We stay super busy so I'll try to keep it as brief. I just want to document as much as possible before I forget it, so we'll have something to look back on.
October........
This stuff all happened during the month of October in addition to our normal homeschooling activities.
10-4-08 Fall Carnival
We helped with the annual carnival that Mallory's preschool puts on. I baked six cakes, turned my van into a moving billboard, & worked the carnival from 8am-3pm. The kids both had soccer games that day, so Michael took them there while I worked. They play just a couple minutes down the road so Michael brought them over to play after their games.
10-08-08 Disney On Ice!
This was our first time seeing an ice skating show. What better way to start than to make it a Disney experience. The kids LOVED it! The show had four scenes...one from Cars, Tinkerbell, Lion King and The Little Mermaid. I recommend it to anyone with little ones.
10-09-08 Pumpkin Patch & Party
This day we went to a local farm to pick pumpkins with a few of our homeschooling friends. I felt like the pumpkins were a little on the small side but I LOVED the farm. The farmer taught us a little about Native Americans and we were given an arrowhead. We also got to see a working bee hive, see farm animals up close and took a wagon ride to the fields to get our pumpkins.
After leaving the farm we drove straight to Chuck E Cheese's for a birthday party. Mitchell's friend from preschool & Cub Scouts, Josh, invited us to join him for some cake and fun!
10-15-08 Homeschool Day at our local power plant.
This was fun and VERY educational. Mitchell and Mallory decorated a Frisbee, watched a film & demonstration of electricity, met up with some old friends, played around the lake, colored, and powered a TV by running on a treadmill (one of their favorites! lol).
10-25-08 Cub Scout Camporee!!!!
Mitchell and Mallory's first camping trip. Mitchell learned to tie knots, he put on a skit with his den, he & Mallory made paper bag kites, & all of us were allowed to use a Bow to shoot arrows. It was so much fun. They kept us super busy. We barely had a free moment to ourselves. My only complant was the weather. The temp was in the 20's the night we camped out. It was COLD.
10-28-08
We toured the Carolina's Aviation Museum with a group of homeschoolers (including the kids best friends). It was very interesting to look at the planes and all the memorbilia. I think the information that the tour guides were giving us was a little bit over Mallory's head but she still had fun looking around. It was perfect for Mitchell's age though.
10-29-08 Sleepover
The kids had their cousin Tyler spend the night this night. They hadn't seen him in a while & were super excited to hang out with him. They played all day, we baked cookies, & even went to see a Billy Jonas concert the next day.
10-31-08 Halloween & my baby turns 8
October 31st is always double the fun for us.
Mitchell invited some of his homeschooling friends to go bowling with us to celebrate his birthday. It was a good cheap alternative to having a big party.
We let Mitchell open his gifts from us after dinner right before the kids put on their costumes to head out for trick or treating. His favorite gift was Erector set. He has really gotten into building toys lately. As for their Halloween costumes, we went for a Star Wars theme this year. Mitchell was Darth Vader and Mallory was Padmé Amidala.
November....
11-04-08
Election Day!
Voting was a family event. I took the kids with me and Michael was still waiting in line when we got there. What an experience for them. Mitchell even got to vote in a kids voting area. I hope to make voting a family event from now on.
11-08-08
Mozart's Magnificent Voyage
This was mommy & Mitchell day. We went to see the production of Mozart's Magnificent Voyage that the symphony put on, went to lunch, watched the tail-end of the veteran's day parade, & went to look at the Bass Pro Shop store.
Michael took Mallory out to lunch too while Mitchell & I were out and about.
11-18-08 through 11-23-08
Washington DC here we come!
Michael had a work function in Washington DC and the family tagged along. How could be pass up on all that great homeschooling material? Michael did his thing during the day and I'd take the kids to explore the city. I was nervous about using the mass transit system by myself but I just sucked it up & made myself do it. Thank goodness for all the nice people that work for WMATA that helped me out during my adventure. I really must add that it was freakin' cold the week were there. We were dressed in like three or four layers to try to keep from freezing.
Tuesday, 18th-- This day we just did the drive. We had a few things to do in the morning so we didn't hit the road until about lunch time, so we got to Washington after dark. We went straight to the hotel once we arrived in the city, so we could get settled. We stayed at the Gaylord and it was absolutely beautiful.
Wednesday, 19th--I slept horribly all night so I was too exhausted to get up early. We ended up heading out around noon. We took a bus from the hotel to the subway. Next, Mitchell and Mallory had their first ride on a subway. Mallory didn't mind it at all but Mitchell was a little nervous at first. Soon they were both begging me to stand while the train was moving. Our first stop was the Smithsonian Air & Space museum. We spent hours there. I still can't believe how much stuff there was to see. We ate McDonalds at the food court inside the museum while we were there and I must say that was the most expensive McDonald's I've ever had. $20 for two kids meals and a quarter pounder with cheese meal.
The next place we went to was the Native American History museum next door. We were running out of time (the museum was closing soon) so we moved through the exhibits as quickly as possible. Mallory nearly set off the alarm system around some art by reaching to touch it. You should have seen the look on her face when the security guard came over to talk to us about it. It was dark once we left museum and I was nervous about riding the mass transit during rush hour so I stopped a taxi and spent way too much money to get back to the hotel.
