• This live owl cam is captivating!  Molly and McGee are barn owls (and pretty darn cute) and are sitting on eggs that should hatch very soon.  Very cool!

• If you’re a crafty sort, you might love these felt doughnuts (with sprinkles!) at Skip to My Lou.  I was briefly enchanted until I realized that at my house they’d just end up covered in cat hair under the couch. 

• I am addicted to the Food Timeline!  I’ve learned so much cool information and now I want to study a zillion time periods to make the foods that go with them.  From cock-a-leekie to chess pie to Roman omlettes, I want to try so much.  And not try so much (like amonia cookies or pigeon in the hole….).

• And more about history, I profiled a fabulous site that has crafts and books to go along with all different historic times (American and world history) here.  I really want to get into more history now.

• Are you a mom blogger?  This new web site is offering paid columns to six mom bloggers who know the business.  Pay is $100 for a monthly column.  I know nothing about blogging for money (though I make a nice amount writing at the Examiner) but it could be a nice way for someone out there to make some extra cash.

• Croq Zine has a page about how to use photos well in your blog here, and at the bottom are all sorts of free programs that work like PhotoShop.  A certain eleven-year-old photographer I know might want to go check them out (and I want to as soon as I finish the 18 other windows I have open).

• I profiled my favorite art blogs and sites, plus some places to find good art supplies here.  Do you have any to add to the list?  I’d love to find some more cheap sources of good quality art supplies online.

There’s tons more, and I really want to post about all we’ve been up to (and pics!) but Daryl just got back with my giant interlibrary loan pile and I have some kiddos to round up and read fabulous books with.  More soon!

And for the record, I am not the type to rant to cats.  Hubbies, kids, friends, message lists, yes, but I have to be pretty annoyed to go off on the pets.

What do you think?

Happy Birthday to Einstein too!

Apparently the lack of cursive lessons will mean that we can’t communicate in other countries, will be unable to write receipts if the power goes out, shows our laziness and bad manners,  and is why we’ll never have world peace!

Wow!

Ya know, in other countries they don’t use the same cursive that we do, you can print receipts and… well, I’m not even sure how to answer that world peace one.

Apparently, if my children don’t learn cursive they also will not be able to use screwdrivers.  Huh.  You learn something new every day!

Check out the original post and the responses here (the last one is the recent one).

Incidentally, both of my girls have happily taught themselves cursive by now, so the world is at least a little safer. 

What do you think?

Here’s a sampling of Anna’s current interests:

• Van Gogh
• coyotes
• photography
• vegetarianism
• child trafficking
• fashion and makeup
• Harry Potter
• a fairy game online
• horses
• New Moon Girls
• blogging
• report writing
• making movies
• short division
• Aztec dancing
• the song “Fireflies” (and driving her siblings nuts by playing it again and again)

She has been blogging quite a bit, including rants about a local coyote hunt she read about in the paper.  She also blogged about HP and van Gogh.  She and Victoria both have been looking up things they’re interested in at Wikipedia and elsewhere and then writing reports about them.

Now that she’s ten, she suddenly doesn’t seem like a little girl anymore.  It makes me a bit weepy!  She’s becoming much more helpful and a bit mellower too, though I suspect she will always have a flair for dramatics and a deep heart.  

Here’s the two of us at the conference Tuesday.

She’s growing up!

Head here and find out!

photo credit: matrianklw/Flickr

Oh yes, and an article about the rest of the story with the recent sling safety alert.

But mostly there was napping with Alex, major cleaning to get ready for the fridge delivery and whimpering. 

I still have a ton to do (mostly giant furniture to unload and move) in the morning, so I’m done yapping and will post more later.

PS  Here’s a bit of the art the kids have done lately.  I love that around here the overheard conversation would be more along the lines of “We do so much art.  We almost never have time for tests!”.

1.  Check out all of these HS freebies.  Gadzooks.  I’m gonna lose a lot of time on this site.

2.  Overheard at the Writers and Artists Conference today (said by an elementary school teacher to a workshop leader):  “All we do is test nowadays.  Test, test, test.  Go, go, go.  There’s no more art anymore.  There’s nothing but tests.”

3.  Here’s a little spelling game for younger kids.  Not all the games are free, but this one and some others are.  I think I’ll have Jack try it tomorrow.

