I continued teaching my Trees class. We did a somewhat unsuccessful experiment with plant pigments, trying to separate out the different colors with filter paper. I also brought in fruits and flowers from the grocery store to help with various lessons.
Elise had her first "Young Women in Excellence", and got to make a display of some of the projects she worked on.
Every so often, we like to take the kids to eat at Ikea. Ryan still hates Ikea, but he admits that the cafeteria is a cheap way to feed a family.
More tree identification!
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| Carob Tree - The pods are edible, supposedly. |
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| Mock Orange |
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| Deodar Cedar - There are tons on our school campus. |
Ryan took Veteran's Day weekend to go kayak-camping at Catalina Island. He had an amazing time!
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| Brett, Tyrone, Ryan |
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| Avalon |
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| Fish Leftovers |
Evan finished his CVSA baseball season. Ryan did most of the work taking him and Corinne to their practices and games, but once in a while the whole family would come hang out at the park.
Corinne, also, finished her soccer season. They got trophies and the traditional Round Table pizza party at the end.
I didn't get around to finding a photographer for our family portrait this year, so I asked my friend Adrienne to meet us at the park after church one day. She just used Ryan's iPhone, but it ended up being one of the best portraits yet!
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| Test photo. Not sure why their shirts look blue. |
There were quite a few meetings and broadcasts to prepare for the new Children and Youth program at church. We went to this one expecting a clear explanation of how it would work, but left just as ignorant as when we came.
We saw these beautiful things on the way home from piano one day:
Celeste had a parent-teacher conference at the Montessori just before Thanksgiving. The teachers showed off all the "work" she had been doing recently, and explained some of the Montessori principles and routines they use. I was amazed. She did this little card activity (job) where she laid out all the parts of a frog along with their labels, then recited all the parts in order (including "dorsolateral folds" - it was adorable.) She did some other counting and tracing jobs for me, too, but started to get tired while doing those, and didn't quite finish them. It was a huge blessing to find such a great preschool so close to home!
The Standages organized another homeschool field trip - this time to go see a candy-cane making demonstration. I had very low expectations, but it ended up being so much fun, despite the long drive.
On our way up to Utah for Thanksgiving, I stayed in Saint George with the kids, then took them to church the next day (yay me!) After church, we met my mom at Grandma Cloe's nursing home in Cedar City, and played some music for her on ukuleles and piano. It was fun to play for everyone, and even better to see Grandma and Aunt Joyce. After that, we spent a few days hanging out in Levan while Ryan stayed home to work and gather lost toothbrushes he found scattered around the house.
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| I guess he ran these through the dishwasher. |
Lincoln had an epic birthday party at Nickel City with our two families. It was so loud and crazy and fun. Everyone did cake and pizza and laser tag and video games until the time was up, then they cashed in their tickets for fidget spinners and other loot.
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| Lincoln is the BEST present opener. |
Thanksgiving! Kevin and Liz came down, bringing an amazing cheese and fruit tray, then we had all the traditional foods. Kyle and Kelli were at her mom's house this year, but they came to visit the next day.
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| Thanksgiving Eve Taste-Testing |
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| Thankful Leaf Pile |
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| The Kid Counter |
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| Set Salad |
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| Famous Stuffing |
On Saturday, we went to the Kennys' house for a visit while Ryan shopped. It makes me happy that the kids are all still friends, despite time and distance.
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| Celeste and Evie |
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| Daniel and Connor |
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| Elise and Sarah |
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| Claire and Erinn |
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| Evan, James, and Isaac |
After the Kennys, we took the kids to the trampoline park. I mostly hung out in the little-kid zone with Celeste, where they also have benches for sitting.
On our last day, we left in the early evening to spend the night in Mesquite. My mom distributed coins to the kids in proportion to how much they had helped. Even Celeste earned some pennies!
Random November Pictures:
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| Celeste likes to help set up for my Sunday School class. |
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| I thought this was interesting. |
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| Caught in the Act |
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| Hughes/Brown Baking Contest |
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| Grandma Cloe used to sing this to her kids as a lullabye. |
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| Celeste |
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