Star of the Republic Museum Fieldtrip

We had the most beautiful day for a great fieldtrip!  We have really been loving the weather starting to cool and were so pleased to spend most of the day exploring something we had never seen before.  Star of the Republic Museum and Barrington Living History Farm have homeschool days on Thursdays in October and you don't have to sign up with a group (my favorite kind of trip)!  Some of our  besties joined us, but unfortunately they divided us up into 2 groups so we hardly got to hang out.  But perhaps that was for the best cause my kids focused on the lessons instead of their friends.  :) They did get to hang out together for our picnic lunch and some playground time.

Isn't it just beautiful?  Made me miss being in College Station... love the landscape up there.  We were so surprised with our little Annie!  She sat and listened to all of the lectures.  Like, really, really listened.  She was so adorable cause the lady was explaining who used to live in the house and 2 of the people happened to be named Mary and Charles.  So of course Annie was instantly excited cause she thought we were at Laura Ingalls' house.

After they got a bit of history the kids were able to roam through the house and backyard checking everything out.  Not to sound like Annie, but this trip was extremely timely since we have been reading through all the Little House books.   This is a bit earlier in history, but still so much of it is the same.  The kids were excited to try carrying the yoke with water buckets, just like the old man working on the railroad in Silver Lake.

They also scoured the yard and garden for caterpillars and got to feed them to the chickens.  I was shocked Annie picked them up but she was happy to be just like the rest of the kids.

They also tried their hands at washing clothes and hanging them on the line.

At the end of this section all the kids gathered together and the ladies asked if anybody had questions.  Crickets were chirping, all except our dear Annie, who proudly raised her hand.  I was a bit mortified cause I had no idea what she was gonna say!  The lady was so sweet and called on her and Annie asked, "How you chop those trees down?"  Noah and Wyatt were so tickled at her.  Josh and I were too - she is so different from the boys.  Not afraid to ask questions in front of 20 people!  She reminds me of her father in that respect!  You can see in the first picture how proud of herself she is asking that question!

We also toured the slaves quarters, learned about animals on the farm, and learned all about cotton.

Noah cracked us up cause the first thing he did with that cotton was smell it, just like his grandpa! They also let the kids get a taste of chores on the farm by stacking up firewood.

Next we took a big break and has lunch under the pecan trees on the banks of the Brazos River and it was beautiful.  We got to visit with friends and relax a bit!  Love this shot of Annie and her buddy Madelyn.

After our farm tour we went to the museum and learned about all kinds of stuff. And this is my favorite moment of the day!  Little girl cuddling up with her biggest brother.  This moment right here is a HUGE part of my motivation to continue homeschooling.  This is how learning is meant to be done - together with the people you love the most!!

Then the kids got to make some toys.  These straw/ball doodads were a big hit!

After all the official tour stuff was done we spent an hour or so exploring the museum.  It was so interesting! We had to get Josh back to bed so we rushed through, but we will definitely return.  The kids loved it and so did Josh and I.

Days like this are when homeschooling is easy!  It got us really excited about the trip we are planning next spring to explore all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's homes.  We can't wait!

The Children's Museum

So we took our annual trip to the Children's Museum!  Well, maybe bi-annual.  But definitely not more than that!  There is only so much a momma can take!  We were lucky to have a couple friends join us for the fun.  Or the misery.  Whichever way you look at it. :)

The whole group was really tickled to draw on their faces.  We laughed cause the girls all drew cute flowers and whiskers and the boys only focused on looking as ridiculous as possible!  My boys were definitely braver this time...

They even tried the rock wall!  They weren't good at it, but they tried, LOL.  They had a new display with LED lights on a grid board thing - they spent a long time working on their creation.  It really came out great, but I got a horrible, fuzzy pic with my phone.

Annie loved everything!!  It was so nice that she was able to run around and play with stuff this time.  I thought she would just love all the "big" stuff like the ambulance, but she really seemed to enjoy all the little things she could manipulate - stacks of blocks, balls of all kinds, puppets, etc.

It was a long day, but it was actually the most pleasant time I've had at this museum!    I'm actually kinda looking forward to our trip back next year when all the kids are in school again.  Kinda.  Maybe. :)

Interactive Theater fun!

