Weekly Wrap-up #3 {the week the van doors fell off and Peter threw up his Halloween candy}

That title is a bit loaded.  Last Sunday after attending 7:30 a.m. Mass, I planned out our homeschool week.  Reading, handwriting, math, art, history, chemistry - all the details were planned out and ready to go.

Then the duck hunters came home and the van door wouldn't close.  Back track 18 months, the other sliding door broke and was Duck taped - good enough.  The remaining sliding door has been giving us grief for 6 months or more, and sadly, Sunday, it wouldn't latch shut.  Warren made a few calls, got some pointers, and tackled the job of fixing it.

Well you know the phrase, drive it till the doors fall off.  That's exactly what happened, because when he tried fixing the door, it actually fell off the track.  Our favorite body shop man is on vacation until just before deer season so we're down a vehicle for a few weeks.  We've vowed to attempt creative carpooling.

That was the start of a week of phone calls.  Life really took a crazy turn, despite my perfect homeschool plan.  Calling the body shop, chiropractor, pulmonary specialist, plumber, and college admissions office took up a lot of time.  Every call required messages and call backs and scheduling appointments.  It was crazy.

Now it's time for my weekly wrap-up.  I like to focus on our homeschool week, but let's face it homeschooling is just a snippet of our life, so the wrap-up includes it all.

Chemistry Chapter 4 lab - the classic cabbage juice indicator lab.  We're working through Focus on High School Chemistry.  It's very thorough and broken down into bite size pieces.

With real lab equipment the fun never stops.  Here are two sets with similar equipment to ours.

It wouldn't be a Halloween week weekly wrap-up without a few costume pics.  Here we have Little Bo Peep.

Hans and Franz with a mini Incredible Hulk

Ariel the Mermaid, Giraffe, French Spy, Super Girl and baseball player.

The costumes lead to candy.  There was a lot of this this week.  Rummaging, trading, eating.

Even a little hiding with candy.

Poor Peter ate so much candy that after all the craziness of costumes and trick-or-treating were done, he hopped into bed and promptly threw up.  Happy Halloween!

Are you familiar with Snap Circuits?  They've been on the dining table all week keeping Peter and Sam occupied.  Playing with electricity is like magic to a 4 year old.  Every time he completes a circuit his eyes light up in amazement.  If I didn't have so many phone calls to make, I'd probably sit there and just watch him.

Snap Circuits are on sale at Amazon for $14.39.

We're setting up for a beautiful weekend.  Most likely one of the last warm and sunny weekends of the year.  I wish you all the best and thanks for visiting my weekly wrap-up.

Linking up with

Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Halloween Weekend

Friday morning Warren and Nick went out bowhunting.  It was a frosty morning with good deer movement.  Warren ended up connecting with a spike buck.  We were down to our last two packs of deer burger so it was quite a blessing.  We also had a homeschool Halloween party, hence the Tigger costume.

Nick's been trapping hard since harvest.  He caught this nice raccoon Friday.

Emily and Nick opted out of of trick-or-treating and watched a Harry Potter movie while waiting for the trick-or-treaters that never came.  Sam and Amber, however were eager to get out and score some candy.



Weekend Rambling

It's not really the weekend anymore, but I have lots to ramble on about from the weekend. First off cranberry harvest is done. I wasn't able to get in all my virtual cranberry harvest tour posts due to the weather. We had so many rainy, windy, freezing cold days that it was hard to get out and take pictures. The pics I did take turned out dark and blurry from the rain, drizzle and haze. But the harvest was a good one none the less.














We carved pumpkins.

We roasted pumpkin seeds. The kids love these. I don't wash off the pumpkin; that's what gives them the flavor. We just melt about 2 Tbsp. butter on the cookie sheet and then put a single layer of seeds on the pan, salt them and roast them for 12-13 minutes at 350 F. YUM!!!


And of course did a little Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. This year we had a soldier, cowboy, nurse and Nancy Drew. Little J wore his hunting clothes and slept in his carseat the entire time.

I spent quite a bit of time sewing in 15 minute increments. I'm making a little gift for a friend's birthday this Friday. Emily and I also made taggy blankies, one for our new nephew. He weighed in at 1o lbs. 9 oz. I don't even know if the receiving blanket will wrap around him. The other Emily made for Little J.

We had a very cold weekend, especially Saturday. I spent about 1 1/2 hours outside cleaning up the yard, feeding the birds, basically general cleaning up before the snow flies.

A Little Halloween Prep

Halloween is a hard holiday for me. With talk of harvest, prep for

harvest, worries of harvest, excitement of harvest, visitors during harvest, preparing for and enjoying the harvest party, clean up from harvest, trying to rest after harvest, October is pretty well spoken for. Then BAM Halloween shows up on the last day of the month. It shouldn't come as a surprise considering it's the same day every year, but it does and I won't make excuses for myself. So I'm just tickled that Amber Lou and I carved out some time to make a few paper Jack-o-Lanterns this afternoon. We followed the directions at Art Projects For Kids. I just love Kathy's blog; check it out for tons of art projects to keep you and your children busy forever.

I just love this pumpkin Amber Lou made. I think it looks like a french artist because the mouth looks more like mustache to me.

Have You Been Carved by Jesus?

Being a Follower of Christ is a lot like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in and washes off all the dirt. Then He cuts off and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate and greed. He then carves you a new smiling face and puts his light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.

Yesterday, Father John started his homily with this analogy. I had to question myself, what kind of face did God place on me? I'm pretty sure it's a happy smiling Jack-o-Lantern.

But some days the devil has a way of turning me into this evil pumpkin complete with scowling face and darkness within.

Jesus offers us a way to become a happy, smiling, candle burning jack-o-lantern again. All we have to do is take time out for confession. Have you ever watched people in line for confession? They look a little nervous, serious, even concerned. Their faces are tight, forehead wrinkled, lips pursed. But when they come out everything about them has softened. Kids, especially, show the grace of confession on their faces. They come out smiling, swinging their arms and have a spring in their step. During this fall harvest season take a minute or two and allow the grace of God our Father to carve you a new smiling face.

Act of Contrition

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and pains of hell, but mostly because they offend you, my God who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of your Grace to confess my sins, do penance and amend my life forever. Amen.

Halloween Cuteness