In years past we have visited Rhema lights as part of our pre-Christmas tradition but this year it didn’t seem worth the two plus hours of driving it would take to get there so we opted instead for something a little closer to our new home.  It’s only a 12 mile drive to Woolaroc where we found plenty of lights, hot chocolate and cookies, a wagon to ride and even animals to pet.

Inside the lodge - Sister is wearing my jacket because even though she had enough foresight to bring hats and gloves for everyone to wear she forgot her own coat.  Her slip in memory left me wearing the winter blanket Will stuck in the trunk a couple weeks back “for emergencies.”

Brother was all over the dipping cookies in hot chocolate thing.

In the petting barn there were rabbits and ponies, chicks, a cow, this donkey and a llama.

Sister said, “Take a picture, Mom!”  so I did.

I never realize quite how full our days are until I start to record activities and even then I know I leave things out.  It is impossible to remember every moment of learning that happens in a day.  (It is hard enough just to remember what I had for lunch!)  Still, it is worth the try and apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so.  I’ve been meaning to link to this post for quite some time since, in my mind, it represents an unschooling day worth striving for.

To commemorate the event, towns throughout the state are having parades and picnics and concerts and such all this year.  On November 16th, the children and I drove with Grandma to celebrate Statehood Day in Guthrie (our state’s original capital).  There was a huge parade and a picnic.  Many people were dressed in period clothing.  The town had even chosen to recreate the menu offered 100 years before:  a slice of bread, a piece of beef, a pickle, lemonade and coffee.

This was what it looked like walking along the parade route.  Besides all the people you can see ahead there were just as many behind and even more around the corner where the parade turned toward the park.  I overheard an official say they estimated over 4,000 people in attendance.

For the two horse-loving girls with us, the Clydesdales were a great favorite.  I suppose God knew that because He arranged for us to get a wonderful close-up look at them not once but twice.  First, since we didn’t have any clue where to park, we ended up walking through the parade staging area.  This picture was taken there.

Then later during the parade there was an especially long pause and what entry stopped right in front of us for several minutes?  Yep, the Clydesdales.

All in all we ended up walking about two miles that day.  Not so much for an adult but it almost did Brother in.  We were so fortunate to find a space on the trolley for the ride back to our car or that distance would have been doubled & my arms would have fallen off from carrying the exhausted Brother.

(This pic was taken mere moments before I stepped into a ginormous hole which I didn’t see because I was looking through a camera lens.  - Since this is not the first time something like this has happened, I’m thinking of changing the name of my blog to “The Graceful Photographer.” )

Finally, back at the car after a full day we decided to grab a snack before heading out of town.  This would have been an easy feat if we actually knew the town’s layout or even if the main thoroughfares (closed for the parade) had been opened.  After much wandering we found ourselves exactly back where we started at which point Sister helpfully noted, “Hey, hey grandma!  I think we’ve been on this street before!”

There was one bright point in our wanderings:  a sign which I’ve recreated below.

I mean no disrespect if you’re last name is Brown or Gross but knowing how a bride agonizes over all the details of her wedding I can just imagine the conversations surrounding this one.

Bride: Should it be Brown/Gross or Gross/Brown?’  Could we get away with just saying ‘B/G wedding? 

Groom:  Oh, the heck with it.  Let’s just elope.

Anyway, thanks Mr & Mrs. Brown-Gross.  You gave us a good chuckle when we needed it.  We hope you had a lovely day - neither gross nor brown.

In summary, a good time was had by all.

____________________________

In honor of our state I leave you with these fascinating facts.

Most people think of the stage play ” Oklahoma !” when they hear our state’s name mentioned, but there is so much more to Oklahoma than “beautiful mornings,” “fringe-laden surreys ” and “a girl who cain’t say no.”

Oklahoma is not only the home of Ado Annie and AuntEller from ” Oklahoma !” but of the parking meter(invented in OKC) and the shopping cart (invented in Ardmore ).

The electric guitar also was invented in Oklahoma, by a Beggs musician named Bob Dunn. The first “Yield”sign was installed in Tulsa .

The Environmental Protection Agency recognizes Oklahoma as having the most diverse terrain of any state in the nation. The state, according to EPA, boasts 11distinct eco-regions.

The state has more man-made lakes than any other, which give us more than a million surface-acres of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.

The Sooner State has produced more astronauts than any other state in the union. Owen Garriott is an Enidboy, while Tom Stafford is from Weatherford, Shannon Lucid is from Oklahoma City, WilliamPogue is from Okemah and the late Gordon Cooper was from Shawnee.

