Country Music Thanksgiving

We met my parents in Nashville, Tennessee, this year for Thanksgiving.  My brother has wanted to go to Nashville for years, so we were excited to show him the city!  My brother and parents flew into Nashville, and we drove up.  JM & Tyler left earlier than the girls and I so that he could pick them up at the airport.  I am glad they left early because my parents flight was canceled, and they ended up getting to Nashville EARLIER than originally planned.
On Monday night, JM had tickets for the Nashville Predators.  After we all had a nice dinner, Colleen and I walked back to the condo while everyone else went to see the Predators play!

On Tuesday, we went to see the Country Music Hall of Fame which included a trip to the original recording studios for RCA records.

 

We ate on the main strip of Nashville at one of the local bars, Wild Horse Saloon.  

Later that evening, we had a few tickets to The Grand Ole Opry that is now filmed at Ryman Auditorium.

 After the Grand Ole Opry, JM, Michael and Tyler (until midnight) enjoyed a boys night on the Nashville strip.  JM and Michael stayed out much later and REALLY enjoyed themselves at Coyote Ugly!!!!  Boys will be boys!!!
Wednesday was our day to drive over to Lynchburg to see the Jack Daniels Distillery.  It was fun and informative!  The kids even learned a thing or two!!!

On Thanksgiving Day, I had brought up a turkey, dressing, potatoes and desserts that we just had to warm up for our Thanksgiving meal.  We hung out at the condo and enjoyed some games until after our late lunch!

After our Thanksgiving meal, we drove over to Opry Mills to tour the ICE exhibit.  It had been years since we had taken the kids.  Of course, they enjoyed the slides!

Our engine & our caboose!

After the ICE exhibit, we walked around the Opryland Hotel and rode the boat tour!  We went to the Grand Ole Opry House to watch the Rockettes preform that evening!  They were amazing as always!

We all had a great week together.  Our time together always goes by fast!  The flight back to Texas left early Friday morning.  JM and Tyler headed to Auburn for the Iron Bowl, and the girls and I headed back home to recover!

State-by-State: Florida

J is for Juan Ponce de Leon,

an explorer of old.

He discovered Florida,

while searching for gold.

from S is for Sunshine: A Florida Alphabet

Finally, we have crossed over into the Sunshine State!  Oh, how we wish we could go to the beach to read this book!  The girls worked hard on their scrapbook and lap book despite sitting in our schoolroom!

Now K is for the Keys,

a coral necklace in the sun.

Riding over bridges,

counting islands one by one.

from S is for Sunshine: A Florida Alphabet

Key limes are grown on the Florida Keys, so what dessert would be more fitting than a Key Lime Pie!!

Squires Dance

Tyler Vermillion and Jordyn Meeks

State-by-State: Alabama

D stats for Dixie,

all Alabamians have great pride in.

Our state is "The Heart of Dixie,"

a heritage passed from kin to kin.

Our official state bird's name,

history does glorify.

The uniforms of the Civil War soldiers,

Yellowhammer is our Y.

from Y is for Yellowhammer:  An Alabama Alphabet

We were excited to read about Alabama this week.  As I read the book, the girls were constantly saying "Oh, I remember seeing that" or "We have got to go see this".  We have decided to travel the state of Alabama this summer and see all the great Alabama sites!   The girls made their scrapbook pages and lap book for Alabama.  We printed a few pictures of the things we want to go see with our own eyes!

For our cooking lesson this week, we made a family favorite...peanut butter cream pie!  George Washington Carver worlds for 50 years and develop hundreds of uses for peanuts.

Job Fair

Our homeschool group hosted a job fair today.  I recruited JM to showcase his talent.  He had a great table that he and some of the ladies at work developed.  He did a great job with hands-on activities for the kids to try out.  Some of the activities were Game of Operation, injecting an orange with saline, stitching a banana peel, and cutting the skin of an apple. He did an amazing job, and the kids enjoyed showing over their dad and his skills!

Botany Part 1

This year we are studying Exploring Creation with Botany for our science curriculum.  Yes, we are spending the whole year studying plants.  It is so much fun to go in-depth on each part of the plant.  We spend 2 weeks on a Lesson/Chapter, and we get to do many cool experiments!  We are also taking a Farm Class which ties in nicely with our science curriculum!

Lesson 1-What is Botany and Taxonomy?

Our first 2 weeks were spent learning about what we are going to learn this year! What is Botany? What are nonvascular and vascular plants?  What are angiosperms and gymnosperms? What are seed homes?  What is taxonomy?  We covered all these topics!  We did a fun "experiment"  called shoe taxonomy to learn how to classify things.  Then we memorized Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genius, Species!

Lesson 2-Seeds

The next chapter we studied was about seeds.  We learned about seed anatomy, needs, and germination.  We learned how to classify monocots and dicots.  We examined many different seeds and broke them apart to see what is inside.

Of course, we had to grow a few seeds to watch the cotyledons break apart.  the girls watched the epicotyl, hypocotyl, and radicle become the stem and root for the plant.  The girls charted the days of germination for their individual plants.

We brought ART into our science class today.  Time to get creative!  

