Autumn and Dinosaurs

Is it Fall already? *sigh* Although I am glad to be done with the super hot weather, I can’t pretend that the darkness and cold don’t depress me a little. Thank goodness it is still fairly sunny these days so that the kids can still get a good amount of time outside. I may not post this today, but it’s Monday in all of it’s ugly “monday-ness”, it’s been a frustrating day. Yet again this morning I was internally reminded why it is a good idea that I do not carry a weapon on my person- the front desk attendant at the local pool would be singing a different tune if I did >:(

Ah, well.

We recently covered  “Dinosaurs” and “Fall” with our homeschooling. It was very fun. I’ve been having a hard time documenting these things since the WordPress app has been acting up fro the past few months. I have to transfer all my phone pictures to the computer to blog which adds a significant amount of time to the blogging process, so the posts are fewer and far between these days- ANNOYING. I’ve been in contact with the WordPress people, of course they keep promising to fix the problem, but to no avail. I guess I’ll just keep angry tweeting them till they do. That may not fix the problem, but it will sure make me feel better! 🙂

 

Fine motor skills practice
Fine motor skills practice
Week long experiment watching these "lizards" grow
Week long experiment watching these “lizards” grow
Getting ready to "hatch" a baking soda "dinosaur egg" with vinegar. I made five of these one for each day of the week and it was a huge hit!
Getting ready to “hatch” a baking soda “dinosaur egg” with vinegar. I made five of these one for each day of the week and it was a huge hit!

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hatching another egg with Zelie's help.
hatching another egg with Zelie’s help.
After a long and exciting dinosaur week we sprung to take the kids to the Pacific Science Center. This was Caidoc's face when he saw the dinosaurs- Let me tell you, that look was so incredibly worth the admission money.
After a long and exciting dinosaur week we sprung to take the kids to the Pacific Science Center. This was Caidoc’s face when he saw the dinosaurs- Let me tell you, that look was so incredibly worth the admission money.

 

 

Water table at the PSC
Water table at the PSC
A fall craft for school
A fall craft for school

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Number matching fall leaf craft for school
Number matching fall leaf craft for school

 

In addition to schooling I’ve been jamming a LOT. It has been very fun. We were recently in Ellensburg for my sister’s swearing in to the Air Force and I was able to pick up a bunch of local organic apples. I made apple butter and apple sauce and apple chips. Yum. I’ve been trying to better our family eating on all fronts inspired by a book called 100 Days of Real Food. I highly recommend it particularly if you want a condensed, easily digestible (get it?!) read with very clear instructions and meal plans laid out. Her methods focus on cutting out anything highly processed and not “whole”, meaning, anything with extra ingredients that just aren’t needed particularly added sugar. I always thought we ate very little sugar over all, but after adding up Caidoc’s and Zelie’s sugar intake over the course of a day I was horrified! I included natural sugar in my calculations because, well, it still IS sugar. I’ve cut down their sugar consumption (along with with mine and Chris’s) but I’d still like to be better. We eat mostly really good things, the sugar was sneaking in in unexpected places like peanut butter. I’m currently on a war path to eliminate all additives from our diet which means making a lot of stuff myself, this is much yummier, but also more time consuming and takes a good amount of planning to get into a rhythm- I’m still working on it.

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Great little helper
Great little helper

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I’ve also recently read “The Danish Way of Parenting” , another excellent read I’d highly recommend. I dream of living in Denmark- did you know it’s been proven to be the happiest place in the world for the past 40 years? Um, yeah, sign me up! This parenting book really focuses on treating children like actual people- their thoughts, feelings, and opinions have value. This is something Chris and I have always believed in, and gotten QUITE a bit of flack for, most frequently being called “push overs” and “hover parents” . I don’t know why it seems to acceptable to still be bigoted against such a prominent group- children. They are not little beasts for taming (as much as it seems like it sometimes) but they are people who deserve to be heard and treated with respect. Don’t misunderstand that to mean these little people call the shots, definitely not. The author simply demonstrates ways to help your children become happy functioning adults, something the Danish have excelled at for the past 40 years. Much of this theory focuses on bettering yourself first, since children follow their parents behavior, I love this idea! So much of American parenting is “do as I say, not as I do!” and it isn’t very effective, not to mention, totally illogical. Children are mirrors and actions will teach them far more than words. This is probably the first parenting book that I’ve whole heartedly agreed with and am excited to continue to use as a resource- I need all the help I can get!

Mother son date
Mother son date
post nap pop corn (I'm lucky they love it plain!)
post nap pop corn (I’m lucky they love it plain!)

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Someone decided to grow up overnight!
Someone decided to grow up overnight!
Zelie is in a dress that I wore
Zelie is in a dress that I wore

 

Wow, this post is getting long! So far, I’ve had to stop to change a massive poop-plosion, read 10 books aloud, stopped to make lunch smoothies and instruct proper kale picking from the garden for said smoothies, and rotated two loads of laundry. I must make a note to get re useable cups with lids and straws :-/

I think that might be it for today, hopefully, by some sheer luck, I will be able to get this post up today!

Cheers!

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