Spring Blooms

Our neighborhood is full of flowering pear trees--no pears, just flowers. Every spring we enjoy the new type of "snow" that falls on our lawns, the petals of these flowers. I caught this picture last Tuesday, before our rainy weekend. Now the show is over and green is beginning to dominate the landscape.

Strolling Along

Caught this picture of Sinatra strolling along with his hands in his pockets this morning.

Our Easter

Gem, Shakespeare and Popcorn were part of an Easter presentation at church.

The sweet little girl next to Popcorn was so adorable--reminds me of the Candyland game.

This fuzzy shot is the only picutre of them all on Easter Sunday. Thankfully, they're still clean. Thank you, Nana, for all the Easter duds. They loved getting all dressed up.

Here is one taken later. You can see that Sinatra was enjoying a frosted cookie.

Deck Day

On Saturday two friends showed up bright and early to help install the new deck boards. Thank you, Jim and Rex!

Once they figured out the system, the deck progressed quickly. Now we just have to replace the stairs and install the railing.

Luna Liberation

Extrordinary Everyday Event

Today is the first day of spring. While all the blossoming and chirping is happening outside, something also happened inside. Our long-time visitor decided to make some noise and then emerge from his cocoon.

So welcome spring and Kermit, our luna moth.



Please excuse all the crying (Sinatra wanting attention) and commenting. We were all excited. Gem even pronounced him a boy. (You can actually tell by the thickness of the feathery antennae). The footage is so quick that you are hardly able to see the thing, but you might notice that he doesn't look much like a moth. When they emerge
their wings are folded up. Within an hour they are fully open and dry.

If you're looking for a pet, I highly recommend a luna moth at the point of hibernation: only high maintenance for a few weeks then they spin a cocoon and sleep for six months. When they emerge they do not have a mouth or a stomach. They live for a week (in which they must mate) and then die. They're also the largest moth in North America, have swallow tail shaped wings, and are a lovely shade of pale green.

More pictures to come when we set him free.

Ryaninjun Bread

This morning Gem did a presentation in class about food and etiquette during the late 1700's. She dressed up in her colonial outfit and pretended to invite everyone into her kitchen (the church where we meet has one). She explained different dishes that she was "making" and then talked about the bread that was commonly found in colonial stoves--ryaninjun bread.

We actually made the bread the night before, so Gem pulled it from the oven. Then she talked about tea etiquette and we served tea.

If you'd like to have an adventure, try making Ryaninjun Bread.

Three cups of conrn meal
One of rye flour
Three cups of sweet milk
One cup of sour
One cup of molasses
To render it sweet
Two teaspoons of soda
To make it complete

Mix dry ingredients then add liquid. Mix well but don't beat. Bake in a 9x13 pan at 200 degrees for 12 hours. Put a pan of water in the oven with the bread to retain moisture, or bake it along with baked beans (the traditional colonial way).

One recipe we found said that the bread was actually done within 4 hours, but that old timers swore that the longer you left it the better. After putting the bread in the oven at 9pm I awoke at 1:30 (no alarm) and yanked it out of the oven. Don't do what I did. The entire thing fell and was underdone. The flavor was there, but not the texture. Live and learn and don't panic.

Happy Birthday, Mark!

This picutre is of my brother turning four and having just ripped open a much anticipated and talked-up gift that I had made for him. He was expecting something grand and got this instead. What can I say? I was eight. Sewing a tiny pillow with lace is an extremely thoughtful gift, don't you think?



I have a collage of pictures in my bedroom that make me smile. This is one of them.

Happy 28th birthday, Mark. Sorry that you have to share the day with St. Patrick. I hope you like your card better than you liked the pillow.

From My Hubby

Hanging it Up

There is a trend that all people who have ever gone to school experience: easy, hard, pulling-teeth hard, and exasperating. The home school is no exception. Our last month has been hard. This week has been pulling-teeth hard, and today (thankfully, it's Friday) was downright exasperating. After getting the bare bones done I released them out into the wonderful sunshine.

