Christmas is OVER! YEAH! (oh, was that out loud?)



Tomorrow is New Years Eve & you know what that means right? 5 more days and.. as the boys would say... IT'S ON, LIKE DONKEY KONG!!!!
Whats on? oh, didn't you know.. the Home School opens for business.
Ok, technically we aren't home schooling, we have enrolled in something called Arizona Virtual Academy. AZVA is an online charter school. Since no one in the right mind would expect a 1st grader to actually do all their work online(unless they knew Mo), they have sent us 6 boxes of books, course work and misc. useful items of learning.
The boxes of "stuff" arrived today (like Christmas all over again ) and here is a run down of what we got.



Math stuff (NOTE! No mental math here, boys and girls, however, see those oh, so cute 3D shapes? Guess we have to learn about vertices :)


History: Included a "blow up globe" How cute is that?

Art: We got paint!!!! a couple books about artists, paint, a whole pack of art reproductions (see Starry Night there?) and paint!!! There were no Jackson Pollocks, but we will get by.

Science Kit: Way cool stuff, including scale, grass seed, beaker, thermometer, mirror, magnifing glass, styrofoam balls and

Saftey Goggles (uh, oh)
Language Arts: A whole pile of books, work books and Phonics kit!

Wish me luck, all!!!!
And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

December -- and a variety of weather.
These pictures got over looked, because I got a new camera for Christmas & they were on the old camera. Hopefully I can place this post in the appropriate place, but if not -- you now know why.

Here is Charlie rolling in the snow.. if you don't know, Arizona kids are "snow stupid", they don't realize you will get cold if you lay in the snow!!!

Zane posing in front of a fabulously snow covered tree.

Frank & Max coming FAST done the hill.

Frank filled with snow -- was it the sledding run or those Maxwell kids??

Zane at Pima Air and Space... look at that hat -- it is his signature hat.

Christmas tree!!!! Yeah! It only fell over twice :)

Zane's favorite Christmas present, Lego Indiana Jones!

Max's favorite Christmas present, Molecule Kit (it's a box of styrofoam balls!!!!)

The Super Sonics (last game!!) Whew!

Frank and the highland games.....

It may be his newest passion -- we will have to see.
Here he is throwing something over a bar.


Here is his attempt at the hammer throw


Here is the stone throw

And of course, the caber throw... he placed 3rd in this event! YAHOO!!
Not bad for an old guy! Love you sweetie!

Here is Zane doing his best impression of Mz. Rusty...

Tanque Verde Elementary School Science Fair WINNER!!!!!
Wow, both Zane & Max won the Science Fair at school. This means they qualify for SARSEF, the southern arizona science fair, coming in March. Zane's project was why doesn't a bird get shocked when it sits on a wire. He and his Dad rigged a bird & wire on a circuit board. Very cute!
Max's project was about Fibonacci sequences and where they occur in nature. Promise to get pictures of that later.
Mo-Jack-O-Lantern

Z-Jack-O-Lantern

For their 7th Birthday Party, but boys chose to have a Mad Science party.

Here is Frank doing Mento's Rockets.

Here are all the party goers offering their scientific expertice on how best to set up the soda rockets.

At our party we had "Make your own Snow", a grand experiment for Arizona.

Here are John, Mia & Addie making snow.

We also made Glow-in-the-dark Slime, here are Luke, Conner and Zane, assisted by Jen making slime.

And here the kids are learning about Indication Chemistry, using purple cabbage juice, vinegar, baking soda and baking powder.
Here are Kate, Dylan, Charlie and Scott learning about Chemistry.

Here are Max & Chace making balloons that blow themselves up, using baking soda and vinegar.

I think everyone had a great time & I think they may have actually learned something.

September at our house is CRAZY!!!
We just returned from our week in Carlsbad, CA. It is a really cute place north of San Diego. We camped ON the beach, which was super cool, but pretty sandy :)
There were many adventures, that I won't mention here, but the ones I will point out have pictures below.

Me and the boys on the deck of the USS Midway Aircraft carrier.

The boys at their surprise birthday destination LEGO LAND! We told them we had to do an errand and had them looking out the window trying to find 'camper land'. What a cool surprise for them. Also, note, a great time of year to visit -- it was virtually empty. No lines for rides or anything. What fun!

Here is Zane learning to drive -- he loved it & he was so very careful too :)
Max wasn't the best driver, but he managed not to ram anyone, so there is hope.
Boys strapped in to ejection seats on the Midway
Here is the Midway's anchor chain!
And where they belong in the BRIG!
We hit the beach every single day, it was great! Both boys had a great time on their boogie boards and just challenging the waves, which were pretty big & pretty rough. I think we all still have sand in our ears.
Lego minifig waves, from the rocks.
Hanging out reading out side the camper.
Windmill farm in the hills outside of San Diego!
Career day at school. Max is a scientist (he wants to solve the riddle of cold fusion) Zane is a vet (note the dog with them cone of shame on), he will be spending his time being nice to animals.
Conner and Max at soccer -- we are the Super Sonics and we aren't very good, but we are learning & having fun.
The Super Sonics (except for Dylan -- in the football gear)

Max working the pottery wheel for the first time -- he loved it. Zane didn't like getting that dirty. Since we love SONIC, we need to dress like our favorite characters. Zane is Tails and Max is Knuckles.

Hike to Pink Mountain, we had a blissfully cloudy day the week before school started & were able to take a hike with the Maxwells. It was a lovely break from the heat.

School Years Eve picnic on Mt. Lemmon. Our 3rd annual back to school celebratory picnic was super fun. The kids would have stayed all day!

They created a fort under this trees roots and played special agents most of the day.

We also took a short hike and found this HUGE tree!

First day of First Grade, here is Max in Mrs. Brocks class.

And Zane in Mrs. Whittier's class.

Mary Had A Little Lamb Duet! Enjoy!