Lots of Stuff

I just felt like posting a random post today. I love these two pics of the kids sledding. They looks so intense!! I love waiting until the other kids go back to school to go sledding, so we have the hill all to ourselves!! Ahhh, one of the many joys of homeschooling!!

>I still can't believe we're having another baby!! It's just now starting to seem real. I've wanted it for so long, that it just keeps feeling like a dream. But I know it's real and I couldn't be happier. Abby is so impatient about it!! She wants the baby here NOW!!! I've explained a little of "where babies come from" to them (more so to Noah) but to Abby, I told her she has eggs in her tummy that someday have the chance to become babies and the other day her and Noah were playing and Noah sliced her with a play sword across the belly (it didn't hurt or anything) and she yelled "Noah be careful, I have an egg in there!!" I thought that was so cute!!

Introducing....Poppy!!!

This is the first picture of our newest baby!! We call the baby Poppy because when we first told the kids we were expecting, the internet said it was about the size of a poppy seed (it's grown now, all the way to the size of a lentil bean!!).

I had my first ultrasound yesterday. I'm about 6 1/2 weeks along now. We were able to see the heart beating, so that was very exciting!! I know the picture is blurry, I had trouble scanning it, so I had to take a picture of the picture and they all turned out pretty blurry. This was the best one. The baby is what the white arrow is pointing to.

Our baby is due October 5th. That's the exact week we had our Disney trip planned for, so we had to cancel that one! We are actually going in a couple weeks and then we're planning to go again in December so we can take the new baby as well. Our first ever Disney trip was when Abby was 2 months old and Noah was almost 3. This time Noah will be almost 10, Abby will be 7 and the baby will be 2 months old!!

I'm a little nervous about "starting over". I mean Abby will be 7 before the baby is born, so it's been awhile since I've done this, but I'm also very excited for this third blessing that's been given to me. God is so good.

Well I'd better go start lessons now!! Have a great week!!!

Homeschool Experiment - We Made Butter!!!!

I'm so excited because today the kids and I made our own butter!!! Now why you may ask, are we making our own butter....well, over the past few months we've read in two different sources about how people at different times of history have made butter. It just happened to come up twice in our studies. The first time was during our reading of Little House in the Big Woods and the second was during our Bible studies, we learned about Joseph's life as a boy. Both times butter making was mentioned and we wondered if we could do it ourselves. So I did a little online research and found out that we could and we didn't need to buy anything special to do it. So today we gave it a try. We bought heavy whipping cream to use. We used a plastic container with a tight fitting lid and a marble. We poured about 2/3 of the container full of cream and dropped the marble in. The marble adds more agitation which helps the butter to form. Then we sealed it up and taped the lid just to be sure and started shaking!! Here's pics of the kids shaking (please excuse the pj's and messy hair, this is how "school" normally looks in our home!!)

I ended up doing most of the shaking as it took about 20 minutes start to finish. After about 15 of the minutes, it felt like I couldn't get it to shake loose anymore and we peeked inside. It looked like white whipped butter. I knew from my reading that we were close to being done, but not quite. So I shook it about 5 more minutes and then it became amazingly easy to shake again and I knew it was ready. What happened was the butter finally separated from the buttermilk (as you can kind of see in the picture below). I thought it was so cool how a minute ago it was all mixed together and then it just separated into two different things!! Wow!!! (If you try this, don't forget to take the marble out!!)

So then we strained the buttermilk into a bowl to save and use for a recipe later (pancakes or something???) and had yellow butter left in the strainer. It was also so cool how the butter turned yellow. It was like a miracle!! (I know, I'm easily amazed, but it was so cool!!)

We then all took turns giving the butter a little love pat to get any remaining buttermilk out and then we sprinkled a little salt on it (it keeps it from going bad quickly).

And then I formed it into a shape resembling a butter stick!!!

And then to try it out, I made biscuits with our lunch and slathered some of the fresh yummy butter on them. Oh my where they delicious!!! Here's the kids eating their lunches.

