Fresnel who?!?!

We found an online thing on how to make a solar oven to bake cookies outside.  Otter got the directions for it and eagerly started cutting the box up.  Then he came to the part of a "fresnel lens."  What!?!?  I had no clue what this was and found online that has oh so many uses, first used in lighthouses.  It is a magnifier as well, apparently quite popular with the far-sighted elderly population for reading.  We had quite a bit of fun when it arrived in the mail.  Not only is it good for lighting the path for sea vessels, magnifying large-print books, and making cookies outside, but, man oh man can it make some already goofy faces even goofier.

Yes, Otter did get the solar oven made with the lens.  But he didn't make cookies, he made a melted cheesey-delciousness ham concoction of some sort.  And we thanked Augustin-Jean Fresnel for making that technology possible.

Devil's Lake

I was happy with my decision to keep the kids home from school the minute I made it.  I knew there would be grief about it and I knew several people would not understand.  I also knew that there would be struggles and learning, give and take that had to occur from all of us.  But, sometimes you just got to go out on a limb and do what you feel is best for your group.  After a long summer of adventures with our neighbors, school season returned for everyone and we faced the task of learning how we were going to learn.  I was still not set on how our days would be working, but I did know I wanted to take advantage of learning on the go and being outside.  The first week of "school," Joe took the day off and we all headed up to Devil's Lake to do some lessons, have some fun, and enjoy being a family as we began this homeschooling thing together.  (This post is picture heavy - I had a hard time deciding which ones to post, so they all made it!!!).

...adventure buddies assigned.

Adventure bags ready....

Walking sticks are an essential tool of adventuring.

Collecting weather data at the bottom of the hill. 

Lunch at the top...

...cannot beat the view.

Looks like the adventure buddies needed  to get reassigned.

Sharing lunch with some Daddy-long-legs.

Add collecting weather data at the top of the hill.

Can you see the toad on the moss?  He was a very patient amphibian and endured some good-natured poking and prodding.

Where's Squeaks?!??!

Baby cutie pie.

Baby snapping turtle cutie pie.

They followed mussel trails and grabbed some mussels out of the water!

What's not to love about this?

There are cons to this homeschooling thing.  So, maybe Smoosh won't ever learn how to sit in a seat for extended periods of time.  And Otter will have to suffer through not having a locker or being around his flocks of adoring female fans all day long.  Squeaks might not even know what the inside of a classroom ever looks like.  And Beans, well, who knows what she will miss out on as she is so happy wherever.  We have (and will have) days where nothing gets done and there is yelling and clouds in the house that make the grass look so much greener over there at the brick school.  There are definitely things my kids will not be learning here at home that I don't have the capability or resources to teach them.   On the flipside, the pros, so far, have outweighed those cons and what I can teach them and give them now I hope will make an impact that has far greater outcomes, not just for their brains, but for their hearts and souls.  

Tomatos

One goal that did reach fruition in the garden this year was our tomatoes.  We have planted tomatoes each year and have yet to have a decent crop beyond handfuls of cherry tomatoes. This year was different; we had lots of tomatoes.  Our plants grew well in every little corner I had tucked them into.  We had tomatoes off our deck, tomatoes from pots, tomatoes from the back garden, and tomatoes from our little square garden.  And yet again, my high ambitions grabbed me and I started dreaming of my cabinet filled with jars of home-made ketchup, tomato sauce, and tomatoes.  I eagerly grabbed up books and started digging into recipes.  Then I thought I had better just try canning plain ol' tomatoes first before I started making all these great concoctions so I could get a feel for it.  Wow, did I learn a lot and am glad I didn't try to make recipes first. 

One thing I learned, canning tomatoes makes a big mess in all kinds of ways.  First, there are lots of pots involved in the canning process for tomatoes; for blanching, boiling, sterilizing, and canning.  And not only that, but they are all big pots.  Egad.  I hope Joe is OK with washing them all 'cause I don't want to clean up that mess. 

Next is the mess that comes with the peeling and slicing process.  Double egad.  This step was incredibly messy. On top of that, it took a few hours for the whole thing to get going, which was on top of entertaining children while trying to bestow the virtues of our own homegrown tomatoes.  They didn't seem to be buying that bit about how delicious summer would taste in the middle of winter.  They just wanted to be done with this process and were quite happy to be coloring or running around or doing something else out of the kitchen and my eyesight, which maybe caused a delay in the whole process.  I bet this is one of those things that takes 20 minutes without kids, kind of like driving somewhere to DC "it only takes 20 minutes without traffic..." 

