Week in review

What a week.  Could not stay awake long enough at night to blog so here is the week in one entry.

Monday - Andrew went to the doctor for his 4 year old check up.  He is healthy.  He is 34 pounds and 3.2 ounces (35%) and 3 feet, 4.25 inches (50%).  His BMI is 14 (22%).  Doctor has no concerns other than his speech.  She asked me to call his old therapist and ask her to stop by and check on his speech.  She stopped by on Wednesday and agreed that he is missing some sounds that he shouldn't be missing at 4. (C's, G's, Th's and F's). So she gave me some activities to do with him and if in a month I don't see a marked improvement then I will take him in to be reevaluated.  I hope to avoid taking him to another therapist because at this age it is all out of pocket.

After his doctor appointment we went to the Colorado History Museum for a co-op.  The kids loved it.  They got to "milk" a cow, collect eggs, go to school in a one room schoolhouse and ride a horseless buggy.  Then we went upstairs and learned about mining, WWII internment camps and Colorado tourism.  The kids wanted to stay longer but I knew we were about to reach our limit so we headed home before everyone lost it.

Tonight, I went to a friends' house to do some planning.

Tuesday was piano for Andrew and a class for me from 5 to 8 PM.  I didn't get home until after 9 though.

Wednesday Miss Jill stopped by to see Andrew and then we headed to Golden to go to another co-op.  We went to NREL (National Energy Renewable Lab) where Phil told us about different kinds of renewable energy  such as; solar, biomass, wind, ocean, geothermal and hydro.  We learned about corn stover (the leaves, stalk, husk and cob that are left over after harvesting), bagasse (the fiber stuff leftover from sugar cane after squeezing the juice out to make sugar), and switch grass (American hay). We smelled some corn-biomass that smelled pretty yucky.  It took my breath away.   Phil told us there are over 40,000 types of algae.  We also learned about photovoltaic, a car run by water and about a concentrate solar array that melts salt and then preserves the heat for when it is needed later.  When it cools then the salt goes back to crystals and you can use it over and over.  I learned a lot and Cairn asked lots of questions but it was a little over Skylar and Andrew's heads.  I know they picked up a little though.

Got back home just in time to throw dinner on and I left for my class again.

Thursday - Grandma came over to watch Cairn and Andrew while I took Skylar to the eye doctor.  We discovered she is farsighted and needs to wear glasses to read and whenever she is inside.  She could possibly outgrow it but for now she will wear her glasses.  This explains a lot.  She complains of headaches almost every day after we finish up school.  She did great in her large piano book but ever since she moved to her piano book where the notes are on the Grand Staff she has really struggled.  Now I know why - she couldn't see the notes.  I was getting pretty frustrated at her at times because I thought she was just guessing.  She probably was but only because she couldn't see.  She is excited to get her glasses - the color is chocolate raspberry.

Tonight, Skylar had piano even though she couldn't see well because her eyes were dilated but I figured she could do everything but read her music. I prepared her teacher.  I had a Girl Scout unit meeting to run so Dad took Skylar to piano.  

Friday - the only thing on the schedule was Andrew getting his 4 year old pictures taken.  He was so excited.  The girls went to 2 different houses for playdates so I could take Andrew by himself.  He liked having mom all to himself.  We hung out at Cairn's playdate for awhile because the mom, L, is going to help me co-lead the Girl Scout troop next year and we were doing some planning.  

Finally, we got home and we didn't have to go out for once this week.  Every night, I was out and the kids got to bed late but not tonight.

Snow is in the forecast for the weekend.  It kinda threw off Andrew's birthday plans but I am sure we will have a great day anyway.

4H and Colorado History

Today was a beautiful day to take a drive south to attend a 4 H Discovery Days.  This was the first time Douglas County 4 H was doing a Discovery Days which just meant that a variety of clubs were coming to show the different projects they had worked on.  It was a great way for newbies to come ask questions and see actual end results.  We took N because there was something there I knew he would love.

We walked in and immediately saw the Rockets. So everyone made one.

 These were made with straws, clay and paper.  They put it on a rocket launcher and they all hit the ceiling.  Andrew would have stayed all day but then we found the chickens.

The girl who brought the chickens won the Champion ribbon/belt buckle last year for showmanship.  That means that she knows her chickens.  She has hand raised these chickens and they have been handled a lot.  These guys would let you pet them, pick them up and feed them.  They were super sweet and so so soft.  I enjoyed petting them too.

 Andrew liked feeding the chickens.  Later in the day we saw the chickens roosting on her leg.  They were very happy and comfortable.

 While the girls were enthralled with the chickens, the boys found the robots.  N asked lots and lots of questions.  The robot could shoot baskets (I was asked not to take any pictures of it).

Then we found the cake decorating table.

First, Cairn decorated her graham cracker.

 Then Skylar.

 I had to get a picture quick of Skylar because she was ready to eat it.

 Cairn really wants to do the cake decorating project.  We found out that the first unit is edible decorations where you learn to create people and animals.  Eventually in other units you learn how to make flowers and more elaborate shaped cakes.  I would love to do more cake decorating since I have all the tools and I have taken a couple classes.

 After seeing all the tables inside (there were more - these were just the ones we were interested in - we walked by tables about photography, woodworking, sewing and rabbits) - we went outside to see the llamas.
Cairn was brave and walked right up to them.

Skylar on the other hand was a little nervous.  I don't think she ever touched them.

 We also saw some cows.  We were able to feed them - well after I saw how they were fed I didn't do it but Skylar and N did.  They had these little biscuit things, you held it in front of the cow's mouth and his tongue would come out and slobber all over you and take the biscuit.  It was really gross.  I tried to pet them but they didn't like that too much.

The final table was the shooting club.  Here is where Andrew and N about fell out of their shoes.  Andrew was so excited to hold and shoot the air rifles.  He would have stayed all day.  The guns were a little big but the big boys helped him a lot.

 Andrew didn't care where the shot landed, he just wanted to pull that trigger.

Eventually, all the kids will do at least one unit in the shooting club but they have to have their Hunter license which the state won't let them have until they are 9.  Cairn can do it next summer but it will be awhile before Skylar and Andrew can.  It will be a good way for the kids to learn about gun safety and learn how to shoot.

We will be joining a 4 H club.  The club we are joining has some homeschooled kids involved and they are doing a lot of the units we want to do - vet science, cake decorating and cloverbuds.  Cloverbuds is for the 5 to 7 year olds.  You have to be 8 to actually do a 4H project.

After 4 H we headed home to grab a quick bite and then head to the library for Colorado History in song.  We learned about Clara Brown who was a slave and eventually was given her freedom.  She was able to travel west by cooking on a wagon train.  She may have been the first Black women to go west during the Gold Rush.  She had 4 children while she was a slave and after saving $10,000 with her laundry business in Central City she went looking for her children.  2 of her children had died, she lost contact with her son but she was eventually reunited with her daughter Liza Jane.  She brought many freed men and women out west.

We also learned about Rattlesnake Kate.  She had to fight off 140 snakes one day to save herself and her 3 year old son.  She shot a couple of them but then used a No Hunting sign to kill the rest.  After killing them, she collected the snakes, dried out the skins and made a rattlesnake dress.  Skylar wanted to know what she did with the rattles.  We soon learned that she made necklaces with them.

The kids loved the stories and all the different instruments.  She learned about the mountain dulcimer, the banjo, the spoons and how people used all the parts of animals to make things they needed.  Nothing was ever wasted.

After the library we went home to relax and let mom put up her foot.