MOLD!

Sweet Pea is studying Apologia Biology this year. Those of you who have studied with this curriculum know how intense it is. It is listed as a college prep course but in my opinion it is even a notch above that.
Sweet Pea is doing most of her labs & discussions with a friend in our co-op/family group. She enjoys this interaction & sharing of information. Today after the class was done she & I decided to keep learning & exploring on our own. She had never guessed mold could be so fascinating!

THIS is OUR pantry?

Sweet Pea had set aside a blueberry muffin & allowed it to grow mold. This is a sample from it that she put on a slide.

Studying hard!

Writing up her labs

Yummers!

My future scientist.

A figure of what we were observing.

It was really cool because we could see exactly what was drawn in the figure. Wow!

I love learning with my kids!

It really was fascinating. I'm very grateful to my Mom for purchasing this amazing microscope for our family. It is a treasure, a blessing & a valuable learning tool. Thank you, Mom/Grannie for investing in Sweet Pea's, Boo Bear's, Elvis', Bugsy's & Princess' educations! We love you! And a thank you to Jody too for lending us her Apologia books! Another big blessing! Thank you, friend!

Bracing for the Big One!

We are expecting a BIG snow storm! Several inches should be on the ground by the end of tomorrow & then more is to come on Tuesday! The forecasters have different snow total predictions. One said 4 inches while another said we could get as much as 7 inches! Usually if we get an inch or so it's a huge deal. This is like a blizzard for our area. As you can probably tell I'm a wee bit excited. Lol!

Sweet Pea & I tiptoed outside at 11:30p.m. to put out containers to collect snow. This was a faith thing as when I started collecting the containers it hadn't started snowing yet. When we walked outside it started to flurry.

On our 3rd trip outside we noticed a few snowflakes were starting to collect.

By the time we were ready to go back inside it started coming down faster! And boy was it COLD!

One last peek out the front door on my way back upstairs. Look at it now!

Sweet Pea & I can hardly wait to check all the buckets & bowls in the morning!

Black Friday in Tennessee!

Boy, Black Friday is a whole different experience down here in Tennessee. I think it's because the area is larger therefore attracting more people. The shopping experience was pretty much the same - the crowds, the thrill of the hunt, chatting with strangers - but the rest was very different. The lines for instance. In Walmart we stood in line for over 1.5 hours. I am NOT kidding you! They had a very poor set up. We waited in line only to get to the front to see it was basically a free-for-all. No fair!

We did have 2 bright spots while waiting. First, as you all know I am 20.5 weeks pregnant. I've had insomnia the past 2 nights plus this awful chest cough & cold. I was feeling rotten. At one point during shopping I literally had to sit down on the floor in the grocery aisle. Sweet Pea ran up and got me a bottle of water b/c I was feeling overheated & thought I was going to be sick. After my break we battled the crowds a little more asking where pretty much everything was. They had things set up so strangely. Shortly after I got in line to check out, (the line by the way started near the back of the store), I looked over at a clothing rack to spy a folding chair hidden in the clothes. You didn't have to ask me twice! I brought it over to my cart and promptly sat down. I took that precious chair with me all the way to the front of the line at the end of the aisle. I had to say good-bye when we reached the main area in front of the registers. I can't express to you what a blessing that chair was! We waited again for about 30 minutes in a line at the register. Of course the line didn't move one bit. Argh. There was a family in front of us and eventually the husband went to look for a shorter line. I'm guessing he found one b/c he came back for his family & they left our line. Then about 10 minutes later the second blessing happened. This family's children came back to tell me that there was a very short line down on the other end of the store. I hesitantly followed them, (hesitantly only b/c they spoke mainly Spanish & I wanted to make sure I had understood what they had said to me), and then hurried. Sure enough there was a line with only one other person in it! I thanked them over & over again. They smiled and walked away waving off our thanks. Now how nice was that! We finished up our Walmart shopping & then headed to Toys R Us. Oh my goodness! Another LONG line! At least this one was organized. After that Sweet Pea & I went out to breakfast at IHOP. I was amazed & impressed at the super speedy and kind service we received. I swear we were served our food in about 10 minutes! And they were packed full of people with more constantly waiting. Impressive!

Overall it was a great experience & one both Sweet Pea and I are looking forward to again for next year. We learned some tricks to use and some things to avoid. I'm thrilled with the bargains we found too. It was fun to introduce Sweet Pea to the wild world of Black Friday. Let me tell you she was one surprised girl! Lol! She had a great time.