Let the Craziness Begin!

Our home is now in full swing!

We have one week of school under our belts...no kinks to speak of, which is a HUGE relief for mom, who wasn't sure how school was going to work with three grade levels to teach! The kids are loving it, and are very easy students:-). The older two were able to tour a television studio with some members of our park group on Monday, and Natalie got to be the weather person in front of the green screen. Did you know the camera is color-blind to green? If the newscaster wants to look scary for Halloween, they dress all in green so as to appear as a floating head and arms. (This is the one item of info both E & N remembered from the tour!)

Our extra-curriculars start this week, with Ella on swim team (yea!), Natalie in diving (yea!), E,N & Grace in Girl Scouts (a FABULOUS troop - yea!), E cello/piano, N violin/piano and G piano, and finally youth choir for E & N. Mom can't think past the day-to-day or she feels instantly overwhelmed! In October, we add our trips to the symphony every other month with a group of homeschoolers from our church....this year Grace gets to attend, too!

David is staying busy with boy stuff all through school....making cars crash, toys fly (while firmly attached to his hand or they disappear forever in mom's drawer!) and proclaiming at least 5 times a day how he wishes he could fly! His absolute favorite game is Sequence, and he is always looking for someone to play it with him again (and again and again)...he is now almost as tall as Grace, who is almost as tall as Natalie. How they grow!

Claire is now sitting on the potty. She has used it once, and pretends to use it whenever the siblings are in the bathroom. She is fun company as she pretends to strain, then proclaims 'I done' and gathers t.p., places it in her pot and closes the lid. So entertaining, and impossibly cute! She has also mastered the art of removing her diaper WITH her clothes on, which is an adventure in itself....Craig jokes she'll probably be potty trained before she's weaned!

Our family has grown by 1 - we now have a new dog named Ginger, who was living under the modular buildings at church. She was obviously abused at one time, because she cowered with her tail between her legs for about the first week she was in our home. Just when she was comfortable enough not to cower, we took her in to the vet, so it was back to square one with her ability to trust us! She is nocturnal from 6 months (that we know of) of living under the school, and so we are now trying to get her on a day schedule. Craig thinks she is mute, as we have yet to hear her bark, and she is very sweet and lovely...we now have a reputation at church for adopting their wayward animals:-).

We hope you all have a fabulous month....we will update the blog as time allows...we are sure ya'll understand!

Love Much,
The Meissler 7

NATURE JOURNAL - SEPT 1-5
By Ella

Day 1
Caterpillars EVERYWHERE!
Big ones and small ones and even tiny ones...they are orange with black spikes and purple stripes across the side and are very active.
Day 2
The caterpillars are less active than yesterday and the big ones are white…
An hour later…
A chrysalis has formed!
Day 3
The chrysalis turns sideways and shakes when we go near them!
Day 4
Lots of Gulf Fritillary’s!