The Little House

"So they jacked up the Little House

and put her on wheels. Traffic was held up
for hours as they slowly moved her out of the city."

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

This is something you dont' see everyday. We were fortunate to be able to witness them navigate through the streets of our downtown. Tree branches needed to be cut, wires taken down, and signs removed. Of course it was a learning experience! We discussed the physics of it and the planning involved. It was pretty cool.

I'm Cruisin' in Style

We are fortunate to live in an area that has great weather most of the year. We are also fortunate to live in a city that is extremely bike friendly (understatement of the year!). I am not exaggerating when I say there are more bikes than cars or people in our town. We have over 100 miles of paved bike trails (with turn-a-bouts and signals) in 8 square miles. Needless to say, when my bike was stolen a few months ago (which is the highest incident of crime in our little town) I was not a happy camper. But, after I saved up some Christmas and birthday money, I was able to finally buy a new bike! I LOVE it!

Trick-or-Treat

My Lil' Cowboy and Mad Scientist

The cute, little girl the boys are standing next to is Maya. She lives above us but isn't really so cute when she runs from room to room at 6:30 in the morning. But since I am up now...she is cute. She and the boys play together a lot. She is teaching them words in Turkish and the boys are teaching her English. Oh, and her parents (whom we adore!) are geologists so the boys are learning a lot from them too!

Collin and the boys made caramel apples for us to enjoy. These were not ordinary caramel appples. No sir-ee. The caramel you are drooling over was made from scratch! Lots and lots of butter. And lots and lots of corn syrup.

They were super YUMMY!

Magnus thought so!

Thane...not-so-much...weirdo!

Pumpkins!!

New Hobby

Magnus gets to play with swords!

(He is in the camouflage shorts.)

Almost...forgot to extend his back arm.

Not quite...the arch in his foil is going the wrong way.

Nice!!

Saying Goodbye

Today I feel sad for my boys. Their good friends, Sahdart and Ahnan, are moving to India.

Putah Creek

A few weeks ago we went for a beautiful walk near campus. These are some of the images from Putah Creek...

Sunday Family Hike

The temperatures have been amazingly warm. Since this is our first January here, I don't know if it is just a fluke or if this is normal. No matter. We are taking every opportunity to enjoy them!

We took a hike (a relatively short one) around the Yolo County Wildlife Area. There are a massive amount of birds in the area as it is a resting point during their migration. Being the (amateur) bird watcher I am, it is a lovely place for me to be.

My dear, sweet husband got me those binoculars for Christmas. He did good!

We saw...

Great Egrets
(Image borrowed from the net)








American Coots
(Image borrowed from the net)




Sandpipers
(Image borrowed from the net)




And this guy...

Great Horned Owl
(I took this picture! Which is why you can't really see him. However, I hope to change that as I am saving up my money to buy a new camera with a really good lens!)
I checked him out with my binoculars and he had the most amazing yellow eyes! I was very excited as I have never seen one of these beautiful birds! Oh, and it was the middle of the day...weird for an animal that is nocturnal. Guess he was suffering from insomnia!

Here are some other pics from our day...

Weekly Report...Week 10 ...Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving could not have come at a better time for us. We needed a break from our regular school work. I knew the boys (and me too) still needed something to occupy our time or we would drive each other crazy so I planned out a mini Thanksgiving unit and created a lapbook for us to do. It was just what we needed.

The week started out with a nature walk. We rode our bikes and headed to some trails we had yet to explore. Let me just say, there is nothing like living in a town where there are more bikes than cars! We have so many safe bike trails to get you from one place to another. It's great!

During the week we cuddled on the couch and read "If You Were At The First Thanksgiving" by Anne Kamma. We also explored some fantastic websites that gave us more information about the voyage, daily life, and the Wampanoag Indians. The boys then completed the appropriate books to add to their lapbooks. Here are the finished products...

Thanksgiving day, itself, was wonderful. I decided to go ahead and make a Thanksgiving dinner. My last attempt at doing this was 9 years ago so this is the first Thanksgiving dinner the boys had that I cooked. Let me just say that I deserve a pat on the back! It actually turned out good! I couldn't believe it! The turkey was not dry and the stuffing wasn't soup! I can't wait to eat the leftovers tonight! The boys made butter for us to eat with our meal. They shook baby food jars full of heavy whipping cream for a good part of the morning. It turned out great! We were all very excited to eat it on our bread.

I put the boys in charge of setting the table. They did a great job...
Thane arranged the centerpiece...

They also dressed up as Pilgrims...

Our break isn't over yet. Today (which is really going to be a "work" day) I am going to be taking a look at Tapestry of Grace and some other subjects in our homeschool that I can utilize better. Collin is working on a 15 page paper that is due next Friday. BUT...tomorrow we are going to go camping!! We'll spend the weekend at the beach relaxing, bird watching, exploring tide pools, and eating over an open fire! I can't think of a better way to spend my time! I'll be posting pictures next week.

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday!