Merry Christmas!

There is a beautiful Christmas song that we, in the Grange household, have no idea how to sing. We know the general tune, and we grew up singing the first two lines as, "Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree, How lovely are thy branches." But that's as far as we can go. Esther came to me today with her own version of the rest of the song, and it actually sounds pretty good. After looking up the "real" lyrics (yes, I know it's not in English, but I can't read German), we found out that her made up version isn't so far off. So her is Esther's debut of her semi-original song.

Works in Progress

Check out the new decor! Who needs a decorator when your homeschool is project oriented? As projects achieve completion, and others are begun, the motif changes regularly, but here is what's beautifying our home right now...

Various types of seeds growing in the window - beans, pine seeds from a pine cone we dissected, and an "amazing sensitive plant."

Clay bowls drying - they'll be painted like Ancient Chinese bowls tomorrow.

Bricks made from mud in our backyard drying out. A couple of weeks ago we made ours similar to the way they made some of theirs back in the Indus Valley. In the summer they would only take two weeks to dry, but since it's autumn, it's taking a little longer.

Clay amulets drying. They'll be painted gold and bejeweled next week, or the week after, then buried with the mummy.

And of course - our chicken mummy is still sitting in its salt. We've changed the salt several times, and we think it'll be ready for wrapping in 2 more weeks.

Halloween

We did just about everything for Halloween this year - except, that is, actually go out ON Halloween to trick-or-treat.

First there was family night at the YMCA. This was Alex's first time in a bouncy house, and our first child who didn't cry his first time in the bouncy house. Alex is the spider, William is the alligator, and Esther is the princess riding a pegasus unicorn. Alex won the costume contest that night.

Next came the party at the Lincoln Children's Museum. Union Bank sponsored an awesome party and invited many of its clients' families. All the residents at LMEP were invited, and we jumped at the chance. Free dinner, free admission to an awesome museum, and lots of free goodies. The kids even each got their own piggie bank.

Lastly, the day before Halloween was the ward trunk-or-treat. So much candy in just one parking lot! Alex was really excited to find out that all he had to do was walk up to people, say, "ti o tee" and they'd put candy in his bucket. He wouldn't let go of that bucket for quite a while afterward.

TV Star

The residents take turns talking about health issues on the local news. Today was Cameron's turn. This is what all the Lincolnites were treated to on the Noon News today.

Skills

Esther can now do something that neither of her parents can do.

p.s. In the background you can hear Alex first say, "Hula Hoop," then later as he is looking at our decorations in the window, "Halloween?!"

It's Apple Picking Time

Wednesday William's Joy School went on a field trip to Martin's Orchard. Here are the pics. It was Alex's first time picking apples! Last year he was just a little too little.

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