We have been enjoying Fall. I'd just as soon skip winter ;) and go straight to spring. I guess I live in the wrong part of the country to be able to do that. But for School we've been preparing our garden for spring. Doodle LOVES to rake leaves- so he played around in the leaves for a while.
My dad sent me an email with a cool link to some seasons lessons. The site is called Journey North on the site- it's a global study of the seasons. They track monarch migrations, whooping crane migrations, whales, plants and soo much more. We are participating in the Tulips experiment this year. What you do- plant Red Emperor Tulips, by their specifications on the map you can mark when you plant yours. Then when spring comes, you report back when your tulips first emerge, and when they bloom. They have animated maps that show you when spring "arrives".
So on Friday we did a few experiments. First we had to decide where the best spot was to plant our tulips. Using this page. Then we examined the bulbs closely, cut one open and drew pictures of what the tulip bulbs looked like. We made some predictions- using a few different variables. First- Bug wondered what would happen if he planted them 12 inches or 3 inches instead of the 7 inches that the website says. He predicted that the one that is planted 3 inches deep will bloom before the others, and the one that is 12 inches deep will bloom after the others. Then we wondered after looking closely at the insides of the tulip bulb, if it matters how fat around the bulb is, if fat ones grow better than skinny ones. So we measured our bulbs, numbered them, and we'll see in the Spring whether the fat ones grow better or not. Bug's prediction is that size doesn't matter. Doodle predicts that the fat ones will grow better.
AT LAST it was time to plant them! OOOH! LOOK! Another use for craft sticks! (use number 9) 
Sunday night- Ben found some laminate flooring listed on KSL.com classifieds for less than 1/3- goodness even less than 1/6 of the normal price. So we made a quick trip to Salt Lake and beyond to pick it up. It's beautiful! Ben has spent the past couple of nights laying it down in our dining room. 
It looks BEAUTIFUL! We still need to put some caulking or something around the edges, and put the steps back in, but WOW! I love it!
Or you can make a triangle shaped box (Use number 3) on a square bottom (Roo calls this an "elk box") not sure why!?
Of course- the Box needed a lid (use number 4) 
or if you'd like- you can call the lid a flag (use number 5) 
If you are ambitious, artistic and adventuresome like Doodle, you can set out without a plan. Clothespins work great to clamp the pieces together while you are waiting for the glue to dry.
Use number 7- a house! Though it's not 3-d like the one we originally planned to make- it turned out great!
each time I give him an assignment I have him write it on the table of contents page, that way we are both sure when the assignment is done and in the notebook. Otherwise things would get done, but he couldn't find them, and they wouldn't get put in the notebook. 
Colorwheels (page from Beyond manual) and ds's painting of the drought.