Oklahoma is home to the Amateur Softball Associationand Hall of Fame, a world class zoo in OKC and more F4 and F5 tornadoes than any other state.

Oklahoma is the third-largest natural gas-producing state in the nation and ranks fourth in the production of wheat, cattle and calves, fifth in the production of pecans, sixth in peanuts and eighth in peaches.

The state’s colors are neither OU’s crimson and cream nor the orange and black of OSU but green and white.

Oklahomans practice 73 major religions. The largest is the Southern Baptist Convention, with nearly 1,600 churches and more than 960,000 members.

Oklahoma gave birth to Dick Tracy (cartoonist ChesterGould is a native of Pawnee) and Donald Duck (Clarence “Ducky” Nash, the original voice of Walt Disney’s Donald, grew up in Watonga).

The number of famous singers from Oklahoma is too long to list here but includes Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Reba McIntire, Woodie Guthrie and Roger Miller.

Oklahomans have survived the Dust Bowl, any number of killer tornadoes, the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City ’s Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and various oil booms and busts. Oklahoma is populated by people who are caring, giving, hard-working, patriotic and fiercely independent. Oklahoma is a good place to live, work and play.

If that’s not enough check out these links.

• http://www.computerlabkids.com/oklahoma.htm
• http://www.shgresources.com/ok/facts/
• http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00002026.shtml

We’d love to learn something about your state too!  Leave us a link in the comments.

Silly Tilly’s Valentine by Lillian Hoban

Our Cat Cuddles by Gervase Phinn (I’ll give you one guess who picked that one out. :)  Cute rhymes with a surprise ending.)

Hands Can by Cheryl Willis Hudson (Brother (age 3) loved this one. Sister (ripe old age 6) thought it was “stupid.”)

Yoshi’s Feast by Kimiko Kajikawa (a Japanese fable of sorts - excellent illustrations)

The New Girl…and Me by Jacqui Robbins (Sister really liked this one… mostly because it had a lizard in it.)

I tried to get Sister to dictate another summary for us but it was like pulling teeth so I interviewed Brother instead.  He chose Our Cat Cuddles for the discussion.

Mom: Why did you like this book?

Brother:  Because I like many different cats.  Just like the blue one and the pink one.

Mom: What happens in this book? What is this story about?

Brother:  nothing

Mom: Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about this book? 

Brother:  Yes, it’s because the crocodile eats the dad.

I decided to stop there because while there is a dad in the book he does not get eaten by a crocodile.  He does not get eaten by anything but especially not by the crocodile which is NOT in the book.

This week we also read several of the Mr. Men books including Mr. Tickle which came highly recommended.  (Thanks a lot, Leslie… I think.) We read these over and over and over …. ad nauseam.

And finally, I finished the Tales of Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card.  There are six books in the series and I’ve been trying to read one each week.  It was rather rejuvenating taking a little time each day or so to read something totally irrelevent to my life.  Now I’m on the prowl for a new work of fiction to help me escape from reality.  Any suggestions?

If you have a young child (or two) your carpet may resemble this:

If at least one of those children is artistic and has access to a green crayon part of your carpet may look like this:

But if you have Arm n Hammer Washing Soda and a washcloth handy, then within a few minutes your carpets will look like this:

Not only will your carpets be clean but you’ll have peace of mind knowing that you didn’t get them that way with chemicals that would kill a canary.

Oh, and you can use this stuff in your laundry too but please note that washing soda is not the same thing as baking soda.)

* Sister lost tooth #3 a couple of days ago.  She carefully sealed it in an envelope and tucked it under her pillow.  The tooth fairy promptly left her a buck fifty which she didn’t discover until …. today.  I’m glad to know that Sister doesn’t over emphasize the value of money but I wonder that sometimes she doesn’t value it at all.  Is this a problem?

* Will someone please explain to me the appeal of “Yo, Gabba, Gabba!”?

* Grandma made her annual batch of Bierox (pronounced “beerock”) for our family fall festival.  Bierox was/is common in Northwest Oklahoma where I grew up.  It was originally made by German families who were in Russia for decades before their immigration to the US, and Oklahoma, in the late 1800’s.  Basically, it’s bread dough filled with hamburger, sometimes sausage, cabbage, and sometimes onion. It’s a family classic that takes all day to make and about 5 minutes to consume.  Mmmmm!

