Pioneer Day

Last year when we were homeschooling I REALLY wanted to take the kids to our local park's Pioneer Day to see a picture of life in the 1800's. Unfortunately, we missed it then so when I found out it was this weekend there was no way we were going to miss it again!

How cool is that? Well, most of the area apparently had the same idea so... it was quite a trek to get from where we had to park to the event, but the scenery was beautiful and a little exercise never hurt!

The kids had a good time exploring the different forms of shelter that Pioneers and Native Americans lived in, from huts to tents to cabins. It was too crowded to get pictures of all of them but here's one they liked (but wouldn't want to live in long term):

There was a battle re-enactment that was really loud exciting and they even had a cannon!

I know it's November, but we're in Texas so it was hot. Seriously, I don't know how they wore all those clothes without melting!

After the battle was won we went to see what else we could find there. B got her face painted and made a bonnet so she looked like some sort of Pioneer/Indian hybrid...

This is her right before she broke into an impromptu jig on the stage. Hopefully, I can figure out how to post the video, it was great!

They had some period musicians that were fun to hear. No more dancing though...

We missed a few things like making corn husk dolls, candle making, and the covered wagon but we had such a good time. There was tons of stuff to do!

After all the fun, the 'Hayride to the Parking Lot' sign was truly a sight for sore eyes. If you know me, you know that I am perpetually in flip flops which is probably not the best idea for traipsing through the woods but that's just how I roll, so there it is.

 

But that's not all - we're going back in December for An Old Fashioned Christmas! Here's a picture of my handsome hubby trying to control his excitement. Sorry babe, I couldn't resist!

Election Day Fun

Happy Election Day! The girls and I were discussing last night what they've learned in school about the election and to my surprise both said that their classes had not discussed it at all...WHAT?? How can this be? Soooo, considering that the school was going to be a polling place today with large crowds expected and since they hadn't learned anything about the election in school, we decided we'd stay home and do our own election lessons!



I waited until this morning to surprise them and they were so excited! We watched some videos I found on BrainPOP Jr. and played games and did quizzes there. We talked about the qualifications for president and how the electoral college works. B wrote about what she would do if she were president (hint: it involves 1,465 puppies and an equal amount of cats).

B had gone with us to early vote a few weeks ago so she decided that she wanted to hold a mock election of her own, complete with campaign posters and speeches. A didn't want to run so the candidates were B, Mom, Desiree (her bunny), and WIQ (aka Phillip).

 

Here are 3 of the posters, I didn't get a picture of mine but I can assure you it was spectacular... B's is the one on the far left, Desiree in the center, and WIQ's is on the right.

Next we gave our campaign speeches. I ran on a platform of hot meals and free hugs, B promised to give everyone the shelter dog or cat of their choice, and I can't remember the other two. I'm pretty certain it involved animals though.

No good election would be complete without an old-school ballot box so of course we had to make one! If you look closely you can see WIQ & Desiree in the background along with our "ballots". Here's a closer view:

So after all the votes were tallied the final results were:

President - B
Vice President - Mom
Best Poster - B
Best Speech - B
Class President - WIQ
Semester President - Desiree

I didn't get a picture but we also made a polling place (complete with line) and ballot box out of Legos.

We had so much fun! I love that my kids want to learn and enjoy the learning process. We're not done yet either - tonight once the exit poll numbers start coming in we're going to color the states red or blue. In fact, she's bugging me to get the maps ready so I'd better wrap this up...

So that was our election day experience, what did you do for election day?

Linking to:

The Happy Day Project 2012

Have you seen this? If not, go over to Life Rearranged and check it out! It looks like so much fun and what better way to brighten your day than to make someone else's day better!

 

It starts Monday so unless I'm starting a new job (praying!) I'll be back to post about what we've done...

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Trunk or Treat 2012

Trunk or Treat 2012

 

B wanted to do a nativity-themed trunk for our first trunk or treat with her beloved doll WIQ (which is pronounced "Phillip" in case you were wondering) starring as the baby Jesus and a  'Jesus loves you and me' poster that she made herself.

 

We decided to go handmade with her angel costume so I found a fabulous tutorial at Maker Mama to make angel wings out of paper plates! Can I just take a moment to say how much I love the interwebs...I could never think up this stuff on my own. They turned out great and for the 10 minutes or so that she actually wore them we got several complements, not bad for $0! You can also see her halo that I made with some pipe cleaners and a headband. I thought she might not like it but she thought it was perfect so who am I to argue with that!

 

I was running the Plinko game (remember that one?) so I ended up doing about 300 squats over the course of the evening. It was so busy I didn't even realize it until the end of the night when I was hoarse and sore. Hopefully it will help make up for all the Butterfingers I ate earlier in the day...

 

A, my oldest, passed out the candy and punched holes in each child's card that came by. A few times I caught myself saying "Ok, go over there so she can punch you and give you candy!". I don't think anyone noticed though. :-)

 

At the end of the night we had a great time, burned or consumed many calories and most importantly showed several hundred of our neighbors the love of Christ. I have no idea what we'll do next year but this year was probably my favorite so far.