10. I am only the height of a 10 year old. Thankfully Aunt Kelly wasn't there to snap my picture.
Dollywood was starting to decorate for fall with pumpkins. Fall is my favorite time of the year.
Here are some other pictures from Dollywood. And I have to put a plug in for their cinnamon bread. There are no pictures. It was so delicious. I'm not sure how we have gone and not experienced this delicious goodness.
My Uncle Wayne and Aunt Kay came for a couple days of our trip. It was great to spend time with them. We also went to the Dixie Stampede. The only thing I remember as a child was the glasses in the shape of a boot. I remember not being impressed with the food. We hadn't been since I was probably the girls age, and this was one of my favorite parts of our trip. The show was awesome, the food was great and Dallas got to participate in the show. He had to chase some chickens across the finish line and thought he was famous. When he came back up to where we were, he said, "Mom, I need to go get my high fives from everyone."
Kristen also got to do a little rock climbing. Ever since doing Peak Experience with Girl Scouts, she has really enjoyed rock climbing.
In Florida, Dallas wanted to ride in a helicopter. The girls chickened out, and the helicopter people said there had to be a minimum of three people. He kept saying, "Well, I really wanted to ride in that helicopter." Whether or not he really wanted to ride in that helicopter or make his sisters feel bad, I don't know. What I do know, is Papaw wasn't going to leave Pigeon Forge without letting Dallas take his helicopter ride. He now wants a real helicopter for Christmas.
We also spent some time with Granny. I can't believe I didn't get a picture. We'll just have to plan another trip to Gravel Lick soon. The kids got to play in the rain and the drain pipe. Dallas got to see Uncle Vern's classic cars and we all got to enjoy Aunt Joyce's peanut butter fudge.
After a fabulous vacation, our school got off to a nice little start. Prior to our vacation I had planned out our September lessons, so I was ready. The struggle to get finished by lunch is real though. We've always ended right around lunch, but having three doing full school work, and Kristen having longer lessons in math and reading, makes for a longer day. Since starting back, we've only finished one day by lunchtime...and we are starting earlier. Surprisingly, the kids haven't complained about it too much.
We've spent the month learning about many exciting things. Our first week we learned about bees and watched The Bee Movie. The kids also made beehives out of bubble wrap. And bees with their fingerprints.
Kristen is learning about the states and capitals right now. She is working on the state capital song, but she also did a report on Alabama. She'll do another report on her state of choice in November.
We also learned about the Native Americans. We read books about famous Native Americans like Sitting Bull, Carlos Montezuma, Zitkala Sa and Kaya. We also read the Native American legend of Jumping Mouse.
We made handprint Indians, dream catchers, sand art, paper bag tepees and painted rocks.
We also did a couple science experiments. We saw that heat is energy and will make molecules in marshmallows move faster, expanding the space between them. And as the marshmallows are stirred, they become compressed and the space gets smaller. Did you know that the first marshmallows were made from the sap of the marsh mallow plant, thus giving it their name? A little tidbit for you. We then made marshmallow fondant out of our melty marshmallows. The only problem...it takes a lot of kneading for fondant to become play dough like, therefore my visions of marshmallow play dough just didn't happen. They did get to eat it though. And anyone who knows my middle child knows that this was inevitable.
We also did an experiment that showed us that gas takes up more space than a solid or liquid. The kids loved this experiment. We ended up doing it a couple times, adding dish soap the second time to form bubbles. The kids wanted to pop the bags and play with the bubbles. And in doing this, we effectively killed Paul's grass. Who knew a combination of water, vinegar, food coloring and baking soda was all you needed to kill weeds. Unfortunately, it wasn't weeds we killed.
We made zoo animals out of newspapers for art this month and watched the movie 'We Bought a Zoo'.
Kristen's is an elephant. Lauren's is a polar bear and Dallas' is a lion.
Dallas did an all about me unit. He made his family and portraits of himself.
I should also mention, he hates art/crafts/painting/coloring. He just wants to play outside. I did find his writing for the day funny and sweet.
Some other things that happened this month: I made a few bags for the kids and Kristen got her ears pierced.
Sorry for the longest blog post ever. My iPad was at 78% and it's now at 9%. It really does take me hours to blog. If you have made it to the end...bless you!
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