Experiments, Storms and an Announcement

We've had a bit of an 'unschooling' kind of week. We took a break from our regular school stuff in favour of some creative, fun stuff, as well as a little cleaning and extra library time. We've been playing copious amounts of Uno Attack! and doing quite a bit more reading than usual...which is a lot of reading!

Old E sent us a Professor Chia Head for Christmas, so to combat the gloom and doom of winter and brown, dead stuff, we planted our chia seeds a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, there has been a few days of sunshine, so our Professor Chia is sporting a nice, green 'fro. Also, last week, one of our science projects was to watch beans sprout. Some friends who live in the Four Corners area out West sent us some Anasazi Beans (so named for the cliff dwellors whose civilization mysteriously disappeared in the area). Thanks, Charlie and Shirley! They are a really pretty bean, kind of a red and white spotted bean. So we thought it would be neat to see what sprouted. We also had some kidney beans in the cabinet. So we've been anxiously waiting for our beans to sprout. Well, today, we are finally beginning to see the tap root and the beginnings of the sprouting process! Here's a photo of our experiments:

We also made some chocolate chip cookies yesterday. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have any dough left to bake, because Archie kept scarfing down the raw cookie dough! He may have had a little help from me too!

The night before last, we had pretty bad storms. The previous night, I didn't sleep well, and was really looking forward to a good night's sleep. So, of course, around 1:15 am, the 'bad weather' siren began wailing. It's a really loud horn which alerts all the neighbourhoods around here that bad weather is approaching. At first I didn't know what in the heck it was, because it was going on inside my dreams, and I couldn't turn it off. Then after becoming a little more aware, I realized I should check the tv or radio to see if we need to go to the basement. I checked, and it was for a thunderstorm warning! A thunderstorm warning??? I could've slept through that! Wake me up if it's a tornado or something really scary. Not a thunderstorm! I went back to bed and of course, couldn't fall asleep right away!

The wind was really whipping around outside. I was glad I had the foresight to chain the trampoline to a tree the day before! Apparently, there were some places around here that had some significant damage from the storms and of course, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Alabama got it pretty bad.

We are looking forward to my Mom, Regular E, and Sara visiting tomorrow. I have lots of fun activities planned. Old E, Ann and family are coming on Sunday. So look for some fun updates soon!

Now for the announcement: We are looking forward to the newest Dutton arrival in late August! I am 11 weeks along, just finishing up my first trimester! We are excited! Archie is super excited, as he has been praying every day for a new baby for about a year now. He's been giving my tummy lots of kisses for the baby and says the baby will sleep in his room.

I've been feeling okay, just really, really tired. Archie has NOT been too happy about the nap I've been taking just about every day after we get done with school! I am looking forward to getting through the 'worn out' phase of pregnancy and finally getting my energy back!