Our First Egg!!!

Nathan was excited this morning, when came in the house after doing chores. An egg! The first of many we hope.

"Twinkle, Twinkle 'Shooting Stars'"

Tonight on our family night walk Eric had the privilege of seeing, 4 shooting stars!! Amazing - we have four children!!

The skies are so beautiful in this part of the country.

Science Experiments

It 'twas a beautiful day full of exploration and discovery. We had fun too!!

Abby mixed colors and examined "ghost cyrstals" and observed how big they get.

We also made a hovercraft and other projects dealing with air pressure .

Nathan was most interested in the experiments that expanded under pressure; like baking soda & vinegar, coke & mentos, and etc.

COW MAGNETS???

Did you know that it's very common practice for large ranches and dairies to give cows a magnet? Me either. Today was the first I'd ever heard of such a thing. I've have copied and pasted some information for you to enjoy as ongoing education. Makes one wonder about the beef consumed.

"Ask A Scientist© Veterinary Topics Archive
Cow Magnets (7/16/2003name Duncan M.- student) age 14
Question - Why are cow magnets used? What happens once the cow has swallowed the magnet?
-----------------
Great question!
Everyone thinks of the great scene of cows out grazing in a beautiful pasture. Cows eat grass
and have a really amazing multicompartmental stomach that allows them to be productive on this food source. The bottom front part of this stomach lies against the diaphragm and the heart.

Unfortunately, sometimes these beautiful pastures, or the barns where cows also live, can have
old pieces of wire fences, nails, bits of discarded cans, etc.

In her grazing, a cow might accidently ingest a piece of metal. This drops to the bottom front
of her stomach. Through all the powerful churning of her digestive system as the grass is
digested, these pieces of metal can work themselves through the wall of the stomach and into
her lungs or heart. Leaking digestive juices can cause infections that can be fatal to the
cow.

But for scores of years, veterinarians and farmers have known that if you have a cow swallow a
large smooth magnet, the magnet will also fall to the bottom front of her stomach. It will
remain here, often for years, and attract the pieces of metal so that they do not penetrate
the stomach wall. It is not foolproof, so it is also important to make sure that there is
not a lot of metal lying around. But having seen old magnets taken from cows that died of
other things, there is sometimes an amazing number of dangerous looking metal objects trapped
on the magnet.


Laura Hungerford, DVM, MPH, PhD Associate Professor
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine"

Abby Meets Abigail in the Park

Our Abigail Grace(ABBY)met another homeschooler name Abigail today in the park. They hit it off real well. Take a look!!

Talk Like A Pirate

Ahoy, Shiver me timbers! What a wonderful time we had at the library this afternoon.

The Flamenco Ensemble

Last night all four kids and I had the privilege of attending The Flamenco Ensemble concert at the University. The concert was the kick off for the Hispanic Heritage Days Festival (Sept. 15 - Oct. 15). Although a couple came more out of duty rather than desire, they all enjoyed it!! Nathan and Hannah had fun filming and taking photos.

Weekend Excercise

This weekend Eric and Nathan started a biking trek. Their journey took them past several of the neighboring farms (remember we live in the country now). There are a few dogs, but not any vicious ones. They rode both Saturday and Sunday.

Hannah and Janine however, worked at dating the family scrapbook. Janine also, began previewing and planning another week of school lessons.

Daily Life seems to always be an adventure with our family.

1st Day of Homeschool Co-Op

What a fun day!!
The kids got up, did their home chores and school work all before 11:00 a.m.!!!
Next Stop - Homeschool Co-op Classes. The next six weeks will revolve around the Days of Creation with lot of 'Hands on Science'!!! Today was 'God Created Light'.
I got to serve snack. We had Oreos and milk - you know, to contrast light and darkness. It was yummy!

Stand in The Rain

Hannah's latest production. Take a look.

Perhaps "The Land of Opportunity"

Perhaps living here in New Mexico isn't so bad.
*Rachel gets to be part of the local high school play.
*As parents we can teach Driver's ED to Hannah.
*Rachel may have the opportunity to join the high school speech and debate team.
*Hannah might take concurrent classes next semester at the University.
*Nathan, Abby and the dogs have plenty of room to RUN!!
*We've had the chance to raise baby chicks, make them habitats and currently we're waiting for eggs.
*The night sky is full of stars.
*The kids can participate it two homeschool co-ops this fall.
Thank you LORD, for the blessings!!

On Stage Theater Production

Rachel has been given the opportunity to participate in the local High School play "Peter Pan" by J. M. Barry. She is real excited about her double casting roles as Nana and one of the lost boys.
The play production is scheduled for November 21, 22, 23 and Hannah will be part of the team filming the play.
It's a small world full of opportunities!!!

Night Time Walk

What a blessing tonight has been. We all watched a history video together and then took the dogs for a walk around the outskirts of our estate. The whole family, all six of us. It was a great night for stars.

Thank you Lord for the simple pleasures of mighty things!

Hannah's Art

These two art pieces were submitted and both received a blue ribbon.

Rachel's Art

Rachel recieved 3 blue ribbons; acrylic and watercolor/pencil pictured.

She also received one for recycling artifical flower into some beautiful flower friends and placed them in a garden. No photo available at this time

Nathan's Art

Nathan took 1st place in 3 catagories. Sketch, Aryclic and Watercolor.