Photos from Phones - September 2021 Round Up

Here's our September leftovers (up until we left on our cross-country trip - stay tuned for a day-by-day play-by-play coming soon to a blog near you!) to round up this flurry of posts I've been trying to get up here on the ol' blog so I can feel caught up for ten seconds before I start posting Vermont trip photos. (I just had a hard time imagining posting up-to-date photos of our trip before I had everything else from before updated. So, phew! I can move on with my life and not feel antsy!) I make no guarantees about super quick updates from Vermont, but I will do my very best! Until then, enjoy: September!

9.1.21
(nature journaling Wednesday at the North
Arm Trailhead near the big bridge)

9.1.21
(today we were fascinated by these dry teasels,
they reminded Cal of a microphone and Sam and me
of an octopus)

9.1.21
(I went a little crazy in the alphabet book section at the library recently (who knew there was a whole section of ABC books?!) thinking they’d be great for kindergarten homeschool, what with all the practice writing letters and such. But Cal has surprised me in how much she’s gravitated to and enjoyed these books, too. ☺️)

9.1.21
(I think I’ve posted this one before (maybe in a stack or group or maybe it was last year?) but it definitely needs its own spotlight. We loved reading this one with RAR this month and our minds are completely blown by the immensity of space! So much good scale and relating to things we know as we moved bigger and bigger into the universe. Plus plenty of great back matter too! Five stars and two thumbs and all the praise for this one! ⭐️ 👍🏼 🏆)

9.1.21
(And here’s a stack of fun ones we’ve read lately. No rhyme or reason but all quality.)

9.1.21
(Maybe my biggest library holds haul yet: 61!! 😳😬🤷🏻‍♀️💗 (yep, I have a library addiction!))

9.1.21
(It’s the most wonderful time of the year! September means apple books to me, so I grabbed them all ;) and then I grabbed other favorite fall, leaves, etc ones that I don’t want to miss while we’re gone next month.)

9.1.21
(whoa nelly!)

9.1.21
(This is my second Wendell Berry (I read Jayber Crow a few years ago) and I liked this one more than the first (not that I didn’t like Jayber, I just think this one was more relatable somehow?). It’s not a flashy, action packed story at all, rather more of a memoir (fictional) of this woman’s life and loves and losses. I thought it was quite beautifully written, and I can see why Berry has such a huge following amongst the bookish people I follow online. I would definitely be up to visiting the people of Port William again through one of his other novels.)

9.2.21
(leaves already starting to fall at the park?!)

9.2.21
(this one tree at the park turns red WAY before
anything else in the vicinity. always has, and here it
is again, right on time!)

9.2.21

9.2.21
(it makes me so happy to see!)

9.5.21
(a quick visit to Gregg's parents included feeding treats
to the neighbor dog over the fence)

9.6.21
(leggy cousins walking to Grandma's park
on Labor Day)

9.6.21
(Sam got ahold of my phone - this is only
one of many identical snaps I found on my camera
roll)

9.7.21
(water coloring and handwriting while we watch
Jason Chin's author access on RAR)

9.7.21
(I think she did an amazing job!)

9.8.21
(I don't even remember what book this was on the back of,
but I wanted to keep the list for future reference!)

9.9.21
(Cal was getting creative with the playdoh
and lego's in anticipation for Sam's bday)

9.9.21
(Of course Afghanistan has been on my mind recently, so when I saw a booklist, I collected as many as my library had. We spent a morning reading these and learned a lot and felt a lot in the process.)

9.9.21
(Gathering up stacks to return to the library this afternoon ...
 these made the cut for “best reads of the week” photo. 😉)

9.9.21
(my favorite kind of canning photo - when they all seal
and I get those "ta-da" reflection lights on the wall behind)

9.10.21
(we read a book of "riddlekus" or haiku
poems that give clues as to what they are
describing and then we gave the format a try
together for our writing lesson. Can you figure out
what we were describing with these two?)

9.10.21
(Cal came up with one more on her own)

9.10.21
(we had a nature study lesson about Alaska Pink Salmon
through RAR, which was supposed to go along with a book
we read earlier this spring called A Year with Miss Agnes, but I never
got around to watching the video then. And then we read Henry and Ribsy,
which involves a salmon, and I thought it would be perfect then, too.
But alas, it wasn't until we hiked to see our local salmon run that we
finally made the time to watch. Here's Cal's sketch and facts
that she jotted down during the video lesson)

9.10.21
(Cal also chose to watercolor the Kokanee salmon
after our Alaska Pink Salmon lesson)

9.10.21
(we were running errands in Ogden and one of the items
on our checklist was to scooter at a skatepark.)

