Knights of the Ramey Ranch

While studying royalty and castles, etc, we also explored knights. The boys were fascinated with the deeds of mighty men of valor. Their greatest interest, however, lay in the Ramey Coat of Arms. A simple Google search produced a very nice picture of the heraldry and, thankfully, it was a simple pattern for the boys to copy! Josh's family comes from the French Ramey clan. I had planned to make cardboard shields because Josh has been so busy lately, but Nathan decided nothing short of wooden shields would do. Daddy was a good sport and helped them cut out shields one night.

Here they are painting a white field to seal and smooth the shields. This also became the white sash on the finished shield.

As you can see, it was a job for great care. And yes, it was bitterly cold the morning we painted, so they wore paintshirts over coats! We ended up doing the second coat inside because the paint wasn't working too well outdoors!

Josh had some spray paint meant for cars that was the perfect shade of blue. It also has a slightly metalic look with tiny sparkles that show up in the sun. It was absolutely perfect for the shields and made them look somewhat metalic.

Here are the two proud Knights of Ramey Ranch. Their wooden swords were birthday gifts last year from Daddy. Now they have amazing shields to complete the set!

For anyone interested, here are the links I found on family crests for our family.

Ramey - http://www.4crests.com/ramey-coat-of-arms.html

Dickey - http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/dickey-family-crest.htm

Just because . . . .

. . . .She is so cute!


I had quite the little helper today while I mopped the floor. She was so meticulous and proud of the clean floor when she was finished! She also "helped" me clean the bathrooms and make dinner. Quite the little homemaker. She'd rather do these things with me than play with toys. It's getting tricky to find "real" things that are small enough for her to use in real setting.

Later while I was sewing, Juliana ran and got her toy iron. She suddenly seems aware of the fact that she has toys just like my real "tools". She loves to come and help or do what Mama is doing. Here you can see how proudly she ironed a piece of elastic! The task was completed with hissing sound effects to imitate my steam iron!

Having a girl is such fun!

Castles

Last week in school we studied Kings, Queens, Castles, Knights, etc. The boys really got into the castle building. Below are some pictures of one of the castles we built. Stay tuned for more pictures soon of our knight projects.

This gate moves up and down! I found directions in a library book and the boys loved it!

Making the gates.

Peter demonstrating how the gate slides up and down. Notice how proud and serious he is.

Odds and Ends

We've been extremely busy here on the ranch this week. Our second property required a new septic system. To save money, we have been replacing it ourselves. With predicted rain, it has been a race to get everything done. As of Thursday night, we have the new tank installed and the old tank completely filled with concrete (county code). We will have to wait a while before tackling the leach field. Other than that, we have been busy preparing for winter and the coming rains. Tomorrow we are supposed to have winds up to 60mph. Should be exciting!

Early one morning this week, still in their pjs, Peter and Juliana decided to go for a ride on the stick horse--double! As you can see they had a wonderful time!

I found these cups last week while shopping in Yuba City. I was so tickled because I had been looking for something for the boys to use. These glasses were exact miniatures of our large every day glasses. The boys absolutely love them and behave very grown-up at dinner. We have a tile floor, which is not forgiving at all when things fall. We started them with the stoneware plates a few years ago and have only lost a couple. I have been wanting to introduce glass cups without sipper lids, but hadn't found anything the right size. So now we can trust the boys to use any kind of tableservice when they go to someone's house. (I'm still not ready to try my china yet!)

Monterey Bay Aquarium Fieldtrip

Last Monday we went to the homeschool day at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Josh had never been and it had been at least 15 years since my last visit. I have many fond memories of trips with fellow homeschoolers to the Aquarium when we were young. Now the next generation is learning about the underwater world of the ocean.

This is the Kelp Tank. Apparently MBA is famous for this tank because they have found a way to raise kelp in a tank. It was neat for my kids because they could get an idea what their daddy sees when he SCUBA dives. (Although he clarified that the water is not this clear in real life!) A lot of the fish are the same kind as he hunts also.

Juliana liked these little fish because she could get right up to them on her level!

The touch pools are always a favorite with the children!



And of course the beautiful jellyfish!

They had an amazing seahorse exhibit right now. After several tries, I gave up on having all three children look at me at the same time. There was too much going on!

This was a model of a giant oyster (I think). All three kids fit in it with no problem! Peter even took a brief "nap" to show it was large enough to lie down in.

Nathan has decided he likes photography. (He's getting an old digital camera for Christmas, but shhhh . . . no one tell him.) The next two photos are ones he took entirely himself with no help.

Autumn Leaves!

Despite being sick with bad colds this week, we are trying to have fun in school. Today we made beautiful fall leaf placemats. As you can see, Juliana had to get in on the action!

Peter has suddenly realized that the letters he is learning to read can be used to make words. He is often found staring at the alphabet cards I have tacked up on the wall trying to figure out how to spell a word. They have pictures that represent the phonetic sound each letter makes. He is doing remarkably well on his own. He only knows short vowel sounds at this time, so it sometimes get a little interesting. He figured out "GOD" all on his own the other day. Even though he knows how to correctly spell his name, he decided to try spelling his name phonetically. Below is a picture of the result. "PEDR".