Quick Read-Pyramids by David Macaulay

I'm doing some purging and don't want this hardback taking up space...I purchased this when I was buying curriculum three years ago...so we read it! Excellent book! My library has 25 copies of "Pyramid" by David Macaulay...if we want to read it again sometime!

Literature For Lunch-All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

Well isn't this delightful!?!? A family of five girls growing up in New York City in 1910ish. What's kind of fun is my Mother's aunt was born in 1913. Tales of scarlet fever, Jewish holidays, city neighborhoods, hard lessons, sisterly love...all woven into mini-chapters that are easy to start and stop (audiobook). There seem to be more books, I'm guessing the kids will want those, too! Really enjoying "All-of-a-Kind Family" by Sydney Taylor.

Pumpkin Patch 2012

Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We left as it started to rain. :) My nephew is two!

Literature For Lunch-James and the Giant Peach

This is simply FANTASTIC on audiobook! Narrated by Jeremy Irons (Scar from "The Lion King", among others). The kids were delighted and I loved revisiting this story from my own childhood.

Literature For Lunch-The Cricket In Times Square by George Selden

Sweet story of Mario, Tucker, Chester and Harry. Enjoy "The Cricket In Times Square" by George Selden! This could have been read at much earlier ages...charming!

Sarah's Halloween Decorations

Sarah LOVES to decorate. We didn't do any decorations this year and even overlooked carving pumpkins! She made a ghost out of a white trash can liner and a witch out of black trash bags along with some items with pipe cleaners. I LOVE the black spider! She positioned these around the house for decor ala Sarah!

Literature For Lunch-New Lunch Read Aloud-Little Britches by Ralph Moody

LOVING this so far! "Little Britches" by Ralph Moody!

Loads of Learning, Profusion of Play

I spent this week in a very loose routine. Daniel picked up "Story of the Orchestra" by Robert Levine and has really enjoyed listening to the CD and reading about composers. Interestingly, I had purchased this for us to do as a school subject early on when we started homeschooling. That didn't go well. Now here he is digesting it on his own!

Sarah wants to build a pallet playhouse outside, so I had her draw plans and make a prototype, which she is doing with matchboxes. She also is playing a game with herself which involves dressing up and doing her hair. Oh, and she was cleaning out a box of her stuff and found some Silly Putty and hence, the snake.

What We Did This Summer

 

Last year, we started hiking and camping. Here's a reminder of what we did this summer:

Rasar State Park (Skagit cabin), Rockport SP, Steelhead county park, Chuckanut Drive, Larrabee SP
Library Walking Tour (July, August and September)
Arch Cape/Cannon Beach, OR (Labor Day)
Book covers took us all over King County on many weekends...Maple Valley, Black Diamond, Enumclaw, Federal Way, Vashon Island, Skykomish, North Bend, Renton, Kent, etc
Lighthouses: Point-No-Point, Browns Point, Point Robinson, Skunk Bay, West Point
Yurting at River Meadows (August 4-6)
Lake Padden hike, Bellingham (picnic with Gramma) and Little Mountain Park
Stimpson Nature Reserve hike, Bellingham
Magnuson Park, Seattle
Driving in Olympia and Roy
John MacDonald park in Carnation (picnic with Gramma)
Potholes State Park (cabin)
Mount Rainier (Ohanapecosh and Grove of Patriarchs)
Horseshoe Bend hike, Silver Lake Park and drive to Mount Baker (awesome!)
Rasar State Park (picnic with Gramma)
Squires Lake hike, Bellingham
Camano Island SP hike (picnic in rain with Gramma!)
Kanaskat-Palmer SP yurt/campfire (Mother's Day)
Beaver Lake hike, Darrington
Coal Creek Falls hike, Newcastle (Easter)
UW Cherry Trees, Seattle

Daniel's Days

I love my boy! Dan at Rasar State Park, on the library walking tour, on the Skagit river, on his (my!) bike, climbing at Larrabee State Park,  roasting marshmallows at Arch Cape in Oregon, yurting at River Meadows, swimming with Dad in the Stilly, viewing Browns Point lighthouse and perusing the stacks at Federal Way library.

Fall Camping

The weather hasn't been this nice in 65 years, they say! Lucky us! Back in June I reserved a cabin at a nearby state park not knowing what awesome weather we'd have! We biked and walked and played and ate and walked on rivers and Puget Sound beaches.

Funny thing about this trip is that I had our reservations wrong! We showed up a day early! That was interesting!

Fantastic trip!

Sarah's September

Just a few random shots I took this month, Sarah loves to build, I see several projects here (the Cheerio House she made for her cousin Jada,  rocket (made out of bottles) for Ugly Kitty, the angel wings for Ode, the swing made from a hanger and box lid). Right now she is in the garage pounding nails into a piece of wood. She wants to make a fort in the backyard...pallet fort maybe.