AWANA

Fun at Omsi Wednesday

We finished a science book last week and I told the kids we would celebrate by going to OMSI before starting another book. They have a fun temporary exhibit called Mindbenders.
Lemonade Stand,
Chemistry Lab

Levi

I bought some Christmas sheet music a couple weeks ago. I hoped Ethan would learn it. It turned out to be too easy for him. I asked the boys' teacher, Melissa, if she thought Levi could play it. She said it would be too difficult for him. Well, Levi must have heard her and took it as a challenge... he's been playing it for the past week and is excited to surprise Melissa with it at lessons today.
Levi is nine. I forget that sometimes. He's with Nan, 13, and Ethan, 12, all the time and I expect him to act their age. But bathtime reminds me he's not a middling yet.

Little Gene Kellys

We watched "Singing in the Rain" which all of us thoroughly enjoyed...except for this unexpected residual effect. My boys are going around the house tap dancing. I am in the basement at the moment and it sounds like 4 people are hammering very loudly on the floor upstairs. In reality, it is Ethan and Levi attempting their own rendition of Gene Kelly's dancing. I think they are enjoying the noise their footwork makes on the wood floor. I keep hearing Nan hushing them saying "Boys....BOYS!" I'd take their picture but I am sure they would stop before I could snap one. Their dad would give them a hard time.

Fall Weekend Fun

Figured out a Halloween Costume - One of the Three Musketeers
Pumpkin Carving by the boys and Todd

Tackle Football Barefoot in the Yard

Derby Pie made by Nan and me

Church Harvest Party

Natalie and Her Sweet Tooth

Natalie likes to make desserts. Here are tonight's sweets.

Some of the nicest people in the world...

Our family has been befriended by the most wonderful people in the world. To name 3 at the top of our list - Jan and Shiz and Byron. And all three happen to be in their 80s. (Actually Byron turns 80 on Nov.27th.) Jan and Shiz bless us with encouraging words, frequent gifts of fruit, and most of all, their example. They are continually witnessing to friends about Jesus. Even now, that they are going through their own trial, they turn our conversations to who they are sharing with and how we can pray for those people.

Byron has served our family over the past several years in wonderful ways. He graciously built our chicken coop for us and then told me to let him know if I ever hear of widows or people in need in our church whom he can serve with his gifts. Today he met with Ethan and Levi and began helping them construct a birdhouse. While teaching them he also introduced us to his neighbor to whom he has been witnessing.

Our Friday night movie...

Can you guess what we are watching? This is probably too much of a give away.

Levi's History Project for Today

History Class Project/Dessert for tonight.

Happening in our house Thursday morning at 8 am.

Ethan has been up a while. He usually gets up early, reads the sports section of the paper, and begins working on his Algebra 2 assignment. Algebra 2 assignments take a while and Ethan doesn't like to be doing math if Natalie and Levi have finished theirs.
Levi is up but still sick. He usually crawls out of bed, wraps a blanket around himself, and wanders around to find whoever is up. Today he wanted to know if he has piano lessons. Probably not. I don't think Melissa would appreciate being exposed to his germs especially since he is coughing.

We haven't seen Natalie yet this morning. I am letting her sleep a bit. When one person is sick it usually slows down our entire pace. So Nan benefits from Levi's virus by getting to snuggle under her covers a while longer.

Fencing continued...

The kids are fighting duals now in fencing. I am not sure that is the proper term for it but it is a lot more fun than the shadow fencing they have been doing. Ethan and Natalie battled it out yesterday and Ethan scraped out at 5-4 win.
Levi was sick and so sat this class out. I think he has some yucky viral illness. He has red blister looking things on the back of his throat.

Fun at Mult. Falls

We needed to listen to a portion of the Odyssey on CD and were having trouble concentrating at home. So we took a little drive out to Multnomah Falls. There was a lot of bickering in our house yesterday and it continued as you can see at the falls. The joys of parenting...