I remember when my public school teachers would occasionally give us an extra five minutes on the playground. I know what they were fighting--a beautiful day and 26 children who were more concerned about the clouds that were floating by rather than drilling multiplication tables.

One of the benefits of home schooling is that when the level reaches exasperating I can call it quits for the day (or until the afternoon). I wish that public school teachers could do something similar.

It's hard being the teacher and the principal though. To know when to push through and do the hard thing or when it is more beneficial for all just to quit is a hard call to make. It challenges my character, which yells like a drill sergeant, "Keep going! Keep going!" Sometimes, though, it's just time to hang it up.

A Gorgeous Day

March is such a fickle month. Today we got a wonderfully warm day. We took advantage of the sunshine and went to the park.



You would think that the park is a place where kids play on the playground equipment, but today when we arrived, 7 of the 11 children that were there were playing down the hill in the little stream. Three moms were lined up on the railing watching their kids. One quickly ran down the hill to help her three year old pee behind a tree. I felt right at home.

All the children were filthy, but none started or finished as scroungy as my Shakespeare. He was wearing the last pair of clean pants from his drawer and a T-shirt that didn't match. He was also wearing last year's sandals that still contain smells from last year. Gag!



It wasn't five minutes before he was soaked to the bone--slipped on a rock while doing something daring. He was wearing a shirt that boasts, "I do my own stunts". Yep, I guess you do, buddy!

Oh well, the point was to have fun. I think he did.

Waiting

The shipment that was due to arrive at Home Depot sometime yesterday has not even left the supplier. Oh well, we'll have to begin the deck next week. That gives me more leisure time to pull all the nails from all the ripped up boards.

Spring Deconstruction

There is a tinge of green in the willow trees, the red buds are in blossom, the flowering pear is about to burst, rain is frequent, the daffodils have been up for two weeks and our lilies are sending out shoots.

All the stirring and new life makes we want to get to work. Spring project mode has been put in motion in our home. I've already reorganized 4 trouble areas in the last week, but that pales in comparison to THE project of early spring.

My cousin claims that when she and her husband re-stained their deck it almost ruined their marriage. In an effort to stave off the testing of ours, we're tearing up our back porch to replace the very splintery wood with composite boards--no staining, no splinters, little maintenance, long life. Yea!

Bye Bye railing.

We're going to use the pried up deck boards (turned upside down and nails removed) to build a tree house with Nana and Grandpa in a few weeks. (The other big spring project).

Here are a few pictures of deconstruction (day 1). Thankfully, I don't think it will take more than two days. The new boards are scheduled to arrive Wednesday. Two friends have volunteered to help.

The view from the door to the deck.

And if you were wondering . . . yes, we're keeping the slide.

Geography Challenge

53

Post your results in the comments. Make sure you type fast and know how to spell the country.

AT-ST

More Star Wars Legos. He had exactly $20 and couldn't keep it in his pocket. Lego mania has definitely arrived. The AT-ST is that bad guy walking machine with guns pointing out of every possible area. How fun.

I helped him. Going through those directions felt exactly like putting together the basketball hoop.

Kissy Toddler

Ever since he turned one, Sinatra has known how to pucker--no open mouth slobber kisses from this one. His "mooches" are wonderful. Here he is at his best. So sweet that I had to share.

Good Neighbor Pie Crust

When I got married my mom handed me a stack of recipe cards that she had painstakingly copied from her stash. They were all my favorites and some that were just basics. On the card titled "pie crust", she had written "Buy Them!". I've found her advice to be sound.

There is, however, one pie crust recipe that I don't mind throwing together--no ice water, no vinegar, no measuring. My mom and I were perusing the "Good Neighbors" section of my small town Indiana paper. In this section people swap questions and answers. Someone had asked for a good and easy pie crust recipe. There were a couple of answers. This was the one that caught my mom's eye:

5 lb. flour, 3 lb. Crisco, 2 (12 oz.) cans 7-up. Mix together. You need a very large pan. Makes about 22 single crusts. Bag dough in ball the size you need for your crust. Freeze. When you need to bake a pie, pull out however many bags you need. Thaw at room temperature. Roll out and you're on your way.
--A Syracuse neighbor

I used to bake pies in mass in the fall. This recipe came in handy. Today I'm having friends over for dinner and opted for a wonderful chicken pot pie--yep, for company--they're close friends. I'm making two pot pies--one in an 8x10 and one in a deep dish pie plate. The 8x10 (with top crust) requires four normal pie crusts and the other requires two, so I made half the recipe and froze the extra.