Overall, I think this was my favorite experiment ever (well this and the time we got dry ice in our Omaha steak package and played with it for awhile!!). I don't know how to explain it, but I was just awed at God during the whole process. I mean he created the cows that give the milk to use and I bet he thought of how the butter would be made back in the beginning. It really is such a cool process!!!

Chicago - January 2009

Here's some pictures from our trip to Chicago. We just got home today. The following pictures are actually in reverse order of the days we went. The first pic was taken today!! We had a great time, even with the cold, and I think Noah really enjoyed spending his Birthday there. The past two years, we've spent Abby's Birthday in Walt Disney World, so we wanted to give him a special treat this year. I can't believe my baby boy is now 9!! He's halfway to adulthood!!!!!! Well anyway, here's our trip:


This is from the farming exhibit at the Science and Industry Museum. Wow, this museum was so cool!! We saw a real German sub, a super cool coal mining exhibit, played with robots, saw planes and trains and many other things. The kids also got to help milk faux cows, even putting on their teatcups!! I loved it, it was a very neat museum!!



This was Sunday night (Noah's Birthday). We had dinner at Applebee's (we used our giftcard from my grandma and grandpa, thank you!!). Noah got a Birthday sundae and everyone sang to him, it was very nice and very yummy!!!

For Noah's special Birthday treat, we took him to the Legoland Discovery Center in Schaumburg (a suburb of Chicago). He had a wonderful time!! We did everything they had to offer (many several times!!), had lunch and he shopped with the gift cards he got from his Birthday party. He ended up coming with quite a large stack of Lego boxes thanks to his generous friends and family!!! We all had a great time and I particularly enjoyed the 4D show!! I usually don't care for those, but I loved this show!!

This was an exhibit at the Adler Planetarium, that we just did a quick visit of. We were worn and tired from the Field Museum, and didn't stay here very long, but it was a very cool place as well!!

This is Sue from the Field Museum. It was a neat museum, but I kind of got tired of all the "non-creation talk". I expect it at museums like this, but it was just a bit ridiculous. The exhibits are truly awesome though and sooo thorough. I just couldn't believe how long each exhibit went on. We did an Ancient Americans exhibit, the Animals Exhibit (this was so incredible, they had nearly every animal you can think of on display (not living), the Dinosaur exhibit, the gems exhibit and many others. It's really a one of a kind museum. Both museum's are must see's on a trip to Chicago.

This is Abby on our first day there. It was by far the coldest day and the wind just stung the face. We were outside maybe 6 minutes here at a park on Lake Michigan, but her eyes are watering in the pic from the cold wind!! I thought she looked so cute!!

And this is my Noah at the park. He's quite the cutie too!!! I loved the "snow beach" on Lake Michigan. It made for some really cool pictures!!

And this was our first stop on the trip, the Sears tower. Here's the kids looking out from the 99th floor Skydeck. You can see Lake Michigan in the background. They were both amazed at the view. It was so cool!! We also had yummy deep dish Chicago style pizza that day!!

It was a great trip and we have wonderful memories to share!!

Our Christmas Show 2008

I decided that this year we would do a Christmas show. We worked from Thanksgiving to December 21st on 5 different songs. We sang Christmas Time is Here (from Charlie Brown Christmas), we sang Jingle Bells and jingled bells with it, we sang Away in a Manger and did American Sign Language with it, we sang Silent Night and also did American Sign Language with it and we also sang We Wish you a Merry Christmas at the end as we handed out little gifts to our audience (my parents, Steve's mom, my brother and his son Riley, Steve's sister and her two children Aaron and Julie). For the first two songs, the kids were dressed as carolers with sweaters, mittens and scarves on, then we went and changed into homemade Mary and Joseph costumes while Daddy read Luke 2 to the audience. Then we finished the show in those costumes. I also made a movie of still pictures from last Christmas to the song O Holy Night and we watched that on the t.v. I was really proud of my babies and how much effort they put into the show and how much they really tried to do a good job!! I loved it and I think our family did as well!! It's definitely a memorable event in our homeschooling journey!!



Here they are dressed as Mary and Joseph ( I used a combo of sheets, pillowcases and towels to accomplish these looks!!), they also had a baby Jesus in a "manger" at their feet but it's not in the picture.

