'14/15 Week 30 Day 5

Oh, what a fun morning we had! After Saara finished reading "Amelia Bedelia" by Peggy Parish, we followed her example and baked a lemon meringue pie. The kids saw first-hand that the process was much more than putting 'a little of this and a pinch of that in a bowl'. There was the crust that we made from scratch, then the lemon filling, and, finally, the meringue topping. It was a fun cooking class, and the pie tasted heavenly. Here's a link to the recipe we used: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pies/lemon-meringue-pie/

In the afternoon, we took a little walk around the property. We noticed a lot of pretty spring flowers, and ... a yellow bellied racer. We were on the bridge checking out the rapids in the creek, when Saara noticed the snake down below. We watched it for a while and then left it alone.

The children making the lemon meringue pie.

Thank you , Amelia, for a delicious idea.

Japanese honeysuckle

Bluebonnets reading for next spring.

Indian paintbrush

Pink evening primrose

Wine cup

Pleated-leaf iris

Yellow bellied racer.

'14/15 Week 30 Days 2,3, and 4

These last few days have been rather busy. Between school work, baseball practices and a game, ballet class, we did not have much time for anything else. 
The school days have been good. The kids had another math test. Both kids did excellently. Andrew and I have been knee deep in lots of new science words, like velocity, momentum, acceleration, inertia. I need an additional lesson to make sure we understand each one of them. 
Saara finished her story of Amelia Bedelia, and in addition to the book report, we are going to bake a lemon meringue pie, of course.

Science. Saara's lesson was about how light travels and how it bounces off objects. We did some fun experiments with the mirror in the kids' bathroom.

As the thunderstorm cancelled tonight's game, we got busy making a couple of pizzas from scratch. The recipe: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/pizza-crust/dfd30165-0b22-47aa-b192-268be25e138d

'13/14 Week 2 Day 4

Last day. At least, for the week. I thought, the long Labor Day week end would throw us off our so-far-perfect course, but if I make the coming Saturday Day 1 of Week 3, it all will work out without a hiccup.
As it was our last day, we did not do a whole lot. This will change next week when Saara will start her ballet class and the choir and hand bells group will kick of the week after that. They are looking forward to it very much. So, the precious 'free' time will disappear and we will have full days till Christmas.
Among the other important and big things today, Andrew took his first Math test and scored 148 out of 149. 
Today's 'free' time was actually spent at the library. Our 'loot' is getting heavier and heavier. I am seriously thinking of making some special library totes for Andrew and Saara.
Here's, however, a little scoop of what we did today:

Bible. First off, we had a puppet show about Isaac blessing Jacob.

Andrew and Saara actually kept straight and serious faces throughout the whole play and the retelling of the story ...

... but as soon as I said that we were done, they started goofing around.

Music Appreciation. We moved on to learning about the tempo. A big 'thank you' to the Little Einsteins show on the Disney Channel - Andrew and Saara were familiar with words like 'presto', or 'allegro', or 'adagio'. The only new word they learned today was 'the metronome'. Also, "Peer Gynt" and Edvard Grieg. We listened to the story of Peer Gynt and to the two most famous pieces from Grieg's work: "The Morning" and "In the Den of the Mountain King" The above site is sfskids.org Both kids had fun while learning and experimenting with different metronome settings.

The two trolls listening to the story of Peer Gynt.

Detour. On our way to the library, I dragged the kids over to another building in downtown. I tested Andrew's knowledge of columns. He could remember the three different designs of the ancient columns, but failed to name them. Not a problem - back at home, we looked them up, and I am confident, Andrew will recognize the Corinthian columns anywhere now.

The end-of-the-school-day snack or mommy-has-a-bad-sweet-tooth-ache cookies. The kids and I whipped up some delicious ginger cookies after school. Recipe below.

We made our own version of the Mountain King's Den. I hauled out a dust covered disco ball and the kids had a blast until they were breathless.

Ginger Cookies
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teasp. ground ginger
1 teasp. baking soda
3/4 teasp. cinnamon
1/2 teasp. ground cloves
1/4 teasp. salt
3/4 cups butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tablesp. water
1/4 cup molasses

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. In another bowl cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg, then water and molasses. Gradually stir flour mixture into the molasses mixture.
Shape dough into walnut sized balls (roll in some sugar, if desired).
Bake for about 8 - 12 minutes (it really depends on how big the 'walnut sized balls' are. The center of the cookie should not be 'liquidy' or 'slushy', but rather on the firmer side.) 