4.  Here’s some cool web sites to help you find CSA’s, local farmers and tons more.

5.  One more day till our new fridge comes.  I am so psyched and have a lot of cleaning to do.    They have to deliver through the (rarely used) front door, which means organizing the front porch, moving the armoire full of games and educational stuff, moving the couch, cleaning all the terrible mess we’ll find under the couch and behind the couch, cleaning the fridge, cleaning all the terrible mess we’ll find under the old fridge and behind it….   Hmmm, maybe I don’t need a new fridge!

6.  We saw the neatest Aztec dancers at the conference today.  Anna videotaped part of their performance and I’ll try to post it.  They were a family and the youngest dancer was a girl about 6.  It was a really wonderful thing to watch and we talked to them afterwards.  We also learned a bit about the Aztec and this would be a perfect time to find out more.  I also want to exercise by dancing their way.  I could enjoy getting exercise by doing that!  Wait till you see.  So cool.

7.  This book blog looks like a neat resource.  They recommend books, especially ones that are “wholesome and cross cultural.”

More tomorrow!  I now have to go finish cleaning up downstairs, groan about my migraine and bounce up and down until my pedometer says I’ve done 10,000 steps today.  And yes, I know what that’s going to feel like with a migraine but I have 811 to go and must get serious about exercising.  I also have to make someone hide my chocolate. 

“Mom,” she said, ruffling the cat on the bed, “Did you know that between 1990 and today, the world pig population doubled?”.

“Mmmm hmmm,” I answered, half listening.

“Ya wanna know what I call that?”.

“Yes honey,” I answered, still thinking about supper.

“The pig bang!”.

I laughed out loud and had to turn back around to the computer to post it.

Booooooo, Sweetheart!!!! 

1.  We celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday with Seuss lesson plans, a silly indoor dress-up parade, a reader’s theater Seuss script, books, funny clothes and more.  I even made a chocolate cake (this time made better despite the absence of dairy or wheat and it tasted nothing like dirt, thank you very much!), which a certain two year old poked.  Often.  LOL  Stinker.  His outraged siblings were not outraged enough to pass up on poked chocolate cake  once it was slathered in chocolate frosting, lucky for him.

2.  Victoria has started looking up how to say odd phrases in other languages and storing them in a word file.  They are random and hilarious.

3.  In other foreign language news, Anna has decided to learn Spanish and has been lugging around a Spanish textbook from around 1982.  Victoria has been tutoring her and giving her assignments.  Jack joins in because it’s fun.  Anybody know of fun (free) online Spanish learning games?

4.  We went to the last homeschool ice skating day of the year.

5.  We learned all about St. Piran yesterday and Daryl and the girls performed a reader’s theater play about the legend of St. Piran and the sand covered church.  St. Piran was quite the character.

6.  We’ve been doing tons of reading, as always.  Victoria recommends The Two Princesses of Bamarre, The Wee Free Men and The Pinballs, BTW.  Anna told me something to recommend (or two?) but I’ve forgotten since they’re not in the picture or next to me on the desk.    I’ll post hers next time!

7.  The kids have been doing art, as always.  Jack drew the most delightful little game and illustrated it.  I’ll get a photo and post it.

Victoria has announced that she now wants to be a children’s book illustrator when she grows up (after saying she was going to be a doctor since age 2).  Here’s a drawing she did of an eye.  I think she definitely could!  And yes, she drew the white reflection on the eye and it’s not from a flash…

8.  We did chocolate chip math for dessert last night.  We covered double digit addition and subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, percentages and square roots.  Jack did an amazing job keeping up with his sisters too.  Those kids will do anything for chocolate.    We finished with a chocolate chip spelling drill.

9.  We took turns giving Alex laundry basket rides on the kitchen floor.  He loved it!  Whenever I tried to take a picture he would look despondent though.  Alex loves to look despondent for the camera.  Did I mention he’s a stinker?

Poor pitiful boy.

It’s such a tragic life he leads.

Ha!  Caught him!

10.  The kids also played multiplication racing, physics games, grammar games and various other online nifties.

Oh yes, and we studied the Boston Massacre and had dictionary drills and celebrated grammar day and there was the rather embarrassing punctuation rap that Daryl and I performed for the kids and photography and psychology…

It’s been something of a whirlwind of a week, but mostly in great ways.