Mouse!!!!!!!!

The boys caught a mouse in a cheese-it's box after a long steak out and help from the cat! We had decided to keep it for a few days and made a home for it from the recycling bin.
He (or she???) wouldn't let me get a good pic.

Unfortunatly when I came home from the grocery store the boys informed me he had escaped and had ran into the basement, but all was well because they had set traps! I was not impressed that they had let it go and when I went into the basement I found Cheese-it and other boxes from the recycling bin all around the floor with little cans of food (we were feeding it bird seed) in them for the mouse!! I was not impressed about that either but more because their daddy was on duty and had no idea what they were doing in the basement!!!

This morning the cat looks like she might have found it hiding behind the bookshelf in the school room. She is a good mouse catcher so I'm sure he'll turn up again!

Making Kites

We decide to try a kite making project for our study on Ancient China since they are the ones who invented kites! I found lots of good sites about kite making but they all needed string and the only thin string I could think of in the house was fishing line which was too thin. So I looked a litte more and found a site with a really easy kite made from just one sheet of paper, a BBQ skewer, and marking tape for the tail. We would need string to fly it but since it is not kite flying season we could wait until I picked some up.




Here is Ethan working on the folds.

We then used clear packing tape to hold the folds in place.

Our new computer (an early Christmas gift, thanks Dad and Mom!!!) came in really handy when doing this because we could look at the directions right on the screen while working instead of having to print it all out or write it down.

If it looks weird our bubble screen saver had come on when I took this!

Ethan made a cool chinese dragon for his kite. We still need to put the tail on because Daddy was bringing us marking tape home from work when we made these. I think we will hang them from the ceiling in the school room for decoration untill a nice windy day!

Check out this cool site on making a really easy kite:
20 Kids, 20 Kites, 20 Minutes!

Little Explorers Chistmas Party

This years Christmas Party was a blast! There was yummy food, the meatballs were great! The best was the desserts, I tried them all and my favorite was the bars made by Maggie and Mrs. Gormley.

Caleb and I had fun together, here we are playing a game where we had to guess what the person was drawing and it had to be something about Chistmas.

Emmy got into the dry erase markers and had it all over her face!

We had lots of fun playing musical chairs, I was going wacky when the grown up's were playing because I wanted my Mom and Dad to win.


We also had our first Rescue Hero meeting. It was alot of fun because we made our pledge and decided who was going to do which job. If you want to be on our team call me.

-By: James Kelley
Age 8

Mollie's Laundry Adventures Continues...

This time she ended up in the laundry basket not under it!!!

Watch out Nelson, don't let your sisters see these pic's or you'll be next!!!!

Ornament Making with the Little Explorers

The kids had fun on Thursday making ornments with the group. Each family brings the supplies to make an ornament or Christmas craft and the kids go around the room to each station and end up with some wonderful homemade keepsakes to take home or give as gifts.

Ethan and Mrs. Jette making a gingerbread man.

James making window cling snowflakes.

Emmy and her felt heart.

Thanksgiving Day 2008

This year the kids had their own special table, our family is growing and growing, Nana now needs a new table just to hold us all!

This is the pumpkin arrangement I made for our table.

The food was delicious as usual and we had a fun evening at the

Wilson's house to top off the day.

Mollie is getting so big, she showed everyone how well she is sitting up.

The First Snow of the Year!!!

Finally it's here the boys have been asking and praying for it...snow!

The snowman had already been built by 9:30am!!

We celebrated with a spccial breakfast of cream filled crepes with cherry sauce. The kids really liked them!

Little Explorers Thanksgiving

Every year the kids in the group get together to celebreate Thankgiving. This year because of the size of the group we move it to our church.

Emmy and James looking for more food!

We all got to sit down and eat together this year!

Emmy and Michael posing for a pic during the meal.

Here is the cute Turkey votive candle holder Cindy and I came up with adaped from the one in the Family Fun magizine. The kids had fun making it while waiting for our feast to finish cooking.

Our New Door!

Here is a pic of the kids in front of our new door. We had to replace the old one when we found out the bottom was rotted out. This is what I always wanted to put in there, the other door made that area so dark and this one lets in tons of light!

End of Unit Celebration

Here we are with the Jettes and the Cowlands at our end of unit celebration. The kids dressed as Isrealites and we had some traditional food. It was a real treat to blow the Shofar a horn made of a rams horn used in Jewish holiday ceremonies.

I snapped this candid shot of Elizabeth when she wasn't looking!

Happy Birthday James!

Here are a few pic's from James' 8th birthday:

James wanted a racing truck cake, this is what we came up with.

Fall Family Film Night

On Halloween night we had a fun movie night at church. We projected the Veggie Tales The Pirated Who Don't Do Anything on the the wall and had popcorn and candy and prizes. The puppets also made an appearence. Uncle Zack was a "rock monster" from the movie and danced around while we acted crazy and sang the "rock monster" song. Luckily there are no pic's of that!!!

Here is Auntie Sarah and Uncle Zack...I think she is kissing him but it looks like she is gong to tape him up!

A bunch of us dressed like pirates to go along with the movie theme. Pat, James, Emmy and Mollie were in "God's Army"!

Ethan had the idea to make a robot costume out of a box from Mimi and Papa's shop. It came out really great. He had to pick it up from the inside to walk and look out the little holes for eyes. I think he was inspired after seeing comercials for WALL-E the movie.

"Shabbat Shalom"

We celebrated the Sabbath while learning about the Jewish holidays. Here is our dinner that we prepared ahead of time in order to obey the laws. The kids had fun looking for the first stars in the sky to appear that signaled the begining and the end of the Sabbath. We also had fun using "Shabbat Shalom" which means "good sabbath" as a greeting to each other.

James made this covering for our challah bread.

Our Edible Tabernacle

After learning about the Tabernacle the Cowlands joined us in this fun activity of recreating it out of graham crackers and frosting.

Here Ethan is making one of the items that went inside (the bowl I think) out of starburst. They are great for molding into all sorts of things after just a few seconds in the microwave.

James, Ethan and Emmy could not keep their fingers out of the frosting!!!

Here are the boys with their finished project.