2013 Summer Activities 4

I have lots of photos to share this time! Because of it was the 4th of July week, we had lots of things to do and go to. Most of our activities were red-white-and-blue.

Red-white-and-blue 1. First off, this week - as the weather continued to be hot - the children used the blender almost every day, either making smoothies or frozen yogurt treats. With both recipes we used vanilla yogurt, frozen berries, and milk. The consistency of the blended ingredients was thicker for the frozen treats and thinner/runnier for the smoothies. I eyeballed the amounts each time; I do not have a standard recipe I follow. It was a delicious moment each time (minus the brain-freezes).

 

Red-white-and-blue 2. Andrew and Saara made some patriotic pinwheels to decorate their desk.

I found the instructions to the pinwheels in the June/July issue of "Country Woman" magazine. They can also be found online at http://www.countrywomanmagazine.com/project/paper-pinwheel-centerpiece/

 

Happy Independence Day!

Red-white-and-blue 3. At the library's America's Celebration we listened to the Family Poet Wayne Edwards recite his poems he writes for both adults and children. The poems are hilarious and there's a whole lot of them to read on Edward's website: http://www.familypoet.com/

For Andrew and Saara the highlight of the library's celebration was Tchaikovsky's "1812" overture. Namely, helping the recorded opus out with popping paper bags for the cannon fire volley.

It took a few practice rounds with just clapping. And then there was the 'real deal' with paper bags. Andrew got so exited, he lost his focus for one of the pops, but recovered it very fast. One thing I do know, he will recognize the overture now anywhere and it will always be 'the song with the paper bags'.

As a cherry on the top the kids colored some quilt-pattern flags.

Happy 4th again!

And again - on the 4th at a small town parade. Red-white-and-blue 4.

As part of the 4th of July activities, Andrew got to try rock climbing for the first time.

Both kids and their friends spent the whole morning playing games, bouncing in the bounce house, getting face paintings, riding a 'choo-choo' train, rock climbing, etc.

Another new thing that Andrew tried out - learning how to play with the paddle-and-ball. He mastered it before we reached home.

We are not much of movie-goers, but once in a blue moon, we treat ourselves to a show. Monsters University this time.

Red-white-and-blue 5. Watching the fireworks. It has become a tradition in our family to line up along a road with hundreds of other cars and wait for the Bush Library fireworks.

And Happy 4th again!

This is Tchaikovsky's '1812' paper bag style.

'12/13 Week 37 Day 3

We are on the 'summer' schedule right now which means I have the kids play and run and exercise outside in the morning before the humidity and heat pick up. I did school like this last year and it worked out beautifully. 
Today, however, we started school even later than usual. The reason - we were tired of our usual choice of breakfast foods and decided to treat ourselves to something different. 
Breakfast muffins do not sound like an extraordinary dish, but if one does not get it on a regular bases, it may feel like a piece of heaven amidst the mundane oatmeal, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc. And while the muffins were baking, we got out spiritual food by having our daily Bible reading.

The rest of the day, went as planned. It was a good day.

Peanut Butter and Jam Muffins recipe at www.myrecipes.com

Saara completing some Kindergarten level assignments. Worksheets from www.teacherspayteachers.com

Easter Break

Our last break before the end of the year is over. It was one of the busiest I can recall this year. Whatever the weather - whether it was cold or warm - we were outside most of the time. But there were enough activities to keep us occupied even when we found ourselves between four walls. 
And this is what we did:

Being active. We did not spend as much time in the park this week as we wanted to. The wind was bitterly cold and was biting our noses off. But the half an hour of park time that we had was thoroughly enjoyable. Also, Andrew was busy practicing his throwing and catching at home. He had a practice and a very good game during our break. Saara, also, had one game. Andrew also brought out his bow and arrow, but baseball seems to fill his mind these days more than anything else.

Being crafty. I managed to do only one Easter craft with the kids this time. I found it on the Oriental Trading Co. website and it called for jelly beans, elastic cord, needle, and a printout on their website. I skipped the printout part and just asked the kids to poke the needle with the cord through the beans and make a bracelet. Well, I was not prepared the craft to be as sticky as it was. I ended up beading all the beans the kids had arranged in a color pattern. Although I scratched the craft off as a 'no-gooder', the kids loved it! Of course, they got to eat their bracelets after dinner. ;o)

Being caring. One thing Andrew and Saara care about is the children who do not have safe families to live in. One summer, they learned quite a bit about the Tupelo Children's Mansion in Tupelo, MS and ever since this children's home pops up in their conversations. During the Easter break both Andrew and Saara chose a new child they would like us to support and whom they would like to be friends with. This gave me an opportunity to teach Andrew a bit about how to handle internet for searching information. Also, the kids gave a big portion of their savings for their new friend. This meant a trip to the bank.