But, I digress.  I also learned that it takes a whole darn lot of tomatoes just to make one can of them.  Sigh of disappointment. At the end of the whole procedure, I only had a few cans to show for all those tomatoes and all that work.  But honestly, I was so thrilled with those few cans that I wasn't even too disappointed that I couldn't make ketchup or tomato sauce.  Those can be saved for next season.  I will be enjoying my bites of the garden in the middle of the winter months for sure, maybe while I am sitting and planning next year's garden and where to put even more tomato plants so I can make everything.  And devising strategies to not have children around when canning time comes!

Showtime!

We have a wonderful civic theater group that puts on a kids' play each fall. Last year was our first experience with it when Otter was Mowgli for The Jungle Book.  Many happy nights were spent at a barn with Otter rehearsing and me working on my sewing machine doing alterations for lots of monkeys.  Beans was so excited to get her crack at it this year as she was finally old enough to audition.

Otter is in the blue short and Beans is in the pink skirt.

A late-night phone call made Beans one happy little lady.  She was cast as a mouse in Cinderella and she couldn't have been happier!  Otter would also be living it up on the stage again, this time as one of the other mice, Luc.   Lots of Bippity-Boppity-Booing and prancing around on toes followed for the next few weeks at the house and at the barn for practices.   Any straight object was turned into a wand and mouse talk became a normal language at the house.  Squeakity-squeak-squeak.  The sewing machine happily whirred away to make a few mice costumes (not as many as last time though!).  Finally, the big opening night came and it was just awesome all around.

Note the "cheesey" bouquet....

We didn't even bother with flowers for Otter, we just gave him a block of cheese for his "mousestanding" performance.

But, of course, the spirit of Cinderella was not over after the night of the play.  There was a few weeks of "theater" being played at the house as well, complete with curtains, makeup, costumes, and, yup, still lots of Bibbity-Bobbity-Booing. This has all just left Smoosh biting at the chomp for when he is old enough to audition and be a part of it all!

The theater pros applying stage makeup to their siblings.

Adorable little mousey!

Huh....I think that was a tiger?

Spalsh Park!

One of our fun summer adventures was hitting up the Splash Park.  Our friends joined in for the adventures.  As soon as we were tired of running around in the water, we mosied on over to the playground then to the dock for a picnic.  Even the fish got some of the lunch goodies.  

Squeaks just ran around squealing in the water.

Feeding fish and eating lunch in bathing suits...does it get any better on a warm summer day?

Tired, happy bunch.

Children's Museum

Sometimes its hard for people to know what to get this chaotic family for gifts, especially with the "we don't need more stuff" mantra from this mama!  However, my parents got us one of the most awesome gift ever when they bought us a family membership to the Madison Children's Museum.  We love that place.  Big time love.  We go there as often as we can.  Because of the membership, we no longer rush through the place trying to see everything at once.  We get to take our time in one area all day if we want because we know we can come back again and do another part of the place another time!  We also get to share this great gift with friends.  These are the pics from one time this summer when we went with our favorite little pal next door =) 

 Inside, there are lots of fun things to play with and do.  I only have a few shots; maybe next time I can stop playing so much and get more pictures of the inside:

Ready to get going!!!

Automated legos to play with...wicked fun.  Otter needs to learn how to do this so we can start building Lego robots to clean the house.

Playing with wooden musical instruments.

 

 

 

 

 

Smoosh always heads for the veggie garden to plant things!  LOVE it!

Looking at the Madison Square from the rooftop.

The rooftop is my favorite place in the Museum.  Gardens, chickens, a clubhouse full of baby chicks, turtles, and seedlings - what's not to like?  Maybe one day my backyard can look like the rooftop...

Possibly the only thing cooler than backyard chickens are rooftop chickens!! Maybe our coop can look like this one day?

Exploring the pond...

...climbing the rocks...

...wondering why jumping in the pond is not allowed.

This is how the girls play with the fish...."ha doh widdle fishie..."

...so sweet...and cute.

And this is how the boys play with the fish...never still, always moving..climbing and conquering the foul beast from the depths.

Definitely one of our most favoritest places to visit =)  We'll show pics next time of the awesomeness inside!