First, the random cuteness. Shiloh doing her schoolwork. (ahem, she styles herself now, ahem).
Making a trip into Whole Foods. They have a really beautiful fountain next door, and Shiloh wanted to walk over and "enjoy it totally." ;o)
SarahMae was completely confused by this. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that she's ever actually seen a small lake. Larger bodies of water, but not a smaller one, I guess, that she can clearly see its shape. Enter -- we're potty training. SarahMae calls the "potty" the "poppy." The "poppy" is a large (to her) circle that contains water. Every fountain and lake is now a "Big Poppy." :o) She was so fascinated that she continued to say "It's a big poppy" over and over and OVER the entire way home. She was waving her arms around and really explaining something, and it was obvious that "The Big Poppy" had quite an impact on her.
Look at these two...*happysigh*
First haircut! And, that's all I got. No more pictures, especially not a before and after. That would have been what I should have done. :o/ Still, cute!
Dying Easter eggs. We actually haven't made much of a tradition of this in the past, but I think we'll start. Since we tend to be pretty strict about food dye in our food, but especially the kiddos' food, we decided to go with a more natural approach to egg dying this year, using food and spices. Pinterest helped out quite a bit on this front, as there were MANY recipes for this method. We were going to make them into devilled eggs the next day, so we decided to peel them first and then dye the actual egg so our food would be different colors as well.
All ready to go -- red cabbage, yellow onion skins+curry powder, beets and blueberries.
The beets looked pretty promising. Having used them in frostings before, I was pretty sure this one was going to work. We threw some chopped up pieces into a pot of boiling water with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar.
Shiloh liked the blueberry preparation the best, getting to squish up
No pictures, but the red cabbage and the yellow onion skins were prepared the same way -- boiled with some vinegar, then the water was drained off into a coffee cup/mug for dyeing. As you can see in the background, it colored them quite well, I think!
The beets turned the eggs pink, the blueberries a soft purple, the yellow onion skins a bright yellow, and the red cabbage was a little underwhelming, as it made a muted rose color. Ah, well. :o) The important thing was that Shiloh was happy with the outcome, which she was, and that we had fun, which we did. Plus, the others did really great, I think!
We also started something else new this year with this Resurrection scene made from a medium clay saucer, a small clay pot, stones and soil. We made this earlier during the week and looking back, I think I chose a saucer one size too small. Next year, we'll do a bigger one. We had to cram everything on there and you're also supposed to start earlier, plant grass seeds on the soil, and make crosses from sticks to put on the hill. There was barely enough room for us to put the soil on to cover the small pot, so we didn't bother with the other things this year, but next year we will. :o)
It starts out looking like this, resembling the empty grave in the side of a hill.
On the evening of Good Friday, after our family devotion, we put a large stone over the grave to symbolize Jesus' death. (Had we more room, we would have also added the crosses at this time as well.)
Finally... Resurrection Sunday!!!
SarahMae's basket:
And Shelby's basket. :o) Shelby, you may recall, is Shiloh's American Girl doll. Shiloh made her a special surprise over a month ago for the expressed purpose of giving it to Shelby on Resurrection Sunday. :o)
Waiting to see the baskets (SarahMae cheated!):
Annie's Gluten Free White Cheddar Shells and Cheese!! Only one of Shiloh's favorites but that costs waaaaay too much to buy on a regular basis! :o)
New flower clips...
Presents from Nana and Papa... :o)
Thank you! The girls loved their presents!
Shelby receiving her present....
It's a new cuddle blanket that Shiloh weaved for her on her loom! Shelby and this blanket are now inseparable. :o)
Kissing a monkey. :o)
A book about God's Names by Sally Michael. We've been using this for our family devotionals at night, and we all really like it! It's clearly written for children, but the concepts are not "dumbed down" to appeal to them. Even though each devotional is over two full pages long, it still keeps her interest and it gives you prayer prompts and activities to go along with it, teaching the child (and adults!) various aspects of God's character as you go. Shiloh really loves it and I highly reccomend it!
Travel dry-erase pack with a small white board and dry-erase markers. This has been used on almost every car trip since she received it. Yay!
Move the stone, the grave is empty and Jesus is alive!!
Ready for church, my pretty Miss Mae in her new dress. Goodness, how big is she getting?!
Ready for church! Alas, no family pictures this year, totally forgot. But, these are cute girls!
