The Giving Jar

Every year we stuff stockings for kids who are homeless. We save up money throughout the year in each of our moonjars http://www.moonjar.com/ -a mini bank, with seperate sections for saving, sharing, and spending. At the end of the year, in December, we contribute what we have in our sharing jars to our family "Giving Jar". This year we saved up 131 dollars; just enough to spend about 30 dollars each for 4 kids. Each kid in our family stuffs a stocking for a girl or boy our age. We go to Target, and pick out things for our girl or boy, such as: mini toothpaste & toothbrush, a book, a T-shirt, pens & a pad of drawing paper, a toy, a game, chapstick, and any other items that we'd like to add in.

Once we've put all the goodies in the stockings, we tag them and take them to the Long Beach Rescue Mission http://www.lbrescuemission.org/ It feels good to give to people who might not have much, and it's fun to pick everything out for "our kid".

Happy Holidays!!

Posted by Carly

Nutcracker

This year's Nutcracker was a huge success! Micayla did wonderfully as a Little Sentry, and I had a blast dancing the part of Clara. Here are a couple of pictures....

Posted by Carly

FAITH - Fine Art in the Home

The girls tried out a new art teacher this week. They have had a variety of art teachers/lessons over the years; this one proved to be a fast favorite. They were told they could paint on the floor of the art studio (the instructor's garage) and then given canvas to do their final painting on. Michelle (the instructor) gave them tips on creating their art, at the same time allowed for complete creative expression. The girls can't wait to go back!
http://fineartinthehome.com/

Where Is the "Home" In Homeschooling?

Last week was one crazy week - fun, but insanely busy. It started off fairly mellow with our usual music lessons on Monday. Tuesday we toured the neighborhood on bikes; we went to our local polling place (just so you know, the girls voted for Obama :), the library, and then to Trader Joe's to pick up a few items. Then we came home and watched the results of the election on tv. Things picked up speed by Wednesday. We met some good friends in San Clemente for lunch at our favorite South OC sandwich/smoothie shop called Captain Mauri's Counterculture (love the name, don't you?) and then we spent a couple of hours with them at Zoomar's Petting Zoo in San Juan Capistrano. http://www.zoomars.com/ Even our twelve year olds have fun there feeding and petting the guinea pigs and bunnies! Thursday we met up with Rainbow Kids (an eclectic homeschool group we hang out with occasionally) in Irvine at the Apple Store. At first the girls thought it involved the apples we eat, but instead they spent the afternoon making a music cd using a software program. Friday we spent the day in Pasadena. First we met some other great friends at Side Street Projects where we had a tour of a fantastic art installation that was on exhibit and then the kids got to work on the "bus" making a woodworking project - see their site www.sidestreet.org/woodbus .
Then we were off to visit Uncle Brad and Dela at their "treehouse" as our friends called their new abode. Check out their blog at http://www.bradanddela.blogspot.com/ (look under August to see the amazing tree)!
The girls did a show for us on the giant rope swing, we checked out Dela's incredible painting (the paint on the walls and her art on canvas), and then we traveled to yet another yummy sandwich shop that Brad recommended for lunch. It was great to hang out with him since we don't get to Pasadena very often. As we were traveling home in Friday traffic, we had plenty of time to reflect on all the adventures we had taken during the week. We mingled with many of our favorite people (if you know of anyone who asks "What about socialization?" in reference to homeschoolers - just show them this post!); we discussed big issues, traveled different places, saw and learned new things. We had a great time, but we are staying closer to home this week. Maybe we will even get some laundry done!

From: The Pumpkin Fairy

So for Halloween, we always save only 10 pieces of the candy that we've collected, and then give the rest to the pumpkin fairy. A fairy that magically takes our candy away, and leaves gifts for us. Last year we got gift certificates to Once Upon A Story, now this year we were given beautiful water bottles and all-natural cookies. The water bottles are tin, and have a top that twists for you to drink the water. We each got one. Nate got a mini yellow bottle, with animals on it, and numbers. I got one with butterflies and plants on it, and Micayla got one with a ying/yang sign on it, that's blue and has pictures in the sign. Allie got a butterfly one, similar to Micayla's but has a butterfly on it, and is purple. We love our water bottles, and will take them whenever we go someplace! Check out http://www.sigg.com if you want to see more of these cool water bottles.

