vote

I turned in my ballot today when we went over to the library. I just love Oregon's voting system. You can't beat dropping off your ballet the day before election day at the library! I forgot to mention yesterday that it was momentous also because it was the first time Matt voted! What a great election to vote in!

Chess fans?

While at the library, we picked up several books on World War I and World War II as there has been quite a bit of interest in those lately and I myself have found that I am a little sketchy about World War I (except for some basics) and am hoping to brush up on it again. I have read a lot about WWII, often to the exclusion of other wars, and feel a little hesitant about going into all of it at this point because that war out of all wars seems to offer up some huge examples of the worst of what humans can and have done to one another.

And we are reading some more about physics- a book on quantum mechanics- This Strange Quantum World and You and also Born with a Bang:The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story and a little book about young Albert Einstein, Odd Boy Out by Don Brown.

Overheard-
Eva- "You can't be Little Red Riding Hood if you are Little Blue Riding Hood." How true is that!?

Samuel- "I don't want ear flaps on my hat because they make me look too good-natured."

Eva has been making dolls out of pipe cleaners and making necklaces for them and wants to learn to knit and is making lots and lots of Christmas gifts and hiding them in the garage.

Samuel is thinking of ever more story ideas for books he wants to write and sell. He is building something for a Lego contest and he is thinking of other things to make to sell on etsy and at the homeschooling market we are going to in December.

Recent things we have looked up- stuff about Northern Ireland and its relationship to both Ireland and Great Britain, what is quicksand made of and how can you get out of it and which is worse to get stuck in, quicksand or tar? How do you stop being a vampire once you are a vampire. (This one has been elusive and there is no scolding as there was with werewolves.) When did the United States enter WWI and why? Again, I am feeling sketchy about my WWI history but I just know it will all come flooding back!



I just can't get enough of looking at the trees in their glorious autumn colors. It is raining steady now and the leaves are starting to come down in earnest, all the while keeping the colors shimmering everywhere you look. Truly one of the most glorious times of the year.