It's Been Crazy Around Here.....

I can't believe that it has already been a month and 1/2 since I created this blog. I had hoped to post at least weekly, but obviously I can't even keep up with monthly! LOL! We have been SO busy the past few weeks. Where most people dread the hustle & bustle of the holidays, I think we are welcoming it......for a slow down! Homeschool activities always slow down around the holidays--few fieldtrips and time off from classes, etc. We usually use this time to refresh ourselves the next year!

Since my last post, we have been to the Southern Museum of Flight for the special Leonardo daVinci exhibit:

We joined another group of homeschoolers at the Museum to see the special exhibit that tied in with the B'ham Museum of Art's Leonardo exhibit. The boys enjoyed learning about the early attempts at flight and making Leonardo paper airplanes.


the B'ham Botanical Gardens for a Native American program: I coordinated a trip to the Gardens for their docent-led Native American program. We learned about the many plants that Native Americans used for food, medicine, tools and more. We also did a tree identification activity where we learned the uses of many trees.




the McWane Science Center:


We spent the afternoon at McWane after attending the AL Symphony Orchestra performance at the Alabama Theatre located next door.






the Vulcan Materials' Helena rock Quarry for a tour:





All of the kids were in awe of the 150' hole in the ground! Each child collected one rock as long as it fit in their pocket before we made a dash to cars from the rain. :-(













the Alabama Veterans Memorial:




We attended an afternoon of special activities at the Memorial which included a re-enactment of the Iwo Jima.










In addition to the above fieldtrips, we've also attended an AL Symphony Orchestra children's performance, the AL Ballet's performance of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the B'ham Children's Theatre performance of Rapunzel, and two performances at the Alys-Stephens Center--Turtle Island String Quartet & Paul Taylor Dance Co.


Somehow I also managed to coordinate a group of homeschoolers to participate in Birmingham's Veterans Day Parade--the oldest and largest in the nation.

The boys had the opportunity to say "thank you" and pose for a pic. with this kind WWII veteran as he passed by our group waiting to start the parade.

Whoa! All of this doesn't even include our regular activities of zoo classes, pottery classes, skating/bowling activities, and park days. Or, Zeke's birthday:

Zeke chose to do a costume party for his birthday party--even Aunt RahRah and Aunt Sandy dressed up!















It's no wonder I don't know if I'm coming or going these days! But I wouldn't trade the opportunity for the boys to "experience life" for anything in the world.