Lauren's masterpiece

Lyndsey's masterpiece

Lesson 3-Flowers

Lesson 3 was on Flowers.  We learned about the parts of a flower.  Then we dissected a few flowers!

 

This was a fun experiment!  We had a good time breaking down the flowers and finding all the parts and labeling them.  Colleen even "dissected" a flower or ten! Colleen also helped us set up a preservation experiment with Borax.  The picture in the right bottom corner shows to flower and petals almost a month later.  The BORAX helps the flower retain its color.

We also read about Carnivorous plants, Venus Flytraps, Bladderwort plants, Pitcher plants, and Sundew plants at the end of our flower lessons.

Lesson 4 - Pollination

In Lesson 4 we discussed the different ways that flowers pollinate.  We talked about wind pollination and how inaccurate it is.  We discussed self-pollination, and how God designed most of our foods (grain, peanuts, lettuce, tomatoes, beans, oats) to self-pollinate so that people have food.  We discussed animal pollination in-depth!  We discovered which plants were designed to attract which animals and why.  

We tried to be donut pollinators!  Do you think you would be a good pollinator?!?!

Lesson 5-Fruits

In Lesson 5, the girls learned about the seed containers, fruit!  We learned that technically everything with seeds is a fruit-even things like pea pods and nuts.  Interesting!  The girls had a great time quizzing family members on the different "fruits or not fruits".  We also read about the different ways that seeds are dispersed by humans, water, wind, animals, and mechanical!  Lyndsey's favorite was the squirting cucumber plant which uses mechanical dispersal.  Its small cucumbers are filled with slimy juice that contains the seeds.  As they ripen, the pressure causes the cucumber to burst off its stalk and explosively shoot slimy liquid up to 20 feet away!

     We also learned the different types of fruits and learned to classify each fruit as pepo, berry, hesperidium, pome, drupe, grain, pods, capsules, follicle, achene, samaras, or nuts!

Lesson 6-Leaves

In Lesson 6, the girls learned about leaf arrangement, venation, shapes, and margins.  We went on a nature hunt to collect different leaves around our neighborhood, and then we labeled them by arrangement, venation, and margins.  The girls were very excited to see these spores on the fern.  They quickly remembered our discussions from Lesson 1!

MGM Swim Meet

It was a busy weekend with family pictures on Friday evening, and then we rushed over to the Y for the Montgomery innerclub swim meet.  The girls only missed one of there races on Friday, but they made up for it at the 2013 Gobbler Meet on Saturday.  Lauren brought home 3rd place for 10Under!

 Lyndsey (7) also competed in the 10Under division, and she did quite well!  She is a little Barracuda and everyone better look out!!!

Picking Cotton

We are originally from Texas.  JM & I were born and raised in Texas, and we had never lived anywhere else until we were both 30!  Three of our children were born in the heart of The Bluebonnet State, and one of my favorite times of the year is when the bluebonnets bloom.  It is such a beautiful wildflower, and I absolutely am in awe every time I see one (even pictures of them).  To me, nothing sings "Texas" like a bluebonnet!

We have been in Alabama for 8.5 years.  It shocks me to even type 8.5 years because it doesn't seem like we have been here that long, and I still feel clueless to many of the Alabamian ways!  The whole public school verses private school and property taxes verses state taxes and Alabama verses Auburn.  Seriously, I don't care who wins the Iron Bowl! Oh, and the state flower Camellia really is just another pink flower to me.  I guess you can take the girl out of Texas, but you can not take the Texas out of the girl!

There is one thing here in Alabama that does draw my attention this time of year… The Fields of Cotton.  Yes, Texas has fields of cotton.  I was raised in field of peanuts though, so cotton really does not scream Texas to me.  Cotton does sing "Sweet Home Alabama" to me.  We have driven by so many fields of cotton since moving to Alabama.  I look out over the fields and it reminds me of the rich history of Alabama--from cotton plantations and slavery to the Montgomery bus riots and freedom for all.  These fields tell a story to me.  OK, I will stop there because anyone who knows me knows that I do not like history!  I have developed a liking for it the last few years, and it is these types of things that pull me in to read more!  I think I may be getting old!

I saw a friend post on Facebook some pictures of her family in the cotton fields a few weeks ago, and the idea really appealed to me!  Then, a photographer friend posted that she wanted to take some pictures in the cotton fields and I jumped at the opportunity.  JM and his cotton phobia (strange for a doctor) did not stop us!

I think the pictures turned out beautiful.  Our little family is making our home here in Alabama.

Tyler is 15 3/4, taller than his dad, a sophomore and an amazing tennis player!  He is so ready for his drivers license, and so are we!

Corynne is 13 3/4.  She is our sweet, helpful, dependable teenager!

Lauren is 10 1/2.  Lauren is 10 going on 16!  She is all about being a teenage girl…geezz…just slow down and enjoy the moment!

 Lyndsey is 7.  She is our firecracker!  She is always full of energy!  She is our blonde-headed, blue-eyed princess who loves to build forts all over the house!

 Colleen is 3 3/4.  She is my baby, but every time I say that she responds "I a big girl and I 'free'!"