* We have just finished the mammoth project of switching our personal checking account from a small local bank to ING Direct, a totally online bank.  Everyone seems to think this is a really wierd choice but it makes complete sense for our family since we do everything electronically anyway.  And you can’t beat the interest rate.

* My husband works with a gentleman who has a very large family.  I am immensely curious about the logistical aspects of living in a household of 14 as well as the emotional demands of having so many children.  Of course, you would love them all but how exactly?  I recently had the oppurtunity to meet this sweet family but instead of asking my questions or even participating in the brief discussion I clammed up and let Will do all the talking.  In part I was a little embarrassed by my curiosity and in part it occurred to me that if I were them I would get tired of people only recognizing my family for its size.  So I chose to say nothing rather than offend.  In retrospect, I wish I had said something - anything - because sometimes shyness comes off as snobbish and that is not at all what I meant to be.

* Brother is in the midst of potty training.  That’s all I’m going to say.  I don’t want to jinx it.

* If you remember liking the movie The Cutting Edge and you happen to see they came out with a sequel and you think it might be fun to stay up late some night and watch said sequel - don’t.  Remind yourself than in all the history of moviedom there have been precious few sequels worth watching.  Go to sleep.  Get your rest.

We discovered a number of fun books this week.  Sister almost exclusively picked out books with cats on the cover.  Brother agreed to leave the library puzzles long enough to choose his own books this week but, not surprisingly, did not have a theme.  What do you expect from a three year old?  I’ve included the list at the bottom … after Sister’s comments on her favorites.

My first favorite book is Castaway Cats by Lisa Wheeler.  I like this book because I love cats.  I even have a cat of my own. This book is all about cats who are stranded on an island.  They thought about returning to their old land so they tried to make a boat.  They didn’t work together much so they did not make a boat.  They fighted and fighted and fighted about which way was the best and at the end of the day the Tabby cat suggested that they should work together.  So they made a plan tomorrow they would make a boat the next day all together.  So they did and the kittens, there were seven kittens, they found some cans.  All the cats helped with driftwood that would float to make a boat and when they were finished all the cats were very tired.  All the kittens were asleep and the tabby rubbed an eye.  I don’t know why.  But they had made a perfect boat.  The kittens wanted to stay at the island.  Then the tomcat Mittens said, ‘We’re staying!  We’re staying!”  And then they stayed forever.  The End.

My second favorite book is No More Water in the Tub! by Tedd Arnold. 

What we read:

A Dark, Dark Tale by Ruth Brown (Sister was rather disappointed that despite the cat on the cover this story has nothing to do with cats.)

Beware the Mare by Jessie Haas (a chapter book and a mystery of sorts)

Castaway Cats by Lisa Wheeler (the favorite from above)

Desmond and the Naughty Bugs by Linda Ashman (my favorite, very well written)

Farmer Brown Goes Round and Round by Teri Sloat

Little Lions by Jim Arnosky (more great artwork from Arnosky)

No More Water in the Tub! by Tedd Arnold (my second favorite, surprise ending)

P.J. & Puppy by Cathryn Falwell (a potty book - I slipped this one in.)

To market! To market! by Anushka Ravishankar (This was a great starter for a discussion on the culture of India.  Excellent illustrations.)

Rabbit Ears by Amber Stewart

Wilbur’s Space Machine by Lorna Balian (somewhat confusing play on the word “space”)

When Cats Dream by Dav Pilkey (sweet story, engaging illustrations)

There are days that Brother’s toys are scattered here, there and yonder… and then there are symetrical days.

and my personal favorite.

In what unexpected configurations have you found your child’s toys?

I poked around in the family archives and found these classic photos.

Did you play?

Help your mother make biscuits for breakfast then use the leftover dough to make all sorts of creations (like elephants or cars).

After breakfast is cleared away bring out the dominoes.  You can use them for counting or stacking or building really cool rubber ball racetracks. 

If the force of the speeding ball is too much for your wall you may have to improvise a new design.

Your small ball wall may fall if it encounters a big ball.  Don’t be too surprised by this. (And don’t let on that you are learning about force and momentum and design and angles and all sorts of other school-y things.  If anyone asks, just say you’re playing.)

Practice your piano a little each day and soon you will be able to play any song your sister composes. (using her trusty crayon, of course)

Since some people believe keeping track of time to be an essential skill, consider learning how to read a clock.  If that gets boring you may just want to draw a few clocks for fun.