And here they are dressed as carolers with their hats, scarves, mittens and sweaters. I also gave them red folders so they looked more like a real caroler!! I thought it turned out pretty cute!!

We also shared a delicious lasagna dinner complete with homemade peach cobbler. I was very pleased with how the dinner and the show turned out!! I'm not sure if this will happen every year, but I'm glad we did it this time!!

Impending Storm = Impending Fun!!!

I was looking through my pictures tonight and found this one. I just thought it looked really cool with the big dark clouds and the ocean. And Abby (and Noah's behind) of course!!! Anyway, just thought I'd share!!

Our Disney Trip in Review (September 2008)

Here's a few pics (I took over 1200) from our Disney Trip in September.


Noah and Abby brought Donald and Daisy shirts, so we made sure to find them while they were wearing them!!

This is from Teppan Edo the Japanese restaurant in EPCOT. I had never been to a Japanese restaurant before and didn't know what to expect. This is the kind where they cook the food right in front of you. It was so much fun and the food was outstanding!! I loved it and the kids did too!! We're definitely going back next time!!

This giraffe sneaked up on us during our Kilimanjaro Safari at the Animal Kingdom. We turned a corner and it was right there beside our truck!! We did three different safari's during our trip and all of them were amazing. It's one of my very favorite rides at all of Walt Disney World. We were so close to the rhinos, you could count their nose hairs!! Well maybe not that close, but it seemed like it!!

This is from the Sci-Fi Drive in Theater Restaurant at Disney Studios. This was also our first time eating there and it was lots of fun. The kids loved being in the front of the car for dinner while me and Daddy "rode" in the back!! The food was just ok, but I would definitely do it again for how cool it was. We watched old clips of movies on a big screen just like a drive in. It was a hoot!!

This happened during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Pluto was dancing and Abby and Noah danced with him. They were dressed as Lilo and Stitch. I made Abby's dress, I think it turned out pretty well!!

This was also during the Halloween party, but at our dinner. We ate at the Liberty Tree Tavern and all the staff was made up for Halloween. I loved how spooky our server looked and asked her for a picture with the kids. I'm not sure she gets that request very often because she seemed a little surprised!! I think the picture turned out kind of cool though!!

This was on Abby's Birthday. I decided to take her to the My Disney Girl Tea Party at the Grand Floridian Resort. She and I dined on little finger foods and sandwiches, tea (she had apple juice) and the most delicious cake I've ever had. We had stories told from Rose Petal (a lady who used to be a rose in the King's garden) and Princess Aurora (Abby's favorite princess) arrived and visited with all the girls. She took home a My Disney Girl doll dressed as Princess Aurora, a little bracelet, a tiara and a beautiful pink rose. It was a magical way to spend her birthday and I think she was very surprised!!

And this was the kiddies riding Aladdin's Magic Carpets at the Magic Kingdom. Don't they look cute in their glasses!!

Trunk N Treat

This was at our church's Trunk N Treat yesterday. Abby is a dalmation and Noah is a Captain Rex (from Star Wars). Abby's costume needed a little feminin-ing up, so I added pink bows to the ears, a pink collar and big fancy eyelashes so it was no mistaking that she was a girl dog!! Aren't they cute!!!

I love this time of year.

We made our annual trip out to Berger Farm in Newtown. This is the 4th year we've done it now and I just love going out there! We waited until the weather "felt" like fall and I'm so glad we did. It was just perfect!

Abby is 6!

My baby is six!! Her party was on a day we'll never forget. Not just because it was her Birthday party, but also because it was the day that Hurricane Ike hit Ohio!! Only about half of our guests could make it and we had her party without power or air conditioning!! Luckily we were able to still grill dinner (that's after the wind tossed our grill off the deck!!) and even Abby said it was the best party ever. You know, it is kind of nice to just sit down with a few of your favorite people, in the quiet of no electricity and just talk and laugh and have fun. I do feel like it was one of our best parties and we didn't play any kiddie games or anything like that. We just enjoyed each other's company. There's something to be said for that.



Happy Birthday Beater Monkey, we love you!!!

