Thanksgiving

November has been my favorite month of school, so far.  Nate and I both enjoyed learning about Pilgrims, Native Americans, and the first Thanksgiving.  We try to live each day with thankful/grateful attitudes, but we really focused on thankful attitudes during November.  I found several cool Thanksgiving activities and crafts on Pinterest. I also learned about three great books to read along with our activities: The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving, Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving, and If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. 

Our very simple Mayflower

We dyed pasta noodles and made a Native American necklace and bracelet.  I don't have an after picture, but the pasta turned out great, very bright colors.

Nate's handwriting has improved such much the last few months.  Even more important, his attitude about writing has improved.

My sweet friend, Theresa, kept Nate one morning so I could go to an appointment.  She teaches her daughter, Sarah, who is Nate's age.  Being the super awesome person she is, she planned for Nate and Sarah to make a cool Thanksgiving wreath.

We spent Thanksgiving eve with my family.  We had a great time eating, taking pictures and playing Taboo.  Every single time, my dad said a word he wasn't supposed to say.  It was hilarious.  Thanks to him, the girls took the victory.   

Thanksgiving day we celebrated with Darren's family.  We had more wonderful food and fellowship.  It was a beautiful day and the kids (and some adults) had a great time playing outside.  We are so thankful for our families!

Stitches

We made it over six years with no major accidents.  Last Wednesday, Nate fell down our back steps and cut his head.  He was obviously upset and it bled a lot, but we did not think he needed stitches.  I was rinsing the blood out of his hair so we could go to small group when I saw just how deep the cuts were.   They were small, but deep.  We texted a picture to a friend that's a nurse and she said he would need stitches.  Glue or tape would not work since the cuts were in his hair.

We were thankful to get to go to Children's after hours clinic instead of the ER.  Nate was obviously nervous as we waited.  Darren and I were nervous too.  Neither of us have had stitches so this was a new experience for us as well.  A sweet nurse came in to put the "magic" solution on Nate's head and wrapped his head to keep it in place.  She said the doctor would be back in twenty minutes to do the stitches.  

The doctor who did the stitches was awesome.  Seriously.  She saw Nate playing Angry Birds Star Wars.  She started talking to him about Star Wars as she got things ready.  This obviously made Nate feel more comfortable because he was totally calm and remained calm the entire time.  He sat at the end of the bed playing Angry Birds and talking to the doctor and nurse about Jedi Training, his Christmas list, and other things.  There were no tears.  I had imagined several adults holding down a screaming child during this process.  Darren and I were so thankful to have a positive experience.   

He ended up getting three stitches.

Easy peasy. :) 

Father Son Camp-out

A couple of weeks ago Darren hosted a father son camp-out.  There were a total of 7 adults and 9 kids who camped over night.  They camped in a wooded area near the pasture behind our house.  They cooked hot dogs and s'mores over the campfire, shot BB guns, and played on rolls of hay.  There was no electricity or running water.  They were definitely roughing it.

I have no pictures of this fun event, because it was "boys only."  Nate was insistent about this.  "No girls allowed," he would say.  So, in honor of his request, I did not make an appearance for pictures and Darren did not think to take any.  I wish I would have gone over that morning for a picture or two.  Darren said it looked like a little tent city.

We are so thankful to live in the country with space to host fun events like this.  We are also thankful for great friends.

Co-op Fun

Ed's Pet World came to our home school co-op a couple of weeks ago.  This is just one of the exotic animals Nate got to hold.  

The co-op has been really good for Nate.  He has a wonderful teacher and has learned so much about geography and other cultures.  He has made lots of great friends.  He has also had the opportunity to participate in lots of fun field trips.

Walk 153

This year we were excited to support the Smith family at Walk 153.  They are adopting a young man from Taiwan.  This is our kid team.  They raised money and walked 1.53 miles.

This is such a fun, family friendly event.  There are lots of activities for kids, like face painting.  This is the cutest tiger I've ever seen.



A total of $70,000 was raised and divided between several adoptive families and a school construction project in Sudan.  Glory to God!

Halloween

Nate had a great time trick or treating with friends from small group.  This was his first time to trick or treat in the traditional way, house to house in a neighborhood.  He's the Power Ranger.

Family Vacation

Several weeks ago, we went to Disney World for a family vacation. We were very excited to have my niece, Ashlyn, join us.  She is a student in college and we were afraid she wouldn't be able to go, but all of her teachers were gracious and allowed her to make up work/tests. 