9.10.21
(the park we thought we'd go to had other skaters
already there and a sign saying no scootering allowed,
so we were lucky to find this big nice park in North Ogden
that allowed both and was full of kids have a great time)

9.13.21
(it's beginning to look a lot like faaalll)

9.13.21

9.13.21
(After riding the Hiawatha bike trail I wanted to know more about who Hiawatha was, so of course I found myself on the library search page and this is the first thing that came in. It was awesome! Such a great story of forgiveness and choosing peace and cooperation. Really inspiring! (It’s also on audio on libby so we listened and looked at the pictures at the same time.))

9.13.21
(we tried print making for art this morning)

9.13.21
(we made stamps from styrofoam, apples, and
potatoes)

9.13.21
(I had fun with it, too!)

9.13.21
(we were busy!)

9.14.21
(this cat has sort of adopted us and the kids
have been enjoying its rubbing along their legs)

9.14.21

9.14.21
(this is actually a pretty big step for these two, 
especially Sam, who are typically nervous around
furry four-legged creatures)

9.14.21
(it's poetry tea time! here are all our poetry books and all
the poetry books we had from the library currently, all set out
for reading alone and aloud and sharing together while we
eat treats!)

9.14.21
(one of our apple books had a recipe for apple tarts, which we made
earlier this morning in anticipation of this moment. They were tasty
and the poetry was fun to share together, too)

9.14.21
(here's the recipe for future reference)

9.15.21
(We just finished reading this one as part of our Brave Writer unit this month. Sam and Cal and I all loved the story, which I read aloud some chapters and we listened to EB White read others on audio. I highly recommend both versions! A great story of adventure and ingenuity and creative problem solving, as well as calm, nature observations. Plus music! So fun!)

9.19.21
(some fun clouds this evening!)

9.19.21

9.19.21
(kapow!)

9.19.21

9.20.21
(fall decor up and ready to enjoy for a couple of days - but
it will still work for November when we get back if I turn that
jack-o-lantern jar around to the plain orange side ;)

9.20.21
(monday art day again: we're fan of the chalk
pastels, and after a quick youtube lesson from nana
on apple drawing, the kids took over with their
own creative juices)

9.20.21

9.20.21

9.20.21
(the messy hands just come with the territory)

9.20.21
(for math we read Anno's Counting Book which takes
each number 0-12 and paints a little country scene, showing
each number in a variety of ways. So on page 0, it's just a snowy hill.
Then on page 1 it shows one house, one adult, one child, one bird, one pine
tree, one oak tree, one vehicle, etc. On page two, another house appears, and
another adult and another child and another tree, etc, etc on up to 12. And my
favorite details is each number represents a month, so it moves through seasons,
too. It's really delightful, for a wordless book with not much story other than
number representation. Anyway, the activity with the book was to have
Sam make his own display by picking a number and setting that many items
in a variety of options on a table. Can you guess the number he chose?)

9.21.21
(playing at the playground at Snowbasin before our
hike)

9.21.21
(for YW, we had a "pony party" where the girls
got to decorate Janice's mini horse and cart and
Charlotte gave us rides down the street and taught
us how to drive the cart along the way. then we
each got a turn driving the cart on another lap to
the cul-de-sac and back)

9.21.21

9.21.21

9.21.21

bonus video!

"mini horse cart ride"

9.21.21

(I even got a turn!)

9.22.21
(We read this one on the first day of fall, and thoroughly enjoyed the water color + collage art AND the science of how and why leaves change colors. Great selection!)

9.22.21
(What 135 books checked out over three library cards looks like before being bagged and returned. (It should have been 136, but I say misplacing 1 out of 135 (and honestly thousands over the years) is not a bad track record. Amazingly the librarians offered to extend the due date on the missing one till after we return from Vermont (I didn’t even ask ... they’re just that awesome!) ... and then we found it and dropped it off on our way out of town!))

9.22.21
(I had read this one in physical graphic novel form a couple of months ago and loved it. And I had heard that the audiobook version was amazing. I thought it odd to have a graphic novel recorded as and audiobook, and wanted to give it a try. Our camping trip last week was the perfect opportunity. We all enjoyed the story. The full cast production really brings it to life. We were rooting for Omar and Hassan and all the rest! And we had some great discussions about money and jobs and refugees and how we can share what we have afterward.)

Every other round up here (whew!):

2021: Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2020: Dec | Nov | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar Quar + Mar | Feb | Jan
2019: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2018: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2017: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2016: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2015: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2014: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2013: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June