Jackson Zoo

Wednesday we went to the Jackson Zoo with our friends, the Ragsdales. They moved to the Jackson area this summer so it's nice that we're still able to visit them when we go to Clinton. Plus we get in the Jackson Zoo for free with our Baton Rouge Zoo Membership. We only had to pay $1 for parking. It was a nice day and yes they're wearing shorts the day before Thanksgiving!

Wordless Wednesday

3rd Annual Homeschool Thanksgiving Celebration

Yesterday, we had our 3rd annual homeschool Thanksgiving celebration at my house.  This year we didn’t have as many participate, but we still had around 70 people.  First we gathered for instructions and prayer.  Then we started rotating to our different stations. 
At the Thanksgiving info station, Mrs. Tiany read info from The Thanksgiving Story by Dagliesh and the kids got to create a Thanksgiving sticker scene.

Next station was the Oreo Turkey made from a graham cracker, chocolate icing, oreo, candy corn and goldfish.

Next they made pilgrim hats with Mrs. Rachel. She did such a great job with these. She explains how to make them on her blog.


Then she read them a story about how clothes were made during that time period.

Next was the butter station. Here they got to make their own butter from heavy whipping cream by shaking it in a plastic container. Then Mrs. Starr explained how wheat is ground and made into bread. They also got to try grinding wheat using a hand grinder and she also showed them her electric grinder. After the butter was made, they got to eat some of it on her homemade bread.   YUMMO!



At the pumpkin info station, Mrs. Amanda told them many different facts about pumpkins. She did a great job making charts and games for the station.

Last was the picture frame station where they made frames to put their picture. I took their picture at the pilgrim hat station after their hat was finished.


Then of course, we had a big feast!

E is for Elephant Ears

Wednesday, we continued our study of the letter E.  Levi was also learning the color gray and made this elephant craft.  For our snack, I decided to make elephant ears.  I had never heard of these but my husband kept talking about them when the state fair was in town.  They never had these at our state fair growing up.  I googled them and found out what they were.  Basically I made them the same way I make my quick donuts.  Here is a recipe for them.  

E is for Egg

Tuesday Levi was studying the letter E. They had boiled eggs for their snack that I let them dye. In our history curriculum, we've been studying about Thomas Jefferson. Dolly Madison was a good friend of his and she often was the hostess at many of his parties. She is credited with starting the annual Easter egg hunt at the White House. Luke and Cameron hid plastic eggs upstairs that Miriam & Levi got to hunt for. I filled the plastic eggs with magnetic letters. They enjoyed opening the eggs and telling me or asking me what the letter was.

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles

Part of Miriam's school work today included making different sizes of bubbles using a straw, a toliet paper tube (paper towel tube or mailing tube), and a pipe cleaner made into a circle. Of course, the kids really enjoyed this activity!

Quick Donuts

For Miriam’s school work, one of the activities was to make quick donuts.  We’ve done this recipe many times varying the topping we put on them.  This time I used the smaller biscuits (not the Grands) and Miriam and Levi used an apple corer to cut out the hole.  Then I I just put some powdered sugar in brown lunch bags and put the hot donuts in there.  The kids then got to shake their own bag to cover their donuts.  We had these as a snack while we started our school work.  We usually have a snack that corresponds with the letter that Levi & Micah are learning so it worked out that we were on D! Here's the link from when we did this activity for Cameron's school work.

End of the Season Football Parties

Luke had his party last Thursday at a local park where they enjoyed playing on the playground, throwing the football, and eating pizza and cookie cake. Each player got a medal and a goodie bag.
Cameron had his party on Tuesday at Chuck E. Cheese. Of course, they enjoyed playing all the games. Each player got a medal and a trophy.

Fall Festival

Sunday night we went to Fall Festival at church.

Weekend in Clinton

This weekend Miriam, Cole & I went to visit Aunt Laura, Uncle Eric & baby Elliott. We just hung out on Saturday, took newborn pictures of Elliott (these to come on my Eye Candi site), and went to the Fall Festival at their church.

Doesn't look like they're too happy to be in costume!  Miriam got to dress like a princess and wear make-up.  Plus Cole got to try his first cotton candy!

Last Football Games

These pictures are from last week's football games. Cameron played most of the game and played quarterback many of the plays.
Luke played the whole game and caught a pass and pulled a flag.