Being sweet. During the break Andrew and Saara had many opportunities to help me out in the kitchen. Like, we baked Lemon Cupcakes that the kids decorated with jelly beans. We did the 'grand tasting' while we were waiting for our freshly dyed eggs to dry. The other fun new recipe that we followed came from the Highlights magazine and involved a banana on a stick rolled in vanilla yogurt and Cheerios and left in the freezer overnight. A healthy breakfast that the kids actually liked.

Being pretty and handsome. Last but not least, Andrew and Saara are loaded with all sorts of sweets for the whole year now. They enjoyed the church's egg hunt with probably the largest number of kids we have had. That made the hunt go by really fast. 

Happy times!

'12/13 Week 28 Day 1

Spring came in full force this past week end. We were outside a lot enjoying the bluebonnets and sunshine. 

Although none of us have a drop of Irish blood in us, we celebrated St. Patrick's day with Irish Honey Cookies (addictive to no end) and the story of St. Patrick of how he was kidnapped as a child and how he became a missionary to the Irish. 

Here's the recipe for the cookies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter,
6 tblsp honey
6 tblsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups flour

Melt butter, stir in honey, sugar, soda and egg yolk. Gradually sift in flour (add 1/4 cup more if necessary). Mix to form a firm dough. Wrap in foil and refrigerate for 5-10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease cookie sheet or use parchment paper. Roll teaspoons of dough into balls and place on cookie sheet.
Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack.

Our 'Nessy'. We have a few of them turtles, really.

A new athletic challenge for Saara: to learn to ride her big bike without the training wheels.

Irish honey cookies go well with puzzles and blocks and a glass of milk. The kids made the dough themselves and rolled the dough balls. I had to remind them it was not play-doh, but the 'real thing'. :o)

 Our school day was intense. I had no time to take pictures :o) and I love taking pictures. First off, the curriculum does not have a song for this week either. I took the liberty to introduce Andrew and Saara to some of the old church hymns. They already are familiar with "Amazing Grace" and today, we started learning "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". We bought Steven Curtis Chapman's recent CD "Deep Roots" which has this song and many other great ones. As Andrew is a big fan of SCC, we are using his CD to learn the song. I caught Andrew humming it as he was tying his shoes to go outside. :o)

In our History class, we have been going over the battles of Marathon and Thermopylae, plus reading more about Athens and Sparta. 
Whenever I read the missionary story of George Muller, I often feel the story is way over the kid's heads, but they prove me wrong each time. They pay attention and follow the storyline closely. There are words they do not understand, but it seems not to bother them at all. They make use of the context and seem to enjoy the book very much.

I have noticed that our Reading and Language Arts classes have gone faster than months ago. I believe, a lot of it has to do with Andrew no longer needing the timer to stay focused during his spelling practice. Also, his reading is going more fluently than before. Today, we continued to look at the apostrophe and its role in the contracted words. 

After the school work, we headed out to the meadow to take some pics in the bluebonnets. Saara found plenty of dewberry blossoms - there's hope we will get to taste some in May. Also, yesterday Andrew and I while peeking over the bank of our creek noticed some tadpoles in the water. I promised him that today we would go down to the creek to take a closer look. Our dog tagged along (which I am glad of because of snakes and/or other creatures who may be around now that the weather is warming up) and muddied up the water. We did manage to see a few tadpoles - the ones that were brave enough to wiggle around despite the big 'dog-beast'. 

After writing down his spelling words, Andrew practices alphabetizing them.

Blue cornflower is Estonia's flower. Bluebonnet is that of Texas.

I think, Saara had as much fun posing as I did shooting. I believe, I used up half of my camera's storage capacity taking pictures. Andrew had more fun wrestling with some tall reeds at the same time. At the time, I did not realize I was laying low right next to an ant bed. Thank God, I did not get a single bite!

Happy Spring!

Thanks, pup! Try to spot tadpoles in their perfect camouflage in the muddy water.

Gotcha!