Happy Halloween!

 Just like everything else this year, Halloween looked different.  No costumes, no trick-or-treating, and no passing out candy.  However, even the kids agreed with me that this was the best Halloween yet!  The big kids went on a treasure hunt for their candy, with clues spread throughout the house.  Eric and I were astounded at how terrible they were at finding the clues when the things were right in front of their faces, but it made for some good laughs and lots of fun.  They got a big bag full of treats and we snuggled up on the couch and allowed them to eat as much candy as they wanted while we watched Casper the Friendly Ghost.  We all loved it.  When the movie was finished, we decided to pay a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house to pick up some Halloween treats.  We needed to stay distant, as Grandma recently tested positive for corona virus, but it was still fun to see each other's faces from the other side of the window.  When we got home, we made our spooky dinner.  We made shrunken head punch (carved, peeled apples), eyeball spaghetti, spider Caesar salad, mummy garlic bread, and chocolate covered pretzels with lots of sprinkles.  It was so fun and no frozen kids and parents running up and down the street in the dark!  I'd do it this way every year if it was completely up to me, but we'll see what next year brings! Happy Halloween!

Homeschool - Unit Three: Halloween

Olivia made scarecrow crafts with kits from the library.  

Nolan practiced nouns, adjectives, and verbs with words related to spiders.  

How do spiders keep from sticking to their own webs?  They actually secrete an oil that helps prevent them from sticking.  We did an experiment with tape and vegetable oil to show how the oil makes your finger slide along the web instead of sticking to it!

We made these adorable Halloween crafts with supplies from our library.  We had so much fun  painting the canvas tiles.   We plan on using all of these to decorate for our party on Saturday.

Olivia and I made chocolate chip cookies.  She knows if she helps me, she gets to eat chocolate chips and cookie dough.  She is ALWAYS up for making cookies.  

 

Olivia keeps progressing with her Level A books.  She is getting very good at her sight words!  She keeps practicing with writing them, too.  She is also working hard on writing her numbers and lowercase letters.

Nolan wrote a paragraph about what would happen if he went to a haunted  house.  He had fun doing this.  It is always neat to see his personality come through in his writing.

The kids LOVED doing these Mad Libs.  They laughed SO hard.

We talked about spiders and learned the different parts of a spider's body.  

We brainstormed different things we would see, hear, and feel instead a haunted house.  They drew their own  haunted houses later that day.

Olivia painted this super cool spider web for a decoration for our Halloween party.

Happy Birthday, Nolan!

For Nolan's birthday this year, we had planned to do a small Halloween themed party at the cabin with grandparents.  Unfortunately, Covid had other plans. Both Grandma Patti and Grandma Marcia were feeling under the weather, and wanting to be safe rather than sorry, we decided to cancel.  (It turns out this was a very wise decision, as Grandma Patti tested postive for Covid and Grandma Marcia, though she tested negative at the time, later tested positive for the antibodies.)

We talked our change of plan over with Nolan and with wisdom and flexibility, he agreed to help me plan a great birthday at home.  It started a big birthday breakfast of his favorites - French Toast, sausage, and bacon.  

He opened some a pretty awesome birthday present of Pokemon cards from Uncle Luke and Auntie Annalyse.

And Olivia and Nolan spent ALL afternoon (3+ hours!!) in the whirlpool tub for an indoor beach party.  I bought them each a snorkel, put on his favorite playlist, lit a coconut candle, and made them pineapple punch to drink.  They had so much fun.

After Daddy got home, it was a Culver's dinner, some more presents - including his favorite Gengar stuffy, and a cookies and cream cake.  It was a pretty great birthday for a pretty amazing kid.

 Nolan,

The adaptability, resilience, and maturity you have shown throughout the many challenges and changes of 2020 have made me so proud.  Your kind heart and deep empathy astound me.  Though this pandemic has not been easy, I will always treasure the extra time I got to spend at home with you, learning more about the wonderful person you are and getting to be your teacher.  You are so very special and so deeply loved.  Happy 8th Birthday to the beautiful boy who made me mom!

I love you,

Mom

Pre-Halloween Festivities

Olivia loves to craft with me and has really gotten good at her fine motor skills.  She cut out over half of these ghosts and attached them to the ribbon with very little help.  I love spending time with her doing these things!

We are not Trick or Treating this year, but decided to get dressed up and go to the Bewitching Hour at  Briar and the YMCA Not So Spooky Trail.   We had to make an appointment at Briar for our family to do a scavenger hunt, guess the weight of the big pumpkin, and get some treats and crafts.  Simon was not happy to be a tiger.  

The kids had lots of fun decorating their pumpkins from Briar, as well as painting their big pumpkins.  Livi really got into the painting and did four of them!