The best thing we have added to our schedule this school year has been multiple trips to go see the Interactive Theater Company.  They have special homeschool shows that don't cost too much and are  perfect time for us.  And it is so nice cause they are in the Heights which is convenient and easy since we are familiar with the area.  The plays have been so funny - Noah and Wyatt laugh hysterically the entire time.  Annie really loves them too,  but some of the loud speaking/yelling makes her kind of nervous.  But I don't mind cause that means we get to snuggle!  The first show of the season Noah got pulled up on stage and got to play a part.  He was either Lewis or Clark, I can't remember.  I was so shocked he was brave enough to get up there.  He is constantly surprising me!  The boys requested that I put gel in their hair and spike it up in the front this particular day.  They were so cute... it hardly looks different but they really thought they looked fancy!  My favorite part of the day is that we always go to Berryhill's afterwards for lunch.  They insisted that I snap their picture on this bench in the parking lot. 

And they were super excited that for the last show of the season Joshua stayed awake and came with them. 

Can't wait for all of the new shows next year!

CiCi's Field Trip!

I cannot express how happy I am that we came back to the co-op this year!  The boys are both loving it, and it makes me happy they get to have these great experiences with their Friday School Friends.  Cici's does a little tour of the kitchen and the kids get to make their own pizzas, which they actually bake.  If you have experienced the Texas Roadhouse field trip then you know they just trick the kids into thinking they really bake the rolls they  make.  I was a BIT grossed out, but didn't eat it anyway cause of the whole Paleo thing. 

I helped Wyatt make his, but we didn't get any pics cause it was so crowded.  Wyatt did manage to lean forward onto his pizza and get tomato sauce all over his shirt.  :)  Ahhh, our little Pigpen!

The kids then went and played games while they waited for the pizza to bake.  I told the kids I wasn't giving them money for games, so Wyatt was super smart and brought his own wallet.  But the poor kid is so generous he was passing out money to anybody who held out their hand.  After about five bucks I took the wallet and put it away.  Little did I know that he went back and got it and evidently used up the rest of the money.  I have the feeling some older kids took advantage of his generosity.  When we got there he had 16 bucks, and when we left it was empty!  I wanted to feel bad for him, but he seemed super happy that he played games with his friends and didn't care about the money at all. 

Annie enjoyed herself quite a bit as well.  The girl loves her some pizza!  You can see how happy she is.... pizza all over her face and a brownie in her hand!  She is definitely momma's girl!!

Co-op Christmas Party!

I will be the first to admit I was not happy when I learned the Christmas Party for our co-op was going to be at the ice skating rink.  I just KNEW the kids wouldn't be able to do it and would whine and complain the entire time.  And my "the kids" I mean Noah!  :)  But once I realized it was on a Thursday and Joshua would be home to help I decided to give it a shot.  And really, the kids have been missing Friday School.  Which is super surprising to me, cause you know they don't really love going.  I think Noah has actually turned the corner as far as that is concerned and can't wait for the new semester to start.  Wy and Annie will still need a little convincing!  Anyways, the party was a smashing success!

Noah wanted skates right away, and was super excited to give it a shot.  He wanted me or Josh to go with him, so Josh got suckered into it.  Josh is HORRIBLE at any type of skating, so this was a big deal!  That's how you know he loves this boy, cause for nobody else in the world would he be willing to get onto the ice. 

Josh only made it about 20 feet or so, holding onto the wall.  He promptly hopped off the ice and removed those skates!  Luckily, that was all Noah needed to get his courage up to do it alone. Then we took a break and had pizza and cookies....

You can see Annie loves pizza! She was such a trooper and hardly cried or complained!  Which was a nice surprise cause at Santa's Wonderland earlier this week she was quite a handful. 

Wyatt was certain he did not want to skate until his friends started putting their skates on.  Then we convinced him just to get the skates and walk around on them without getting onto the ice.  Pretty sneaky of me, huh?  I just knew once he had them on he would want to give it a shot.  He only went a few feet and then was DONE!  A bit later on we realized they could rent these metal "walker" things to help them, which he loved.

He was really super brave - I know he had the walker but I was still quite impressed.  When he came off the ice he was quite adorable cause he sat on the walker bar to take a little break...

This was when he squealed with excitement cause he got to look at all of the ice shavings stuck to the front of the blade.  He screamed, "Wooooaaaah!  Look at all those icebergs on my skis!!"  Meanwhile Noah just took off and had tons of fun.  He was cracking us up cause he didn't skate properly - instead he skated just like he rides his skateboard.  Like kept one foot down the whole time and pushed repeatedly with the other foot.  It was too funny!  And of course he took the time to help Wyatt every time he fell over and needed help.  I love it!

We had so much fun!!  Noah was already talking about how he can't wait till next Christmas to have this party again.  And my heart was so happy cause he was thrilled to be around his friends.  We have a few friends we see consistently, but he really loves spending time with other children.  I was happy to see he actually had some friendships with kids that I didn't even know about!  First Class has really been such a blessing to us this semester.  I am so glad we came back!