Thursday, 20th -- Bus ride, subway, & then TONS of walking. We went to the National Zoo this day. The zoo didn't look like it was that big until we started moving through it. We ended up skipping exhibits eventually so we could try to get back to the subway before rush hour. Unfortunately we weren't fast enough. We packed in on the crowded trains & buses to get back to our hotel.
Friday, 21st -- Michael's work event was wrapping up in the morning, so the kids and I packed up the stuff so we could check out of the Gaylord. After check out we headed to the Embassy Suites located in the heart of the city for the next two nights. It was so much more convenient to stay within walking distance of the museums. It was the grand re-opening of the National Museum of American History, so we headed there after parking our car at the hotel. One of the first exhibits we went to see was the Star Spangled Banner. It was wonderful to get that close to history. We stayed until closing and then headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for a bite to eat.
Saturday, 22nd -- Today we hit the Museum of Natural History after breakfast. What a cool place that is! The kids were in heaven. Mitchell was so excited that he got to see a replica of a Giant Ground Sloth, dinosaur bones, a Giant squid, and live insects. I'm not sure what Mallory's favorites were. I'd guess that the insects & sea creatures excited her the most.
Our next stop was the National Archives. Mitchell and I were giddy waiting in line to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, & the Bill of Rights. It was amazing to be so close to those documents. I was shaking. (Yes, I'm a slowly turning into a serious history nerd.)
11-27-08 Turkey Day!
We spent Thanksgiving with my family. My mom hosts it for her family & my step dad's family, so it's the only time I get to see some of the family members.
11-30-08
Let's decorate!
We only spent one night with my family for Thanksgiving so we had time during the weekend to put up our Christmas tree. I put the tree up the night before and had it ready for the kids to decorate when they got up in the morning. They really get so excited about decorating the tree, so more than one fight broke out over tree branches and ornaments. lol
December.....
12-05-08
Party time!
Michael's office Christmas party was this night. I took the kids to my parents house for the weekend, so Michael and I could enjoy ourselves. Unfortunately the party was super lame this year, even the food sucked. On the plus side, we got to dress up, talk with a few friends, & not have to worry about putting the kids to bed.
Since we were childless, we did a little Christmas shopping the next day. We got most of the kids stuff taken care of that day. Yay!
12-10-08
Jewelry making
I took the kids to a fellow homeschooling mom's house to make a few jewelry gifts for Xmas. They made my mom a necklace, my sister a bracelet, & myself a couple things. I helped the my mom and sister's gifts but I went to another room while they worked on my things. Thankfully Julie was there to guide them.
12-14-08
Double the fun!
This day started out with breakfast with Santa at The Tea House. We hadn't been to see Santa so I thought this would be a great way to get one on one time with the big guy. I just had a scone with fruit and some Strawberry tea and the kids had waffles. It was so much fun!
After dinner that same day we went to see The Nutcracker ballet. It was our first time seeing a ballet. I'm not sure if Michael liked it but Mitchell really did. He went on and on about it for days. Mallory on the other hand said it was boring. Who would have thought that my little dancer wouldn't like it? lol The were very well behaved at the two hour show. I was amazed and impressed. They even got a compliment from the ladies sitting in front of us about how good they were.
12-19-08
Cub Scout Christmas
Mitchell's Cub Scout pack's Christmas party was this night. All the parents brought snacks to share, they gave out awards, & Santa even stopped by for a few minutes to hand out small presents to all the kids.
12-22-08
All aboard!
We went to a friend and fellow homeschooler's house to watch The Polar Express & drink hot chocolate. She had little bells on strings for them & Polar Express tickets that she punched with their initials. The moms hung out and talked while the kids enveloped themselves in the movie. A good time was had by ALL! I hope we do it again some time.
12-24-08 Christmas Eve
We were so busy this day. Of course, I hadn't slept much in days trying to get things done before this day. I even stayed up late the night before making pies & getting the food ready to bake. Anyway, back to Xmas Eve, I got up and put the food in the oven, then headed to the chiropracter. Once I got back home, I put in a few more items in the oven. I helped Mitchell & Mallory wrap their gifts to one another because they hadn't done that yet. We ate dinner and then I cleaned up, made another batch of sugar cookie dough to put in the fridge for later. We opened gifts shortly after dark, so the kids would have plenty of time to play with their new things before bed. The big gift item from us this year was an XBox360 w/ a pretty pink controller added for Mallory. You should have seen Mitchell when we opened it. Sometime after the gift opening & playing we baked & iced Santa's cookies and decorated our gingerbread house. The kids put on their new jammies & threw some reindeer munch out in the back yard for Santa's reindeer. Then they hit the bed, so excited that I was sure they'd never fall asleep.
12-25-08 Merry Christmas!
Wow! Santa was great to my kids! Mitchell got another DS (he lost his other one), legos and several other cool items. While Mallory got another doll, a horse & a chair for her dolls, legos and many other things she asked for. I really don't think they were that good but he must give them a little room to act up and not go to the naughty list.
After lunch we headed up to my mom's house for more Christmas dinner & tons of gifts. My mom really over does it with Xmas, so thankfully my kids don't miss the other grandparents that have ditched them. So sad that we have that situation but I'm so thankful we have some many other people that REALLY love my kids. We only stayed with my mom a couple days before we headed back home to try to find places for all the stuff and get some work on our house done while Michael's off this week.
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