Where have I been?

Callista's version of William Tell's son with an arrow shot through the apple above his head.

Remember all those tomatoes? Now I have dozens of quarts of stewed tomatoes, soup and sauce. Remember the apple trees? Apple sauce. Sometimes the blog has to take the back seat.

Additionally...

I've noticed a lion share of my time now goes to educating and preparing to educate my children. I can't think of a better way to spend my time but it keeps me busy nonetheless. This week we made dioramas of The Apple and the Arrow,

Yet another way our apples come in handy.

made field journals of native plants,

Field Journals. We drew pictures of each plant before hand and looked at pictures in plant identification books and on the internet. Then on our field trip the girls were able to pick out the plants on their own. That is when they weren't shivering and crying about the freezing wind!

and did a leaf chromatography science experiment (this gives the children a visual of all the different pigments present in leaves.

We ground up our leaves and let them sit immersed in rubbing alcohol. Then we allowed the tip of a strip of paper towel to touch the alcohol solutions. After several hours the girls saw the hidden colors of the leaves!

Their different molecular weights cause them to travel different distances. Ahhh...the science teacher in me emerges :)

This fit nicely as we learned about fall and the changing color of leaves.

What else?

We spent a wonderful week with Brent's parents in town. The children played. Mimi joined us on a freezing leaf collection field trip to the mountains. We engaged in stimulating conversations on the economy, nutrition, religion and politics. We ate great food. And just enjoyed each others company.