We did several new things this trip.  One of our favorites was Typhoon Lagoon.  It was great.  Nate did all of the water slides (he was tall enough for) several times.  I think his favorite part was the wave pool.  He and Darren had to enjoy this by themselves.  The waves were too big for me.  

We also spent a day at Sea World.  This was our first visit and we loved it.  There are lots of fun rides, but our favorite parts were the animal exhibits.

One of Nate's favorite things was feeding squid to the sharks.

We missed the Magic Kingdom fireworks show on our last family trip, but we made sure to see it this time. We also saw Illuminations at Epcot this time and enjoyed it.

Another new experience for Nate was Jedi Training at Hollywood Studios.  Nate has loved Star Wars for almost a year now. This was our last day.  We saved the best for last. :)

Nate also loved Star Tours and rode it four times in one day.  My mom gave him some spending money.  He used some of his money to build his own droid.

We had a really great trip.  The weather was great and didn't rain even though there was rain in the forecast.  It was fun having Ashlyn there so we could do "girl stuff" like watch Beauty and the Beast while Darren and Nate did other things.  It was also nice to be able to ride roller coasters with Darren while Ashlyn waited with Nate.  It was fun doing new things and enjoying some of our past favorites. 

Almighty Mud Run

In October, I participated in the Almighty Mud Run. It is a 5k run with around 20 obstacles.  It is put on by Bridges of Faith, a ministry that ministers to Ukrainian orphans.  Our good friends, the Tatums, are adopting a young man from Ukraine. They met him through Bridges of Faith. We ran in his honor. This was our team, team Dima.

This was our first obstacle. I do not like heights. There were very tiny places to put your feet to help climb. My foot kept slipping at the bottom. All I could think about was my foot slipping at the top and me falling/sliding back to the bottom. I seriously contemplated skipping the first obstacle. Then I saw Darren and Nate watching from the distance and I could not let Nate see me "cheat." So, I started climbing and quoting Joshua 1:9 - be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous. I am at the very top in this picture. I made it without falling or sliding! 

 

The wall was the hardest/scariest obstacle for me.   There was an ice water obstacle that I was really dreading, but I didn't think it was too bad.  The other girls would disagree.  After the ice water, we had to jump fire.  It sounds wild and crazy, but it really wasn't. There were plenty of places to jump that were hot, but fire was not burning.  After that was the first mud pit, which you see below. 

Forget what I said about the wall being the scariest obstacle.  This slide was the scariest.  This pictures does not show the real size of this thing.  It was so soapy and slippery.  I was not afraid of the slide, but the mud pit at the bottom.  There was not much mud or water in it and I could tell that the landing was was going to hurt and it did.  I landed so hard, I had whiplash the next day.  I also scratched up my wrist and back.  I was not happy. 

This wall followed the slide.  I stopped to help another team get one of their members over the wall.  Nothing like putting your hands on a stranger's bottom. :)

Now it's my turn.

I can only imagine what I am talking about here...probably how bad it hurt coming off the slide.  It took a while to get over that.

Another mud pit.

I love this picture of Casey, Sandi, and me.  I love these girls.  I wish the lighting was better.  I have a feeling if we weren't so muddy you would be able to see us better.

We did it!  Our time was 1:51 instead of 2:51 because started in a later heat. We did not have a time goal. Our only goals were to not get hurt and have fun.  We stopped for lots of pictures, let more serious competitors pass, helped other competitors, and laughed a whole lot.

 

There were lots of other fun obstacles.  Some I have pictures of and others not.  My favorite obstacle was swimming across a small lake.  It was so nice to dive into the water and get clean for a few minutes.  There were obstacles in the middle of the lake also.  We also had to carry concrete blocks, crawl under barbed wire, climb a tire wall, climb a rope net, and many others.  It was so much fun and an experience I will never forget.

Field Trips

We have enjoyed several field trips this fall.  The first one was to the Blue Bell ice cream factory. 

 Our favorite part:  free ice cream at the end of the tour.

We also enjoyed the Moundville Native American Festival.  Darren even took the day off to join us.

Our favorite part of the festival was watching this man hoop dance.  He has performed all over the world.  His ancestors were part of the Alabama tribe.  Now he lives in Texas and is part of the Alabama - Coushatta tribe.   

Finally, we visited Old Baker Farm.  We love this place and have been several times as a family.  We were very thankful to have Hannah and Lindsey join us.