Kiri

Ok, I've got a ton of catching up to do, but I figure I'll get flailed if I don't post some more puppy pictures first, so here you go!

Kiri's a pretty mellow gal, I mean, for a Lab puppy. She's a big-time snuggler, and her favorite game is holding as big a toy as she can possibly fit in her mouth and moaning and wagging her tail wildly while smushing her head into whatever human body part is available. She's taken to farm-living like a champ, and she's a really nice little gal to have around the house. Oh, and she travels well, which is important for the homeschooling family on-the-go. She's pretty much the perfect puppy. (And yes, for those of you keeping track, I actually used the words "perfect" and "Lab" in the same paragraph.)


So far, she spends her days romping in the fields with the kids and their friends...









...playing with whoever is available...










...and sleeping. Lots and lots of sleeping.









Lots of it. (I don't normally sleep with my glasses on, but The Map Man apparently caught me after I dozed off the other night....Thanks, Honey....)


Of course, you'd sleep a lot too if you were running around with a wild pack of kids all day. Trust me.

quick puppy info

Ok, ok, sheesh, don't you people know I'm busy! LOL

I promise many, many (MANY!) more pictures as we go along, but for now here's the basics:

Name: Kiri (registered name to be determined)

Breed: Labrador Retriever (you know, just in case nobody figured that out!) This is our very first Lab (and honestly not a breed I ever thought I'd own), but not our first gun dog, although we've been without "a proper gun dog" for some time.

Age: 12 weeks-ish (I don't actually know her birthdate, some else takes care of those details!)

Breeder: My friend Anne of Radiance Labradors -- Kiri's parents are Boomer and Connie -- go find them on her web page!

How it happened: Trust me, this wasn't planned. But Kiri (under a different name) came to visit for a few days (aka "Anne's evil plan") and was an absolutely perfect fit for our household. This is a pretty special puppy, and we're not stupid enough not to recognize that.

Her future: Anne and I are co-owning this pupperoni. That way Anne can show her and breed her and do whatever labradorian type things need to be done with a puppy of this caliber, and we can love her up and train her to do ridiculous things. Win-win situation for us all!!

We are all in puppy heaven! (Well, with the exception of the Collies who seem think this is the worst decision I've ever made. They'll get over it.)

look what we did....

crystal

We're taking a week to do some 'lite' science work, in this case revolving around snow and the water cycle. We read "Crystal," a story from the Enki Education Grade 1 Nature Stories collection. After recalling the story today, we painted while being inspired by the poem that is included with the story. Above is J's painting, below Zoo Boy's.

These paintings were all done with a single color. We started by covering the entire paper in blue using four kinds of brush strokes to match the movements described in each verse of the poem (sweeping back and forth, twirling around in a spiral, repeated downward movements, and a wide circular stroke). Then we used cotton swabs to dab small points of paint off the paper. (Since this was wet-on-wet painting, the paint feathered back in and it made for some pretty convincing looking snowflakes.) Then we used cotton balls to dab off paint for our "snowbanks" in the bottom half of the painting. Below is my painting.

If I were to do it again, I would have left out the large circular brush strokes, as I think we would have wound up with a pretty cool snowy landscape without that odd arcing structure in the middle of it all. But they still made interesting paintings regardless, and I really wasn't intending on creating a scene, I was just showing the effects of the various brushing methods.

and now for something completely different

Interesting sledding conditions.

(Don't you worry, those kids'll have plenty to sled on again in another minute or two, it's snowing gangbusters out there....)







Did you know that glass marbles were first made in Italy??


(What did we ever do before Google???)







The Map Man working from home during the last "big snow storm". (Which amounted to about 2 inches, I think. Stupid Weathermen.)



(I just thought his co-workers ought to know what that looks like -- although he claims it's pretty much just like being in his office, which has me wondering about his perks....)

Zoo Boy and friend in a 1700s school room. Watching a DVD on a portable player. Very historically accurate, don't you think??

(They were waiting for their siblings to get out of a REALLY cool program at the Noah Webster House.)

A spider teaches a Native American woman how to weave.

(There was a loom at the historical program he was at today and it reminded him of a story we read last year, or maybe the year before. So he drew it.)

Bones.

(I have to admit, after seeing this, I'm kind of glad we've got 'em.)

An eyeball.

But, wait! That's not the oddest thing you're going to see here.

This is.

(He claims this is comfortable. Is it any wonder his dance teachers were happy to get him involved with their school?)

We now return you to our previously scheduled program....

poke-journals

Apparently the boys had Pokemon on the brain when they did their journal entries this morning (J's above, Zoo Boy's below):

snow fun

Just wanted to share some of our recent winter fun.

J showing of his skill on his "mini luge".

Zoo Boy blazing a trail in a saucer sled.

J says he won the gold medal, just like Lindsay Vonn. Cosmo celebrates with him.

J draws himself holding a gold medal.

Zoo Boy working on his own medal, for snow-angel-ing.

Yup, obviously another gold for team USA!

J gives their giant snowman a hug.

While Zoo Boy chose to give him a headache instead.

Meanwhile, Mommy is disgusted with how poorly her camera is handling the snowy scenes, and combined with its past pitiful performances on the video front, is seriously considering her options....