Hard to see, but Shiloh was very proud of her french braid twist around the back. :o)
Random -- I was making lunch one afternoon and came into the living room to find Shiloh had set SarahMae up on a bed of couch pillows and blankets, surrounded her with stuffed animals and was reading to her. And SarahMae was not moving. What?! So, I took a picture. Pretty darn cute. :o)
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Shiloh's "thing" now is nature. She's all about it, talks about it all the time, is always wanting to learn about it, etc. So, starting this month, I am taking advantage of the Missouri Department of Conservation and all of their awesome free educational events. I have at least one thing a week scheduled for the next two months, and sometimes more than that. She is SO going to learn about nature! ;o)
Our first event was a new one for the department itself. They started this year a four-part Homeschool Series, where they offer a FREE two-hour class at one of the designated parks in the area and cover various subjects. The first one, naturally, was Field Science. Every two weeks, they'll offer Math, Art and Music, and History, all outside in the forested areas from a conservation perspective.
We attended the first this past week and Shiloh had a total blast. I love that there are so many age groups all working together. The youngest was six and went up to 14 or 15, all working in groups and helping each other. Shiloh wasn't intimidated by the older ones, asking them questions and, of course, telling them what she thought as well! And they listened and engaged her -- definitely a perk of homeschooling!
They were taught how to choose and study a plot in order to track the growth of the forest in that area and had "scientific" paperwork to fill out regarding their observations. After being broken up into smaller groups, they all gathered together and shared their findings and discussed how they can use that information in a scientific setting to further the growth of the forest.
Play time afterwards with new friends. I'm really looking forward to the other classes, it's just such a unique experience, getting to study in a real state park on a regular basis. :o)
With the teacher's permission, she took some wood she found on the forest floor and brought it home. It's now sitting on her desk in her bedroom with an "official" sign that says where and when she got it. :o)
"I love science!" she said. :o)
SarahMae was there the whole time, too, I just couldn't get any pictures of her. She hung out in a baby carrier and played with my phone so she wouldn't scream to get down. :o)
Later that day, eating blueberries. Random, but cute.
Also, I finished another entrelac kntting blanket. I made a smaller one for my neighbor who just had a baby (two weeks early!). This one, I made the same way as the other one, but with larger needles so it didn't take quite so long to complete, and I added green. I also still added the minky fabric on the back, it just feels so nice!
Another MO Conservation event. Today, we visited the Busch Wildlife Park to attend their "Wetlands for Kids" event. We had so much fun!
Shiloh got to use a net to "scrape" the bottom of the lake (well, as far as she could reach, anyway), and they put what they found in a tray. They searched through it and kept digging until they found something alive and then they went to a nearby table where one of the volunteers told them what they found. Finally, they put it all back in the lake. I say "they" because, alas, I was again holding a baby in the carrier. Darn. ;o)
"We found something! Snails and SNAIL EGGS!!!!" Wow, she was excited about the snail eggs. :o)
There was a giant duck there. So we took a picture with it. Wouldn't you?
The project was actually sponsored by Ducks Unlimited, so they had lots of duck things there. They had lots of taxiderm-ed birds that the kids got to touch and identify.
There were also retrievers with the local club that were training in the lake and, you know, they just happened to have puppies for adoption. Aaaaaand, NO we did NOT adopt one! Don't think Shiloh didn't try, though...
Yay for wide open spaces!
Tracking deer. Shiloh was really excited about being able to see their tracks and follow them. We don't get many deer in our neck of the woods, so this was new to her. And SarahMae was really excited about the dirt. :o)
Bird viewing while on a hike.
On said hike.
She and Daddy with their walking sticks that they picked up on said hike. :o)
Trying her darndest to climb a tree with no lower branches. :o)
Learning how to cast and reel in fish, b/c she certainly won't be learning that from me!
Telling Daddy about her adventures on the loooooong trek back to the van. :o)
I wish there had been more pictures of SarahMae, but she was in the carrier most of the time and was screaming her head off because she was exhausted trying to sleep most of the time. :o)
Lastly, again, random, but still -- a sushi tower!! Rick makes the BEST sushi I have ever tasted. Well, veggie sushi, anyway, b/c I've never had any other kind. :o) It's what we had for dinner and it. Was.Yummy!
We ate it all. And it was sooooo good! As evidenced by the (still) screaming toddler in the background with an empty plate signing "more." Trust me, she'd had enough. That kid is a bottomless pit!
In other news, potty training was a SUCCESS!! For some weeks, SarahMae has been in underwear only, we threw away the diapers, and I really can't remember the last time she had an accident. She always tells us when she has to go, and is a *sniff*sniff* bonafide big girl now. :o)
Rick has been blessed with lots of side work, and it has kept him very busy. He's a rockstar worker and does an amazing job with his work, but it's been an adjustment seeing him less.
We've all seen what Shiloh has been up to, and this momma is trying her best to balance homeschool, home repairs, house work, and kids' activities. Waiting for that down season.... is there one? In 16, 18 years maybe? ;o)
