Riding Lesson

Emily is in heaven at her first riding lesson. She was so excited to ride Fleet! And she is counting the days until her next lesson!

Whoa!

A Lesson on Investments

How do you teach your children how companies were formed to fund expeditions to the New World? You give them some money and show them how to buy "stock."

The girls LOVED this activity so much! I wanted them to understand what it would have been like (on a small scale) to become an investor in a voyage or settlement in the Americas. We read about it, but that didn't feel like enough to explain how this worked. So, with about 10 minutes of planning we took the words out of the books and made them real!

What I did: I put "treasures" in 6 gift bags. I didn't buy anything for this activity -- I just used what we already had around the house that may or may not have had much value. Use anything -- marshmallows, nickels, apples, pencils, a juice box -- really anything! I made sure that some bags were more valuable than others. 

Each gift bags represent a different voyage. The girls are offered the opportunity to invest in the voyage by bying a stock certificate. This makes them an investor in the "company." Whatever was in the bag (whatever gains resulted from the voyage) are divided among the shareholders. The gains could be valuable, or the finds could be fairly fruitless. In one instance, the ship was lost at sea in a storm and I didn't reveal the contents of the bag. However, the investors lost all their money!

This REALLY didn't require much work, but the girls had a blast and learned several things:

Investment comes with risks.

The more shares you own in a company, the greater the gains AND losses.

Explorers and colonists had a lot of pressure to find valuables to send back to their investors.

History can be fun!

Spring Scramble

Who is up for a windy race? Second year in a row that God provided a little extra resistance on the run back to the high school! 

My suggestion: start at the high school and end at Lee's Bakery. Um, I think Amish doughnuts would be a good motivator for me!! This route just might motivate runners to sign up for the extra mileage and boost the 10k registration. :)

Pre-race. Everyone bundled up for the cool morning run!

It is always good to have someone point out the finish line. Thanks, Gordy, for taking care of pre-race business!

And the race is on!!!

Just another country run!

And, Matthew scored a medal to add to the collection.

We seriously need to find a better way to display these medals before the dresser mirror falls over! :)

St. Patrick's Day 2015

St. Patrick's Day.

The color green.

A pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. 

Shamrocks.

Leprechauns.

Ireland.

Corned beef and cabbage.

But, wait, there's more! There is actually a great man who lived to spread God's love and earned the respect of generations of Christians for his great sacrifice. Yes, check this out: http://www.st-patricks-day.com/about-st-patrick/

We started the day with green clover-shaped pancakes. Yes, you can't tell from the photo, but they really were green. Honest!

For dinner I decided to give the family a taste of Irish food -- corned beef and cabbage with rye bread. 

Ok, this was my first attempt at this meal and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I have to tell you that it was very easy because the slow-cooker did all the work, and the house smelled amazing all day!

 

The kids loved the meat. But I was fairly certain that the kids would turn their little noses up at the cooked cabbage and onions. So I made potatoes to go with the meal. Matthew and I ate the beef and cabbage on rye bread, but the kids liked the bread buttered.

We learn about a lot of different cultures and countries. One of my favorite ways to learn about a new culture is to try some of their recipes. Although this was FAR from authentic, it gave us a chance to try something new. And that is how we connect and learn!

Morning Smoothies

I have been getting into the habit of making fruit smoothies for breakfast. I usually consume about 2/3 of the smoothie before our little guy finds it and finishes it for me.

My sister-in-law is a smoothie expert. I am jealous of all the fresh ingredients she throws in her smoothies, and even more jealous of her high-powered Vitamix that could probably mulch a tree! Our little personal-size mixer stumbles over frozen fruit but it is getting the job done.

I throw in a mix of fruits -- fresh or frozen. Just about any fruit goes into this. Although I have heard of many people adding kale or spinach, I haven't gotten brave enough to add it in. One day . . .

Then I dump in some ground flax seed, because I love to add in Omega-3s wherever I can. Top all that with Greek vanilla yogurt and sweeten with a dallop of sweet honey.

Mix it up and it is ready to go!

I love how Megan tops it. So pretty!

Travel Pasta Keeps Dinner Moving!

Sometimes Aldi has some foods that get kids excited for dinner. In this case, our motor-lovin' boy thought it was fun to eat planes, trains and automobiles!

Our Easter Advent with Amon

Are you familiar with Arnold Ytreeide? He has written an outstanding Christmas advent book series for children that we love. He has written one Easter advent book entitled Amon's Adventure. Although we read the book a couple of years ago (and Emily has read it many times since then) we are re-reading in preparation for Easter. This piece of well-written historical fiction takes you back to the year 33 A.D. to experience the amazing events that changed the world! 

Each chapter ends with a scripture and personal reflection. It is so good to take time out of our busy weeks to reflect and remember!