Kid Shots

Every once in awhile, the kids like to ask if they can take a photo on my camera. I usually let them, at least if I am right there with them. It is always interesting to see how it turns out.

The Spectator

Rachel was the only fan in the stands during the boys' race car driving. Well, I was there, too, but I was the photographer. That doesn't count...

She was actually quite annoyed that the car chased her around, and swatted it each time it got near her. I think the last picture says it all. She needs a little white flag to raise! :D






I LOVE those curls!!

New Finds

Matthew has wanted a remote control car for who knows how long. Last weekend, we went to a ton of yard sales and Dave came across this roadster. :) We got it home, dutifully charged up the battery for a few hours and when the kids woke from their naps, decided to test it out in our driveway.

There was just one problem.

The rotten thing only goes backwards and side to side, but not forward! :( Trying to make lemons into lemonade, I casually remarked that they can pretend the back is the front... They honestly could not care at this point, 1. because they are young enough to not care and 2. because it zips around and makes noise. For any little boy, that is about all it takes.

What more do we expect for $3? ;)

















The car didn't want to stay in the driveway!

Loose Toof

Matthew is very proud of the fact he is now missing FOUR teeth! Here are some photos of his gap-tooth smile:

Rachel

Big girl at the big table. This only lasted one time, as she is really too small to reach her plate well at this point. It was a very messy experiment!



Couch potato bookworm.

Homeschool Projects- Salt Dough Pyramids and Paddle Dolls

Here are some other projects to go with our Tapestry of Grace curriculum. I thought making small pyramids would be a little easier than a huge map. Stephen also made an "Egyptian gingerbread man" (hmmm) and they helped roll dough into balls so mama could make beads.

The paddle dolls are supposedly what Moses (or any child in ancient Egyptian times) would have played with. I doubt they were made out of cardboard back then, though! :) The one with green eyes is wearing glasses, according to Matthew.

Homeschool Projects-Edible Egypt

We're doing Year 1 Tapestry of Grace homeschool curriculum (along with pk 4/5 Sonlight!), and they learned all about ancient Egypt. One of the crafts was to make a salt dough map of Egypt. I thought that was an awful lot of salt and mess to go through for something that we can't bring with us when we move. So, I decided to make edible Egypt "maps" that the kids could "paint" the Nile and cities on with frosting. Chocolate chips were the pyramids. Mmmm... Everyone liked that idea, even Rachel!





The boys busily building the Nile, the desert and the cities...




Rachel approves!




The boys busy decorating their sugar cookie maps of Egypt.




Rachel enjoying a few "pyramids".




The finished project and the happy builders!

Homeschool Projects-Botany

This is Matthew's seed collection for his homeschool co-op botany class. He is to collect 18 different seeds to go in each egg carton hole. This photo is a bit old, as we only have two more holes to fill. We have kiwi seeds (ridiculously small!), tomato, squash, popcorn, fennel, apple, pear, peach, etc. The most interesting one so far is a persimmon seed. Someone brought those to our church for the last fellowship meal, so we snagged a couple to use the seeds.




These are some pinto beans that we started up at home after Matthew learned all about the different parts of bean plants at co-op. This photo is a bit old, too, by only a few weeks! If anyone knows how beans grow, a couple weeks make a huge difference! It looks like a jungle near our side window. We're anxiously awaiting the first bean to grow on it...

Wewahitchka Bee Farm Trip

We set out early this morning for Wewahitchka, FL to visit a bee farm called Smiley Apiaries. I just love the name of the town! Wewahitchka, Wewahitchka... It must be Indian. It took about 45minutes for us to arrive there. We had to wait a bit while the owner Donald Smiley was conducting another tour for the first group of homeschool students. The kids started getting pretty itchy waiting around and then Stephen and Matthew started the "pee dance", so we had to sneak off behind a bush and take care of that! Never a dull moment.

The talk Donald gave was very interesting. He said, "Everyone has heard of Tupelo honey before!" I sure hadn't, but am very glad I got introduced to it. It isn't cheap, but it is SO good. When Dave had some tonight, he described it as having almost a kick to it, as if there was some spice. It comes from Tupelo trees, which only grow in that area.

As Donald opened the door to the first room of our tour, I struggled to get the double stroller in. Someone shut the door right as I looked up at a window and saw the biggest "ball" of bees I had ever seen! What is it southerners say? "Well, I just about lay me down and die!" It was all I could do to take a photo for documentation that I survived. I am not a big bee fan, you can see! I am, however, starting to appreciate honeybees a lot more. I never realized just how many crops they pollinate. They are very important to our survival, although I think I will let other people tend the hives!

We went into another room where we could see the process of extraction. The boys loved to see the pool of honey in a large tray underneath. A layer of honeycomb covered the top (it rises to the top as the honey cools), but the owner brushed it away so we could see the thick honey underneath. The honey they sell is 100% raw, which means it isn't heated above 86F, in order to not kill the pollen.

We finished off the tour in another section of the warehouse, where they handed out free honeysticks and another man showed large photos of the bees while he gave more information on the whole process. We had a good time there, even though I think if the kids were just a bit older they would've appreciated it even more.


Part of the beehive, where the honeycomb is.




Mr. Smiley, showing the honeycomb to us.



One of the kids showing off a "tulle hat".



Now this is more like it! Full body armor!



Tell me you wouldn't want to run, too??



How can they just stand still?!



Inside honey extracting room.



Man loading honeycomb to be pushed through extractor.



They recycle the beeswax here to sell for candles, etc.



Honeycomb being pushed through machine.



Extractor. It reminded me of a huge barbeque grill.




Pool of honey under extractor. Can you see it coming out a tube on each end?




Liquid gold!