Monday

Ethan and Levi's band instructor said they were doing extremely well. They were able to play along with the rest of the band after only one week of practice. Playing the piano has paid off here.
I have tried using our basement for school. I have tried to use individual desks. But somehow we always end up at the dining room table and by the end of the day, it usually looks like how it looked Monday afternoon.
Our furnace is running now and this is what I find on our vents in the morning.

Nice Fall Day, Happy Kids

Beginning the Odyssey

We began our 4 week excursion through "The Odyssey" this week. It is a little daunting. The translation we are reading is written in dactylic hexameter. I am not sure exactly what that means but I will find out as I prepare to teach today's lesson.

I was thinking this morning that it is a shame I don't have a few more kids. This year, I am going to just get this curriculum figured out and then not have a chance to put into practice what I have learned in another go around. I will probably use this curriculum with Levi in a few years but with only one student, it will be somewhat different. Maybe I need to adopt a few junior high students when he is this age to be fellow students. Or maybe I can create a very small private school.

Identifying Unknown Substances

Today's science lab.

Are we crazy? Our latest experiment...

My View Saturday in Reser Stadium

I went to the Beaver game Saturday and watched OSU soundly defeat WSU. It would have been a great time except I really missed Natalie. I like to visit with her during the game and Todd and the boys are not great conversationalists when watching the Beavers play. So it was a little slow...

Youth Retreat and "Cigarettes"

Natalie left for her junior high youth retreat a few minutes ago. She is excited and nervous. When she went out to the garage to tell her brothers goodbye she found this...
...Ethan and Levi were playing with their candle inventions and rolling up paper, lighting it on fire, and pretending they were cigarettes. So they are now cleaning their mess up, coming inside, showering to get the smoke out of their hair and clothes, and having a silent reading rest time.
What were they thinking?

Sergeant York

We watched a great old movie last night called "Sergeant York". It was based on the true story of a hillbilly Tennessee boy who becomes a soldier in the US Army during World War I and single handedly captures a huge group of Germans using the same strategy he used for hunting in the mountains back home. He is a convinced pacifist who decides to fight when drafted because he believes that by fighting for a right cause he will save lives. The film was made in 1941 while America was preparing for WWII so that provides an interesting context to think about the movie and its message. The boys liked it and Natalie enjoyed all but the battle scenes. There was some romance in it for her.

Playing with matches

A few days ago, I was getting rid of old candles that I burn in my fireplace and the boys begged me to not throw them away but to allow them to "experiments" with the wax and wicks. While preparing dinner this evening, I heard a lot of laughter coming from the garage. When I peeked out there, I found my boys playing with fire. They promised to make me a candle and to clean up their mess so I let them play a while longer.
We picked pears with our friends Debi and her son, Caleb last week. We have eaten and eaten and eaten pears. They were delicious. I had one large bowl full of pears left this afternoon and I decided to dry them before fruit flies took over my kitchen. Our house is filled with a warm fruity smell at the moment as the dryer blows air around the pears. I think they will be done when we wake up tomorrow. Yum.

Prisoner of Zenda

This week's Friday movie at the Miles house is "Prisoner of Zenda". It is supposed to have a lot a great sword fighting scenes which I am hoping with inspire my children in their fencing.

Typical Thursday Morning

Wednesday evenings are usually late nights. We get home from Awana and Youth Group after 9:00. We all need a snack so it takes us a while to get in our pajamas. Last night the kids begged me to read to them so by the time I read a chapter from a Mrs. Piggle Wiggle book, it was really late when we finally all got tucked into bed. This morning we got going slowly and I bent a few of our normal rules. Notice Levi and Nan are still in the bathrobes. I made them hot chocolate and we've been working at a cozy, slow pace.

Except for Ethan... he was up at the crack of dawn.. I found him working on his grammar in the dark when I got up. He wants to get done fast today for some reason.

Making ice cream for science

Today our science lesson was on Concentrated and Diluted Solutions. We learned about the affect of salt on water. Our application was making ice cream in a baggy using salt and ice cubes to freeze it. It work out really well and we ate ice cream for a mid-morning snack. I really recommend the curriculum we are using. We are learning a lot and having fun doing it. Tomorrow's experiment is making cookies with and without baking soda.