The Levee Family: October 2008

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Pumpkin Time

We have always had the tradition of going to a pumpkin patch to get pumpkins for painting. When we lived in The Woodlands we always met some friends at the local Methodist Church to buy our little pumpkins that the boys would paint. Painting the little pumpkins has been something we have done for 6 years now! We have a tradition I guess! Well, this is our second year to go to the Red Barn Nursery in North Austin. They have a pumpkin patch and small festival every year. The boys love to go and do a few games, get their faces painted and pick out their small pumpkins to take home.

I had to take this picture in black and white because I forgot to bring some "cute" shirts for picture taking - the boys were sporting their YMCA - bright colored game shirts and Ryan had a Star Wars shirt on - I was definitely off my game as far as color coordinating the boys for this little adventure!

Face painting is their favorite thing to do at this event. This is the only time of year that they get to do this and they seem to love it! Now we have to set aside some time to paint the pumpkins. I forgot to buy a small one for us to make a homemade pumpkin pie - but I can just get one at Wal-Mart! We'll post our pumpkins later!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Things I've learned - the egg

So, I'm teaching something I've never taught before which usually means I'm learning just as much as the kiddos! I've been teaching all about birds so far this school year and this week we are learning all about the egg. I happened to have learned a few new things that I thought I would pass on...

1. The eggs we buy at the store are UNfertilized - so there is no baby chick inside (I already knew that but thought you might want to know :-)

2. When you crack open an egg and you notice the white stringy substance - you normally think..."Ooo that is yucky, I should get that out of my egg". What you are seeing is a substance that attaches the yolk to the sides of the egg so it stays in the middle as best it can. It is not a baby chick growing and actually - the more prominent the stringy thing is in the egg, the fresher the egg!

3. If you open an egg and see a blood spot - that IS NOT a baby chick forming and it is still not a fertilized egg. It is actually ok to eat that egg too (even though most of us get grossed out and throw it away). it is a broken blood vessel that happened before the egg was laid.

4. How is it the chicken lay eggs every day while other birds just lay them in the spring time? Well, domesticated birds, like chickens will lay eggs about every 24-26 hours and take a break every 4-5 days. They just lay eggs for the joy of laying an egg! They don't have to be with a rooster in order for them to lay eggs.

5. The yolk does not become the baby chick (embryo). The yolk is actually the food for the embry if there happened to be one inside the egg.

Is that enough about the egg? I had to look up all this stuff because I just knew one of my students might ask - and the office staff wanted to know the answers too! There are some pretty incredible birds out there that God created with amazing instincts! It just goes to show that nothing occured by accident. God's hand was in every single aspect of every single living creature. Studying his creation just brings more and more Glory to His Name.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A forgotten sound

There was a noise last night. A strange noise that had been lost for some time. A distant rumble, moving closer and closer. At last, it was hear. The flashes of lightning and the crash that follows. Best of all was the sound of the sheets of rain hitting our windows and the wind blowing through the few trees we have in the yard. To some this may sound like a regular occurance, but here in central Texas, we are on schedule for the 3rd or 4th dryest Sept/Oct in record history. We didn't get any rain from Hurricane Dolly, Gustav or Ike like many other Texans. We have spent hundreds of dollars on our water bills just to keep our yard half way alive - so a litle rain was such a welcome sound. Thank you Lord for watering your creation.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Ball Season

This is our first season for ball - baseball and soccer. Jackson decided he wanted to play soccer and Austin is doing 'coach pitch' baseball. They are both playing through the YMCA. They're having a great time so far. Jeremy ended up volunteering to be Austin's coach since no one had stepped up as the season began. That has been a huge learning experience for him. I'm proud of him for stepping up into that roll. We like the Y sports because we are at the experimenting phase with the boys. We want them to try as many sports as they like and choose what they like - not what we like. The city leagues are so competitive and expensive, that we didn't feel we wanted to go that route until we knew what sport each boy loved and was good at. Here's just a few pics of each kid. We'll be taking more I'm sure.