Posted by Carly

HSM#3

So, HSM3 came out Friday! We saw it yesterday, and to tell you the truth, it was actually better than I thought it would be. The first HSM movie was "ok" the second "better" and the third I think is the best! But it really makes a different when you see it in the theater. The others HSM movies were just on disney channel, and now the third one hit the big screen! Go see it if you get the chance. It's worth a watch. With pop stars Ashley Tisdale, Vannessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, Lucas Grabeel, Monique Coleman and Corbin Bleu! HSM3 is full of even more dancing and singing then the others, with a great story line, its the perfect last HSM movie!! Above is a tralier. Enjoy!

Posted by Carly

The Nutcracker

I am excited to be playing the role of Clara this year in the Nutcracker! I am in cast AB so I will be performing on Saturday December 20th, there are two shows, one at 2pm and the other at 7pm. Micayla will be a Little Sentry again too in all of the casts! So if you'd like to come, then use this code 451 when you purchase your tickets, it will give you all of your tickets for a child ticket price! The Nutcracker is a great way to celebrate the holiday season, so I really hope that you can come! Above is a clip of the Nutcracker, and more ticket info.


Posted by Carly 10/23/08

Nate the Culinary Wizard

Nate has been spending oodles of time creating in his little kitchen lately. He loves to chop things on his cutting board and add spices and a variety of other ingredients to his "soups" (basically whatever he can get his hands on). His sisters have been writing down his recipes for him. Here are a couple of his concoctions:

"Papika Soup"

-Opeel (oatmeal)

- Paprika

-Garam Marsala

-Some leftover avocado

"Makie-roni"

-guava

-cinnamon stick

-hot cocoa mix

-poppy seeds

-green dye

Luckily the "kitchen fairies" come at night to devour his masterpieces and help him tidy-up his lil' kitchen!

The photo above is Nate after sampling some of his "Makie-roni Soup". He may have chosen the green dye because he saw the show "Wicked" recently and loves the character Elphaba!

Another Passport Adventure

Today we hopped on the local red bus ("The Passport") with Aunt Jamie, who was visiting from Oregon, and headed down to the Long Beach Museum of Art. Along the way we met Michael who told us his life story in less than 10 minutes (divorced dad of two autistic kids); his sad eyes and the etchings on his limbs told more than his words. Another lady on the bus heard the word "autism" and launched us into a discussion about the possible link to vaccinations. Makes you wonder...

Arriving at the the museum we checked out the exhibit on "California" art. Terrific watercolors - amazing how talented artists can make water look like it is moving! Although the paintings were fantastic, we are pretty sure Allie's favorite part was doing ballet using the handrails in the elevator on our way out.
http://www.lbma.org/

Then we took the bus back to 2nd Street. First for a pit stop in one of our favorite stores "Sunshine on 2nd" - our friend Jeannie was there who owns the place. It was great to see her as we haven't seen her in years (she says "hi" to you too, Brad). Then to "Open Sesame" for some yummy Mediterranean food.

While waiting for our return bus we had a political science lecture from an Italian dude outside the Washington Mutual Bank who informed us that the "British Empire" is behind everything. He had dvd's, books, and pamphlets to prove it (for a small fee of course). He was actually quite interesting.

We ended up running and flagging down the next bus we took. We were grateful the driver stopped and quickly realized we were in for a wild ride; he was one crazy driver. We happily got off and grabbed some self-serve frozen yogurt. While grooving to the music in Yogurtland we brainstormed ideas with Jamie about the production of our "Funky Sister's Workout dvd", and then headed home. Another passport adventure (this was our third), and another fun day!

Mt. Moe Academy

Welcome to our homeschooling blog; a place where we share our favorite things and how we live our motto "make the most of everyday" (a.k.a. Mt. Moe Academy)!