Try it! It makes great crusts and is so easy.

How Do Your Kids Earn Money Outside the Home?

Yesterday I blogged about how young children can make money outside the home. But now I'd like to ask you: what are some employment opportunities that your kids have done? I'm not thinking about a job for a 16 year old: think 10 and under.

For more questions, with answers from many moms around the world, visit Works For Me Wednesday (Backwards Day) at Rocks in My Dryer.

Kids Making Money

Today we did our family presentation for our homeschool group. We agonized over the topic, but finally settled on how kids can make money. So, here's the bloggy rendition:

Younger children usually make money by doing chores around the house. Maybe they earn extra cash by doing special jobs for mom and dad like sweeping out the garage or cleaning the refrigerator. But even younger kids can earn money outside the house.

We've all heard about the lemonade stand. It does not usually yield a high return. One problem with it is that adults don't trust it. They wonder if the child has poured it back in after drinking some, whether or not they've had their hands in it, and what if the child already used that cup?! Hold this thought, we'll come back to it in a moment.

The key to finding a job outside the home is finding opportunity. And the way to find opportunity is to pay attention to what people want or need. Sometimes a job will land in your lap and sometimes you have to hunt for it or even create it.

Gem has a job that fell in her lap. Because she is homeschooled and is available during the day, our neighbor asked her to take out her dogs every weekday at noon. The return: $20/week. Not bad for a 9 year old.

But what about the jobs that require you to hunt for them or create them? They can take lots of thought. Here are 4 questions to get you thinking:
1. What do other people need that I have?
2. What do people really want?
3. What do people not want to do that I can do for them?
4. How can I give them a better product?

Some of the best jobs for kids are those that come and go: commitment is low and return is quick. So, what are some of these opportunities?

(Gem) How about seasonal work? (Me) What kind of seasonal work might you do in the spring? (G) Plant flowers (Me) For who? (G) My neighbors. (ME) Lets work through all four questions and see how this might work. What do other people need that you have? (G) Time. (Me) What do people really want? (G) Beautiful annuals on their front porch. (Me) What do people not want to do? (G) They don't want to go to the store and buy the flowers and soil. They don't want to get out all their tools and pot the plants. And they don't want to have the mess to clean up. (Me) How can you give them a better product? (G) I come to your door and there's no mess when I'm gone.

Here are some other seasonal jobs that kids might consider: pick up sticks in a lawn (provided that parents train the child to do a thouough job); sell organically grown tomatoes from your garden; at the end of the season, clean out plants that you potted in the spring; have a baker fill your order, then and deliver pumpkin and pecan pies to houses the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas. That is when company has arrived and hosts don't want to run to the store, but they still want fresh goods.

Now lets go back to that lemonade stand. Your opportunity is your neighborhood garage sale, when there will be a large number of people coming by. Question 1: What do people need . . . at 7am? Answer: Breakfast. Question 2: What do people really want? Answer: something to eat that is quick and trustworthy. Question 3: What do people not want to do that I can do for them? Take the time to fix breakfast. Question 4: How can I give them a better product? Get rid of the pitcher of lemonade and offer bottled orange juice, pre-washed fruit, breakfast bars and individually packaged muffins. After breakfast, I can offer bottled water and rice krispy treats and fruit snacks--maybe add candy for kids.

For all you homeschool parents, this is a great opportunity to introduce practical math. During our planning time, I had Gem figure out how much she would have to charge for each item in order to make a fair profit. It's also a great time to introduce counting back change.

The entire process fosters excellence and responsibility, and emphasizes the importance of finishing a job well.

The next thing you'll have to teach them is how to save their money.