A Year of a Million Dreams

We got lucky enough to receive the special Mickey ears while riding Star Tours at the Disney Studios. Everyone on our ride received them. Everyone cheered and was very excited!! Now during this celebration we have received the Dream Fastpasses (Disneyland), the Ears (Disney Studios) and the Dream Lanyards and Pins (Animal Kingdom). Thanks Disney!!!

Atlantic Ocean

This is Noah and Abby in the Atlantic Ocean. Now, within 7 months they have played in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. I love sharing this country with them. They seem to love it too.

My boy

This picture just melts my heart.  I love that dear boy!

Chick Fil-A

We went to Chik Fil-A today for the big event where you dress up like a cow and get free food.  It was so much fun.  The three of us dressed up and I was really surprised to see so many people who actually did it too!!  We got free kids meals and a combo meal, free balloons and they took our picture and gave us a copy.  I'm glad we did it.  It was lots of fun!

Us

Well, just in case anyone still checks this blog, I thought I'd give a quick update.  We're having a very busy, but fun summer.  Noah's team won the championship this year.  That was pretty exciting.  We went to Gatlinburg for the 4th of July weekend.  We rode horses (that's where the picture was taken), stayed up for the 12:01am 4th of July parade, fished for trout, caught crawdads, drove through the mountains and visited with about 20 other family members.  It was an awesome weekend.  My mom's 50th Birthday is coming up this month.  We have some things planned for that.  But just in case she reads this, I"m not divulging the details!  We have VBS not next week, but the week after.  We have tickets for a Reds game in early August.  My nephew Riley turns 2 next month.  He now calls me "mimi"!  I love it!!  He's such a joy in our lives!!  We have about 70 days until our Disney trip.  We decided to extend it a few days and now will be there 11 days.  We're very excited and looking forward to it.  We're also planning a stop on our way down to a local beach so that within one year our kids will have been to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans!  We're still working on our costume ideas for the Halloween party in Disney.  Who knows what we'll come up with.  I'm working hard to get the planning done for the next school year.  We've decided to go more year round than just the traditional summer off approach.  We enjoy the weather and activities much more in the fall and spring, so we decided we'd have at least a month off in each of those seasons.  We haven't finalized the calendar yet, but I'm excited about that.  I mean, who says learning can only happen between August and May??  My goal is to have all the plans done, all the activities planned and all the crafts and worksheets ready to go, and organized so that it will make my day run a lot smoother.  Hopefully I can get it all ready.  Well that's about it.  Have a great July!

Noah playing baseball

Noah's still playing baseball.  His team has one game left this weekend.  They have lost only 1 game so far.  Next week is the tournament and then it will be over.  He loves it.  

Abby's Dance Recital 2008

Abby had her dance recital on June 8th.  She did very well.  She was very excited about it.  She said she was a little nervous before she went out.  Everyone was so proud of her and gave her flowers again this year.  Her song was All I Do is Dream of You from Singing in the Rain.  It was very cute!

Abby's first tooth

Abby lost her first and second teeth in May.  She cried like she had lost an arm instead of a tooth. As you can see in the picture, she is still a little distraught.  She has how ever gotten better at whistling now.

Reds Game

We went to the Reds game May 31st.  We went with my parents and my brothers family.  We all had a wonderful time.  It was beach towel day, so we all got beach towels.  Jay Bruce hit his first home run that day.  Ken Griffey Jr. hit homerun number 599.  The Reds won.  It was an awesome game.  We bought tickets to come back in August.  That should be lots of fun.

Sharing a thoughtful post

Well I have tons to blog about, but it takes me forever and a day to post pictures on here and only half of the time I try to post pictures does it actually work, so I'm not crazy about trying it right now. We have a lot going on and I'm just "not in the mood" to post about our daily life stuff. So anyway, I thought I'd post this post I saw from one of my favorite bloggers. She has two blogs. One here and one here. This is from the second blog. I know it'll definitely fire some of you up, but as the second commenter brings up, why does it anger so many so much?? I'm going to moderate the comments on this one, because I do not want a repeat of what happened before. Enjoy:

THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2008

Should Christians Send Their Kids to Public School?
Since we've been talking about which issues in a Christian's life are "sin" issues, and which ones are left open to interpretation, I am curious about your thoughts on Christians sending their children to public school.

