Gotye Cover

We've been so obsessed with this song lately!  It's called Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye (pronounced go-tee-ay).  We decided to make a little cover of it.  Hope you enjoy! :)








~by Carly

Homeschool Kid$ Market

This is the second year we went to the Homeschool Kid$ Market at Flo Jo Park in Mission Viejo.  It's a lot of fun!  You bring your homemade goods to sell.  Nate sold some Cacao Delight Cookies that he made (basically cocount butter, cacao powder, cacao nibs, and a bit of agave), and oranges from our tree.  Allie sold chocolate covered strawberries (which were a big hit), and mini canvas artwork.  Micayla attempted to sell her gymnastics leotards that she sewed, and I sold my DoodleHead cards (which I copyrighted last year) and did henna.  Unfortunately, most of the stuff people sell is garage sale stuff, but some kids get creative.  Our friend Armanie sold felted bead necklaces.  Our friends Miranda and Dakota were selling flower clips and headbands that they had made.  And one girl had a sandwich station where she made all different kinds of sandwiches.  It's always fun to see what other people sell!  Here are some pictures...

Post by Carly

Bolsa Chica Wetlands

Bolsa Chica Conservatory

We often play in the surf and sand across PCH from the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, and although we've walked around them before, we thought it would be fun to arrange a tour.  So, recently Max took us and several of our homeschooling friends for a walk around the north end of the wetlands and imparted his knowledge of the land to us.  We learned quite a bit and it was a great way to spend a beautiful winter morning in sunny Southern California.

Here are some of the interesting things we learned:

*The water in the wetlands is mostly brackish.

*The wetlands provide homes for spiders, gophers, squirrels, bunnies, lizards, coyotes, hundreds of different species of birds, fish, small sharks and sting rays.

*The Great Blue Heron is the largest wetland bird (we've seen these in our backyard too:).

*Wetlands protect against flooding.

*Many migratory birds depend upon the wetlands for a safe stopping place.

*The wetlands have fairly shallow waters - only 5 to 6 feet deep at high tide.

*The nomadic tribe, Tongva used to live and hunt on these lands.

*Bunkers and gun turrets were mounted on the mesa during World War II.

*Pickleweed, a native plant that was used by the natives. grows abundantly on the wetlands.

Note - *Often we see dolphins playing in the water along the coastline here.  A couple weeks ago we saw a great documentary that our friend Justin Krumb just released about Dave Rastovich and his effort to protect whales and dolphins. The film is called Minds in the Water.  You might want to check it out!

Nate's not so sure about the pickleweed!

This storm drain channel travels all the way to the wetlands from Disneyland!

The interpretive center has a fun small hands-on museum too!

Valentine Poetry Tea Time

We celebrated Valentine's Day with a fun "Poetry Tea Time".  We got silly (Allie's idea) and introduced ourselves as a character from a different place in the world (using accents and all).  Allie was from Antartica, Carly was from Texas, our friend Karen was from Russia, and Nate was from Great Britain. We ate yummy food and took turns sharing favorite poems and quotes.  We listened to poems from John Keats, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, Shel Silverstein, Rumi, Nirmala, and the fun blog Eat This Poem.

"Let the beauty we love be what we do" ~ Rumi

"Love is the greatest power on earth.  It conquers all things." ~ Peace Pilgrim

"Love is an element which though physically unseen is as real as air or water.  It is an acting, living, moving force...it moves in waves and currents like those of the ocean." ~ Prentice Mulford

"It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving."~ Mother Teresa

"True genius without heart is a thing of naught - for not great understanding alone, not intelligence alone, nor both together make genius.  Love! Love! Love! That is the soul of genius."
~ Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin


Our favorite Valentine song!


A fun learning program is connected to this video!

Guess What This Is #1

Here is the first of the once a month photo postings for "Guess What This Is!"
Photo taken by (me) Micayla.

Please take a look and post a comment with your guess!

Posted & Photo By Micayla

3/13/12

Home Spun

Last week we went to a spinning class!  Our friend Angie has a great business dyeing and spinning wool into yarn that she sells (check out her site, Ring of Fiber, her yarn is gorgeous!).  Angie taught us and our friends how to take wool and spin it into yarn.  She uses a spinning wheel, but she taught us how to spin by using a hand spindle.  It was really hard at first, but we persisted and eventually got the hang of it.   We definitely have a new respect for how yarn is made!  The wool we used came from England from Bluefaced Leicester sheep.  We also increased our vocabulary with words like crimp, drafting, roving, and staple length.  We took some home to make more and we hope to do some knitting with the yarn we've spun!