I messed up.

I messed up Halloween tonight by doing things backwards. The time change thing made 5:00, the normal trick or treat time seem weird, because it was still really light. So we felt like we would be going to peoples houses too early. We decided to go to a couple of local church's Trunk or Treats since we missed the one at our own Saturday due to the party. This took too much time and by the time we got back to our own little street where all our favorite people, aunts, uncles and cousins live, we were too late. They had their porch lights off and I figure they'd given up on us. The kids got mega bags of candy but we missed out on a lot of the visiting that makes Halloween fun for me.

I never know what kind of title to write.

I almost always want to put "Today" as the title. Maybe I should just type the date?
Anyway, here's a picture of our 3 pumpkins, yet to be carved. I guess maybe we should get to that today, as it is Halloween? Since we had the party the other night where the kids had to wear costumes, the costumes are already done and we don't have to do any last minute sewing or anything. That's good. I hate last minute costume issues. I do need to hunt down my youngest son's black sweats, which are somewhere in the laundry process.

In other news this week, I've been reading the Carnival of Homeschooling. Here it is and we're still doing some cleaning and renovating.

We had a bit of excitment last night having to do with our flooring renovation. While we were pulling up the carpet, my husband had pulled the truck up to the front door. It has a topper on it and apparently, the kittens enjoy climbing up into the truck and sleeping on the carpet. Last night, he moved the truck back to the driveway and the kitties got to go for a little ride. It was funny. My daughter was yelling, 'the kittens are in there!" and we ran out to make sure they were okay. They were a little surprised, but fine.

That's it from here. We're still on fall break and I guess we'll go back Monday. It's going to end up being 10 days off because I get to count the 2 field trips. There's been quite a bit of learning going on with renovations (wood shop?), watching Mythbusters (science), dividing 5 enchiladas amongst 3 people (math) and of course the 2 field trips which were Mad Science (more science) and the Museum of Art and Craft (art), but still, we need to get back into our routine. I think it will actually be more restful! It's been a very busy couple of weeks.

Ta Da.

Here are the sculptures. The alien was done by my oldest son. The creature attacking a building was done by my youngest son and the giraffe (which is now sans the pointy things on it's head (are they antlers?)) was done by my daughter.

Report.

The field trip to the museum of Art and Craft was great. The kids made an animal out of polymer clay, wood, fabric, ribbons, wire, etc. A good time was had by all, I think. My youngest son who hasn't been in a classroom situation had a slight problem with the teacher telling him what to do at first, but we had a little talk and he decided to listen to her. Funny how that works. I can't share pictures of the creations right now because my camera is not working. I might see if I can get my husband to take some pictures with his camera so I can post them.

Another field trip.

Today, we're going to the Museum of Art and Craft to make polymer clay animals in a workshop. It sounds like fun. The only thing we don't like about field trips is the getting up early. The kids are spoiled to sleeping until 9:00 or 9:30 every day and this 7:30 a.m. wakeup call I'm about to give them is not going to go well.

On the home renovation front, we got our carpet taken up. The floor underneath it looks awful but it's a step in the right direction. Our beautiful laminate floor is on it's way. (Actually, it's all piled up in the kitchen, but you know what I mean!)

Later today we need to tackle cleaning my teenager's room, which is not going to be fun. Anyone want to come and help?

A Day of Rest?

At least today is more restful than yesterday. We got to sleep quite a bit later. Yesterday, we had to get up early and went to the class and then straight to the party (with an hour and a half of driving, give or take). We didn't get home to stay until around 10:00 last night. We're all kind of tired. Still, we need to work on our floors and I need to work at my job. As usual, work has been kind of slow all week, until the weekend got here and then they're begging for help. I guess I should be thankful I have a job and that I don't have to leave home to do it and since we homeschool, I don't miss my only opportunity to be with my kids by working on the weekend. I get to see them during the week.

We really enjoyed our little party with the homeschool group last night. We made smores, had a hayride, ate a wonderful meal and just had a good time. That was the parents. The kids ate a quick meal and then ran amok the entire time, wearing costumes and carrying swords and light sabers having a ball. Tomorrow, we have a field trip to the Museum of Art and Craft with a polymer clay workshop. I hope it is fun.

We're off to class.

I'm really tired and kind of sore from cleaning yesterday. I think from moving the bunk bed by myself, probably a mistake in retrospect, but hey, it's done now. After our class, we will have to hurry home to grab the pot of chili we made last night and head out to a halloween party. The kids are going as a Jedi, Herminone and a dragon ninja. Last night, my daughter decorated the dragon ninja's sword for her younger brother with a dragon that she drew and put flames going all the way up the blade. It's pretty cool. I had to do some bargaining with my oldest, who wanted to go as Boba Fett from Star Wars instead of as a Jedi, but the Boba Fett costume was going to cost 75 dollars and I just can't see that for a halloween costume. I told him he could be that next year when he has a job and for this year, he can be a Jedi. (He already had the cloak from a couple of years ago.)

Uh oh! Time to go!

The War on Clutter.

Today, the children and I fought for several hours in the war on clutter. It was exhausting, but the house does look better. We got several bags of things that can go to Goodwill or consignment and some things that we were just ready to throw away. The Flylady would be proud. I, personally, am tired.