Anyone who has read my other blog very long knows how I feel about this one. And even though I know Christians who send their children to ps, I can't get past, what to me, is a heap of biblical evidence--inference, if I may--that Christians should not be sending their children into such a place for the better part of the day.

Of course there isn't a verse that forbids it, since there was nothing of the sort during biblical times; and comparing the Jewish schools of the day--well it's no comparison.

So we're left with what the Bible does say about a parent's responsibility, and about receiving counsel from the ungodly.

Education philosophers, themselves, have admitted to ushering in the "religion" of secular humanism. So, can Christians, who have been given the command to teach their children the things of God, transfer the education of these children into the hands of a system that hates Him?

Most parents would argue that their school isn't "bad"...or, they know their child's teacher...or they're really involved in everything that goes on.

Even if they felt confident there was nothing inherently "bad" being taught to their children, wouldn't the principle still be strong enough to warrant heed?

More to come...but I would be particularly interested in your defense of this idea.
POSTED BY WORD WARRIOR AT 7:44 PM
3 COMMENTS:

Kim M. said...
I am boiling over this one. My sister who is a business major at a secular community college sent me this "discussion question" from her COMPUTER SCIENCE class in college. Computer science???? I think they teach these teachers to bring this stuff up in every class... Brainwashing!!!! The feminist agenda is sickening!

What do you think?

Here it is:

This is my third discussion question from my COMPUTER SCIENCE class!!

A third area of moral psychology focuses on whether there is a distinctly female approach to ethics that is grounded in the psychological differences between men and women. Discussions of this issue focus on two claims: (1) traditional morality is male-centered, and (2) there is a unique female perspective of the world which can be shaped into a value theory. According to many feminist philosophers, traditional morality is male-centered since it is modeled after practices that have been traditionally male-dominated, such as acquiring property, engaging in business contracts, and governing societies. The rigid systems of rules required for trade and government were then taken as models for the creation of equally rigid systems of moral rules, such as lists of rights and duties. Women, by contrast, have traditionally had a nurturing role by raising children and overseeing domestic life. These tasks require less rule following, and more spontaneous and creative action. Using the woman's experience as a model for moral theory, then, the basis of morality would be spontaneously caring for others as would be appropriate in each unique circumstance. On this model, the agent becomes part of the situation and acts caringly within that context. This stands in contrast with male-modeled morality where the agent is a mechanical actor who performs his required duty, but can remain distanced from and unaffected by the situation. A care-based approach to morality, as it is sometimes called, is offered by feminist ethicists as either a replacement for or a supplement to traditional male-modeled moral systems.

JUNE 12, 2008 11:26 PM
Erin said...
I am a big fan of Voddie Baucham so you can guess where my vote falls. ;-)

Something that strikes me as interesting is how offended other Christians can get when its stated that an "extra-Biblical" idea might actually have some grounding in God's Word afterall. People get very angry, or make accusations of legalism, judgement, etc. Where does this anger stem from? When someone challenges my convictions from a Biblical standpoint, I do not get angry - I search out the Word to see if there is any truth to what's been shared with me. If there is, then it gives me something to pray about and discuss with my husband. If there isn't, I just move on with my life. Why so much offense? Could it be that there is insecurity, a hint of doubt, a nudge of the Holy Spirit? Something I've been pondering alot lately.

JUNE 13, 2008 3:44 AM
Kathy, Jeff's Wife said...
If in Deuteronomy we are commanded to teach our children as we walk, sit and stand along side them, how in the world can we do that if they are rarely with us? By the time they finish the day at school, attend sports, music, clubs, etc... how much time is left for the parent's responsibility to teach?

In the public school system a child must conform to what the government text books say; it does not matter if it is right or wrong, just fill in the blank with 'their' answer and you pass.

Wonder why the literacy rates have dropped as much as they have since we started mandatory attendance of school?

One thing I often ask people is, "Do you trust the government to do the right thing with your tax dollars?" Which the answer usually is, "No". "So why trust your children to them?"

JUNE 13, 2008 6:36 AM